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


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Contents:
  Beer and Beer' law (Fred L Johnson)
  beer staling (Aaron Martin Linder)
  FOAM Cup Update, More Prizes, High Plains BOY (philosopher)
  Re: Ageing Beer (Alan Semok)


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JANITORs on duty: Pat Babcock (pbabcock at hbd dot org), Jason Henning,
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Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 06:57:44 -0400
From: Fred L Johnson <FLJohnson52 at nc.rr.com>
Subject: Beer and Beer' law

Steve asks about A.J.'s comment that beer doesn't follow Beers law. 
 From my own reading in years past, I concluded that the phenomenon of 
beers not following Beer's law was simply because because of instrument 
limitations, not because of a true departure from Beer's law. When 
light transmission is low, the instruments--at least the older 
ones--simply didn't respond linearly. To measure 
absorbance/transmission on darker beers, one should dilute the darker 
beers to get them into the range of the instrument in which it responds 
linearly.

If there is more to the non-linearity phenomenon than this, I'd like to 
hear it.

Fred L Johnson
Apex, North Carolina, USA



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Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 10:28:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: Aaron Martin Linder <lindera at umich.edu>
Subject: beer staling

I am currently trying to trace the source of some beer staling problems i 
seem to be having.  maybe you can give me some suggestions or share 
experiences.

I would like to be able to keep beer for 2-6 months, depending on the 
beer, in a keg in my fridge or in bottles at room temp.  recently, i 
changed several operating procedures and equipment/process parameters, and 
i am in the process of trying to find out which changes have been 
detrimental to my beer stability.

In the past I used a 5 gallon gott cooler w/ fly sparging and bottle 
conditioning.  I racked to secondary for a few weeks and had a clear beer 
at bottling.  i used iodophor as brewery sanitizer and baked my bottles 
to sanitize them, using oxygen barrier caps to seal them.  i was able to 
have fresh, delicious beer for several months, sometimes 6-9 months for 
some beers.  it changed character but never staled.

Recently I changed the following parameters:

 -mash in an aluminum pot
 -use a batch sparge w/ initial mash-in, hot water addition for mashout, 
drain kettle, add hot water, and drain again.  i get fairly clear wort, 
though a bit cloudier than using fly-sparging.
 -sanitize all equipment using star-san
 -keg beers after having pushed out an entire keg's worth of star-san. 
rack through the beer out line/ pressurize to 40-45 psi overnight, adjust 
down to 2 psi to serve.
 -i no longer use a secondary; i just rack after primary fermentation is 
complete.  i've also racked for a few days at 45F to get a bit more yeast 
out.

In addition, i recently bottled a six pack to see if my kegging is the/a 
problem and found the bottled beer appears to be aging somewhat poorly as 
well, hard to tell if it is aging at the same rate or not yet.

I've noticed a few of my light summer beers have started to darken a bit 
after a month in the keg.  the last few glasses out of the keg are 
definitely darker and stale tasting.

any ideas on what is most likely my problem?

aaron linder
ann arbor, mi



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Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 14:17:03 -0400
From: philosopher at alemakers.com
Subject: FOAM Cup Update, More Prizes, High Plains BOY

The entry window for FOAM Cup 2006 is fast approaching. FOAM Cup is an  
AHA/BJCP Sanctioned Competition. We will accept entries September  
1-15, 2006, and we will judge September 22 and 23. Our on-line  
registration system is up and running now and it is easier than ever  
this year. Visit the FOAM web site at www.alemakers.com, and click on  
the FOAM Cup link. Get the rules and all of the information there too.  
FOAM is very happy to have the High Gravity Homebrew and Winemaking  
shop in Tulsa as primary sponsor and shipping destination for FOAM Cup  
2006. Check them out at www.highgravitybrew.com.

Our list of sponsors and prizes has continued to grow. We will award  
custom cast FOAM Cup medallions for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in every  
category. High Gravity is donating a Shirron plate chiller for the BOS  
beer brewer and 12 pounds of quality honey for the BOS mead maker. We  
also have lined up several other excellent sponsors, all of them  
donating great prizes. See the current sponsors list on the FOAM Cup  
web site. We will award special prizes for the Best Extract Beer, Best  
All-grain Beer, and Best Beer from a New Brewer. The homebrew club  
scoring the most points will be FOAM Cup Champion.

FOAM Cup is one of seven regional competitions in the High Plains  
Brewer of the Year circuit. FOAM Cup points will count toward the 2006  
High Plains Brewer of the Year and Club of the Year. You can learn  
more about the High Plains competition at  
www.kcbiermeisters.org/NewHighplains.htm.

Questions? Want to judge? Please send a message to Organizer Jeff  
Pursley at philosopher at alemakers.com.



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Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 19:32:51 -0400
From: Alan Semok <asemok at mac.com>
Subject: Re: Ageing Beer


On 21 Aug 2006 21:02:06 , "Reif and Angie Hammond" <arhammond at  
comcast.net>:

> ...wondering what the best aging conditions are for this beer (or  
> any other
> that improves with age)...ambient in my basement (which
> varies from 50 to 65, or keep it in my beer cooler at 45.   
> Suggestions?

Cooler is probably best if you have room...though for whatever it's  
worth, I have cellared about 20 years worth of Thomas Hardy, Bigfoot,  
Celebration, Foghorn, a few Trippels, as  well as homebrewed  
Barleywines, Scotch Ales, Meads, and IPA's at an ambient cellar temp  
of around 60F and all have done quite well.  A recently tasted  
Hardy's 1987 was in fine shape.   Your basement should be fine.

cheers, all...
AL


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