Black Box 4/BlackBox.cdr/textinfo/hbd87-.arj/HBD870.TXT

Text File | 1992-05-12 | 14.0 KB | 385 lines

HOMEBREW Digest #870                    Thu 23 April 1992


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


Contents:
  Grolsch bottles are gone, here come de keg. ("DRCV06::GRAHAM")
  Re: Homebrew Digest #869 (April 22, 1992) ("Karl F. Lutzen" )
  Competition Question  (Carl West)
  Clarification on Jack's NA Beer (Scott Bickham)
  Stainless Steel (Jim Larsen)
  Warning about BAA (radavfs)
  mash control  (Eric Mintz)
  Fermenting Steam beer (Bryan Gros)
  re: Wyeast 1028 kreausen question (Jon Binkley)
  Re: Sierra Nevada Ale yeast (Jerome Rainey)
  Clear bottles (pmiller)
  Request:  Scotch Ale Recipes (Thomas Manteufel 5-4257)
  Low mash pH (Darren Evans-Young)
  Spent grain & Romulan Ale from Micah Millspaw (Bob Jones)
  HBUs and IBUs??? (Bryan Gros)
  None ("Brett Lindenbach")


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

Date: 22 Apr 92 08:51:00 EDT
From: "DRCV06::GRAHAM" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Grolsch bottles are gone, here come de keg.

Thanks to all who showed interest in the Grolsch bottles.  I cannot respond
to all personally, so thank you, and I'm sorry I didn't have enough to go
around.

Kegging, here I come.  Since I'm attempting this 'blind' so to speak, I'll
keep y'all posted as to how to keg without being aboe to see.

Dan ... Beer made with the Derry air.


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

Date:     22 Apr 92 07:59:41 CST
From: "Karl F. Lutzen"  <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Re: Homebrew Digest #869 (April 22, 1992)

I must hang my head in shame and ask all owners of The Cat's Meow 2 to turn
to the Dos Equis recipe, take their pen in hand and change the amount of
Munich Malt from 1/3 pound to 4 pounds 5 ounces.  It is a very terrible
error, and I apologize for allowing it to get through.  Please don't hold
this against Mark Stevens as it was my fault.  Please don't flog me...

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Karl Lutzen                    |   [e-mail]
University of Missouri - Rolla |
Physics Department             |          [phone]
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 11:03:49 EDT
From: [e-mail] (Carl West)
Subject: Competition Question

OK, lets pretend that I've entered a homebrewing competition and sent
my three bottles to the appropriate place.

What happens to them?

Who opens them?

When and where do they get opened?

etc.

Carl

Hey, don't bury me! I'm trying to learn something!


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

Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 11:50:50 EDT
From: [e-mail] (Scott Bickham)
Subject: Clarification on Jack's NA Beer

>From: [e-mail] (Jack Schmidling)
>Subject: Itsa Conspiracy

> There were four different samples, produced in different ways and none of
> them were intended to represent anything other than samples for chemical
> analysis.   There was only one that I would even consider drinkable.  One was>
> boiled to reduce the volume by 50% another was a blend of 4 different beers,
> one was in a plastic bottle and none were aged or cleared prior to sending.
>
> In the future, I will have a hard time taking criticism of my articles
> seriously.
>
> Now that you have all had your fun, is it asking to much to answer the only
> question the samples were sent to address.
>
> What is the alcohol content?

Jack,
 This was not made clear to the other participants in the seminar or me,
so maybe Jean misunderstood the nature of the samples.  I got the impression
from your HBD digest postings that you wanted an evaluation of your beers, as
well as an estimate of how effective your distillation process is.  In either
aspect, lack of sanitation (albeit intentional) will destroy any accurate
measurement.  For example, depending on the amount of oxygen available, lactic
acid bacteria will either metabolize ethanol or fermentable carbohydrates.
Acetic acid bacteria, which is common in beer dispense lines, uses ethanol
as its source of carbon.  Thus the apparent alcohol content may or may not be
representative of the original, sterile beer.
 Jean has not been intentionally procrastinating on the HPLC measurement
of the alcohol content; she is up for tenure at Cornell next month, so I'm
sure she will get back to this matter after that hellish procedure is finished.
And by the way, judging a beer that scored in the low 20's is not my idea of
fun.  But thanks for pointing out that the taste and alcohol content was not
representative of your homebrews.

Cheers,
 Scott

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

Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 6:47:10 PDT
From: [e-mail] (Jim Larsen)
Subject: Stainless Steel



Greetings:

I am in recent receipt of a Cornelius kegging system and I have a
few questions regarding its care and feeding.

1. How does one ferment in steel? I know of brewers who split the
primary into two five-gallon vessels, relieving the pressure at
regular intervals, and counter-pressure transfer to a single
secondary. Others remove the fittings and tubes and replace them
with blowoff tubes for primary and counter-pressure transfer to
primary as well.

2. What are the preferred cleaners/sanitizers for stainless? I
know of those who swear by between TSP or Iodophor, and one who
even uses bleach with minimum exposure.

3. My current Cornelius inventory consists of one five-gallon and
one three-gallon. In addition, I have a Firestone I acquired from
a generous Coca-Cola driver. I there a simple means to incorporate
this into my system, or should I seek to replace it with another
Cornelius?

Thanks,

jal




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

Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1992 13:22:53 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Warning about BAA

Well, brewers, I was one of those remarkably excited about BAA when
I heard about it, but when I called I was sorely disappointed - not
about the company, which sounds magnificent, but about the factthat
that they only ship to IL and surrounding states (WI,MN,IA,IN,KY
or wherever, but definiftely not to MD!).  So I am a bit surprised
that they would tell others that they air freight it...or have they
expanded?  Any explanation would be appreciated.  Send personal email
or to the list, and if you do, could you include the 1-800 #?  Any
input is vastly appreciated!  Volker Stewart  U. of Baltimore Library
[e-mail]
PS Recently made an attempt at an Altbier that had a strong raspberry/
grapefruit flavor.  I remember a discussion of this effect, but have
forgotten what its cause was.  Forgive my inexperience (I used extract,BTW!)
:=) ;=)...Prost!

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

Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 11:42:39 MDT
From: Eric Mintz <[e-mail]>
Subject: mash control

Mashers (and I mean that in the nicest way :-),

I am in the process of developing metrics to improve my brewing process
in general and my mashing in particular.  Does anyone have a way to
measure the amount of fermentable versus non-fermentable sugars in the
sweet wort?

- --Eric

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

Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 10:42:30 PDT
From: [e-mail] (Bryan Gros)
Subject: Fermenting Steam beer

I'm fermenting a steam beer right now.  For various reasons,
my primary fermenter is an open plastic bucket.  The beer is
bubbling away, and in a couple of days I will rack off the
trub into my glass carboy.  (This is the first time I'm using
a secondary fermenter.  Too bad I don't have the fridge space
to lager).

My question is, since the Wyest cal. lager yeast is bottom
fermenting, and I rack into the carboy leaving the stuff on
the bottom behind, will I leave all my yeast behind?  Or will
I get enough to finish the fermentation?  Thanks.

                                    - Bryan

BTW, should I be skimming the foam out of the bucket?  Or was
this the topic with no consensus?

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

Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 13:05:54 -0600
From: Jon Binkley <[e-mail]>
Subject: re: Wyeast 1028 kreausen question


Eric Mintz says:

>I've just used Wyeast for the second time.  The first time, I brewed a
>stout with 1007.  It had a wonderfully high kreausen (>3" !).  This
>time, I'm brewing a Pale Ale with 1028.  It's producing CO2 like a
>banshee but the kreausen is less than 1" high.  Is this characteristic
>of the yeast or my wort (or is it common for the kreausen height to
>vary)?

I'd say that 1007 is unusually vigorous, not that the others are
lethargic.

When my brew partner and I first acquired some 7 gallon carboys
we stopped using a blow-off hose.  For most of the yeast strains
we used- 1028, 1056, 1098- this was no problem.  Then we tried
1007 for the first time.  Yeast sludge all over the basement.
Beer tasted great, though.

Jon Binkley



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

Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 12:14:43 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Jerome Rainey)
Subject: Re: Sierra Nevada Ale yeast


Ken Giles writes (about SNPA yeast):

> [A SN brewery worker] said that [the bottling yeast] was a different [from the
> brewing yeast], more flocculant strain which stuck well to the bottom of the
> bottle.

Keith Winter writes:

> The only information I have to the contrary is the information I got when I
> took the toor of SN.  The guide, when I asked this very same question,
> defferred
> to one of the other workers (who seemed to be intimately involved in the
> brewing
> process but I didn't get a chance to iquire further) who said that they used
> only
> one yeast type (except for the Bigfoot Barley Wine) for primary, secondary
> and bottle conditioning.

Hmm, I hope we can resolve this issue: I used yeast cultured
from a bottle of SNPA for my latest pale ale, which is still
in secondary.  The thing I noticed about the yeast was that
there was very little sediment on the bottom when I racked to
secondary, and that the cap of foam on top (it never
collapsed) was _very_ thick and sticky, like peanut butter
in consistency.  That would make sense if I used a specially
sticky bottling strain to ferment with.  Still, the hydrometer
sample tasted fine.

Let's hear it for Sierra Nevada Pale Ale!  Hop hop hooray!

Jerome Rainey ([e-mail])

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

Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 14:19:13 CDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Clear bottles

I agree with Geoff Sherwood.  My beer looks a lot better in clear
Newcastle Brown Ale bottles than any brown long neck bottles.  I
also store my bottles in long neck cardboard cases and have never
had a problem with light-struck beer.  (Of course, the original
Newcastle Brown Ale that had been sitting for who knows how long
under the fluorescent lights in the liquor store is another story :)

Phil Miller

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

Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 14:34:46 CDT
From: [e-mail] (Thomas Manteufel 5-4257)
Subject: Request:  Scotch Ale Recipes

Does anyone out there have any recipes for Scotch Ale they care to share?
I think I have a handle on the malts, but have no idea what hops to use.
Is there a Scotch Ale yeast, or would English Ale do?

Thank You,


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

Date:         Wed, 22 Apr 92 14:58:32 CDT
From: Darren Evans-Young <[e-mail]>
Subject:      Low mash pH

I've recently gone all-grain and have a sort of problem.
All my water is preboiled and cooled to remove chlorine.
Tuscaloosa, AL water is moderately soft.

I heat my mash water to the correct strike temperature, dump
in my grains and stir well for 5 minutes. Then I remove a
sample of the liquid and test the pH. According to my
battery operated pH meter (properly calibrated), my pH is
4.8. I have verified this with pH papers too.  I've added
as much as 2 tsp of CaCO3 to bring the pH up to the recommended
5.2-5.4 range, but it doesnt budge.  I do make sure to stir
in the CaCO3 well before taking another reading. My question,
what is the effect on the mash with a pH that low? Benificial or not?
Should I continue to add more CaCO3?  Should I not worry and
be happy with a 4.8 pH?

Darren

Darren Evans-Young                                  [e-mail]
Seebeck Computer Center                             [e-mail]
The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa               [phone]

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

Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1992 13:17 PDT
From: Bob Jones <[e-mail]>
Subject: Spent grain & Romulan Ale from Micah Millspaw

 What to do with spent grains? I brew 15 gallon batches and
often end up with 30-40 pounds of spent grain, not to mention used
hops covered with clumps of protein from the boil(yuk). I used to trade
the grain for eggs with a friend who had chickens. Unfortunately the
birds stopped laying (to old) and I can get free eggs anyway. So, one
of the guys I ride to work with raises llamhas(sp?) and they seem to
eat everything, I don't get any thing out of this but it is conveinent
and my kids like to watch the llamhas eat. And the llamhas really like
the used hops!
                                                Micah Millspaw  4/16/92





The Romulan ale has been brewed! I call it S'harien, it is an all
grain wheatwine, 50% wheat, OG 1104  with 65 IBU's. On the colour end
of it, I'm going with food colouring but am adding it to the bottles
just before I counter-pressure fill them. No draft Romulan ale for me.
This stuff should be ready by conference time, I intend to bring some.
Thanks for the many suggestions HBDers.
                                                 Micah Millspaw 4/21/92
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