Monster Media 1994 #2/Monster Media No. 2 (Monster Media)(1994).ISO/freq_qa/beer0694.zip/BEER0694.TXT

Text File | 1994-07-03 | 16KB | 385 lines

Archive-Name: alt-beer-faq
Last-modified: 940117
Post-Frequency: 1 post / 14 days

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              Alt.beer FAQ    940117
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i. Intro.

This list has been compiled over the time that alt.beer has been up
available on Usenet. Please send any suggestions, corrections or
changes to Dan Brown, [e-mail].


Many Thanks to all of the people that contributed, notably:

 Tim P McNerney, [e-mail]
 Dean Cookson, [e-mail]
 John R. Mellby, [e-mail]
 Mark Enderby, [e-mail]
 Matt Dick, [e-mail]
 Roger Brown, [e-mail]
 Bruce Tindall, [e-mail]
 Tony Scott, [e-mail]
 Richard Stueven, [e-mail]
 Doug Ferrell,  [e-mail]

 and all of the people that have kept this newsgroup going!

If you your name is up there, and you didn't know you contributed, it
probably is because I have saved an interesting post from alt.beer.
Thanks!


This list is divided into several sections, each addressing a bit
different aspect of beer. The topic is as broad as there are tastes for
different kinds of beer.  Due to this, this FAQ list cannot possibly
cover every aspect of the subject. It is only meant as an overview
that answers a few of the multitude of "Frequently Asked Questions"

Cheers!
Dan Brown
[e-mail]

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ii. Table of contents

The sections are as follows:

i.  intro.
ii.  Table of contents.
iii.  New Stuff
I. Drinking Beer.
II. Making Beer.
III.  General Beer FAQ's
and
IV. Questions about alt.beer. and the alt.beer FAQ

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iii.  New Stuff..


 940117. Added Information about FTP by mail for the alt.beer FAQ.
  Changed the date format to YYMMDD.
  Added new stuff section .


I. Drinking Beer

What kinds of beers are there?

What are Ales and Lagers, etc, types and styles.

What are ales? Ales are generally beers made with top fermenting yeasts
 They are brewed at "warm" temperatures, normally between 50 and
 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

What are lagers? Lagers are generally beers made with bottom Fermenting
 yeasts. They are brewed at cooler temperatures, generally 35 to
 50 degrees Fahrenheit.These cooler temperatures mean longer
 brewing. The process of brewing at cool temperatures is called
 "lagering." Pilsners (most American beers) are a subset of lagers.
 The style originated in Pilsen Chezkoslovakia.

What are lambics? Lambics are specifically Belgian beers, made in a
 certain part of Belgium using wild yeasts. They have a very
 distinctive taste, and are often flavored with fruit syrups.

What are the government  classifications?

What is malt liquor? Malt liquor is a classification bestowed on beers
 that are above a certain alcohol content. The laws vary from state
 to state in the US. Many beers have been given the title malt
 liquor, even though that is not their true type.

What do 3.2 and 5.0% mean? This is a "rating" of the amount of alcohol in
 the beer, by volume or by weight depending on where you are.

What is Reinheitsgebot? It is an old German "purity" law that delineates
 the ingredients that can be used to make beer. Under this law, there
 are only four; water, barley malt, hops, and yeast.

 "Rein" means clean or pure; "-heit" means "-ness"; so "Reinheit"
 means "cleanliness" or "purity".

What is do the terms used in beer commercials mean?

What is "Dry" beer? Dry beer is beer that has less malt, and more corn
 or rice sugars added to it during the brewing process. This
 produces a lighter, slightly more alcoholic, "dryer" tasting beer.
 It also probably reduces the brewing costs.

What is "Cold Filtered?" Cold filtering is beer that is physically filtered
 after it has been brewed, before it is bottled. This tends to
 eliminate all sediments (yeast and malt leftovers... things that
 can give beer character), and makes the beer clear.

What does "Heat Pasteurized" mean? It means the beer has been heated after
 fermenting, killing all of the remaining live yeasts and any other
 microganisms. It means that the beer will not continue to age in
 its bottle.

What does "bottle conditioned" mean? It is beer that has not been
 pasteurized, and still has live yeast in it. It will continue to
 age in the bottle, and the character of the beer will change over
 time. For some kinds of beer this is good, for others it means
 they will spoil after a while.

What is "draught" (draft) beer? It is beer that has been drawn or pulled
 from a cask. Beer from pressurized kegs is often referred to as
 draft beer, but this is probably a misnomer, or an "Americanism"

What is ice beer/ eisbock? Whats the difference? Ice beer is beer that has
 reportedly been fermented a nearly freezing temperatures. This is
 another ploy by Megabrewies to convince people that their beer is
 something different or better than everyone elses. Ice Beers are
 basically another style of light American lagers.

 True eisebock's are beers that have been frozen after they are
 fermented to raise the specific gravity and alcohol content of
 the beer. The water in the beer turns to ice when the beer gets
 cold enough. The ice crystals are strained or filtered out, leaving
 a beer with a higher specific gravity and generally a higher
 alcohol content.

How can you get draft beer in a can or bottle???
 Unknown.

Where can I get beer? Breweries, brewpubs, stores, restaurants,
 distributors, and by making your own.

What is a brewpub? It is a combination of brewery, pub, and maybe
 restaurant. There are LOTS of these in Europe, and are getting
 to be more in America.

Can I get beer in the mail?
 Yes...  Beer Across America's phone numbr is 1-800-854-2337,
 and Microbrew to You is, 428 E. Campbell ave Campbell, CA 95008
 408-379-0500.

How do I make my own beer?? See below.

How do I judge a beer or what is good beer?

Good beer (what is it, and how to tell). Good beer is determined by an
 individuals tastes. It has been suggested that trying a wide variety
 of beers will usually help a person figure out what beer tastes good.

What makes beer go bad? (what it is and why it is bad/skunked.) Bad beer
 is beer that tastes bad of is spoiled. Beer can and will spoil
 under certain conditions. Mishandling and old age are the two
 biggest causes of spoiled beer. Skunked beer refers to beer that
 has been lightstruck, causing the hops to take on a skunky odor.
 This is often happens with clear or green bottles, and tends to
 be prevalent in certain imported beers.

What are some good books on beer?


 Michael Jackson's Beer Companion does not give ratings.  It
 discusses various styles and profiles good examples of the
 the styles.  This is a very enjoyable book that every beer
 lover should have.

 The Simon & Schuster Pocket Guide to Beer (ISBN 0-671-72915-2)
 by Michael Jackson is the book commonly referred to in these
 groups when citing ratings on MJ's four-star system.  About 1300
 beers from around the world are reviewed and rated. New version
 due out in late 1994, according to Jackson.

 Stephen Beaumont's Great Canadian Beer Guide (Macmillan Canada,
 ISBN 0-7715-9031-8).  Steve also uses the MJ four-star system.
 This is a must for anybody that appreciates Canadian Beers.

 Jamie MacKinnon's Ontario Beer Guide.  (don't have publishing
 information.  It has a good section on tasting and evaluating
 beers, although I (Alan M.) disagree with his overattention to
 appearance factors.  He rates all the beers in Ontario (as
 of 1991, I think) on a five star scale.

 Fred Eckhardt's The Essentials of Beer Style (ISBN 0-9606302-7-9).
 The editor of the book is Jeff Frane, who many will recognize
 from the beer groups, especially rec.crafts.brewing. A book that
 does not rate beers, but does have a lot of technical information
 about various beers as well as information about tasting.


I like to drink beer, how do I get rid of a beer gut?

 (ed note... this was just too classic to edit!)

|From: [e-mail]
|Newsgroups: alt.beer
|Subject: Re: Dilemma
|Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
|Date: 20 Aug 93 12:45:36 GMT
|References: <[e-mail]>
|Organization: South Bank University
|Lines: 9
|
|In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Ya'akov Miles)
writes:
|> Help.  I need advice.  I have a beer belly and I like beer.  How do I get
|> rid of the belly and not have to go without beer?
|>
|> Ya'akov Miles,
|
|Stop eating, just drink Guinness.
|
|Tony Scott


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II. Making Beer

WHERE DO I START... How do I make beer? Beer is made with
 basically, water, barley malt, hops and yeast. The water, malt
 and hops are boiled to produce a wort. This wort is cooled, put
 into a fermenting vessel, and the yeast is added (pitched). This
 vessel is sealed with an air lock, and the beer is allowed to
 ferment (sugar and water is turned to alcohol, carbon dioxide, etc)
 and age for a period of time. When the fermentation is over, a
 bit of additional malt or other sugar is added (for carbonation),
 and the beer is bottled or kegged. It is once again allowed to age
 for a period of time, during which the additional sugars carbonate
 the beer, and the taste of the beer developes and ages. The beer
 is then consumed.

Where to find more information about making beer??

What other Internet resources are available? You can find more information
 in the newsgroups rec.crafts.brewing, and rec.food.drink. There is a
 mailing list, "The Homebrew Digest" sent out almost daily.  There
 is an archive of HBD items available via ftp at sierra.stanford.edu,
 in the /pub/homebrew directory.  There is also a mead-makers archive
 in the /pub/mead directory.

What books are available on homebrewing? The most popular is "The Complete
 Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian. This is the book that
 made the phrase "Relax, Don't worry, Have a Homebrew" popular.

Where can I find recipes? TCJOH by Papazian, "The Cats Meow" from the
 HBD, etc etc.

How should I store my homebrew? The most common method is in bottles.
 These can be either the Grolsh kind, that have a stopper that
 is attached to the bottle, bottles that you put a crown cap on,
 or bottles that you cork. How do I get the labels of the bottles
 that I am going to use for my brew? The most effective method is
 Commonly said to be by soaking them in a solution of water and
 ammonia. Most labels will fall off after soaking overnight.

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III. Some General Beer FAQ's.. AKA, Pet Peeves that pop up on alt.beer
 all too often.

What does the "33" on the back of Rolling Rock bottles mean? There are
 several common answers. First, it is said to be the number of
 words on the back label. The story goes that the Latrobe Brewing
 Company was deciding on which slogan to use on the new bottles,
 and had counted the number of words, and written it on the piece
 of paper that went to the bottle supplier. The bottle supplier
 mistakenly included the 33 on the printed bottles, and it has been
 there since. Another explanation is that it is the year that
 prohibition was repealed. One notable comment about the mysterious
 33 from a Latrobe exec goes something like; "Who cares what it
 means as, long as people continue to ponder it while drinking a
 cold Rolling Rock."

What is this new thing that Guinness is test marketing? How does it work?
 Where can I get it?  The thing is a can that has a pouch of
 Nitrogen gas in it that is used to produce a creamy head as you
 pour the beer. Probably the closest thing to "draft beer in a can!"

What is CAMRA? CAMRA - the Campaign for Real Ale was formed 21 years ago
 in the UK to protect the rapidly disappearing cask ales from a
 tide of bland keg beers which were being foisted on the public
 by the large breweries. It was fantastically successful (the most
 successful consumer movement in Europe) and now addresses other
 issues such as licensing law and protecting the British pub.
 It has now formed alliances with similar organisations througout
 Europe to deal with impending Europe issues. There are branches
 of CAMRA in several countries (eg Canada). As to Australia, I
 think there is a local organisation - will check it out during
 the break. However, you can get further details from the UK HQ at
  34 Alma Road, St Albans, Herts AL1 3BW, UK.
 Mark Enderby, [e-mail] (CAMRA Regional Director)

What is Jagermeister? It is a German herbal liquor. It is NOT beer.
 Discussions about it should be held on rec.food.drink. The same
 holds for all other beverages... like Everclear...

How is the typical mass produced American beer like sex in a Canoe?
 WHO CARES!!!! This is a lame joke that has been beat into the
 ground! Enough already! For newcomers who haven't heard it,
 the punch line is "Because they are both f*cking close to water."
 YAWN! This joke has been attributed to Monty Python. I will
 personally email 10 bottles of heavily skunked, over-primed
 homebrew beer grenades to anyone who repeats it on the net.


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IV. Questions about alt.beer.

What is it about?
 alt.beer is a newsgroup that was created for the express purpose
 of discussing topics related to beer.

Where are the archives? The alt.beer archives are available via anonymous
 ftp to ftp.cwru.edu. Change directories to ~/pub/alt.beer.
 This is hopefully going to change in the near future.

Can I get the FAQ by FTP mail?

 Yes...


 From: [e-mail]

  =========================== BEER.NDX ==========================

  Since  many  folks  don't have real  FTP  capabilities,  I  have
  started  this  "FTP  by mail" service (if you want  to  call  it
  that).

  To get a file, send mail to "[e-mail]". In the
 n body  of  the message, type GET FILENAME where FILENAME  is  the
  file  that you  want.  Example to get ALT_BEER.FAQ type
  GET ALT_BEER.FAQ in the message body. The system will then send
  it back to  you in your Email message. These  are  standard  "DOS"
  files with linefeed/carriage returns at each line. Not the files
  are NOT case sensitive.


  Doug Ferrell
  [e-mail]


  FILENAME       SIZE FILEDATE DESCRIPTION
 ================================================================
  BEER.NDX       1194 01-16-94 Index of alt_beer files available
                               from THE EXCHANGE!.
  ALT_BEER.FAQ  14598 12-01-93 Frequency Asked Questions (FAQ) for
                               alt.beer
  BEERGAME.TXT   2944 03-03-92 Locations of Beer Drinking Games
  BEERMAGS.TXT   4352 02-05-92 Text file of Beer Magazines

  ============================ EOF ===============================



What is in the archives at CWRU? Various files... this FAQ list, the
 alt.beer charter, some information about CAMRA, etc etc.
--
<a href="http://www.eff.org/dan/dan.html">  Dan Brown.
</a><address>[e-mail]</address>        Sysadmin for:
<a href="http://www.eff.org/index.html">    The Electronic Frontier
Foundation.
</a>