HOMEBREW Digest #951 Wed 19 August 1992

Digest #950 Digest #952


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


Contents:
  Yeast: Freezing & Nutrients (SLK6P)
  Bleach in SS kegs from Micah Millspaw (BOB JONES)
  Re: Allergies  (Dave Coombs)
  Connecticut breweries (wiehn)
  Re : yeast nutrient (Conn Copas)
  Chillers and Labels (Paul dArmond)
  Re: Be-Gyled by Priming ( Neil Mager )
  gyle (Mark R. Garti)
  HOP ALLERGIES (ALTENBACH)
  coffeemaker/mashtun (donald oconnor)
  Yeast washing ("UNRECOVERABLE APPLICATION ERROR: Abort? Retry? Buy OS/2?")
  RE: siphon woes (Andy Phillips)
  near bottle failure (Steve Anthony)
  Canadian Beers...... (JEFF)
  Canadian Beers (Philip A. Webster)
  Re: Old time brewing (was Flames) ( Neil Mager )
  Proposed process for moving from extract to all grain (smanastasi)
  Beer Bread Recipe (Lou Curcio)
  Question about adding yeast at bottling time. ("C. Lyons")
  Maisel Brewery info (Darryl Richman)
  Re: Plum Wine (Norm Pyle)
  Re : Recipe for Fullers ESB wanted (Conn Copas)
  Pop keg valves (flowers)
  Coffee makers as a mashtun (BOB JONES)
  Alabama Water / B'ham Brewing Co (Darren Evans-Young)
  Getting labels to stick (and come off easily) (Mitch Gelly)
  Octoberfest (Michael Howe)
  Re: PlumWine/Siphon/ChicagoBrewSuppliers (SLK6P)
  Hunter Control, etc. ("Rad Equipment")
  All Grain Help (Thomas D. Feller)
  Re: Coffeemaker Mashtun (Richard Stueven)
  Re: Help with Basement Brewery Layout (Richard Stueven)
  Re: Dixie Cup (Chuck Cox)
  mash tun design from Micah Millspaw (BOB JONES)
  K. Bloss going to Germany (Don Scheidt)
  Brew Pubs in Maine (Meade_Eggleston)

Send articles for __publication__ to homebrew at hpfcmi.fc.hp.com (Articles are published in the order they are received.) Send UNSUBSCRIBE and all other requests, ie, address change, etc., to homebrew-request@ hpfcmi.fc.hp.com Archives are available via anonymous ftp from sierra.stanford.edu. (Those without ftp access may retrieve files via mail from listserv at sierra.stanford.edu. Send HELP as the body of a message to that address to receive listserver instructions.) **Please do not send me requests for back issues!** *********(They will be silenty discarded!)********* **For Cat's Meow information, send mail to lutzen at novell.physics.umr.edu**
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 17 Aug 1992 11:10:17 -0600 (MDT) From: SLK6P at CC.USU.EDU Subject: Yeast: Freezing & Nutrients A couple of responses to some posts in HBD 949 I can't remember who wrote them- so here they are up for grabs. 1) Glycerin: It's use in storing yeast. For bacterial cultures we had used 10% glycerin. I would agree, use your normal culturing medium. You won't be able to pipet pure glycerin (extremely viscous) so make a 50% soln and use that. If you want to maximize viability, I would recommend a quick freeze (so there is less chance for ice crystals to form inside yeast cells.) Make a dry ice/alcohol bath. (rubbing alcohol is fine- you should be able to get dry ice from the grocery or refrigeration supply) Dip your tubes of cells and medium and glycerin into them until they freeze, then place them in the freezer. ideally -70 deg C- not likely for a home freezer. Alternatively use a ice/rock salt bath for a quick chilling. In addition- try to use a concentrated culture of yeast from the exponential phase of growth (fastest). They will be more able to withstand the freeze than old bugs. Again- ideally you would want to concentrate the cells (but may not have the equipt) by centrifugation. Alternatively: You could use a solid medium for growth (plates/slants) , then scrape up a gob of cells and mix into the medium in your tubes (for a thick cell slurry). Lastly: Be sure to use a good plastic tube for freezing. Preferably one with a tight screw cap. Glass tubes would be likely to dismember themselves upon freezing. 2) Yeast Nutrient: Now I don't know exactly what goes into the YN we buy from homebrew suppliers, but in micro labs for yeast and bacterial cultures Yeast Extract is a very common component of many different types of media. I believe it is essentially pulverized yeast, but may have had some components separated out. (Since it is and "Extract"). This type of stuff is available from DIFCO suppliers and other " biologicals" supply stores. Regarding "grinding up yeast" yourself (Bob D.) I would not recommend trying it. The cells are microscopic, and to effectively "pop" them open with a coffee grinder or rolling pin is quite unlikely. You could try freezing them with liquid nitrogen and grinding with a mortar a pestle. Sonication is effective. But often enzymes are used to degrade the cell walls of the fungi, then the cells are lysed releasing all the goodies from inside. (At least these are ways to get the cells open to get their DNA). I presume for good yeast extract you MUST open the cells to make the proteins, amino acids, vitamins etc available to the growing yeast. Seems that it is easy enough to buy the stuff. We generally use it in such small quantities that it is not a financial setback, and to make it yourself might require more expense than it's worth (anyone know the going rate on sonicators?) Well anyway. Hop on ye heathens! Brew on Brethren of Barley, Bee, and Vine. _____________________________________________________________________ J. Wyllie (The Coyote) SLK6P at cc.usu.edu "As long as he's got 8 fingers and 8 toes, he's alright by me." H.J.S. _______________________________________________________________________ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 10:30 PDT From: BOB JONES <BJONES at NOVAX.llnl.gov> Subject: Bleach in SS kegs from Micah Millspaw About bleach and SS kegs. I have often heard it said that clorine bleach would corrode stainless steel. Most of the stainless that homebrewers encounter is either 304 or 316 stainless, the 316 is very corrosion resistant and is the material that most cornelius type keg are made of. Moderate use of clorine bleach will not harm the kegs. I have many kegs and have been cleaning them with bleach for several years, I only resently switched to iodaphor sanitzers. I did however have one bad experience with the bleach, I loaned a keg to a fellow homebrewer who had all of his kegs full, unfortunately he filled the keg with boiling water and a strong bleach solution, something came up and the keg was left sitting with this solution in it for several hours. I received a horrified phone call telling me the the keg was ruined, when I saw the keg it was infact badly pitted and unsuitable for storing beer. So it may be okay to use bleach on stainless steel but not hot or for a long time. Micah Millspaw 8/14/92 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 13:01:27 -0400 From: Dave Coombs <coombs at cme.nist.gov> Subject: Re: Allergies >> wines, and cheeses. Homebrew affects her the worst (bad for her, good >> for me). Her throat swells up and becomes painful. Researching this >> briefly led me to believe that the culprit was tyramine (yeast product). My wife has a similar reaction sometimes. We haven't tried to pinpoint it, but she thinks the reaction is worse when we're careless in decanting. Of course this is only an anecdotal observation... Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 09:08:36 EDT From: wiehn at evax.gdc.com Subject: Connecticut breweries Hello I've received your email list address from a fellow librairan - They suggested I ask here my question.............................. I've had a patron to my library ask if I could find a list of breweries of Connecticut which were in exsistance prior to 1918 (pre-prohibition). Can anyone help with this list???????? It would be great if you could help us. Is there a book or email list which would provide this info??? Would the list of Connecticut breweries tell where in the state the breweries were located??? Thanks everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! John Wiehn EMAIL: WIEHN at EVAX.GDC.COM Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 20:37:25 BST From: Conn Copas <C.V.Copas at lut.ac.uk> Subject: Re : yeast nutrient Bob writes : > So that's were my thought-experiment ended. I had considered > buying packages of dry brewing yeast or even baking yeast and > grinding it up. But fear of contamination has me still buying > the over-priced packages of commercial yeast nutrients... > Dried yeast is sold as a food supplement by many health food stores, at a cheap rate. It would be interesting to see how it actually ferments. Some commercial breweries also divert their excess yeast into the manufacture of toast spreads, as in "Vegemite" in Australia and "Marmite" or "Promite" in GB, all of which are touted as being high in vitamins, but unfortunately also high in salt. I presume that some of this interest in organic nutrients arises from health as well as cost concerns. If so, beer trub is a rich source of protein and therefore nitrogen and is a good nutrient for the more robust wines, meads and ciders. The sparging leftovers are best, as boiler trub is loaded with hop bitterness. You could try bottling some trub, then pasteurising it prior to use. Avoid heating it beyond about 75C, or it will extract too much tannin. It will inevitably increase both tannin and fusel oil content of anything it is added to, but that might not necessarily be out of place in a full bodied, high alcohol brew. - -- Loughborough University of Technology tel : (0509)263171 ext 4164 Computer-Human Interaction Research Centre fax : (0509)610815 Leicestershire LE11 3TU e-mail - (Janet):C.V.Copas at uk.ac.lut G Britain (Internet):C.V.Copas%lut.ac.uk at nsfnet-relay.ac.uk Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 12:23:16 -0700 (PDT) From: Paul dArmond <paulf at henson.cc.wwu.edu> Subject: Chillers and Labels This weekend I measured the flow through my 25' x 3/8" (1/4" ID) immersion chiller. It filled a 5 gallon carboy in 1:43 (avg of two runs, 0:01.5 difference between the two). This is a flow rate of ~2.9 gal/minute. With continuous stirring it takes about 20 minutes to cool 5 gal to 80F. My water temperature at the tap is 58F. So, I'm using about 58 gallons at 58F. Mike McNally (HBD 939) gives a formula for minimum water consumption that indicates I cannot use less than 27.5 gallons. I figure that makes my immersion chiller ~50% efficient. I just bought two 20' lengths of 3/8" OD tube at a going out of business sale. Should I hook them in parallel or in series to get the quickest cooling with the least water consumption? I'm inclined parallel, but I'd be interested to hear comments. David Clump asks what other people are using for labels. I'm xeroxing three labels per letter-size (8 1/2" x 11") sheet. 8 1/2" will wrap nicely around a long-neck bottle. I've tried all sorts of adhesives: mucilage, Elmer's, rubber cement, and glue sticks. I like the glue sticks best. It is not messy, soaks off easily, and is easy to use. Next best is mucilage, but there is a lot of difference between brands. The cloudy variety that comes from Mexico is best. The very clear mucilages can be very hard to soak off. Try a glue stick... Is there any sort of a forum, newsletter, APA, pen pals club, etc. for people who like making and collecting homebrew labels? Paul de Armond --- If it tastes good, you did it right! Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 15:57:13 EDT From: neilm at juliet.ll.mit.edu ( Neil Mager ) Subject: Re: Be-Gyled by Priming C.R. Saikley writes: > Before questioning the bottles, I'd take a closer look at the amount of sweet > wort (gyle) used to prime. One gallon sounds like an awful lot (I'm assuming > you're making a standard 5 gallon batch). > > I've been priming with gyle for over five years because I prefer the result > to that obtained with corn sugar. While the exact amount of gyle required > varies from batch to batch, for me it usually works out to be somewhere > between 32 and 48oz for 5 gallons. If you back off on the priming, you'll > probably be happier with the result. I checked the recipe, it indeed calls for one gallon of gyle. The beer tasted fine, with a slightly larger than average head. The carbonation level is a little higher then it probably should be. All in all, not a bad brew. It wouldn't win any awards, but everyone who tried it liked it and had more than one (thats my measure of success!). The recipe is the (May or June) recipe of the month from the Beer and Wine Hobby in Woburn, MA. If anyone else is thinking of brewing this, the consensus is to use 1/4 - 1/2 as much gyle as the recipe calls for. =============================================================================== Neil Mager MIT Lincoln Labs Lexington, MA Weather Radar - Group 43 Internet <neilm at juliet.ll.mit.edu> Voice (617) 981-4803 =============================================================================== Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 16:34:48 EDT From: garti at mrg.xyplex.com (Mark R. Garti) Subject: gyle There has been some talk of using gyle to prime. How does one keep gyle until it is needed? Does it need to be boiled before it is used? Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 16:53 PDT From: ALTENBACH at CHERRY.llnl.gov Subject: HOP ALLERGIES Here's another data point for the beer allergy discussion. My wife has many diagnosed allegies, and claims an allergy (tho undiagnosed) to HOPS. Even the slightest contact with my backyard hop vines causes her to break out with hives. Hop aromatics filling the house during wort boiling gives her a stomach ache, as does drinking very bitter beer. Fortunately the balanced and malty syles are ok, so we can drink lots of those. Tom Altenbach Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 20:12:49 -0500 From: oconnor at ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (donald oconnor) Subject: coffeemaker/mashtun Chuck Cox asks about using a beautiful SS coffee urn as a mashtun. There is an article by Al Andrews in the 1985 Zymurgy special issue (Grain Brewing) that briefly describes such a mash tun. the article seems like a place to start although he only discussess the coffee urn in a few sentences. Return to table of contents
Date: 17 Aug 1992 22:42:31 -0500 (EST) From: "UNRECOVERABLE APPLICATION ERROR: Abort? Retry? Buy OS/2?" Subject: Yeast washing Decided to go over Dave Miller's book Brewing the World's Great Beers, and found a tidbit I'd missed earlier. He goes into washing yeast. If I understand the method it essentially consists of getting yeast from the primary, and storing it in a sterile container for 12 hours. Dump half of the contents of the container, replacing that with chiller, sterile water, and stirring the concoction. This should be done two more times at 8-12 hour intervals, and pitched about 8 hours after the final washing. Has anyone else tried this? Any tips or anecdotes? Thanks in advance. Steve Grigg Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 13:08 GMT From: Andy Phillips <PHILLIPSA at LARS.AFRC.AC.UK> Subject: RE: siphon woes Chris Goedde reports a problem with CO2 coming out of solution during siphoning into secondary. I've had this problem in the past, and I can think of three ways to reduce it: 1) The CO2 comes out at the top of the siphon tube because of the reduced pressure here - you can minimise this by reducing the height difference between the two ends of the siphon tube ie. raise the secondary up somewhat. Unfortunately, this is fine in theory, but I sometimes found that although less gas came out, the bubbles were more likely to stay stuck in the bend because of the slower flow rate. 2) Rouse the primary several times before siphoning. If you rock the vessel, you may be able to liberate CO2 without disturbing the sediment too much. Alternately, shake a few hours before racking to allow the crud to drop back to the bottom. 3) Siphon a few days later, when the gas production has dropped off - I usually rack about 4-5 days after pitching. I see no reason why later racking should harm the beer (but I would welcome postings from those with different opinions). Andy Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 08:37:03 EDT From: Steve Anthony <steveo at Think.COM> Subject: near bottle failure I went down to the basement last night to grab a brew, and reached for a bottle. To my suprise, it was stuck fast to the shelf. I mean stuck. Two hands, some pulling, with my face turned away incase it broke, etc. It finally came free, with some paint from the shelf. The bottle was sticky, so that answered why the thing was stuck to the shelf. However, the question remained, how did the bottle get sticky? Upon opening and pouring the brew, the answer became clear. I found a small lump of crust on the neck of the bottle; just above where the body of the bottle turns into the neck. washing it abit, I noticed a hairline crack in the bottle. What had happened was obvious, the pressure in the bottle was pushing the beer out throught the crack. Well, at any rate the beer was good, and I promised myself that I'd check my bottles as I empty and wash them, to avoid having one of them turn into a glass grenade. As the guy on TV said, "Let's be careful out there". BTW, it was a Grolsch bottle, although I don't think that has much to do with it. Steve Anthony | "Ain't nobody gettin' outta here | Application Engineer | with out singin' the blues" | (617) 234-4000 | | steveo at think.com | - Albert "The Iceman" Collins | Return to table of contents
Date: 18 Aug 1992 09:24:21 -0400 (EDT) From: JEFF at RCC.RTI.ORG Subject: Canadian Beers...... Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 08:34:12 -0400 From: pawebs at ohpspd.com (Philip A. Webster) Subject: Canadian Beers >>As far as I know, the beers exported to the U. S. are the same as those >>available here in the Great White North. That is,they are the light, pilsener >>style beers produced by the big brewers, which achieve massive sales by means >>of extensive advertising aimed at young, blue collar (usually white) males. Of >>course, with the current trade dispute on this very topic, exports are likely >to be at a very low level until the lunacy subsides. >>With regard to strength, you should be aware that the reputation of Canadian >>beers as being stronger that U.S. beers is a fallacy. This arises because we >>measure alcohol content by volume whereas south of the 49th it is by weight. >>Since alcohol has a specific gravity of less than one, a beer of, say, 5% by >>volume would be about 4% by weight. Hence the confusion and the unwarranted >>reputation. Most foreign brewers who export to the U.S. use a recipe specifically tailored for U.S. tastes. Heine-corn is a great example. The Brador malt liquor available in Canada is indeed stronger than that available here. The latest bottle I got of it says 6% alcohol by volume. The U.S. version is 5%. There indeed are several mass-produced Canadian beers not available here. Moosehead makes a malt liquor called James Ready which is good and their "Busch" is called Alpine, which is a good summertime beer to quench a thirst. Also, each state has it's own laws governing alcohol strength. Here in North Carolina, the maximum allowed is 6%. Thus, we cannot get EKU 28, Samiclaus, Bigfoot, Old Foghorn, etc, etc. Mendocino Brewing Company of California is kind (or smart) enough to brew separate batches of some of their stronger beers for NC and other states lower in alcohol than the versions available in California. Note that even though most Canadian beers available here are 5% by volume, these are STILL stronger than Bud and Coors! See Fred Ekhart's book on Beer Styles to get the scoop on alcoholic strength of many commercially available beers. - ------------------------------ Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 09:35:59 EDT From: neilm at juliet.ll.mit.edu ( Neil Mager ) Subject: Re: Old time brewing (was Flames) Wally L. Blume writes: > Very well put, I only recently started getting the HBD, and when I > first read it I was mystified at how some readers would take offense > at someone doing something that was not technically motivated. > I learned brewing from two old men, namely my grandfathers, they both > did things differently and they both produced very good beers. And > each had it's own flavor. Most of my equipment is homemade, and the > techniques I use are pretty old (and abstract at times) but I > wouldn't dare post them here for fear of getting flamed by a "techy" > saying my hydrometer reading was all wrong or I used the wrong temp. > and therefore my beer could not possibly be worth drinking and I must > be an idiot for doing something like that. Actually, I think a post about how your grandfathers brewed, what ingredients they used (were malt extracts available to them?), what equipment they had, brewing tips they passed on to you, recipes, and your technique & equipment would be pretty interesting to the readership. Most of us are from the school of Papazian, Fix, & Miller. A different perspective would be interesting. We promise to behave ourselves! =============================================================================== Neil Mager MIT Lincoln Labs Lexington, MA Weather Radar - Group 43 Internet <neilm at juliet.ll.mit.edu> Voice (617) 981-4803 =============================================================================== Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 09:11:14 CDT From: smanastasi at mmm.com Subject: Proposed process for moving from extract to all grain I am an extract brewer ready to go all grain. I have dilegently read the last 200+ homebrew digest articles and now am ready to come out of the Homebrew Digest closet and begin posting. I have summarized all Homebrew Digest wisdom on going all grain into an easy 10 step process. Please comment. After final review, this could be of value to all us simple extract brewers. Please - this is only the basics. Let's not argue the merits of immersion .vs. conterflow chillers (again). Half the fun of homebrew is discovery. New equipment: 1. Mash/lauter tun. 5 gallon cooler with a false bottom and improved spigot system, ideally with temp probes added. 2. 10 gallon brew pot - preferrably stainless steel. 3. Immersion or counterflow wort chiller. 4. Grain mill (or access to one). Easy 10 Step Procedure: 0. Crush grains such that each kernel is broken into several parts but not flour-like. 1. Place grain in cooler. 2. Add hot water such that water covers all grains and temp is 135F. Try not to exceed 20 oz.s per 1lb of grain. Let sit for 30 (??) minutes. This is the protein rest period. 3. Raise temp to 168F by adding hot water (how hot, I don't know). Maintain this temp for 45 (??) minutes. Do not exceed 32 oz.s per 1lb of grain (total water). This is the starch conversion period. 4. Begin draining cooler into brew pot. One can recycle the wort by slowly draining the cooler until 7 gallons of wort have been collected. This is the sparge process. 5. Boil and add hops, etc. as if doing an extract brew. 6. After boiling is complete, chill wort to pitching temp via counterflow or immersion chiller. 7. Siphon cooled wort off of cold break into carboy allowing wort to airate. 8. Pitch yeast and dry hop, etc. as if an extract brew. 9. Enjoy a far superior beer due to all sorts of "all grain" advantages well documented in Homebrew Digest. - -------------------- Steve Anastasi smanastasi at mmm.com St. Paul, Minnesota Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 10:13:41 EDT From: Lou Curcio <LACURCI%ERENJ.BITNET at pucc.Princeton.EDU> Subject: Beer Bread Recipe Since I've taken a break from homebrewing this summer (too hot in Texas!), I'd like to try making some beer bread. If anyone has a recipe they can recommend, please forward it to me at the above address. Thanks, Lou Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 11:02 EDT From: "C. Lyons" <LYONS at adc1.adc.ray.com> Subject: Question about adding yeast at bottling time. I have a question about the addition of yeast at bottling time. Is this recommended, and if so how much yeast should be added for a 5 gallon batch? The reason I ask is that I have repeatedly primed with 3/4 cup of corn sugar and have gotten poor carbonation. I have increased the amount of corn sugar to 1 cup for my last three batches, which has improved the carbonation, but is still far from the carbonation of commercial brews. I typically brew extract pale ales with and let the beer sit in the secondary for 4-to-5 weeks. Could the yeast be settling out and not in sufficient enough quantity for bottling? Any comments would be appreciated. ... Christopher Lyons lyons at adc1.adc.ray.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 16:16:02 PDT From: Darryl Richman <darrylri at microsoft.com> Subject: Maisel Brewery info Brian Cole asks about the Maisel brewery, whose beers he encountered on a trip through Germany this year: Maisel is a German brewery based in Bayreuth, a town in Bavaria (west of Munich, I think). The six pointed star is one of a number of old symbols for a brewer, and is, I believe, unrelated to its use as the Mogen David. --Darryl Richman Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 08:54:20 MDT From: pyle at intellistor.com (Norm Pyle) Subject: Re: Plum Wine Thomas Kellogg asks about Japanese plum wine. I have many Japanese friends and I believe the beverage you ask about is not made the way you think it is made. They have a drink called "umeshu" (oo-may-shoo) which is made from green plums, sugar, and vodka (or some other high-alcohol distilled liquor). The high alcohol prevents any yeast or bacterial growth. The ingredients are all thrown together, sealed, and left alone for a year. If you want details (like a recipe) contact me and I'll get it to you. If it is a true wine you are looking for (like any of the non-grape-based wines out there) you'll have to ask someone else. Good luck. Norm Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 16:03:03 BST From: Conn Copas <C.V.Copas at lut.ac.uk> Subject: Re : Recipe for Fullers ESB wanted Whilst Fullers ESB is one of my favourites, I don't believe the formulation is overly elaborate. You need an initial gravity of 55, which can be achieved with 9-10 lbs of (ale) malt. Substituting 0.5-1 lb of that with wheat malt will improve head retention. A protein rest is probably of dubious utility when using ale malt. The brew is reasonably light, so go easy on the specialty grains; say 0.5 lb of crystal malt at most as a substitute for the above. Up to 1 lb of a dark brown sugar could add interest (as a substitute for 1.3 lbs of malt), but in that case make sure you use a clean yeast and a reasonably cool primary ferment. The real signature of ESB is derived from hop aroma, and that requires dry hopping with around 1oz of English Goldings in the secondary. In the boiler, I prefer to avoid Goldings and would use around 2.5oz of seedless Hallertauer, with 0.5oz Goldings for finishing. Aim for a terminal gravity of around 12. - -- Loughborough University of Technology tel : (0509)263171 ext 4164 Computer-Human Interaction Research Centre fax : (0509)610815 Leicestershire LE11 3TU e-mail - (Janet):C.V.Copas at uk.ac.lut G Britain (Internet):C.V.Copas%lut.ac.uk at nsfnet-relay.ac.uk Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 10:15:07 -0600 From: flowers at csrd.uiuc.edu Subject: Pop keg valves I recently took delivery of two used Coca-Cola kegs and was cleaning them yesterday. I cannot remove the two valves on the top, (one is the pick-up tube, the other is for the CO2 line). I used considerable pressure and added a longer handle to the wrench for greater leverage. Still, they wouldn't budge. Is it necessary to remove these to properly clean them? -Craig Flowers (flowers at csrd.uiuc.edu) PS - We are moving to a new building today so I will be off-line for a few days. I will be unable to acknowledge replies for that time. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 08:18 PDT From: BOB JONES <BJONES at NOVAX.llnl.gov> Subject: Coffee makers as a mashtun To Chuck Cox : I didn't have your email address ( killed the HBD that your post was in) but after reading Jeff's response on the old article in Fred's Amateur Brewer, I remembered that article. I know I have it, I'll have to dig it up if you want it. I can fax it to you. Email me with your response. Bob Jones Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 10:28:03 CDT From: Darren Evans-Young <DARREN at ua1vm.ua.edu> Subject: Alabama Water / B'ham Brewing Co Doug Behm <DBEHM at UA1VM.UA.EDU> said: >RE: boiled water - usually use tap water to bring my wort up to 5 gal >in my fermenter. I haven't had a problem but I never thought about it. >I use tap water because it is very cold and shortens the cooling time >and, in my mind, lessened the time for airborne bugs to enter. Doug, Always boil your water. Tuscaloosa water has the highest chlorine levels in the state. Boil for at least 30 mins then let cool overnight. This will also kill any nasties in the water. I checked Tuscaloosa water and it has > 5 ppm chlorine. I believe swimming pools have less than that. You can smell the chlorine coming out of the tap. Tuscaloosa water very cold? What part of town are you in? You might measure the temp with a thermometer. Where I live, the tap water is > 80F! >Birmingham has had a micro brewery opened. The beer is good, >reminds me of an IPA. First brewery in AL in about 60 years. Made me >wonder why UA1VM distributes this letter (Bible belt and all that). >Afraid to ask, may cancel if powers that be realize it. Apparently a law was recently changed to allow brewing. I dont know the exact wording or what it exactly permits. UA1VM distributes this message because the 'powers that be' is me and I brew! :-) Dont worry BEER-L isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Re: Birmingham Brewing Co. Latest word is Brewmaster Lee Nicholson who was instrumental in restarting the company, was fired last month. This could have some major implications. Such as, if the beer doesnt sell well, the beer ignorant snobs who are probably running it now, will change the recipe...you know, make it lighter? Darren Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 16 Jan 93 7:34:51 CST From: gelly at persoft.com (Mitch Gelly) Subject: Getting labels to stick (and come off easily) Greetings, I know this isn't highly technical or directly related to the quality of your beverage, but a couple of people have inquired as to a better method for keeping your labels adhered to the bottle. This thread was also in rec.crafts.brewing (don't smack me, I know the HBD is the TRUE source of enlightenment, I just read r.c.b because we have a news feed, and it's there for the reading). What was passed on to me by a friend (Hi Brian!) was to use rubber cement. A thin (or thick, no matter) coating on your label will keep it on the bottle until you want it off, and then it peels right off, cleanly. I've even put labels on cold bottles in the fridge, with no problem. Labels are a fun addition to the beverage. For home consumption I generally do not bother, but they're usually a hit at club meetings or at any other gathering where you're rewarding people with the fruits of your labors. Cheers, Mitch - gelly at persoft.com - | Better living, through zymurgy +-:-) Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 08:48:25 -0600 From: Michael Howe <howe at gp_sparc45.gwl.com> Subject: Octoberfest Greetings fellow homebrewers, My roommate and I were just noticing that Octoberfest is coming up real soon. We thought we would like to take a crack at brewing up something special for the occassion. Problem is, we do not have any 'good' recipes for an Octoberfest beer (or any recipes at all, for that matter). We are not beginners, per se, but neither are we experts. Try to keep the technical stuff to a minimum, if possible. We are open to all suggestions and all types of brews. If you have any good recipes or know someone who does, could you please forward them to me A.S.A.P.. We need to get started if we are going to be able to quaff in time for the big fest. You can send suggestions/recipes to me directly at howe at gp_sparc45.gwl.com (internet) or if you think your recipe can benefit everyone, go ahead and put it in the digest, and I can read it there. Thank you very much in advance, Michael Howe Great West Life Assurance Company Denver, CO Return to table of contents
Date: 18 Aug 1992 10:36:04 -0600 (MDT) From: SLK6P at CC.USU.EDU Subject: Re: PlumWine/Siphon/ChicagoBrewSuppliers In response to a couple of posts in HBD 950: 1) For Thomas Kellogg- here is a plum wine recipe from the Art of Wine Making. If you want more detail e-mail me Per gallon: 3 lbs Plums 2.5 lb sugar 1/2 level tsp yeast nutrient 1/4 tsp grape tannin 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme 1 campden tablet 1 1/2 level tsps acid blend Wine yeast Starting specific gravity should be 1.090-1.095, acid 60%. Follow normal wine brewing techniques. 2) Chris Goedde has siphon woes: Getting bubbles in the racking tube and siphoning ceases. A hassle I've experienced. A couple options: a. Increase the height drop between your source and recipient of your siphoning. The greater the hight, the faster the flow. This might help keep the bubbles moving. b. If you have a CO2 tank hanging around, apply a LITTLE positive pressure to your carboy (but leave it UNSEALED- partially, so you don't build up too much pressure and BLOW IT UP!) This will help push the brew through the tube, and also reduces chances for oxidation. The best way might be to stick your racking tube through a stopper with two holes. Then stick the CO2 outlet tube into the stopper too.Don;t keep building pressure, just get it flowing, and add a little pressure as required. 3) Glenn Anderson was looking for home brew suppliers in the Chicago area. My E-mail to him got rejected- so here are a couple. Brewin Beer 6148 W. Belmont Ave, Chicago, IL. 60634 (312) 685-2895 Fred Lane Co 1515 W. Berwyn Ave, Chic.IL. 60640 (312) 275-5600 PMP fermentations 121 Wayne St. Peoria, IL. 61603 (309) 637-0400 Mitchels Vineyard and Berry 434 State St. Madison WI. 53703 (608) 257-0099 I'm sure there are more. I haven't tried these, just have the addresses so If anyone know which (if any) of these are good, please lemme know. Guess that's enuf for know. Brew on ye brethren of Barley, Bee, and Vine. _____________________________________________________________________ J. Wyllie (The Coyote) SLK6P at cc.usu.edu "As long as he's got 8 fingers and 8 toes, he's alright by me." H.J.S. _______________________________________________________________________ Return to table of contents
Date: 18 Aug 92 09:42:19 U From: "Rad Equipment" <rad_equipment at rad-mac1.ucsf.EDU> Subject: Hunter Control, etc. Subject: Hunter Control, etc. Time:9:23 AM Date:8/18/92 This is not a commercial, just information. For those of you who don't have access to a Home Depot where you can buy a Hunter Temp Control for $20, here is a mail order alternative. American Science & Surplus shows Hunter Model #42205 in their August '92 catalog for $19.50. Item #22345 on page 54 of catalog #67. AS&S always seem to have something which will help out in the brewery. Another item in this catalog is on page 17, item #21674 20" Drum Dolly, $7.50. This is a pretty lightweight 5 wheel dolly but works well enough under my 15 gallon fermenter when it is full. Saves my back and can't be made cheaper unless you have access to casters for almost free. American Science & Surplus 601 Linden Pl. Evanston, IL 60202 (708) 475-8440 RW... Russ Wigglesworth CI$: 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 Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 10:09:49 PDT From: thomasf at deschutes.ico.tek.com (Thomas D. Feller) Subject: All Grain Help Well I did it last night, my first all grain brew. It did not go very well! My round cooler mash/lauter tun work OK, I used a Phill's Phalse bottom and a toilet type water valve to control the flow rate. The problems here were the valve moved thin wall of the cooler and the valve got very hot and was diffcult to turn. I had to hold the valve with a wrench in order to adjust it, oh well, live and lrean. To the point or rather the problem, very very low extraction. I used 3 lbs of 2 row malt and 3.5 american wheat. I decide to do a protien rest because of the wheat, 30 min. at 122-118 deg.F. Then raised to 158 deg.F and placed in my cooler for 1 hr. after the hour the temp was at 153 deg.F I added about 3 qt. to 180 deg.F water to try and raised the grian to mash out temp, this did not really work only raised to about 160 deg.F. I recirlculated the run off until clear and the used sparge at about 175 deg.F, the sprage was too fast, about 25 min. I sparged until the run-off not longer tasted sweet, this was about 1.008, I then added water to make my 7 gal., stirred and took a SG reading, 1.020. The recipe I was using as a general guide was a fruit ale from Dave Miller new book, it called for 4 lbs. of two row and 2.5 lbs. of wheat, I followed the recipe's mashing instructions, the expected SG was 1.045. Now I am in trouble I could have lived with a SG around 1.032 but 1.020 was not goiog to cut it. So I heated up my 7 gal. of not so sweet wort to 160 deg.F and put it back into my cooler, this raised the mash temp to 153 deg.F. I let this sit for another 45 min. then sparged with the hot wort at 175 deg.F. Well after all this and a boil I ended up with about 5.5 gal. of wort at a SG of 1.028. Anyway this is now in the primary and we will see what happens. So what is my problems. Did I need more two row to convert the wheat? Should I have checked the mash water for ph. level? Should I have mashed longer at 155-158 deg.F? Did I sparge way too fast? Could my Hydrometer be wrong? Or am I just lame? (Sorry could not resist) And yes I cooled the wort before taking the SG readings. Oh, thanks to everyone for the cooler mash/lauter tun ideas and the copper cleaning pad as a filter idea, They worked great! I plan on doing another all grain brew on Friday. Tom Feler Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 10:30:45 PDT From: gak at wrs.com (Richard Stueven) Subject: Re: Coffeemaker Mashtun In #950, Hal Laurent writes: > In #949 Chuck Cox writes: > > > What is a good cleaner to remove coffee > > taste/aroma from stainless? > > Well, you might try Efferdent denture cleaning tablets. Ha! Efferdent, the Universal Solvent. No kidding...it'll clean anything! gak Der Herr Buergermeister gibt bekannt, dass ab gak at wrs.com Donnerstag Bier gebraut wird und deshalb ab attmail!gakhaus!gak Mittwoch micht mehr in den Bach geschissen 107/H/3&4 werden darf. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 10:34:24 PDT From: gak at wrs.com (Richard Stueven) Subject: Re: Help with Basement Brewery Layout In #950, Roger McPherson asks for suggestions on how to lay out a basement brewery. Check out Bill Owens' book "Building a Small Brewery". (Hmmm...I'm pretty sure that's what it's called, anyway.) There are a lot of good design tips, as well as ideas on building your own equipment, etc. gak Der Herr Buergermeister gibt bekannt, dass ab gak at wrs.com Donnerstag Bier gebraut wird und deshalb ab attmail!gakhaus!gak Mittwoch micht mehr in den Bach geschissen 107/H/3&4 werden darf. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 12:08:54 EDT From: Chuck Cox <chuck at synchro.com> Subject: Re: Dixie Cup cl7841s at ACAD.DRAKE.EDU sez... > > America's second largest homebrew competition > will be held October 16 and 17, 1992 in Houston, TX. > > The Dixie Cup is sponsored by the Houston Foam Rangers > Homebrew Club and DeFalco's Home Wine and Beer Supplies > of Houston. It is an AHA and HWBTA sanctioned competition. And don't forget; the 3rd annual Homebrewer Gran Prix is an official part of the Dixie Cup. This is your chance to challenge me for the title of World's Fastest Homebrewer. Other titles to be defended: World's Fastest Female Homebrewer, Texas' Fastest Homebrewer, Medford's Fastest Homebrewer, etc. The Dixie Cup is the best homebrew event in the country. It is the most fun you can have without risking arrest (especially in the South). Hell, if the republicrats found out, they'd probably make it illegal, so enjoy it while you can. Just don't go into any enclosed spaces with the boys from the Crescent City Homebrewers. - -- Chuck Cox <chuck at synchro.com> In de hemel is geen bier, daarom drinken wij het hier. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 12:31 PDT From: BOB JONES <BJONES at NOVAX.llnl.gov> Subject: mash tun design from Micah Millspaw Clearing the details; Just to clear things up. My mash\lauter tun is stainless steel and is not insulated, SS is a poor conductor and the wet grain is a great thermal flywheel. I lose 2 degrees per hour. There is no sparge bag either, the tun has a false bottom made of 10 gauge perforated stainless steel, in fact the whole thing (my brewery) is stainless steel and is qiute easy to care for. Also, it is possible that many small breweries did go out of bussiness because of their mash stirring habits, or so claims G.Fix. Micah Millspaw 8/17/92 Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 9:08:59 PDT From: tahoma!dgs1300 at bcstec.ca.boeing.com (Don Scheidt) Subject: K. Bloss going to Germany In HOMEBREW Digest #949, Karl Bloss asks: >I'm heading to Germany in about a month. Is there anything I should look >for there that is not available here? Where are you going in Germany?? There are more than 1100 brewers, and they collectively produce over 4500 different beers! There are a *lot* of beers that are never seen in the USA - we tend to get the bigger brewers' products, from Munich, Bremen, Frankfurt, and some of the stronger regional brewers, but a lot of the little guys are left behind, not to mention the German brewpubs (Hausbrauereien) and microbrewers. There's lots of Pils, Altbier, Koelsch, Rauchbier, Fraenkische Ungespund'n, and Weissbier that aren't shipped very far from where they are produced, and never mind the international export market! "I'm heading to Germany", in this context, is about as specific as "I'm visiting { the USA | Canada | France | Japan | any fairly big country }." Tell us *where* you plan to visit, and you'll get better info about what to check out - I can promise you that much personally! Prost! - -- Don | Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate dgs1300 at tahoma | things. .!uunet!bcstec!tahoma!dgs1300 | -- Vice President Dan Quayle Return to table of contents
Date: Tue 18 Aug 1992 15:37:50 From: eggleston at Readmore.Com (Meade_Eggleston) Subject: Brew Pubs in Maine Hi all, Does any one know of brewpubs or good micro breweries in the Bangour or Port Smith area of Maine? Does any one have the addres of the Commonwealth Pub in Boston? I'll be swinging by there as I make my way back from Maine. Thanks for the help. Meade Eggleston at Readmore.Com Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #951, 08/19/92