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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


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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



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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.


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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


 


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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 



 


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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


 


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