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HOMEBREW Digest #0107
HOMEBREW Digest #107 Thu 23 March 1989
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Lager yeasts (Rich Simpson)
Homebrew Digest #105 (March 21, 1989) (Spencer W. Thomas)
Homebrew Digest #105 (March 21, 1989)
Homebrew Digest #106 (March 22, 1989)
Refrigerators for brewing (John Freeman)
conf fees (again), CI$, FG, and Refrigs ("1107-CD&I/VIRUS DISEASES")
refrigs (correction) ("1107-CD&I/VIRUS DISEASES")
Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
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Date: Wed, 22 Mar 89 07:40 CST
From: hiveuucp@beehive.att.com
remote execution [uucp job beehiveN5900 (3/22-7:40:18)]
rmail beckley
exited with status 138
===== stderr was =====
sh: 5185 Bus error
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Date: Wed, 22 Mar 89 09:36:34 est
From: Rich Simpson <paramax!simpson@multimax.encore.com>
Subject: Lager yeasts
I've got a question that I've been meaning to ask for quite some time.
I have been brewing for a couple of years now, doing ales from extract
with some specialty grains. My first batch was straight from a kit and
used lager yeast. It was a mixed success. After that I switched to ale
yeast and avoided kits. I have been very happy with my results since
then. I ferment in my basement so I can never depend
on getting really cold temperatures. Papazian has a bunch of recipes
that look interesting that I have been avoiding because they use lager
yeasts. How important is it to ferment beers made with lager yeasts at
really low temperatures? Will I get good results at 60-65 degrees with
a lager yeast or should I just stick with ale yeasts?
Rich Simpson
Encore Computer Corporation
simpson@encore.com
{most backbones}!encore!simpson
simpson@multimax.arpa
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Date: Wed, 22 Mar 89 09:56:10 CST
From: jlf@earth.cray.com (John Freeman)
Subject: Refrigerators for brewing
> I'm a little
> concerned about temperature, though. Miller and Noonan say ferment in the
> 45-55 degF range. Most refrigerators are set to maintain the low 40s.
> Is the fridge's thermostat likely to hold 50, or will it require the
> external on/off timer that some writers mention?
I replaced the thermostat on my beer fridge. I bought a special
thermostat to maintain 40-70F. These are available at appliance
parts stores.
> Ideally, I'd like to use the refrigerator for fermentaion and maybe lagering
> (lower 30s), and the freezer as a mini deep freeze (otherwise it's just
> wasted). Is this feasible, or does the 50 degF ferment preclude using
> the freezer? (This is a big selling point to my wife.)
I don't think one thermostat will allow that range of operation.
> Can you use the freezer?
I can't.
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Date: 22 Mar 89 13:06:00 EST
From: "1107-CD&I/VIRUS DISEASES" <henchal@wrair.ARPA>
Subject: conf fees (again), CI$, FG, and Refrigs
1. RE: Conference costs. Ok, you convinced me that a small
society has to charge a slightly larger registration fee in order
to meet the expenses of a national conference, but I won't be
able to go at that price...so I'll have to settle for the $18.95
transcript for another year. Perhaps, what this tells us is
that there is a real need for more regional conferences. For
example...I know that there are lots of homebrewers in the
Washington DC area but I have never heard of a local competition.
The only one that I know of in this region is a competition held
sometimes in Philadelphia in the Fall. Will someone out there
correct me if I am wrong about this? What does it take to
organize an AHA sponsored competition or conference...besides
bucks? Also, can it be done cheaply? I notice that this stuff
seems to go on all the time in California and the Southwest.
2. I predict that the COMPUSERVE....CI$ (I like it)...forum will
fail. I have been a member of CI$ for almost 8 years, and it
ain't hard to run up $50-100 monthly bills using a forum
regularly. Even though I am pessimistic about the forum, I will
heed Steve Conklin advice and try to participate overthere more
frequently. I suggested some time ago that it would help if
summarized portions of the discussions held here be transferred
to libraries at CI$. Mea cuppa, mea cuppa...I didn't follow
through because of the lack of real action in the WINEFORUM.
With regard to letting Charlie know about how I feel....wouldn't
it be easier if he could just listen in....after all, I'm not
sure I know how to get messages to folks not in any kind of
network or bulletin board....I remember vaguely something about
envelops and stamps :-).....Many thanks to Dave Dunn for his
instructional comments about network addresses. I never really
understood what happens to my messages after they leave my
machine.
3. RE: Specific gravity measurements. I'm not sure that the
final FG that you obtain is any measure of the time to bottle.
I had been taught (and experience has shown) that a brew is ready
to bottle when the SG remains constant over the course of 3 days.
(In reality, I don't test the SG that often...I merely look at
the amount of overall activity and the head...a falling head is a
good measure of a completing fermentation.) That FG might be
1.006, 1.015, 1.025 (or whatever) depending upon the amount of
non-fermentable dextrins in the beer. I noticed that Nancy
Vineyard recommends the use of Clintest paper strips (?) in this
quarter Zymurgy. I think her recommendation has always been to
measure the amount of sugar left in the ferment. If I'm not
mistaken the amount of fermentable sugar should be less than
2%...don't hold me to this number.
4. RE: Danish lager Yeast. Is this what they call #2007 or is
this #308. Can someone post the different characteristics of
these yeasts. I have never seen this information
anywhere...growth characteristics, expected attenuation, optimum
growth characteristics, etc.
5. RE: Refrigerators. My refrigerator (15 cu ft) keeps to 49
degrees F on the DEFROST setting and 29 degrees F. No, I can't
use the freezer with the DEFROST setting on. If I don't set the
'frig to defrost, the box stays a pretty constant 44 degrees F.
Erik A. Henchal
<Henchal@WRAIR.ARPA>
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Date: 22 Mar 89 13:10:00 EST
From: "1107-CD&I/VIRUS DISEASES" <henchal@wrair.ARPA>
Subject: refrigs (correction)
Errata: My refrigerator keeps at 29 degrees F on the maximum
setting (the coldest). Sorry for the previous ommission.
Henchal@WRAIR.ARPA
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End of HOMEBREW Digest
