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HOMEBREW Digest #0617
This file received at Mthvax.CS.Miami.EDU 91/04/17 03:07:54
HOMEBREW Digest #617 Wed 17 April 1991
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
sm/smtp& (DAVIDSOND)
Root Beer (flowers)
Jackson Book? (Rob)
Re: Florida Brewpubs (a.e.mossberg)
St. Sixtus Abbey (Fritz Keinert)
Jim's Homebrew; Cleaning Copper (BAUGHMANKR)
copper laundry tubs (Carl West x4449)
Cleaning Wort Chiller, Cleaning Copper (hersh)
Pub/Brewpub data (JRM @ 214/575-6774)
pure strain of weizen beer yeast (Marty Albini)
Re: Lab chemicals as additives (John Polstra)
HBD 154, where are you? ("DRCV06::GRAHAM")
Spokane WA (kevin vang)
Foam (C.R. Saikley)
All-grain troubles (Crawford.Wbst129)
Supply shops near 'Frisco (Chuck Coronella)
All-Grain Barley Wine (C.R. Saikley)
SAM ADAMS (Brian Smithey)
Re: Homebrew Digest #616 (April 16, 1991) (Raymond Degennaro)
Brewcraft injector (Bill Crick)
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: 15 Apr 91 22:57 +0000
From: DAVIDSOND%AC%CSC@CSC.ISU.EDU
Subject: sm/smtp&
We've just started two batches of mead/metheglin:
One is 5 Lb. dark honey to 2 gal water & 1 quart raspberries (et. spicetera)
The other is 12 Lb. light honey to 5 gal water (ibid.)
FIZZ TRICKS for MEAD:
The batches are our first attempt at mead, so we're unfamiliar with how
Montrachet yeast and honey coexist/mingle. Since we're interested in the drinks
having some fizz/carbonation when opened, I would appreciate help or tips
on handling it. Specifically, Cheri Feinstein (some months ago) said that
one seals at a late stage in fermenting (how late?!) then 'kills' the yeast
with everclear or vodka and bottles it. Since my experience has been that
pouring carbonated drinks (or siphoning them) tends to agitate enough to let
a hefty share of the CO2 out... and since the yeast is hopefully (regrettably)
quite dead upon arrival in his/her/its new glass house (and thus unable to make
life fizzy for me)... I suspect this leaves a very mild effervescence, no?
Other postings seem to suggest one consults Specific Gravity ratings, or other
mystic help at 'guessing' the correct time to bottle. Since we'd prefer to
use caps, and since this is a first experiment with mead, complete with a
very unique fermentation cycle compared to any of our limited experiences...
can someone either repost good estimated SG's for a recipe of 12lb. honey
to five gallons water (estimated)... or Jeanne Dixon's toll-free number.
Well, that also mentioned the other option I've been handed: corks. That way
seems to allow options other than bottle-grenades... but we aren't equipped
with corker, corks, or any clue for that approach.
RACKING MEAD for clarity/speed/etc.
Also, regarding racking: Monday (Taxday) is day two, and I'm left with an
impression that every few days I should be racking into clean containters.
This is for (what?) clarity? taste? speed to maturation?
SPEED MEADing
Finally, if I want to 'nudge' this toward an early maturation, someone said that
strangling the yeast early with grain alcohol added will help. Right? Wrong?
which? Oh-oh, the sysop's kicking me off!
Please, if any responses are 'time sensitive', post to me directly!!! The
newsletter seems to take two days delivery here sometimes.
- ---Darryl Davidson
DavidsonD@CSC.ISU.EDU ID is just a state of mind...
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 08:35:52 -0400
From: flowers@osf.org
Subject: Root Beer
I just finished mixing up a batch of Root Beer (My
wife doesn't drink beer, and wanted to play brewer
with me.). As I was bottling it, I started to wonder,
what stops the yeasti-beasties from eating all that
unfermented sugar, and blowing bottles all over my
kitchen. I thought that the yeast stoped working
when either the sugar was gone or the alcohol reached
some high amount (~14%?). I just gotta believe that
my brew supply store wouldn't sell me a home bomb
making kit.
Ken Flowers
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 06:49:32 CST
From: Rob <C08926RC@WUVMD.Wustl.Edu>
Subject: Jackson Book?
In the last digest I saw reference to a book by Jackson. From the
post it appears that this is an directory of beers or something.
Could someone give me more info on this book, such as the title, etc?
Thanks!
|==================================================================|
| Rob Caton | | Disclaimer: |
| Programmer/Analyst | "I live with danger | What? |
| Washington University | everyday, J. R., | Me worry? |
|-------------------------| but occasionally I |-----------------|
| C08926RC@WUVMD | leave her and go hunting."--GABI |
|==================================================================|
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 13:29:55 GMT
From: aem@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (a.e.mossberg)
Subject: Re: Florida Brewpubs
In digest <1991Apr16.070406.26471@mthvax.cs.miami.edu> CR writes:
[lists brewpubs]
>Miami - Florida Brewing Co.
Miami has two brewpubs - Zum Alten Fritz, in downtown Miami near the
Omni, and another whose name I cannot remember, in Ft. Lauderdale right
on New River. There is nothing in the phone book listed for "Florida
Brewing Co."
aem
- --
aem@mthvax.cs.miami.edu .......................................................
Out of life comes death and out of death life, out of the young the old,
and out of the old the young, out of waking sleep and out of sleep waking,
the stream of creation and dissolution never stops. - Heraclitus
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 09:15:06 CDT
From: Fritz Keinert <keinert@iastate.edu>
Subject: St. Sixtus Abbey
In homebrew digest #615, Craig Flowers (@flowers@csrd.uiuc.edu) writes
> 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 word "abdij" is Flemish for "abbey". The "8983" is the zip code.
It is customary in Europe to precede the zip code by the country code,
so you don't have to write the name of the country on the envelope.
"B" is Belgium, obviously. Vleteren must indeed be the town, then.
I don't know what the abbreviation "V.Z.W." stands for.
Fritz Keinert phone: (515) 294-5128
Department of Mathematics fax: (515) 294-5454
Iowa State University e-mail: keinert@iastate.edu
Ames, IA 50011
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1991 11:03 EST
From: BAUGHMANKR@CONRAD.APPSTATE.EDU
Subject: Jim's Homebrew; Cleaning Copper
RE: Jim's Homebrew.
Tom sold Jim's Homebrew to Bob Ketcham a couple
of months ago. While I hated to see Tom leave, Bob seems like a
helluva nice guy and I would recommend his services to everyone.
Address: Jim's Homebrew Supply
North 2613 Division
Spokane, WA 99207
(509) 328-4850
RE: Cleaning copper
I'm pretty sure B-Brite does the trick for cleaning copper. Try
filling the copper kettle with water, dump in some B-Brite, and
boil it.
Cheers ya'll,
Kinney Baughman
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 11:20:58 EDT
From: eisen@kopf.HQ.Ileaf.COM (Carl West x4449)
Subject: copper laundry tubs
Bill Crick mentions a
> copper "boiler" I have in the basement that would span two burners,
sounds like a laundry tub to me.
I would have a care and check just how this tub is constructed,
I would not be surprised to find that the seams are soldered
with a lead solder which would be fine for doing laundry, but
appreciably less than terrific for making acidic food or drink.
If the seams are rolled instead of soldered and show no grey metal,
you may well have something useful there.
Good Luck,
Carl
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 12:12:44 EDT
From: hersh@expo.lcs.mit.edu
Subject: Cleaning Wort Chiller, Cleaning Copper
>If you consider building a wort chiller, be careful about the oils inside
your copper tubing.
Not a problem for immersion chillers since the wort only touches the outside.
Good point for those making counterflow chillers to consider though. You've
likely saved some poor soul from ruining a btach Mike :-)!!
Russ G says
>For the next few months, my brew-room will naturally stay at 60 degF,
a little cold for an ale,
Not really, some yeast strains still work nicely at this temp. I believe
Whitbread Ale will, I'm sure at least one of the wyeasts should also, consult
your supplier for more info.
> Claening copper
Bill try B-Brite, I use this on the outside of my Copper Chiller and it works
well.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 11:48:11 -0500
From: jmellby@skvax1.csc.ti.com (JRM @ 214/575-6774)
Subject: Pub/Brewpub data
I am seeing increased traffic with mesagesssages like "where are pubs in XXX".
From all they replyas there are a lot of us who keep notes on good pubs
around the country. My own problem is that during the day (which is
usually when I see these messages) I can't take time waway from work
to search my pub database and construct a reply.
So what I want to do is create a more formal database that I can queyrry
asking things like
what pubs are in JSan Jose
what microbrewerys are in San Francisoco or in the 808 area code
what lbeer stores are near Tulsa
and so on.
I already have a large amount of semi-formatted data (around a 100K
annotated list of pubs including notes and comments from the net).
Has anyone else already got such a probgram? Would anyone else be
willing to contribute their list of pubs for such an effort?
I this was successful (assuming no one else already has it) I would
be happy to send it one to interested people.
jmellby@iluvatar.dseg.ti.com
jmellby@skvax1.ti.com
John R. Mellby
Texas Instruments (<knows nothing of this>
(214)157-517-5370
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 10:52:24 PDT
From: Marty Albini <martya@sdd.hp.com>
Subject: pure strain of weizen beer yeast
I'm looking for a source for weizen yeast
(saccarimides delbruckii, I think) in pure form. Please don't
tell me about Wyeast 3056; it's got another strain mixed in with
it. I want the straight stuff.
If somebody's got addresses/phone numbers for Wyeast
and/or MeV, I'd appreciate seeing that too.
- --
____________________________________________Marty Albini___________
"Thank god for long-necked bottles, the angel's remedy."--Tom Petty
phone : (619) 592-4177
UUCP : {hplabs|nosc|hpfcla|ucsd}!hp-sdd!martya
Internet : martya@sdd.hp.com
US mail : Hewlett-Packard Co., 16399 W. Bernardo Drive, San Diego CA 92127-1899 USA
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 10:39:09 PDT
From: polstra!jdp@uunet.UU.NET (John Polstra)
Subject: Re: Lab chemicals as additives
In HBD #615, "DRCV06::GRAHAM" <graham%drcv06.decnet@drcvax.af.mil> asks:
> 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"?
Only food grade chemicals should be used in brewing. Such chemicals
will be marked "USP" or "FCC". I don't know what your supplier means by
"reagent" or "lab" grade; USP and FCC chemicals have to meet
well-defined standards of purity.
A friend in the chemical supply industry tells me that one DOESN'T want to
take chances with non-food grade additives. They can and often do
contain dangerous levels of lead, arsenic, cadmium, etc.
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: 16 Apr 91 14:52:00 EDT
From: "DRCV06::GRAHAM" <graham%drcv06.decnet@drcvax.af.mil>
Subject: HBD 154, where are you?
Well, I'm up to May of 1989 in reading all of the Homebrew archives. Whew!
I'm learning a lot. I should get college credit for some of this stuff.
Anyway, digest number 154 is missing from the May 1989 archive file.
If someone has number 154, could they send it to me. I know I'm requesting
these on a regular basis, but I do want to read all the material I can get
hold of.
Thanks kindly in advance,
Dan Graham, WA6CNN
Beer made with the Derry air, (Derry, New Hampshire)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 14:05:12 CDT
From: kevin vang <MN033302@VM1.NoDak.EDU>
Subject: Spokane WA
In HBD 616 John E Lenz rises to the defense of the Eastern Washington region.
I would like to add that Spokane is also the home of the Fort Spokane Brewing
Company. I was there last summer and I was very impressed. I forget the
exact address, but it is located right in the downtown area. When I was there
they had four of their own beers on tap, and Guinness and a few others. I was
in a hurry (I had to meet someone at the train station) so I only sampled one.
If I remember right, it was called "Red Alt" and I thought it was very good,
although it was served too cold in my opinion. I can't remember what the other
choices on the menu, but they looked intriguing and I regretted not having more
time. (The selections were written on a chalkboard, so I assume they vary).
The atmosphere was great.
Also, in Couer d'Alene, Idaho (about 20-30 E of Spokane) there is the CdA
Brewing Company, also known as TJ Fischer's Brewpub. As of last summer, they
were brewing Centennial Pale Ale (I wasn't that impressed, but it won a gold
medal at the Great American Beer Festival), Summer Weizen Light (which has a
wonderful bready wheat flavor and aroma -- the only beer I've found which my
wife will drink), and a bock (I forget the name, but I liked it) and a stout,
which I haven't tried yet. The beer is available at several area restaurants
and in bottles at local stores. The owner and staff are very friendly and will
give tours if you call in advance.
I'm headed out that way again this summer, and I would appreciate hearing
if there is anything else in the area that a beer hunter should know about.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 12:23:03 PDT
From: grumpy!cr@uunet.UU.NET (C.R. Saikley)
Subject: Foam
From: rob@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Rob McDonald)
<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?
There is a correlation between FG and foaming in bottles, and may be in
kegs depending on your carbonation method. The high FG may indicate that
the yeast isn't really finished yet. The beer then goes into its package
and finishes. If you're priming the green beer with sugar, malt extract,
wort or whatever, then there is more sugar present than the priming
addition would indicate. Hence more carbonation and foam.
If, on the other hand, you are artificially carbonating, timing may be
the key. One possible scenario goes like this.
1. Transfer to keg and seal
2. Pressurize beer to x psi
3. Wait n days
4. Tap
In step 2, the keg is pressurized to the level required to achieve the
desired carbonation. During step 3, the beer continues to ferment,
thereby increasing the pressure in the keg, and carbonation in the beer.
Again, it all depends on the timing.
I've had problems with high FG's and over-carbonated beer. It also seemed
to correlate with those fermentations that dragged on endlessly. I've
been working on a system that should alleviate this and other problems
that have plagued me. I'll follow up with the details after it comes
together.
Cheers,
CR
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1991 13:18:28 PDT
From: Crawford.Wbst129@xerox.com
Subject: All-grain troubles
I have been attempting all-grain brewing and have run into a problem. In three
attempts I have ended up with extremely husky tasting brew. It is so bad that
the beer is undrinkable. Here is a quick rundown of my process:
- I use pre-crushed, two row english pale malt from Great Fermentations.
- Infusion mash in a coleman cooler with the slotted copper pipe drain in the
bottom
- Pre-heater water (about 170 deg) is added to the grain at a ratio of 1
quart/1 lb of grain, in a 5 gal kettle.
- Heat is added (via a gas stove) until the target temp. is reached (about 152
deg).
- PH is at 5.5
- This is then transfered to the pre-heated coleman cooler until conversion is
complete.
- The drain is opened for the sparge. Sparge water is 165 deg at PH 5.5.
- Sparge is terminated before the PH of the runoff reaches PH of 6.0.
I believe my problem is directly heating a mash that is too thick. What
grain/water ratio do you all-grain pros use? Do you boost temp only by adding
heated water? Can you boost the temp. from saccrification temp. to mash-out
temp (or protein rest to saccrification) by just adding hot water? Or is
mash-out at 165 really neccessary?
Any help would be appreciated before I screw up another attempt. Please hurry,
I might start worrying...
Greg
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 14:29 MST
From: Chuck Coronella <CORONELLRJDS@CHE.UTAH.EDU>
Subject: Supply shops near 'Frisco
Californians:
A friend of mine (and former HBD subscriber) lives in San Francisco,
and is looking for local homebrew-supply shops.
Please send me replies directly. (coronellrjds@che.utah.edu)
Thanks,
Chuck
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 13:02:28 PDT
From: grumpy!cr@uunet.UU.NET (C.R. Saikley)
Subject: All-Grain Barley Wine
With the recent talk of all-grain barley wines, I thought I'd put in
my two cents......
A friend of mine, who is a professional brewer, made a batch of barley
wine at home last month. Having a penchant for excess, and access to
grain at $0.23/pound, he used *70* pounds of grain, mostly pale malt.
The mash was as stiff as he could get it (don't know the specifics),
and no water was added after mashing in - no mash out, no sparge, no
nothin. After draining the mash tun and boiling, he ended up with 7
gallons of wort at SG 1.120!!! (Don't try this at home kids! ;-}
It will be quite a while before we know the final results. Until then,
we can only salivate.
CR
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 14:18:58 PDT
From: smithey@esosun.css.gov (Brian Smithey)
Subject: SAM ADAMS
On Fri, 12 Apr 1991 11:06:33 PDT,
John_Zettler.ADFMcLean_CSD@xerox.com said:
> 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
I first had SA's Boston Ale when in Boston a little over a year
ago. It was available only on tap, I ran across it in a Boston
restaurant. Where else has the bottled Ale been seen? The
Lightship recently showed up at my local (San Diego) Liquor Barn,
but I'd gladly trade it for the ale ... has anybody seen it on
the West Coast yet?
Brian
- --
Brian Smithey / SAIC, Geophysics Division / San Diego CA
uucp: uunet!seismo!esosun!smithey
Internet: smithey@esosun.css.gov
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 15:54:42 PDT
From: degennar%bmsr9.usc.edu@usc.edu (Raymond Degennaro)
Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #616 (April 16, 1991)
please remove me from the list
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1991 18:27:52 -0400
From: hplabs!bnr-vpa!bnr-rsc!crick (Bill Crick)
Subject: Brewcraft injector
I have been using a brewcraft injector for years. First on a Safron
Superkeg, and now on a Rotokeg. This injector fits onto the keg, and
server to add CO2 to the keg to keep the pressure up in the keg by replacing
the volume of the beer removed with pressurized CO2. The source of CO2
is the little soad siphon cartridges that are about $0.50 ea. My five gallon
keg uses up about 2 per batch.
There are several cartridge injectors availble for plastic kegs. Most of them
dump the whole cartridge in at once. If there is not enough room in the keg
to hold all of the CO2 without exceeding the pressure relief valve pressure,
the excess CO2 is wasted.
The brewcraft injector contains a pressure regulator, that only fills the keg
to a certain pressure, and shuts off. From there on, when you draw off beer, and
reduce the pressure, it adds enough gas to restore the pressure. This gives
more even carbonation through the life of the batch, and saves on the
cartridges. The regulator works on the same principle as the regulators used
with regular draft setups, using a spring, a diaphram and a valve to add the gas
THe Brecraft regulator is a bit more Mickey mouse, and doesn't maintain teh
pressuere as evenly, due to stiction in the piston that is the diaphram.
Overall, it works quite well.
NOTE: when I go tmy injector, the little clear plactic piston ( a disk about
one inch in diameter) was cracked! When I returned it, the sotre had a whole
box of cracked ones, and we had to sort through a box of new ones to find
a good one. It eventually cracked, and a friend made me one from aluminum
which has worked fine since. Several weeks ago I looked at Brewcraft
injector in a store, and the piston was a green plastic that seemed more
resiliant, so they may have solved the problem, but it may be worthasking
the store if they get many back?? The original piston was hard, brittle, clear
plastic.
The injector will also work as a relief valve. It the pressure gets high
enough, the piston gets pushed far eough that gas will escape past it.
NOte that the pressure it relieves at is fairly high, and is higher than
the relief valve that was in the lid of my superkeg. I have been using
the injector as my relief valve on teh Rotokeg, with no problems
for two years now, and I routinely add too much priming sugar so the extra CO2
gets vented, and purges some of the air out of the keg.
Alternatives are: Injector that adds whole cartridge; Refillable aerosol
cans of CO2 that you use to "give the keg a shot by hand when needed";
CO2 tanks and regulators setup; Not filling the keg as much (I bottle
24 bottles from a 5 gallon batch and put the rest in my 5 gallon keg),
with lots of priming sugar (2 cups/5 gallons: YOU NEED A PRESSURE REFIEF VALVE!!)
the extra gas in the large head space will dispense most or all of the beer without adding any gas.
Bill Crick
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #617, 04/17/91
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