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HOMEBREW Digest #0698
This file received at Mthvax.CS.Miami.EDU 91/08/09 03:12:39
HOMEBREW Digest #698 Fri 09 August 1991
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
RE: Oatmeal Stout Recipe (chris)
Brewpubs/bars in NYC? (Chris Shenton)
thumbrules (sort of) ("Dr. John")
long German pours (krweiss)
reprinting ("Peter Karp")
Re: Newsgroup (Chris Shenton)
MeV Wheat yeast [was: misc. ??s] (Chris Shenton)
Pouring Times (Tom Strasser)
comments on US Guinness (gateh)
stuff (Russ Gelinas)
Dudes... (Percy)
M&F Wheat Extract ("William F. Pemberton")
Sugared Extracts (Martin A. Lodahl)
Proposed new bittering unit, yeast temp shock (hersh)
(David Harelick)
RE: Time to Pour and Guinness (Scott Murphy)
Ale AND Lager Yeast Together? (Tom Bower)
Gold Country Beer News (Martin A. Lodahl)
Judging Sick Beer (Martin A. Lodahl)
Guiness & Nitrogen (korz)
MALTING (Jack Schmidling)
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: Thu, 8 Aug 91 8:06:30 CDT
From: medch!chris@uunet.UU.NET
Subject: RE: Oatmeal Stout Recipe
I don't know how this recipe is, as I haven't started brewing yet,
but it was posted a few months ago. (I save all recipes in the
hopes that one day I'll be able to try them all. :-)
I hope it's a good one. Let me know. And, to whoever originally
posted this, thanks!
8lb British Amber Malt Extract
0.5lb Plack Patent grain (cracked)
0.5lb roasted barley (cracked)
0.5lb Chocolate Malt grain (cracked)
1lb Steel Cut Oats
2oz Eroica (boil)
1oz Fuggles (finishing)
Whitbread ale yeast
Procedure:
Crack all grains (except the oats), add to about 2 gal cold water (incl
oats), bring to a boil (my table top range takes almost an hour to do
this). Remove the grains with a strainer when boiling and add the malt
extract and boiling hops. Boil for an hour. Add the finishing hops and
continue boil for a minute or two. Turn off heat and let steep for 15min.
Put about 4-6" of ice into a plastic bin and strain the wort into it.
Sparge. Bring up to volume (5.25 gal) with cold water and mix well.
I find that the temp by now is down enough to pitch (i.e. <80F). Rack into
6gal glass carboy and pitch the yeast (I just throw in the dry stuff).
Use a blow off tube for the first couple of days! I.e. A plastic tube from
the carboy into a jar of water. Bottle when the fermentation is done
(usually 2-3 weeks).
NOTE: Quaker Oats can be substituted for steel cut oats.
- --
There are many ways of getting down a pit---
the easiest, of course, being to simply jump.
This practice is to be discouraged, however,
because the jumper might injure someone below... -Roy Davis
___________________________________________________________________________
Chris Hudson b17a!medch!chris IW17A5
205-730-1375 Intergraph Corporation
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 91 11:35:13 EDT
From: Chris Shenton <chris@endgame.gsfc.nasa.gov>
Subject: Brewpubs/bars in NYC?
[ Gosh, don't you hate all these ``Good beer in <town>?'' requests? :-) ]
I'll be going up Friday afternoon, so a direct email response to me would be
``the right thing''.
Any comments on a place called McSorleys?
Thanks. (and yes, I *will* check Jackson's Simon/Schuster Guide, too.)
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 08 Aug 91 09:25:29 EDT
From: "Dr. John" <JELJ@CORNELLA.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: thumbrules (sort of)
Greetings fellow brewers,
We seem to be recycling on some topics lately. In the interest of advancing
the discussion, I thought that a few thumbrules might be useful. So here
goes:
1. If you buy liquid yeast cultures, make a starter.
2. If you are going to be travelling buy Michael Jackson's "Pocket Guide
to Beer."
3. Homebrew can't make you sick; but drinking it can.
4. Don't mess with John Polstra.
5. There is more than one way to dry hop a beer, your mileage may vary.
6. Don't touch Rodney's beer.
7. Singha is a Thai beer.
8. Optimal storage of dried yeast is at someone else's house; that way you
won't be tempted to use any.
9. Send those @#$%^&! "subscribe me" and "unsubscribe me" messages to
homebrew-request@hpfcmi.fc.hp.com
and be patient.
10. Aren't you Darryl Richman?
Ooogy wawa,
Dr. John
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1991 08:35:20 -0800
From: krweiss@ucdavis.edu
Subject: long German pours
>My question is: do they do they same in Germany for their beers? If they
>do, I've never heard of it. The one time I was in Germany, I didn't
>notice the bartenders taking any longer to pour a brew than they do over
>here. Then again, I wasn't in Bavaria where I understand long pours are
>common.
>
>So are the long pours in Germany a function of the tap system or the
>style of beer? Expiring minds want to know.
>
>Kinney Baughman | Beer is my business and
>baughmankr@conrad.appstate.edu | I'm late for work.
Here in Davis there's a brewpub called Sudwerks, which serves traditional
German style beers. A pilsner takes forever to pour, simply because of the
thick, long lasting head. The beer is allowed to drop straight to the
bottom of a tall pilsner glass, generating lots of foam. The foam is
allowed to subside, and more beer is added until only about 1" of head
remains. No special tap, just the proper glass and good beer. The process
takes time, but results in an incredibly dense and creamy head. I've been
accused of having a dense head, but never a creamy one...
Ken Weiss krweiss@ucdavis.edu
Manager of Instruction
Computing Services 916/752-5554
U.C. Davis
Davis, CA 95616
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 91 11:49:18 EDT
From: karp@unix1.cs.umass.edu ("Peter Karp")
Subject: reprinting
I would like to submit some of the articles from the digest to print in our
club (Barley Hoppers of Northampton) newsletter. The source will be
approriately credited. Any comments will be appreciated.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 91 10:28:29 EDT
From: Chris Shenton <chris@endgame.gsfc.nasa.gov>
Subject: Re: Newsgroup
On Wed, 7 Aug 91, 6500keil%ucsbuxa@hub.ucsb.edu (Robert N Keil) said:
Robert> I've noticed that this mailing list gets a lot of traffic (which is
Robert> great!). Has anyone ever considered creating a newsgroup about
Robert> homebrew? I would think that this would make replying/reading all
Robert> the posts a bit easier.
Arrrrrrrrrrrgggggg!!!!! not this discussion again!
[maybe this should be on a monthly FAQ?]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 91 10:21:28 EDT
From: Chris Shenton <chris@endgame.gsfc.nasa.gov>
Subject: MeV Wheat yeast [was: misc. ??s]
On Wed, 7 Aug 91 09:05:44 -0400 (EDT), Andy Kurtz <ak35+@andrew.cmu.edu> said:
Andy> I'd also be interested in hearing people's opinions of M.eV.'s liquid
Andy> wheat-beer yeast #33. Again, what can I expect in the way of viability,
Andy> temp. tolerance, stamina and above all, taste.
I like*d* it better than the Wyeast version -- more authentic.
Unfortunately the last pack I got didn't even puff up -- dead or
contaminated or something. I got it from The Brewhaus (TN), and he said
they won't be carrying it anymore due to recent customer complaints about
just such behaviour.
MeV's US distributor indicated to me that they were ``reorganizing'', and
didn't sound too optimistic about their chances of returning to the market.
This was about a month ago.
- --
The simplest surrealist act consists of going out into the street,
revolver in hand, and firing at random into the crowd as often as possible.
-- Andre' Breton, 1929
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 91 13:16:34 -0400
From: strasser@raj2.tn.cornell.edu (Tom Strasser)
Subject: Pouring Times
A comment or two on beer pouring time. I studied as an
undergrad for eight months in Bavaria (which is, of course, where
my beer love comes from) and had a few German beers myself.
In HBD697 Kinney Baughman writes
> Whatever the case with the bartender, I certainly don't see a
> one-to-one correspondence between quality of brew and length of
> pour.
There has been sombe confusion here, actually the case in Germany
is that the length of pour is a gauge of how good a *Pilsner* is,
not other beers. The Bavarians are adamant about this, and have a
rule of thumb that it takes 7 minutes to pour a good Pilsner. They
take this rule so seriously that many of them will actually look at
their watch when they order to ascertain that the beer is not
delivered in less than 7 minutes! It should be noted that, if
another type of beer is ordered when the pilsner is, this beer will
probably be delivered in a minute or two, while the pilsner will
come later, after at least 7 minutes.
> My question is: do they do they same in Germany for their beers?
> If they do, I've never heard of it. The one time I was in
> Germany, I didn't notice the bartenders taking any longer to pour
> a brew than they do over here. Then again, I wasn't in Bavaria
> where I understand long pours are common.
I seriously doubt they do this in Bavaria for their beers, to
my knowledge, Guinness alone in employing nitrogen dispensing.
I didn't spend enough time outside of Bavaria to recall
whether pilsners in other parts of the country are poured in this
manner, but I suspect in many places they are, Bavarian beer
standards have a way of turning up throughout Germany.
One place this also seems to be common is in Pilsn, Czech.
When I was there, the server would start your next glass of *fresh*
Urquell at the correct time before you finished you previous one
(say, about 7 minutes before you were done). The next beer would
then be delivered to your table at the moment you finished your
beer. I found this quite enjoyable as the (1986) black market
exchange rate made the cost of each glass about a nickel! Needless
to say, we kept our server busy.
> So are the long pours in Germany a function of the tap system or
> the style of beer? Expiring minds want to know.
Well, I was curious of this myself when I was there because the
pour is almost exclusively foam when it exits the tap. It comes
out very slowly, however, so it is not a function of overpressure
or carbonation. As a homebrewer of continental pilsners myself I
thought perhaps my head retention was inferior which was why I
could not get this head. Alas, while I have made pilsners with
excellent head retention (Kinney has tasted them), they did not
approximate what I saw in Bavaria.
I found an explanation I believe from the Braukunst (?)
kegging supply store in Minnesota. The owner claims that the
Germans use a different tap which aerates the beer on pouring. He
described a taste test at a Chicago Brewery where they use a tap
that can pour in the standard manner, or aerate. He claims this
aeration adds significantly to the taste of the poured beer. This
test so impressed him that he imported this tap from Germany, and
now sells it (for $47). I have considered getting it, but don't
have the bucks. I am curious, does anyone have, or know of someone
who has one?
Bis Spater,
Tom
P.S. - How about you Darryl, did you get a look at the taps in
Pilsn?
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 91 14:02:24 EDT
From: gateh%CONNCOLL.BITNET@YALEVM.YCC.Yale.Edu
Subject: comments on US Guinness
I too love Guinness, and have had the opportunity to have it on tap
and in the bottle in a number of different countries. While it was
generally good in Europe, the quality in the US (at least on tap)
ranges from quite poor to almost excellent. There are a number of
establishments in my local area which serve it on tap, and my
experiences here as well as in Irish pubs in Boston lead me to
believe that Guiness must be fresh to have that incredible flavor on
tap. Unfortunately, most of the places which serve it on tap serve
so little that the kegs become miserable in no time.
By far and away the best I've had in the states was in a pub in
Boston, where it appeared that they consumed at least a keg every
day. This was only slightly off the quality I found in Ireland.
Locally there is a pub run by some Brits which has a nice range of
UK brews on tap, and the nationality of the owners brings in enough
other UK folk that the Guinness is consumed fast enough to keep it
reasonably fresh. On the far end, another bar in the area keeps a
fair number of imported beers on tap, however 90% of the customers
drink MassiveUSCorporationBackwash(TM), and about 5% of the
remaining folk drink Guinness, so their kegs are usually worse than
the bottled product.
Also, someone commented on the foamy head/C02/nitrogen setup. I've
been lead to understand that the creaminess of the head is a product
of the high pressure at which it is pumped (60 psi?) and the aerating
effect of the specialized spigot. The nitrogen is used (I believe
as the majority (75%?) of the gases) because it doesn't go into
solution very easily, therefore it can be used for the high pressure
work.
Cheers! - Gregg
Gregg TeHennepe | SysAdm, Academic Computing | Yes, but this
gateh@conncoll.bitnet | Connecticut College, New London, CT | one goes to 11...
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1991 13:37:46 EDT
From: R_GELINAS@UNHH.UNH.EDU (Russ Gelinas)
Subject: stuff
With one birthday out of the way, it's time for the next, mine. And what
do I want? A 10-gallon brewpot. One from Rapids with cover will set me
back about $120 w/ shipping. I can get a 38.5 qt. with an aluminum-clad
bottom w/ cover locally for $131. Is the aluminum bottom worth the extra
$11?
Yesterday I ran into a couple of Sam Adams salesman in the beer store. They
gave me a Sam Adams Wheat Brew (good, clean, spicy, and bubblegummy (!), but
I'm not particularly fond of that style). They also said that SA Octoberfest
should be out pretty soon, and it's a big batch. They're also planning a
Cranberry lambic. Knowing SA's marketing acumin, I'd bet on it being available
around Thanksgiving.
re. Oatmeal Stout: You want to use steel-cut oats if you can. I've got
a partial-mash recipe at home that I'll try to remember to bring in. It
turned out great.
A friend is leaving for Czechslovokia today. I caught him just minutes
before he left. I convinced him to come back with a few bottles of the
good stuff. Steve Darryl Russell Richman, has Pilsner Urquell been "updated"
yet? I hope not.....
Russ G.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 91 14:11:19 EDT
From: t13329@Calvin.EDU (Percy)
Subject: Dudes...
Hey, thanks you all for the mead recipes. I'm going grocery
shopping today and I'm going to get me the stuff I need and make some
mead.
I think it's going to be a very satisfying experience. I don't
know what mead looks like, or smells like, or tastes like, so just as
long as the end product gets me f'd up, I guess I'll call it a
success.
(I know there are many people out there who have water
analyses done for their brew supplies, and grow their own hybrid hops,
and have gadzillions of dollars of beer-making equipment, and
sacrifice their children to the beer gods to ensure a good brew - to
you all, I apologize for my utter unprofessionalism. May I rot in a
land where fermentation never occurs)
BTW, you can't get poisoned and like die from homebrew, can you?
Right?
On other things - the slow pouring beer story is fascinating.
7 minutes is a looong time to wait for a beer, though. I'd probably be
sticking an Uzi in the guys face going "HURRY UUUUP, Dickhead!!!!!"
I tried an English brew called John Courage the other day. It
was pretty good (I don't know the tech. words so I'm not going to use
them). Anybody ever drink it? English dudes? BTW, this may sound like
a stupid question but why do you all over in England drink your beer
warm? No offense but I think warm beer tastes like shit. Anyway, the
Courage stuff set me back like $8 for a sixpack. Man, for my money the
best beer is still Miller Genuine Draft Light. (No flames please ;}
Su
------------------------------
Date: Thu Aug 8 14:21:35 1991
From: "William F. Pemberton" <wfp5p@euclid.acc.Virginia.EDU>
Subject: M&F Wheat Extract
M&F Wheat is very nice, but a little dark. If you use two cans two
cans, you will get a brew that is closer to a Dunkelweizen then a plain
Weizen.
Using two cans of M&F Wheat, I usually get an OG around 1.050.
Bill
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 91 11:03:42 PDT
From: Martin A. Lodahl <pbmoss!malodah@PacBell.COM>
Subject: Sugared Extracts
A discussion of the adulteration of malt extracts with corn sugars
has been going on over in the newsgroup rec.food.drink, and Paul
Chisholm of Bell Labs asked me to let HBD in on the secret. I
started the whole fracas by making a cryptic reference to recent
research that cast the purity of extracts in doubt, and Doug DeMers
of Amdahl immediately asked for sources, and more information. So
the following day I posted this:
The flap all began in Zymurgy, Vol. 13 #5, Winter 1990. On page 15,
in Dan Fink's "Brew News" column, was an item describing a report
presented by Professor Michael Ingledew of the University of
Saskatchewan to the 1990 meeting of the American Society of Brewing
Chemists, on research he and his colleagues were doing on the
composition of malt extracts. This research, a combination of High
Performance Liquid Chromatography and fermentation studies,
disclosed the substantial unlabeled presence of glucose syrup,
invert syrup/liquid sucrose, and high fructose corn syrup in the
extracts tested. They also discovered poor fermentation from some
extracts, due to a deficiency in the free amino nitrogen content
normally provided by barley malt (had any stuck fermentations
lately?). In the presentation, they did not identify the extracts
tested.
I don't have to tell you what a storm that raised! The AHA followed
up on it, and in Dan Fink's column (page 14) in the Summer 1991
issue of Zymurgy (Vol. 14 #2) they published a letter from Professor
Ingledew in which he said that they indeed were NOT planning to release
the names of the extracts tested. They felt they couldn't be sure
whether the adulteration was done by the manufacturers, or by the
distributors. They also felt their sample might not be representative,
as they had only tested 44 "lager" extracts, and no "ale" extracts
(their terms). They didn't feel they had the time or money to handle
either additional testing or possible legal action. They also felt
that the burden of following up on the problem they'd identified
rested with the brewing industry, through the marketplace. Then
Professor Ingledew closed with this paragraph:
In spite of my comments above, I have complete
confidence in the results obtained in my lab by
my colleagues. There is no doubt that some
manufacturers are profiting from the addition
of lower cost corn sugars to malt extract.
Well! Where does that leave us? Neither of the articles made it
clear what percentage of the extracts tested had been "juiced", or
to what degree. And, of course, we have no idea what they were
testing.
I hope you're not too terribly depressed.
= Martin A. Lodahl Pacific*Bell Systems Analyst =
= malodah@pbmoss.Pacbell.COM Sacramento, CA 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: Thu, 08 Aug 91 15:20:27 EDT
From: hersh@expo.lcs.mit.edu
Subject: Proposed new bittering unit, yeast temp shock
>P.S. Is it true that Darryl Richman is now, or will soon be, an IBU?
Yes I hear the International Standards Organization (ISO) has been discussing
renaming the IBU, the Richman.
So how many Richmans in that Pale Ale??
Yeast seems to go from cold to warm without much problem, it is the other
direction that seems to cause problems...
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
assume that you are moderate in everything.
you now have an eXcess of moderation, a contradiction.
eXcessiveness is clearly the way to go...
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 91 15:47:48 -0400 (EDT)
From: David Harelick <dh4b+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject:
Does anyone know if you can by cases in lots direct from beer
distibuters without a liquor licence for whoshale prices??
-dave-
dh4b@andrew.cmu.edu
-David Harelick-
!!! dh4b@andrew.cmu.edu !!!!
* Morewood 2C2 x4431 until 8/10/91, then 11 Cresent Dr, North Dartmouth,
MA 02747 (508) 999-1705 *
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 08 Aug 91 11:20:48 MST
From: scott@alecto.gordian.com (Scott Murphy)
Subject: RE: Time to Pour and Guinness
>In Ireland, pouring a pint is ritual. However, after sampling an
>uncounted number of Guinness (and Murphy's) I do believe it does make
>a difference.
Since I am a *big* guinness fan, I must agree that how a guinness is pulled
makes a noticable difference in the taste. Some places ( in the states)
turn the tap pressure way down. This keeps the brew from foaming and reduces
the amount of time spent waiting for the head to settle. But it makes the
beer taste thin and bitter, and of course, Guinness looks much nicer with a
thick creamy head.
We have an Irish Pub a few block from my house that is run by an expatriate
Irishman. He says another problem with getting *good* Guinness is storing it
properly. They have the same problem in Ireland. Ask the locals where the
best pubs are, because not all of them pour a good Guinness. Interestingly
enough, one place to avoid Guinness is at the brewery itself.
cheers
Guinness is a wonderful brew,
but does it have just one 'n' or two?
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 91 14:51:58 PDT
From: Tom Bower <bower@hprnlme1.rose.hp.com>
Subject: Ale AND Lager Yeast Together?
Full-Name: Tom Bower
A friend of mine at work claims he makes a homebrew, affectionately known as
"moose-heiny" for its resemblance to Moosehead and Heineken, the brewing of
which he accomplishes with BOTH lager and ale yeasts pitched together at the
same time. The initial fermentation is done at warmer temperatures, and the
latter portion in a fridge. He says he can detect some of the characteristics
of each in the final beer (which I have not tasted). And the process sounds
like a mix, as well.
My question is: has anyone else out there in HBD-land done this? Is it
reasonable to expect that the ale yeast will take off during the first (warm)
fermentation, and the lager yeast will clean up afterwards in the fridge?
What think ye?
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 91 11:23:15 PDT
From: Martin A. Lodahl <pbmoss!malodah@PacBell.COM>
Subject: Gold Country Beer News
In HOMEBREW Digest #697, my ol' Bud (no offense?) Ken Weiss sez:
>The Sacramento Bee ran a front-page-of-the-Metro section article on the
>recent homebrew festival run by the Gold Country Brewers Assn. The
>publicity was substantially more positive than the last GCBA event, the
>infamous "Smoker you drink the driver you get" display reported by Martin
>Lodahl. Yo, Martin, were you a judge at this thing? How about a report? The
>Bee says it was the third largest homebrew contest in the US of A...
Thanks for the plug, Ken! Yep, it was our club, the Gold Country
Brewers Assn., that ran the show, in conjunction with the California
State Fair. And it was a BIG one. Ken Buswell, Brook Ostrom, and
Jim Long played crucial roles in making this a superbly organized
event (I can say that, not having contributed to its success at
all). And yes, I was a judge. For about 10 days before the finals,
panels of judges narrowed down the field. No panel had fewer than
three judges, nor more than 14 beers, and all had at least one BJCP
participant. The finals received a surprising amount of coverage,
and the journalists were treated to all the (ahem!) hospitality we
could offer, which seems to have borne fruit. It's been a
long-standing practice to bring in BJCP judges from other clubs for
the finals, and the cast of characters looked surprisingly like the
group that did the Left Coast First Round of the Nationals ...
Best of Show was won by Ray Call of Stockton, for a pale ale --
considering the number of these entered, it must have been SOME pale
ale! Congratulations, Ray!
= Martin A. Lodahl Pacific*Bell Systems Analyst =
= malodah@pbmoss.Pacbell.COM Sacramento, CA 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: Thu, 8 Aug 91 13:11:13 PDT
From: Martin A. Lodahl <pbmoss!malodah@PacBell.COM>
Subject: Judging Sick Beer
In HOMEBREW Digest #697, Jay Hersh offered:
> The statement "Homebrew can't make you sick!", isn't true.
> The statement that beer yeasts don't produce toxic substances is true.
I agree with that.
> The difference being that there are bacteria ...
And I would definitely include fungi, and am tempted to include wild
yeast as well.
> Fortunately for the judge these same bacteria produce nasally and
> often visually (gushing, rings) apparent signs of their presence.
>
> My question is why as a judge would you taste anything that was
> such obvious symptoms of contamination.
Well, if it's THAT obvious, I for one, usually won't. But it
usually isn't that obvious. Gushers, for example, can also be a
result of (damn severe) overcarbonation, of otherwise harmless wild
yeast, or of mishandling. I'd hate to dump a beer untasted because
it had been mishandled by contest personnel.
> I simply note the contamination, try to identify it from its
> aroma then move on.
Good rule, if the contamination is that clear-cut.
> Being a beer judge may have it's responsibilities, but the
> "taste at all cost" philosophy doesn't do anybody any good.
In light of my recent experiences, I'm coming around to your point
of view on this, Jay. I've been trying to give every beer the best
shot I could, but as my experience grows, so does my caution.
> Have you gotten sick from beers without obvious signs of contamination??
Yes. The one that gave the whole panel headaches and slight vertigo
had no other sign of trouble, except a strange moldy note in the
aftertaste.
> I would strongly advise any judges out there to let their nose be
> their guide. If a beer smells (or with gushers looks) obviously
> contaminated, approach with caution!!
'Nuff said.
= Martin A. Lodahl Pacific*Bell Systems Analyst =
= malodah@pbmoss.Pacbell.COM Sacramento, CA 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: Thu, 8 Aug 91 16:56 CDT
From: korz@ihlpl.att.com
Subject: Guiness & Nitrogen
Kinney writes:
>As for Guinness, the foamy pour results from the special tap system they
>employ. There are two inlets for compressed gas in a Guinness tap. One
>introduces more or less 25% nitrogen. The rest is CO2. I've always been
>told that it's the nitrogen that gives draft Guinness its extraordinary
>head.
I have read that the incredible head is due to the fact that the beer is
dispensed at very high pressure. It is also well known that nitrogen is
not very soluble in beer (the Rotterdam (I believe that's the name) brewpub
in Toronto uses a nitrogen/CO2 mix to dispense their beer because when they
used pure CO2, it caused too much carbonation). Putting those two facts
together, the following is simply my speculation, but: I suspect that the
reason Guinness uses their special tap system and nitrogen is to allow them
to dipense at the high pressure without causing carbonation like Coca-cola.
I have not heard the 25% nitrogen, but for my above theory to work, it
should probably be mostly nitrogen and only a small amount of CO2.
Al the Speculator.
korz@ihlpl.att.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 7 Aug 91 12:08 CDT
From: arf@ddsw1.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling)
Subject: MALTING
To: Homebrew Digest
Fm: Jack Schmidling
Subject: MALTING BARLEY, AGAIN
I note, with some cynicism, Darryl Richman's comment in Zymurgy, that the
brewmaster of Pilsner Urguell seemed totally ignorant of the malting process.
From the responses I received to a very basic question on malting, that
particular form of ignorance seems to apply equally to home brewers.
The diagram in the article came tantalizingly close to answering my question
but left out details that could be used in action.
As I suspected, in order to get acceptable germination, dormancy must be
broken. He talks about three steeping periods and a temperature range but
leaves out what separates one "period" from another.
What happens after 21 hours at 15-17 degs that seperates this period from the
next 21 hour period or from the final 17 hour period?
I have been experimenting with freezing, friging and steeping but surely
someone out there can save me from re-inventing the wheel.
Darryl.... where are you? Finish your article.
jack
ZZZZ
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #698, 08/09/91
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