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HOMEBREW Digest #0145
HOMEBREW Digest #145 Sat 06 May 1989
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Re: Bitter beer (Jason Goldman)
More novice questions (gh0t+)
Re: Add me (Russ Pencin)
Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
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Date: Fri, 5 May 89 07:56:02 mdt
From: Jason Goldman <hp-lsd!jdg>
Subject: Re: Bitter beer
Full-Name: Jason Goldman
Timothy C. Phillips and Andy Newman both wrote about beers that were VERY
bitter at bottling time. I have also had a similar experience with a batch
and the good news is that there was a happy ending. I made a deal with a
friend to trade a case of homebrew (made to my friend's specification of
type) for the fabrication of a speaker component. My friend likes light,
American style beers. When I put the recipe together, I was careful to avoid
tastes that were too strong (i.e. too much hops, etc.). This batch happened
to be the first time that I used leaf hops and when I poured the wort into
the fermenter I tasted some and it was incredibly bitter. I shrugged my
shoulders somewhat fatalistically (thinking that I'd have to make another
batch for my friend and drink this hops-water) and sealed up the fermenter.
Even at bottling time, the beer was fairly bitter, but much closer to
reasonable. After a week or two in the bottle, the beer had faded down to a
very smooth, lawnmower type beer ;-). While this is not my favorite type of
beer to drink, it was exactly what I was aiming for.
The key, as always, is RDWHAH.
Jason
hp-lsd!jdg
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Date: Fri, 5 May 89 12:01:47 EDT
From: gh0t+@andrew.cmu.edu
Subject: More novice questions
thanks to those who answered, by email or post, my recent set of novice
questions. In particular, I'm sure many others will find steve conklin's index
to joy of homebrewing invaluable, and I know I have already.
Wouldn't you know it, though, I have thought of some other novice questions.
I've noticed, in "complete joy" and elsewhere, directions that call for boiling
wort with part of the water required, and then adding the rest of the water to
it in the fermenter. I'm not exactly sure how to interpret this. In particular,
does this mean that it's OK to just add tap water to the boiled portion of the
wort, or should pre-sterilized (boiled) water be added? It sure would be
convenient to be able to add cold water to the hot wort to cool it to the point
where the yeast could be added. For my first batch, I boiled the entire amount
of water (my wife and I do canning, so I have some huge kettles) and then
cooled it before adding the yeast. Even though I put it in a tub of cold water,
it took hours to cool to even 80 degrees F. I put in the yeast at that point,
even though the recipe called for cooling to 68 degrees -- I was fearful that
I was creating opportunities for contamination while the cooling took place
(and besides, it was getting late.) So my question is, can I add either cold tapwater to the fermenter OR cooled pre-boiled water without too great a risk of
contamination?
Another question concerning water: is there any advantage to using anything
but tapwater? The water here in Pittsburgh is not bad, but it's not great,
either. (It took some getting used to when I came here from Oregon, where
municipal water sources are typically snowmelt. Pittsburgh water comes from the
Allegheney river, which has its source, I believe, in an oilwell upstate.)
Last question: I know that there have been previous postings about mail order
sources for brewing supplies, but I don't find them among the messages that
remain in my local archives. Now that I've actually begun brewing, and have
found that local sources are a good hour's round-trip drive away (around
Pittsburgh, there is generally no good way to get from here to there,
regardless of where here and there are), I sure wish I had kept some of the
messages giving info about mail order sources. Could some of you who know
of good sources be so kind as to email me addresses and phone #'s, please?
Thanks in advance. I really enjoy this bboard. peole seem much nicer on it
than on some of the others I read. I guess the posters on those others just
haven't had enough homebrew. 8-)
Gordon Hester
gh0t+@andrew.cmu.edu (works sometimes when "reply" doesn't)
------------------------------
Date: 5 May 1989 9:53:24 am
From: hplabs!sun!parcplace!pencin (Russ Pencin)
Subject: Re: Add me
The local Santa Clara Club " Worts of Wisdom" has started a BBS for home
brewing and we want to keep up with the net. The Better Brewing Bureau is
on-line 24 hours, at 300/1200/2400 baud. The number is (415) 964-4356.
The board it very new, so there isn't alot if info, except a couple of recipes.
Give us a call.
Russ
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #145, 05/06/89
