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


Contents:
  request (John Scales)
  Re: Aeration with aquarium pump (Barry Cunningham)
  questions asked and answered (Sean J. Caron)
  Beer Barrel (gkushmer)
  Re: Aeration with aquarium pump (korz)
  Homemade Wort Chiller (sami)
  Pilsner yeast (sami)
  oranges (Brian Bliss)
  wyeast? (C05705DA)
  Certified Beer Judges (JOHNREED)
  Midwest HBers Unite at Oldenberg Brewery (long) (cvg!"CAE236::GEMCBREARTY")
  Lupulophobia in Milwaukee
  AHA conference (Ted Manahan)
  Cherries in beer (Arthur Delano)
  Re: English bitter info/examples (PEPKE)
  The World's Greatest Beer Review (BOB JONES)
  brewing ersatz pilsner urquell (Tony Babinec)
  Copper tubing lengths (Dennis J. Templeton)
  Re: Cheap Kegs and related hardware (Rick Larson)
  Listserver now available at HBD Archive ("Stephen E. Hansen")


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

Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 07:42:50 EDT
From: scales at bcmp.med.harvard.edu (John Scales)
Subject: request

Hi,
I would like to request that I recieve homebrew via E-mail. I am a beginning
brewer and would like to obtain as much information as possible.
Thank you in advance.

John Scales
E-mail:scales at bcmp.med.harvard.edu
Phone: (617) 432-4076

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Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 08:36:27 EDT
From: bwc at icd.ab.com (Barry Cunningham)
Subject: Re: Aeration with aquarium pump

> From: martin at daw_302.hf.intel.com (martin wilde)
> Subject: Re: Aeration with aquarium pump
	...
> > Alberta Rager will have an article in the Conference Transcripts
> > on aeration -- she suggests using a bubbler stone, an aquarium pump
> > and a 2micron inline filter for aeration, but I would leave this
> > improvement for later.

That's 0.2 micron by the way.  It is to filter out airborne beasties,
so you need an extremely fine size.

> . . . the pump produced so much air that my wort bubbled out of the carboy!!!

Keep an eye on it and turn it off periodically to let the foam subside.

> By the way, how did they sterilize the bubbler?? Put it in bleach??
 
I asked her exactly that question.  Just soak it in bleach.

| Barry Cunningham                                             bwc at icd.ab.com |
| Allen-Bradley Company, Inc.     or                      ICCGCC::CUNNINGHAMB |
| 747 Alpha Drive                 or                    BWCUNNIN at MRGSD at REMNET |
| Highland Hts., OH 44143         phone: (216) 646-5241   FAX: (216) 646-4484 | 

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Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 09:12:17 EDT
From: Sean J. Caron <CARONS at TBOSCH.dnet.ge.com>
Subject: questions asked and answered


Morning folks. 

Chris Goedde asks ...
>1) Is there a simple conversion between pounds of liquid malt
>   extract and pounds of dry malt extract?
 
    My understanding is that .8 lbs DME = 1 lbs LME, with the extra .2lbs
    of LME being water content.

>3) That little lid that comes with your fermentation lock.  Do
>   you attach it securely while fermenting or do you just set
>   it on top?  Or do you throw it away?  In other words, what's it
>   there for?  I made a starter for my last batch, and it was
>   slightly carbonated because I had the lid to the lock on, which
>   didn't seem quite right.
 
    Assuming your using one of the "tripple-ripple" locks with the orange
    plastic cap, the lid stays on. It is supposed to have ridges molded into 
    the plastic which provide room for the co2 to escape. In pratice, i've 
    had the same problem. Make sure the air spaces between the ridges are not
    clogged, and dont jam the cap on tight, and it should work.

Chris Karras is ... 
> intrigued by the plastic barrels used in
> England for kegging.  They have a tap set into them and can take a carbon
> dioxide charger to protect against oxidization.  Can anyone compare
> them to the soda kegs used by many homebrewers here?

    I looked into these as an alternative to the expense of a full-blown
    kegging system, and I was told they are fine for party-type situations,
    but are very prone to leaking, making them less than suitable for any kind
    of longer term storage. Anybody actually use one?


                                             Sean Caron

  

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Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 12:53:06 EDT
From: gkushmer at Jade.Tufts.EDU
Subject: Beer Barrel


Thanks to a system crash, I can't quote who mentioned the beer barrel in
the last HBD.  But I wanted to say this:

I've tried Beer Barrel beer once when I was visiting a homebrewer in 
England.  The beer tasted fine - I didn't taste or smell plastic.  I've
been dying to get my hands on one ever since and recently found one
at a place in Woburn for $77 (Beer & Wine Hobby in Woburn, MA - and I'm
not affiliated in any way except that they've gotten large chunks of
cash from me).

>From what I've seen, there is much less hassle in this approach and I
am looking forward to trying it out.

If anyone knows a place with these things for less than I cited above,
please let me know.

- --gk

 -------------------     
|  5,397 miles      | 
|     - to -        |     THE FIRST AMENDMENT states that members of re-
|   WALL DRUG       |     ligious groups, no matter how small or unpopular,
|                   |     shall have the right to hassle you in airports
|WALL, SOUTH DAKOTA |     
|     U.S.A.        |                            -Dave Barry-
 -------------------
**Sign In Amsterdam**


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Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 10:30 CDT
From: korz at iepubj.att.com
Subject: Re: Aeration with aquarium pump

Martin writes:
>Well I tried using a 1 micron inline filter with an aquarium pump placed
>in my wort and the pump produced so much air that my wort bubbled out
>of the carboy!!!  I don't know if the bubbler stone (which produces fine
>bubbles compared to just the end of the 1/8" tubing) doesn't have this 
>problem or are they using a 15 gallon fermenter with 5 gallons of
>wort in it... 

Alberta mentioned this phenomenon also.  The only solution, as I recall,
is (as you said), to have a lot of headspace.

>By the way, how did they sterilize the bubbler?? Put it in bleach??  All
>of those little pores in the stone would be a menace to get clean it
>seems like...

I believe Alberta said to get a non-plastic bubbler, so you can boil it.
If you use PE tubing (generally the "suitable for drinking water" tubing is
PE), you can boil that too.  That seems like the easiest method of sanitation
to me.
Al.

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Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1992 08:22:43 -0800
From: sami at scic.intel.com
Subject: Homemade Wort Chiller

In answer to Chris, we made a wort chiller following the directions from an
article published in Zymurgy that we heard about in the Beer and Wine forum
on Compuserve. A rough summary of that article is as follows:

Go down to your friendly home handy-man supply center and buy the
following:15 to 20 feet of 3/8" o.d. coiled copper refridgerator tubing.
($20), 2- 3/4" pipe clamps ($.75 ea.), 1- 1/2" i.d. garden hose (50ft was
the shortest I could get, $8), and I'll assume you have 3/8" i.d. plastic
hose already. If not, you'll need about 2 inches of the stuff. Now, take
the 3/8" copper pipe and start to carefully bend it. Make a J type bend,
much like a racking tube, at one end. This will hook on to the side of your
boiling kettle. Then allow a straight length to any depth you might desire
(mine's about a foot). Then start to coil the pipe to fit inside a 5 gallon
pot. You can customize the size to your situation. After coiling, leave
enough pipe left to come back up to match the first J bend. Be careful
thoughout not to kink the pipe! When you are done, you should have
something that looks like the guts of a commercially available wort
chiller. The J type bends at the two ends allows it to hook on to the side
of a pot or bucket and keep the hard to sanitize garden hose completely out
of any possible contact with the wort. Now decide how much garden hose you
want on the end. I used 10 ft.Measure from the female fitting end and then
cut the hose there. Now take about and inch of 3/8" i.d. tubing and shove
it on to one of the ends of the copper pipe. This will act as a spacer to
interface with the garden hose. Now slide a hose clamp onto the hose and
then put the cut end of the hose over the 3/8" plastic hose spacer. The
1/2" i.d. garden hose should fit perfectly over the 3/8" plastic tubing on
the copper pipe. Simply tighten the hose clamp on the joint. Now cut
another 10 feet of hose and repeat on the discharge side of the wort
chiller. Voila you have a wort chiller. Now if you want, buy a new female
fitting for the 30 ft hose you have left over (about $1.50) and you also
have a perfectly good 30 foot garden hose! The female hose fitting works on
my kitchen sink. This contraption will bring 5 gallons of wort to pitching
temperature in about 20 min. The chiller is very easy to make (took me
about 20 min.). 
Sam Israelit
Engineer, Businessman, . . . Brewer
Portland, OR


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Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1992 07:55:41 -0800
From: sami at scic.intel.com
Subject: Pilsner yeast

In answer to Bob, I used Brewer's Choice Pilsner Yeast to put together a
batch back in March. It turned out great. Not exactly Pilsner Urquell, but
probably one of the best beers I have ever made. It costs a bit more, but
it was worth it.


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Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 10:21:44 CDT
From: bliss at csrd.uiuc.edu (Brian Bliss)
Subject: oranges



>2) Oranges.  I'd like to use orange zest in my secondary for some orange
>flavor and aroma (again, a Belgian-type brew).  The question is, how
>much?  The beer will be about 1.070, using a rather fruity yeast stolen
>from a Belgian bottle.  Also, should I avoid dry-hopping with hops at the
>same time?

well, considering that my latest mead was light, sparkling, and
had 5 lbs of oranges squeezed into it, yet one could barely discern
the orange flavor I'd say... a lot.  Oranges (and strawberries, too)
don't seem to ferment a way and not leave much flavor in the final
product.  Definitely avoid dry hopping it.  maybe try adding orange
flavored extract - that way you could split the batch into 2 or 3 parts
with varying amount of orange, and pick the one you liked best.

bb


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Date:         Wed, 17 Jun 92 09:31:13 CST
From: C05705DA at WUVMD.Wustl.Edu
Subject:      wyeast?

This weekend I crossed a new boundry; I tried wyeast instead of dry yeast.
I am attempting to make triple stout.  I made a starter for the yeast
with one small can of Alexander's dark extract in about 2 quarts of water
with 1/2 oz of northern brewer hops.  When down, I split the what was left
after the evaperation into two wine bottles.  The yeast took off.  By the
time I was done with my real batch, the yeast was coming out of the air lock
of one bottle and almost out of the other.  My brew consisted of specialty
malts and nine pounds of syrup and dried extracts; oddly enough, I came out
with a sg reading below what I expected.  I threw in both bottles of yeast,
slapped on the air lock, and was on my marry-ol' way.  I checked my 5 gal
batch the following night.  Foam was coming through the lock.  I took the lock
off and put in a hose to a bucket of water.  Later that night when I checked
it, the lid had popped off, 6 gal plastic bucket.  I put the lid back on,
went back upstairs, sat down, turned on the tv, BOOM.  I put the lid back on
three times that night before I gave up for the night.  It is now ferminting
activily but not blowing the lid anymore.  Now, how much wyeast do you put
in for 5 gal of what should a very sugary brew?

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Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 10:12:34 EDT
From: JOHNREED at BOSTON.VNET.IBM.COM
Subject: Certified Beer Judges

We recently established a new homebrew club in the Central Massachusetts
area and are looking for a Certified Beer Judge to join us at our next meeting.
The date is Saturday July 11 at 7:00 PM.

Anyone interested?  Please let me know via email or call me at work
(617 895-2158) or home (508 529-4470).


Thanks!

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Date:    Wed, 17 Jun 1992 13:19:06 -0400 (EDT)
From: sdrc!cvg!"CAE236::GEMCBREARTY" at uunet.UU.NET
Subject: Midwest HBers Unite at Oldenberg Brewery (long)

The 4th Annual Bloatarian Brewing League's BEER & SWEAT  '92
=============================================================


That's right, it's Beer & Sweat time.  On Saturday
evening, August 15, 1992, the festivities for 
homebrewing enthusiasts begin at suites 5110 and 181 at the 
Oldenberg and Drawbridge Inn Complex, I-75 and Buttermilk Pike 
exit in Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky.  (Just a few miles down the
Interstate from Cincinnati, OH)

During the day there's the amazing Oldenberg breweriana 
collection, several pools, other homebrewers from at least 15 
clubs (our estimate is up to 300 people) from the Midwest area, 
brewery tours, good restaurants, and hot weather to enjoy. This 
event is for you if you're into homebrewing or just like being 
around those who are. The only guarantee is that you will sweat 
and there will be beer. 

Bring your favorite homebrewed beer, commercial beer, etc. to the 
festivities for you and others to enjoy. The Drawbridge Inn has 
donated the use of a hospitality suite 181 by the main pool. 
Please keep in mind that no glass or bottles are permitted in the 
pool area. No problem--just pour your homebrew into plastic cups. 
There will be plenty of kegs and ice but please bring extra 
coolers. 

So RELAX and enjoy this opportunity to meet many people from all 
levels of brewing and to share in what we at the Bloatarian 
Brewing League believe is the greatest time of the year.


Friday August 14
================

7:30 p.m.-? Those who arrive early (aka: party animals) can get 
started at the Oldenberg Beer Gardens with the opportunity to 
party later too.


Saturday August 15
==================


a.m. You should be on your way or already there!

Noon Hospitality suites open (Suites 181 and 5110, Drawbridge Inn 
Complex)

3 p.m. Check in to your room at the Inn

3:30 p.m. Keg check-in at the hospitality suite

5-6 p.m. Meeting of the top dogs from the different clubs in 
Suite 181. If you consider yourself a mover and a shaker and are 
interested in making next years Beer & Sweat bigger and better, 
then stop by and put in your 2 cents. We would like to have each 
club represented.

5-7:30 p.m. Dinner on your own. Some groups are going to the show 
at the Oldenberg Greathall. There are many fine restaurants in 
the complex and nearby.

7:30 p.m. 'till midnight Beer & Sweat at the Oldenberg Drawbridge 
Inn, Suite 5110. This will be the main gathering of the 
homebrewers and clubs. Typical draft brews from last year 
included: Ginger Lager, Super Steam, Not quite Munich, Sheldon 
Macadoo Spice Ale, Pilsner, Brown Ale, and many more........ Some 
of the best beers you will ever drink will be there for your 
consumption. Reminder: Plastic cups are the requirement.


Sunday August 16
================

Crawl home with a real goodnbad feeling!


For information on rooms, call the Drawbridge Inn at 
1-800-354-9793 and mention the Beer & Sweat activity in order to 
get the $50/night room rate. A special THANKS to the Drawbridge 
Inn and Oldenberg Complex for all their help and support. 



R.S.V.P.
Bloatarian Brewing League
c/o: Chuck Boyce 
5119 Warren Cincinnati, OH 45212 
Home: (513)531-8076 
Day: (513)632-4700

For More INFO, call:    Tim Thomas              Ray Spangler
                        Home:  (513)232-9783    Home:(606) 727-1956
                        Work:  (513) 576-2467   Day: (513) 977-4734

- -------------------------------------------------------------------
The BBL's position on alcoholic consumption is summed up nicely 
by Gene and Georgetti.... Homebrew is dedicated to those merry 
souls of the other days.... who again will make drinking a 
pleasure.... who achieve contentment long before capacity.... and 
who.... whatever they may drink.... prove able.... to carry 
it.... and remain gentlemen. For those of you who need the 
translation:

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

1) Coming to this activity is entirely voluntary

2) Participation in this activity may involve consumption of 
an 
alcoholic beverage, and that this may affect my perceptions and 
reactions.

3) You are responsible for your conduct, behavior and actions, 
and absolve the Bloatarian Brewing League, The Drawbridge Inn and 
Oldenberg Complexes of responsibility for your conduct, behavior, 
and actions.

4) Be sensible and responsible!


- -- andy (email at: Andrew.McBrearty at sdrc.com)

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Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 09:36 PDT
From: alm at brewery.intel.com (Al Marshall)

To:  homebrew at hpfcmi.fc.hp.com
Subject: Lupulophobia in Milwaukee


George Fix writes:

> Jack Schmidling's generic ale was indeed clean as a whistle. I did, however,
> have some stylistic quibbles with it. Jack, those high alpha Chinooks need
> a generous malt charge to balance them off. I hope you had a chance to taste
> Bob Jones' Brown Ale. It clearly showed how really delicious a clean well 
> balanced beer can be.

I was not present nor have I tasted THE GREATEST BEER MADE WITH RECYCLED
AMERICAN MATERIALS (insert small US flag icon here :-)).  
Nevertheless, this brings up a pet peeve of mine:
the seeming obsession with "balance" by certain figures in the AHA.

Let me say first that I respect George highly in matters of science
(I have to, I'm not a physical scientist), but
we part company when taste comes into the picture.  To make a point,
let's assume for the moment that Jack did NOT approach George and say,

   "George, I have here a bottle of <insert AHA style category here>
    beer, how do you think it would do in competition?"

   or
  
   "George, I seem to be having a problem with mash extract, do you think
    this beer is out of balance?"

Under these assumptions (and from my experience with Jack Schmidling's
outlook, I find it difficult to imagine him asking for such feedback)
I find George's fatherly advice about beer styles rather inappropriate.

Bear in mind
that I am extensively self-educated in these matters but 
I have not been through the Beer Judge Certification Program, and hence
am not "Politically Correct".  Consequently,
when I taste such a beer, I'm able to say either "Man, that's bitter...
I like it!" or "Man, that's bitter... I don't like it!" without feeling
ashamed of myself.  If Jack had the temerity to put a style-name
on his beer, the better comment would be "I don't think you brewed what
you tried to brew", although again, I find it difficult to believe that
Jack would call his beer anything other than "THE GREATEST".

Sadly, I think the AHA in general 
is dominated by this obsession with beer style
at the moment.  What is worse, it is my unscientific impression that
the majority of the styles are skewed toward maltiness (most AHA figures
call this "balance").
I have christened this obsession with balance to the detriment of
hop bitterness, flavor and aroma "lupulophobia".

Anecdotally, lupulophobia
seems to be *somewhat* more common in the Midwestern United States
and relatively rare in the Pacific Northwest.  Note the number of
small breweries brewing lagers in the Midwest vis a vis the P. Northwest
as support for this view.  I was recently enjoying a pint of the first 
Pilsner microbrewed in Portland, and reflecting that the 
impressive hoppiness would probably not be attempted in many other
markets.
(Sadly, I've heard that the brewer intends to "tone it down".  
Commercialism rears its ugly head even here).

Finally, I wonder why George advises Jack to taste a brown ale.  Was it
because Jack was trying to brew such a beer?  If not, I translate
the comment as, "I wish you had brewed me something more like this".
This is not necessarily inappropriate, since I take such things into
account when I brew a beer I hope my friends will like.  But again, if
Jack wanted the AHA thought police to like his beer, he's not the
person he seems to be on HBD.

Basically, I'm impressed by the report that Jack's beer is clean (and
unoxidized?).  I wish I had been around to taste it (and to get a load of
the brewer's world view, no doubt :-)).

I'm looking forward to seeing HBD'ers in Portland OR next year at the
AHA conference and subjecting you to a healthy dose of IBUs :-).

	-- R. Al Marshall







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Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 11:35:38 pdt
From: Ted Manahan <tedm at hpcvcbp.cv.hp.com>
Subject: AHA conference
Full-Name: Ted Manahan

I have enjoyed reading the notes other people have written about the AHA
conference. It's always fun to have your own perceptions reinforced! In
that vein, I offer my own impressions of the conference.

This was my first AHA convention. It exceeded my expectations, which
were pretty high.

I was surprised by the tremendous amount of BEER at the conference!
What a dummy I am, you may think - that was the whole purpose of the
conference! But no, I mean really vast amounts of excellent beers, both
commercial and homebrewed. Imports and domestics. Left over bottles from
the national convention. Ales, lagers, lambics, dark, amber, light,
wheat, fruit. Pretty much every style you can think of was represented.
Let no one go thirsty! The AHA really did an excellent job getting
donations from brewers and distributors for this conference.  Yes, most
or all of that beer was donated!  More free beer than you could shake a
stick at.

One of the best parts of the convention was meeting many of the well
known names in our hobby. I talked at some length with Martin Lodahl and
Fred Eckart, and met Chuck Cox, Kinney Baughman, Charlie Papazian, and
Byron Burch. I also had the pleasure to talk with dozens of other
brewers. There was a tremendous atmosphere of good will with everybody I
met. Everyone was very friendly and having a great time. 

The conference sessions were informative, but much of that information
can be gained by reading the conference proceedings. My favorite talks
were the session on Yeast by George Fix and the session on Brewing
Lambics by Martin Lodahl and Mike Sharp. Other good sessions were
cooking with beer, bock recipes, and ideas for running homebrew clubs.
I may try out some of these ideas on our local "Heart of the Valley
Homebrewers" club!

Club night was a blast! There were about thirty booths representing both
clubs and vendors. There were many booths from midwest clubs, as well as
booths from some of the larger clubs across the nation. Most of the club
booths had good to excellent beer for tasting. I bought a beer glass
from the San Andreas Malts, and was tempted by yeast cultures (50 cents
each) from the Boston Wort Processors. I bought a commercial yeast
culturing kit, and will offer my services to our club as a yeast bank
when I figure out how to use the thing!

I'm looking forward to next year's conference in Portland, OR. As a
"local", I feel a moral obligation to do my part in providing enough
beer for all the thirsty conference attendees!

Ted Manahan
tedm at hp-pcd.cv.hp.com
503/750-2856

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Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 14:36:02 EDT
From: Arthur Delano <ajd at itl.itd.umich.edu>
Subject: Cherries in beer


A friend has far too many cherries in her freezer, since she wants to start
putting up this year's crop.  I've offered to take them for adding to beer and
return a six-pack or two of the results in exchange.
    Given that I'm making five to six gallons:
  1. How many pounds of cherries should I use in a basic pale ale recipe?
  2. Should I cut back on the hops for bittering, flavoring, or both?  (
     (generally, my hoppier beers are more popular)
  3. Papazian specifies that fruit ought to be added at the end of the
     boil.  Would it be unwise or pointless to add any in secondary ferment?

Thanks for your answers in advance,

AjD

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Date:    Wed, 17 Jun 1992 11:38:57 -0400 (EDT)
From: PEPKE at vaxkid.scri.fsu.edu
Subject: Re: English bitter info/examples

Paul Stafiniak asks about English bitter.  Though an American, I travel to 
England quite a lot and drink prodigious quantities of the stuff, so I 
think I can answer some questions.

(To explain the context of my answer, I should point out that people in 
England, even CAMRA, don't get into the very precise definitions of beer
style that Americans in general and the AHA in particular does.  A beer 
style over there is much more likely to describe a range of 
characteristics, which may overlap with other beer styles.  "Bitter" is
a continuum, not a point.)

Bitter is the default drink in most pubs in England.  Bitter is basically
draught ale. Bitters tend to have roughly the characteristics that we
associate with your basic ale.  They are generally darker in color,
lower in alcohol, and fruitier than light ales.  They are usually not as 
sweet as milds.  They are fairly well hopped, but this varies.  They are
bitter from both the hops and the hard water used, and they usually have
a tang which is hard to describe.  None are heavily carbonated.  In London,
beer is served practically flat.  Go up North and it gets fizzier, but 
never so fizzy as any bottled ale.

There are several kinds of bitter that you can get in pubs:
1) Ordinary: O.G. around 1028-1032, not much malt flavor, not sweet, well
   but not overpoweringly hopped.  E.g. Young's Bitter
2) Special or Best: O.G. around 1035-1045, a bit more malt flavor, a bit 
   sweeter, about the same hoppiness.  E.g. Courage Directors
3) Name varies depending on location: O.G. higher than 1040, lots of malt
   flavor, sweet, hopping varies.  E.g. Ruddles County, Greene King Abbott.

The flavor varies a lot within each style.  Webster's Yorkshire Bitter, for
example, has enough hops to preserve an elephant.

The only way I have found of making something that tastes like bitter is to
make a generic ale and allow it to condition in a vessel that bleeds off 
pressure.  Those little 5 liter party cans with a spout stuck in the 
cork work well, but they're a pain to keep clean.  One more thing: do not
use Cascade hops under any circumstances.  Use Northern Brewer or something
like that.

The only American beer I have ever tasted which comes anywhere near to a 
real bitter is the bitter at the Commonwealth Brewery in Boston, MA.  It is
really hard to get the flavor in a bottle, but Sam Smith's Old Brewery 
Bitter comes close.

Eric Pepke                                     INTERNET: pepke at gw.scri.fsu.edu
Supercomputer Computations Research Institute  MFENET:   pepke at fsu
Florida State University                       SPAN:     scri::pepke
Tallahassee, FL 32306-4052                     BITNET:   pepke at fsu

Disclaimer: My employers seldom even LISTEN to my opinions.
Meta-disclaimer: Any society that needs disclaimers has too many lawyers.

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Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1992 11:59 PDT
From: BOB JONES <BJONES%NOVAX at NOVA.llnl.gov>
Subject: The World's Greatest Beer Review

Well for all those that didn't get to attend the AHA conference and are
just dieing to know what J.S.'s Worlds Greatest Beer from The Worlds Greatest
Brewer tasted like, I can assure you all it was not the World's Greatest. It
was also not the world's worst. It tasted clean, thin and rather bland and
very generic. I don't know if this was Jack's best example of his brewing
technique, I assume it is since it abviously was labeled as such. I was
really expecting to have to spit it out. I didn't, I just didn't finish the
other 1 oz.

Bob Jones
 


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Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 10:52:53 CDT
From: tony at spss.com (Tony Babinec)
Subject: brewing ersatz pilsner urquell

Here are some ideas on making an all-grain ersatz-Pilsner Urquell. 
As this is a light-colored world-class lager, good ingredients and
process are even more important than usual.

You can try one of two grain bills.

Following Dave Miller:

8.5 # 2-row pilsner malt
0.5 # crystal malt 20L
0.5 # cara-pils malt

OR, following Greg Noonan:

8   # 2-row pilsner malt
1   # light Munich malt
0.5 # cara-pils malt

Each recipe assumes 75% extract efficiency.  Use the best German or
Belgian pilsner malt you can find, rather than U.S. 2-row or U.S.
6-row malt.  Likewise, use German or Belgian Munich malt if you can
find it.  In the recipes, the crystal malt and Munich malt impart
some color, but otherwise will have slightly different flavoring
properties.

For hops, use Saaz hops exclusively.  Following the traditional
German hop schedule, you can use 3 additions:

60 minutes until end of boil:  2 oz Saaz (3% alpha)
30 minutes until end of boil:  1 oz Saaz
10 minutes until end of boil:  1 oz Saaz

Do your HBU or IBU calculations.  You could probably hop a bit more
agressively than indicated.  You might make a final aroma addition
of another 0.5-1 oz of Saaz right before end of boil.  You also
might consider dryhopping.

For yeast, use Wyeast "Bohemian" lager 2124 or "Munich" lager 2308.

Water should be soft.

For starch conversion, aim at 153-4 degrees F for 90 minutes.

Pilsner Urquell cold-conditions for months, so you might try an
extended lagering.

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Date: 17 Jun 92 15:40:15 EDT
From: CHUCKM at CSG3.Prime.COM

To: George Fix       gjfix at uta.utamat.edu.
Fr: Chuck Mryglot    chuckm at csg3.prime.com
Dt: 6/17/92
Sj: Pubs in Cambridge
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
George,   I could not mail to your address so I am making a general post.
     I read your post regarding pubs in the Cambridge area. I have regular
business in the area and can make some recommendations.

     1. There is a place called The Mill (also has a sign called Tap and Spire)
        which is located on the river Cam just down the street from the
        Garden House hotel. They support CAMRA and always have a rotating
        variety of real ale. Occasionally you might find the CAMRA Newspaper
        there for your reading pleasure.

     2. Nearby is The Anchor. More of a college hangout (it is a college town)
        and they have live jazz during the week. The Boddington's and Abbott
        Ale are good.

     3. There is a brew pub in Cambridge (I can't remember the name). I have
        never been there since the locals did not have much good to say about
        it.

         In general, a good strong ale from that area is Abbott Ale made by
        Greene King. It has been a favorite of mine for some time.  Pints
        of beer range from 1.25 - 1.65 pounds depending on brand and gravity.
        England is expensive, be prepared.
        Cambridge is about 1 1/2 to 2 hours by car from London.  You get
        used to driving on the other side of the road pretty quickly.

   I could go on, but Cambridge is a beautiful town and there will be plenty
  of exploring you'll do on your own. Cambridge is a small place and you can
  easily walk all over  town.

Have a good trip

cheers,
chuck mryglot


ps.
I appreciate all the  information/advice you post.  I am just getting into
brewing festbiers and look forward to reading your book.

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Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 17:37:48 -0400
From: djt2 at po.CWRU.Edu (Dennis J. Templeton)
Subject: Copper tubing lengths


Chris... here's a data point on the immersion chiller.

I made one recently with 16 feet of 1/4 copper tube (that's the longest 
piece they had in  stock).  There are probably 14 feet in the wort.

This will chill a 6 gallon boil to pitching temp (probably 80 degrees; 
I have been loath to put in a thermometer) in 25 minutes.

The water flow rate is about a gallon a minute; even at this low flow the 
water coming out is pretty cool.  It warms considerably if you move the 
tubing or swirl the pot.  I get the idea that the liquid immediately around
the tube is chilled quickly and that the limiting factor is mixing.

Were I to do it again, I'd use 25-30 feet of 1/4 inch, and I think the chill
time would be closer to 15 minutes.  I don't see the advantage of 3/8 inch
tubing since the effluent is not fully warmed.  I think maximizing surface
area (small tubing) is more important than total flow (large tubing). 

good luck,

dennis

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Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 11:42:02 -0500
From: melkor!rick at uunet.UU.NET (Rick Larson)
Subject: Re: Cheap Kegs and related hardware

u_banzai at mcl.mcl.ucsb.edu writes:
>I have tried unsuccesfully to find cheaply the few items it takes to
>complete a home kegging setup.

Our local homebrew club came up with the following prices.

1.  5gal used Cornelius               $35.00
    1 keg inlet connector             $ 5.25
    1 keg outlet connector            $ 5.25
    5 feet air hose                   $ 2.15
    5 feet liquid hose                $ 2.15

2.  Single gauge regulator, 3-D-409   $30.00
    Dual gauge regulator, 3-D-407     $36.00
    1 tap faucet, 3-P-258             $ 1.90

3.  2.5 lb. CO2 tank                  $25.00
    5   lb. CO2 tank                  $35.00
   10   lb. CO2 tank                  $45.00

So for $106.70 (excluding tax) a kegging system can be owned.

1. Brew&Grow (612)780-8191
2. Superior Products (800)328-9800
3. All-Fire Test Co. (612)332-6268 (this is a Fire extinguisher
   store,  check the yellow pages for one similar near you).

BTW, don't bother calling Cornelius for kegs,  they are wholesale only.
Try looking in the classifieds under Restaurant Equipment (or Brew&Grow).
Anyone know of other places for kegs?

Hope this helps,
rick

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Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 16:04:13 -0700
From: "Stephen E. Hansen" <hansen at Sierra.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: Listserver now available at HBD Archive

In HBD 878 I announced that I had copied the HBD archives from Mthvax
and had set up a new archive at Sierra.Stanford.EDU.  At the time I
did not have a listserver set up for those of you without ftp access.
I have just finished setting up the listserver at Sierra so that you
can retrieve archive files via e-mail.

Please send requests to listserv at sierra.stanford.edu.  There are only
a few of the possible listserver commands enabled, i.e. help, index,
and get.  If you are unfamiliar with listserv commands, you put one
or more requests in the body of the message, one per line, and the
results are mailed back to you.

For example, send

	index homebrew

to get the complete listing of the Homebrew archive or send

	get homebrew incoming/904

to get issue 904 of HBD.

If you have problems with the listserver send mail to

	listserv-manager at Sierra.Stanford.EDU

Please be patient.  The listserver on Sierra is a new beast and is
not fully automated as yet and new files may not be immediately
accessible.

Thanks,
Stephen

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Stephen E. Hansen - hansen at sierra.Stanford.EDU  | "The church is near,
 Electrical Engineering Computer Facility        |  but the road is icy.
 Applied Electronics Laboratory, Room 218        |  The bar is far away,
 Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-4055    |  but I will walk carefully."
 Phone: +1-415-723-1058   Fax: +1-415-725-7298   |      -- Russian Proverb
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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End of HOMEBREW Digest #905, 06/18/92