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HOMEBREW Digest #0251
HOMEBREW Digest #251 Tue 12 September 1989
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Homebrew Digest #250 (September 11, 1989)
Homebrew Digest #249 (September 10, 1989)
doubts about SG temp corrections (Dick Dunn)
"How not to open a beer" (Alex M. Stein)
CASEY@MIT.MFENET (CASEY)
Color of Crystal Malts (Mike Fertsch)
Buffalo brewpubs? (David Carter)
Lagering Temperatures ("Brian CapouchA.hduSM:8:8")
Re: Papazian's CJoHB (John DeCarlo)
Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
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Date: Mon, 11 Sep 89 02:23 CDT
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HOMEBREW Digest #250 Mon 11 September 1989
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Homebrew Digest #249 (September 10, 1989)
doubts about SG temp corrections (Dick Dunn)
"How not to open a beer" (Alex M. Stein)
CASEY@MIT.MFENET (CASEY)
Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 10 Sep 89 03:06 CDT
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HOMEBREW Digest #249 Sun 10 September 1989
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
doubts about SG temp corrections (Dick Dunn)
Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 9 Sep 89 01:04:58 MDT (Sat)
From: hplabs!gatech!raven!rcd (Dick Dunn)
Subject: doubts about SG temp corrections
I've been watching the discussion of temperature corrections for hydrometer
readings for a while. I guess it's time to toss in my twopence.
A quick check in the Rubber Bible seems to indicate that the temperature
coefficient of expansion of water over some interesting range (say 50-100
F), while not linear, is not warped enough to give you as much as a point
of error relative to a 60 F reference. So that's cool...however:
- How does the expansion change with sugar in the water? There
are two questions here. First, how much does the coefficient
change--that is, do you have to apply a significantly different
temperature correction factor depending on the gravity? Second,
does it get more or less linear than the expansion of water?
- What about the expansion of the glass in the hydrometer itself?
Is this really negligible?
I've always gone by the (safe, but perhaps overly conservative) rule that
you shouldn't try apply temperature corrections outside the range of per-
haps 50-75 F. This seems like a good idea given the potential for non-
linearity in expansion coefficients, difficulty in getting temperature
measurements right, tendency to warm/cool while you take the measurement,
etc.
One other note-in-passing: Somewhere there was a discussion of the "poten-
tial alcohol" scales on hydrometers. I have two hydrometers. Both show
potential alcohol, and both clearly say "by volume", but they're not the
same. However, the one that's different (:-) has the zero for potential
alcohol at a gravity value other than 1.000. Is this just a simple
screwup, or does someone know a reason this might make some sense? Seems
wrong to me...I'd expect water to have SG of 1 and potential alcohol of 0.
---
Dick Dunn {ncar;ico;stcvax}!raven!rcd (303)494-0965
or rcd@raven.uucp
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #249, 09/10/89
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Date: Wed, 6 Sep 89 14:18:01 PDT
From: rutgers!retix.retix.com!alexs@hplabs.HP.COM (Alex M. Stein)
Subject: "How not to open a beer"
Reprinted from Chemical & Engineering News:
"A weird encounter with a non-screw-on beer-bottle cap was
reported recently by physician Karanvir Prakash and colleagues at
Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, Bronx, N.Y.
"The subject, a man aged 36, was `watching a tense baseball game
on a hot summer afternoon.' He was opening a bottle of beer with
his teeth when the compressed gas inside blew the loosened cap
down his throat. Off to the emergency room. The cap had to be
removed surgically because its serrations were `firmly embedded'
in mucous membrane. The physicians' report of the episode
describes the cap carefully as `measuring 2.7 cm in diameter and
bearing the words MILLER HIGH LIFE.' The patient came out okay.
"The episode `highlights the hazard of opening bottles of
carbonated drinks with the teeth,` say Prakash, et al. They
suggest that such drinks be marketed only in cans. You could cut
your fingers, but that would appear to be preferable to a bottle
cap in the throat."
Alex Stein
alexs@retix.com
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 10 Sep 89 21:07:46 PDT
From: CASEY%MIT.MFENET@CCC.NMFECC.GOV
Subject: CASEY@MIT.MFENET
subject: amateur yeast experiment:
I started brewing only four months ago, and am still in the wild experimentation
stage. I quickly became confused about different brands of yeast available,
and was able to get almost no reliable information, so I tried an experiment.
The results are posted below. I just joined this bboard, so I have no idea if
this sort of thing is common. I'd love to hear of other experience or comments
along the same line. If this is an old subject, just flame to me directly
instead of clogging up the board.
First: I already realize that I used a pretty bad recipe for the test. It
had far too much bittering hops for balance. The idea was to look for
differences in yeasts, however, so I tried to look through it. I was also
experimenting on yeasts suitable for my conditions (Boston in summertime),
where the temperatures are ungodly hot, and mold runs rampant. I also realize
the problem with my lack of gravity measurements and exact temperatures, sorry.
Don't chew me out for these, but I would be interested to hear if one of the
"bad" yeasts might be perfectly good under other circumstances.
7 gallon recipe:
2x 3.3# can M&F light unhopped
.75# M&F light unhopped spray
.75# crystal (steeped while coming to boil)
1 tsp gypsum
2oz clusters boiling
.5 oz cascades finishing
Divided evenly into seven 1 gal bottles, different yeast in each bottle.
Fermented at about 75-85 F.
Results were:
1st: Edme ale - best overall. rounded, slightly sweet. some diacetyl.
nice balance. fermented rather slowly (3-4 days).
2nd/3rd: Whitbread ale - lighter, crisp. poorer head. some esters.
very fast fermentation.
2nd/3rd: CWE ale - slight yeasty bite. very dry (attenuative). good head.
no esters. extremely fast fermentation (frighteningly).
... these three were all quite good, and I have been using them successfully
since then. they all rated fairly close together. the remaining four were
all quite a bit worse (a very big gap in quality), and I haven't touched them
since. none seemed to have spoiled, they just had unforgiveable ester
content and/or carbonation qualities. (this could be due to temperature).
4th: M&F ale - heavy yeast bite. flat head. very little ester taste.
5th: Kitzengen lager - (fermented warm) this had the best head and
carbonation quality. very dry (attenuative). extremely
bad ester content.
6th: Doric ale - yeast bite. very estery. bad head. overall horrible.
7th: Red Star ale - same as Doric, but a little worse.
these were the results of two different double blind tests, with only minor
variations between the two events. I might try this sort of thing again
with a better recipe after it cools down, and include some liquid cultures
that I've tried since (with luck); unless somebody else out there has
done it for me and can post the results. I have heard that the next issue of
Zymurgy will cover yeasts - perhaps all this will be superceeded soon.
Jeff Casey CASEY%MIT.MFENET@CCC.NMFECC.GOV
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #250, 09/11/89
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------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 89 08:41 EDT
From: Mike Fertsch <FERTSCH@adc1.RAY.COM>
Subject: Color of Crystal Malts
Doug Roberts and I am been discussing crystal malts -
>> Is 'rich crystal' just a darker version of 'ordinary crystal'? I've
>> noticed a WIDE variation in color in crystal malts.
> So far as I can tell, it's just crystal that has been roasted at a
> slightly higher temperature. Great Fermentations sells three kinds of
> crystal malted barley: light, medium, and extra rich. Also, the
> crystal has a number associated with it: 20 for light, 40 for medium,
> and 90 for extra rich. I don't know what the number stands for,
> however.
These numbers are 'Degrees Lovibond', and are a measure of the color a
grain will impart to a wort. The higher the number, the darker the grain,
and the darker the beer. My current bag of crystal is marked Crystal-55
(55 Degrees L.), and is a bit too dark for my recipes.
I use Degrees Lovibond to formulate recipes. You simply multiply the weight
of the grain times its Lovibond rating and divide by the number of gallons
or wort made. Do this for each grain, adding up the color contribution
from each source. The special all-grain issue of Zymurgy (4 years ago?)
has a table listing color for different beer styles. I'll post this table
if I can rremember to bring the issue in to work.
Mike Fertsch
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 89 09:59:58 EDT
From: davidc@northstar27.Dartmouth.EDU (David Carter)
Subject: Buffalo brewpubs?
I'm going to be at the NYSIS (New York State Institute on Superconductivity)
conference on 9/19- 9/21, and I am looking for recommendations on brewpubs
or local beers in the Buffalo area. Also, if anybody else who reads this
letter is going to be there, let me know. Perhaps we can trade a couple of
homebrews.
I'm e-mailable at: david.carter@dartmouth.edu
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 10 Sep 89 18:40:48 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Brian CapouchA.hduSM:8:8" <brianc@zeta.saintjoe.EDU>
Subject: Lagering Temperatures
I haven't seen anything on this yet in the short time I've been part of this
forum--and it's something that for me, as a mostly-lager brewer, is of the
utmost importance:
How long do you experts leave your lagers to ferment? I tourned Anheuser-Busch
last weekend, and they tell me that Budweiser takes about 20 days from mash to
departure from the brewery.
I have a refrigerator with a timer that controls the temperature, with a little
twiddling, at just under 50 degrees. I have found that even after two weeks
(using three different yeasts) that I still have to warm the beer up for a few
days to finish fermenting, so as to avoid the costly and dangerous situation I
had the one time that I *didn't* do so--all five gallons turned into
mini-grenades when I bottled them.
Even once that problem is solved, how long do the big boys of homebrewing lager
for, and what price is paid for leaving the bottled beer at room temperature.
Perhaps there has been ample discussion of this previously; I don't have the
archives.
Brian Capouch
Thinking-of-brewing-as-an-adjunct-to-a-country-restaurant
Saint Joseph's College
brianc@saintjoe.edu
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 89 10:20:17 EDT
From: hpda!uunet!f131.n109.z1.FIDONET.ORG!John.DeCarlo (John DeCarlo)
Subject: Re: Papazian's CJoHB
>From: kent@happym.wa.com (Kent Forschmiedt)
>
>My favorite two books are William Mares' "Making Beer" (I think that's the
>whole title) and the well known "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing," by
>Charlie Papazian.
>...
>Papazian's book is closer to a textbook; the anecdotes are short and it
>isn't a chronicle. It has lots of recipes, including some unusual beers
>and mead. The technical information is broader and more complete, but it
>still isn't a reference manual. The book's worst feature is its lack of
>an index.
For those people who want an index to CJoHB, they can call Fidonet Node
1:109/327, at 301-891-SUDS (7837) and download TCJOHB.NDX. This file was developed and uploaded by Steve Conklin, to give credit where credit is due.
John "Yes, the work has already been done" DeCarlo
Fidonet: 1:109/131
Arpanet: M14051%mwvm@mitre.arpa
Internet: M14051@mwvm.mitre.org
Usenet: John.DeCarlo@f131.n109.z1.fidonet.org (smart)
or {...}!uunet!hadron!blkcat!1!109!131!John.DeCarlo
--
John DeCarlo - FidoNet 1:109/401 - The Black Cat's Shack
Internet: John.DeCarlo@f131.n109.z1.FIDONET.ORG UUCP: ...!uunet!hadron!blkcat!131!John.DeCarlo
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #251, 09/12/89
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