HOMEBREW Digest #5108 Sun 10 December 2006


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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  Adding yeast when bottling. (jbryant)
  Sour cherries (Delano DuGarm)
  Robert's looking for Sour Cherries... not same as tart ("Christian Layke")
  sour cherries for beer (Raj B Apte)
  RE: saving yeast ("William C. Tobler")
  Mash PH at room temp or mash Temp ("dohmfamily")

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 09:03:31 -0500 From: <jbryant at wrsystems.com> Subject: Adding yeast when bottling. My very first brew wouldn't carbonate. It was a brown ale at about 5%abv, so nothing crazy. The beer spent one week in the primary and two in the secondary. After three weeks in the bottle nothing was happening. I assured the proprietor of my local homebrew shop that I hadn't forgot to add the priming sugar or stir it in well. Based on his advice I added a few grains of dry yeast to each bottle. I used the tip of a pointy knife to add the yeast. Of course I had to recap, but caps are cheap. It worked great! A week later I had fully carbonated beer. I had no more than a wisp of sediment in each bottle. I forgot what yeast I used to ferment, but it was extremely flocculent. So much yeast dropped out that there wasn't enough in suspension to carbonate the beer. Plus, being my first beer I was being overly cautious about everything and made sure I didn't siphon up ANY trub. Jason in Norfolk, VA Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 06:10:26 -0800 (PST) From: Delano DuGarm <ddugarm at yahoo.com> Subject: Sour cherries Sour cherries (or as I prefer to think of them, pie cherries) are available over much of the United States, but they aren't easy to find. The principal reason for this is their short season, I think. In Virginia the season is mid June, while out here in Minnesota they are ripe for a short period in early July. Different varieties are grown in different parts of the county -- we grow Northstars and Meteors in the Gopher State. Your best bet in finding cherries is to call your local extension service, and quiz them on local availability. I've never seen sourcherries for sale at our rather huge farmer's market, but have harvested them from neighbors yards. Ask first. Failing fresh, local produce, I guess you could try dried, frozen, or canned products, but I prefer the real stuff, which is why I planted three Northstar trees in our front yard. Delano DuGarm St. Paul, Minn. ddugarm at yahoo.com Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2006 09:58:15 -0500 From: "Christian Layke" <clayke at wri.org> Subject: Robert's looking for Sour Cherries... not same as tart A nursery that will custom graft unusual varieties recently did a search for me for the Schaerbeek/Schaarbeek (French and Dutch spellings) in the USDA repository database and through all his contacts and found no record of the variety in the U.S. Even in Europe they are a very minor variety. While I share your seeming preference for dark red cherries, I think the Montmorency cherries would make for a suitable substitution, especially if you need them for a stout where color would be irrelevant. They are tart and have nice flavor. It would be interesting to find someone in Belgium or the Netherlands who could do some analysis on the Schaarbeek fruit so we know how local cultivars compare in terms of acidity, sugar content and astringency. I've ordered a Northstar from http://www.cumminsnursery.com/tartcherry.htm to ensure a local source of dark red sour cherries. No affiliation, etc. Cheers, Christian Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 10:30:30 -0800 (PST) From: Raj B Apte <raj_apte at yahoo.com> Subject: sour cherries for beer All, In my experience the best (and only) option for cherries is IQF Montmorency. They are easy to find: last year I bought a 40# box from a Michigan outfit that had distribution in my state. I drove 20 miles to the local freezer (12 acre freezer, I believe, with 36 truck loading bays) and picked them up. Start with www.usacherries.com/downloads/wholesale_guide.pdf or just google iqf montmorency. They are available from Michigan, Washington, or Oregon. IMHO the pit is critical for good flavor. Most IQFs are de-pitted, so I recommend buying the pits if you can (often only in June/July during the season). Mahleb is a decent substitute. Enjoy, raj Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 08:55:04 -0600 From: "William C. Tobler" <wtobler at houston.rr.com> Subject: RE: saving yeast Paul is asking about saving yeast, Wyeast has a very good procedure for Homebrewers to wash their yeast. Here is the link. http://www.wyeastlab.com/hbrew/hbyewash.htm Your thoughts were right on track. You use boiled and cooled water in three separate jars. I use 3 mason jars half full of water which I put in my pressure cooker for 20 minutes to sterilize. I think boiling would work equally good. I usually don't get to the third jar as the yeast in the second jar looks clean enough for me. I use it within one month usually, but it will keep longer. Use your nose and taste buds before you pitch to make sure its ok, and have some dry yeast on hand in case it's not ok. At least you can still brew. Sense it has a shelf life, I would just pitch the whole thing. If you want, on brew day, decant off the water and get the yeast awake with a little wort. Hope this is what you are looking for. Cheers! Bill Tobler Lake Jackson, Tx Brewing great beer in South Texas Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 14:09:52 -0600 From: "dohmfamily" <dohmfamily at juno.com> Subject: Mash PH at room temp or mash Temp When taking mash PH readings 5.3 to 5.6 is said to be best PH for mash . But no one seems to say if this reading is at mash temp of 150 or room temp of 70. There would be .3 difference in PH from 150 to 70 degrees. I normally cool sample to 70 degrees and take reading. If between 5.3 and 5.6 I say good enough. Is this the correct way to take readings or should I be compensating for temp difference by deducting .3PH from my room temperature reading. Return to table of contents
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