HOMEBREW Digest #530 Mon 05 November 1990

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


Contents:
  Small bottles (Rich Simpson)
  Longevity of hops (Mark Beck)
  Re:  Homebrew Digest #529 (November 02, 1990) (Stephen Michael Hirsch)
  Truncated HBDs (Jay Hersh)
  Yeast ("David E. Husk")
  yeast culture (Darryl Richman)
  Re: yeast culture (Darryl Richman)
  re: large fermenters (Darryl Richman)
  RE>Homebrew Digest #529 (No (Rad Equipment)
  Scaleing up batches (Steven Muchmore)
  Rotokeg blues (Teague_Joel)
  Re:  Homebrew Digest #529 (November 02, 1990) (Kevin Karplus)
  Re:  Homebrew Digest #529 (November 02, 1990) (Kevin Karplus)
  brewpubs in Portland and Corvallis? (Marty Albini)
  Vierka Yeast (Paul L. Kelly)
  Sick Brew? (Greg Beary)
  Re: Romulan Ale (Kevin L. McBride)
  in defense of corn sugar (Geoffrey Sherwood)
  Re: Length of Homebrew Digest (Kevin L. McBride)
  My brewpot runneth over (Kevin L. McBride)
  Equipment upgrade time (Kevin L. McBride)

Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr at hplabs.hp.com [Please do not send me requests for back issues] Archives are available from netlib at mthvax.cs.miami.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 2 Nov 90 09:00:06 EST >From: Rich Simpson <simpson at paramax.encore.com> Subject: Small bottles I've been watching all of the discussions about sources for bottles with interest. In Massachusetts, the easiest solution for me has been to go to a local liquor store and buy bottles for the price of deposit. Now I've got a slightly different problem. I am going to be brewing a high-gravity Imperial Stout and I'd like to bottle it in smaller bottles like barley wine. My problem is that the stores I usually get my bottles only carry twist-off pony bottles in small sizes. My question is two-fold. What are some types/brands of beer to look for that come in small, recappable bottles. Where in the western suburbs of Boston is a good place to go looking for those bottles (either large recyclers or well-stocked liquor stores.) I'd prefer something near Acton or Marlboro. Thanks Rich Simpson rsimpson at encore.com Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 90 10:09 EST >From: Mark Beck <BECK%UOROPT at db1.cc.rochester.edu> Subject: Longevity of hops Dear readers, I have a question for those of you who like to buy supplies in large quantities. Who long will pelletized hops keep? Weeks? Months? I've noticed that when I buy hop pellets, sometimes the pellets are harder than usual. Is this a sign of age? Thanks for your replies in advance. Mark (beck at optics.rochester.edu) Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 90 10:49:13 EST >From: hirsch at eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Stephen Michael Hirsch) Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #529 (November 02, 1990) please remove me from the mailing list. Return to table of contents
Date: 02 Nov 90 11:05:19 EST >From: Jay Hersh <75140.350 at compuserve.com> Subject: Truncated HBDs Hi folks. now that the digest has grown longer mine seem to be showing up truncated. Has anyone else (particularly you COMPUSERVE users) experienced this?? It is very dismaying to have an excellent chuck cox diatribe cut off just as it is getting controversial!! Thanks. JH (Dr. BEER) P.S. Using Blueberries won't make your Romulan Ale Blue, it will make it a rose color, or slightly deeper reddish purple, not blue though. Return to table of contents
Date: Fri Nov 2 11:09:25 1990 >From: "David E. Husk" <deh7g at newton.acc.virginia.edu> Subject: Yeast Is the maximum % alcohol for each yeast tableted somewhere? Husk at virginia.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 90 07:26:55 -0800 >From: darryl at ism.isc.com (Darryl Richman) Subject: yeast culture > I tried to culture some Sierra Nevada yeast (what a great beer!) using a > modified version of the method in TCJOHB, but it didn't catch. Is the yeast > possibly too far gone to start up again? I have no idea how old the beer is > or how it has been handled. I've got two more bottles of SN Pale Ale, and > I'd really like to get some yeast from them, so any info sent my way would > be appreciated. Sierra Nevada uses a notch code on the side of the label that tells when it was bottled. There is a wide "index" notch. The other notches are all narrow, and about 1/16" apart. The first five give the binary number of the bottling day of the month, the next four give the month of the year, and finally the last four give the year of the decade. Sierra Nevada yeast is great stuff--it'll take quite a bit of abuse and still make a clean, clear beer at a wide range of temperatures. It is a vigorous fermenter and it flocculates well, forming a solid pack on the bottom of the bottle that is not easily disturbed. Often I can pour all of the beer out without getting any sediment. Good luck! --Darryl Richman Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 90 10:06:46 -0800 >From: darryl at ism.isc.com (Darryl Richman) Subject: Re: yeast culture Hmmm... well, I t*hthought* I said 'R"'it's not the first thing I've messed up since I've been back, and I suppose it's not going to be last either. Thanks for catching it; I hope it wasn't too much trouble. Also, they've messed up my mail over the last week or so, so you may have gotten some of it back... but it's su[pposed to be ok now. Thanksagai agains, I, --Darryl Richman Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 90 07:35:04 -0800 >From: darryl at ism.isc.com (Darryl Richman) Subject: re: large fermenters In HBD #527 Paul Kelly writes: >I believe that if I were to brew >say, 20 gallons at a time, that I'd be saving time as well as insuring that >the last drop of beer is further away than next weekend. My question is this: >what's good to use for a big fermenter? Are there food-grade buckets with >airtight lids that hold 20 gallons or so? Would a stainless steel 15 gal keg >work okay for fermentation? Do they even make stainless kegs anymore? I use a 30 gallon food grade "trash can" for my primary. It doesn't seal completely, but with a good starter, it quickly creates an overpressure that prevents anything else from getting in. I use a chest freezer with a thermostat to control the fermentation temperature, and I have a hand winch looped in the rafters of my garage to pick up the primary for racking. (Yeah, I ought to just get a pump and stop messing around, but I had the winch from a fencing project...) I know of several others that use 15 gallon kegs as fermentors. The only problem is getting them clean afterwards. These folks rely on cleaning with caustic, which is nasty stuff and its dust has a terrible tendency to float in the air. --Darryl Richman Return to table of contents
Date: 2 Nov 89 08:49:29 >From: Rad Equipment <Rad_Equipment at rad-mac1.ucsf.EDU> Subject: RE>Homebrew Digest #529 (No Reply to: RE>Homebrew Digest #529 (Novem Sorry for the double msg. in HBD #529. My mail server told me that my first attempt to send had gone "unread" and I believed it (silly me), and sent it again! Anyhow, just wanted to apologize for taking up extra space. On another topic, a few HBD's back someone was looking for Weisse glasses. The San Andreas Malts has a 20oz. club glass which has an "Imperial Pint" certification stamp etched in it and the club logo on it. We sell these for $5.00 each. The general shape of this glass fits what I understand to be a Weisse style. If you have MJ's Pocket Guide, the glasses shown on the upper half of pg. 24 "IN SUMMER" are the style I mean, almost a pilsner, but with more curved lines and a greater capacity. So, if this fits the bill let me know and I'll send some out via UPS. Russ Wigglesworth (Rad Equipment at RadMac1.ucsf.edu) or 415-474-8126 Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 90 12:17:59 -0500 >From: b5a at mace.cc.purdue.edu (Steven Muchmore) Subject: Scaleing up batches I have recently acquired a 12 gallon glass carboy and was wondering if recipes for 5 gallon batches could simply be doubled to make a 10 gallon batch. I would also like any comparisons/tips/hints/etc concerning brewing in larger batches. My experience is limited to 5 gallon batches, and before I invest twice as much malt, hops,etc I would like to have some advice on the pitfalls, joys, etc. Thanks in advance Steve Muchmore Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 90 24:13:00 CST >From: Teague_Joel at lanmail.ncsc.navy.mil Subject: Rotokeg blues I finally got around to using the Rotokeg I purchased on sale some time back (too ashamed to say when). It was a different experience for me in many ways since I have always bottled in the past. Anyhow, when I charged the keg for the first time an interesting thing happened: The concave base, on which the keg normally rest, bulged out making my keg look like a white basketball with a spigot. Yes, I used the right size cartridge and followed the directions. Since I work with high pressure systems I was a little concerned, however, not enough to trash the brew. Anyone else had a similar experience with these plastic beauties? Joel Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 90 10:04:30 PST >From: Kevin Karplus <karplus at ararat.ucsc.edu> Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #529 (November 02, 1990) Warning about brewing or storing food in trash containers. Trash containers are not (usually) made of food grade plastics. The plastics used could leach all sorts of nasty chemicals into your beer or food. I don't like using plastic containers in the best of circumstances, and certainly wouldn't use a non-food grade plastic. Kevin Karplus Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 90 10:28:21 PST >From: Kevin Karplus <karplus at ararat.ucsc.edu> Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #529 (November 02, 1990) According to "The International System of Units: Physical Constants and Conversion Factors" published by NASA in 1966, One ounce mass (avoirdupois) is 28.349523125 grams exactly. This is (or was then) the official definition of an ounce. A pound (avoirdupois) is 0.45359237 kilograms exactly. One U.S. fluid ounce is defined as 29.5735295625 milliliters. One U.S. dry gallon is 4.40488377086 liters. One U.S. fluid gallon is 3.785411784 liters. One British gallon is 4.546087 liters (approximately, not a definition). The publication also gives conversion factors for other units of volume: acre feet, board feet, bushel (US), cord, cup, dram (US fluid), cubic foot, gill (British), gill (US), hogshead (US), cubic inch, peck (US), pint (US dry), pint (US liquid), quart (US dry), quart (US liquid), stere, tablespoon, teaspoon, ton (register), and cubic yard. Some interesting units of mass too, including scruples, slugs, pennyweights, 4 different tons, hundredweights, drams, and carats. (Not stones---this is just US units, not British ones!) If anyone needs any of these conversion factors, I would be glad to type them in. Better yet, go to you local library and look up the publication---the diversity of weird units in the US system is amazing! Kevin Karplus Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 90 11:02:44 PST >From: Marty Albini <martya at sdd.hp.com> Subject: brewpubs in Portland and Corvallis? I'll be in Portland, OR the evening of 11/8 and Corvallis on 11/9. I'd appreciate any tips on interesting brew in either place. Please email--I've used enough bandwidth on this already. Thanks! - -- ________________________________________________Marty Albini___________ "Thank god for long-necked bottles, the angel's remedy."--Tom Petty phone : (619) 592-4177 UUCP : {hplabs|nosc|hpfcla|ucsd}!hp-sdd!martya Internet : martya at sdd.hp.com CSNET : martya%hp-sdd at hplabs.csnet US mail : Hewlett-Packard Co., 16399 W. Bernardo Drive, San Diego CA 92127-1899 USA Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 90 16:25:34 EST >From: pkel at psych.purdue.edu (Paul L. Kelly) Subject: Vierka Yeast Recently I have seen a couple of postings regarding Vierka wine yeast. I pur- chased some packages from Steinbart's this summer, and used two in a batch of apple melomel. After about four or five days, fermentation FINALLY began, but was sluggish, and didn't really seem to have the commitment to do the job, so I went ahead and pitched a packet of Red Star. Fermentation then went on the way I had been accustomed, but when I racked to the secondary, I noticed a horrid chemical smell had developed. Not one to worry, I allowed the batch to ferment on for another month and a half, but the chemical odor (and, as I discovered, matching taste) persisted. This is the only thing I have ever brewed that never made it into bottles. Based upon my personal experience, I would never use Vierka yeast again, and I would not recommend it to anyone else. BTW: I tried the Vierka simply because I had heard all sorts of horrible things about Red Star yeasts, and wanted to avoid any of the problems I had heard of. Now, somewhat wiser, I realize that I must endorse Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast, as I have always had excellent results with it. I currently have four batches of mead fermenting merrily along. Three of them are cranberry ginger meads -- I started one, and upon racking I accidentally allowed some to splash on my tongue, and it tasted so good I decided to make two more : ). In case of net.interest, I will post the recipe, but it pretty well conforms to the Barkshack Gingermead in CJOHB, with 6 oz. ginger, 12# honey, and 4 12 oz. packs of cranberries plugged in as variables. re: Romulan Ale Okay folks, the race is on! Who can find out how to make Romulan Ale WITHOUT just adding blue food coloring to some plain-jane beer? Should be a challenge, and I'd be perfectly willing to serve as a clearing house for judging the entries :). Somebody suggested mashing blue corn -- I don't know if that would work, but it seems worth a try. The big problem is that there just don't seem to be many blue things that are edible. Blueberries are probably out, as they tend to make things kind of purple when the juice is diluted. Flowers might be found that would impart the correct color, but flavor would still be of high priority. In any case, if anyone figures this out, PLEASE don't keep it a secret! Hoping to have the blues, Paul Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 90 14:59:13 MST >From: Greg Beary <gbeary at uswat.uswest.com> Subject: Sick Brew? Help ... I'm brewing my second batch of hb and have stumbled upon a problem. The first batch I brewed was from an extract with corn sugar added. As many have noted for another poster, it came out sweet and appley. I've heard that a British bitter should have a fruity component.... I just happen not to care for it. This lead me to do a extract/DME/hops batch on my second attempt. I boiled 1 can (4lbs) Mountmellick Brown Ale Extract 3 lbs Amber DME 3 ga Water at the end of the boil .5 oz Hop pellets in a hop bag 1lb crushed Crystal malt I then let the wort steep for bit (20-30 minutes). I then strained the wort into a primary that was about 1/3 full of ice. When it cooled (1 hour) I pitched the yeast at about 75 degrees. Now not happy to just try a new receipe, I also wanted to experiment with the yeast. Three days before brewing I decanted two bottles of Sierra Nevada STOUT into two classes. I then swirlled around the dregs in the bottom of the bottle and pitched it into a clean wine bottle with wort and added an air lock. Within 36 hours I had a "cake" forming on top of the wort. I let it go for another 36 hours and began the above mentioned brew. Now my problem. When I checked the primary 18 hours after pitching, it was going great, bubbling about every second. I then went on a business trip for 10 days, when I returned I was suprized to see that it was still bubbleing. At that time it was one bubble in a minute or two. Two days later it had stopped. Now today, 18 days after the wort was pitched, I went to prime and keg it. When I popped the top on the primary there was a brown "mat" floating on top of the brew. It was a slick dense starch with bubbles trapped in it. It was lite brown and didn't smell bad, it smelled like beer. Mildly worried that I introduced a disease with my yeast, I racked the brew into a class carboy, added water, blew some CO2 into the neck of the carboy, and added an airlock. Now having read this newsgroup for several months now, I realize lots of things could be happening: I could be the owner of a very sick brew I could have a healthy brew and don't know it One thought that crept threw my mind was that the Sierra Nevada Stout yeast could be a "top" fermenter. Maybe what I described is what you get with such a beast. Anyway, I'd be greatful to anyone who could guess what the heck is going on. I plan on letting the brew sit in the carboy for a week or two (it seemed cloudy as I was racking it) and then try again to keg it. Thanks in advance for any advice, Greg Beary (gbeary at uswest.com) Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 90 00:13:58 -0500 >From: gozer!klm at uunet.UU.NET (Kevin L. McBride) Subject: Re: Romulan Ale Thanks to those of you who have sent in suggestions on a recipe for Romulan Ale. I am presently working on a recipe (including small scale experiments) for a very strong, light, pale blue ale that will be exotically flavored. It will probably be at least 2 weeks before I get a chance to brew it. I have been somewhat negligent in my brewing duties lately and have gotten off to a very late start on my Christmas brewing. To make amends, I am brewing 2 batches this weekend. This means that all three of my fermenters will be tied up until bottling time. As soon as I brew the Romulan Ale recipe I will post it here and keep everybody posted :-) on it's progress. 0HINT: I'm using a basic Weissbier recipe as a jumping off point. What I'm jumping INTO is an entirely different matter. - -- Kevin L. McBride, President // Amiga: | Brewmeister, VP of Tasting, McBride Software // The computer | and Bottle Washer, Consulting Group, Inc. \\ // for the | McBeer Home Brewery uunet!wang!gozer!klm \x/ creative mind | Nashua, NH Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 90 07:35:58 PST >From: sherwood at adobe.com (Geoffrey Sherwood) Subject: in defense of corn sugar I guess being against corn sugar in brewing is the current religion, but I must put in a word for the other side. I am an extract brewer, using both British (Munton&Fison when I can get it) and US (Alexander's) malts. I have used up to three pounds of corn sugar in the past (when I used only 3.3 lb of extract) and still use a pound (with 5-6 pounds of extract). I have *never* gotten off flavors from the use of sugar. I have gotten cidery (and other fruity) flavors from fermenting at 80+ degrees. I have had beer brewed at a proper temp with SUCROSE that tasted cidery (not mine...). I find the effect of corn sugar to be just as advertised: it is a way to bump the alcohol content that is cheap (important when I was a student!) and that does not increase the body of the beer (they don't have to have a syrupy texture to have a kick). Perhaps it adds to the off flavors when fermented hot -- no data and no desire to obtain any! -- but when fermented at around 60F I have no problems with it. Affecting the body can be important with a new brewer. The thicker, chewier beer is something of an acquired taste -- especially when you are used to regular American beer. I started with light body, but now use much more malt plus a pound of crystal because I want that mouth feel. My brothers still prefer my old recipes.... In summary, if you don't want to use corn sugar, don't. But please do not condemn it out of hand, dismissing any recipe that contains it (as I have read on this list in the last few days). If someone has a problem with off flavors (I asked about a 'tea' aroma and taste) it is probably not the fault of the corn sugar unless a ridiculous amount is used. This may not be the party line, but there it is. geoff sherwood (By the way, the tea taste was almost completely gone by the time I kegged it. Hopefully it will be history by the time it is ready to drink.) Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 4 Nov 90 12:58:11 -0500 >From: gozer!klm at uunet.UU.NET (Kevin L. McBride) Subject: Re: Length of Homebrew Digest This has nothing to do with beer, but everything to do with reading the Homebrew Digest. Sorry about the length. In Homebrew Digest #529, botteron at bu-it.BU.EDU (Carol J. Botteron) writes: >Would it be possible for HD issues to be smaller (and more frequent)? >#528 is over 1000 lines long. Much as I enjoy HD, I can't read all of >every issue, and it's frustrating to see an irresistable topic in the >Contents and have to skim 950 lines to get to it. Not trying to make >extra work for the list keeper, but shorter HDs would be nice. A couple of mail reading packages exist that make it very easy to skip around within large messages (like HBDs) and find the things you want to read. If you fit into the overpaid underworked technoweenie category (as Chuck likes to call our breed), it shouldn't be too much effort to install ELM on your system or the mail subsystem that runs on top of GNU EMACS. If you don't fit into that category, ask your friendly neighborhood system administrator to install them. Even with a relatively dumb line oriented mail program like mailx (a lowest common denominator on many UNIX systems) it is fairly easy to skip forward from the table of contents to find the article you want to read. For example: Using mailx and the program 'pg' as the pager (you might also use 'more') I looked at the table of contents, found the article I wanted to read (yours) and used the '/' command to search forward until it found a line with your name on it. (i.e. the beginning of your article.) While I agree that I don't always have time to read everything, it is a relatively simple matter to save articles for later perusal and to do searches for the topics you want to read about. The total volume of traffic in the Digest is going to remain the same whether it all comes at once or broken up into 2 or 3 issues. For those of us who are making (and paying for) long distance phone calls to receive our mail, the large digest serves an important purpose. It is cheaper for me to receive 100K bytes of mail in one phone call than it is to split that same volume over 2 or more phone calls. All OPPOSED to making individual digest issues smaller... "Aye!" We now return to our regular program... - -- Kevin L. McBride, President // Amiga: | Brewmeister, VP of Tasting, McBride Software // The computer | and Bottle Washer, Consulting Group, Inc. \\ // for the | McBeer Home Brewery uunet!wang!gozer!klm \x/ creative mind | Nashua, NH Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 4 Nov 90 14:01:09 -0500 >From: gozer!klm at uunet.UU.NET (Kevin L. McBride) Subject: My brewpot runneth over Some thoughts on various topics: A good way to evaluate your brewing procedures is to brew two batches on the same day. You'll quickly find out where you need to get yourself better organized. I did. My spiced Christmas Ale is furiously bubbling away with a beautifully ugly krausen about 4 inches thick. I pitched the yeast about 24 hours ago and it started displacing air in about 2 hours. When I got up this morning it was going full tilt. I didn't have time to make a yeast starter on Friday so I just pitched the Whitbread Ale yeast directly into the fermenter. Due to the large amount of crud in the primary (from orange peel and ground ginger root that didn't get completely filtered out), I am fermenting this beer (5 gallons) in a seven gallon carboy with an airlock on top. The possibility of said crud clogging a blowoff tube and creating a large glass grenade would make me worry too much. My Wiessbier (for those family members who don't care for the exotic, or the dark) is also going well. I ad-libbed on the Sayandra Wheat Beer recipe in the TCJOHB, mashing 2 lbs. of wheat malt instead of 1. It's been going for about 18 hours. The fermenter is sitting here next to my workstation happily blowing gobs of foam out of the blowoff tube (As much fun to watch as a Lava Lamp.) This helps me to Relax and Not Worry while I work. I used Whitbread Ale yeast for this beer also. Well, enough rambling... Time to have a homebrew and get back to work. - -- Kevin L. McBride |Contract programming (on and offsite) |Brewmeister and President |X, Motif, TCP/IP, UNIX, VAX/VMS, |Bottle Washer MSCG, Inc. |Integration issues, Troubleshooting. |McBeer Brewery uunet!wang!gozer!klm |Reseller of ISC UNIX and Telebit Modems.|Nashua, NH Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 4 Nov 90 21:45:07 -0500 >From: gozer!klm at uunet.UU.NET (Kevin L. McBride) Subject: Equipment upgrade time Well, it's that time again... time to figure out what I'm going to buy for my Christmas present to myself. Last year it was a new CD player. This year I think it's going to be brewing equipment. What I really really need is a very large pot so that I can start doing full 5 gallon boils. This pot preferably has a spigot near the bottom so that I can gravity feed the hot wort into a chiller (another item for my wish list) and some sort of filter screen to keep the crud out of the tubing. Of course it is stainless steel and has a thick aluminum clad bottom to evenly distribute heat. Suggestions anyone? Has anyone seen (or does anyone own) equipment from a company called B.I.T.O.A. that advertises in Zymurgy? The drawing in their ad looks real nice. :-) Their 3 level, 3 pot, 3 burner, gravity feed system for mashing, sparging and boiling looks real neat. I haven't sent away for their non-free catalog. Does anyone know how much it costs? (the equipment, not the catalog :-) - -- Kevin L. McBride |Contract programming (on and offsite) |Brewmeister and President |X, Motif, TCP/IP, UNIX, VAX/VMS, |Bottle Washer MSCG, Inc. |Integration issues, Troubleshooting. |McBeer Brewery uunet!wang!gozer!klm |Reseller of ISC UNIX and Telebit Modems.|Nashua, NH Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #530, 11/05/90 ************************************* -------
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