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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator


Contents:
  Ice to chill wort (willa)
  AHA Conference rumors  (Darryl Richman)
  re: AHA Judging (Darryl Richman)
  Soda kegs, and warm weather in the east (Mark.Nevar)
  Automash, 7 Gal Carboys, Germany Part 1 (Norm Hardy)
  Flowers in beer (Drew Lawson)
  Competition (Todd Enders - WD0BCI )


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Archives are available from netlib at mthvax.cs.miami.edu


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Date: Fri, 19 Oct 90 08:28:33 PDT
From: willa at hpvclwa.vcd.hp.com
Subject: Ice to chill wort

> From: mike_schrempp%29 at hp4200.desk.hp.com
> Subject:     Wort chilling
> .
> . 
> I froze a 5 quarts of water and threw it into 1.5 gallons of boiling wort. I
> calculated this would bring it down to 65degrees. Well, after 10 minutes it
> was down to 59 and I pulled out about a 1 quart block. I guess there was
> quite a bit of cooling through the sides of the pot.
> .
> .

Mike:

How did you calculate the effect of the ice on the water?  Did you account
for the (substatnial) energy required to convert ice at 0C to water at 0C?


. . .Will

Will Allen
HP Vancouver Division
willa at vcd.hp.com  or  ...!hplabs!vcd!willa  or  Will ALLEN / HP5400/UX

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Date: Fri, 19 Oct 90 09:04:05 -0700
From: darryl at ism.isc.com (Darryl Richman)
Subject: AHA Conference rumors 

> Well the latest rumor about the 1991 AHA National Conference is not good.  It 
> seems that for whatever reason, the AHA and Boston University were unable to 
> come to an agreement, so the conference will not be held in Boston.  Instead 
> it will be held in Manchester, New Hampshire.
>  - Chuck Cox (uunet!bose!synchro!chuck) - Hopped/Up Racing Team -

This is really a shame because Boston offers as many opportunities for
fine beer as the Bay area gave us last year.  I thought that Boston had more
colleges than any other city--can't they talk with some of the others?

But another of your comments struck a note I've heard sounded many times
before:  "Given the high cost of attending the conference..."  Is $250
plus hotel and travel really that expensive for a 3 day conference including
a several meals?  It seems to me that I've seen many other conferences
in the computer industry that don't offer as much for more money (although
everyone hopes to get their company to pay for the attendance).  It really
does cost $20/head to get rubber chicken, and, as the Falcons disovered
last year, a very small room costs $350 to rent for the evening.  It's
not like the AHA was making 100% profit on this either--the last issue
had an abbreviated budget sheet and I noticed that the conference brought
in $70k and spent $50k.  (Do you think they could spend some of that $20k
on a little more beer at the MJ lunch?  I got only the tiniest of sips
of the Peche.)  In fact, the $20k seems to be the margin that AHA runs
on, on annual revenues of $370k.  At about ~5%, that's pretty close to
non-profit, which is what the AHA is supposed to be.

		--Darryl Richman

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Date: Fri, 19 Oct 90 09:43:57 -0700
From: darryl at ism.isc.com (Darryl Richman)
Subject: re: AHA Judging

I'm so sad that I was out on a business trip (Hi Chuck!) when this started.
The AHA is everyone's favorite whipping boy;  I've been known to engage
in a little bashing myself.  It certainly is easy to do, but the question
is, how can it be done better.  The regional first round has been resisted
by the AHA for quite a while, but I'm happy to hear that they have finally
given in.  The first round *has* always been a disaster, and I have heard
that the Boulder Police Chief was not going to put up with any more
kidnappings off the street.  The "Beds for Brewers" was a joke with
only a few crazies responding.  (after all, if you only get 2 weeks
of vacation, and one of them goes to the Conference, how can you
justify spending the other one in Boulder, especially to the non-
brewing spouse?)

The second round this last year had more BJCP judges than ever before.
It was my impression that there were 2 or 3 BJCPers at each table
and a few hangers-on as well.  (At the Scotch Ale table, there were 3
BJCP judges and two others).  It would be nice if the judges were
scheduled for categories, which is what the Falcons try to do.  (e.g.,
ask all of the prospective judges to specify three categories they feel
qualified for and then place them by preference.)  This provides some
control and guarantees that each table has as many qualified judges
as are available, assuming you have any faith in the BJCP.

Now, regardless of your opinion of the worth of the BJCP
exams and ratings, it is a screening process that selects
for people who are interested in beer (for more than its alcohol
level) and beer styles, and have an idea of what the different styles
are supposed to be about.  Which is certainly a step up from what
was available before.  It is impossible to recruit a thousand
Michael Jacksons (or even Chuck Coxes), so there is always going to
be some variation in the judging.  Furthermore, inexperienced
judges are relying on the AHA to tell them what most of the styles
are like.  If you've ever looked closely at the category descriptions
in the contest, you'll realize that somewhere around half of them
don't say anything about the style at all, and none of them are,
by any stretch, complete.  The AHA ought to look at their judging form
and write a set of comments for each style.  The Falcons have been
trying to do this as a background project for our own use in our
competitions and for our Troubleshooters Corner tastings at each meeting.

Papazian has said on previous occassions that the AHA was
not going to market a beer doctor kit, but they could at
least go to the effort of writing a useful doctoring guide so that
the rest of us can do it in a consistent fashion.  I run Dr. Beer
sessions for the Maltose Falcons' training (cramming?) classes that
we put on prior to giving the BJCP exam each year.  I'm not going to
claim that my sessions are repeatable from year to year, but it
would be useful to have some repeatability and consistency with the
rest of the world.

I guess that I believe the AHA could be doing the most good by directing
some research into practical matters and publishing the results.  We
have come a long ways from Prohibition Ale, but we still need more
information.  Sorry about being so long winded.

		--Darryl Richman



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Date: Fri, 19 Oct 90 12:18:21 mdt
From: Mark.Nevar at hp-lsd.cos.hp.com
Subject: Soda kegs, and warm weather in the east

I finally got some soda kegs to use.  I released the pressure in one and
looked inside.  Now the questions.  

I know I should replace the o-rings, but how many are there ?  Just the
large one and the two on the valves ?  Or are there more ?  Do I take
the valves off ? Do I need a special tool ?

Please help.  I need it.  I want to keg soon.  My kegs are pin-type, BTW.


The North East had a warm couple of weeks in early October.  I had just
bottled my Rasberry Stout before the heat wave and my XMAS beer was in the
secondary.  Now, the XMAS beer (which had been dormant) has started
bubbling again. The SG hasn't changed, so I assume it is CO2 coming
out of solution.  I would have bottled it, except fot the stout.
I tested one after 2 weeks in the bottle and, even chilled, it was a 
gusher.  The taste needs time to mellow out, so I checked my 
remaining bottles and, since they were warm, they were even gushier.
I use Grolsch botles, so I relieved the pressure in all of them.o

My question is this:  Is the gushiness a result of CO2 coming out of
solution, over-priming (I don't think so), infection (tastes fine), or
bottling to soon (again, I don't think so) ?

So, I haven't bottled my XMAS beer for fear of the CO2 syndrome, although
it has never happened to me before.  Alas, the cooler weather is here.
I will bottle soon.  But I want to KEG it!!

Mark Nevar



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Date: Fri, 19 Oct 90 19:16:21 PDT
From: polstra!norm at uunet.UU.NET (Norm Hardy)
Subject: Automash, 7 Gal Carboys, Germany Part 1

The AutoMash is a wonderful way to stop making "handcrafted" beers.  It is
fully programmable for the times and temperatures you want for the mash.  Set
it and forget it.  A friend of mine says it has helped the quality of his
beers immensely and swears by it.  He says he paid $550 for it.

Take the 7 Gal carboy and fill it with a solution of baking soda and let sit
for a week or two.  Then rinse, rinse, and rinse.  Then sanitize.  It works.

The Germany Part 1 article is available for only $10 with a self-addressed
stamped envelope....no, no, I'm just kidding of course.  John Polstra has
the achived copy and will gladly send you a copy.

Norm Hardy (I wish I were at Andech's)


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Date: Sat, 20 Oct 90 21:07:39 -0400
From: dlawson at grebyn.com (Drew Lawson)
Subject: Flowers in beer

Well, I am getting the money together to start my first batch.
In the mean time, I have to get my brewing pleasures vicariously.
There is one thing that I have been wondering about.  I have read
through Papazian's book, and he emphasizes in several places that
hops are flowers (ergo delicate, volitile, etc).  I also know that
many flowers (marigold, nasturtium) have been used as seasonings
before the fast food era.
 
My question then, is whether anyone knows of/has experimented with
the use of flowers other than hops (I think I saw a rose beer
message somewhere) in brewing.  I would imagine that there would
be a lot of possibilities, but I don't want to repeat other's
bad batches if possible.  (It might cause me to start worrying.)
 
  [If I missed any of the typing errors it's bacause I
   only have commercial beer to keep me from worrying.]
 
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| If you aren't part of the solution,           | Drew Lawson             |
| you are part of the precipitate.              | dlawson at grebyn.com      |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Date: Sun, 21 Oct 90 21:18:48 -0500
From: Todd Enders - WD0BCI <enders at plains.NoDak.edu>
Subject: Competition

     Ignoring whether the judging in homebrew competitions is up to snuff, I
am wondering just what homebrew competitions are available between the local
level and the national level.  

     I am interested in maybe submitting a brew or two, but we have no local
judging around here (as far as I know), and submitting something to the 
national competition is a bit daunting.  It'd be nice to see a list of regional
judgings posted periodicaly.  What about entering a competition outside of your
region (for instance is it kosher for me to submit an entry to a west coast
competition?)?

===============================================================================

Todd Enders - WD0BCI                  ARPA: enders at plains.nodak.edu
Computer Center                       UUCP: ...!uunet!plains!enders
Minot State University                  or: ...!hplabs!hp-lsd!plains!enders
Minot, ND  58701                     Bitnet: enders at plains

     "The present would be full of all possible futures,
      if the past had not already projected a pattern upon it" - Andre' Gide

===============================================================================


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End of HOMEBREW Digest #522, 10/22/90
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