HOMEBREW Digest #5107 Wed 06 December 2006


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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  RE: Robert's looking for Sour Cherries... not same as tart Montmorency cherries (Peter Flint)
  Walk The Line on Barleywine and Strong Ale Stumble 2006 - Competition results (HamFon\)" <nelson@buildabeer.org>
  ACS HCl ("A.J deLange")
  saving yeast (Paul Waters)
  Re: old wort (Michael Hetzel)
  re: Robert's looking for Sour Cherries... not same as tart Montmorency cherries (RI_homebrewer)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 02:03:12 -0500 From: Peter Flint <peterflint at mindspring.com> Subject: RE: Robert's looking for Sour Cherries... not same as tart Montmorency cherries > Robert askes the age old question of where to find these fabled sour > cherries. > > As I remember, this discussion surfaces every fall when these great > brewers > are thinking about winter drinking stock. And from what I've > gathered is > that the Sour Cherry variety is next to impossible to find in this > country. I'm not quite sure what kind of sour cherry everyone is looking for, but it is probably a bit of an overstatement to say that it's not available in this country. However, it may be true to say that they aren't available out of season. I have about 8 pounds of sour cherries in my freezer right now that I'm saving for a cherry stout to be made later this winter. I'm lucky enough that my parents have a handful of sour cherry trees (not sure what kind exactly, but I can probably find out) and I was able to commandeer a portion of their bumper crop from this past summer. My experience is that you can find sour cherries in farmer's markets, produce stands, and directly from growers, IN SEASON (late June, July) but that they're next to impossible to find after that. At least in the East, they seem to be grown locally, but not widely marketed. Your best bet is to buy up a supply in the summer and freeze them until you're ready to use them. This works to your brewing advantage anyway, since supposedly they're better for brewing if they've been frozen and defrosted anyway (breaks down the cells walls or some such). My plan is to mix these sour cherries with organic sweet black cherry juice from my local health food store for a cherry stout. We'll see what the results are. If you're hoping to brew with sour cherries, you're best bet is probably to apply some of the patience we all have as brewers and buy out your local farm stand next summer. Peter NYC Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 06:35:52 -0500 From: "Nelson \(HamFon\)" <nelson at buildabeer.org> Subject: Walk The Line on Barleywine and Strong Ale Stumble 2006 - Competition results Here are the Best Of Show winners from the Walk The Line On Barleywine and Strong Ale Stumble 2006 homebrew competition presented by the Dunedin Brewers Guild from Dunedin, Florida. We had a total of 37 entries in the five BJCP style categories. There were several entries in the 40s, and competition for the Best Of Show award was very tight. Congratulations to the Best Of Show winners: Best Of Show - David Grymonpre (Tampa BEERS) for "The Farm's Barleywine Beginnings" Strong Ale 2nd BOS - Robert Wietor (and David Snow, Robert Watkins, Billy) (Central Florida Homebrewers) for "Monster IPA 2006" Imperial IPA 3rd BOS - Robert Mee (Tampa BEERS) for "The DarkDeuce" Belgian Dubbel Honorable Mention - Carl Davis (Dunedin Brewers Guild) for Strong Scotch Ale We also had an incredible Barleywine Festival (with 108 different beers and vintages - some of them "one of a kind") - Thanks to those of you who were able to join us for that! Also, thanks go out to all of the BJCP judges - coming from as far as Texas. We appreciate your help. Please see our web site (www.DunedinBrewersGuild.com) for a complete list of the winners in each style category. Cheers! Nelson Crowle - Competition Organizer Nelson at BuildABeer.org Nelson at DunedinBrewersGuild.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2006 12:45:49 +0000 From: "A.J deLange" <ajdel at cox.net> Subject: ACS HCl Since you guys seem interested here's whats on the label of Reagent, A.C.S. [American Chemical Society] grade hydrochloric acid Components: Water, Hydrochloric acid (the CAS numbers are given) Appearance: Free from suspended matter or sediment Assay (HCl): 36.5 - 38.0% Maximum Limits: Color (APHA) 10 [This is apparently 365.5 times the absorbance at 456 nm] Residue after Ignition 5 ppm Bromide (Br) 0.005% Sulfate (SO4) 1ppm Sulfite (SO3) 1ppm Extractable Organic Substances 5 ppm Free Chlorine(Cl) 1ppm Ammonium (NH4) 3ppm Arsenic(As) 0.01ppm Heavy Metals (as Pb) 1ppm Iron(Fe) 0.2 ppm Some surprises in here like the large amount of organic substances but then it turns out that a lot of the commercial production of HCl is as a byproduct of chlorination and or fluorination of organic substances. Now the fact that this label says the organics are at less than 5 ppm means only that. This lot of HCl could have been produced by the electrolytic process in which salt (muriatic means of or pertaining to brine) is electrolyzed and the released hydrogen and chlorine combined in which case the organics would probably be appreciably below 5 ppm. Most hardware store muriatic acid is probably used for cleaning brickwork and removing laitance from new concrete in preparation for flooring treatments but a lot of it winds up in swimming pools as a pH adjuster. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 06:35:41 -0800 (PST) From: Paul Waters <pwaters3 at yahoo.com> Subject: saving yeast Fellow Brewers Looking at doing my 1st attempt to save yeast. I have brewed onto yeast cakes before with great success. Now I want to save a yeast cake. I'm looking for some feed back for my 1st attempt. I brew in a glass carboy. What is the most sanitary way to get the yeast out. I worry about the wort that gets splashed on the side and dries. Is it safe to swish the last bit of beer around to suspend the yeast then pour it out over the dried wort into a sanitized jar? After the outside of the carboy has been swabbed with cheap vodka. Or, do I want to add a gallon or so of boiled water chilled to the same temp as the yeast cake and then swirl to loosen an siphon off? This way would take a much LARGER jar to hold all the stuff What about the Trub and other non yeast matter that ends up at the bottom of the carboy? After I get the yeast cake out and stored in a air tight jar in the refrigerator (what is the ideal storage temp?) what kind of shelf life could I expect? The way I envision the use of the yeast cake is I would take a sanitized spoonful and make a starter culture from that for the next batch. If it makes any difference this is a Lager Yeast I'm considering saving I'm Posting the on 2 lists as some times the posts dont make it Thanks in advance Paul W Mad Cow Brewing Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 07:19:56 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Hetzel <hetzelnc at yahoo.com> Subject: Re: old wort I agree with Alan Semok, and believe my beers benefit from aging (post fermentation) for two months or more. Note that this is a faith based belief, and not a fact based one. I too am a procrastinator, and a patient one at that. My meads sit for a year or more in the secondary or tertiary, and more in the bottle. Some of those meads were supposed to be carbonated, but the yeast pooped out long before and even after a few years they're still not carbonated. I just roll with the punches and enjoy them still. In the past however I've had a kegerator - my beers could be force carbonated. Now that the kegerator is gone (space didn't allow), I am back to bottling (at least I do the 22's now). Old habits die hard, and I've a carboy full of beer that needs to be bottled asap. It'll still carbonate if I do it soon, but if I don't.. my question is this (and I think Amos was getting at this) - if an added dosage of active yeast is required to ferment the bottling sugars (say 2/3 cups of dextrose/5 gal beer), about how much yeast is required? I've yet to add yeast at bottling but will probably need to start, especially with bottling stronger beers (and sparkling meads). Oh and one more thing, re: carboys. The standard milk crate works perfectly to hold and lift them. Cheers, Mike Hetzel Worcester, MA Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 15:30:49 -0800 (PST) From: RI_homebrewer <ri_homebrewer at yahoo.com> Subject: re: Robert's looking for Sour Cherries... not same as tart Montmorency cherries Hi All, In HBD# 5106 Steve Laycock responded to Robert Marshall's post about sources for tart/sour cherries. I've used freeze dried Montmorency cherries from Country Ovens in Wisconson (http://www.countryovens.com/). One pound of these freeze dried cherries is equal to 8 pounds of fresh cherries. They also have a small amount of sugar added to them. I've used these in both a brown porter and an imperial flanders red ale. They worked very well, but they are different from the sharbeek (sp?) cherries used in some Belgian beers. Sharbeek cherries are very small, and almost black. They are difficult to find, even in Belgium. Jeff McNally Tiverton, RI (652.2 miles, 90.0 deg) A.R. South Shore Brew Club Return to table of contents
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