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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org


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Contents:
  Future worldwide malt shortage? ("Cave, Jim")
  Re: Experimental Base (stencil)
  Agave syrup as a fermentable? ("David Banass")


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Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 08:20:36 -0700
From: "Cave, Jim" <Cave at psc.org>
Subject: Future worldwide malt shortage?

Yesterday, I drove from Calgary to Vancouver and decided to phone
Gambrinus to see if I could pick up 4 bags of ESB malt ($26.20 Cdn/25 kg
bag if you buy less than 20 bags).  The manager said he'd wished I'd
given them a bit more notice, but he phoned back and said they could
provide me with 4 bags.  I've been there several times before and they
have been quite accommodating.  I got into a discussion with the manager
there, Mattias.  He said that Gambrinus is running at full capacity and
demand for their product is high.  He indicated that worldwide demand
for malt is increasing at 5% per annum and there are no new producers of
malt coming on-line in the foreseeable future.  The maltsters are just
able to meet current demand for malt.  He's expecting huge increases in
malt prices in the coming years. I told him that I'm making a weizen in
the next couple of weeks and he said that despite very high increases in
wheat prices, there is huge demand for wheat malt.  

I've brewed side-by-side bitters (identical recipes): one with Beestons
floor-malted Maris Otter and the other being made with Gambrinus ESB.
The malt profiles of the two beers were virtually identical.

I've looked at some of the homebrew shops on-line and found that they
typically charge $80 US per 50 lb bag.  Is this typical?

Jim Cave



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Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:26:56 -0400
From: stencil <etcs.ret at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: Experimental Base

It must be steam engine time.  An article in last week's
Science News  < http://tinyurl.com/2ownvf > speaks of the
increasing application of the scientific method in
gastronomy.  Most apropos of this thread is the quote,

>Aiming to clean the culinary books for chefs to come, [Chef Herve] This 
>zeroed in on "culinary proverbs," tips included at the end of many recipes. 
>Many of these helpful hints have persisted for centuries without being tested, 
>This noted, such as advice to cut the heads off suckling pigs immediately 
>after taking them out of the oven to keep their skin crispy, or the assertion 
>that mayonnaise will fail if it is made by a woman who is menstruating. He 
>began collecting and testing these old wives' tales, and today he has more 
>than 25,000 in a database, about 100 of which have been explored in his labs. 

>From my own standpoint it's the negative data that would
seem to be most valuable:  "I used cheap'n'easy Procedure A
and I employed tedious and expensive Procedure B and no one
could taste any difference.  So I'll keep on using B 'cause
it's cool."

stencil sends



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Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:56:39 -0500
From: "David Banass" <dbanass at jhmetrology.com>
Subject: Agave syrup as a fermentable?

I was curious as if any ne ever tried Agave Syrup as a post boil
fementable.
 I found this on the web wich describes the complexity of the sugar.
"To produce organic agave syrup, juice is expressed from the core of the
agave.
 The juice is then selected to become dark agave syrup or is filtered
to create a light agave syrup. The unfiltered dark liquid contains many
minerals
and retains a natural and unique flavor, with a slight hint of a
vanilla-like aroma.
The light has the natural solids removed through a fine filtration
process, creating
a liquid that can be used in recipes that require a more neutral base
that can be
colored. 
As with the creation of all agave syrups, the light and dark liquids are
then heated,
causing thermic hydrolysis which breaks down the carbohydrates into
sugars. The 
main carbohydrate is a complex form of fructose called inulin or
fructosan. The 
filtered juice is concentrated to a syrup-like liquid a little thinner
than honey.

Fructose is a simple sugar found mainly in fruits and vegetables. Due to
the predominance
of fructose in ELF's agave syrup, our organic agave syrup is much
sweeter than
sucrose but has the same caloric value as sucrose (table sugar). Thus, a
smaller
amount yields the same sweetness but fewer calories than sucrose. This
gives agave
syrup advantages in both the food industry and the health of the
consumer."
Looks like an Imperial Vienna Lager might be in order!

Independent Brewbakers Union



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