HOMEBREW Digest #5386 Sun 03 August 2008


 


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


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Contents:
  Beer program ("Dave Draper")
  Re: Dornbusch and Vorlauf ("Aaron Hermes")
  Re: Renner's Pretzels ("Aaron Hermes")
  Matching the beer to the festival ("Chad Stevens")
  Re: Hop Questions/Advice ("Keith Anderson") ("Amos Brooks")
  Malt Madness Homebrew Competition ("Al Hazan")
  Re: Filtering instead of Vorlaufing? (Kai Troester)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 02 Aug 2008 08:27:15 -0600 From: "Dave Draper" <david at draper.name> Subject: Beer program In HBD #5385, Josh Knarr says: > The host is a waif. I don't care that he's a PhD in Robotics or that > he's the mastermind of The Gay Agenda. What does that have to do with > the core interest of the program? What does anyone's physique or seck-shoo-al preferences (I had to spell it that way to get through the language filter!) have to do with their ability to understand, appreciate, or brew beer? Geez. Does one have to be a hetero bodybuilder to be able to talk about or brew beer? If a guy or gal can brew a fine pint, I don't give a cr*p how big their muscles are or who they choose to sleep with. And: * "All beers are ales or lagers." Absolutely no mention was made of "steam beers", etc. I find the spirit of homebrewing is in Doing It Wrong to find out what works. (I have a pilsner I'm intentionally fermenting at 80F to try to make it interesting, for instance). Where's the adventure? Surely you must recognize that shows like this are intended to introduce the idea of brewing to people who have no idea at all how it's done. Introducing "adventure" simply muddies the waters and is counterproductive to the attempt to make an informative show. I'm not defending its every choice and detail, but this criticism seems misplaced. What *you* find to be the "spirit of homebrewing" is not what *everyone* finds to be so. Cheers, Dave in ABQ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- David S. Draper, Institute of Meteoritics, Univ New Mexico David at Draper dot Name Beer page: http://www.unm.edu/~draper/beer.html Life's a bitch, but at least there's homebrew ---Norm Pyle Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 12:21:54 -0400 From: "Aaron Hermes" <aaron.hermes at gmail.com> Subject: Re: Dornbusch and Vorlauf On Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at 11:30 PM, Steve Alexander wrote: > Either that or Dornbush is misleading (wouldn't be the first time). Without wanting to start anything too crazy, is he known for being inaccurate/misleading? What sort of things does he tend to get wrong? Is he agenda-driven, or just inaccurate? I appreciate the references to Kunze. I've been tempted to get that and read it, but I haven't seen a reasonable place to get my hands on it... > OK -so if you want to experiment with filters have at it, but > you need a vast membrane surface area and some way to introduce > sparge water and allow runoff. This is not an in-line filter > sort of solution. My reading is that it makes a lot of sense an > a large scale where an extra 3 percent of extract recovery > and making drier lighter grist waste is important. This sounds like it's more trouble than it's worth at my level of production... That's what I was looking to know! aaron Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 12:30:22 -0400 From: "Aaron Hermes" <aaron.hermes at gmail.com> Subject: Re: Renner's Pretzels On Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at Rick Theiner wrote: > 1) Give the pretzels a decent amount of time in the boil. I can't > remember the time requirement, but I go by appearance now. I > look for the dough to be turning brownish yellow under the influence > of the lye. I go by color, too. After upping the concentration of the lye (based on the proportions in this recipe: http://www.kabish.com/recipes/recipes.php?id=351 the color changes very quickly, like in less than 30 seconds. Is the color change indicative of the change in texture, too? Or are there two different (but related) mechanisms at work? aaron Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 10:33:10 -0700 From: "Chad Stevens" <zuvaruvi at cox.net> Subject: Matching the beer to the festival All: A bit of to-do is being made over the American breweries being featured at a British festival. I feel the need to toot my own horn a little. We had the 2nd annual "Craft Brewer's Competition & Festival" at the San Diego County Fair in June. I define "Craft Beer" a little loosely. If someone is making a quality product and is proud of the sweat and toil they put into it, I'm happy to show their product at our festival. Why does that person have to make beer in America for it to be "craft" beer. "All politics is local," and all beers are local to someone. And by the same token, just because the brewer has computers and a big budget does not mean they don't share the same zeal for beer the little guy does. I've met the guys brewing small pilot batches for Michelob and others. They have the same fire in their eyes I see in small craft brewers. Long story short, what follows are the breweries that were represented at the San Diego County Fair Craft Brewer's Festival. We had 287 beers from 115 breweries. I was pretty proud of the line-up. When the public sees Ballast Point presented next to Belhaven presented next to Bierbrouwerij St. Christofel, they soon realize it's all beer, and it's all good. I was happy to have every one of them. And hopefully, the next time that consumer steps into the market, they don't treat the "craft beer" section as a phase in brewing history that will pass or something to be ignored. And as long as I'm pontificating, the unsung heroes in all of this are the importers and distributors. Were it not for guys like Dan Shelton who go out and find these wonderful beers, we here at home (wherever that may be) would be stuck with the same ol' beer day after day. These are the guys who have made the Belgian craze in the U.S. and the American hop craze in Europe possible. All of these festivals would be pretty boring were it not for distributors working their tales off behind the scenes. Chad Stevens QUAFF San Diego County Fair - Beer Events Organizer Brewery Abita Brewing Co Affligem Alaskan Brewing Company Ale Smith Brewing Co Alpine Beer Co Anderson Valley Brewing Inc Angel City Brewing Anhauser Busch Inc Avery Brewing Co Baird Brewing Co. Ballast Point Belhaven Brewery Bierbrouwerij St. Christoffel Big Sky Brewing Co Bjs Restaurant And Brewery-Oxnard Bosteels Brewing Co Boston Beer Company Brasserie Cantillon Brasserie De La Senne Brasserie Duyck Brasserie Lefebvre Brauwerij De Koninck Brauwerij De Ranke Brewery De Landtsheer Brewery Ommegang Brothers Brewing Co Cervejaria Sudbrack Chimay Brewing Co Coronado Brewing Co De Proef Deschutes Brewery Dixie Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Drie Fonteinen Erdinger Firestone Walker Brewing Co Fox Barrel Cider Company Full Sail Brewing Co Fullers Green Flash Brewing Co. Green Mountain Cidery Grotten Brewing Co Hacker Pschorr Hoegaarden Inveralmond Brewery Isle Of Skye Jolly Pumpkin Artisanal Ales Karl Strauss Brewing Co Kona Brewing Co Konig Brauerei Koningshoeven Brewing Co Kulmbacher Brauerei Lagunitas Brewing Co Leffe Brewing Co Left Coast Brewing Co Lightning Brewery Mad River Brewing Co Maui Brewing Co Meantime Brewing Co Mendocino Brewing Co Michelob Mikkeller Brewery Mission Brewery Moretti Mountain Meadows Mead Moylans Brewing Co New Belgium Brewing New English Brewing Co Nimbus Brewing Co Nogne-O Brewery Norrebro Bryghus North Coast Brewing Co Oggis Pizza And Brewing Co Oskar Blues Palm Paulaner Pizza Port-Carlsbad Pizza Port-San Clemente Pizza Port-Solana Beach Port Brewing Co Pyramid Breweries Redhook Ale Brewing Redstone Meadery Ridgeway Brewing Co Rock Bottom Brewery Rogue Ales San Diego Brewing Co Santa Cruz Mtn. Brewing Schneider Brewing Co Sea Dog Brewing Co Shipyard Brewing Co Sierra Nevada Brewing Co Skyscraper Brewing Co St Feuillien Brewing Co Stella Artois Stone Brewing Co The Brew House At Eastlake The Bruery Urthel Brewing Co Victory Brewing Co Wells And Youngs Brewery Widmer Brothers Brewing Co Wyders Cider Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 14:35:39 -0400 From: "Amos Brooks" <amosbrooks at gmail.com> Subject: Re: Hop Questions/Advice ("Keith Anderson") Keith, I think what is happening with the freezing non-dried hops becoming mush is ice crystal formation. If you don't want that to happen you need to flash freeze the hops so that the freezing happens so fast the crystals don't have a chance to form. I'm not sure the ice crystals are really a bad thing though. They will rupture the cell walls of the plant and make it easier to get the contents out. This is good for berries as it breaks up pectins that form and releases the sugars more realily. I'm not sure about the hops though. Amos Brooks - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think the only potential problem is moisture which could encourage rotting/mold/mildew in the long run. If you freeze hops right off the vine and thaw them (as with herbs) they can get slimy and appear to be decomposing. But sounds like you don't have this problem so I wouldn't worry. I found my fresh hops added a flavor a bit too vegetal for my taste and preferred the flavor of dried hops (although the Sierra Nevada fresh hop ale is superb). Overall, my homegrown cascades lacked the oomph of "professionally" grown cascades and suspected I wasn't getting a very high %AA due to some missing nutrient from my soil but that was just a guess. Keith Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2008 13:40:44 -0400 From: "Al Hazan" <hazan at ptd.net> Subject: Malt Madness Homebrew Competition This is the third and last call for judges for the Lehigh Valley Homebrewers' (LVHB) homebrew competition, Malt Madness, which will be held on Saturday, September 6th at the Allentown Brew Works in Allentown, Pa. All BJCP recognized styles (2008 guidelines) including meads and ciders are eligible for entry. For complete details and forms, please visit the LVHB web site at http://www.lehighvalleyhomebrewers.org Entries will be accepted from August 11th through August 22nd. For drop off and mail in locations please refer to the LVHB web site. Please, do not mail entries to the Allentown Brew Works. BJCP Judges are very much needed and most appreciated. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact me at the below address. All judges must be BJCP certified (any ranking) or have relevant experience. Good luck to all, Al Hazan Competition Organizer hazan at ptd.net Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:39:20 -0400 From: Kai Troester <kai at braukaiser.com> Subject: Re: Filtering instead of Vorlaufing? > In the Altbier Classic Styles Series book, Dornbusch states that most > German breweries centrifuge or filter the wort after lautering, rather > than vorlaufing as most homebrewers do. I don't have the means to > centrifuge wort at this point, but I'm wondering if anyone here has > ever opted for filtering their wort through an inline filtration > system of some sort. What size filter would be appropriate? It seems > there would be disadvantages to filtering the wort through too fine a > filter at that point, but I'm really just guessing there. I'm more > upset at learning that vorlaufing isn't part of the typical process > these days... It seems like I've been misled! I concur with Steve, that Herr Dornbusch might be misleading, again. Especially after his Pilsner article in BYO I became rather skeptical about his advice. Narziss, another German brewing author doesn't mention post lautering filtration or separation with a centrifuge either. He only lists lautertun and mash filter as the ways to separate spent grain and wort. From what I have seen so far and read, lautering with a lauter tun is still state of the art in German brewing. And during this process the turbid wort is recirculated to clear it up, though studies have been made that show that the importance if clear wort run-off is overstated. The ~4hr lauter time given by Kunze seems a little high though. I read that it is more in the 120 - 150 min range and currently the longest stage in most brew houses thus limiting the number of batches that can be brewed. So, don't bother with post lauter filtration. just recirculate until the wort runs somewhat clear and than run it into the kettle. Kai Return to table of contents
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