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HOMEBREW Digest #0264
HOMEBREW Digest #264 Tue 26 September 1989
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Steam Beer Ferment (willa)
Beer judge exam, Santa Rosa, CA (drutx!homer)
HB.DIG #261-Dry yeasts, cold fermentation. (florianb)
Beer 'thief' (Patrick Stirling [Sun Consulting Services Mtn View])
Brewer's Adjunct (Jim Somerville)
Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
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Date: Mon, 25 Sep 89 09:05:50 PDT
From: willa@hpvclwa
Subject: Steam Beer Ferment
Mark Nevar writes:
>I'm not one for constantly taking hydrometer
>readings to determine if the ferment is done. I don't like the
>risk of opening the fermenter and syphoning. I know there must
>be some kind of beer "thief" that can act like a syringe. I tried
>using a large syringe, but the needle opening was too limiting.
>Any ideas ? I'd rather use hydrometer readings instead of counting
>the time between bubbles (BTW, I usually wait for 5 min intervals
>before I bottle).
I use a basting bulb (available at any supermarket) with great success. You
can even pull the bulb off of the tube to get the whole affair sanitized.
. . .Will
willa@hpvcfs1.hp.com
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Date: Mon, 25 Sep 89 10:58:19 mdt
From: att!drutx!homer@hplabs.HP.COM
Subject: Beer judge exam, Santa Rosa, CA
Beer Judge Certification Program Exam
Santa Rosa, CA
October 15, 1989
9:00 AM
Contact:
Byron Burch
Great Fermentations of Santa Rosa
(707) 544-2520
Full details on the program are contained in a booklet that can be requested
by sending a postal address to: att!drutx!homer, or AHA, PO Box 287, Boulder,
CO 80306. Attn: BJCP Administrator
Jim Homer
Co-director BJCP
att!drutx!homer
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Date: 25 Sep 89 11:53:27 PDT (Mon)
From: florianb@tekred.cna.tek.com
Subject: HB.DIG #261-Dry yeasts, cold fermentation.
On the subject of reviving dry yeasts in warm water first.
Way back in the beginning, I used to revive my dry yeast this way. Then,
as time went on, I started just tossing it in the fermenter in dry form.
My wife has said on several occasions that my later brews were never as
good as the first few. The later ones having some sort of yeast bite.
Now I realize why this is. I'll bet a dime to a dollar it was because I
hadn't been reviving the yeast as I formerly did.
I don't worry about this anymore, as I am now using liquid yeast. I may
never go back to dry yeast except in emergency cases or in cases of sheer
laziness. The clean flavor of the liquid yeast cannot be approached with
dry yeast.
Greg Crawford asks:
>Also, could anyone tell me what effect fermenting at too cold a temp. would
>have. The yeast is a liquid german lager and the fermenting temp. is 40
>degrees. (This was before I bought my hunter energy monitor). The beer
>fermented to completion but there is a strange background flavor I can't put
>my finger on. Infection has crossed my mind but I have tried two beers like
>this with the same results while my ales fermented at 70 degrees have had no
>problem.
My guess is this. With the ales, the flavor masked the off flavors, if there
were any. Now, you are brewing a lager. Lagers are notorious for revealing
any imperfection in one's techniques. I'll wager you have a slight infection
of wild yeast or you are not cleaning your fermenters or equipment well
enough. In any case, 40 degrees should be good for the lager yeast.
Then Mike Meyer asks about Barleywine:
>mellowing in the bottle. (Plus, can anyone recommend an extract-based
>recipe -- some specialty grain is okay, but I sure don't want to mess with
>215 pounds of 2-row malt per 5-gallon batch...
What 215 lbs of grain?
Try using 10-12 lbs of plain light dried malt extract as the basis. Then
add 1 lb of 80L crystal, and even a bit of chockolate malt if you wish.
Some toasted malted barley would also be good. You may try 10 HBU's of
cascade, willamette, or other similar hops. Use plenty of flavoring hops
at the end.
[Florian Bell, waiting for the 1989 crop to get out of the drier]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 89 11:44:12 PDT
From: pms@Sun.COM (Patrick Stirling [Sun Consulting Services Mtn View])
Subject: Beer 'thief'
No I'm not talking about disappearing homebrew! Mark Nevar asks:
"I know there must be some kind of beer "thief" that can act like a
syringe. I tried using a large syringe, but the needle opening was too
limiting. Any ideas ?"
I use a turkey baster. Dip it in bleach and rinse it off. It takes a
couple of sucks to get the hydrometer full enough for a reading. I
haven't noticed any problems yet.
patrick
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 89 20:03:33 EDT
From: bnr-rsc!jim@uunet.UU.NET (Jim Somerville)
Subject: Brewer's Adjunct
At DeFalco's, I recently bought a 1.2 kg container of stuff called
"Brewer's Adjunct". It was billed as newly available and the
adjunct that commercial breweries used (at least in Canada). It
is a transparent colourless syrup that is a lot like white corn
syrup, except that it tastes very neutral. It is sweet without
having any real taste. Does anyone know what it is? Could it
be rice syrup?
On the topic of pitching yeast, I sprinkled a package of Ironmaster
kit yeast into my last batch at 100 degrees F. It was the hottest
that I have ever pitched into, but it surprisingly had the best
primary fermentation yet (vigorous, but well behaved).
--
Jim Somerville (bnr-vpa!bnr-rsc!jim) Phone: (613) 763-4497
Bell-Northern Research Usenet:utgpu!bnr-vpa!bnr-rsc!jim
P.O. Box 3511, Station C, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1Y 4H7
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #264, 09/26/89
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