FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator


Contents:
  latur tun (chip upsal)
  Sparge water temperature (mcnally)
  Porter (gkushmer)
  Re:  HoneyMoon (Rob Winters)
  Best compliment (Russ Gelinas)
  2-row usually not Klages (donald oconnor)
  Help a first batch? (John Freeborg)
  Re: using starter with Wyeast (Duncan Moore)
  Re: Honeymoon (OED attribution) (emeeks)
  A weird story (Chris Shenton)
  Yeast Cultivators' Literature (Richard Childers)
  Fix's "Principles of Brewing Science", errata sheet? ("Jeff Brendle")
  Re: Homebrew Digest #844 (March 16, 1992)-Honeymoon (Richard Akerboom)
  Dry-Hopping & Bruiser Brewers (Jeff Frane)
  Dry Hopping and SNPA yeast (David Resch)
  Mistletoe (Robert Millette)
  Lightstruck Mead (Mr. Tom Denny)" <dennyt at prism.CS.ORST.EDU>
  Re: Homebrew Digest #840 (March 10, 1992) (The Rider)
  Wyeast terminology - Now I'm confused (Jim Griggers)
  Color Value Question (Jim Griggers)


Send submissions to homebrew at hpfcmi.fc.hp.com
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[Please do not send me requests for back issues!]
Archives are available from netlib at mthvax.cs.miami.edu


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 17 Mar 92 08:02:42 EST
From: chip upsal <70731.3556 at compuserve.com>
Subject: latur tun

Russ Gelanis ask about using his insolated latur tun for mashing.

Do it it makes mashing easy.  I have a simalar setup using a plastic water
cooler,  It takes some expairmenting with striking temp. ect. but that is
what homebrewing is about.

Chip


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Date: Tue, 17 Mar 92 06:31:10 -0800
From: mcnally at wsl.dec.com
Subject: Sparge water temperature


Jack S. offers advice that boiling sparge water is more effective than 
the traditional 170 degree water.  Though I haven't experimented
personally with this, my understanding is that for decoction mash
brewers like Jack (I think? correct me if I'm wrong) that probably won't
cause any problems because the mash has been boiled already, and starch
clumps will mostly have been broken up.  For infusion brewers, however,
it seems to me that there might be increased risk of rinsing unconverted
starches into the wort.  I've done many mashes of both types, and a
consistent trend is that the decoction worts are clearer, and the mash
in the lauter much thicker (there's a lot of broken-down proteins; a
sort of proto-hot break).

Another issue is the effect on polyphenol extraction.  Jack: Do you
test the pH of the last runnings out of your lauter tun?  Do you taste
it?  My general rule is that I quit sparging when the runoff starts 
tasting like tea.  That seems to be about the time the pH goes above
about 5.6.  

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Mike McNally                                           mcnally at wsl.dec.com
Digital Equipment Corporation
Western Software Lab

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Date: Tue, 17 Mar 92 9:43:42 EST
From: gkushmer at Jade.Tufts.EDU
Subject: Porter


(Sorry if this comes in twice)

I recently brewed some porter using 9 1/2 lbs of Dark LME (a pouring
accident).  With it I used some specialty grains, the usual amount of
hops, and Wyeast liquid Ale yeast (Irish).  

After it appeared to be through fermenting, I racked to a secondary and 
let it sit for a few days.  When I came back to check it I noticed that there
were tiny little islands of foam floating on top.  While the hydrometer
reading was too high, I didn't taste yeast - it was just very sweet.

My question(s) - is this wort not done fermenting yet?  Should I re-pitch 
another package of Irish Ale Yeast?  

I haven't seen the fermentation lock bubble, but there is a small amount 
of pressure (maybe my wort is acting as a barometer :) in the carboy.

I'm planning on bottling soon, but if anyone thinks I should add more
yeast, then I'd love to hear from you.

Cheers,

- --gk

===============================================================================

"I have special place in my heart for the criminally insane, but YOU
 have worn out your welcome."   
					-The Tick-
- ----------------------------
gkushmer at jade.tufts.edu
- ----------------------------

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Date:    Tue, 17 Mar 1992 10:07:36 -0500 (EST)
From: RWINTERS at nhqvax.hq.nasa.gov (Rob Winters)
Subject: Re:  HoneyMoon

orgasm!davevi at uunet.UU.NET (David Van Iderstine) writes:

> ...(The OED sez)...

> ..."It is hony now, but it will change as the moon".

> Sorry, no references there to mead or fertility.

If that's not a comparison between making mead and newlywed 
behavior, I don't know what *else* it might be! 8-)

Rob Winters

 - - - - - - - - Why, oh why, drink Bud Dry? - - - - - - - - 

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Date:    Tue, 17 Mar 1992 10:14:32 -0500 (EST)
From: R_GELINAS at UNHH.UNH.EDU (Russ Gelinas)
Subject: Best compliment

   Well I might have finally done it.  My lastest brew, an Amber ale very
much like Cambridge Brewing Co. Amber, turned out great.  Lots of 
compliments on it last night, but the best was the person with the quickly
emptied glass who said "Oh, I forgot it was a homebrew!".  All-grain,
Wyeast 1056, whole hops.  I'll post the recipe (it's very simple) if I
ever remember to bring in the sheet.

Russ

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Date: Tue, 17 Mar 92 09:33:20 -0600
From: oconnor at ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (donald oconnor)
Subject: 2-row usually not Klages

It is common to see homebrew catalogs and, as a result homebrewers,
refer to 2-row Klages malt.  This is at best only partially correct.
Most 2-row malt used by homebrewers is not Klages.  It may contain
some Klages but also one or several of many other varieties of 
2-row barley such as Harrington ...  the name Klages carries some
positive PR with it, so shops continue to refer to the 2-row as such
even though the malters explicitly state that it may or may not be 
Klages.

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Date: Tue, 17 Mar 92 8:29:45 CST
From: johnf at persoft.com (John Freeborg)
Subject: Help a first batch?

   Well, after reading everything I could get my hands on for a couple of
weeks, I did my first batch on March 14.  It is supposed to be kind of
an amber ale:

 2/3 lb. Crystal Malt (20 lv)
 3.3 lb. Yellow Dog Amber Unhopped Extract
   (Yellow Dog is a mix of 87% 2-row, 12% wheat, 1% chocolate by the
    Home Brewery shop out of Missouri)
 3.3 lb. Bries Amber Unhopped Extract
 2 pkgs Munton & Fison Ale Yeast (14 grams) (Levure deBrassage on package)
 2 oz. Fuggles Hops (pellets) (5.9% alpha)
 1/2 oz. Hallertauer Hops (pellets) (3.9% alpha)
 1 tsp. Irish Moss
 1 tsp. Gypsum

Put crystal malt in muslin bag and added 1.5 gallons of water.  Brought to
boil.  Removed crystal malt at 200 degrees.  Removed from heat, added malt
extracts, stirred well for 5 minutes.  Added 1 tsp. of Gypsum.
Added 1.5 ounces of Fuggles at beginning of boil.  Added .5 ounce of Fuggles
30 minutes into boil.  Removed 2 cups of wort - added to cold water and
cooled to 80 degrees for yeast starter.  Added 1 tsp. of Irish Moss 50
minutes into boil.  Added .5 ounce of Hallertauer 55 minutes into boil.
Force cooled wort in kitchen sink with ice and water.  

Then I made a *terrible* choice of strainers (way to small and fine) and it
took forever to get the wort into the primary plastic fermenter.  The wort
also got extremely aerated at this point as it dripped into the primary
fermenter.  Since then, I have heard straining out the hops at that point isn't that critical (?).

Added yeast starter at 78 degrees.  Primary fermentation was 1.5 days at 68
degrees.  Not very much head foam - or at least not as much as I was expecting
(1/2 inch).  The head fell back *quickly* and lots of fruity ester smell too.

It is now in the carboy and I've got very slow fermentation going - 
one bubble every 5 minutes at the best.  If I shake the beer
around in the carboy a bit (gently) I get a lot more bubbling
action which stops soon after I stop moving the beer.  I think the wort
got way too aerated going into primary with that little strainer.  I
suspected a stuck fermentation because there is no sign of head on top of
the 2nd carboy (at all) and the bubbling is so slow when everything I
read says it should be bubbling every 20-30 seconds at least.  There was
a 1/3 inch of milky white sediment (yeast I presume) already on the bottom
of the carboy.  

So, I worried (don't have any homebrew yet) and sanitized a racking tube
and gave the wort 8 or so really good stirs to get the yeast off the bottom
and hopefully working better.  Checking it this morning (4th day) the
stirring had no effect and everything has collected back on the bottom with
no new signs of fermentation.

Any ideas to help resurrect this batch?  Should I add another packet
of yeast to try to salvage it?  There isn't any signs of infections yet and
it still smells ok (although a little fruity).

Thanks!
 - John

- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Freeborg          Software Engineer         Persoft
johnf at persoft.com                                465 Science Dr.
608-273-6000                                     Madison, WI 53711

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Date: Tue, 17 Mar 92 8:27:16 PST
From: duncan at informix.com (Duncan Moore)
Subject: Re: using starter with Wyeast

Hello,

My first posting and my second batch!. Well I noticed in todays posting by
J.S. (arf?) The question of why not cut open the Wyeast packet and make your
own starter? 

Well I just got back from my local homebrew shop (Fermentation Settlement),
and with all packets of Wyeast they are selling they are distributing 
instructions on just how to do that.  In fact they are warning consumers
not to try to pop the inner packet due to seam failures recently.  The
instruction sheets they are distributing appear to have originated from
Wyeast.

Hope this is of interest to someone, and thanks for all the help over the
past few months!          
 
 Duncan
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
     |\/\/\/|          Informix Software Inc.
     |      |          Duncan Moore  Programmer/Analyst  (415) 926-6516  
     |      |  
     | (o)(o)   I opened my refrigerator the other day and found a little
    C      _)  bunny rabbit sitting inside. I asked "Hey little bunny 
     | ,___|   What are you doing in my refrigerator ?"
     |   /     He replied "This is a Westinghouse, isn't it?" 
     /____\     "Yeah; so what ?"
    /      \    "Well... I'm just westing."
 



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Date: Tue, 17 Mar 92 11:57:33 EST
From: emeeks at unity.ncsu.edu
Subject: Re: Honeymoon (OED attribution)

Okay, I'll jump into the fray.

Although the Oxford English Dictionary is an impressive source to cite
(It's so big! So expensive!) I don't think OED looked far enough back
for its etymology. Notice that Papazian attributes it to a period that
by far predates the quotes by 16th century English authors. The
quotes themselves seem to follow the style of the "University Wits", 
a loose group of university-educated writers of the period who were
fiends for play-on-words. True, these attributions helped to popularize
the word, but "honeymoon" very likely is of nordic origin, as is a lot
of the English language.

- --Ed
 


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Date: Tue, 17 Mar 92 09:29:51 PST
From: css at haze.ccsf.caltech.edu (Chris Shenton)
Subject: A weird story

On Mar 16, Tom Nolan <NOLAN at LHEAVX.GSFC.NASA.GOV > writes:

> According to this
> guy, you can stop a bottle of beer from losing carbonation
> by sticking a silver spoon down into the neck of the bottle

A friend just the other day suggested I do this so I didn't have to
waste a partial bottle of champagne. I thought it was nonsense, but
think an experiement is in order.

Unfortunately, I don't have any actual silver-ware. Perhaps it doesn't
have to be actual silver...

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Date: Tue, 17 Mar 92 11:08:31 PST
From: Richard Childers <rchilder at us.oracle.com>
Subject: Yeast Cultivators' Literature


"Date: Mon, 16 Mar 1992 17:05:45 -0600
 From: Kathleen T Moore <ktmg8824 at uxa.cso.uiuc.edu>
 Subject: yeast culturing

"Can anyone and everyone who has experience with yeast culturing please send
 me detailed info on the process.  I am interested in all aspects and every
 level from the simplest homebrew processes to the most elaborate brewery
 techniques (at least those used by micros and brewpubs.)  I have had a basic
 microbiology class in college, but I need specifics such as media recipes
 for stock culture maintainance and media recipes for selection and separation
 of bacterial contaminants and wild yeast identification.  Also, does anyone
 know of a book or article describing the aforementioned subjects with regard
 to microbrewery applications?  I have access to a small incubator and also to
 a small autoclave, plus incidental equipment.  Eventually, I would like to 
 develop a standard procedure for stock maintainance and purity analysis for
 homebrewers who are courageous enough to venture into this realm."

Interestingly enough, Kathleen, I was just going to post this little review
of just such a book. I picked it up a few weeks ago, browsed through it last
night ( while quaffing my latest ale, of course ) and found it worth sharing.

		Yeast Culturing For The Homebrewer
			by Rog Leistad
		Copyright 1983 by Rog Leistad
		Published by G W Kent, Inc.
			3691 Morgan Road
			Ann Arbor, MI 48108

Here's part of the table of contents :

	Introduction						pages 1-2
	Chapter One, Equipment Needed for Culturing Yeast	pages 3-6
	Chapter Two, Yeast Starters				page	7
		The Canning Method				pages 8-11
		The Pressure Cooker Method			pages 12-14
	Chapter Three, Yeast Cultures				page	15
		Stage 1, Activating The Yeast			pages 17-19
		Stage 2, Preparing Agar Slants			pages 19-20
		Stage 3, Inoculating The Agar Slants		pages 21-23
		Care Of Your Slants				page	23
			.
			.
			.

You get the idea.

I'd type in the Introduction, but I'm short on time. Let it be noted, however,
that he addresses the fact - until now unacknowledged in these ivy-covered
halls of digitized knowledge - that stocks mutate, and that there is No Good
Way to keep this from happening, except to keep refreshing your stock.

His method is to take one liquid culture of known goodness - presumably,
fresh from a manufacturer - and making cultures out of it. ( I suppose that
the legal mind that would copyright roses' genetic patterns would also take
umbrage at this illicit cultivation of a copyrighted slimemold - and if
this is not an issue now, it will be soon. Take note, brew clubbers ... )
He admits to cultivating multiple generations of yeasts hard to get, such
as those harvested from the bottoms of beer bottles, but even so, warns
against the inevitable mutation.

It seems to me that, given the speed with which yeasts propogate, and the
speed with which the generations pass, that evolution is a tangible force
in the brewing world, and cannot be stopped or countered. The best one can
do is to try to keep known good cultures on hand, ruthlessly discard those
that go bad ( optionally killing everything in the flask first, if you're
really interested in influencing evolution, :-), and keep a steady flow of
new genetic strains moving through your beer, accepting the inevitability
of your beer's changing as the yeasts mutate in response to environmental
stresses and influences. Keep the yeasts pure and don't fret about the
breed, exactly, because it's changing even as you watch it ...

This problem even effects the big brewers. I don't know how they do it ...
maybe they have cloned yeast cells frozen in vast amounts against future
mutations in their breeding stocks. But you can't stop Nature ...

I'm rather enthusiastic about breeding yeasts and trading them with friends,
as a local member of the Yeastie Beastie Preservation Society - which doesn't
exist, but may soon.	(-:

- -- richard


=====
- -- richard childers		rchilder at us.oracle.com		1 415 506 2411
	oracle data center  --  unix systems & network administration
	... Minds are like parachutes ... they operate best when open.


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Date:    Tue, 17 Mar 92 14:49 EST
From: "Jeff Brendle" <BLI at PSUVM.PSU.EDU>
Subject: Fix's "Principles of Brewing Science", errata sheet?

I was merrily reading through George's book (big recommendation)...but I had a
problem about what I assume is a missing sentence or so on p 164-5 break.  Is
there an errata sheet somewhere that I missed?  Any help in filling the gap
for me between the Pasteur and Crabtree effects?  Thanks!

 -Jeff
PennState Homebrewer & resident computer geek


ps:  The local paper had a feature on 'PSU Research' on monday, and of all
people didn't they mention J-X Guinard, who apparently now works for the
university as a Asst Prof in Food Sci.  Talked about research he was doing
on mouthfeel of beer.  Gee, I knew I was going to PSU for a reason...  =-)

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Date: Mon, 16 Mar 92 21:21:21 EST
From: boomer at sylsoft.com (Richard Akerboom)
Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #844 (March 16, 1992)-Honeymoon

> Subject: Papazian and "Honeymoon"
> 
> I just ran across Papazian's account of the origins of the word
> "honeymoon."  He contends that tradition had the newlyweds drinking
> mead (HONEY) for one month (MOON) after their wedding.  This was
> supposed to insure fertility and the birth of sons.  I assume that
> this is Anglo-Saxon in origin.

For what it's worth, from my copyright 1969 American Heritage Dictionary
of the English language, copied without permission: "[honey + moon
(month), the first month of marriage being thought of as the sweetest]"

Rich

- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard Akerboom       Domain: boomer at sylsoft.com or akerboom at dartmouth.edu
Sylvan Software          uucp: decvax!dartvax!sylsoft!boomer
Mechanic St.            Phone: 802-649-2231
P. O. Box 566             FAX: 802-649-2238
Norwich, VT 05055 USA 

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Date: Tue, 17 Mar 92 11:36:57 PST
From: gummitch at techbook.com (Jeff Frane)
Subject: Dry-Hopping & Bruiser Brewers

> 
> Date: Mon, 16 Mar 92 10:02:43 EST 
> From: card at apollo.hp.com
> Subject: keg hopping
> 
> 
> 
>   I recently tried keg hopping with ~ 1oz leaf hops into nylon
>   bag. Tasted great for about a week, but then the beer developed 
>   a very bitter taste. Has anyone else noted this? 
> 
>   /Mal Card 
> 
See my note below on quantities. I think either you've overdone it or
the problem isn't related to the hops per se.  
> 
> 
> Questions for the HBD'ers:
> 
> 1.)  I want to dry hop.  I was going to throw an ounce of whole Cascades into
>      the carboy after the krauesen (sp?) falls.  If these things are floating
>      around loose, how do I rack to secondary without plugging up the siphon
>      or leaving a bunch of beer behind?  Is it possible to put the hops into
>      a sanitized hop bag or something? (Then how do I get it into the mouth
>      of the carboy!?)  At least in the 7-gallon carboy I've got plenty of
>      headroom for it.
> 
Put them in a bag. If your homebrew supply store doesn't stock
ready-made bags (they look like socks) you can use cheesecloth. Hops
floating around loose _would_ be a real bugger to deal with. You may
want to start with a smaller amount--say 1/2 ounce. Cascades are very
aromatic and I've found this quantity to be more than adequate (and I'm
a hop freak). Notice Mal Card's problem with bitterness; it's possible
that the addition of 1 ounce of hops pushed the beer over some sort of
bitterness threshold. In spite of what is generally said about hops
requiring boiling to produce bitterness, Dr. Lewis has established that
the simple addition of dry-hops _and no bittering hops_ is enough to add
some bitterness to the beer.


> 2.)  The two yeasts I'm trying are behaving rather differently.

       [I didn't scramble these lines, vi did! Really!]

>      popping, lots of CO2 and rollicking yeast motion in the carboy, while the
>      SNPA guys appear to be working but much more slowly.  So far, no sign of
>      contamination, just vastly different fermentation rates at this temp.  
>      Both carboys were at equal temperature, both were agitated to oxygenate
>      the cooled wort...the only visible difference at pitching time was that
>      the British batch had more trub in the bottom than the other.
> mechanics of dry-hopping will be appreciated!

I've found that 1056/SNA yeast works very well at 65F, although WYeast
claims that it works well at much cooler temperatures. I think your
sample may prove otherwise, although the pitching rates seem to be quite
different. If the British yeast came from a recently fermenting batch of
beer, they were likely much more active, as well as being in greater
quantities.  So, in this regard, I don't think the difference in
activity is surprising. If you can raise the temperature of the SNA you
may improve ferment. On the other hand, as long as the beer ferments out
completely there shouldn't be any problem with the flavor, so maybe just
relax yadda yadda.

> ~~~  Tom Bower 

>  Fm: Jack Schmidling
>  
>  It seems apparent that EDME (I can't speak for any other) contains a 
>  
>  > If the yeast is in the outer Wyeast packet, then why not just cut it open 
>  *wihout* ever breaking the inner seal, and just make a starter yourself? 
>  
>  I find it incredible that, with all the expert opinion on Wyeast, this very 
>  fundamental question is still floating around.
>  
>  Where is Jeff Frane when we need him?
>  
Yo. The answer is yes. And why not, indeed? I use the in-built starter
for oomph, but transfer it into a starter culture; there's no reason why
you can't skip the initial starter. You might try, however, pitching it
into a smaller quantity than 1 quart--say 6 to 8 ounces.

Someone raised the question of poor malt yield. I'm told that some of the
local microbreweries have had a problem with inconsistency in their
Klages, so it's possible that the problem isn't procedural at all. One
suggestion is to slow down your lautering phase.  I've taken to
monitoring the OG when the kettle is full, to see if some form of
artificial adjustment is required (e.g., adding some malt extract
((horrors!)) or boiling to a lower volume--or alternatively if the yield
seems to be higher than expected, boiling to a greater volume ()

On the question of the Big Boys and the beer they brew. As far as I can
tell, a letter-writing campaign is unlikely to change their approach to
the market.  They already figure they're making Good Beer and as long as
they sell lots of it, what do they care what a few grumpy homebrewers
think?  A few years ago, Heileman (?) built a new Val Blatz brewery in
Wisconsin(?) which was designed to brew high-quality
(relatively--anyway, all malt) beers on a smaller scale for draught
sales in the Midwest. Within a remarkably short time they closed down; I
have no idea whether the brewhouse is sitting idle... quite a thought.

If the continuously-expanding microbrewery market ever puts a dent in
the BB's sales, then you might see some changes.  Judging by previous
activity, however, this will simply mean a change in marketing approach.
(Garbage like Miller's Plank Road and, pardon me fans, but Coors
Winterfest are good examples.)

What I'm curious about is why anybody gives a rip _what_ AB or Coors or
any of the others brew, as long as decent microbrews (and contract brews
like Sam Adams) are available--or as long as we can brew at home. People
like to eat Cool Whip and Big Macs, too, and it's no skin off my nose as
long as no one forces one on me. What concerns me is that AB keeps its
grubby paws off the Czech Budwar and Pilsner Urquell. Lord knows what
their marketing bozos would do with all that labor-intensive brewing!

- --Jeff Frane




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Date: Tue, 17 Mar 92 16:51:53 MST
From: resch at craycos.com (David Resch)
Subject: Dry Hopping and SNPA yeast

Tom Bower asks about dry hopping and SNPA yeast.  I use both for virtually
every batch so:

I just toss the loose hops into the secondary fermenter (using a large funnel)
and then rack the beer from the primary into the secondary right onto the dry
hops.  I usually do this after one week of fermentation.  I let the secondary
fermentation/dry hop conditioning continue for another one to two weeks.

Numerous people have expressed concern with these hops clogging the
racking tube when it's time to keg/bottle, but this has never been a
problem for me in the 2+ years I've been dry-hopping.  My racking tube
has a little red nipple that fits on the end to reverse the flow of
the liquid (presumeably to minimize sucking up the bottom sediment).
When the majority of the liquid has been siphoned off, the (now soggy)
hops begin to clump around the bottom of the racking tube.  However, the
beer continues to siphon just fine!  The hops actually form sort of a 
filter and tend to catch a little of the yeast/trub sediment.  I can (and do)
get virtually every drop of beer out of the carboy leaving just the soggy hops
and sediment behind!

Ahh, Sierra Nevada yeast!  I love this yeast and use it for almost all of my 
ales.  Through a large amount of experimentation, I have found that this yeast
seems to work best at about 65 degree F.  When the temperature goes below about
60 degrees, it REALLY slows down.  In general, I find that this yeast ferments
a bit slower than other varieties, but the clean/neutral aromas and flavors 
that it produces are well worth the wait!

Dave Resch

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Date: Tue, 17 Mar 92 16:06:16 PST
From: millette at ohsu.EDU (Robert Millette)
Subject: Mistletoe

Does anyone have a reciepe for any kind of mistletoe fermentation?
I would be in particular interested in European Mistletoe preperations.
				Thanks
				Jay D. Allen

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Date: Tue, 17 Mar 92 16:37:17 PST
From: "(Mr. Tom Denny)" <dennyt at prism.CS.ORST.EDU>
Subject: Lightstruck Mead


Russ asks if Mead can be damaged by light.

Some time ago, I had that same question.  No-one seemed to
know the answer (although, I suspect that light won't damage
Mead).  I did some research and found an interesting article
about it:

   Effect of Infra-red Radiation on the Mataration Rates of
   Wine and Mead.  J. Zywiel (Przemysl Rolny i Spozywczy,
   1953, 173-176; through Polish tech.  Abst., Warsaw, 1954,
   (ii), 113).  "Various fruit wines which were manufactured in
   the laboratory, and also by a semi-technical method with
   an output of 250 litres(sic) per 24 hr., were exposed to infra-
   red radiation.  The treatment, which was economical, was
   found to cause improvements in taste, aroma and colour
   and at the same time to effect pasteurization."

Tom Denny

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Date: Tue, 17 Mar 1992 21:20:40 -0800
From: mfetzer at ucsd.edu (The Rider)
Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #840 (March 10, 1992)

Jack Writes:
> It's great fun, very rewarding and easy to do in small quantities.  I 
> demonstrate the process and how to make the necessary equipment in my video.  
> Perhaps one of the "reviewers" out there, who received a free copy would be 
> kind enough to send it on to you.

Jeez Jack, I don't suppose you're talking about *me* are you? I did review
the bloody thing, and I had a dozen people or so review it. The opinions of
5 of those were posted right here on the net, by the 3 people (other than
myself) that had access... The opinions of the non posters are in line with
mine and of the people that did post. Did you want a blow by blow review? I
feel a *little* guilty for not having posted a personal review, but I
figured you got plenty of feedback from them... 

Just for the record: it was our opinion that Jack's video has a place, tho
it's probably not with the HBD community sice it's geared at the very
beginner. As such, it demonstrates a viable technique for making a beer,
and I would recommend some visual instruction to any beginner. It's a bit
hard to pick up miller cold, and make heads or tails of what he's saying
w/out watching someone do it. On the other hand, don't we all learn this
from sobody else? As was pointed out, people had some difficulty w/ the
brewing area not looking sanitary enough. In reality, that's how many of us
probably brew. On the other hand, if you're trying to train newbies you'd
better take such things as sanitation to an extreme. The section on malting
was not necessary, and that guy at Baderbraeu (who can't pronounce the name
of his own brewery) had better be paying you big bucks for the
advertisement. *grin*

Mike

- --------------
Michael Fetzer
Internet:      mfetzer at ucsd.edu        uucp:           ...!ucsd!mfetzer
Bitnet:        FETZERM at SDSC            
HEPnet/SPAN:   SDSC::FETZERM           or  27.1::FETZERM


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Date: Tue, 17 Mar 92 19:02:07 EST
From: ncrcae!brew at devine.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM (Jim Griggers)
Subject: Wyeast terminology - Now I'm confused


TSAMSEL at ISDRES.ER.USGS.GOV writes:

>Subject: Wyeast European Ale
>
>[...]  Also the second pitch with the European ale is much faster. [...]
>
>I've had the same experience with the Wyeast ALT.
>Ted

No strain numbers were used, so I am a little bit confused.  Wyeast #1338
is listed as a European Ale yeast (on the package), and it is my
understanding that it is a German Alt yeast by looking at the Alternative 
Beverage catalog.

Maybe, Ted, you had another yeast in mind other that #1338 when you said
"European"?

     Jim Griggers
     brew at devine.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM
     408 Timber Ridge Dr.
     West Columbia, SC 29169


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Date: Tue, 17 Mar 92 20:56:36 EST
From: ncrcae!brew at devine.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM (Jim Griggers)
Subject: Color Value Question


I am having trouble understanding some color definitions in "The Essentials
of Beer Style" by Fred Eckhardt.  This was only brought to my attention when
I compared color values given in "The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing" to
values in Eckhardt's book.  Fred gives values in a 1-10 color scale and also
in SRM values.  Part of his table is:
	Value         SRM
	1 - 1.5     1 - 2.5
	1.5 - 2     2.5 - 3.5
	2 - 3.5     3.5 - 5.5
	3.5 - 4.5   5.5 - 10
	4.5 - 5.5   10 - 18
Which is fine, no problem.  But under the table, he states the color
of Budwiser as 2(1-10)/2.7 SRM.  From the table, color value 2 should equal
3.5 SRM, right?  What am I missing?  This discrepancy seems to be consistant
throughout the book.  Some places in his charts he only lists color values,
not SRM degrees.

An example that first caused me concern:
Bass Pale Ale(export)  10 degrees SRM  from TNCJOHB page 49
Bass Pale Ale (E)      5.5/9.8  (color/SRM) from Essentials page 88

The SRM values match up, but his chart says 5.5 should equal 18, not 10.

Not worrying but confused,

     Jim Griggers
     brew at devine.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM
     408 Timber Ridge Dr.
     West Columbia, SC 29169


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End of HOMEBREW Digest #846, 03/18/92