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HOMEBREW Digest #0408
This file received at Mthvax.CS.Miami.EDU 90/04/30 03:13:15
HOMEBREW Digest #408 Mon 30 April 1990
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Grain to extract conversion factors ("Gary F. Mason - Image Systems - MKO2-2/K03 - 603884[DTN264]-1503 27-Apr-1990 0629")
Re: Idle Fermentation (John DeCarlo)
Re: Fermentation Temp. (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583)
Fermentation Temperature (Tom Hotchkiss)
Warm Weather Brewing! (Enders)
The Other BeanTown Brewpub (S_KOZA)
Coffee Beer?! (CORONELLRJDS)
Large Carboys (Norm Hardy)
Long Ferments (Norm Hardy)
Not-so-sweet Beer ("William F. Pemberton")
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
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Date: Fri, 27 Apr 90 03:32:31 PDT
From: "Gary F. Mason - Image Systems - MKO2-2/K03 - 603884[DTN264]-1503 27-Apr-1990 0629" <mason@habs11.enet.dec.com>
Subject: Grain to extract conversion factors
I have seen scattered information about converting all-grain recipes to extract
recipes. I would like to hear what your experiences have been. Most of the
ale recipes I want to try seem to be all-grain (to which I WILL go, but I want
to master the mechanics first).
Also, the bulk of opinion seems to be that the primary differences between
all-grain and extract brewing is the 'freshness' of the resulting brew's taste,
and the satisfaction of the brewer at having used all-grain. Any comments?
Thanks...Gary
------------------------------
Date: Friday, 27 Apr 1990 08:58:33 EST
From: m14051@mwvm.mitre.org (John DeCarlo)
Subject: Re: Idle Fermentation
>From: yerga@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Chris Yerga)
>...
>The yeast had covered the surface of the wort by midnight and was bubbling
>away at the rate of 3 or 4 bbles per second by the next morning. Fermentation
>continued in this manner until the second morning (48 hours after pitching),
>when the head on the wort had fallen. I haven't seen a single bubble since,
>which seems strange because I tossed about 10oz of the wort into a bottle
>fitted with an airlock at the same time that I pitched in the primary. The
>bottle is bubbling every several seconds.
Well, I know you don't want to touch your primary, but you should really do
so and measure the Specific Gravity. I had a very similar thing happen on
my last batch (a wheat beer). When I measured the S.G. (using a sanitized
turkey baster to withdraw the beer), it was 1.010, so that told me that
fermentation was finished.
John "So I relaxed and bottled it" DeCarlo
ARPANET: M14051@mwvm.mitre.org (or M14051%mwvm@mitre.arpa)
Usenet: @...@!uunet!hadron!blkcat!109!131!John_Decarlo
Fidonet: 1:109/131
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 90 09:37:18 mdt
From: hplabs!hp-lsd.cos.hp.com!ihlpl!korz (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583)
Subject: Re: Fermentation Temp.
Andriau--
You can still brew at 90 degrees, but if you can, I would recommend
using a refridgerator as you have mentioned. I'm sending info on
refridgerator thermostats from previous digests to you directly.
One way to lower your carboy temp, is to put it in a low tub of water,
drape cloths over it, and keep the cloths wet. The evaporating water
will keep the carboy several degrees colder than the ambient temp
just like the way human sweat does. Something like terrycloth would
work well due to the higher surface area. Be prepared for a very humid
brewing room though.
Al.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 90 10:06:20 MDT
From: Tom Hotchkiss <trh@hpestrh.hp.com>
Subject: Fermentation Temperature
Full-Name: Tom Hotchkiss
> From: Andrius Tamulis <tamulis@dehn.math.nwu.edu>
> Subject: Fermentation Temperature
>
>
> The summer months will soon be upon us, with the correspondingly high
> temperatures. My current residence does not have any A/C, and is therefore
> subject to the outside temperature, which means that it can reach 90 degrees
> in here, maybe even higher. The question is, can I brew beer? 90 is well out
> of the suggested fermenting range, but just what will happen? Is it hopeless?
> And if it is, are there refridgerator-type things that can keep my carboy at
> a nice 65-75?
> Thanks in advance,
> Andrius
Based on my experience, you can brew beer but you may have some problems.
I live in an apartment where the temperature gets as high as 90 in the
summer. I have brewed several batches during the summer months with
disappointing results. One batch tasted fine early in its life, but
as time went on an infection reared its ugly head (i.e. I had a case
and a half of glass grenades). I avoided explosive behavior with a
later summer batch, but it just didn't taste quite right, although it
was drinkable.
My sanitation procedures were no different for the exploding batch than
any other batch I have ever made, but I would like to point out that
the batch spent > 1 month in the secondary at warm temperatures.
My advice would be if you want to brew in warmer weather, give it a
try. However, I would pay attention to the following:
1. Use extra caution in sanitizing procedures. My limited experience
suggests infection problems occur more readily in warm weather.
2. Use short fermentation times, i.e. ferment and bottle in 1 1/2 or 2
weeks total. With the warmer temps, initial fermentation should
proceed rapidly and the risk of infection is higher.
3. Once bottled, store the beer in a cool place or drink it quickly.
Storing the beer under warm conditions for a long time ruins the
flavor and invites even small infections to become a problem.
Of course, the best answer is to find a way to keep the fermentation
vessels and bottled beer cool.
NOTE: All of the above is based soley on my personal experience; it is
not based on scientific knowledge of the fermentation process at
a higher temperatures.
Wish I could report better results,
Tom Hotchkiss
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 90 11:34:51 -0500
From: Enders <enders@plains.NoDak.edu>
Subject: Warm Weather Brewing!
While 90F may be outside the *recomended* fermentation range, most
yeasts will still ferment at temps of up to 100-105F. However, there are a
few things to be aware of. First, higher temps lead to higher levels of
esters in the beer. Depending on the strain of yeast, you may find the beer
you brew to be unacceptably fruity. I think if I were to try frementing at
the high end of the yeast's viability range, I'd choose a very neutral
(read as low ester producing) yeast strain, such as Wyeast #1056 (American
Ale, a.k.a. Sierra Nevada Ale).
Another thing to be aware of is that rapidly changing temps can put a
halt to fermentation prematurely. I think regardless of the temp at which
fermentation takes place, you should try to maintain as even a temp as
possible. At 90F, expect the fermentation to go pretty fast.
If, after a little experimentation, you feel that you can't brew an
acceptable beer at high temps, there are a few ways to keep the fermenter
cool. One way is to set the fermenter in a tub, partly filled with water.
Drape wet towels around the fermenter, with one end of each towel in the
water. This provides evaporative cooling, and can presumably keep the
fermenter at 10 deg. or so below the ambient air temp (depending on the
humidity). There is also a commercial device available called a "Brew Belt"
which I have not seen, and don't know how it functions (I'll leave the
description of it to someone more knowledgable).
I'm sure I'll become a little more expert at warm weather brewing as
the summer progresses. I haven't had occasion to brew very often when
it's hot, so my experience is very limited (However, this is changing, as it
looks like I'm going to be doing a LOT of brewing over the next several
months. Stay tuned :-)
Hope this helps!
Todd Enders arpa: enders@plains.nodak.edu
Computer Center uucp: ...!uunet!plains!enders
Minot State University bitnet: enders@plains
Minot, ND 58702
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 90 14:15 EST
From: <S_KOZA%UNHH.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
Subject: The Other BeanTown Brewpub
Hi All,
Being in Boston for the last few days at a conference I had the
opportunity to resamle the fermentations of the CW Brewery and try the
Cambridge Brewery also. I felt that the CWB stout was underhopped and lacking
of body. I also tried the bitter and fetl that this was well hopped ( which
I prefer) and hadmuch better body than the stout. I would have tried the others
but last call put an abrupt end to our safari. The following night we ventured
to the Cambridge Brewery. We started with their Golden Ale which was good for
the style which was described as a Canadien style ale. We then quaffed the CB
Amber Ale which was a beautiful brown color. It had a pleasant malty flavor
with a discernable chocolate malt flavor. We then tried the porter which was
similar to the amber but with a strng chocolate malt taste. After talking with
brewmaster(Phil, he was quite busy but was more than happy to pull up a chair
and talk beers w/ us) we found out that both the amber and porter had a large
amt. of crystal malt added. Somewhere in the area of a 1:5 ratio of crystal to
two row malt. As a night cap we ahd the special batch which was called
Mach Bock(The synonym 'mock' is intended here also since it was brewed w/ an
ale yeast. This beer was similar to the porter but was more hopped a had noti-
cably more EtOH.
Of the two establishments I preferred the Cambridge for two reasons
A. I thought the brews were much more flavorful
B. Cost; pints were $2.50 as compared to the $3.50 ( a guess.. 8-} )or
so at the Commonwealth. W/ a 60 oz. pitcher going for 8-9 bucks.
Stephan M. Koza
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 90 15:15 MST
From: CORONELLRJDS@CHE.UTAH.EDU
Subject: Coffee Beer?!
Greetings:
The other day I had a great idea. I'd brewed the night before, and the next
morning I was making my coffee, I thought "Why not?" Coffee beer!! What
an idea! What a great way to combine my two favorite drinks.
Has anybody else ever tried this? What should I expect? How much coffee
should I put into a batch made from extracts? I'll bet that coffee would
complement a stout quite well.
Just think: in the event that you (accidentally) drink too much ;^) at
least you won't have to worry about being a sleepy drunk.
Even better: I could finally rationalize a beer in the morning with
breakfast!
I can't believe that I'm the first one to think of this, but I've never
heard of it (to the best of my recollection.) Please forward any coffee
beer recipes you may have seen.
Cheers,
Chuck Coronella
CORONELLRJDS@CHEMICAL.UTAH.EDU
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 90 19:32:33 PDT
From: hplabs!polstra!norm (Norm Hardy)
Subject: Large Carboys
One source of 7-gallon carboys is :
The Cellar in Seattle (206) 365-7660.
The price is $14.95 plus shipping. They are used but will work fine for you.
The Cellar also has an 800 number but for the life in me I can't find it!
Norm in Seattle
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 28 Apr 90 17:46:35 PDT
From: hplabs!polstra!norm (Norm Hardy)
Subject: Long Ferments
Making a homebrewed lager can entail a long time before bottling or kegging.
I have had some that took 2 months before bottling. Looking over my log of
beers, I discovered that the best lagers took about 3 weeks in the primary, at
about 48-54f, and from 2-4 weeks in the secondary thereafter, at about 40f.
Leaving the primary ferment beyond 5 weeks seems to start giving the beer some
off flavors from the decaying yeast (autolysis?). The best way would be to
have a fermenter which allows you to drain off the yeast after a certain time
without disturbing the wort; sort of like the inverted carboy systems that I
have seen advertised before.
The question of priming sugar and viable yeast often comes up after a 6 week
or longer ferment. I have yet never had a problem with bottles getting proper
carbonation after enough time (3 to 4 weeks in the bottle).
Yes, patience is quite necessary when making a lager at home. From my
experience, it is worth the time.
Norm in Seattle
------------------------------
Date: Sun Apr 29 13:52:02 1990
From: "William F. Pemberton" <wfp5p@euclid.acc.virginia.edu>
Subject: Not-so-sweet Beer
Well, here is the update on my sweet beer. The Steam Beer turned out
really well. It hasn't really aged very long, but I am quite happy with
the results. If anyone is interested, here is the recipe I used:
6.6 lbs M&F Amber Extract
1/4 lb Toasted Barley
1/4 lb Crystal Malt
1.75 oz Northern Brewers Hops
Vierka Lager Yeast
Boil was for 45 minutes, aged in carbouy for 2 weeks.
On an unrelated issue, some one was mentioning 'Dark Sleep Stout.' I
just did a batch and the OG was 1.065, right on.
Bill
(flash@virginia.edu)
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #408, 04/30/90
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