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HOMEBREW Digest #0615
This file received at Mthvax.CS.Miami.EDU 91/04/15 03:12:24
HOMEBREW Digest #615 Mon 15 April 1991
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Homebrew Digest ("William M. Pierce Jr., Ph.D.")
PLEASE REMOVE ME FROM MAILING LIST (Jeff McCartney : 541-7340)
brewing stoves (Mike Zentner)
Thanks and kegging... (Dave Beedle)
Re: Homebrew Digest #614 (April 12, 1991) (Vince Prantil)
Ireks Weizen followup (flowers)
please add... (Rob Kedoin)
Re: Coffee grinders (Chris Shenton)
Dry hopping (Ted Manahan)
Head retention; Dry hopping; Straining (BAUGHMANKR)
Lies, damn lies and Guinness (R. Bradley)
Homebrew from Canada, Lots-o-repitching: evaluation (Paul L. Kelly)
Rare Trappiste Ale (flowers)
Re: Tygon tubing (Steve Dempsey)
Vodka and Fermentation Locks (John Polstra)
Coffee grinders / grain malt. (Jim White)
Lab chemicals as additives ("DRCV06::GRAHAM")
SAM ADAMS (John_Zettler.ADFMcLean_CSD)
RE: Sam Adams Double Bock (Jack Webb)
Evanston's not dry (QUINT_CHRIS/HP6600_1K)
Brew On Premises (Rob McDonald)
Re: sanitary airlocks and carbonation (Douglas Allen Luce)
Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmi@hplabs.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmi@hplabs.hp.com
[Please do not send me requests for back issues]
Archives are available from netlib@mthvax.cs.miami.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 91 08:25:20 EDT
From: "William M. Pierce Jr., Ph.D." <WMPIER01%ULKYVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Homebrew Digest
In reply to C.R. Saikley - if you're looking for Ohio brewpubs, there is one
in Northern Kentucky about 10 minutes south of Cincinnati off I-75 (at
Buttermilk Pike) named Oldenburg Brewery.
In-Reply-To: note of 04/12/91 06:49
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 91 08:43:55 EDT
From: Jeff McCartney : 541-7340 <JEFF91%SYBIL@rti.rti.org>
Subject: PLEASE REMOVE ME FROM MAILING LIST
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 91 08:52:36 -0500
From: zentner@ecn.purdue.edu (Mike Zentner)
Subject: brewing stoves
For anyone who cares, I found a rather nice looking brewing stove
in a Bass Pro Shops catalog (1-800-227-7776). It is stainless steel,
136000BTU, has a stove-top-like burner, and stands waist high. It comes
with a 3 gallon stainless steel pot and lid with a large frying basket
too (it's really for fish frying). The guy on the phone assured me that
it was quite sturdy and that their return policy was very liberal. I have
it on the word of an avid fisherman that they are a good place with which to do
business. The price is regular 139.97, on sale till June 18 for $99.97.
I just ordered yesterday and have not yet recieved it, so no comment yet.
Just thought I'd let anyone interested know so they could call for the
catalog (which takes about a week or 2 to get there). They also have
less elaborate 2 and 3 burner units.
If anyone is interested in how mine looks, email to me and I'll let you know
when it gets here.
Mike Zentner ....of to sample some bock....
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 91 9:21:16 CDT
From: dbeedle@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Dave Beedle)
Subject: Thanks and kegging...
Hi all! First thanks to those folks who told me not to worry about
the hydrogen sulfied oder in my latest batch. It does seem to be going
away and I am not worrying! The yeast, BTW, is Witbred Lager yeast (dry,
14g).
Yesterday I picked up a small (2 1/4 gallon) Brewcraft pressure keg.
In the literature it mentions an "Auto injector"? I assume this is a C02
set up of some sort. Keeping the pressure up seem like a good idea to me
since I don't plan on drinking the whole two gallons in one sitting ;-).
Just what, exacly, is this critter and where can I get one? Are there
alternatives? Thanks!
TTFN
- --
Dave Beedle Office of Academic Computing
Illinois State University
Internet: dbeedle@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu 136A Julian Hall
Bitnet: dbeedle@ilstu.bitnet Normal, Il 61761
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 91 10:46:41 EDT
From: vince@hickory.MSI.CORNELL.EDU (Vince Prantil)
Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #614 (April 12, 1991)
I am sorry but my system is experiencing a severe disk space crunch and my
mailbox folders on homebrew overfloweth. I would please request that you
change my address to send homebrew newsletters to
vincei@isaiah.msi.cornell.edu
Otherwise I will have to continue destroying them (and not be able to read
them) in order to open my mail folders.
VCP
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1991 10:11:34 -0600
From: flowers@csrd.uiuc.edu
Subject: Ireks Weizen followup
Thanks for all the replies. I got my weizen and weisse a bit confused.
Weisse is the weaker, lighter beer.
Apparantly, Ireks is 100% wheat, therefore no barly to wheat ratio to screw
up by adding barly malt.
Jay Hersh recommended BME extract for a barley/wheat mix.
I'm going to add one can of malt extract and make a Dunkel Weizen. Should
the starting gravity register high enough, I will call it Weizen Bock.
Weizen Bocks were highly recommended in a few of the replies.
Thanks again to everyone.
-Craig Flowers (flowers@csrd.uiuc.edu)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 91 10:32:47 EDT
From: lighthouse!rob@uunet.UU.NET (Rob Kedoin)
Subject: please add...
Please add homebrew@lighthouse.com to your mailing list.
Thanks in advance,
Rob Kedoin rob@lighthouse.com
Lighthouse Design, Ltd
6516 Western Avenue Chevy Chase, MD 20815
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 91 11:18:11 EDT
From: Chris Shenton <chris@asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov>
Subject: Re: Coffee grinders
On Thu, 11 Apr 91 11:15:48 CDT, jlf@poplar.cray.com (John Freeman) said:
John> I used to use a coffee grinder with my hand drill to provide power.
John> Corona takes a minute or two per pound and is much more uniform.
John> My advice - get a Corona and don't waste time with a coffee grinder.
Quick note to those who want to drive their Corona with a power-drill. I
smoked my Black-and-Decker VSR drill after grinding about three batches
worth of grain. My suspicion is that the drill is designed for high speed
and low torque, and that unless you can gear it down, you'll melt the
winding insulation like I did.
My solution? Hook up my Skil Hammer Drill to it. It has a lower speed but
much higher torque. Of course it costs $100, which drives the cost of the
grinding system up... :-(
Have any of you build a roller mill? My brew store owner had one, and it
was great, but I think he said he spent over $1000 on it!
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 91 08:30:22 pdt
From: Ted Manahan <tedm@hpcvcbp.cv.hp.com>
Subject: Dry hopping
A quick note on dry hopping. I tried it once for a holiday ale; It was
your basic American pale ale, with (Wilamette?) hops added to the
secondary. It tasted pretty good. I told people to drink it quickly, as
I was afraid that the dry hopping would introduce an infection that
would show up in a month or so.
Well, one of the people I gave it to stored it in his refrigerator for
months. I was at his house the next summer, and he pulled one out. I
never save my own brews for that long! Anyway, it tasted twice as good
as it did when fresh brewed! No infection at all. Better than Anchor
Liberty Ale!
The moral of this story is - don't worry too much; just do it!
Ted Manahan
tedm@hp-pcd.cv.hp.com
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1991 11:42 EST
From: BAUGHMANKR@CONRAD.APPSTATE.EDU
Subject: Head retention; Dry hopping; Straining
These remarks go back several issues:
Dan Needham asked about carbonating in kegs.
I've been artifically carbonating my beers for several years. I've
found it necessary to *really* overpressurize the keg (50 or 60 PSI)
for 2 or 3 days. Don't shake or roll the keg else you'll get big
fish-eye bubbles instead of the smaller ones that result from letting
it sit. Also, the colder you can get the keg while doing this the
better. Cold beer absorbs CO2 better than warm beer.
Since the beer is overpressurized, it'll take a while to settle down
to 8 PSI after you tap the keg. I usually depressurize just prior to
pulling a beer. You'll have to do this for the first 8 or 10 beers.
Dan Strahs asked about adding maize for head retention:
Flaked maize is not the best way to go for head retention. Ditto the
other remarks about Cara Pils, Crystal and Wheat malt. I've used all
with good success.
Several other factors could be causing the thin head on your beer:
Did you wash any of your equipment with detergent? If so, you have to
rinse, rinse, rinse to make sure none of it is left. Detergent breaks
the surface tension of liquids and the head of your beer along with
it.
Did you use sugar in your recipe? If so, shuck the sugar next time
and use an equivalent amount of dried malt extract. All malt beers
are thicker and more likely to exhibit good head retention than are
sugar beers.
I usually add a cup or two of crystal malt to any and all extract beers.
Crystal malt adds unfermentables to the wort which end up giving the
final beer an all-grain character and more mouth-feel. This also
helps with head retention.
Bob Clark wanted to know how Sierra Nevada gets those aromatics in
their beer. I asked Ken Grossman that last year while touring the
brewery. He dry hops and likes to use "gummy hops".
I haven't dry-hopped in a while but I've always been disappointed by
the aromatics (rather, the lack of) from finish hopping. I built a
modified hop back last year for use with my BrewCaps. In one batch I
used Cascades, the other Chinooks ( a nice gummy hop). The Cascade
batch had no aromatics (just like old times). The Chinook batch was
wonderful! Conclusion: If you're not dry-hopping, try a really high
alpha hop for finishing to increase the aromatics. Low alpha finish
hops are a waste of time and hops. If you are dry-hopping, try high
alpha hops but go easy on the quantities. 1/4 to 1/2 ounce per five-
gallon batch should be plenty.
And finally, a quick reminder of the pot-scrubber-in-a-mesh-bag tech-
nique for separating hops from your boiling wort/dry-hopped beer. Tie
a copperwound pot scrubber around the end of your pick-up tube. Tie a
fine mesh hop bag (No-See'um netting from a camping store works well,
too) around the scrubber, in effect putting the scrubber in a bag.
Suspend the bottom of the pick-up tube several inches above
trub/sediment and siphon. A painless, efficient technique.
Kinney Baughman | Beer is my business and
baughmankr@conrad.appstate.edu | I'm late for work.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 91 10:43:12 CDT
From: bradley@dehn.math.nwu.edu (R. Bradley)
Subject: Lies, damn lies and Guinness
Gee, I was so happy to get this visiting faculty position at Northwestern,
but when I hear the way you folks dump on Evanston, it makes me glad I'll
be leaving in a few months :-)
First, the outright lie. Graig Flowers says:
Craig> Evanston, including Northwestern University, is dry.
Then, BIOSCTH@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU says:
BIOS> Brewpubs in Evanston ... Not likely. Evanston is the home of the
BIOS> Women's Temperance League (sic) -- the teetotaling biddies that were
BIOS> .......
BIOS> The only good thing I know about Evanston, beer-wise that is, is that it's
BIOS> on the northern border of The City of Broad Shoulders. Get a cab and go
BIOS> to the Goose Island Brewery.
Just the facts, Ma'am: There are no brewpubs in Evanston, and the Goose
Island is your best bet; it's about $15 by cab, easily accessed by the CTA
and the beer is good and fresh.
Evanston WAS a dry town, until 1971. Now, there are about as many pubs
as you would expect in a suburb of its size, at least in "downtown"; I
suppose the periphery long ago accustomed itself to drinking in the
neighbouring townships. Most pubs serve Miller and have sports on TV,
but there's one good pub. It's called Tommy Nevin's, 1500 Sherman Ave.,
right across from the Holiday Inn. They have half a dozen imports on
tap, always fresh, and they know how to draw a pint of Guinness. The
ambience is pseudo-Irish, there's no TV and the food is decent. It's
associated with the Davis Street Fish Market, a restaurant where the
fish is superb and the beer list closely approximates Tommy Nevin's.
And, no, the campus isn't dry. However, the majority of American
campuses I've visited in the last year were. (Just as well I didn't
get that job at Eastern Washington U. :-)
The Women's Christian Temperance Union is indeed headquartered here,
but are a much bigger force, e.g., in Toronto (part of which is STILL
dry; a referendum was held just a few years ago and that's what the
RESIDENTS of High Park want). Nowadays, the WCTU doesn't lobby against
drink but instead does charitable work on real causes: hunger, homelessness,
child abuse, etc.
Perhaps they've decided it's easier treating the symptoms.......
Rob Bradley
bradley@math.nwu.edu
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 91 10:53:55 EST
From: pkel@psych.purdue.edu (Paul L. Kelly)
Subject: Homebrew from Canada, Lots-o-repitching: evaluation
I have an idea for the person(s) having trouble sending homebrew to the US.
Maybe you could do a relay thing where you ship the beer to somebody on the
Canada/US border, and they cart it across to a place where they could ship it
to the AHA. You could call it "the Underground Aleroad" :).
This dead horse has been beaten to a pulp, but since I have two cents to add,
I figure I might as well. I met Father Barleywine this past weekend at a
homebrewers club meeting, and he had several fine beers with him, which he
claims were brewed with his repitching technique. If anyone has forgotten,
it involves something like tossing new, cooled wort on top of the yeast from
the last batch. The beer was *very* good.
Now let's be pragmatic about this. Despite all the hoopla about yeast mutations
over "generations" of beer, it would seem that repitching works, at least for
this individual. I would say that the real proof of a brewing technique is in
the finished product.If you can handle the volume (repitching this way requires
that you brew often), then give it a try. I intend to do so, as soon as the
opportunity (i.e. money and time for brewing) presents itself.
Paul L. Kelly (pkel@brazil.psych.purdue.edu)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1991 11:16:26 -0600
From: flowers@csrd.uiuc.edu
Subject: Rare Trappiste Ale
After reading of the many exploits of Digesters travelling in Europe and
all over the US, I never thought I would taste anything others haven't
already posted about. As luck would have it, I have had the opportunity to
taste one of the rarer Trappiste Ales.
A recent aquaintance travels to Belgium a few times a year for work. He
brought back a Trappiste Ale and said the only place you could get it was
at the Abbey. It came in a brown bottle and had no label. The cap is
marked: Trappistenbier Westvleteren ABT. I looked it up in Jackson's book
(the first edition) and found it was made by one of the 6 Abbeys that can
lawfully call their beers Trappist. The abbey is run by the St. Sixtus
Brothers and is refered to as the Westvleteren Abbey. They brew beer
mainly for the brothers and will sell to visiters. The beer is not
available away from the Abbey, although a local brewery brews another beer
under the Brother's direction. This was about all Jackson had. Could
someone look this up in Jackson's latest edition to see if there is any
other information?
For the truly curious, the side of the cap reads: ST. SIXTUSABDIJ V.Z.W.
B-8983 Vleteren. I don't know if Vleteren is town but that's what I would
guess. I don't understand the ABDIJ connected to St. Sixtus nor whether
B-8983 is in any way significant.
The beer is 11% alcohol by vol (also marked on the cap) and was very sweet
and suprisingly well balanced. Definetly a sipping brew. It had plenty of
yeast that was floculating in clumps in the lower quarter of the bottle.
It was impossible to pour even half the beer without any yeast. I noticed
no yeast bite, but I suppose it could have been masked by the high alcohol.
The color was a deep, clear brown. I really liked it and was suprised it
survived the trip in such good condition. I have no idea how much it cost.
I am attempting to culture the yeast. I know of no practical way to share
it with anyone, unless, of course, you live nearby, in which case you're
more than welcome to a sample of the recultured yeast.
It's probably a bit too much for my Dunkel Weizen, huh?
-Craig Flowers (flowers@csrd.uiuc.edu)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 91 10:40:12 MST
From: Steve Dempsey <steved@longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu>
Subject: Re: Tygon tubing
In HBD#614 Jack Webb <JACK.L.WEBB@OFFICE.WANG.COM> writes:
> A friend showed me an ad for "Tygon" beverage/food tubing. According to him,
> this stuff was originally designed for the ice cream industry, and won't
> promote bacterial growth. He made the obvious connection to homebrewing.
> According to the ad, "Tygon B-44-3 tubing is odorless and taste-free, so it
> won't alter your formula for success."
Won't promote bacterical growth, but probably won't prevent it either,
and if it does I don't want that antiseptic in my beer. I've seen this
stuff in Cole Parmer (big lab supply vendor) catalogs. They also have
lots of fancy tubing for handling corrosives, solvents, and other less
benign liquids than beer. The cost for these was in the few dollars per
foot range -- talk about overkill! I go for the cheap ($.27/foot) FDA
clear vinyl hose from the local hardware store for siphon hoses, etc.
where the exposure time is low. For service lines from kegs the standard
beer tubing is equally cheap and maintainable. When they accumulate enough
gunk and become slightly opaque I simply replace them.
Steve Dempsey, Center for Computer Assisted Engineering
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523 +1 303 491 0630
INET: steved@longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu, dempsey@handel.CS.ColoState.Edu
UUCP: boulder!ccncsu!longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu!steved, ...!ncar!handel!dempsey
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 91 09:20:23 PDT
From: polstra!jdp@uunet.UU.NET (John Polstra)
Subject: Vodka and Fermentation Locks
Regarding the problem of water being sucked from the fermentation lock
into the carboy: There are two kinds of fermentation locks on the
market. One has a moving float, and the other is an S-shaped tube with
no moving parts. The S-shaped design is better, because it will bubble
in either direction and it will not let water be drawn into the carboy.
John Polstra polstra!jdp@uunet.uu.net
Polstra & Co., Inc. ...!uunet!polstra!jdp
Seattle, Washington USA (206) 932-6482
"Self-knowledge is always bad news." -- John Barth
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 91 13:03:13 EDT
From: JWHITE@maine.maine.edu (Jim White)
Subject: Coffee grinders / grain malt.
>Date: Wed, 10 Apr 91 12:05:13 CDT
>From: kswanson@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Kurt Swanson)
>Subject: Re: cracking/crushing/grinding grains...
>
>Does anyone use a home coffee grinder to crush grains? If so, how effective is
>this? I have one of these things, and granted one can't grind too much at a
>time, it would be nice to use this thing for something, as I don't drink
coffee.
>
>Kurt.
>
I usually add a bit of crystal or other flavoring malt to an extract brew,
and always use my 'cheap' little coffee grinder. It's the motorized kind
with twin blades that rotate horizontally at about a zillion rpms.
One does need to take care, as it can turn the malt grains into a fine powder
in about 10 seconds. I usually grind 1/3 cup at a time in small bursts until
it looks ok. It doesn't get em all, and grinds some too fine, but it's
preferable (to me) than a rolling pin.
Jim White
------------------------------
Date: 12 Apr 91 13:49:00 EDT
From: "DRCV06::GRAHAM" <graham%drcv06.decnet@drcvax.af.mil>
Subject: Lab chemicals as additives
In perusing my new Carolina Biological catalog, I have found some chemicals
that would be useful in tayloring the mineral profile of my water. My
question ot any lab types out there: Can I assume that a reagent grade
chemical will be safe to use in my beer, (providing that the chemical is
not poisonous in the first place).
How about the same question for what they call "lab grade"?
Thanks a bunch,
Dan Graham, WA6CNN
Beer made with the Derry air, (Derry, New Hampshire)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1991 11:06:33 PDT
From: John_Zettler.ADFMcLean_CSD@xerox.com
Subject: SAM ADAMS
re: Varieties of Sam Adams (TSAMSEL 8/12)
I have found five varieties of Sam Adams at my local Safeway in the DC area
(Fairfax, Virginia). However, only the Original and Lightship are continuously
stocked. These five are:
- Original
- Lightship (a Light Beer - 1/3 less flavor than regular)
- Boston Ale
- Winter Lager
- Double Bock
My personal taste is that the original is far superior to all but the Winter
Lager. The Double Bock is interesting for a change of pace.
P.S. - No success brewing a replica of Sam Adams original (although not one of
my homebrew goals), yet I find many people compare much homebrew to Sam Adams,
as it is the only domestic premium they have previously tried. Thanks for the
Cooper's Australian recipe, I will give it a try.
JZ
------------------------------
Date: 12 Apr 91 10:33:29 EST
From: Jack Webb <JACK.L.WEBB@OFFICE.WANG.COM>
Subject: RE: Sam Adams Double Bock
A couple of HBDs ago, Dan Graham asked about Sam Adams Double Bock beer. I
tried getting this to him a few times without success, so have to post. Hey
Dan, how about sending me something so I can see what the hell your address
is? My attempts seem to keep getting lost in the Derry Air :-)
Anyhoo...
I would highly recommend the brew (aka Dopplebock in Germany). Wonderful
stuff - dark, heavy, malty, potent! I enjoyed last years' batch so much I
brewed a version of my own. Still, I'll pick up some of theirs again as well.
Jack
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 91 14:17:15 CDT
From: bliss@csrd.uiuc.edu (Brian Bliss)
On Pitching yeast while hot:
I always make a "1-hr starter bottle" by taking a
little bit of wort at the start of the boil, then
add cold tap water to it to cool it down, then add
the yeast and shake.
I've pitched yeast at anywhere from 80F to 105F.
Anything over 100, and It seems to start slowly,
possibly indicating that I've killed a significant
portion of the yeast. 95F works fine - It usually
starts off within 6 hours - I try to shoot for
85F, though.
I think the highest temperate you can get away with
without killing the yeast will stimulate it, and
get it going faster. The wort is usually cooled
to near it's final temperate within the next few
hours - There isn't time to produce an appreciable
amount of "off flavors". As long as you don't kill
off much of the yeast, I don't see how it could be
"damaged".
I usually do the "sparge hot wort into cold water
method", so the aeration is in the Cold water, not
the hot wort. I seem to remember Papazian saying
something in TCJOHB about not aerating the wort
until it has cooled completely.
On airlocks:
If you use an S-shaped double bubble airlock,
A vacuum in the carboy will not pull water back
into the wort. I always use them for the first
few hours in the carboy, where the cooling wort
may create a vacuum. Once when I attached a
blow-off tube right away, I had it pull water
through 3 ft. of hose back into the carboy - never again.
Now I make sure that CO2 is being produced before
removing the S-airlock and attaching the blowoff tube.
After It's done spurting it's stuff, I'll attach
any old airlock (always and S-shaped one on a plastic
fermenter - It was previously noted that a vacuum
can be created when picking them up)
The S-shaped airlocks clog more easily than the econo-locks,
so you have to watch out.
On explosive Carboys:
If the tube is 1/4" ID, then it has pi/16 sq. in. cross-sectional
area. If you have a, say 14" in diameter carboy, then the
area of the bottom is pi * 49 sq. in. If the level of liquid is
below the neck of the carboy, then there is ~ 800 times as much
total pressure on the bottom of the carboy (plus the pressure
from the wieght of the wort!) as there is against the blow-off
My apologies for being an asshole in digest #614.
bb
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 91 12:58:15 pdt
From: QUINT_CHRIS/HP6600_1K@hpesf.cup.hp.com
Subject: Evanston's not dry
The last digest contained postings that said Evanston was dry. This is
no longer true. Evanston is the home of the WCTU, and it was dry until
a few years ago, but its "wet" now. While I was at Northwestern they got
their first liquor store (Evanston's First Liquors) and several bars, and I
gradutated in '86 - so they haven't been dry for at least five years.
I don't know of any brewpubs in Evanston, but last time I was in town I
went to a place called Tommy Nevins (Sherman and Lake) that had some good
English beers on tap. Also, be sure to go to Walker Brothers pancake house
on Green Bay road for breakfast - the food there is great.
-Chris
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 91 22:12 EDT
From: rob@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Rob McDonald)
Subject: Brew On Premises
Can anybody point me to a homebrew club anywhere between Toronto
and Buffalo? I found the "Sensitive Hombrewers" in Hamilton, but
they seem to be inactive as a club right now.
None of the homebrew shops around here (Burlington-Hamilton) carry
liquid yeast cultures. Does anybody know of a supplier near Toronto?
How about mail order houses? Who is near enough that the yeast would
survive the trip? Is ordering liquid yeast this way advisable (possible?)?
On a slightly different note, the latest thing around here is "Brew On
Premises" facilities. They provide the equipment, sell the supplies,
and do the cleanup. You mix up the extract and hops, and boil it up
in their gas fired kettles. They run it through a heat exchanger to
cool it, you pitch it, and leave it to ferment for 12 days. They then
filter it and carbonate it, and you bottle it (they sell screw top bottles).
They provide for extract brewing only, with recipes posted right on
the wall, and helpful staff on hand to direct you. They seem to be aimed
at the "cheap beer" crowd (advertizing proclaims 1/2 price beer!). A
brewing acquaintance has tried a couple of these, and likes them. I tried
one of his, that was supposed to be a Newcastle Brown clone. It was a
nice clean tasting brown ale. It certainly wasn't Newcastle Brown.
A recent batch of stout had a F.G. of 1.020, a bit higher than usual for
this recipe. It foamed like mad (a problem I haven't had since you all
straightened me out on pressure and opening the tap fully). Has anybody
seen a correlation between F.G. and foaming with kegged brew?
.....rob
EMAIL: rob@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca <<< Standard Disclaimers Apply >>>
ARCHAIC: Digisonix, 2326 Redfern Rd., Burlington, Ontario, Canada, L7R 1X3.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 Apr 91 16:56:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: Douglas Allen Luce <dl2p+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: sanitary airlocks and carbonation
Re: alcohol in the airlock.
My molecular bio roomate guesses that the alcohol content of
the liquid in an airlock should be at least 80%. I didn't query
him at lenght, but he said that alcohol is not nearly as good at
destroying things quickly, and a higher concentration of it is
required to be useful....
A question: why use either CO2 from a bottle or prime the beer
to generating carbonation in the keg? Does it take a lot of CO2 to
carbonate? Is it worth it to avoid the yeast sediment? Is there something
inherently different in these two processes?
It would seem to me that CO2 carbonation is ideal, since you don't
waste any beer.
dug
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #615, 04/15/91
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