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


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Contents:
  Greenland ice cap beer launched ("Peter A. Ensminger")
  Re: Sankeys (Jeff Renner)
  RE: Pumpkin Beer ("Bernd Neumann")
  re: kirin beer, first press, Japanese sake ("David Lewinnek")
  how would you explain this? (leavitdg)
  RE: Subject: Dubbel Trubbel? (Steven Parfitt)
  water testing and Samichluas (Paul Waters)
  Re:Dubbel Trubbel? (Nate Wahl)
  Malt free beer?? ("Steve Dale-Johnson")
  Re: Pumpkin, odd ingredients, First Pressing wort ("Doug Hurst")
  re Kirin first pressing ("Pat Casey")


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Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2006 01:30:04 -0500
From: "Peter A. Ensminger" <ensmingr at twcny.rr.com>
Subject: Greenland ice cap beer launched

A "benefit" of global warming ... A brewery in Greenland is producing 
beer using water melted from the ice cap. See: 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5234194.stm

Cheers!
Peter A. Ensminger
Syracuse, NY
Apparent Rennerian: [394, 79.9]



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Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 08:46:47 -0500
From: Jeff Renner <jsrenner at umich.edu>
Subject: Re: Sankeys

"A. J. deLange" <ajdel at cox.net> wrote:

> There is a tool (available from Sabco for relatively big bucks)  
> which allows the spear to be removed safely and under control. Jeff  
> Renner has posted a scheme using a levering principal which works  
> but be careful. Even without gas pressure that spring is pretty hefty,

Actually, my post uses a lever to reinstall the spear, not to remove  
it.  Once you release ALL pressure, you can pry out the flat  
retaining ring with a very small screwdriver, then use a pair of  
pliers to turn the spear ~1/8 turn counter-clockwise (that's "anti- 
clockwise" for much of the rest of the English speaking world).  Then  
just pull it out.

You can read my most recent (I think) post on the procedure at http:// 
www.hbd.org/hbd/archive/4027.html#4027-14.

There are also some illustrations of a similar procedure at http:// 
home.insightbb.com/~benschoep/keg/sankey.htm.

BTW, I normally fill kegs through the opening and reinstall the spear  
rather than filing with the spear in place.  But I have done that  
using a tap with the anti-back-flow "pea" removed.

Jeff

- ---
Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, jsrennerATumichDOTedu
"One never knows, do one?"  Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943




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Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2006 14:25:18 +0000
From: "Bernd Neumann" <homebrewz at hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: Pumpkin Beer



I've made pumpkin ale by two methods: using unbaked pumpkin meat, and using 
baked pumpkin meat carmalized in an oven. My pumpkin ale has always turned 
out better by using the uncooked pumpkin meat. I cube it small, about 1/2 
inch chunks, and since I brew all grain, it cooks in the mash. I use about 6 
to 7 pounds of pumpkin meat for 5 gallons.

I plan to brew this years batch this weekend.

Bernd Neumann
Howes Cave, NY



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Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 09:30:50 -0500
From: "David Lewinnek" <davelew at gmail.com>
Subject: re: kirin beer, first press, Japanese sake

My guess about the "first pressings" term is that the Japanese use the
same term for for the brewing of beer and for sake (aka rice wine,
although it's not strictly a wine).  With sake, the mash is
traditionally placed in a cloth bag, which is analagous to a beer
brewer's lauter tun.  Most producers press the bags multiple times in
machines.  The first drippings, or first pressing, or first running,
are widely assumed to have more of the volatile compounds that
contribute to complex flavors.  A sake that can claim to only use
first pressings, and not the results from subsequent pressings, will
proudly state this on the label and then charge a premium (although
not as much as a sake only using first drippings).  One of the terms I
have heard for this is ichi-ya suzuku, which roughly translates to
"overnight drippings".  It sounds classier in Japanese than in
English.

Although I don't know the actual term used by Kirin, my guess is that
there's a single Japanese phrase for both first runnings and first
pressings, and you would need a translator familiar with both sake and
beer brewing to translate it correctly, or to know that first pressing
doesn't really apply to beer.

John Gauntner's website at http://www.sake-world.com/html/brewing-process.html
explains sake brewing much better than I ever could.

- --Dave Lewinnek


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Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2006 13:21:27 -0500
From: leavitdg at plattsburgh.edu
Subject: how would you explain this?

Ok here is a conundrum (for me).  I brewed an Oktoberfest last late June. 
Bottled it a month ago.  Half went into a Pig (2.25 gal) and the rest went into
23  16oz bottles.

We had some folks over to sample, and in preparation I thought that I would get
my wife to sample the O'Fest with me.  The bottle one tasted just right: a
little malty, some hops, clear.  The pigged one was a bit harsh.  I don't think
that it is hops, but rather yeast bite.

Assuming that my sanitation is ok, could this simply derive from the different
size of the container, and the short time laggering? ie, the smaller bottles
could condition in a more rapid manner?

Again I find myself confused.
Darrell



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Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 11:09:54 -0800 (PST)
From: Steven Parfitt <thegimp98 at yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: Subject: Dubbel Trubbel?

Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 09:55:19 -0600
From: "Daniel, Steven J. \(JSC-NS\)[AND]"
<steven.j.daniel at nasa.gov>
Subject: Dubbel Trubbel?

>Howdy,

>I'm planning a 5 gallon Dubbel and I have a few 
>questions. 
>
>First, I'd like to know if any of you have made your 
>own dark candi sugar, and if so, what did you think 
>of the results?

I've been inverting and carmalizing cane sugar for
years and am quite pleased with it. I generally do a
complete 5# bag at once and put it in ball mason jars
while boiling hot, put the lids on and let them cool.
I have kept them for up to a year with no noticable
adverse effect.

 .....snip.....

>Second, I have acquired some recipes, and the 
>following one by Gordon Strong looks interesting, but

>many of the other recipes call for biscuit malt, and 
>this one has none.

I've made batches with and without biscuit (up to a
half pound) and it gives a nice breadlike flavor.
However the batches without were fine as well. 
 .....SNIP.....

A pound of special B is a lot for a 5 gallon batch! I
say this based on experience with it giving a biteing
quality that takes about six months to age out. I've
used DWC and MFB Special B in addition to some
Caravienna 120 that is similar.

>http://www.specialtymalts.com/tech_center/dubbel.html

1/3 # looks good although I usually stay with 1/4# any
more.
 .....SNIP.....

>Third, I plan to use either 1762 or 3787 yeast.  Does
>anyone know what New Belgium uses in their Abbey Ale 
>and at what temperature they ferment?

No, but 1214 works very well at 74-76F. I've
'Hot-Housed' at 84F to bottle condition it and it
ended up very nice. 
 ....snip....
> 
> >Steve Daniel

 
Steven, -75 XLCH- Ironhead Nano-Brewery 
http://thegimp.8k.com
Johnson City, TN [422.7, 169.2] Rennerian 
 
"There is no such thing as gravity, the earth sucks."
Wings Whiplash 
 - 1968



 


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Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 11:31:08 -0800 (PST)
From: Paul Waters <pwaters3 at yahoo.com>
Subject: water testing and Samichluas

Water testing
I'm looking for a reputable lab to test my brewing
water(s) and give results in a useful format for
brewing. Specifically, numbers that I can enter
directly into Promash.

Samichluas for Skorat
I brewed a Samichluas clone all grain 2 years ago I
have 1 bottle left. I got the recipe from the Clone
brew book by the Szamatulski's. I can't remember my
starting gravity but it was up there 1.100 plus. I put
it on top of WPL Oktoberfest yeast cake from a speed
lager that I made just to brew the Sami. 

I could only get it down to about 1.03-04 range. I
added wine yeast, didn't touch it. Then I tried a
champagne yeast and made a starter and kept stepping
it up with siphoned Samichlaus wort/beer but that
hardly did a damn thing. I thought about hitting the
clone with O2 when I added the champagne yeast but
didn't for fear of making a batch of sweet tasting
cardboard. I have since read that the brewery
krausen's the beer to complete the fermentation.

If you have Promash I can E-mail you the .rec file or
the session file. The session file might give you a
laugh. It was a group effort with some guys from the
brew club who brought some high gravity holiday beers
to the brew session. It was amazing the wort didn't
get contaminated. I think the recipe is on the right
track, the flavor profile was there to match the
commercial beer, it just is slightly sweet. So, I hope
you can get it to ferment completion and share how you
got it to ferment out.


 


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Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2006 15:39:00 -0500
From: Nate Wahl <oogiewawa at verizon.net>
Subject: Re:Dubbel Trubbel?

Steve Daniel asks about making dark candi sugar.  No problem, Steve, its 
easy to the point that I wouldn't ever buy the stuff again.

There are only two things that you need to be careful with.  First of 
all, molten sugar is very hot and holds a tremendous amount of heat, and 
readily sticks to your skin and everything else, so you have to be very 
careful.

Second, its a strange process, you have to get it to boiling and then it 
seems like it takes forever before anything happens, when all of a 
sudden the last of the water boils off; then you can go from clear 
bubbly sugar to charcoal flavored goo in a matter of a minute!

www.baking911.com has a wealth of information on the topic.  I've used 
the microwave technique successfully for both medium caramel (great in a 
bock or an ESB in small quantities!) to dark candi, after just a few 
ruined test batches.  Table sugar is cheap, and start small, so no big 
deal.  Quite fun and lots of things to try for non-beer purposes, too!

Cheers,
Nate Wahl
Oak Harbor, Ohio
64.3, 145.8


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Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2006 14:00:58 -0800
From: "Steve Dale-Johnson" <sdalejohnson at hotmail.com>
Subject: Malt free beer??

Well, as a disappointing resolution to some mystery illnesses I have just 
found out that I have significant allergies to barley, malt and wheat among 
other things.  The good news is that I do not have celiac disease, and my 
allergies are limited to "only"  barley, malt and wheat as far as beer is 
concerned.

In hopes of being able to maintain some sort of beer-ness on tap in the 
kegerator, I am contemplating an oat converted or chemical converted 
homebrew, maybe incorporating some combination of oats, rice, corn, 
buckwheat, or honey.  As these are all typically used as brewing adjuncts 
when they are used, I'm wondering about conversion.   Anyone with experience 
using the chemical Amylase Enzyme (as available from Paddock Wood), "beano" 
brewers or anyone experienced with converting a large amount of adjuncts 
with malted oats??

Any other suggestions would be welcome.  I have tried some of the gluten 
free rice syrup based "beers" available and while they compare favourably to 
Bud Light they are not what I'm after.

Steve Dale-Johnson
Brewing at 1918 miles, 298 degrees Rennerian
Delta (Vancouver), BC, Canada.



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Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2006 16:29:45 -0600
From: "Doug Hurst" <dougbeer2000 at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Pumpkin, odd ingredients, First Pressing wort


After Nate Wahl's impressive description of making pumpkin beer, I have 
little else to say.   I do second the idea of roasting the pumpkin for 60-90 
minutes at about 350F.  It's also important to use the smaller baking 
pumpkins sold with the other squash at the grocery store.  They do seem to 
taste better.

Those who don't use pumpkin in their pumpkin beer are really missing out on 
some excellent flavors.  Hair of the Dog brewing makes a beer with squash 
and another with beets.  The beet beer was suprisingly good.  I'm even 
considering trying to make a carrot beer!  Hey, if you can make carrot cake, 
you can make carrot beer.

Kirin's claim of using only the wort from the first pressing could possibly 
refer to the use of a mash filter such as the Meura 2001:
http://www.meura.be/html/mash_filtration.html
I believe this filter uses a bellows to press the liquid out of the wort.  
I'd guess that the first pressing would be very similar to using just the 
first runnings.


:Doug Hurst
Chicago, IL



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Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 10:45:21 +1100
From: "Pat Casey" <pat at bmbrews.com.au>
Subject: re Kirin first pressing

First press is a translation of ichiban shibori, a term used in sake brewing
to describe the first pressings from the rice mash - sake of course being
rice beer.

Pat



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