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


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Contents:
  Re: Re: Gruit Beer Recipes ("David Houseman")
  RE: Gruit Beer Recipes ("Josh Knarr")
  Hop alternatives. (Joe Katchever)
  More astringency ("Jason Gazeley")


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Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:02:41 -0500
From: "David Houseman" <david.houseman at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: Re: Gruit Beer Recipes

There are a number of beer styles that have very low bittering but balance 
in other ways.  For example Weizens have a low bittering but the yeast 
derived esters and phenols pleasantly offset the malt.   The Berliner Weisse 
has VERY little bittering but uses lactic acid sourness to create a great 
drink.  Lambics as well have very low bittering.    The low gravity Scottish 
Ale /-60 and Mild are malt accented but still have perceived bitterness so 
if that's too much then sour would seem to be another alternative to bitter 
in balancing malt.

David Houseman 



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Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:27:34 -0500
From: "Josh Knarr" <josh.knarr at gmail.com>
Subject: RE: Gruit Beer Recipes

If you're looking for alt-beers, check out Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers.
http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Herbal-Healing-Beers-Fermentation/dp/0937381667/

Even if you don't subscribe to the notion of homeopathic beer (I
subscribe to the notion that alcohol cures everything!) it has a lot
of beer recipes well off the beaten path. The format of the book
usually goes:
1) History of the herb
2) What it does
3) Original recipes (most of which require using the glossary of
definitions to even understand)
4) Modern clone

You can find things like mead in there, gruit, melomels, braggots,
heather beers, original wintergreen beer from norway who's name
escapes me, etc. There's a lot of good or interesting information in
there.

- -- 

Stephen Leacock  - "I detest life-insurance agents: they always argue
that I shall some day die, which is not so."


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Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:56:02 -0600
From: Joe Katchever <joe at pearlstreetbrewery.com>
Subject: Hop alternatives.

If your friend doesn't like bitterness then don't add so many hops. If 
they are sensitive to hops then perhaps they have an allergy or just 
don't like the flavor of hops, although I would find that hard if not 
impossible to fathom. There's always Bud Light for those who don't like 
the taste of beer. Try some wormwood. It's bitter as all heck. I made 
some Absinthe and it is undrinkably bitter. I would use it fresh if 
possible and very sparingly. It can be had from any nursery type catalog 
as a decorative plant and as an herb from any herb place. I got mine 
from Mountainroseherbs.com
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/search/search.php?keywords=wormwood&x=0&y=0
You could also add finishing hops and dry hops to provide good aroma.
Cheers,
Joe from La Crosse



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Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:11:33 -0700
From: "Jason Gazeley" <jason.gazeley at gmail.com>
Subject: More astringency

Thanks for the feedback so far. I would like to elaborate on my process
a little in hopes that I may get even more helpful information. I use R.O.
water and build my mineral profil from scratch based on the color of my
mash. For this I use John Palmer's R.A. Spreadsheet. I add minerals to
both my mash and my sparge water. I have tried checking the gravity of
my final runnings using a refractometer but have found that to be
unreliable. I have also tried checking the ph of the final runnings using
Color pHast Strips. This also proved unreliable because they are not  all
that easy to read. I have only just purchesed my first pH meter and have
not yet brewed with it.

Right now I am operating under the assumption that my astringency problem
stems from the rising pH as I get near the end of my sparge. I have tried to
solve this problem by creating the same water profile in both my mash and
HLT. Unfortunately this didn't work probably because most of my minerals
stayed behind in my HLT.

It seems like I have three options left.

1. go back to a less aggressive crush because I had no astringency problems
    then.

2. Go to batch sparging and rely on the buffering power of the grains to
    maintain acceptable pH

3. Acidify my sparge water. But to what pH?


Any other options or comments on my current analysis will surely help me out.


Cheers,

Jason


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