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


Contents:
  Right beer? (Ed Westemeier)
  What makes Cream Ale Creamy ?? (Joe Freeland)
  flour catcher (Russ Gelinas)
  Brewing Mishaps - my tale... (Michael Tighe)
  Oak chips in IPA? (pmiller)
  Re: Oak Chips (Karen Jdsgeoac Hyrum GEOACOUSTIC)
  Some Fun! (Jerry_Reeves)
  Beer Sampling/Yeast culturing Event! (SLK6P)
  Assorted Comments (Bob_Konigsberg)
  Whirlpools & siphoning (Jeff Benjamin)
  Thanks for the Memories.... (Norm Pyle)
  Two brewing disasters (James S Durham)
  Re- Baderbrau (Radium) (Chris McDermott)
  filters (CHUCKM)
  Malt flames from Micah Millspaw (BOB JONES)
  Maerzen (Mark R. Garti)
  Wood Chips ("Regan Fulton")
  oxidation and porters (Bryan Gros)
  All grain SNPA taste-alike? (pmiller)
  yeast.starters (card)
  corn/distasters/open_fermenters/traquiar_house (Brian Bliss)
  Bev-Con International (man)
  Flame Loops, Not Your Fellow Homebrewers! (Jon Binkley)
  Westmalle is back!!:-) (John Isenhour)


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

Date: 02 Sep 1992 13:55:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: homebrew at tso.uc.EDU (Ed Westemeier)
Subject: Right beer?

Ted Samsel asks:
> Does anyone know of an authoritative published source on what
> beers go with what sort of food?
 
Please forgive my rather primitive attitude, but the answer to this
question is essentially different for each individual.
Unfortunately, this kind of reliance on so-called "experts" is what
drives many people away from the enjoyment of good wine, IMHO.
 
The _BEST_ beer to accompany any particular sort of food is 
what _YOU_ prefer at that moment.  Period.  End of discussion.
 
Ed Westemeier     Cincinnati, OH

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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 08:31:33 -0500
From: j_freela at hwking.cca.cr.rockwell.com (Joe Freeland)
Subject: What makes Cream Ale Creamy ??



I have been looking for recipes for Cream Ale, and have not
been too successful.  I have come across a few, and am beginning to 
wonder exactly what makes a cream ale a cream ale.  I don't really 
notice any abnormal adjuct grains or special additives to make it any
different than regular ale.  I am somewhat new (~2 years) at recipe 
matching and still do extract brewing, is there something I just do not
recognize as being different about these recipes ?

I was in San Diego recently and went to the Columbia
Brewery (Karl Straus) and had some of their "Karl's Cream Ale" and it was
most excellent, and that is what started this whole desire for a
good cream ale recipe.  If anyone else has consumed this magnificent
brew and can give some details on how they make it please let
me know.

Joe (j_freela at hwking.cca.cr.rockwell.com)

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Date:    Thu, 3 Sep 1992 9:49:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: R_GELINAS at UNHH.UNH.EDU (Russ Gelinas)
Subject: flour catcher

   If you use a Corona grain mill, as I do, you cannot avoid getting some
flour along with your cracked grains.  Too much flour can lead to a stuck
sparge.  A good way to get rid of the flour is to put the grains in a big 
paper bag as you grind them.  Pour the grains from the bag into the mash-tun, 
and much of the flour stays behind in the bag.

Russ

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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 10:13:54 EDT
From: tighe at kc.camb.inmet.com (Michael Tighe)
Subject: Brewing Mishaps - my tale...

This sorry tale involves an experimental batch of mead I made several 
years ago...

I had made two different batches, one with nutmeg and cinnamon and another
with lemon-peel and ginger and as is usually the case when I bottle, there
was this "left-over" liquid on the bottom of my primary fermentation vessel.  
(Luckily in those days I was brewing in one-gallon experimental jugs!)

Well, not wanting to waste anything, I mixed up the dregs from both batches
and bottled them.  My assumption was that it would taste lousy, but I was
curious as to what it would be like.  In those days, I bottled in 16-oz
Coca-Cola bottles - you know the kind - I've used them to hammer nails
into a two-by-four when the hammer was too far away from where I was.
I believed them to be indestructible.  (Foolish man...).

I had two bottles of this "dregs-brew", and had brought them with me 
to my girl-friend's apartment for the weekend along with several bottles
of the "good stuff", and placed it on the bureau in the front hall.  
In the early days, my mead had this annoying habit (notice I said HAD - I 
don't HAVE this problem any more!:) of going off (i.e., exploding :) at dawn.
Most explosions occurred around 6:00 am or there abouts, with annoying
regularity.  This batch (the "dregs") decided to follow suit, and early
on a Saturday Morning there was this "BOOM" from the front hall
followed by the fearful sound of glass skittering on wood.

Quickly apprising the situation (having been woken from a sound sleep), 
I refused to let my girlfriend out of the bedroom, and utilizing
standard bomb squad techniques, I grabbed a towel and quickly contained
the second bottle of "dregs", the one which had NOT yet gone BOOM.  I
rushed to the kitchen and then stood there over the kitchen sink - now
what do I do?  This is when the term "glass grenade" really starts to
become meaningful and fearful.  Utilizing my great wisdom, I popped the 
top off of the towel-wrapped 16-oz Coke bottle filled with "dregs" and 
heard "POW" as I tried to aim the bottle's contents down the drain.  
Problem was that the spray emptied the bottle all over the ceiling, 
countertops, walls and cabinets of the kitchen before I could turn 
the bottle mouth-down to the drain.  (It is this experience which
convinced me to open any suspicious bottle out-of-doors!)

The original bottle's explosion had broken the mirror on the antique bureau,
sent shards of the Coke bottle across the living room (we found pieces under 
the piano weeks later), stripped the finish off the bureau top and leaked 
through the top onto my girlfriend's nicest silk gloves and hankies in the
top drawer.  She did forgive me, but it took a while!

Moral of the story: Don't bottle dregs - its not worth the risk! :-)

Michael Tighe, Intermetrics, Inc., 733 Concord Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138 (USA)
email: tighe at inmet.camb.inmet.com, phone: 617-661-1840

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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 09:15:22 CDT
From: pmiller at mmm.com
Subject: Oak chips in IPA?


Super Dave writes:

> I was planning on using some Oak chips I got from a brew supply shop >
> for an IPA.  I read somewhere where I should toast them...

Actually, how you prepare the oak chips may be a mute point.  Terry
Foster (Pale Ale, The Book) claims that English oak is different than
American oak (and French oak, I think) in that English oaken barrels
don't impart any flavor to the beer that's stored in them.  Apparently,
we Americans, used to the characteristics of _our_ oaken casks, just
assumed that English IPA which had been sitting in a wooden cask must
have some oak flavor.  So, Terry's point is that if you're trying to
brew an authentic IPA, _don't_ add any oak chips.

Of course, that's not to say that you can't add oak chips to beer
just for the fun of it.  Just don't do it to be 'true to style'.

Anybody need a bag of oak chips, never used?  I'll let mine go _real_
cheap...  ;-)


Phil Miller          "There is nothing in the world more helpless and
pmiller at mmm.com      irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths
                     of an ether binge."              Hunter S. Thompson



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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 10:41:04 EDT
From: jdsgeoac at typhoon (Karen Jdsgeoac Hyrum GEOACOUSTIC)
Subject: Re: Oak Chips


Dave asked about oak chips in an IPA.  The William's Brewing catolog which
sells oak chips suggests the following:

Rinse with water and steam for 20 min. in a vegtable cooker or toast for
20 min at 350 F for a "crisper oak character".  Add the chips to the 
fermenter, and leave in contact with the beer for at least 8 days. Use
from 2-5 oz for a 5 gal batch.

I used William's chips in one batch.  I used about 3 oz. and toasted them
for sanitation.  The result was a very oaky beer (too much oak). If I
used oak again I would not use more than 2 oz. and I would steam them
instead of toasting.

Hyrum Laney


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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 09:12:21 -0600
From: Jerry_Reeves <jreeves at hpbsl118.boi.hp.com>
Subject: Some Fun!


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Date: 03 Sep 1992 09:48:12 -0600 (MDT)
From: SLK6P at CC.USU.EDU
Subject: Beer Sampling/Yeast culturing Event!


Brewfest/Yeast culturing.  An evening of fun and fungus.

The other night some fellow brewers and beer unthusiasts joined me 
for an evening of sampling several "exotic" brews (in Utah terms 
that is) for the sake of comparison (quaffage) and to attempt culturing 
all of the culturable yeasts. We had stuffed squash from the garden, and
watched Michael Jackson Beer Hunter Videos (well, we saw a bit of 
Jack's video too for kicks).  It sure was inspiring to see the Lambic
brewing system. Talk about "Not Worrying" to an extreme!  The image of 
spider webs all around the casks haunts my mind.   When I saw fruit flies hovering around my DunkelWeiss as I racked to the secondary the other 
night, I decided to savor the spider who has placed his home next to my 
brewing space in the basement.

Here's what we "sampled":
    ** Guinness                 ** Bass
    ** Anchor Steam             *  Black Hook Porter
    ** Celebrator               *  St Pauli Girl (dark) 
    ** Red Tail                 *  John Bull     
    ** Portland Ale             *  Caribe
    ** Chimay                   
The next night- with refreshed palates, Toot and I dipped into
some even MORE exotic brews:
    ** Samichlaus               *   Wicked Ale
    ** Corsendonk               **  Thomas Hardys Ale

I had a collection of malt agar plates. We poured the sediments onto
them after carefully dispensing the beer into our little sampling glasses.

Boy- even a small glass (when you have many of them!) can sure put
you under the table.  Good thing I just had to fall into bed, not go 
anywhere!  Beer sure makes my girlfriend frisky!  Whew...

So- with a fair bit of followup culturing (restreaking for single 
colonies, then transfering to agar slants) I should have quite a stock
of viable yeasts.  I wonder how much overlap there might actually be
in terms of which strains are really which?  Might any of them actually
be the same as any Wyeast cultures?  This is probably going to drive me 
to freezing some cultures.  

I'm also wondering which brews actually had culturable yeasts, and 
which just had sediments, and which plates now just have a layer of 
yummy beer on their surface.  Any input?  The ones with two ** are 
ones I'm pretty sure -> quite sure are culturable (*** means they are 
already growing!).

    Just thought I'd share this enjoyable expoerience with you folks.

"Beer is a part of our phfood, an important part of our daily phfood intake"
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------                   
            John Wyllie**THE COSMIC COYOTE**SLK6P at cc.usu.edu
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
*Can anyone help me use FTP?  I get the prompt but then don't know what to
do.  I'd like to be able to download some of the files. HELP????????

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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 08:53 PDT
From: Bob_Konigsberg at 3mail.3com.com
Subject: Assorted Comments

Jack Schmidling asked (or was he reprinting another's question) about
hooking up a cajun cooker to natural gas.  It can be done, but the
BTU's of propane are much higher, and he's not going to get as much heat 
out of it.  Jack, I also use mine outside, having had one boil over
in the garage (my wife was not appreciative).  One safety note for all, 
I noticed that the tripod legs could tip over the cooker in a direction 
between the legs, and since I've got little ones (curious too), I bought 
a 3/4" X 2' diameter plywood circle, varnished it thoroughly (3 coats), 
flattened and bent over (in a vise) the last 1.5" of the tripod legs for 
the cooker and drilled holes and then screwed the legs to the plywood 
disk.  The cooker is *much* more stable now, and I'm not as worried.

Concerning flaming, according to a friend (who ought to know), flaming 
consists of just passing the loop through a flame, not heating it red 
hot.

I don't have any brewing disasters of my own (just a boil over or two), 
but I do have a question.  My latest batch (a brown ale) is not bad, but 
has a noticeably metallic taste.  Here's the particulars for this 10 
gallon batch.

    12 lbs. Alexander's Light LME
     6 lbs. Alexander's Dark LME
     8 oz. Chocolate Malt (steeped, NOT boiled)
     1 lb. Crystal Malt 40L
     4 oz. cascade  at  5.3% AA (boiling)
     2 oz  cascade (finishing in last 5 minutes)
     Wyeast Irish Ale Yeast built into a 1 qt. starter 3 days before.

S.G. 1.054
F.G. 1.024 (calulations say about 4% alcohol)

Wort was chilled in a counterflow chiller and fermented with a blowout 
tube.  Lag time was less than 8 hours (I was asleep and not watching).

It tastes pretty good except for the mettallic flavor. By this I mean, 
I'd like to get rid of the metallic part, but I'll drink it anyway.

Has anyone else had a similar problem, and if so, to what did you 
attribute the problem?

BobK



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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 9:54:01 MDT
From: Jeff Benjamin <benji at hpfcbug.fc.hp.com>
Subject: Whirlpools & siphoning

Jeff Frane (gummitch at techbook.com) recounts as part of a disaster story:

> At the end of the boil, I hooked up the siphon hose to the wort chiller,
> clamped off the far end and stirred up a great whirlpool.
> I had _some_ reason for doing a little research upstairs, digging in a
> brewing text, during the 20 minute rest.

I've tried the "make a whirpool and siphon off the side of the pot"
technique for racking after the boil, but I found it difficult to
stir vigorously and start the siphon at the same time, and my siphon 
(copper tubing with slots in the bottom) still clogged with (fresh) hops.

Jeff's comment suggests that whirlpooling (to coin a word) and siphoning
don't have to be done simultaneously:  you can stir up the whirpool to
concentrate the solids in the center, let them settle, and then siphon.
If so, do you still need some kind of filter to keep solids out of your
wort?

- --
Jeff Benjamin                               benji at hpfcla.fc.hp.com
Hewlett Packard Co.                         Fort Collins, Colorado	
"Midnight shakes the memory as a madman shakes a dead geranium."
					    - T.S. Eliot

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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 09:33:05 MDT
From: pyle at intellistor.com (Norm Pyle)
Subject: Thanks for the Memories....

Thank you, oh thank you for your tales of disaster!  I've sure enjoyed
reading them, although I hate to hear about all the homebrew that's gone down
the drain, into the carpet, down the stairs, etc.  I think I'll go rent
"Misery" or "The Addams Family" or something and have a homebrew...

Norm

P.S.  My father-in-law has built me a roller mill from my specifications.  I
don't have it yet (I'll be getting it in a couple of weeks).  Within a couple
of weeks after that I'll report on it and give construction details if folks are
interested.

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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 09:37 PDT
From: James S Durham <js_durham at pnlg.pnl.gov>
Subject: Two brewing disasters


     Back in the good old days, when I had only about three batches of beer 
     under my belt (literally), I had a brewing experience that convinced 
     me to use a coleman stove in the garage.  I had just bought a new 
     home, and I was all set to watch the world series and brew my favorite 
     stout (recipe posted sometime last week) as my first batch of beer in 
     the new house.  Well, the first disaster to occur that day did not 
     affect me personally, but they cancelled the baseball game for the San 
     Francisco earthquake.
     
     I did not have the full complement of brewing equipment that I now 
     have.  I brewed a 1.5 gallon extract recipe in a three gallon pot, 
     just as I always had.  I was tired of fighting with the swelling that 
     occurs just as the wort starts to boil, so I thought "I'll just let it 
     boil over and use a stainless steel mixing bowl to catch the 
     overflow."  What a good idea!  As the wort was heating to boil, I 
     decided to warm the mixing bowl on another burner so that the overflow 
     would stay hot.  Since just about every house in town has electric 
     stoves (electricity is VERY cheap here), my stove was no exception.  I 
     placed the mixing bowl on one burner and anxiously awaited the boil.  
     Soon, however, I noticed that the mixing bowl was glowing red, so I 
     quickly turned down the heat to low and inspected the bowl.  Sure 
     enough, I changed the properties of the steel in the bottom of the 
     bowl.  Oh great, my wife (who doesn't like my beer) will kill me.  So 
     I set the mixing bowl down on a cold burner.  Meanwhile, the wort 
     approached boiling and the foam was rising in the brewpot.
     
     Just as the foam was approaching the top of the brewpot, I lifted the 
     pot up to move it over the mixing bowl.  I failed to notice that this 
     stove had a ventilation hood over it where the stove in the old house 
     didn't.  I hit the hood with the brewpot, and a small amount (about 
     two cups of wort landed on the red-hot burner that had just been 
     vacated by the brewpot.  This started a small fire on the burner.  I 
     quickly set the brewpot (now cooled slightly so it was no longer in 
     jeopardy of overflowing) onto the only available burner on the stove 
     (the mixing bowl covered two cold burners.  Unfortunately, the only 
     available burner was heating on low.  As I was dousing the flames on 
     the cooking burner, I glanced up just in time to see Mt. Wort erupt 
     like Vesuvius.  The wort flowed into the burner, down the little air 
     vent that leads to the oven, into that inaccessible area that houses 
     the wiring for the burners below the burners, across the counter and 
     onto the lily-white sculptured-pile rug that some madman had installed 
     in the kitchen.
     
     Needless to say, I didn't have to worry about my wife becoming upset 
     about the mixing bowl.  I (as brewer) was banished to the garage 
     forever, which greatly facilitated my brewing anyway.  It's a good 
     thing I brew and allow primary fermentation to occur in the garage 
     now, because it minimized the effect of having a cherry from a cherry 
     stout recipe clog the airlock during primary fermentation this summer. 
     The airlock exploded (thank goodness not the carboy) and cherries went 
     everywhere!  BTW, the volcano beer that I described above turned out 
     to be one of my best brews, but I don't think I want to repeat the 
     recipe exactly.

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Date: 3 Sep 1992 13:15:33 -0500
From: Chris McDermott <mcdermott at draper.com>
Subject: Re- Baderbrau (Radium)

 Re: Baderbrau (Radium)
   Since I am not a nuclear physicist, I'm sure someone will correct me if I am
wrong....

  I think that what the Elmhurst water was comtaminated with was probably
Randon gas and not Radium.  As I understand it, Randon is a decay product of
Radium which is in turn a decay product of Uranium.  Radon contamination of
ground water is VERY common in areas that have a bedrock structure that is
composed mainly of granite.  This is beacause trace amounts of Uranium in
granite rock decay eventually into Radon and sice Radon is a gas it can disolve
in the ground water.  And because it is soluable it can reach fairly high
concentration levels.  Fortunatly, Radon has a very short half-life and quickly
decays into non-radioactive products.

  The way the "Radium problem" was most likely solved was to let the water
stand in some sort of holding pond for a few days before distributing it.  The
Baderbrau could also of been "made safe" simply by letting it sit in the
bottles for a while. 

  A similar method is used in a very popular spring water from Maine.  The
auquifer that feeds this "spring" is the same one that my parents' artesian
well taps into a few miles away.  Since we found out about the problem about 15
years ago, we would let the water sit in the refridgerator for at least a day
before drinking it.
_
Christopher K. McDermott       Internet:  mcdermott at draper.com
C.S. Draper Laboratory, Inc.   Voice:     (617) 258-2362
555 Technology Square          FAX:       (617) 258-1131
Cambridge, MA 02149 (USA)




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Date: 03 Sep 92 13:21:41 EDT
From: CHUCKM at csg3.Prime.COM
Subject: filters


Hello everyone.

   Does anyone have any experience/advice with filters for beer...eg.
I think I would like to filter it before kegging, but I'm not sure how
to proceed.   I've seen a variety of water filters on/for sale at HQ on the
20 - 30$ range and wonder if these might do the trick.

Thanks in advance

chuckm at csg3.prime.com

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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 11:01 PDT
From: BOB JONES <BJONES at NOVAX.llnl.gov>
Subject: Malt flames from Micah Millspaw




        I thought that I'd let you all know about a horrible brewing
experience that I had recently. I made bad beer! and not just a little
bit of it either, a total of 45 gallons of bad beer. This disaster
took place in 15 gallon increments, and at the first incident I blamed
the yeast (even though I had proofed it myself). So I changed yeasts
and brewed again, same problem ( the defect was massive amounts of
DMS) I've been useing the same wort chiller for several years with no
trouble. So slow cooling wasn't the problem. And so to rule out some 
horrible bacterial infection as a source, I re-etched my SS fermenters 
with acid. So I went really anal about sanitation, got some known good 
yeast from a local brewery and tried again. Still more DMS. Then began 
the search for a common element and I found it, it was the pale malt. 
For years now I have been using
pale malt from Great Western malting, but my source for it recently
went away and so I bought some Breiss malt. I should have thought of 
blaming the malt sooner but it seemed to unlikely. I stopped trying
to brew and located a new source for Great Western malt. Then I did
some tests. With the same yeast that was used in the high DMS beer
(last made) I made some test batches, I mashed a pound of breiss, boiled
for an hour,cooled it and pitched the yeast, then did the same with the
Great Western malt. Within 2 days the DMS smell from the Breiss was 
overwelming, the Great Western was okay. This satified me that the
malt was the problem and I'll never use Breiss again.  I've
got some good beer fermenting now, made from Great Western malt.
Since this problem occured I talked to many other brewers both home
and commercial and they all said, don't use this malt (Breiss). I 
thought that I'd pass this on to you HBDers because it sucks to make
bad beer and its even worse not to know why.

                                   Micah Millspaw 9/2/92
 

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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 14:29:43 EDT
From: garti at mrg.xyplex.com (Mark R. Garti)
Subject: Maerzen

does anyone have an extract or partial mash recipe for
Maerzen?  grain recipe for same?
Mark       mrgarti at xyplex.com

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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 14:52:04 CDT
From: "Regan Fulton" <fulton at molbio.cbs.umn.edu>
Subject: Wood Chips


I used wood chips recently and found they gave a very nice aged 
character to the brew.  I followed Charlie's India Pale Ale recipe very 
closely, as I remember--though I don't have my notes with me.  I 
also toasted my grains for that one, so I can't say  whether the wood 
alone contributed to the very pleasing character, but I do think of it 
as my best so far. This was a full-bodied ale with high alcohol 
content and real hint of wood. I steamed the chips in a collander for 
about five minutes prior to adding to the brew pot--I'm a sanitation 
freak in addition to being a hop head.  Finally,  I found the wood 
chips at Cellarcraft (Minneapolis). Cheers.

         _______________________________________________________  
	|							 |
	|  Regan Fulton 	Email: fulton at molbio.cbs.umn.edu |
	|  5-110 Moos Tower	Phone: (612) 624-9663            |
	|  University of	Fax: (612) 626-7031        	 |
	|  Minnesota			         		 |
	|  515 Delaware St. S.E.				 |
	|  Minneapolis, MN 55455				 |
	|________________________________________________________|




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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 13:01:54 PDT
From: bgros at sensitivity.berkeley.edu (Bryan Gros)
Subject: oxidation and porters

I got only one response to my question about SG and temp. relations.
And I don't have a postscript printer, so that didn't help much.
Maybe I can get something out of a chem. book.

With the talk about oxidation, it is said that shaking COOL wort
is good--leads to aeration which yeast like.  Then it is said
that shaking beer (before bottling) is bad--leads to oxidation
which taste buds don't like.  So what is the difference in the
two settings?  Why is unfermented cooled wort not as susceptible
to oxidation?

And sorry if it was discussed recently, but what is the reviews
of Terry Foster's book on Porters?  

                                         - Bryan

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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 15:15:32 CDT
From: pmiller at mmm.com
Subject: All grain SNPA taste-alike?


Does anybody have a sure-fire recipe for a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
taste-alike?  I'm going to try my first attempt at all grain in a
couple of weeks and I want to make the most of the extra effort.
(BTW, I already checked in the Cat's Meow.)

I plan on doing a single step mash this time around to make things
simpler.  Any suggestions (recipe or technique) would be _greatly_
appreciated.



Phil Miller       "My problem with most athletic challenges is training.
pmiller at mmm.co     I'm lazy and find that workouts cut into my drinking
                   time."            from _A Wolverine is Eating My Leg_



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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 16:49:23 EDT 
From: card at apollo.hp.com
Subject: yeast.starters


  I decided to finally write this down rather than stumbling through 
  my brew books every 4 months or so, when it's time to make starters. 

  BTW, since the bottles and are now sealed and the wort "sterilized", 
  I presume you can just store them "in a cool dark place" rather than 
  refrigerating. 

  Also, if anyone has had bad experiences with just adding the 
  yeast to the starter bottles and re-sealing without an air-lock, 
  until time to pitch, I'd appreciate any feedback. 

  Thanks and happy brewing, 

  /Mal Card
                       


							YEAST STARTER PROCEDURE 
							-----------------------

Read Miller's  "Brewing the World's Great Beers", page 33-35


Material:

*	Eight 1 quart canning jars ##
*	Eight NEW covers (rings and lids)
*	3/4ths lb dry malt (~1.5 cups)
*	1/4 oz hops  (I used Hallertau pellets)
*	stainless 1.5 gallon boiler
*	ceramic, or stainless boiler (16 quart)


Procedure:

 1. clean the jars and covers (i don't think boiling is necessary).
 	Ideally you could boil the jars and lids as described on the canning 
 	bottle box. The jars should probably be left in hot water until ready 
 	to use for thermal shock reasons. 
 
 2. Boil ~ 1 gallon water uncovered for 15 minutes 
 
 3. Turn off burner and add dry malt and hops 
 
 4. Bring to a boil
 
 5. boil wort for 15 minutes 
 
 6.	turn off boiler and let the wort settle for 15 minutes or so. 
 
 7. while this is cooling, fill the ceramic boiler about 1/3 full. bring to boil
 
 8. Stir wort to evenly distribute the hops and transfer hot wort into bottles
    (half full) and then loosely cover
 
 9. place the 8 jars into the ceramic pot with  water ~ 1" from the top of jars.

10. bring to a low boil and simmer for 30 minutes 
 
11. with tongs carefully remove the jars and finger tighten the lids
 
12. let cool overnight on wooden surface (keep out of draft)
 
 
 ## note: Miller "specifies" pint bottles but I've found if you use 1 quart 
 	bottles, you can add the yeast directly into the bottle since there is now
 	adequate head room. This has worked successfully for me for about 6 batches 
 	but I'd be interested to hear if anyone has had problems with this. 
 	IE. exploding bottles. 
 	
 	IN ANY CASE, ONCE THE YEAST HAS BEEN ADDED, CARE SHOULD BE TAKEN, AND IF THE 
  LID SWELLS, SIMPLY RELEASE THE PRESSURE WITH A QUARTER TURN OF THE COVER AND 
  RETIGHTEN.   
 	



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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 18:24:09 CDT
From: bliss at csrd.uiuc.edu (Brian Bliss)
Subject: corn/distasters/open_fermenters/traquiar_house

> can corn be converted by boiling, or do i need a warm
> temp rest like barley.  

corn is just like barley in that it can be malted, which
produces amylase enzymes (don't know how corn differs from
barley in the amounts of different types of amylase produced,
though), it must be boiled or processed before being used as
an adjunct, and conversion must take place in the presence of
amylase at ~150F, etc.  I'd like to taste an american pilsner
made with malted corn (but let somebody else do all the work :-)

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

On brewing disasters:

How about 15 lbs honey & 7 lbs blueberries, put into a 6 gallon
fermenter?   I decided that my friend's basement would make a
cooler environment in which to ferment this beast, so I carried
the entire thing down 2 flights of stairs, drove across town,
keeping it from tipping over with my right hand, hoping that
the police wouldn't decide to stop me an inspect/infect the
content of the fermenter, got to my friends house, opened the
basement door, carried the carboy down another flight of stairs,
and ever so gently sent the fermenter down on the concrete ledge.
All I heard was a slight "clink", and didn't notice that the 
carboy was becoming lighter by the second.  I could have saved
a gallon or two and put it in jugs, but I was so disgusted I
just threw the whole damn thing (about 2 gallons was left in
the fermenter by the time I tipped it over to stop the flow)
out in the dumpster and proceeded with the cleaning up process.

Fortunately, there was no carpet on the floor, and a drain nearby.

Unfortunately, the drain was 90% clogged.

Fortunately, It wasn't my house.

The ants loved it.

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

>>Some brewers use open fermenters  (Anchor, Pilsner Urquell, etc). Why
>>don't they have sanitary problems. I would never think of fermenting
>>in the open, but Pilsner Urquell does it in caves with no apparent
>>problems.... Any comments?
>
>It's a numbers game.  The brewers add a huge number of active yeast
>cells which get off to a quick start.  There's no question that
>molds, bacteria, wild yeast, etc. fall into open fermentation
>tanks; but they are simply overwhelmed by the 10^6 to 10^9 fold
>excess of the desired yeast cells.  After the beer is fermented
>out the alcohol suppresses most microbial growth.

A Zymurgy article last year stated that when PU brews, they
split the batch in 3 parts.  They monitor these closely, and
if one batch starts to develop a mild infection [as long as
it's not too early in the fermentation cycle, I would assume]
they quickly bottle it, mixing it with the other 2 batches,
which brings the off-flavors below the taste threshold level.

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

> McAndrews (a somewhat paler version), and what I believe is still
> the most expensive beer available in the U.S., Traquair House,
> which retails for about $9 per 10 oz bottle (Cases can be had for
> a bit over $100 if your dealer is in a good mood).

I finally found Traquair House at the Weinkeller liquor store in
Berwyn, IL, for a little less than $5 a bottle.  What is the proper
way to pronounce "Traquair House"?  (I had to spell it before they
figured out what I was asking for :-)

bb

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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 13:04 EDT
From: man at kato.att.com
Subject: Bev-Con International

I received too many requests for their number, so I decided to post:

	Bev-Con International
	6400 Highway 51 South
	Post Office Box 396
	Brighton, Tennessee 38011
	(901) 476-8000
	(901) 476-4811 (fax)
	(800) 284-9410

Mark Nevar


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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 21:08:48 -0600
From: Jon Binkley <binkley at beagle.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: Flame Loops, Not Your Fellow Homebrewers!


Jack S. Writes:

>I have often wondered about the "proper" method of flaming.  It would seem 
>that just passing through a flame would kill anything on the tool but on the 
>other hand, the tool is a heat sink and the critter might not even get hot.

>So to make sure, I heat the loop cherry red and the glass rod till I know it 
>is hot.  The problem is, if you then poke it into the yeast to transfer it, 
>the yeast gets fried unless you let it cool.  While cooling, it is in the 
>unsterile air and one never really knows when it is cool.
 
>So, the question, at last...  is just passing through the flame sufficient?

When streaking bacteria I always get the loop red-hot.  If I'm coming
from an agar plate I just jam the hot loop into an unoccupied portion
of the agar; this cools it off quickly and keeps the loop sterile.

If I'm coming from a liquid culture I stick the hot loop right in the
culture; sure some of the bugs get fried, but since you're dealing
with billions of them (or hundreds of millions in the case of yeast)
you get more than enough live ones in your loopful.

Jon Binkley


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Date: Fri, 4 Sep 92 0:50:18 CDT
From: hopduvel!john at linac.fnal.gov (John Isenhour)
Subject: Westmalle is back!!:-)

I just got back from my monthly trek to the Chicago Beer Society
meeting.  I always stop in at Sams Wine Warehouse and check for
Westmalle.  Well it was there tonight, and I am just back and
savoring my first in a really long time.  My favorite is the trippel
and they claimed to have several cases which they could not locate
so I had to settle for the dubbel :-) don'tcha feel sorry for me?

Anyway it is in distribution again (and yes there is that darn
gov'ment warning about non belgian women drinking while pregnant)
but at least its here!

Yaa Hooo...
- -- 
John, The happy Hop Devil                       
renaissance scientist and AHA/HWBTA certified Beer Judge 

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #962, 09/04/92