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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org


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Contents:
  Bog Myrtle (Joe Katchever)
  US-56 fermentation temperature (Aaron Martin Linder)
  Stir bars ("Alex Sheftel")
  Re: Eisbeer (Phil Wilcox)
  Brewing with Adjuncts (Chris Farmer)
  Trip to Bristol, UK ("Scott and Lois Courtney")


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JANITORs on duty: Pat Babcock (pbabcock at hbd dot org), Jason Henning,
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Date: Wed, 02 Aug 2006 09:27:43 -0500
From: Joe Katchever <joe at pearlstreetbrewery.com>
Subject: Bog Myrtle

Bog Myrtle? Never heard of it but I went looking through the site where 
I sometimes get medicinal herbs and apparently they've never heard of it 
either. Then Google and found a potential source. Wouldn't you know it: 
www.bogmyrtle.com. Although they don't sell the raw stuff, they probably 
have lots of it You can email them here 
<http://www.totallyherby.com/supplier/contact.htm>.Good luck with that.

I posted here a few weeks ago, looking for a source of a quantity of 
Schaerbeek Cherry trees, cuttings, or seeds. I received some leads but 
all dead ends. So I ask again: got any? I would love it if someone out 
there would help me source them, as my Internet source came up with no 
responses. They are grown mostly in the Netherlands. So, for the love of 
lambics, find me some trees! There will be a finder's fee, of course. It 
would help if you spoke/wrote French. as most of the websites are in 
French or Dutch.
Thanks,

- -- 
Joe at pearlstreetbrewery dot com




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Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 10:48:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: Aaron Martin Linder <lindera at umich.edu>
Subject: US-56 fermentation temperature

>
> In fact, as I write this, I am drinking a Ballantine IPA clone that I
> brewed a couple of months ago using US-56 without rehydration and it
> tastes wonderful! Apart from the slow start time everything went as
> planned, a quick ferment (4-5 days to terminal gravity), yeast
> dropped bright nicely and a great clean flavor. Super stuff!
>
> Bob Tower / Los Angeles, CA
>

I wonder if anyone else has any experience with altering the fermentation 
temp. of us-56.  I have used it to make very clean, nice beers at 62-68 F. 
However, I recently did a hot little ale in the steamy michigan summer and 
the fermenter went from 73 at room temp to 79 at peak of fermentation. 
There is definitely a mildly unpleasant off-flavor, most likely from the 
yeast.  Does anyone know the peak temp. for good flavor with us-56, based 
upon experience?  I can use WLP 001 up to 80 with no off-flavors, maybe 
partially due to its purity?






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Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 10:49:03 -0400
From: "Alex Sheftel" <asheft at po-box.mcgill.ca>
Subject: Stir bars

I use 30 L SS kegs with top cut open as my primary fermentors.  They have a 
flat spot in the middle/bottom that is roughly 10 inches in diameter.  I 
have tried a number of times to rouse my yeast with a stirring bar in these 
kegs and had great success.  And I'm using a very small stir plate and a 
stirring bar that's less than 2 inches long!  With this setup, I've gotten a 
5 gallon batch to nicely swirl with a very shallow whirlpool in the middle. 
I usually turn it on and let it run during the day since it creates a fair 
bit of noise.  I've been doing this for a few consecutive days at the point 
where it looks like the yeast activity has dropped.  Lately I haven't been 
using the stir bar since I don't see any major difference in attenuation 
when I have a good healthy starter yeast.  I don't have any photos.

 -Alex 



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Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 09:55:52 -0700 (PDT)
From: Phil Wilcox <thepfhb at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Eisbeer

Pete and Bill,

While lagering in international waters before the 2003
AHA NHC in Chicago the following theoretical practice
might have taken place for the Siberian Imperial Ice
Stout I brought.

Night before, set temp controller to 28F on beer
freezer. Rack from 2ndary into corney kegs. Do not
carbonate beer yet.
Rack out a gallon of beer from each full corneykeg.
(Leave 4 gal in keg)
Remove liquid dip tube, replace fitting. Put in
freezer.
Go to best buy and pick up Season 1, of Alias (24,
Lost...)

Get up Saturday morning, remove temp contoller from
freezer.
Start DVDathon of Alias and select play all, at end of
each show the credits run and you have enough time to
go to the freezer and shake the daylights out of the
keg. Do this for every episode. (45min) at the end of
the disk, pull the keg(s) out of the freezer and let
them warm up for an episode, then shake it up and put
it back in shaking at the end of each episode. By the
end of the series you should be about 1/2 frozen. 

Open the lid of the keg and remove the liquid fitting
and reinsert your sanitized dip tub after flushing it
with HOT water. Hit it with a block of wood to
puncture the 4-6 inches of solid ice and push the dip
tube all the way to the bottom. Remove the dip tube
and flush it with hot water to dislodge the ice plug,
Return the dip tube, Flush the keg top with CO2 and
seal the keg. Rack to previously sanitized and co2
flushed keg. 

If Ice continues to  clog the racking you can remove
the poppet altogether from the fitting or run hot
water over the liquid fitting while racking. If curses
and frustrations continue, then punch out a bigger
hole with an extra sanitized racking cane and gravity
rack as normal.
you can turn down your regulator to a trickle and
leave the CO2 on to continually add a CO2 blanket to
your Eisbier.
 
Be sure to save your Ice, let it thaw, carbonate it.
Its still has Alcohol. I think I remember a Doppelbock
Lite win 3rd place at a competition once...

When dealing with Imperial Stouts I found too much of
the roastiness was Eis'ed out. So I filled my coffee
pot with roasted barley and made some super roast and
added that to balance it off... 

Prost! 

Phil Wilcox
Poison Frog Home Brewer
Secretary - Prison City Brewers (Former Warden)
AABG, AHA, BJCP, HBD, Etc., Et. al ...


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Date: Wed,  2 Aug 2006 19:27:58 -0400
From: Chris Farmer <cfarmer at cisunix.unh.edu>
Subject: Brewing with Adjuncts

I'm new to home brewing and am currently conditioning my second batch 
(wich hopefully will end up as a strong belgian ale or barleywine).  My 
question is - does anybody know of any books or have any suggestions 
about brewing with adjuncts.  I'm looking for the most complete guild 
to herbs/cerial grains/other adjuncts.  I'm not much of a cook and 
don't have a whole lot of experiance with seasoning but I assume that 
probaby most every adjunct that can work in a beer has been used in a 
beer I just need to learn about each one.  My ultimate goal is to be 
able to make spiced christmas type beers and barley wines (light beers 
also) that would be otherwise impossible to find in the stores.

~Farmer


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Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 22:18:09 -0400
From: "Scott and Lois Courtney" <courtney03 at iquest.net>
Subject: Trip to Bristol, UK

> Hello all from a long-time lurker... 
> 
> I'm planning a business trip to Bristol, England, and then to Derby,
> England - Any suggestions?   I was there for a week last year in November,
> but didn't find anything extra-ordinary.
> 
> Any suggestions for areas near Bristol or Derby (I'll have a 'hire car')
> would be appreciated - my impression of English beer is somewhat tainted
> by my last visit.
> 
> Thanks,
> Scott Courtney




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