HOMEBREW Digest #765 Thu 21 November 1991
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FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
REQUEST FOR HBD (ALTENBACH)
pasteurization (commercial), Coors (Dick Dunn)
Make a lauter tun ("William F. Pemberton")
ORGANIC (Jack Schmidling)
Boots bitter kits (Sgt John S. Bergmann)
Test (Peter Glen Berger)
Re: Help with Liquid Yeast (John DeCarlo)
Green glass and thanks (gkushmer)
sanitizing with bleach ("Spencer W. Thomas")
Re: Chimay yeast (jeff gale 283-4010)
RedHook Ale Brewery - A Listing (Ron Ezetta)
Bitchez Brew Stout (Peter Glen Berger)
STUFF (Jack Schmidling)
making beer more bitter at bottling. (Jay Hersh)
Gingered Ale (Peter Glen Berger)
Sick of plugs (and not hop plugs) (Jay Hersh)
Cardboard & Judging (Jay Hersh)
Stress Testing Beer (Bob Jones)
strong ales (518) 385-1170 - 8*235-1170" <CARONS at TBOSCH.dnet.ge.com>
Re: Homebrew Digest #764 (November 20, 1991) (ALTENBACH)
Send submissions to homebrew at hpfcmi.fc.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request@ hpfcmi.fc.hp.com
[Please do not send me requests for back issues!]
Archives are available from netlib at mthvax.cs.miami.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1991 15:24 PDT
From: ALTENBACH at NSSPA.llnl.gov
Subject: REQUEST FOR HBD
HBD GURU,
PLEASE INCLUDE ME IN THE DISTRIBUTION FOR THE HOMEBREW DIGEST. MY ADDRESS IS
ADDVAX::IN%"ALTENBACH2 at LLNL.GOV".
THANKS. YOURS BREWLY, TOM ALTENBACH.
Return to table of contents
Date: 19 Nov 91 17:01:22 MST (Tue)
From: rcd at raven.eklektix.com (Dick Dunn)
Subject: pasteurization (commercial), Coors
MIKE LIGAS <LIGAS at SSCvax.CIS.McMaster.CA> comments on pasteurization:
> ...I'm not sure at what
> point in production a large brewery like Coors would pasteurize their beer but
> homebrewers who are interested in trying it (god knows why) can do it after
> bottling...
Used to be there were two ways of pasteurizing in a commercial brewery:
"tunnel" - after bottling, bottles go through a heated tunnel.
This is obviously hard on the beer, since you have to heat the
bottle long enough to get the entire contents up to temp. You
can neither heat nor cool too quickly or you'll break the bottle.
"flash" - beer is passed through a heated section of tubing on its
way into the bottle. Heating/cooling happens much faster. As I
understood the process, it was a little trickier--and obviously
the bottling line has to be clean.
Used to be that almost all large-scale commercial brewers pasteurized their
beer, and most used the tunnel method. I don't know how much it's changed
with the ultra-fine filtering that's now practical, but I think it would be
interesting if anyone knows.
As for the bumper sticker:
> > _______________________________________________
> > | UP YOORS COORS! |
> > | Boycott Coors Non-Pasteurized Beer |
> > -----------------------------------------------
Coors was one brewer which did not pasteurize even "back then". This is
*one* reason they kept such tight control on distribution/sales of their
beer...regardless of whether you like their beer, at least they understood
that it was a perishable food. They tried to ensure that it didn't travel
too far and stayed cold. (Obviously, with beer as light as Coors, *any*
off-taste is a serious problem.)
OK, now, the rest of this is just for information. I take no position on
the politics; I don't want to talk about the politics here because the
topic is beer...but if you want to make sense of the bumper sticker and the
matter of pasteurization, here goes: There are various Coors businesses
held by various members of the Coors family. As a rule they have been
active in politics and quite conservative. There is a long-standing feud
between the brewery management and organized labor--e.g., labor accuses
management of union-busting or discriminatory practices; management accuses
labor of featherbedding. After one particularly bitter dispute some years
ago, a campaign began on the labor side (not to say that the unions
approved it _per_se_) to convince people that Coors was somehow unhealthy
or potentially dangerous because, unlike most other beers, it wasn't
pasteurized. It was not because of any particular incident related to
unpasteurized beer; it was just a means of manipulating public opinion. I
don't think it had much effect, and in fact I'm surprised to see such a
sticker still around these days (with more beers not being pasteurized).
FWIW.
Dick Dunn rcd at raven.eklektix.com -or- raven!rcd Boulder, Colorado
...Simpler is better.
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed Nov 20 01:24:16 1991
From: "William F. Pemberton" <wfp5p at euclid.acc.Virginia.EDU>
Subject: Make a lauter tun
I've got a keg (one of the 15.5 gallon ones) that I plan on making into
a lauter tun. I'm pretty sure I know HOW I want to make it.
So, get to the point you say. Well here is my question:
I know this thing will be fine for batches on the order of 10 gallons,
but will it be too small for 5 gallon batches? I don't think I will
want to make a double batch EVERY time.
Thanks!
Bill
Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 91 22:54 CST
From: arf at ddsw1.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling)
Subject: ORGANIC
To: Homebrew Digest
Fm: Jack Schmidling
Subject: ORGANIC MALT
Good news for the health food nuts.
My research into nitrosamines in beer has ended by finding a source of malt
that not only contains the absolute minimum levels of nitrosamines but is
also available in an organically grown version.
BACKGROUND:
Nitrosamines (a dangerous carcinogen) are produced in malt by the chemical
reaction between combustion by-products and precursers generated by
germination.
Nitrosamines can be reduced in two ways. The first and most expensive is to
use indirect kilning where in the grain is heated through heat exchangers to
avoid contact with flame products.
The second method is "sulphuring" wherein elemental sulphur is sprayed on the
grain before and during kilning. I have no idea what the chemistry is but it
reduces the nitrosamine production significantly... by "coincidence", just
enough to get directly kilned malt just under the 10 PPB FDA limit.
The most effective process is to do both procedures. This typically results
in undetectable levels (less than 1PPB) of nitrosamines.
The major producer of malt in this country is Bries and its affiliates and
from what little I could extract in telephone conversations with the
president, all their malt, except crystal malt is direct/sulphur.
Nitrosamine production is maximal in malt that is kilned with high moisture
content such as crystal malt. That is why it must be indirectly kilned and
sulphured just to meet the FDA max.
Minnesota Malting, makes malt using any of all of the above in addition to
supplying organically grown grain, if desired. What they call "organic malt"
is indirect without sulphur because there customer doesn't want any chemicals
added but it is still organically grown.
They will sell 25 lbs bags, ship UPS and the price is .55 per lb plus
shipping.
I just received a bag of two row today and for what it is worth, the 25 lb
bag weighs 32 lbs. It seems to meet all the criteria for good malt according
to Noonan. I will give it a try in a couple of days.
Just specify 2 row or 6 row, indirect. You will have to check on the price of
the organically grown. I am not sure if it is the same.
The contact is: Bob Jensen
Minnesota Malting
918 N 7th St
Cannon Falls, MN 55009
(507) 263 3911
js
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 91 07:36:52 GMT
From: Sgt John S. Bergmann <iceberg at sctc.af.mil>
Subject: Boots bitter kits
Howdy,
One of my co-workers just returned from England and brought me two cans
of Boots Bitter concentrated wort. I've never heard any reviews, comments,
flames, praises, etc. on this brand, so I was wondering if anyone has tried
it. It sez on the can it uses 'hop extract'. Should I add some hops to
the boil??? The instructions also say to use 2lbs sugar, I think I'm gonna
use a couple #'s of honey instead. Good Idea or Bad Medicine?? It also
comes with a little foil pouch of dry 'genuine Brewers yeast'. Any ideas?
should I just trash it and use wyeast, or can this be used w/ a starter?
Any responses would be greatly appreciated.
BTW, has anyone developed any recipe databases for DOS? I saw some
mentions of hypercard stacks for this purpose but nada on IBMs. Let me
know if there is any interest.
Tango,
Johnny Bergmann, USAFE net dude.
IREPEATMYSELFWHENUNDERSTRESSIREPEATMYSELFWHENUNDERSTRESS
IREPEATMYSELFWHENUNDERSTRESSIREPEATMYSELFWHENUNDERSTRESS
IREPEATMYSELFWHENUNDERSTRESSIREPEATMYSELFWHENUNDERSTRESS
- Whew.
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 1991 08:07:51 -0500 (EST)
From: Peter Glen Berger <pb1p+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Test
Test, please ignore. Sorry.
Return to table of contents
Date: Wednesday, 20 Nov 1991 09:14:38 EST
From: m14051 at mwvm.mitre.org (John DeCarlo)
Subject: Re: Help with Liquid Yeast
>From: Kevin Menice <kxm at tiger1.Prime.COM>
>I put about 1/2 pound of liquid extract into about a quart of
>water (probably way too much extract) and boiled it for about 15
>minutes then let it cool.
>It has been about a week and not much has happened. There seems
>to be a tiny amount of C02 percolating from the fermentation
>locks but barely.
This reminds me. I know the Wyeast package recommends using a
1.020 SG starter (less than half a typical wort SG). Is there in
fact a likelihood that Kevin killed his yeast (or shocked or
whatever) by using much more extract than called for?
Internet: jdecarlo at mitre.org
(or John.DeCarlo at f131.n109.z1.fidonet.org)
Fidonet: 1:109/131
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 91 9:09:05 EST
From: gkushmer at Jade.Tufts.EDU
Subject: Green glass and thanks
Looks like I confused some people (oops): I mentioned that the carboy
had a greenish tinge only as a passing reference. There probably was a
layer of film from some food coloring that dissolved and left the carboy's
normal color - clear with a greenish tinge. The thing is old and so I'm
not worried about the color.
Thanks everyone for the advice on chemical agents to get rid of the rust
spot. I'll get that soon.
- --gk
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 91 10:05:13 EDT
From: "Spencer W. Thomas" <Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu>
Subject: sanitizing with bleach
Arthur Delano writes in HBD#764
> A brief soaking (under 15 minutes) will not cloud the tubes, but I don't feel that
> they're sanitized sufficiently that way.
Actually, 15 minutes is much longer than you need, assuming there are
no scratches or other places for the nasties to hide. I have been
told, by someone who should know, that a very weak bleach solution
(10-20ppm, about a "capful" in 5 gallons) will kill almost all the
bacteria in 10 seconds. A nice advantage of using such a dilute
concentration is that you don't have to rinse afterwards (especially
nice, if you suspect the cleanliness of your water source).
=Spencer W. Thomas HSITN, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
spencer.thomas at med.umich.edu 313-747-2778
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 91 10:26:39 CST
From: jeff gale 283-4010 <gale at sweetpea.jsc.nasa.gov>
Subject: Re: Chimay yeast
To Kenneth Munno:
I tried the same trick, but with Chimay Red. I used two bottles also dated
10/90. The starter consisted of 1/2 cup of DME and 2 cups water. It took
about a week at 70F for any activity to appear. The Abbey Ale that I brewed
with this yeast is probably one of the finest beers I've made to date. It is
an all-grain recipe which I'll post if anybody is interested.
To all HBD:
Is it normal to take this long when culturing yeast from a bottle of
commercial beer? I believe that the yeast used by Chimay actually consists of
five different strains (kinds?). If I re-pitched this yeast several times
wouldn't one of the more dominant strains take over?
Waiting for Enlightenment,
Jeff
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 91 08:41:36 PST
From: Ron Ezetta <rone at badblues.wr.tek.com>
Subject: RedHook Ale Brewery - A Listing
Here's a little ditty I picked up on a recent tour of RedHook Ale
Brewery in Seattle. Given RedHook's popularity I thought it might
be of interest to digest readers.
NOTE: This information is distributed free with no copyrights (with the
exceptions of logos which are trade marked) by the RedHook
Brewery.
_______________________________________________________________________________
(206) |Malted | | | | | Avail-
548-8000 |Barley | Hops | Yeast |Avail- | O.G | ablity
|Varieties | | |ability | | Area
___________|_____________|___________|____________|________|______|____________
Red Hook |2-row Klages,|Willamette,|Top Ferment |Year | | All
ESB |Caramel 60 |Tettnang |English |Round |1.054 | Markets
___________|____________ |___________|____________|________|______|____________
Ballard |2-row Klages,|Erioca, |Top Ferment |Year | | All
Bitter |Caramel 40 |Willamette,|English |Round |1.0445| Markets
| |Cascade | | | |
___________|____________ |___________|____________|________|______|____________
Blackhook |2-row Klages,|Willamette,| | | |
Porter |Caramel 40, |Erocia, |Top Ferment |Year |1.0470| Pacific
|Black Malt, |Cascade |English |Round | |Northwest
|Roasted | | | | |
|Barley | | | | |
___________|_____________|___________|____________|________|______|____________
Red Hook |2-row Klages,|Clusters, | | | |
Ale |Caramel 40, |Willamette,| |One | | Washington
|Black Malt |Eroica, |Top Ferment |small | | State
| |Cascade, |Belgian |batch |1.0500|
| |Yakima | |each | |
| |Hallertau | |Fall | |
___________|_____________|___________|____________|________|______|____________
Winterhook |Custom-kilned|B.C Kents, | | | |
Christmas |Christmas 2- |Yakima |Top Ferment | | | Washington
Ale |row Carastan |Hallertau, |English |Fall |1.0575| State
|from Bairds |Yakima | |Winter | |
|of England |Clusters | | | |
___________|_____________|___________|____________|________|______|___________
Wheat Hook |2-row Klages,|Tettnang, | | | |
Wheaten Ale|Malted |Herbrucker,|Top Ferment |Spring |1.0340| Pacific
|English Wheat|German |English |Summer | |Northwest
| |Hallertau | | | |
___________|_____________|___________|____________|________|______|___________
Flavor
Characteristics:
- Red Hook ESB: Rich roundtoasted make with pleasant finishing sweetness
- Ballard Bitter: Aggressively hopped dry crisp finish
- Blackhook: Highly roasted chocolate malt character balanced by lively
hopping
- Red Hook Ale: Nutty and spicy, long full malt flavors
- Winterhook: Complex grainy flavors with rich mouth feel
- Wheathook: Delicate mild hopping. Distinct wheat in finish
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Ron Ezetta-
rone at badblues.wr.tek.com
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 1991 13:09:31 -0500 (EST)
From: Peter Glen Berger <pb1p+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Bitchez Brew Stout
This came out fantastic. I highly recommend brewing it.
6 lbs. dark dry malt (M&F)
2 lbs. amber dry malt (M&F)
.75 lb. roasted barley
.5 lb. black patent
1 lb. crystal malt
2 CUPS (not lbs) Quaker Oats
2 oz. fresh Bullions hops (boil)
.6 oz. fresh Willammette hops (finish)
Whitbread Ale Yeast
Add hops in last 5-6 minutes of the boil. All specialty grains should
be cracked, first. Soak the specialty grains & Quaker Oats in cold
water for 15 minutes, bring to a boil, remove grains with strainer as
wort comes to a boil. This has an awful hot-break, and needs to be
nursed for about 5 minutes before you can leave it safely. I went
light on the Oatmeal because the oils in it tend to be detrimental
towards head retention.
Comments: This beer improves substantially after about 2 weeks in the
bottle, as hop aroma subsides and the large amount of roasted barley
assumes it's place in the forefront. It's my favorite beer to date,
but if I were going to brew it again I might cut back on the roasted
barley by about .25 lb, and lessen the boiling hops (either to 1 oz.
of Bullions, or 1.5 of some lower alpha hop). Whitbread ale yeast was
used because of the low attenuation rate: this stout is NOT sweet,
but has lots and lots of body.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pete Berger || ARPA: peterb at cs.cmu.edu
Professional Student || Pete.Berger at andrew.cmu.edu
Univ. Pittsburgh School of Law || BITNET: R746PB1P at CMCCVB
Attend this school, not CMU || UUCP: ...!harvard!andrew.cmu.edu!pb1p
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Goldilocks is about property rights. Little Red Riding Hood is a tale
of seduction, rape, murder, and cannibalism." -Bernard J. Hibbits
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 91 10:12 CST
From: arf at ddsw1.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling)
Subject: STUFF
To: Homebrew Digest
Fm: Jack Schmidling
From: Bob Jones <BJONES at NOVA.llnl.gov>
J. Schmidling:
>> mine sits on top of a 2500 deg , forced air melting furnace and brings
7 gals to boil in about 15 min. you can't possibly hurt a steel kettle on
anything even that hot
> I don't know what you used to determine you temperature but it would not
be possible to boil water or wort in a controlled manner at 2500 degrees F.
The problem is (and its just a small problem) that carbon steel melts at
2500 degrees F. Stainless steel and aluminum have much lower melting temps.
I suggest that you try using a tantalum kettle it won't melt till 5100
degrees F. And just so you know water boils at 212 and is a gas after that.
I will try to be gentle responding to this utter rubbish. I don't want to be
accused of being confrontational.
1. I measure the flame temperature with a thermocouple pyrometer. This
instrument is to a foundry what a hydrometer is to a brewery.
2. SS contains chromium which has a melting temperature around 3500 F. This
puts the melting point of the alloy significantly above that of carbon steel.
3. Aluminum melts around 1200 F. To lump aluminum with SS is misleading at
minimum.
4. Precisely because water boils at 212 F and turns into an expanding,
cooling gas, one can heat it in kettles without worrying about the kettles
melting. This is true, even if the flame temp is far above the melting point
of the kettle.
Aside from an oxy-acetyline tourch, with its intensley hot and concentrated
flame, you can not melt a steel kettle in an ordinary flame, particularly if
full of water. A empty steel kettle will sit on my furnace all day and
never melt. It will get red hot and eventually oxidize and fall apart but it
will never melt. An aluminum kettle would melt into a puddle in a couple of
minutes if empty, but boil water all day.
js
From: Darren Evans-Young <DARREN at UA1VM.UA.EDU>
While I am counter-flaming, I would like to point out that most reasonable
people would find the following sort of comments far more offensive than
anything I have ever said.
>Occasionally (once per 10 batches), I run boiling water through
just to be anal.
Just what does such gutter talk have to do with beer making? And why is it
necessary and accepted without anyone else objecting?
From: KARL DESCH <KCDESCH at ucs.indiana.edu>
>1. This keg appears to be all aluminum. If memory serves me correctly
Papazian suggests to avoid using aluminum as a boiling pot. What about SS
makes it better than aluminum?
It has a much stronger tendancy to leave your brain cells intact. Oops,
forgot to turn off flame.
Although there is a great deal of debate about the cause and effect of
aluminum found in the brains of Alzheimer victims, the implication is far too
freightening to even consider using an aluminum kettle for long term boiling.
Do yourself a favor and take it to a recycling center and consider the sawing
an aerobic exercise.
js
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 91 13:32:23 EST
From: Jay Hersh <hersh at expo.lcs.mit.edu>
Subject: making beer more bitter at bottling.
Why don't you try liquid hop extract??
Jeff Pzena, owner of the Modern Brewer & a friend of mine was carrying a bottle
around at a party he had last week adding it directly to the homebrew.
Now there's a hophead!!
- JaH
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hopfen und Malz, Gott erhalts
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 1991 13:20:54 -0500 (EST)
From: Peter Glen Berger <pb1p+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Gingered Ale
Brewed, aged 1 month, and sampled. Pure heaven.
"Old-Time Jaspers Gingered Ale"
A five gallon recipe
9 lbs. Pale dry malt extract (M&F)
.75 lbs. crystal malt, cracked
3 lbs. light clover honey
1 oz. Hallertau hops (boil)
1/2 oz. Hallertau hops (finish)
6 oz. fresh ginger, peeled and grated
grated peels of 4 oranges
1.5 tsp. cinnamon
.5 tsp. nutmeg
1.5 tsp. Irish moss
Whitbread Ale yeast
SG: 1.071 FG: 1.019
First, a word about the hops: Yes, Hallertau is a lager hop.
However, the ginger and orange peel both go a long way towards both
bittering and flavoring the beer. Using a more assertive ale hop
would a) add too much bitterness and b) overpower the other flavors
that I want to come through. Besides, Hallertau has that spicy touch
that makes this perfect for a holiday brew.
This brew is just barely sweet, at the threshold of perception. A
strong, heavy body follows, the ginger and orange blending together
and taking you through from the middrink to the aftertaste. Th
finish is incredibly long, both the high alcohol content and the
ginger-orange aftertaste lingering for a full 8 or 9 seconds after
swallowing.
Using a more attenuative yeast would make this drier and more
alcoholic, but I like the balance given by the Whitbread. Primary
fermentation took about 6 days, 6 days in secondary, aged 1 month at
tasting. This beer is copper colored; I'm thinking of making a
version with a little lactose instead of the crystal malt to try to
retain the sweetness while having a paler color. Irish moss is a
necessity with this brew.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pete Berger || ARPA: peterb at cs.cmu.edu
Professional Student || Pete.Berger at andrew.cmu.edu
Univ. Pittsburgh School of Law || BITNET: R746PB1P at CMCCVB
Attend this school, not CMU || UUCP: ...!harvard!andrew.cmu.edu!pb1p
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Goldilocks is about property rights. Little Red Riding Hood is a tale
of seduction, rape, murder, and cannibalism." -Bernard J. Hibbits
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 91 15:14:22 EST
From: Jay Hersh <hersh at expo.lcs.mit.edu>
Subject: Sick of plugs (and not hop plugs)
> From: Mike Sharp <msharp at cs.ulowell.edu>
>
> >How does one place a false bottom inside a 15gal keg? I've been trying to
> figure this one out for a while.
>
> Try this..... From "EASY MASH"....
>
> Additional advice deleted...
later on
> From: zentner at ecn.purdue.edu (Michael Zentner)
>
> >Wow! Who is this Marilyn and what does it take to get her to one of
> our tastings!
>
> She plays the leading roll in "BREW IT AT HOME" and is a real glutton for PR.
> You could tell her it is an autograph party and that someone from the Academy
> Awards board will be there.
etc...
several other unsubtle plugs for the now infamous CR02 product...
God Jack must your every response contain a plug.
WE'RE SICK OF IT ALREADY!!! GIVE IT F***** REST!
Do you expect people to take your advice/comments seriosuly when every one is
prefaced by these completely unsubtle plugs for your commercial products.
Do you think you're cute or clever. You're not, you're just progressively more
annoying.
There was absolutely no need to insert this plug in your responses
and it shows a COMPLETE LACK OF RESPECT for the members of this forum
(as opposed to Kinney B's behavior who has many more products he could plug
than you do, but is always respectful of this forum).
I had begun to think that perhaps you were becoming a little more considerate
in your postings of the readers of the HBD. I can see now I was mistaken.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
I am asking politely and on behalf of all the brewers in this forum.
If you have any respect for other brewers leave the plugs out.
If you choose to participate in this forum then stick to the issues
and save the plugs for private e-mail.
- Jay Hersh
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hopfen und Malz, Gott erhalts
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Date: Wed, 20 Nov 91 15:27:45 EST
From: Jay Hersh <hersh at expo.lcs.mit.edu>
Subject: Cardboard & Judging
Bob,
>Another problem is
>the transport of the glasses from the back room to the judges. They are
>very often carried in a six pack carrier with the entry. The glasses are
>sometimes placed upside down in the carrier, where they can pick up this
>cardboard nose.
Sounds like another good argument in favor of using pitchers (one of my
favorite judge related crusades :-)...
Competitions I have worked the beers were served at pitchers, and the glasses
collected and rinsed separately. Once they were removed from the boxes and
cleaned the never touched cardboard during the judging. Sounds like some
procedural changes there might help a lot. Also we often just rinse our own
from water in pitchers right at the table, saves the stewards some work.
>So the environment looses out on this one.
Umm, I'll fight you on this one. At least you can use HDPE 1 or 2 glasses and
collect them and give them over to recylcing...
Russ sez:
>The glasses were washed with generic (cheap) automatic dishwashing detergent,
>after their previous use and then rinsed with hot water just prior to their use
>in the competition mentioned.
AAAck. I never use soap on my beer glasses. I use B-brite. There are other
cleaning agents that many/most bars use. Soap is much more difficult to rinse
clean without leaving a film. The cleaners bars use (sorry don't know any brand
names) are chosen because they do rinse clean. B-Brite also does, which is why
I use it on my glassware. Perhaps this is a little anal, but I have found soap
doesn't rinse nearly as well. I'd suggest changing your cleaning agent. Soap
also may not clean away the cardboard aroma.
- JaH
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hopfen und Malz, Gott erhalts
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 1991 13:00 PDT
From: Bob Jones <BJONES at NOVA.llnl.gov>
Subject: Stress Testing Beer
To Larryba on stress testing your beers.
This is not a new idea. Many micros test their brewery operations in
this manor. They take samples from several different points in the
brewery, cap the bottles and let them sit at room temp. By observing
the turbidity of the sample, one can correlate cleanliness. I think 4
days plus indicates adequate cleanliness. George Fix has related
some procedures for the practical homebrewer in a paper he
presented a few years ago at an AHA conference. He also discusses
other easy steps to allow one to test their brewing operation with
minimal high tech tools. Interested parties can contact the AHA for
conference transcripts. I like the one comment George made once. "If
you want to give your beers the ultimate stress test, just ship them
via UPS anywhere !". Low level bacterial contamination has been the
death of several microbrewers and a continuing problem for others.
These low levels of contamination really starts showing up when the
brewers start bottling their beers. The average liquor/grocery store is
as good a tester as UPS.
On a more humorous note, I recently toured the AB facility in
Fairfield,Ca. The tour didn't go through the brew house. They said they
were "remodeling". I have always contended that the American
brewing industry is determined to convince the average American
beer drinker that the more beer tastes like water the better it is. This
way they can just bottle water and like magic they have mega profit.
Well I think they have succeeded. I speculate that they really DIDN'T
have a brew house at AB. They are just bottling carbonated water. You
can do your own testing to verify this hypothesis. Just blind taste their
beer next to a cold glass of carbonated water. I rest may case.
Bob Jones
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Date: Wed, 20 Nov 91 16:28:39 EST
From: "Sean J. Caron - GE I&PS Generator Engineering Support - (518) 385-1170 - 8*235-1170" <CARONS at TBOSCH.dnet.ge.com>
Subject: strong ales
morning, folks!
i have a question about the term/style called "strong ale". could someone
please pass along a definition and/or the names of some examples?
or maybe even a favorite recipe ;-)
neil mager asks about well water with dissolved oxygen - nope, its not the
tank. all of my neighbors with deep wells (mine is ~530') have the same
condition. i am, however, no longer convinced that it is really oxygen.
thanks!
sean
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Date: Wed, 20 Nov 1991 15:54 PDT
From: ALTENBACH at NSSPA.llnl.gov
Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #764 (November 20, 1991)
RE: CARDBOARD IN COMPETITION GLASSES
A suggestion for Russ Wigglesworth:
Trash the cardboard boxes and invest in some plastic crates, like the ones
commonly used by restuarants and cafeterias to hold their glassware. They
might be available through a restuarant supply outlet, or perhaps your
friendly local brewpub manager can help you locate the crates.
TOM ALTENBACH
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #765, 11/21/91
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