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HOMEBREW Digest #0351
This file received at Mthvax.CS.Miami.EDU 90/02/05 03:52:01
HOMEBREW Digest #351 Mon 05 February 1990
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Re: Source for Ale (mark gryska)
starch vs sugar (Pete Soper)
Cloudy brew (John Greene)
Beer for St.Patrick's Day.... (GOPINATHRTAR)
Hazards while Making Mead (Lane_Molpus)
Re: Homebrew Digest #350 (February 02, 1990) (Andy Wilcox)
boiling hops separatly (mage!lou)
Treacle Priming (Martin A. Lodahl)
"Why do you homebrew?" Survey Results (a.e.mossberg)
The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Index (a.e.mossberg)
Coffee brew (doug)
Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
Archives available from netlib@mthvax.cs.miami.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 90 09:36:49 EST
From: mark@zippy.cs.umass.edu (mark gryska)
Subject: Re: Source for Ale
In HOMEBREW Digest #349 John Melby asks for the US distributor for
the George Gale product Tudor Pale Ale and Horndean Special Bitter.
These beers along with Old Thumper by the Ringwood Brewery are
imported by Ayer's Rock Ltd Lincon Center MA 01773. This company is
closely associated with Alan Eames, "The King of Beers", "The Beer
King", or something like that. Last month Chuck Cox posted the
results of a tasting conducted by The Boston Beer Society which
included these beers. All of these beers received very high ratings.
(Tudor Pale Ale:89, HSB Bitter:91, Old Thumper:92 on a point scale to
100) I did not like the Old Thumper as much as the others (it has a
peculiar aroma of almonds which my more chemically aware associates
attribute to diones; a class of organic compounds). The Tudor Pale
Ale and HSB are fine examples of British brewing styles. (How do they
get these beers to be so "creamy"?) By all means seek these as well
as the George Gale's Prize Old Ale.
- mg
gryska@cs.umass.edu
mark@zippy.cs.umass.edu
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 90 10:23:52 EST
From: Pete Soper <soper@maxzilla.encore.com>
Subject: starch vs sugar
I'm glad this isn't causing Wayne any problems. But I have to insist
that there are risks and the next guy might think it OK to use more than
1/2 pound of unmashed pale or lager malt. So with that in mind, here is
one more warning based on reading more of Wayne's procedure.
It is almost certain that husk material is getting into the boil too.
Depending upon the pH there will be a little up to a lot of tannins leached
out of the husk material by the hot wort, resulting in a tendency toward
astringent, tea-like flavors, and Irish Moss will not deal with this.
- --Pete
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 90 08:01:54 PST
From: greene@venice.sedd.trw.com (John Greene)
Subject: Cloudy brew
The response I received with suggestions was quite impressive and one
suggestion was the most common. Not a good cold break. When I think
about it this could very well be the problem as I did change the way I
cool the wort after a boil (read 'got lazy'). I use my sink to put the
kettle in and keep it surrounded by cold water. The volume of water is
small enough where it would heat up rather quickly. I used to change it
constantly until the wort was sufficiently cool to put into the fermenter.
Lately I have been changing it only a few times and just waiting the extra
time for it to cool down. This is also a difference in procedures between
me and my friend. He uses his bathtub filled with ice water to cool the
wort.
Armed with this new knowledge, I am going to try another batch this weekend
changing only that portion of the procedure to see how much of a difference
it will make.
Thanks again to everyone that responded!
______________________________________________________________________________
John E. Greene "People are just like frankfurters....You have to decide
if you're going to be a hot dog or just another wiener" DLR
TRW Systems Engineering and Development Division
ARPA: greene@venice.sedd.TRW.COM USENET: ..trwrb!venice!greene
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 90 10:59 MST
From: GOPINATHRTAR@CHE.UTAH.EDU
Subject: Beer for St.Patrick's Day....
We ( me and my fellow brewer) are planning to make our own "green beer" for
St.Patrick's Day ( march 17th, we think) and would like to know what grade
of coloring we add.
thanx a lot
ashok & chuck
( THE BREWS BROTHERS)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 90 12:14:10 PST
From: Lane_Molpus@NeXT.COM
Subject: Hazards while Making Mead
Various references suggest sulphiting, rather
than boiling, the honey-water when making mead.
Allegedly this is to prevent boiling away important
flavors from the honey.
I've discovered another reason to avoid boiling:
safety.
Last Sunday I had a large pot of honey water
merrily boiling on the stove, and bees started
flying down my chimney. Several got in my
house before I closed the damper.
I didn't realize bees had such good noses.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 02 Feb 90 15:43:05 EST
From: Andy Wilcox <andy@mosquito.cis.ufl.edu>
Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #350 (February 02, 1990)
perley@glacier.crd.ge.com (Donald P Perley) writes:
> Some homebrewers go quite a while without an
>infection problem, and then some malt loving bug finds their kitchen and
>is encouraged to stay by frequent brewing sessions.
No kidding. My first 10 batches: nothing. Since then, in about
90% (!) of the batches, I've gotten this film on the top of the
secondaries and in the bottles. If I swirl it up, it kinda clumps,
and floats. Pretty Gross, really.
I've noticed no contribution to flavor by this beast. But wow! Did
it scare me the first time!
Any idea what it is? How to get rid of it?
-Andy
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 90 13:43:38 MST
From: hpl.hp.com!mage!lou@hplabs
Subject: boiling hops separatly
A few issues back someone (sorry, I don't remember the name) asked about
boiling hops separatly from the extract. I've been wondering about this
myself, especially for those high S.G. barley wines where all the sugar impairs
hop utilization in the boil.
I haven't seen any responses posted. Is there anyone out there who has
comments on this approach?
Louis Clark
reply to: mage!lou@ncar.ucar.com
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 90 17:48 MST
From: CORONELLRJDS@CHE.UTAH.EDU
My brew partner and I have made only 4 batches so far, so we're still wet
behind the ears. Each of the previous 3 batches actively fermented for
about 7 - 10 days, which sounds normal. In our current batch, the
problem is that after an initial flurry of fermentation lasting about 2
days, the fermentation has completely stopped.
Let me briefly describe the procedure we followed. First, since we thought
it might be a good idea to rehydrate the yeast first (used Doric yeast), we
boiled about 1 cup of water, added about 1 tsp sucrose, and cooled it down
to room temperature before adding the yeast. It was covered and sat in the
small bowl (at room temperature) for about 2 - 3 hours before pitching
into the wort. We followed a pretty standard procedure for preparing the
wort. Boiled about a gallon of H2O and 2 cans of extract for an hour,
added some finishing hops for 2 minutes of the boil, (1st time we've used
hops), and poured through a strainer into the primary (only) fermentation
bucket. Adding sufficient cool water to make up 5 gal. cooled the wort
plenty to allow pitching.
Fermentation was visible (via bubbling through the fermentation lock)
within 4 hours, much to our excitement. It bubbled like nothing I've seen
for two days, after which it slowed down, and within another day,
all signs of acive fermentation stopped. The question is, did we do
something wrong? Will we still get good beer? Is there corrective action
we can take to kick-start the fermentation? (Or Are we guilty of the ultimate
sin, needless worrying?)
Thanks in advance for any advice,
Chuck and Ashok
[The Brews Brothers]
P.S. Would somebody please send me a copy of the index for Papazian's
CJOHB? Thanks. Chuck Coronella
CORONELLRJDS@CHEMICAL.UTAH.EDU
=========================================================================
-"Sometimes I look at (my skin) and say
'Oh, my God, it doesn't look so good-
I have to have more sex!'"
-Supermodel Paulina
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 4 Feb 90 01:52:23 mst
From: att!beehive!listen@hp-lsd.cos.hp.com
remote execution [uucp job beehiveA7ec2 (2/2-22:02:35)]
rmail
exited with status 1
===== stderr was =====
usage: mail [-#] address-list
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 3 Feb 90 16:21:03 PST
From: Martin A. Lodahl <hplabs!pbmoss!mal>
Subject: Treacle Priming
The recent discussion on corn sugar vs. DME priming reminds me of a
question I've always meant to ask: Has anyone out there tried
priming with molasses? How did it turn out? How much did you use?
What type? I assume it would add a rum-note to the flavor, along
with finish notes differing from the initial taste, and perhaps a
slight tang. Am I way off base? I'm considering experimenting with
it in my next batch of porter.
= 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: Sun, 4 Feb 90 21:23:21 EST
From: a.e.mossberg <aem@mthvax.cs.miami.edu>
Subject: "Why do you homebrew?" Survey Results
Why do you make beer?
A total of 41 respondents. There were a limited number of themes in the
responses, which I identified scored with the keywords "alcohol control,"
"hobby," "price," "quality," "sca," and "variety." These translate as
alcohol control - control over the amount of alcohol in the beer, either
to make stonger or weaker beers
hobby - Doing it as a hobby, possibly in relation to ones "secret dream" or
day job. (A number of respondents identified themselves as chemists,
or "frustrated chemists," and found homebrewing to be fulfillingly
similar)
price - price was a factor, frequently in terms of not being able to afford
beer otherwise, or being able to drink a better beer than what was
affordable
quality - to brew the better beer
SCA - because of membership in SCA or similar group
variety - the ability to brew a wider range of beers than commericially
available
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Results of Homebrew Survey
Keywords Sole choice First Second Third Fourth
alcohol control 1 1 1
hobby 5 12 5 6 1
price 3 4 1 1
quality 3 12 17 3
SCA 1 1 3
variety 4 5 2
Multiple answers: 32
Total respondents: 41
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
If anyone wants to see the comments made, I will send you the entire file
of responses (if no objects to having their responses available). It's about
a thousand lines. I make no claims to this being a scientific survey, and
clearly some people limited their responses to my suggested reasons why
people might homebrew. Thanks to everyone who responded. You also functioned
to acid-test a perl script for digesting mailing list articles.
aem
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 4 Feb 90 21:37:58 EST
From: a.e.mossberg <aem@mthvax.cs.miami.edu>
Subject: The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Index
Okay, it's now available separately in the homebrew archives. To get
two differently formatted versions of Conklin's index for Papazian's
The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, send the request
send joyindex from homebrew
to netlib@mthvax.cs.miami.edu
aem
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 3 Feb 90 12:48:33 EST
From: hisata!doug@gatech.edu
Subject: Coffee brew
Regarding the recent discussion of coffee in beer: I have a friend who
makes a very good porter with coffee. He adds 1/4 cup ground coffee to
the sparge (for 5 galllons). If you don't know it's in there, you can't
identify it, but it adds a certain "darkness" to the flavor. Once you
know what it is, you can pick it out. It's a nice touch. Now, if he'd
just add some chocolate to that....
Doug
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #351, 02/05/90
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