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


Contents:
  re: Pepper experience (TSAMSEL)
  Sterilizing Solutions (Steve Davis)
  Extra Bottles ("Rad Equipment")
  Extra Bottles                         Time:7:35 AM     Date:4/30/92
  Dandelion wine (John Freeman)
  First time kegging. (Kenneth Haney)
  Non-animal-based finings (korz)
  Homebrew Digest #873 (April 30, 1992) (Laura Conrad)
  Re- Homebrew Digest Request ("Brett Lindenbach")
  re:hops (Carl West)
  re roasting peppers (Chip Hitchcock)
  Brewery questions (Daniel Roman)
  Fermentation lag time. (D.R.) Brown <DRBROWN at BNR.CA>
  Iodophor ("Emily Breed")
  BRFWARE from mthvax (chris campanelli)
  books by de Clerk (chris campanelli)
  BRFWARE from mthvax (chris campanelli)
  CompuServe Beer Judge Study Guide (Edward C. Bronson)


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

Date:    Thu, 30 Apr 1992 7:20:57 -0400 (EDT)
From: TSAMSEL at ISDRES.ER.USGS.GOV
Subject: re: Pepper experience

  Ah yes the lovely acrid fumes of roasting poblanos. If you have
an industrial grade ventahood over the stove, the problem is minimal.
Also a hand-held propane torch, tongs and gloves can be used to do the
same thing. I usually use the bbq pit though.
  Any one ever try a Habanera or Scotch bonnet in an ale? Yowwee!!

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Date: Thu, 30 Apr 92 09:13:49 GMT-0500
From: sdavis at laforge.ksc.nasa.gov (Steve Davis)
Subject: Sterilizing Solutions

Greetings...

  A local brew shop carries a bag of white crystalline powder that is  
simply labeled "Sterilizing Solution Mix".  Supposedly, you just mix  
a few teaspoons per gallon of water, and you can sterilize anything  
instantly.  We tried this stuff with our last batch, which has just  
passed the bottling stage.  The wort tasted normal at this point, so  
there doesn't seem to be any contamination yet.

  Does anyone have any experience with this stuff, or know what it  
might be?  We've been using bleach and water up until now, but that  
required soaking for a day or more for proper sterilization.  Other  
than speed, what are the advantages/disadvantages of the two?

Steve Davis
Kennedy Space Center, FL
sdavis at laforge.ksc.nasa.gov

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Date: 30 Apr 92 07:40:09 U
From: "Rad Equipment" <rad_equipment at rad-mac1.ucsf.EDU>
Subject: Extra Bottles

Subject:  Extra Bottles                         Time:7:35 AM     Date:4/30/92
In HBD #873 Al writes:

>I don't know exactly what happens to the extra bottles if
>brewers send three instead of one to the first round.

We drink 'em!

RW...


      Russ Wigglesworth              CI$:      72300,61
|~~|  UCSF Medical Center            Internet: Rad Equipment at RadMac1.ucsf.edu
|HB|\ Dept. of Radiology, Rm. C-324  Voice:    415-476-3668 / 474-8126 (H)
|__|/ San Francisco, CA 94143-0628


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Date: Thu, 30 Apr 92 10:06:26 CDT
From: jlf at palm.cray.com (John Freeman)
Subject: Dandelion wine

>  
>  Here is what we came up with:
>  
>  4  gallons dandelions
>  4  gallons water
>  8  lemmons
>  4  lb raisins
>  10 lb sugar

I would recommend using white grape juice instead of raisins. Just
my two cents worth.

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Date: Thu, 30 Apr 92 09:15:02 MDT
From: haney at soul.ampex.com (Kenneth Haney)
Subject: First time kegging.


Hi all,

Well it's me again with another question for the more experienced.

I've got everything I need to start kegging in Cornelius kegs, and want
to try carbonating with C02 instead of priming. How much pressure do I
need to put on the keg and how long do I need to leave it on the keg?
Once carbonated can I remove the C02 setup and let the keg set on it's
own until I'm ready to tap it? How much pressure do I use to dispense 
the beer? If need be can I unhook everything and tap another keg before
the first one is done?

Well thanks in advance for any and all replies, I haven't had a chance
to check into any of these things and want to keg the batch that is in
the fermentor. 

By the way, don't discount garage sales and flea markets to pick up your
kegging supplies. I got my C02 cylinder, three 5 gal. soda kegs, one 
2.5 gal soda keg, regulator, lines and quick disconnects all for $19.75.
This is why I want keg so bad and don't have any info on it, I couldn't 
pass up all great deals and would like to try it.

Thanks again,
Ken
haney at ampex.com

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Date: Thu, 30 Apr 92 11:16 CDT
From: korz at ihlpl.att.com
Subject: Non-animal-based finings

Andy asks for non-animal-based finings.

Polyclar is a trade name for a fining made from (I believe) polyethylene.
It is to be used just like geletin or isinglass.  Another alternative
may be to use Irish Moss, which is made from a type of seaweed, and is
added to the last 15 minutes of the boil.  On the other hand, if your
boil is good and long (at least an hour) and you let it clear in the
keg for a two weeks (like I do), you shouldn't need finings.  If you
still get cloudy beer from your Pilsener, maybe your protein rest is
at the wrong temperature or not long enough.
Al.

P.S. The AHA can be reached at 303-447-0816.  They publish Zymurgy.

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Date: Thu, 30 Apr 92 12:23:54 EDT
From: lconrad at wilko.Prime.COM (Laura Conrad)
Subject: Homebrew Digest #873 (April 30, 1992)

Jack Schmidling says:

>> I think the whole thing is a conspiracy.  It seems like dandelion wine
is to
>>  wine what Bud is to beer. 

What I've always guessed is that it's like the nail soup.  Obviously
you can make wine by adding enough raisins and sugar.  The
dandelions probably don't have much to do with it.

			Laura

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Date: 30 Apr 1992 11:31:49 -0600
From: "Brett Lindenbach" <Brett_Lindenbach at qms1.life.uiuc.edu>
Subject: Re- Homebrew Digest Request

Mail*Link(r) SMTP               Re: Homebrew Digest Request



Microbiology for the Home: A Primer on Yeast Culturing

by: Brett Lindenbach
	(brett_lindenbach.microbiology at qms1.life.uiuc.edu)

    After quaffing a good yeasty beer I thought to myself, "Why
throw away the yeast that's stuck to the bottom of the bottle,
especially when I have to pay four bucks for a Wyeast culture?" And
so, with this do-it myself attitude, and some training in microbiology,
I set out to construct my own library of yeast strains. Let me tell you
how I did it.

A WORD ON SANITATION    First of all, to have success in
manipulating microorganisms, you must have an appreciation of 
sterile technique. It is one thing to pitch an active culture into
fresh 
wort, and quite another to revive a yeast that has been sitting 
happily in alcoholic dormancy for months: the chance for 
contamination are at least ten-fold. A good thing to bear in mind at 
all times is that microbes are everywhere: on your hands, in the air, 
your countertop, you name it. I am amazed at my roommate's brewing 
technique (he's an engineer). He will sanitize something by swishing 
it around in our bucket-o-bleach water, and promptly set it in the 
kitchen sink! So, when dealing with sanitary/sterile things it is 
important to work quickly, but to not get sloppy. Soak things in 
bleach water at least 5 minutes. Wipe down the area you in which 
you plan to work with a bleach based sanitizing solution. 
Contamination can be common until you are well practiced in sterile 
technique. If you have access to an autoclave, by all means, learn 
how to use it. If not, the next best methods are boiling all 
ingredients, which does not guard against spores but will suit most of 
a homebrewer's needs, and sanitizing all equipment with bleach 
solution. Also, it would not be a bad idea to check out a book on 
microbiological techniques (1,2) from your library for this all 
important concept 

MAKING MEDIA    The next thing to do is to prepare some media to 
grow and keep the yeast on. I decided to use agar plates for storing 
my yeast. The advantages of this method are that it is easy; single 
colonies can be isolated, thus allowing you to "purify" yeast away 
from contaminating organisms; and that cultures can be kept for 
months in a refrigerator with a properly stored plate. To do this 
requires getting some pre-sterilized disposable plastic petri dishes 
(Fischer Scientific 711 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15219 ). The 
best buy is cat#08-757-14G, p.683 ($50/ case of 500). Also needed is 
some agar. The best is from Difco Laboratories ( P O Box 331058 
Detroit, MI 48232 1-800-521-0851) and it is called Bacto-Agar. Start 
by buying 1/2#, which should run about $37. Also, we will need 
some DME, and a source of hop oil (any flavor).  A good pot to use is 
one that has a handle, a tight fitting lid, and preferably a lip for 
pouring on the side. It should be big enough to avoid boil-overs, yet 
small enough for handling with one hand. Mine is 12 quarts. Start by 
boiling up 3 cups of water. Throw in a good amount of DME (up to 1 
cup) or pure maltose, (if you can get it), stir to dissolve, and
continue boiling for 15 min. Keep the lid on loosely, to allow steam to
escape 
and "steam sanitize" the lid. Add 18 IBU's of hop oil. Use oil. We do 
not want to have to strain this mixture. The hops, as any casual 
reader of Papazian might know, is to act as a microbicide, thus 
helping to select for our hop-tolerant yeast. Then slowly add 1/2 
teaspoon of agar, stirring constantly to avoid boiling over. Watch it 
carefully, and continue boiling for another 20 minutes. When done, 
remove from heat and put the lid on tightly. Allow to cool. Do not use 
a wort chiller, or similar device. Agar melts around the boiling point,

and solidifies at around 50 degrees Celsius (your body temp is 37 C). 
While you are waiting, crack open a sleeve of plates. Take out 10 and 
put them on your freshly scrubbed-down counter in two piles of 5, 
with the lids on top. Do not take the lids off. When the pot is still 
very warm, but within handling temp., quickly flame the lip you plan 
to pour out of by passing it over your stove burner (for people with 
electric ranges, see below under "other equipment"). Now, with one 
hand tilt the lid, and the stack of plates above it, off the bottom
plate. 
Pour the media in to fully cover the bottom of the plate, but only go 
about 1/2-3/4 of the way up the sides. Try not to mar the surface 
with bubbles. Replace the lid and stack of plates, and proceed to the 
next highest plate, etc. Let the plates sit undisturbed for 45 minutes 
to an hour. You will know the agar has solidified when the media 
color lightens to a buff, and the media stays when tilted. When you 
are sure the agar has solidified, turn the plates upside down, and 
store them that way to avoid dehydration, in a cool area, like a 
cupboard, away from air currents. If your plastic sleeve wrapper is 
empty, slide it back on the stack of plates before flipping, and seal 
with a twist tie. These can be stored for weeks at room temp., and 
longer if you wrap them and refrigerate.

OTHER EQUIPMENT    Other things you will need include a source of 
flame, for sterilizing. A gas stove does the trick for me. Also good is
a 
small alcohol lamp. Do not use an oil lamp. A disposable lighter works 
in a pinch. We also need to construct a loop. This consists of a
straight 
piece of wire, a little longer than a long neck bottle, with a handle
on 
one end. The other end is twisted around into a circle, about 10 mm 
dia., to form a loop. A good handle would be one of those twist-to-
clamp X-Acto knives, minus the blade. The more inert the loop 
material, the better. A good bacteriological platinum loop is probably 
out of the price range of most homebrewers. Try stainless or regular 
steel, about .5mm dia. Fischer (see above) also sells pre-sterilized, 
plastic, bad-for-the-environment loops for those so inclined. Also, a 
source of Parafilm, a wax-like wrapping paper for the lab, will be 
helpful in extending the life of your plates. Finally, find a good,
dark 
spot in your house, preferably away from air currents, where the 
temperature is consistently around 30-37 C. This will be our 
makeshift incubator. I use this spot on our range above the pilot 
light, and keep a bowl over my plates to shield from air, light, and 
grease. Keep this area especially clean.

MAKING A PLATE    Okay, so we've made it this far, let's start to 
collect yeast. Take a bottle of beer with a good amount of yeast on 
the bottom. Allow it to settle in your fridge overnight. Carefully pop 
it open and slowly decant the brew. Set this aside. Be sure not to lose

too much yeast pouring. It is best to leave that last bit of beer/yeast

slurry in the bottle. Flame the lip of your bottle and the business end

of your loop. Insert the loop into the bottle. If the loop is still
hot, 
touch it to the inner bottom of the bottle, so as to dissipate the
heat. 
Scrape up some yeast sediment or swish the loop in the yeast slurry 
to fill the loop. Taking care not to touch the loop to anything, 
withdraw your sample. Grab a plate and remove the lid. Pick up the 
plate and streak the loop back and forth across the plate. Do not 
press too hard, or you will ruin the agar surface. To get nice isolated

colonies, confine your streaks to one region of the plate. Flame the 
loop, and poke it into a spot of the agar to cool. Pull the loop
through 
the streaked region twice and streak in a new region. Repeat this 
dilution technique again. Replace the lid, and put this plate upside 
down in your incubation zone. With practice comes speed, which is 
important for avoiding contamination from airborne nasties. Within a 
few days you should see signs of growth. Yeast colonies should be 
round, white-to-brownish bumps on the surface, in the pattern you 
have streaked. Hopefully your plate will not sport any contaminants, 
which could look like almost anything. Contaminating wild yeasts are 
hard to discern, but usually look slightly different than what you 
have spread. Look carefully, but remember not to open up the plate. 
To store your plates, cut a small strip of Parafilm (1 cm x 5 cm), if 
you plan to use it. Holding it to the sides of your plate with a thumb,

pull it around the lid/bottom edges of the plate, taffy-like, to seal
the 
sides. Sanitize a Rubbermaid container, big enough to hold plates, and 
lid. Store the plates in your fridge.

CHOOSING BEERS    Not all commercial beer has yeast in it. When 
scouting for yeast in the liquor store, I hold the bottle up to the
light 
and check for sediment. Also, beer yeast with high attenuation may 
be hard to revive. They may have literally drowned in their own 
alcoholic poop. Try as I might, I cannot seem to culture Old Peculier 
Ale or Duvel's Belgian yeasts. Other yeasts will have simply run out 
of food, and settled down for a nice nap in the bottom of our bottle. 
These are the ones we want. So, choose a beer without too much 
alcohol and a good amount of yeast. German lager yeasts come up 
nicely, as do Weiss yeasts (note: many Weissbiers use two yeasts, 
and you can see two discrete colony types). Ales can be had too: try 
Chimay. Why not start out with one of your own? This is a good way 
to keep a free culture of Wyeast on hand. Additionally, the re-use of 
a yeast culture (assuming good maintenance) will make a yeast your 
own. It will get used to your brewing methods by selecting for 
variants that grow well in with your setup. This is how all the 
different yeasts used in brewing came about in the thousands of 
years B.G. (before genetics). 

MAKING A STARTER    Well, thats just great. We've got our yeast on 
this little plate of agar. But let's not forget our reason for doing
all 
this: to make better beer. So, we need to make a starter for these 
critters, so we have something to pitch. Start by making the above 
recipe, but leave out the agar. When cool, aliquot into very sanitary 
beer bottles, about 1/4 volume and cap. Flame your loop and an open 
bottle of starter wort. Tap the loop on agar surface to cool, and
scrape 
up a single colony. Swish it around in the starter to get the yeast in 
suspension. Cap the bottle with an airlock, and store in a nice warm 
place. The yeast should be ready to pitch within a few days.

MAINTANING YEAST STOCKS    The main reason a plate will go bad is 
a contaminating organism may appear. If so, pick a clean yeast 
colony with a sterile loop and streak onto a new plate. If you are safe

from contaminants, plates will go bad from dehydration. When a 
stock plate shows signs of this, it is good to streak a fresh plate.

FURTHER READING
1. "Manual of Methods for General Bacteriology." Gerhardt, et al.
American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC. 1981

2. "Microbiological Methods." C.H. Collins. Plenum Press, New York, NY

3. "Methods in Yeast Genetics" F. Sherman, et al. Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 1979

DISCLAIMER    I have written this to introduce homebrewers to some
principles of microbiology. I make no claims about the use of this
information, nor my expertise in this area. Additionally, I am aware of
other methods of yeast culturing. I only describe what has worked for
me. Please distribute this document freely.








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Date: Thu, 30 Apr 92 10:56:39 EDT
From: eisen at kopf.HQ.Ileaf.COM (Carl West)
Subject: re:hops

>...3 lines, with 2 shoots on each...

One author on the subject (name forgotten, article not at hand) says
`let 'em grow, I get a fine harvest that way' (paraphrase) but goes on
to admit that he has never tried culling the shoots, so he wouldn't
know if it's better to do so. Other authors recommend culling. One
suggestion I like is letting three go, when they're a third of the way
up the support, let three more go, repeat. I plan to try this.

>...making a plant split into 2 main branches by snipping off the top...

The plant won't necessarily split at the `snip point', but snipping
will encourage side branches to grow.


Carl

WISL,BM.

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Date: Thu, 30 Apr 92 11:41:14 EDT
From: cjh at diaspar.HQ.Ileaf.COM (Chip Hitchcock)
Subject: re roasting peppers

   In A BOWL OF RED (one of the earliest books devoted to chili worship)
Frank Tolbert says to roast peppers \in the oven/; moving anything from
oven to stove-top is a good way to overdo unless you have a \lot/ of
experience cooking things gently (e.g., can you do a \white/ white
sauce, or a welsh rarebit, on a burner instead of a double boiler?).

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Date: Thu, 30 Apr 92 12:18:20 EDT
From: tix!roman at uunet.UU.NET (Daniel Roman)
Subject: Brewery questions

Part of my vacation this year will be taking me to the Green
Bay/Milwakee area.  I unfortunitely can't make it to the conference,
timing just wasn't right but I would like to know if there are any
breweries (micro or otherwise) that are worth a visit.

Anybody know where in Pittsburgh the Pittsburgh Brewing Co. is?  I'll be
stopping there and heard that they make a few high quality custom brews.
Do they have tours?
- -- 
______________________________________________________________________
Dan Roman           |     ///          Internet:  roman_d at timeplex.com
Timeplex Inc.       | \\\///              GEnie:  D.ROMAN1
Woodcliff Lake, NJ  |  \XX/ Only AMIGA!      Homebrew is better brew.
======================================================================

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Date:       30 Apr 92 14:10:00 EDT
From: David (D.R.) Brown <DRBROWN at BNR.CA>
Subject:    Fermentation lag time.


I brewed an all-grain IPA last weekend using "British Ale" Wyeast (1098),
After bursting the inner pouch, the Wyeast packet expanded before I was
ready to use it. I tried to buy some time by pitching the contents into a
1/2 gal, 1.020 SG starter of corn sugar and water.

Two days later I was ready to pitch the starter, but its SG had only reduced
by a couple of points. I pitched anyway but after three days there was
no sign of fermentation. A lag time of three days seemed a bit excessive,
so I decided to dump in a package of dried yeast. Now the fermentation is
in full swing.

I now realize that the starter should have been made with malt extract, NOT
sugar. Still, why did the yeast lose its spunk after it hit the sugar water?
Did I induce the dreaded Crabtree effect in my starter culture? If so, why
didn't the yeast recover after three days in the wort?

Even though I used a wort chiller, a considerable amount (~1/2") of material
precipitated out after the yeast was pitched. Is it also possible that falling
trub took some yeast out of suspension, burying it in the bottom of the
carboy? It seems to me that this would contribute to the lag time.

Any thoughts or suggestions?


 - Dave

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Date:          Thu, 30 Apr 92 12:27:25 PDT
From: "Emily Breed" <embreed at vnet.ibm.com>
Subject:       Iodophor

My brewpartner and I have been using an iodine-based sanitizing product that
we bought at Great Fermentations of Santa Rosa - I'm not sure if it's
Iodophor or not.  The proportions that were recommended on the bottle
are 3 T iodine solution to 5 gallons water.  So far, we haven't had any
problems with infection, and I'm *delighted* not to finish a brewing session
with little bleach spots all over my clothes!  :-)

(It also works great to kill unwanted greenery in the garden....)

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Date: Thu, 30 Apr 92 15:32 CDT
From: akcs.chrisc at vpnet.chi.il.us (chris campanelli)
Subject: BRFWARE from mthvax

Anyone trying to download BRFWARE.EXE or BRFWARE.EXE.UUE from mthvax MUST
specify "BIN" for binary transfer.

chris campanelli

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Date: Thu, 30 Apr 92 15:29 CDT
From: akcs.chrisc at vpnet.chi.il.us (chris campanelli)
Subject: books by de Clerk

Does anyone know where I might find any de Clerk books for purchase?

chris campanelli

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Date: Thu, 30 Apr 92 16:18 CDT
From: akcs.chrisc at vpnet.chi.il.us (chris campanelli)
Subject: BRFWARE from mthvax

For those of you out there (and you know who you are) who are running
into problems trying to run BRFWARE.EXE or BRFWARE.EXE.UUE and you got
your copy from netlib at mthvax, here are some helpful hints.  Please make
sure you specify "BIN" for binary transfer.  If you don't and you try to
run the copy you will experience problems.  Also, the software will not
run in a "stacked platform" environment.  Why?  I dunno. You would be
better off asking the people at Microsoft although I don't recommend it
as their "help" line is $2.00 per minute.  If you continue to have
problems after all this, please contact me as I would like to hear about
it.

chris campanelli

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Date: Thu, 30 Apr 92 18:29:05 -0500
From: bronson at ecn.purdue.edu (Edward C. Bronson)
Subject: CompuServe Beer Judge Study Guide

    I am looking for study guides relating to the AHA Beer Judge
    Certification Program.  The AHA's guide is being updated and
    is currently out of print.  There is at least one guide available
    from the CompuServe Beer Forum.  I do not have access to CompuServe
    right now but I understand that the file is called JUDGE.BRU and
    is most likely in Area 14 (LIB 14).  The Beer Forum operates as a
    part of CompuServe's Bacchus Wine Forum (WINEFORUM).
    
    Any assistance in getting this file (or other study guides) and/or
    comments about the AHA Beer Judge Test would be very much appreciated.
    Thanks and good brewing!

					Ed Bronson
					h: (317)742-8206
					w: (317)494-4988

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #874, 05/01/92