HOMEBREW Digest #5771 Thu 23 December 2010


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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  alcohol test method ("Bill & Sara Frazier")
  Smoking grain ("T. Rohner")
  Re: Toys needed to use distilled method for measuring alcohol content (Fred L Johnson)
  Ginger mead recipe ("Mike Maag")
  Smoking Grain (Joe Katchever)
  re: Ginger Mead ("Jeff McNally")

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2010 00:29:39 -0600 From: "Bill & Sara Frazier" <bsfrazier at att.net> Subject: alcohol test method "I want to try the distilled method to measure the amount of alcohol in sake." Go to Valley Vintner's website. They have a method that works well. Our wine club compared results from the Valley Vintner method and a Ebulliometer for several wines. Alcohol content was within 1% in all cases except for a high alcohol port. To get good results you have to measure the wine sample accurately and you have to take the hydrometer readings at the temperature the hydrometer is rated for. A 250ml volume of wine will work...that's what I used. What's really important about the volume of wine is to be sure the volume is exactly the same before and after the boiling step. With respect to the hydrometer temperature I used an ice bath to cool samples to the exact temperature. Bill Frazier Olathe, Kansas USA Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2010 11:10:31 +0100 From: "T. Rohner" <t.rohner at bluewin.ch> Subject: Smoking grain Hello all i only bought Weyermann smoked malt until now. But i bought a used smoking chamber this year. I cold smoked salmon in it. (over 200lb...) I can hang in around 50 salmon sides in one go. We also bottled our first whisky last week. (everything legal here... as long as you pay the tax) We had the mash distilled by a licensed pro. The next one will have some smoked malt. I will smoke it myself in my smoker. I was looking for a smoke generator for cold smoking and found this to work very nice for me. It's like fire and forget. http://www.macsbbq.co.uk/CSG.html and look at these guys, hilarious... (skinny...) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnYqUt6tbpw We just made 300 "Weisswurst" sausages yesterday evening. Merry Christmas Thomas Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2010 05:41:23 -0500 From: Fred L Johnson <FLJohnson52 at nc.rr.com> Subject: Re: Toys needed to use distilled method for measuring alcohol content Will Auld asks what he'll need to measure the alcohol content (actually the real/true extract) of his beer. He will need a good quality volumetric flask to accurately measure the volume of beer that he'll be boiling for the measurement and for bringing the the alcohol-free beer back up to the same starting volume after the alcohol has been boiled off. If Will will be using a fairly standard length hydrometer, a 250 mL volumetric flask would be appropriate. The flask only needs to be slightly larger than the volume that will be used with the hydrometer. Will will also need some distilled water for reconstituting the beer from which he removed the alcohol. Fred L Johnson Apex, North Carolina, USA Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2010 07:08:36 -0600 From: "Mike Maag" <mikemaag at comcast.net> Subject: Ginger mead recipe Ginger Mead 8 gallons 2 gallons honey 6 gallons charcoal filtered water 4 tsp yeast energizer 4 tsp yeast nutrient Add 4-5 tsp of carbonate to get the pH around 5.4 (if you don't need the carbonate for the pH at first, monitor it during the first 12 hours of fermentation. Add as needed to keep the pH at or above 3.2, or add it just in case as a buffer). Heat to 170F and hold for 30 minutes. chill to 80F Pitch two packets of Lalvin 71B-1122 yeast. Should be fermented out in a month or so. Decant off the yeast and add around 2 lbs of fresh sliced ginger. I let mine sit for 10 days, then kegged and force carbonated. Tastes like dry ginger ale on steroids. I last brewed it 8/22/05. After it sat in cornies for a while, I filled and capped 12 bottles and saved them. I am sipping some right now, and it's still excellent. The ginger has mellowed out a bit, but still stands out. The 2 lbs of ginger is pretty intense in 8 gallons. 1 lb should be subtle. Cheers! Mike Maag, Shenandoah Valley Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2010 08:37:03 -0600 From: Joe Katchever <joe at pearlstreetbrewery.com> Subject: Smoking Grain Whenever I've tried to smoke grain, it just gave me a headache. Actually, I went down to a restaurant that does a lot of smoked meats and they were happy to smoke up some 2-row for me. Just flat on a cookie sheet worked. In exchange for a growler, of course. You might try the local butcher shop. They have the smoker and the best wood. At home, I use apple wood exclusively. If you use young wood (< a year old)and you keep the smoker under 220F, you will have no bitterness in your beer. <br> Joe Doe Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2010 22:27:31 -0500 From: "Jeff McNally" <jeff_ri at cox.net> Subject: re: Ginger Mead Hi All, Glyn in S. Middle TN asked in HBD #5770 about ginger meads. I've only made one, but I have tried two others. The one I made used 1 oz of fresh peeled and grated ginger root boiled in 1 cup of water for 1 minute, and then added to the secondary (5 gallon batch). One of the others I've tried used the same method, but used 4 oz of ginger. Mine turned out fine with a moderate amount of ginger flavor. The other one with 4 oz was way overpowering even after years of aging. Boiling the ginger for any amount of time seems to knock the aroma down, and bring out the heat in the ginger flavor. The only other ginger mead that I've tried was made by Ken Schram and sampled at the 2004 NHC in Las Vegas. His used 3 lbs of ginger (not a typo)! He just peeled and chopped it up and added to the secondary (no boil). Huge ginger aroma and flavor, but little to no heat. Jeff McNally Tiverton, RI (652.2 miles and 90.0 degrees Apparent Rennerian Coordinates) www.southshorebrewclub.org Return to table of contents
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