HOMEBREW Digest #905 Thu 18 June 1992

Digest #904 Digest #906


	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 Return to table of contents
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 | Return to table of contents
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 Return to table of contents
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** Return to table of contents
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. Return to table of contents
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 Return to table of contents
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. Return to table of contents
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 Return to table of contents
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? Return to table of contents
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! Return to table of contents
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) Return to table of contents
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 Return to table of contents
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 Return to table of contents
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 Return to table of contents
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. Return to table of contents
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 Return to table of contents
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. Return to table of contents
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. Return to table of contents
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 Return to table of contents
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 Return to table of contents
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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #905, 06/18/92