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


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Contents:
  Recipes (Thomas Rohner)
  Re: Copper ("David Houseman")
  Re: copper (mossview5)
  Saprkiling mead not sparkling ("Dave Burley")


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JANITORs on duty: Pat Babcock (pbabcock at hbd dot org), Jason Henning,
                  Spencer Thomas, and Bill Pierce



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Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2013 09:26:10 +0100
From: Thomas Rohner <t.rohner at bluewin.ch>
Subject: Recipes

Hi all

When i started brewing, i tried some recipes i read in books or on the net.
Many of them used seven or so types of malt and three to five types of 
hops added at different times in the boil.
I tried to follow these recipes religiously at first.
I had a huge stress to gather all the stated ingredients, because at 
that time, Switzerland had one! homebrew shop with limited selection and 
high prices...
I used to order from the U.S. and the EU to get the "required" ingredients.
The resulting beers were drinkable, but they all tasted somewhat the same...
Then i realized, that it was the desinfectant i used for my plastic 
fermenters...
After i changed the desinfectant, my beers got a lot better ;-)
I also changed my supplier and used Weyermann malts and mostly Perle hops.
At some point, i brewed a batch with every easily available base malt 
individually. (Pilsener, Vienna, Munich)
Then with Pilsener and different amounts of light and dark Cara and 
Carafa malts.
This gave me the fundamentals for my malt bills.

Later, after another change of my supplier, i started using noble hops 
and adding it also at the end of the boil.

This brought my beers on a kickass level, where they were in the league 
of Sam Adams Lager or Augustiner Helles...

Last year, i had some Tettnang hops growing in my yard.
I harvested it and dried it in my dehydrator.
I added a hop bag full of it at the end of boil.
I  couldn't believe the impact. The change in aroma was so fantastic and 
the head retention was worlds better, than with all my attempts in 
tweaking my mash schedule.
I was truly amazed by the impact of whole hops, compared to pellets.
My homegrown hops lasted for five 50l-batches and i realized, that no 
shop in Switzerland sells whole hops :-(
But i can order it from Belgium at reasonable prices and i will enlarge 
my "hop yard" significantly this year.


I read almost all the books published on homebrewing and some of the pro 
books as well.
But i realized, that nothing beats experience.
Following recipes only distracts you on the path of enlightment ;-) They 
may be a starting point, but you need to know your ingredients and 
equipment, if you want to replicate a beer you like.
I say that after brewing more than 4000 gallons in the last 20 years.

The HBD was also a reliable source and inspiration. I think i'll donate 
some $$$

Cheers Thomas

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Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2013 07:31:03 -0500
From: "David Houseman" <david.houseman at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: Copper

Steve,

No worries about copper toxicity in beer.   In fact boiling kettles are 
called "coppers" because they have been made of copper for centuries.    The 
short time wort is exposed to a copper wort chiller, immersion or 
counter-flow, is negligible and will not leach too much copper into the 
wort...and as you found, trace amounts are beneficial to yeast.   Brewers 
without copper in their system (stainless steel only) are known to just add 
pennies to their kettles to add that trace amount.   Sorry, I can't point to 
any given study, but in my 22 years of brewing I have read a number of 
articles on this subject and this was never a concern or a problem, but I 
don't have those references.

Dave Houseman


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Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 08:26:46 -0500
From: mossview5 <mossview5 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: copper

Copper in wort is a total "non-issue" for brewing.  All breweries
should include some copper contact in their wort handling to supply
copper for the reductive reactions necessary for beer "polishing" and
for yeast nutrition.  Copper is largely removed from wort in the
fermentation process.  Colin Kaminski reported in an interview on the
Brewing Network that the State of California performed an extensive
study on copper in beers and found that all California breweries had
copper concentrations well below actionable limits.  Copper is a
non-issue.

Martin Brungard

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Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 16:08:44 -0500
From: "Dave Burley" <Dave Burley at charter.net>
Subject: Saprkiling mead not sparkling

Michael,

Mead is particularly difficult to ferment unless you pay attetion to the pH
and correct it to above about 5 using calcium carbonate.  Add about 1/2
teaspoon at a time until it finishes.

This  has to do with the lack of buffers in the honey ( unlike wine and
beer).	So get some pH papers and some calcium carbonate and adjust the pH to
above 5.

Since you already have this batch bottled, you could carefully experiment
with adding the carbonate to the bottle and decide if you want to cose up the
bottle.  

Me? I suggest you add the carbonate, let it finish fermenting to dryness and
then redose the bottle with a sugar syrup before you close it back up.

Good luck and keep on Brewin',

Dave Burley

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