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


Contents:
  Barley Wine (Phillip Porch)
  Malt Beverage (Stephen Woolverton)
  Styrian hops - how are they? (Stefan Karlsson)
  Hunter Instructions Needed ("Roger Deschner 6-9433")
  I Need the Opinion of Certified Homebrew Judges (919) 541-7340" <FP$JEFF at RCC.RTI.ORG>
  old bay (dave ballard)
  1007,crystal (Russ Gelinas)
  Brewing in Belgium/Bananabrau (Phillip Seitz)
  Wyeast #1056 (Mike Mahler)
  primimg (ZLPAJGN)
  Mill control ("Spencer W. Thomas")
  the world's greatest beer (FWALTER)
  Wyeast vs. Dry (korz)
  invert sugar (Bart Lipkens)
  Re: Questions part II (Mark Wells Wilson)
  PPM, God, Right (Jack Schmidling)
  pre-gound malt (Brian Bliss)
  Swedish beers (CW06GST)
  All about Beer, Hoegarten wheat (Paul AndersEn                       )
  Boston Visit (Richard Stueven)
  Kegs (Robert Pulliam)
  Carboys and plastic water jugs (Peter Nesbitt)
  Incredibly good extraction rate (Josh Grosse)


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

Date: Sun, 20 Sep 92 15:36:03 CDT
From: mjbtn!raider!theporch.raidernet.com!root at uunet.UU.NET (Phillip Porch)
Subject: Barley Wine

A group of intermediate brewers is getting ready to make a batch of barley
wine. In the recipe in Dave Miller's book calls for the addition of
1 pound of brown sugar to bring the sugar content up. We would like to
know from you out there who brew barley wine if this is the best thing to add
or would something else be better.
The recipe calls for :
7 lbs pale ale malt
8 oz. British crystal malt and
1 lb light brown sugar

This makes 2 gallons.
- -- 
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Phillip Porch       voice: (615)297-4256       root at theporch.raidernet.com |
| Nashville, Tn       modem: (615)297-7951              Compuserve 70206,572 |
| MacInteresteds  The Macintosh User Group of Nashville         Genie PPORCH |
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Date: Sun, 20 Sep 92 14:23:43 CDT
From: mjbtn!raider!theporch.raidernet.com!swoolve at uunet.UU.NET (Stephen Woolverton)
Subject: Malt Beverage

 
Have you seen those non-alcoholic beers?  Well I tried each one with open
mind and mouth. ...and to my surprise they were all about as good as Coor's
Light, maybe better!
 
I have found a non-alcoholic beer (malt beverage) that is worth a try:
   MALTA INDIA
    "Brewed from water & the choicest barley malt. corn sugar. corn & hops."
    " 'Non-alcoholic-contains less than 0.5% alcohol by volume.' "
    produced for Cerveceria India, Inc. of Puerto Rico by The Lion Inc.  
 
Malta India is _very_ malt and almost too sweet.
If you can find it, try it.
 
Stephen Woolverton              WoolveSR at ctrvax.Vanderbilt.edu
                                SWoolve at thePorch.raidernet.com
        3210 Overlook Drive, Nashville, TN 37212  615/297-2705

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Date: Mon, 21 Sep 92 11:08:46 +0200
From: Stefan Karlsson <stefank at math.chalmers.se>
Subject: Styrian hops - how are they?

I went to my brewshop the other day buying ingridients for some
sort of Altbier. As they for the moment was out of Hallertauer
hops I was recommended Styrian as a substitute.
Is there sombody out there who has experience, alpha-content information,
opinions, et.c. please let me know. A good Alt recipe may make me
change my own presumptive one (it's just some vague idea in my head for
the moment, but it'll be mostly extract with some crystal and perhaps some
of my stocasticly experimentally made not-malt-but-slightly-malted-
and-then-roasted wheat.)

Stefan Karlsson
stefank at math.chalmers.se

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Date: 21 September 1992 07:03:31 CDT
From: "Roger Deschner 6-9433" <U52983 at UICVM.UIC.EDU>
Subject: Hunter Instructions Needed

I got what was apparently the last Hunter Energy Monitor from American
Science Center on Saturday. It came completely without instructions.
Does anybody out there have the instruction sheet which they could
photocopy and mail? Send e-mail directly to me if you've got it.

Thanks!

Roger Deschner, u52983 at uicvm.uic.edu

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Date: 21 Sep 1992 09:21:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Jeff McCartney (919) 541-7340" <FP$JEFF at RCC.RTI.ORG>
Subject: I Need the Opinion of Certified Homebrew Judges

HELP!  I need some advice from certified homebrew judges!!!

I'm entering a beer of mine into a local homebrew competition.  My recipe
approximates Old Peculier.  A similar batch I brewed in 1987 but entered in
last years's competition took first place in the stouts as a sweet stout. 
Thus, I feel compelled to enter this one (which in my opinion is better than
the one I entered last year).  I recently told a friend I had a sweet stout for
him to try and he tasted it and said "it tastes just like Old Peculier to me!" 
I then decided to examine my books and back issues of Zymurgy.  

Papazian, in The New Joy of Home Brewing (p.142) classifies Old Peculier as a
Brown Ale.  The Special 1991 (Vol. 14. No.4) issue of Zymurgy classifies it
as an English Old Ale or English Strong Ale.  Michael Jackson's Pocket Guide to
Beer (first printing 1982) classifies it as a strong ale.  Here is my problem: 
if I enter it according to the National Homebrew Regulations as a class 7a
(English Old Ale/Strong Ale), the definition says "light amber to deep
amber/copper)".  Old Peculier is dark brown!  Will the judges take off points
and say "color not appropriate for style"?  Our competition is such that each
category will have at least one certified judge per category working with other
non-certified judges.  I know from experience that when in doubt, the judges
consult the guidelines and if they don't know from experience that Old Peculier
is a dark brown English Old Ale/Strong Ale, they will read the blurb and say
"color not appropriate for style".  Because this is a local competion which
helps my brewclub, I'm not writing this to get a leg up for a prize.  I'm more
interested in how this might be dealt with in a national competition by all
certified judges.  Any comments?

Similarly, because I'm an extract brewer, my light lagers don't turn out as
light as the style suggests.  For example, I've brewed several quality pilsners
but because they are amber in color, I've had to enter them as Vienna!  Now if
I were a commercial brewer and I produced an amber pilsner, the critics would
say I had an amber pilsner.  This would then be documented as an "acceptable"
(although not preferred) exception to the color code for a pilsner.  Then, if a
homebrewer entered his beer as an amber pilsner the judges could say "well,
yes, because Brewery ABC brews a pilsner similar in color to this guy's
pilsner, I won't take off points". 

This message has taken up plenty of space.  I'd advise writing me with comments
directly at INTERNET::"FP$JEFF at ZEUS.RTI.ORG" or FP$JEFF at RTI for BITNET.

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Date: 21 Sep 1992   9:13 EDT
From: dab at blitzen.cc.bellcore.com (dave ballard)
Subject: old bay


Hey now-  Just wanted to turn you all on to some upcoming happenings 
at The Old Bay restaurant in New Brunswick, NJ.  

	October 3rd-	Octoberfest Celebration, Noon - 4 PM
			$3 Admission, Free German buffet

	October 7th-	Stoudt's Night with special brewery guests

	October 17th-	Red Bank Homebrewing talk and mashing demo
			Noon - 4 PM,  announcement of holiday brew
			competition


Please note that I have no financial interest in Old Bay (I wish I did),
it's just a cool place to hang.  Now that Rutgers is back in session 
it gets a little crowded with bud-swilling students (hey, we were all 
young once) but there are usually some homebrewers hanging around as 
well as the guys from Red Bank Brewing Supply.  I understand they're getting 
Stoudt's Octoberfest, Anchor 1992 Holiday Ale and Old Foghorn, and Sierra 
Nevada Celebration Ale on tap towards the end of the year.  


see you there
dab

=========================================================================
dave ballard	
dab at cc.bellcore.com     
=========================================================================


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Date:    Mon, 21 Sep 1992 9:53:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: R_GELINAS at UNHH.UNH.EDU (Russ Gelinas)
Subject: 1007,crystal

   For those asking about a 1007 timeframe: brewed on 8/28, kegged on
9/6, gone on 9/18.  The brew (a brown porter) was clear on about 9/11.
So it cleared in about 2 weeks.  I agree with Walt(?) that 1338 would be 
better for Alt/Kolsch; 1007 left the beer just a little too dry.  *Very* 
clean though.
   I've run across a source of M&F crystal (British) and won't go back to
US crystal.  The difference is like Bass vs. Pabst, well maybe not, but
the M&F has much more character.

RG

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Date: Mon, 21 Sep 92 13:45 GMT
From: Phillip Seitz <0004531571 at mcimail.com>
Subject: Brewing in Belgium/Bananabrau

On October 1 I'll be taking off on a trip that will include a week in
Belgium.  This will be my sixth trip there, but all the previous tours
took place in a former life (i.e., before I started brewing).  On
the itinerary are tours of several breweries (probably Brasserie de
Bocq and La Bincheoise), and in addition to this my Belgian friends
are setting up a brewing session with a friend of theirs who is
establishing a brewpub.  
	As you might imagine, I plan to gather as much information
as possible without actually stealing trade secrets.  I'm therefore
making up a list of things to ask about, and would be happy for
any help from the HBD community.  The question list so far:

Use of candy sugars (particularly relating to quantity)
Availability of yeasts
Use and handling of unmalted grains
Fermentation temperatures
Mashing procedures
Bottle-conditioning procedures
Use of fruits

These are quite general, of course.  I therefore welcome questions
from anybody who's interested, which I will compile and take with
me, and I will be happy to post anything I learn as a result of this.
I should offer the disclaimer that I haven't sampled the brew pubs
wares yet, and have no idea whether the people I'll be seeing will
be able to answer everything.  I should also add that any info
gathered will be limited by my own ignorance.  Still, I'm hopeful.

I do speak French, and will probably be focusing on breweries in
Wallonie.  However, my French-language brewing vocabulary is limited
at the moment to basic brewing ingredients.  If there's anybody out
there who can help me out I'd be most appreciative (Pierre Jelenc,
vous etes la?).

Lastly, I read Todd Enders report on Wyeast/Banana with some interest.
I've just sampled my (very young) Bananbrau, and found that the
banana flavors were quite pleasant and not out of line at all.  The 
yeast provides several different tastes, and the banana is just one
of them.  Overall I'd say the predominant yeast flavor is more
caramel/cognac, similar in a way to Chimay Bleu (Grande Reserve).
I don't think I have any qualms about using it again.

Phil Seitz (PSEITZ at MCIMAIL.COM)

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Date: Mon, 21 Sep 92 10:14:02 EDT
From: mm at workgroup.com (Mike Mahler)
Subject: Wyeast #1056

	I used this used in about 5 batches, starting with a steam
	and I concur that it starts off smoothly and ferments over
	the course of a week in the primary and also it seems to
	leave very little behind.   The beers are usually drier than
	most and crisp and SEEM less filling, but it could be the
	recipes I've used it in since they've all bent towards lighter
	beers.  I've also used Wyest Bohemian in another batch and
	it had the same characterstics.  

	My fav yeast with regards to little lag time and nice finish
	is WHitberead Ale yeast.  I've heard a rumor that they are
	not going to make it anymore, does anyone know if it's true?
	It works great on some stout recipes I've made.

	MIchael

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Date:    Mon, 21 Sep 92 09:28 CDT
From: ZLPAJGN%LUCCPUA.bitnet at UICVM.UIC.EDU
Subject: primimg

Dear Brewers

Just a quick question:  is there an advantage to using dry malt extract
as priming before bottling, rather than sugar?  My (limited) experience
has been that corn sugar can produce an off flavor - cidery? - but that
has been when I've used it as part of the boil.  Any reactions?

Cheers!

John

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Date: Mon, 21 Sep 92 11:11:20 EDT
From: "Spencer W. Thomas" <Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu>
Subject: Mill control

I had a chance yesterday to directly compare grain milled with a
MaltMill(tm) to grain "professionally" milled.  We were giving a
brewing demonstration at the Renaissance Festival in Holly, MI (still
going for one more weekend).  Pale malt was supplied by the sponsor,
Frankenmuth Brewing Co.  I am not sure whether they mill their own, or
have their supplier (Briess) do it for them.  We brought some crystal
malt that one of us had crushed using a MaltMill(tm) at the shop.  The
grain from Frankenmuth had a very nice crush, with basically unmangled
husks (as desired).  So did that from the MaltMill(tm).  However, the
particles in the MaltMill(tm) crush were about twice as large (in
"width", so 8 times the volume).  Whether this makes a real
difference, I am not competent to say.  As far as results go,
we used 16# pale malt and 1.25# crystal, with a total extract
efficiency of about 32pts/lb/gal (in 10 gal).  

=Spencer W. Thomas 		|  Info Tech and Networking, B1911 CFOB, 0704
   "Genome Informatician"	|  Univ of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu	|  313-747-2778, FAX 313-764-4133

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Date: 21 Sep 1992 11:31:58 -0400 (EDT)
From: FWALTER%RULUPI at ccmail.sunysb.edu
Subject: the world's greatest beer


I've been ruminating about some of the editorial comments that have passed
through this digest over the past few months. I fear that some beginners may be
getting the wrong message. There is no single best way to make beer, and even
with relatively simple techniques one can brew a good, nay, great beer. 

Does it really matter whether you go all-grain, extract, or kit?
Does it really matter whether you use liquid or dry yeast?
Does it really matter whether you bottle or keg?
Does it really matter whether your beer is enough of a clone of a defined
     style to win a prestigious competition?
Clearly to some it does matter, but to me and my more relaxed bretheren,
what matters is:
   1.) Do you enjoy making the beer?
   2.) Do you and your friends enjoy drinking the beer?
If you can answer yes to both, then why worry?

Every homebrewer can honestly say   "I BREW THE WORLD'S GREATEST BEER".

Fred

- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The author has been an extract/specialty grain brewer for 9 years, with about 
60 batches to his credit.  All have tasted great and been more filling. 
The author uses dried yeast (ale in the summer, lager in the winter), relies on
the thermal mass of a concrete basement for temperature control, bleach for
sanitation, a rolling pin for cracking grains, and elbow grease to remove old
bottel labels. 
_______________________________________________________________________________

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Date: Mon, 21 Sep 92 10:57 CDT
From: korz at iepubj.att.com
Subject: Wyeast vs. Dry

I've found just the opposite of what Russ posted -- In general, I've found
that the dry yeasts that I've used (Muntona, Bierkeller, Geordie, Old Danish,
and Doric Lager) are more attenuative than most Wyeast strains.  Secondly,
I've found that the liquid yeasts are very predictable and bacteria-free,
whereas the brews made with dry yeasts have invariably eventually become
gushers.  Mind you, these were not pure-cultured versions of the dry yeasts,
rather simply rehydrated straight from the package and then pitched.
Although I've never used it, I've read that Edme Ale yeast is one of the
most attenuative yeasts you can buy.  Whereas with Wyeast #1028, London
Ale yeast, I've been able to brew beers with a relatively high residual
sweetness, without adding any non-fermentable sugars (like lactose).

Al.

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Date: Mon, 21 Sep 92 11:39:11 -0500
From: lipkens at ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Bart Lipkens)
Subject: invert sugar


Hi brewers,
I was going through David Line's recipe book, and noticed that a lot
of the recipes call for invert sugar.  I have looked it up but did
not found an answer. What is it? Can we buy it in the States or
substitute for it with another sugar?
Thanks for your help.
Bart Lipkens

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Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1992 13:22:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mark Wells Wilson <mw4w+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Questions part II

Peter Nesbitt writes:

> - I'm having trouble finding true long-necks.  Should I absolutely not use
> twist off bottles?  I've asked almost every eating establishment in town,
>  but they will not give up their returnables.

Just go to your friendly neighborhood beer distributer (look 'em up in
the yellow pages) and ask for X cases of returnable bottles.  They'll
probably charge you a ten cent deposit.  It's not a good idea to use
twist-offs because a) you can't cap them with a hand capper and b) the
walls are thinner than on returnables and thus more likely to explode
under the pressure of over-carbonation if you screw something up in your
beer.  By the way, I've found Coors light and Stroh's labels to be the
easiest to get off (It's your beer, remember?) and Miller Lite all but
impossible.  High Life and Genuine draft come in clear bottles, which
you don't want, either.


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Date: Mon, 21 Sep 92 09:01 CDT
From: arf at ddsw1.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling)
Subject: PPM, God, Right

 
 To: Homebrew Digest
 Fm: Jack Schmidling
 
 >From: korz at iepubj.att.com
 >Subject: mg/l vs ppm
 
 >Regarding conversion from mg/l to ppm, this question came up
 a year or two ago and a lot of people were unsure about it, but my favorite
 answer from that discussion was: multiply by 1 to convert from mg/l to ppm
 and divide by 1 to convert back (actually, I had to think for a moment
 to make sure the two are one-in-the-same ratio).
 
 This is getting a bit overworked but another way of looking at it is: one in 
 a million is the same as a thousandth  (mili) of a thousand (liter=1000 ml).  
 Hmm, this always made sense till I tried to spell it out.  Oh, well... I 
 think we have enough opinions on this erudite subject already.
 
 >From: guy at mspe5.b11.ingr.com (Guy D. McConnell)
 >Subject: Miller Reserve Draft
 
  >I saw Miller Reserve All Barley Draft in a local Brunos store the other 
 day.  While I don't expect it to be the best beer I've ever had, I intend to 
 try it. 
 
 You can save yourself the trouble.  It is not only NOT the best beer you have 
 ever had but it is just about indistinguishable from all the other rubbish 
 they call beer.
 
 >Now Miller is bringing it back in Miller Reserve All Barley Draft.
 It's an idea whose time has come around again" or something to that effect.
 So now they're taking credit for "reviving" beer made the way God intended.
 
 Not sure how your god makes beer but mine would send them straight to hell 
 after washing their mouth out with soap for lieing.
 
 The only way one could make all barley beer that tasteless is to dilute it 
 about 10:1 with water and fortify it with alcohol.
 
 >From: jim busch <busch at daacdev1.stx.com>
 >Subject: "Right equipment" and yeast
 
 >If this is the way jack feels, I suggest he invest (well spent money) in a
 stainless steel perforated sheet false bottom for his lauter tun.  These are
 commercially available in 16 gauge thickness, I forget the hole size.  I got
 mine in Portland for $50 and had a local shop spot weld legs on it.  This
 screen with a bottom outlet will increase the yield per pound  significantly
 over the double bucket method and I suspect the easy mash through a screen
 method.  Of course, you will have to recirculate the runoff for 10-15
 minutes to clarify. 
 
 Not sure how to respond to this without being accused of commercialization 
 again.  I guess if I leave out the upper case letters, that will have to do.
 
 My very first batch of all grain was made (attempted) with exactly such a 
 device.  A 16 inch SS plate with a zillion holes punched in it and copper 
 feet screwed into it.  Not sure what 16 gauge is but I could stand on mine.
 
 To make doubly sure there could be no problems, I built the screen gizzmo 
 (described elsewhere) to keep anything, that got through, out of the spigot.
 
 It created no end of problems on the very first batch.  Mash got under it and 
 scorching was just about impossible to control.  So in disgust, I pulled it 
 out, continued the mash and assumed a disaster was at hand.
 
 Much to my incredulous delight, when I opened the spigot, the wort ran clear 
 after about 3 oz of turbid runnoff.  I have since made about 30 batches using 
 only the screen gizzmo and get very consistent and respectable extract 
 yields.
 
 What I ended up with is a complete system in a single kettle.  I mash and  
 sparge in the same kettle with no need to transfer anything, anywhere and 
 have total control over the temp during the entire process. 
 
 One can boil and later ferment in the same kettle without having to hassle 
 with hops and grain getting stuck in the spigot or siphon.   I now have a 16 
 gallon kettle for boiling so I don't have to store wort while cleaning out 
 kettles.
 
 So, the bottom line is, the "right" equipment is not always obvious and is 
 the reason we all read these fora to get new ideas.  If anyone wants more 
 info on this process, email to me.  Yes, there is a teeny commercial at the 
 end but the process is detailed and a parts list is furnished so you can get 
 the stuff at a hardware store.
 
 js
 

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Date: Mon, 21 Sep 92 13:34:16 CDT
From: bliss at csrd.uiuc.edu (Brian Bliss)
Subject: pre-gound malt


Another thing to watch out for:

If you buy your malt pre-ground in large quantities, the husks
can sift to the top while the cracked grain/endosperm settle to
the bottom.  You then take enough from the top for the first
batch, and you get no problems with runoff because of the large
amount of intact husk material, but your efficiency seems low
since much of the goddies settled to the bottom of the bag.
toward the bottom, there will be a higher percentage of finely-
cracked grain, with few husks intact.  Your sparge will be much
slower, but your efficiency seems better (assumming that you get
the sparge to work at all.)

bb


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Date:        Mon, 21 Sep 92 14:40:42 EDT
From: CW06GST <CW06GST%SJUMUSIC.bitnet at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Swedish beers

     Recently, I asked about a Swedish beer called Gammel Brygd
made by the Falocon Brewery.  Thanks to those of you who answered some
of my questions.  What I would like to do now is try to formulate a
recipe that might  approximate Falcon Gammel Brygd.  The last time I
had it I remeber it being dark and sweet and very malty without much
hoppiness (Kurt?).  Here's my idea for making Falcon Gammel Brygd:


                  Fakin' Gammel Brygd

6-7 lbs German? dark malt extract syrup (Bierkeller maybe?)
1 lbcrystal malt
1/2 lb chocolate malt
0-2 cupsbrown sugar (just guessing)
1 oz Hallertaur hops (boiling)
1/2 oz Goldings hops (finishing)
lager yeast (any suggestions)

     I do not have much experience with lager yeast, so any help in
this area would be greatly appreciated, i.e. brand, type, fermenting
temperature, lagering time.

     For a dark beer I would figure on a fairly long boil, say at
least 45 minutes.


     Also, there has been a lot of talk lately about Christmas beers
(I guess it's time to get busy).  I have an idea for a Christmas ale
that I would like to run by everyone.

                   Gl:gg Beer

5lbs light American malt extract syrup (brand?)
up to 1lb crystal malt
up to 1lb light honey
1 oz mild hops - fairlylow bittering (suggestions please)
some type of ale yeast

     Right about now you should be saying: "what is this guy thinking?
Why is this a Christmas beer?"  This is where I need some help.

     My bright idea is to add glogg essence.  In Sweden, at Christmas
time, they make a soiced wine that is served warm with almonds and
raisins and is given to guests when they come in from the cold.  Glogg
can be bought at the liquor store or you can buy the essence and add it
to red wine with sugar and vodka (vodka is optional).  I have in my
possesion several bottles of glogg essence and would like to spice my
beer with it.

     When you open a bottle of this stuff and take a whiff you can just
about hear Bing Crosby sing "White Christmas".  It contains cardamom,
cinnamon and several other spices that don't translate well, in a 65%
alcohol base.  When I use it to make glogg I use about 25ml for 1 gallon
of red wine.  It comes out very heavily spiced, a little to spiced for
beer.  What I was going to try was to add 45ml (3 bottles) to a 5 gallon
batch of beer at the end of the boil.  I figures if I boiled it too long
I would lose a lot of the aromatics and flavor.  I thought about adding
it after the boil but I'm worried about contamination and figured I
would boil it for a couple of minutes for sanitary reasons, plus I dont
know if the alcohol present in the essence will have a detrimental
effect on the yeast.

     Please, everyone, feel free to comment, suggest, agree, vary,
modify or trash.  Nothing is written in stone, and it will be at least
a week before I brew again.

                          Yours in brew,
                          Erik

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Date:    Mon, 21 Sep 92 14:41 PDT
From: Paul AndersEn <ECZ5PGA at MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU>
Subject: All about Beer, Hoegarten wheat

Hi Yawl,  Do any of you subscribe to the publication "All about Beer" or
"Suds 'n Stuff"?  If you do, is it worth the twenty bucks to subscribe or
would you discourage it?  For those of you who do not know what they are,
they are publications from Oceanside California on the subject of beer from
all over the world.  A friend gave mine gave me an old edition and it was
pretty interesting to read, and I got a few more catalogue for homebrew
merchandise distributors sent to me from numbers I got out of it.  Eventhough
the 16 page magazine comes from california, it does not only talk about
beer in california.  It gave all the results from the the Great American
Beer Fest, and a bunch of short paragraphs ranging in topics.  The one
downfall to the 16 page paper mag is that it costs 15 bucks to subscribe
for a year (there are 6 mags a year).  I don't think I will join, but the
"All about Beer" publication is supposed to be a bigger mag with more
information.  Again, if anyone has seen it or subscribes, I would be interested
 to hear what it is like.
     If anyone out there is interested in these publications:

Beer Drinker's Int'l
P.O. Box 586402
Oceanside, CA.
           92058

     By the way, I am in no way affiliated with this magazine, so please
do not take this as an advertisement.

     Side note:  If you haven't tried a beer called Hoegarten from Belgium
I highly recommend it.  If you live in the Los Angeles area, the only
place where you can get it is at The Wine House on Cotner st. just north
of Pico in West L.A.

     Prost!

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Date: Mon, 21 Sep 92 15:13:26 PDT
From: gak at wrs.com (Richard Stueven)
Subject: Boston Visit

So there I was at the Wind River Systems booth at BusCon '92, in my
official capacity as Wind River's Technical Support Manager (insert
appropriate fanfare here), when I saw a marginally familiar name on
this attendee's name tag:  "Charles Cox".

"Hmmm," says I, "that's certainly a marginally familiar name...where
have I heard it before."  The wheels spin.

Further down on the name tag is his company name:  "Synchrosystems".

"Holy cow," says I!  "You're Chuck Cox, the World's Fastest
Homebrewer!"

"The same," says he.

It's amazing who you can run into three thousand miles from home.

Our schedules didn't permit me to buy him a beer, but Chuck gave me
pointers to all of the Boston brewpubs, and I drank some _amazing_
beers that night.  Watch for my upcoming article, "The T Tour", which
will probably be finished before my "Beer Odyssey from Hell" article,
unfortunately.

Thanks, Chuck!  If our paths cross again, it's my treat!

Richard Stueven        gak at wrs.com         attmail!gakhaus!gak        107/H/3&4
          To sight it must ring clear as a bell, it must snap
          in the ear, feel pleasantly sticky between the fingers,
          smell fresh and tempting and taste heavenly.

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Date: Mon, 21 Sep 92 16:12:15 PDT
From: Robert Pulliam <pulliam at monty.rand.org>
Subject: Kegs


Greetings fellow homebrewers,

  Although this is my first post and I have numerous questions, I'll
keep it short and only ask one today.

	I was cleaning out a couple of old kegs (cornellius and
	firestone) and wanted to replace the gaskets on top of the
	springs in the stems but cannot seem to disassemble the
	stems to get at the spring mechanisms.  How does one go about
	getting to these gaskets.

Thanks in advance,

RJP

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Date: Mon, 21 Sep 92 23:35 GMT
From: Peter Nesbitt <0005111312 at mcimail.com>
Subject: Carboys and plastic water jugs

Thanks again to all who have been helping me along.

I just finished calling up all the local water distribution companies in my
area.  I was trying to find a less expensive way of purchasing the glass
carboys.  Not a single comapany here uses glass any more.  They did assure
me that the plastic used is a *** non-porous plastic ****.

What is the HBD net wisdom on this?  Could I safely use plastic water jugs
as my carboy?  At $6.00 a pop, this would sure beat paying $18 for a glass
one when the need arises!

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Date: Mon, 21 Sep 92 20:18:18 EDT
From: jdg at grex.ann-arbor.mi.us (Josh Grosse)
Subject: Incredibly good extraction rate

Spencer Thomas and I brewed a Vienna Lager this Sunday at the Rennaisance
Festival (Holly, MI) as he described in an earlier post.  He calculates that
we got 1.032/lb/gallon, but I think we did a little better than that, as we
used slightly less malt than he noted.  Also, we did not add our crystal
malts until mashout.

The two of us were able to obtain extractions at 1.032 - 1.033 /lb/gallon
through the use of a mash tun with a recirculating pump.  This pump pulled
wort from below the false bottom, and had an outlet at the top of the tun.
During the mash, we watched the wort at the outlet become absolutely crystal
clear.  The mash itself created an impressive and recirculated filter bed,
and we recirculated throughout the entire mash, to be sure of even heat and
an extremely effective filter bed.

We used a 15 gallon pilot brewery designed and built by Dave West and Mike
O'Brien, a system which Spencer described in the HBD about a year ago.  The
key to its effectiveness is the pump, which we used three times.  The first
time was during the mash, as described.  The second time was during wort
cooling, when we attached the pump to the boiling kettle to improve the
effectiveness of an immersion chiller.  The third time was to rack the
cooled wort into carboys to take home.

We now have a data point that corroberates Dr. Fix and Mr. Miller on the
effect of recirulation on mash efficiency.

- -----------------------------------------------------------------
Josh Grosse                              jdg at grex.ann-arbor.mi.us

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #974, 09/22/92