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


Contents:
  easy mash (chip upsal)
  Hops as food. (FSAC-FCD) <dward at PICA.ARMY.MIL>
  Rack/Pitch vs. Pitch/Rack (Tom Dimock)
  fermenters and seals (Brian Smithey)
  Re: Irish Red Ale (Aaron Birenboim)
  Re: Can CO2 be Useful? (John DeCarlo)
  CO2 (mcnally)
  Killer head! (Laura Conrad)
  spent grains (Brian Bliss)
  Cat's Meow 2 - How do I keep my printer from exploding? (Kent Dalton)
  Belgian Ale? (stevie)
  Assorted (COLE)
  Brew
  Romulan Ale (John Freeman)
  Re: Belgian Ale (Walter H. Gude)
  Feeding spent grains to fowl (Rick Myers)
  re Can CO2 be Useful? (Chip Hitchcock)
  SNPA (korz)
  Pale Ale Recipe (korz)
  Cooperative Micros? (Jim Grady)
  New HB Club in MA (JOHNREED)
  Many mead questions (David Suda)


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

Date: 16 Apr 92 06:46:06 EDT
From: chip upsal <70731.3556 at compuserve.com>
Subject: easy mash

>water heater blanket.  What I would like to do is simply add grains and
>hot water to this, stir, let rest, and sparge.  Also, for a step mash,
>why not start out with a stiff protein rest, then add boiling water to
>bring it to conversion temp, rest, and sparge?

I do that when I use a pretten rest (I only rest when I use adjuncts or
wheat malt).  For example:  8lbs grain; mis with 1 1/4 gal of water at
135degF; hold at 124 for 30min; add 1 gal for boiling water stabalize at
152; hold for 1hr sparge.  (determining these temps required some
expairmentation with my system -- I have a water cooler with copper
tubing-false bottom; you will no doubt need to expairment to determin temps
for your system.)

>Or for a decoction,
>remove portions for boiling then dump them back in.  It seems to me
>that this can easily be used for any type of mash.

Indeed I have used decoction when my temps from above are off the mark or I
want to mash out.


Chip


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Date:     Thu, 16 Apr 92 8:51:44 EDT
From: "Darren L. Ward" (FSAC-FCD) <dward at PICA.ARMY.MIL>
Subject:  Hops as food.

	I'm interested in growing hops at home, how does one get started? Is it
too late for this springs planting, I live in Northern N.J.

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Date:         Thu, 16 Apr 92 09:20:12 EDT
From: Tom Dimock <RGG at CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject:      Rack/Pitch vs. Pitch/Rack

I can't claim to have tested alternatives, but what I'm doing works
for me.  After the boil, I counterflow cool the wort and let it settle
for two to four hours.  I then rack half the wort to my primary (all of
this is happening in glass carboys - a 6 gallon for the settle, a 5
gallon for the primary), shake it vigorously to aerate it, add my
starter, and then rack in the rest of the wort.  I'm a little dubious
about leaving un-pitched wort around for much more than a few hours -
that was a characteristic of my one contaminated batch.  Maybe if you
cooled it waaay down.....

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Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 08:51:33 MDT
From: smithey at rmtc.Central.Sun.COM (Brian Smithey)
Subject: fermenters and seals

In HBD #865,
>>>>> cjh at diaspar.HQ.Ileaf.COM (Chip Hitchcock) writes:

Chip> I also wouldn't automatically endorse the sealing properties of
Chip> carboys. I have several 3-gallon carboys (I've been doing
Chip> tweaking on half batches) with the standard orange soft-plastic
Chip> caps and have found most cap/carboy combinations don't seal
Chip> tightly enough to force exhaust CO2 through the fermentation
Chip> lock; I've used various gimmicks, including props, string around
Chip> the outside, and plastic washers (made from the seals on
Chip> 5-gallon water jugs) inside to make a tighter seal, but haven't
Chip> figured out whether I've run into a bad line of caps or the neck
Chip> of the 3-gallon carboy is just a hair smaller/shorter.


I have a 25 liter acid carboy which I have fitted with one of
the orange carboy caps that Chip refers to, as well as 5 gallon
and 3 gallon carboys that take a drilled rubber "cork" (#7 I think).
I've noticed that with the orange cap, I get a good seal probably
about 1/2 the time; on the occasions when it doesn't seal I don't see
any bubbling out of the airlock.  I do primary fermentation in the
big carboy, so I don't worry too much about the imperfect seal,
but on the smaller carboys (my secondary fermenters) I always get
a good bubbling seal with the rubber stoppers.  Chip, you might
want to find drilled rubber stoppers for your 3 gallon carboys.
My small carboy was made in Italy, and imported by Crosby & Baker;
if yours is similar, it probably takes a #7.

Brian
- --
Brian Smithey / Sun Microsystems / Colorado Springs, CO
smithey at rmtc.Central.Sun.COM


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Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 09:05:00 MDT
From: abirenbo at rigel.hac.com (Aaron Birenboim)
Subject: Re: Irish Red Ale


  Eileen Anderson asked about Irish red ale.  I do not have Eckhard's
book, or jacksons, but I'll take a shot at defineing Irish Red.  I
think it is a VERY WELL BALANCED ale made with some crystal.  Quite
easy to make from extracts.  The problem is that it takes a lot
of work to make a truely balanced beer, so I too would like
to see a recipe posted.  Please use IBU or HBU if possible,
and include precise details on boil times.

    aaron

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Date: Thursday, 16 Apr 1992 11:15:11 EDT
From: m14051 at mwvm.mitre.org (John DeCarlo)
Subject: Re: Can CO2 be Useful?

Some have misunderstood my posting.  My basic question is:

Are air-locks just wasteful pressure-release mechanisms, or is there
a benefit to removing CO2 (say, to keep beer at a certain pressure
during fermentation)?  Should I keep the plastic cap *on* my airlock
and forgo the aurally satisfying "glub, glub" to get much more carbonated
fermenting wort?

Internet: jdecarlo at mitre.org (or John.DeCarlo at f131.n109.z1.fidonet.org)
Fidonet:  1:109/131

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Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 08:22:14 -0700
From: mcnally at wsl.dec.com
Subject: CO2


If you sealed your fermentor, it would either explode or else sustain a
pressure high enough to stop fermentation.

Remember that most oxygen is consumed while the yeast is reproducing in
the initial stages of fermentation.  Thereafter, the constant positive 
pressure caused by CO2 exhalation keeps any outside free oxygen from
entering.

The red cap on the airlock has little spacers inside of it.  Unless you
pound it on with a mallet, you probably can't seal it.  If you did, 
it would blow off, the airlock would pop out, the stopper would pop
out, or your fermentor would burst.

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

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Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 11:43:39 EDT
From: lconrad at wilko.Prime.COM (Laura Conrad)
Subject: Killer head!

>> Date: Mon, 13 Apr 92 14:34 CDT
>> From: korz at ihlpl.att.com
>> Subject: Re: Killer head!
>> 
>> 1. bottling too soon,
>> 2. infection, and
>> 3. too much priming sugar.
>> 
>> If the beer is only correctly carbonated during weeks 2, 3 and 4
>> after bottling, then I suspect either reason #1 or #3. 

Also, if some bottles have the gushing problem and others don't, it's #2.

		Laura

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Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 11:38:48 CDT
From: bliss at csrd.uiuc.edu (Brian Bliss)
Subject: spent grains


>Just to add to the spent grain discssion.  I have been to the big AB plant
>in St. Louis.  They hall their grain to farmers by the train load.

it works the other way, too...

>I have given my spent grain to my fowl and they show little inerest in it.
>According to Malting and Brewing Science the grain has little food value
>for farm critters and should only be used for a suppliment.

Ruminants (cattle, sheep) should be able to get something out of it
(and are probably the only ones that would eat it).  Their complex
digestive systems handle roughage better.  If your duck likes it,
then you probably didn't extract all the sugars in the sparge.

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

>I have two questions: Is there such a thing as an Irish Red Ale beer style?
>Secondly, if there is can anyone give me a good recipe for one? I had an
>excellent one at the Vermont Pub and Brewery, but I'm beginning to lose faith.
>Whenever I ask the owners of the local Homebrew stores they just give me a
>blank look and talk about how to achieve the color. I know that there has to
>be more to it than that, but then again if it doesn't really exist per se....I
>did peek into Michael Jackson's beer guide and saw Irish Red Ale on his family
>tree of beers so I'm not quite willing to give up yet. Am I missing something
>I should knowabout? If you do have a recipe for me, please keep in mind that
>I'm still brewing with extracts. Thanks for any help you can give me.

5 lbs of munich malt will turn any light beer a beautiful red,
but you'll have to mash it.  Go for a medium gravity (1.040-1.060),
no dark grains, easy on the crystal malt, no brown sugar, use
english hops - fuggles or northern brewer.  For an extract version,
try 2 cans amber malt X, steep 1/4 lb crystal malt,
1 oz fuggles 60 min, 1 oz fuggles 30 min.  .5 oz hallertau finishing
hops optional (I wouldn't, personaly).  whitbread ale yeast should
work just fine.

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

>I spent Friday in Kansas City, Kansas.  I had visited boulevard
>brewery several years ago when the only beer they made was the pale
>ale, and only in kegs.  They are now up to at least four different
>types.  (That's how many the liquor store I was in had.) I of course
>bought a six pack of each.  For the low price of $5.79 a six pack.

>Irish Ale.  Fruitier.  Tangier.  Darker (a little.)  It seemed like a
>variation of the Pale Ale.  I wouldn't give this to non-home brew
>friends, its taste is a little farther from their palatte path than
>they be willing to accept, or appreciate.  Was great after a pale ale.
>A little drier than the pale ale.

Beer across america sent this one out last month, and it's been my
favoritve so far.  Quite malty, not overly hoppy. I thought it was
kind of sweet, but I didn't drink it after one of their pale ales.
I want more!

>Bully Porter.  Stupid name, but another great beer.  A little light
>colored for a porter (I thought).  It was light brown to amber in
>color.  Very smooth.  could easily taste the chocolate malt
>written about on the six box.  The taste was not overpowering though.
>Great with a few peanuts.  It had a strong enough hop nose to balance
>the stronger malt taste.  Overall, it was great also.

A friend gave me a bottle of their porter a few months back.  Kind of
weak, but tasty.  Neat label (has a bulldog on it). If it was twice as
strong... 

bb


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Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 10:17:40 MDT
From: Kent Dalton <kentd at bach.ftcollinsco.NCR.COM>
Subject: Cat's Meow 2 - How do I keep my printer from exploding?


Is there anyway I can break up the Cat's Meow 2 recipe book into a set of
files each with a smaller number of pages? 160 pages of postscript is
*far* too much for me to print on my employer's laser printer at one time.

I'm somewhat familiar with postscript and have handcoded some ps stuff but was
unable to break this thing up into smaller groups and get it to print
properly. I assume it was done with TeX because of one of the comments in the
header, maybe the authors could release the TeX source code for CM2? (I've
never understood why people will do something in LaTeX and then only release a
ps version anyway.)

Thanks for any help.

- --
/**************************************************************************/
/* Kent Dalton                   * EMail: Kent.Dalton at FtCollinsCO.NCR.COM */
/* NCR Microelectronics          *                                        */
/* 2001 Danfield Ct. MS470A      *                                        */
/* Fort Collins, Colorado 80525  * (303) 223-5100 X-319                   */
/**************************************************************************/

 

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Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 11:50:13 CDT
From: stevie at spss.com
Subject: Belgian Ale?

tmsocha at vela.acs.oakland.edu (Tom Socha) writes:

>  I recently masde a batch of ale.  Using a the best of two recipes, one bock
>and the other trappist ale.  Then adding yeast culture from a bottle of Chimay
> Can I enter this under AHA rules as a belgian ale?

You can enter this beer in any AHA category you think is appropriate.  Many of
us have brewed targeting one style and ended out with a beer that was closer
to another.  While AHA rules prohibit multiple entries in the same category/
subcategory in a competition, there's nothing to prohibit you from entering 
the same beer in two completely different categories.  In the above example,
you could submit the same beer as a bock and a trappist ale (dubbel, I'd 
imagine), or anything else, for that matter.  The Chimay yeast will definitely 
produce one weird "bock," but if that's what you want to submit it as, there's
nothing stopping you.  Just be prepared for the judges' reactions!

Remember that Belgian Ales come in plenty of varieties (dubbel, tripel, saison,
wit, Flanders Brown, lambic, faro, etc.), so make sure to be more specific when
entering such a beer in any competition.  For more info on style descriptions,
the recent "zymurgy" special issue on styles can be helpful, as are Jackson's
books, and Fred Eckhardt's "Essentials of Beer Styles," among others.  Of 
course, you can always send me a bottle...

- --------

Steve Hamburg     Internet:  stevie at spss.com
SPSS Inc.         Phone:     312/329-3445
Chicago, IL       Fax:       312/329-3657

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Date:    Thu, 16 Apr 1992 13:04:01 -0400 (EDT)
From: COLE at IRENE.MIT.EDU
Subject: Assorted


	Though I am a novice homebrewer (3 batches) I thought I would
	put in my comments to a couple of threads from the last couple
	of digests if only to help other novices like myself.

	Regarding the note concerning the clarity of Pale Ale:

	  I brewed a batch of Pale Ale in my second attempt. It came out
	quite nicely, but I was unhappy with the clarity, until I poured
	a bottle of it myself and found it to be crystal clear. The first
	couple of times my wife joined me and actually poured the beer
	herself, pouring until the head foamed up too much, then tilting
	the bottle bak to wait for the head to settle and so on. To make
	a long story short, if I poured carefully so that none of the 
	yeast in the bottle reached my glass, my beer was perfectly clear.
	This without using any Irish moss, gelatin, or any other clarifier.
	The recipe was pretty basic, 3# extract syrup, 3# dried extract,
	pellet hops. The ferment was single-stage with no rack off the
	trub, though I filtered the wort to remove hops,trub,break stuff
	etc... 

	Regarding a note about priming using malt extract:

	I have done all three of my batches with extract instead of 
	corn sugar. Having not done it with corn sugar I can't compare
	the end result but I am happy with the end carbonation except
	that I find it takes 2.5 to 3 weeks to develop the appropriate
	level of carbonation. My local supplier said that he found extract 
	to take longer when carbonating and also claimed that with extract 
	the amount of carbonation obtained was extremely temperature 
	dependent. I don't have enough experience to verify his claim, does 
	anybody else ?

	A question about dry-hopping:

	I have noticed lately that many of the subscribers to this
	digest extoll the virtues of dry-hopping. What are the realtive
	advatages/disadvantages of dry-hopping vs. adding flavor hops
	late in the boil ? On my batch of pale ale I used Hallertau hops
	(unusual I know) for both bitterness, flavor, and aroma at
	various stages in the boil. I was quite pleased with the results
	and am somewhat unwilling to switch to dry-hopping without a
	good reason.

	Sorry for the long post and thanks to all of the experts who 
	have provided me with useful info.

	P.S. I am an extract brewer who plans to switch to mashing at
	      some point in the future. I will switch over when I feel
	      that I have a handle on the multitude of variables which
	      can be influenced using various extracts, hops, yeasts,
	      specialty grains etc... In spite of the lack of control
	      over the extract there are many other ways to influence
	      the quality of beer. 

	  MINI FLAME: It's interesting how Jack's comments about 
	              extract/grain brewing mirror those of Jeff's
	              about brewing with liquid/dry yeast ...


	Brian Cole
	Columbia Univ. Nevis Labs
	PO BOx 137 
	Irvington, NY 10533
	temp email address: cole at irene.mit.edu



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Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 12:48:45 -0500
From: yoost at judy.indstate.edu

Subject : Clausthaler German Beer

I correspond with a German Programmer who recently came to the U.S. to work

at Dell in Texas for a few months.  He is quite a "Unix Guru".

I thought the HBD would be interested in his account of american BEERS and

get a kick out of his sense of humor here it is .......


>From roell at informatik.tu-muenchen.de Mon Mar 23 09:22:15 1992
Received: from tuminfo2.informatik.tu-muenchen.de by judy.indstate.edu (5.61/1.35)
        id AA11651; Mon, 23 Mar 92 09:21:51 -0500
Received: from sunbrauer12.informatik.tu-muenchen.de ([131.159.8.70])
         by tuminfo2.informatik.tu-muenchen.de
         with SMTP id <16941>; Mon, 23 Mar 92 15:23:43 +0100
Received: by sunbrauer12.informatik.tu-muenchen.de id <23326>; Mon, 23 Mar 92 15:23:31 +0100
From: The Master of Symbolic Links <roell at informatik.tu-muenchen.de>
To: yoost at judy.indstate.edu
In-Reply-To: <9203191822.AA28975 at judy.indstate.edu>
Subject: Brew
Message-Id: <92Mar23.152331met.23326 at sunbrauer12.informatik.tu-muenchen.de>
Date:   Mon, 23 Mar 92 15:23:18 +0100
Status: R

>From yoost at judy.indstate.edu Thu Mar 19 19:25:47 1992

Yes, I'm back to germany again. Just in case I didn't tell you, my job 
in Austin was just a holiday jobs to get some more cash in ... (poor student
and so ...).

>Yes I have been brewing my own Beer for about a year now I am trying to
>reproduce
>
>2 famous american beers:
>
>  Samuel Adams <- No comments it is famous regardless of how it is - John
>       &
>  Anchor Steam
>
>Have you ever had either ?

Well, I know both of them. 'Samuel Adams' is said to be the best local beer
in Boston (althought it's not from MA ;-)) And Anchor Steam was the only beer
I drank way back in Texas that had an acceptable acohol precentage ;-) A
friend of mine brought it with him from milwalky.

>what is the QUOTE in German at the end of your e-mail ?
>
>Translation ?

That's very funny. It's about the best commercial I ever saw for the most
discusting product I ever drunk. It's about a commercial (series) for
an alcohol free beer (Clausthaler). The history of these commercials is
so funny. Their first spot was like this:

        "Clausthaler, all a beer needs"

Nobody thought this was cool. Nobody was really intrested in alcohol free
stuff. So they changed their commercials to a new text:

        " always ? ... no, not always ... but more often "
        (and then the wellknown line from above)

Well, this was quite good now, but not good enougth. The spots were to
boaring. Only these cool guys (in suits etc). So they changed it again but
this time did a new spot with the old text:

First you'll see a reporter in a bar, asking a guy standing there and
drinking (kind of family father, everyday guy).

Reporter:       "Why are you drinking Clausthaler ?"
Man:            "It does the right thing." 
Reporter:       "What ?" (has no idea what the man meant)
Man:            (looking down to his dog on the floor)
                "He now follows my commands"
Reporter:       (a little bit astonished)
Man:            (talks to his dog)
                "Lie down !"
Dog:            (just sits around, and tries to look in the opposite direction)
Reporter:       "Always ?"
Man:            (little bit sad)
                "No, not always ..."
Dog:            (looks up to his master and lies down)
Man:            "... but more often"
Reporter:       (looking to his audience)
                "Clausthaler, all a beer needs"

The last few lines of this converstion are taken for my signature. It's a kind
of insider joke ;-)

 - Thomas
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
e-mail: roell at informatik.tu-muenchen.de

        immer ?
        nein, nicht immer ...
        ... aber immer oefter !

 - John Yoost 

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Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 13:10:52 CDT
From: jlf at palm.cray.com (John Freeman)
Subject: Romulan Ale

> Micah asks about coloring for Romulan Ale.  What comes to mind is Blueberries.
> Sometimes Blueberries turn red in food, and sometimes stay bluish purple 
> (not as blue as in the movies)  I think it's a pH thing.  Try it and let us
> know, it sounds fun.  BTW is Romulan ale hopped?
> 

I've made beer with blueberry juice - one quart juice in one gallon
beer.  It did not turn blue, just a slight purplish tint that you
wouldn't notice if you didn't know it was there.  It didn't taste much
like blueberries either, unless I added a little sugar at drinking
time.

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Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 09:52:25 CDT
From: hp-sdd.sdd.hp.com!uunet!tellabf.tellabs.com!whg (Walter H. Gude)
Subject: Re: Belgian Ale


>From: tmsocha at vela.acs.oakland.edu (SOCHA THOMAS M)
>
>  I recently masde a batch of ale.  Using a the best of two recipes, one bock
>and the other trappist ale.  Then adding yeast culture from a bottle of Chimay
> Can I enter this under AHA rules as a belgian ale?
>
>Thank You,
>tom


  Under AHA rules you could enter it as an American light lager.  It wouldn't
fit the style and would get a terrible score, but you could do it.  Heck, you
could enter the same beer in every category they have and hope for the best.
Actually with beers on the fuzzy line between styles, many people enter them 
in both.


Walter Gude    ||   whg at tellabf.tellabs.com


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Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 12:15:44 MDT
From: Rick Myers <rcm at hpctdpe.col.hp.com>
Subject: Feeding spent grains to fowl
Full-Name: Rick Myers

> From: chip upsal <70731.3556 at compuserve.com>
> Subject: Spent grain

> I have given my spent grain to my fowl and they show little inerest in it.
> 
> According to Malting and Brewing Science the grain has little food value
> for farm critters and should only be used for a suppliment.

I feed my spent grain to my fowl (chickens, ducks, geese) and they can't
seem to get enough of it.  10 pounds will disappear in under 15 minutes -
they actually fight over it!  They prefer it over their regular layer
pellets and cracked corn.  They will also eat spent hops, but do not like
them as well as the grain.  I think the residual sweetness and the softer
texture is why they like it better than regular feed.

Rick
- --
Rick Myers    rcm at col.hp.com
Hewlett-Packard
Colorado Telecommunications Division

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Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 11:03:40 EDT
From: cjh at diaspar.HQ.Ileaf.COM (Chip Hitchcock)
Subject: re Can CO2 be Useful?

>Advantages:  The more CO2 in solution, the less likelihood of oxidizing
the liquid when racking (to secondary, bottling bucket, bottles).

Not clear; in the classical chemical approach, the amount of dissolved
CO2 would have no effect on the capacity for O2, and I think that even
a quantitatively accurate approach shows little interference. It is
possible that having CO2 coming out of solution whenever the beer
is moved would keep the O2 away, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Also, keeping all the CO2 in solution could make the wort too acidic even
for yeast (which likes a lower pH than most bacteria)---not sure of this.

The fermentation lock certainly isn't going to keep in very much of the
CO2; it probably can't take more than a couple of PSI. The carboy is
stronger, but I wouldn't care to bet on its being able to take a lot of
pressure. Fermentation generates a LOT of CO2; in round numbers, for
every 1% v/v alcohol produced, a volume of wort will generate four volumes
of CO2. Consider the effect of 80-120 gallons of CO2 in the .5-1 gallon
headspace of a typical carboy.... Note that in practice quite a bit of
CO2 stays in solution anyway; it's significantly soluble in water.

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Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 13:33 CDT
From: korz at ihlpl.att.com
Subject: SNPA

Has anyone else noticed a change in the bouquet of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale?
I bought a sealed case in mid March on which the date was "FEB 92" so it
could not be old.  SNPA was not available in my area (SW suburbs of Chicago)
for a few months and now that it has returned, the bouquet is not as I
remember it.  The way I remember it was, when you opened the bottle, you
could smell fresh Cascade hops and when you poured, the whole room filled
with a fresh Cascade smell.  The FEB 92 bottles have a stale, wet-cardboard
aroma (not sherrylike as in Chimay Grand Reserve which can be attributed to
the porosity of the cork).  Has anyone else notice this change?  Could the
beer have been damaged in shipment (freezing more likely than being too hot)?
Could this bee attributed to a poor 1991 Cascade harvest?  I know that the
Summer of `91 in the midwest was very dry -- maybe the Pacific NW has similar
problems?

To save bandwidth, email to me, and I'll summarize.

Al.
korz at ihlpl.att.com

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Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 14:31 CDT
From: korz at ihlpl.att.com
Subject: Pale Ale Recipe

Here's my foolproof Pale Ale extract+crystal recipe.

It has a better nose than Bass, but a little less than SNPA (the
one I fondly remember).  The Wyeast #1028 "London Ale" imparts a
bit of a woody flavor.  It has had various names throughout it's
various re-incarnations, but let's call it: "AL'S PALE ALE."


AL'S PALE ALE
5 gallons -- extract+specialty

3.3 lbs. Munton & Fison Old Ale Extract (throw away the yeast!)
3.0 lbs. Laaglander Light Dried Malt Extract
0.5 lb.  Crushed Crystal Malt (40 Lovibond)

1.0 oz.  Clusters Pellets  (60 minute boil)
0.5 oz.  Fuggles Pellets   (15 minute boil)
1.0 oz.  Goldings, Fuggles, Cascades or Willamette Whole Hops (dryhop)

1/3 oz.  Wines Inc. Burton Water Salts
5.5 gal. Soft Tap Water or Distilled Water

Wyeast #1028 "London Ale" yeast

5.5 oz. (weight) Laaglander Light Dried Malt Extract for priming.

OG=1046
FG=1014

Comments:
Hop rates based upon a *5.5 GALLON BOIL* -- if you do a partial boil, you
need to increase the boil hops to compensate for the higher boil gravity.
See the Zymurgy Special Issue on Hops for the compensation formula.
In any event, boil all the water to sanitize it and drive off any chlorine.

Steep the crushed crystal malt in a grain bag in the water as you bring it
from cold to 170F, then remove.  Don't boil the grains! I use two polyester
hop bags, one for each addition, to simplify removing the hops after the boil.  
The wort must be cooled to 70 or 80F before aeration.   I use an immersion
chiller, which brings it from 212F to 70F in 15 minutes, and then pour the
beer through a large funnel into the fermenter on top of the yeast.

I recommend the blowoff method of fermentation -- non-blowoff versions
of this beer have tasted harsh, astringent and too bitter.

Primary fermentation: 3 weeks in glass at 66F.  Dryhops added directly
into fermenter (no hop bag) after kraeusen falls (about 4-6 days).
No secondary.  Boil the priming extract in 16 oz of water for 15 minutes
to sanitize.

If you don't like the woody taste, try substituting Wyeast #1056 American
Ale yeast, but the FG will be different.

Al.

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Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 15:34:05 EDT
From: Jim Grady <jimg at hpwald.wal.hp.com>
Subject: Cooperative Micros?

I have a question for any of you who have closer ties to micro-breweries than
I do.

One of our marketing folks approached me today and said that they
are planning a celebration for a particularly successful product of ours
and want to get 2000 bottles of beer with our own labels on them.  Does any
one know of a micro-brewery, that would be interested in putting our labels
on 2000 bottles of their beer and then selling it to us?

Our plant is in the Boston area.

I will be invited so I am naturally interested in maximizing the quality
of the beer!

Please e-mail any info you have. Thanks!
- --
Jim Grady                  |"Hurry is not of the devil, hurry is the devil."
Internet: jimg at wal.hp.com  | 
Phone: (617) 290-3409      |                    C. G. Jung

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Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 18:06:14 EDT
From: JOHNREED at BOSTON.VNET.IBM.COM
Subject: New HB Club in MA

******** Announcing a New Homebrew Club in Central Massachusetts *******

You are cordially invited to attend the first meeting of the new
homebrew club.

DATE:        Saturday, May 9, 1992
TIME:        7:00 PM
LOCATION:    Sheraton Hotel, Milford MA
DIRECTIONS:  I-495 to EXIT 19; E. on Rt 109 100 yds; rt at Burger King;
             one quarter mile on left.
AGENDA:      Registration
             Discussion on meeting frequency, locations, dues, etc.
             Subsequent agendas, guest speakers, etc.
             Club Name Voting
             Club Officers Election
             Snacks and appetizers
             RDWHAHB  TASTINGS
             More Interesting Discussions...
DETAILS:     $3.00 fee
             BYOHB  or your choice (3 bottle limit)
             The hotel has asked that we check our beer in through
             shipping (!) and to label the bottles...
RSVP:        Please let us know if you will be attending.  Call Scott
             at (508) 529-6014 or John at (508) 529-4470.

Your ideas and suggestions will be welcomed.

Thanks and we hope to see you there for our first meeting!

P.S.  You don't have to be a homebrewer to join.  The club will be
for brewers and those who appreciate fine beers...although we might
even welcome BudMilLob drinkers...Not!

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Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 23:12:25 -0600
From: David Suda <suda at barley.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: Many mead questions


My friend Susanne is writing an article on mead, and she's interested in
the personal experiences and anecdotes of HBD readers. She would appreciate
your responses to any or all of the following mead-related questions:

  * What flavor/aroma/clarity trade-offs have you experienced for boiling
    vs. not boiling the honey?

  * What type of honey is best for making a smooth traditional mead? What
    type of honey is best for making a melomel or metheglin with
    "character"?

  * What is the most attenuative yeast? How does the attenuation of
    various yeasts compare?

  * Is sugar level tolerance relevant for mead yeast? That is, are some
    yeasts inhibited by the high OG of meads? Which ones?

  * What water additives do you use and why? Why add gypsum?

  * Does using irish moss produce a significantly clearer mead?

  * What are some good regional honey suppliers?

  * Tell about any failed experiments. (Yes, we know about unboiled
    prickly pear mead.)

Thanks for your help!

Please reply to:
suda at barley.colorado.edu


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End of HOMEBREW Digest #866, 04/17/92