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


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Contents:
  Beer color (Fred M. Scheer)
  RA ("A.J deLange")
  Pansy water and what do to about it ("Samuel Bosco")
  MALT Turkey Shoot 2008 (Jack Mowbray)


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Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:38:31 +0000
From: fredscheer07 at comcast.net (Fred M. Scheer)
Subject: Beer color

HI All:

Just wanted you to know that A.J. deLange has an extremely good
article  in the Journal of the ASBC (American Society of Brewing
Chemists, pp 143 - 150). He discusses Beer color in very detail, based on 
measurement of 99 beers.
Great Job A.J.

Fred M. Scheer
Nashville, TN
http://www.mbaa.com/emergingIssues/default.htm

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Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:08:39 -0400
From: "A.J deLange" <ajdel at cox.net>
Subject: RA

In the example in the article (Ca = 225, Mg = 40, Alk = 220) If these 
are all in ppm as CaCO3 the proper calculation is RA = 220 - (225/3.5 + 
40/7) = 150 ppm as CaCO3. Now as 1 milliequivalent per liter corresponds 
to 50 ppm as CaCO3 one could also express this RA as 150/50 = +3 mEq/L 
(not -3) but the fact that the digit 3 is involved is suspicious.  If 
the Ca and Mg numbers are "as the ion" (which is doubtless the case as 
the given numbers as the ion are about right for Dortmund) you would use 
the formula you quote from me to convert the mg/L as the ion to mEq/L in 
which case the calculation is RA = 220 - 50(11.25/3.5 + 3.292/7) = 35.8, 
about what you got. In general the RA formula is RA = Alk - ({Ca}/3.5 + 
{Mg}/7) where {Ca} and {Mg} can be  in units of ppm as CaCO3, mg/L as 
the ion, grains per gallon or whatever you like but Alk must be in the 
same units and RA is then in those units as well. So I think you aren't 
doing anything wrong. I don't have the article to look at but I'm 
guessing it's a typo.

A.J.


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Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:13:14 -0400
From: "Samuel Bosco" <samuel.bosco at gmail.com>
Subject: Pansy water and what do to about it

My house water is softened by a Culligan water softener. I know that by
itself this water is generally useless for brewing.
At the outset of this question I would like to request that no one replies
in the vein of "remove the water softener" because
that is not going to happen (I do not control the utilities of the house)
and I am not ready to move out.

As of now, I have been using store bought spring water, which has worked
fine but I feel like it is wasteful of both money
and my time. Tap water is much cheaper and much more convenient.

So as I said before I realize that soft water is essential useless when it
comes to brewing, Culligan water systems not only
soften the water in the traditional sense of the term but the essential
remove all non water components and the way mine
is set up it is exchanged with sodium. I do not know the ppm of sodium in
the water but I can tell you that it is below
perception by taste.

Soft water such as mine also has potential to be a "blank canvas" and I can
tailor my brewing liquor to whatever style I wish
to brew. However I am not yet familiar with brewing water chemistry and I do
not know about the intricacies of amending water
with salts. As I make the switch to all grain I would like to utilize the
water from my tap and really understand my home
brewery.

My questions are:

Are there any salt amendments that give the full suite of important brewing
salts? Would the proper addition just Burton
salts be enough to support yeast health and brew a good ale or would a
cocktail of salts be required?

When does one add the salts? Mash? Pre Mash? Boil? Sparge?

What are some good texts that can explain this subject (be they zymurgy/byo
articles or internet articles or book chapters)

As experienced brewers what have you all found that works well?

Thnank you,
  Sam Bosco


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Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2008 08:20:37 -0500 (CDT)
From: Jack Mowbray <jmowbray at verizon.net>
Subject: MALT Turkey Shoot 2008

Maryland Ale and Lager Technicians (MALT) are pleased to 
announce their 4th Annual Turkey Shoot* Homebrew Competition. 
This is a BJCP-sanctioned event. 

In addition to quality feedback on all entries, cash prizes will be 
awarded for Best of Show as well as for 2nd and 3rd place overall. 
Ribbons and sponsored prizes will be awarded to individual category 
winners.

The competition will be held Sunday, November 9th at Clipper 
City Brewing Company in Baltimore, MD. All BJCP beer categories 
will be accepted. The deadline for entries is November 1st.

Additional information, rules, entry forms, and bottle labels may 
be found at the MALT website: http://www.maltclub.org

As in the past, we welcome the participation of BJCP-accredited 
judges. Anyone who is interested in helping with the judging should 
contact:

Mike McMahon
fishandbrew at comcast.net


*no live birds will be harmed during this event



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