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HOMEBREW Digest #0318
HOMEBREW Digest #318 Thu 07 December 1989
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Inane pelletized hops question. (Mark.Leone)
Follow-up to my Holiday Ale recipe (Doug Roberts @ Los Alamos National Laboratory)
Re: Cold temperature cloudiness (iwtio!korz)
maple syrup stout recipe (JEEPSRUS)
Re: Maple syrup beer (kipps)
Missing Issues (cup.portal.com!dbell)
Stuck, with Edme (Martin A. Lodahl)
Head retention (Mark.Leone)
BlackBerry Stout (Andy Wilcox)
Terminology: attenuation (Ken Giles @ Context x453)
Re: Stuck Edme yeast (florianb)
Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 06 Dec 89 08:56:22 EST
From: Mark.Leone@F.GP.CS.CMU.EDU
Subject: Inane pelletized hops question.
Here's a rather inane question: is it normal for pelletized hops to
disintigrate completely during the boil? So far I haven't noticed any
excessive bitterness or unpleasant flavors due to this... (I do
strain the wort going into the primary).
======================================================================
Mark R. Leone <mleone@cs.cmu.edu>
School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 89 09:09:17 MST
From: roberts%studguppy@LANL.GOV (Doug Roberts @ Los Alamos National Laboratory)
Subject: Follow-up to my Holiday Ale recipe
Well, I brewed the spiced holiday ale last night, and during the
process I made a couple of recipe changes:
1. I switched the 1 1/2 oz of Chinook for Nugget hops, another high
alpha acid (~11) hops. I've never tried Nugget & was curious.
2. I bought some light molasses on the way home from work for
eventually priming this batch (I've never used molasses for priming, &
I'm curious how it will taste)
3. I Added a small slice of my thumb (no, I wasn't curious, just
clumsy when grating the orange peel). I don't think anybody will
notice...
4. The molasses tasted so good I added 1/2 cup to the boil.
During the boil, the cardomon, cinnamon, & ginger, combined with the
orange peel & malt to make the house smell really good, kind of like
beer fruit cake. I ended up with a start S.G. of 1.045, a little lower
than I expected, probably because I was running late & hurried the
sparge somewhat. After smelling & tasting the wort, I think I've
identified one of the secret ingredients in Anchor Steam's Christmas
Ale: cardomon. I'm guessing they use ~1/4 - 1/2 tsp per five gallon
batch equivalent.
- --Doug
================================================================
Douglas Roberts |
Los Alamos National Laboratory |I can resist anything
Box 1663, MS F-602 | except temptation.
Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 | ...
(505)667-4569 |Oscar Wilde
dzzr@lanl.gov |
================================================================
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 89 10:16:53 mst
From: att!iwtio!korz@hplabs.HP.COM
Subject: Re: Cold temperature cloudiness
>If fact, every time I cool any of these beers they become cloudy.
What you've got, Tim, is chill haze, which is caused by tannins
reacting with proteins. You've got two ways to attack this problem:
1) reduce the tannins, and 2) reduce the proteins. You can reduce
tannins by avoiding boiling the grains (the tannins are in the husks).
I used to boil my crystal malt and got very cloudy beers (when chilled),
but when I switched to simply steeping them in the cold liquor while
I bring the liquor up to almost boiling temp, the chill haze went away.
You can reduce the proteins by using finings like Irish Moss. A solid
cold break, I believe, will also cause the proteins to precipitate
out (but don't quote me on this). Darryl Richman has described his
method of using an immersion wort chiller to cool the wort in the
brewpot and then stirring up the wort to create a "pile" of trub
in the center of the brewpot. He then siphons from the side of the
brewpot and leaves a good portion of the trub in the brewpot.
(I hope I got this right, Darryl.)
Al.
P.S. If you can't get rid of the chill haze, try serving in frosted
mugs -- that way you can't see the haze ;-).
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 89 08:56 PST
From: JEEPSRUS <ROBERTN%FM1@sc.intel.com>
Subject: maple syrup stout recipe
Date: Fri, 06 Oct 89 09:29:01 -0700
From: kipps@etoile.ICS.UCI.EDU
Subject: Re: Maple syrup beer
A friend just made up a maple syrup stout. He used 6 lbs. of Australian
Dark Extract (syrup), 1 1/2 oz boiling hops (bullion), and 3/4 cup of
Maple syrup. He just bottled, so I don't know how it'll turn out, but
he said that the bottling taste showed a lot of promise :-).
-Jim Kipps
>
>A friend just made up a maple syrup stout. He used 6 lbs. of Australian
>Dark Extract (syrup), 1 1/2 oz boiling hops (bullion), and 3/4 cup of
>Maple syrup. He just bottled, so I don't know how it'll turn out, but
>he said that the bottling taste showed a lot of promise :-).
>
>-Jim Kipps
From: DELPHI::IN%"kipps@etoile.ICS.UCI.EDU" 1-NOV-1989 10:15
Rob-
The maple syrup stout turned out quite nicely, but I think the recipe can
be improved somewhat. The recipe used 1 1/2 oz of Bullion hops for
boiling, no aromatics. The wort was boiled for an hour. It was primed
with 3/4 cup corn sugar, aged three weeks, and made in a single stage
fermentation. Don't have any specific gravity readings.
While my friend who made this brew claims its the best beer he's ever
tasted, I think there's room for improvement. The maple syrup gave the
stout a nice smooth flavor, but it did not assert itself at all, i.e., you
couldn't taste the maple. The recipe used only 3/4 cup of syrup. I would
raise this to 1 1/2 cups. I would also keep back 1 1/2 qts of wort (two
champaign bottles) for keursening (sp?) and not prime with the corn sugar.
I would also rack it, but it's not necessary.
-Jim
PS I don't know what kind of equipment you have, but here's a tip if you'd
like to do a two stage. Instead of buying a second fermentor at your
local homebrew shop, check out the weekend swap meets in your area.
You can normally find 5 gallon glass carboys for $5. You can also find
ceramic cap bottles (50 cents or less is a good price) and other odd
brewing stuff.
Also, if you're just getting started again, you might like to check
out some mail order brew shops. The one my friends and I use is
William's Brewing; call (415) 895-2739 for a catalog. They have
their own product line plus equipment. Good prices and free shipping
on the West Coast.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6-Dec-89 07:50:38 PST
From: portal!cup.portal.com!dbell@hplabs.HP.COM
Subject: Missing Issues
Could some kind soul please help complete my archives by emailing
me the following issues? My mail server lost part of one, and all
of some others! I need HBDigests #294, 295, 296, and 315.
Thanks!
Dave dbell@cup.portal.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 89 10:12:26 PST
From: Martin A. Lodahl <pbmoss!mal@hplabs.HP.COM>
Subject: Stuck, with Edme
In HOMEBREW Digest #317, Marty Albini said:
" I seem to be having very bad luck with Edme ale yeast. A few
weeks ago I had a fermentation get stuck, and had to repitch to get it
going again. Well, it's happened again, only this time repitching
didn't even work .... There are about ten pounds of John Bull light
extract in the five gallons ..."
AHA! I suspect that new yeast will not help. I've only had this
happen in batches where the wort was mostly extract, with very
little grain, and restarted fermentation by adding a yeast nutrient
mixture, like SuperFerment. Yeast cannot live by maltose alone ...
As little as 3 lbs. of pale lager malt in the grist seems enough to
give the yeasties 100% of their MDR of whatever the Hell's in that
nutrient mixture.
- Martin
= Martin A. Lodahl Pac*Bell Minicomputer Operations Support Staff =
= pacbell!pbmoss!mal -or- mal@pbmoss.Pacbell.COM 916.972.4821 =
= If it's good for ancient Druids, runnin' nekkid through the wuids, =
= Drinkin' strange fermented fluids, it's good enough for me! 8-) =
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 06 Dec 89 16:12:48 EST
From: Mark.Leone@F.GP.CS.CMU.EDU
Subject: Head retention
What are the factors influencing head retention? I'm aware that:
- Oils, dirt, and soap (in bottle or serving glass) decrease the head
- Unfermentables can increase the head
- Guinness uses nitrogen to improve head stability and add a certain tang.
(Please correct me if I'm wrong on these.) So how do the following
affect head retention (if at all)?
- Hop variety (boil vs. finishing, whole vs. pelletized).
- Hopping techniqes (ie, finishing vs. dry-hopping).
- Yeast variety.
- The various grains: wheat, rice, crystal malt, roasted barley, etc.
- Type of malt extract (light vs dark).
Any suggestions on easy ways to improve head retention?
======================================================================
Mark R. Leone <mleone@cs.cmu.edu>
School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 06 Dec 89 17:16:50 EST
From: Andy Wilcox <andy@stout.cis.ufl.edu>
Subject: BlackBerry Stout
> From: John Simpson <jrs21%CAS.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
> Subject: Not worrying, just curious...
>
> What kind of luck have people had with Papazian's Stout
> recipes? Esp. Toad Spit Stout and the one (name?) that's
> supposed to be like Sheaf's.
I believe Toad Spit Stout is supposed to tast like Guiness, less the
sour aftertast. At anyrate... Try this recipe, the "best I've ever
made."
Follow the Toad Spit Stout recipe, more or less (substitute dark malt
and hops when locality necessitates)
At the end of the boil, remove from heat, add 5 # of crushed
(or frozen and thawed) blackberries.
Let the wort sit for 20 minutes.
Cool and proceed as usual. This is one of the rare brews that I use a
secondary fermenter for. Typically, I get about 5-8 inches of goop in
the bottom of my carbuoy during the primary fermentation! But, this
is no reason to worry, as this is a *damn* good beer. It ages
quickly, and (IMO) declines with age > 4 months. So drink it quick.
My beer drinking friends can smell this beer come of age... Getting
rid of it is no problem.
Andy Wilcox
(andy@ufl.edu)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 89 11:35:33 PST
From: rutgers!context.mentor.com!keng@hplabs.HP.COM (Ken Giles @ Context x453)
Subject: Terminology: attenuation
In HOMEBREW Digest #314, Martin A. Lodahl writes:
"...observations will have to do: Wine yeasts (including Champagne)
seem to have a higher alcohol tolerance than ale yeasts, and will
continue to attenuate sugars long after ale yeast has called it
quits. It would be an interesting experiment to split a batch of..."
I just want to make sure I'm using the proper terminology. I thought that
'attenuation' refered to the amount of starch-to-sugar conversion. If not, what
is the proper term?
kg.
------------------------------
Date: 06 Dec 89 09:10:06 PST (Wed)
From: florianb@tekred.cna.tek.com
Subject: Re: Stuck Edme yeast
Marty Albini, in #317 sez:
> I seem to be having very bad luck with Edme ale yeast. A few
> weeks ago I had a fermentation get stuck, and had to repitch to get it
> going again. Well, it's happened again, only this time repitching
> didn't even work.
> My only guess so far is that the temperature in the closet I
> brew in may have dropped into the low 60s at night, and this seems to
> knock the yeast out at least semi-permanently. Does anyone know if
> Edme normally behaves this way? Is there a threshold termperature at
> which it konks out? Could it be some thing else (pH, nuetrino density,
> the political climate)?
Yes, it's the political climate. I've said for years it's the
Republicans what don' let my brew ferment out.
I'd suspect the temperature. This happened to me also using Edme and
Wyeast's Irish ale yeast just after winter came to central Oregon a few
weeks ago.
Try moving the brew to a more warm location. It worked for me.
Florian
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #318, 12/07/89
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