Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
HOMEBREW Digest #0743
This file received at Mthvax.CS.Miami.EDU 91/10/18 03:07:37
HOMEBREW Digest #743 Fri 18 October 1991
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Cloudy Mead (Drew Lawson)
Relevant (?) Advertising (Richard Stueven)
S. delbrueckii growth rate (MIKE LIGAS)
My Favourite Recipe: Sweetport Porter (MIKE LIGAS)
Wyeast 1007 (Dave Rose)
Cat's Meow/HBD FTP site (lutzen)
anybody want a carboy? (dave ballard)
Bosotn Ale (hersh)
Wyeast info and SG measuring (Norm Pyle)
Dixie Cup! (chuck)
apricots in beer (lg562)
Another set of first-batch questions. (JW Smith)
Sir Kenelm Digby, Kt. -- Egg whites in the boil? (Jacob Galley)
Sir Kenelm Digby, Kt. -- Egg whites in mead?
Welcome Back! (Jeff Frane)
Sanitizing plastic (KCDESCH)
oxidizing wort (Chuck Coronella)
Re: Homebrew Digest #742 (October 17, 1991) (Eric Zundel Ayers)
Unoffical overview of The New CJofHB (Daniel L. Krus)
DME bricks (Curt Freeman)
another Christmas recipe (Mike Zulauf)
first aid tip, repitching note, recipe (krweiss)
Bass India Pale Ale (Eric Allen)
Send submissions to homebrew@hpfcmi.fc.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request@hpfcmi.fc.hp.com
[Please do not send me requests for back issues!]
Archives are available from netlib@mthvax.cs.miami.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 91 08:28:45 -0400
From: lawson@BDCD102.nrl.navy.mil (Drew Lawson)
Subject: Cloudy Mead
How long does it take for mead to clarify? Most of what I
have read indicates that mead should be racked at least once
for clarity, possibly several times over an extended period.
I bottled my first batch of mead this past weekend, after a
month in the secondary with no activity and no apparent
clarification. I am not worried about this batch. It smells
great and tastes raw but OK. I just want to know whether I
was too impatient or just have a cloudy batch.
+------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Drew Lawson | If you're not part of the solution, |
| lawson@bdcd102.nrl.navy.mil | you're part of the precipitate |
| 71141.1660@CompuServe.COM | |
+------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 91 06:02:36 PDT
From: Richard.Stueven@Corp.Sun.COM (Richard Stueven)
Subject: Relevant (?) Advertising
I thought I was going to be able to stay out of this, but...
I was disturbed to hear from a fellow HBD/r.c.b subscriber yesterday
that he was reluctant to post an announcement of an upcoming homebrew
competition because of the recent flap about advertising on the net.
HBD has been (and r.c.b has the potential to be) a great resource for
the dissemination of brewing news. My definition of "brewing news"
includes (but is not limited to) information about clubs, tastings,
competitions, and yes, even products.
Having said that, it seems that there are limits to what net.users
consider to be "good taste". These limits appear to be biased toward
the subdued end of the spectrum, and in my opinion, that's a good
thing. (Id est, keep the hype and UPPERCASE and exclamation marks to a
minimum!!!!!!!!!!)
Would anyone have a problem with a posting like this:
October 12 Calistoga CA
8th Annual Calistoga Beer and Sausage Fest.
This year features chili and creole rice dishes.
707-942-6333
I wouldn't.
Would anyone have a problem with a posting like this:
My "Brew It At Home" videotape is finally finished. If you're
interested, contact me at xxx@yyy.zzz for more information.
Special deal: I'll sell it to HBD/r.c.b readers at cost.
I wouldn't.
And even if I did have a problem with it, I'd start the discussion via
email. We don't need to intimidate people and discourage them from
posting items that are valuable to the brewing community. If we do,
there won't be any point to having these forums, because there won't be
anyone left to post.
thx
gak
TOOMUCHPRESSURETOOMUCHPRESSURETOOMUCHPRESSURETOOMUCHPRESSURETOOMUCHPRESSURETOO
Richard Stueven AHA# 22584 gak@Corp.Sun.COM ...!attmail!gak
ITMUSTSTOPITMUSTSTOPITMUSTSTOPITMUSTSTOPITMUSTSTOPITMUSTSTOPITMUSTSTOPITMUSTST
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1991 09:13 EDT
From: MIKE LIGAS <LIGAS@SSCvax.CIS.McMaster.CA>
Subject: S. delbrueckii growth rate
>> A question for HBD-land: Wyeast wheat-beer is (unfortunately) a mix of
>> S. Delbrukii a basic beer yeast. Do you think repitching like this would
>> select for eventual domination by one or the other strain?
>I don't know of a way to guarantee which would dominate (if one ever does).
>However, if your goal is a pure culture of S. Delbrukii you can 'plate out'
>the Wyeast culture. You will note that there are two different size
>colonies. I _believe_ (someone who remembers help me out) the S. cerevisiae
>is larger in size than the S. Delbukii. So, you then take a culturing
>loop and grab up a bunch of these smaller colonies & grow them in ~5ml of
>starter solution. Then you perform the whole process again (plating, etc)
>until you don't seem to have any more S. cerevisiae. Of course it
>may just be easier to find someone who have already done this. Drop me
>a line in a week or two & I can tell you for sure if its the large or
>small colonies you want.
The larger colonies would be S. delbrueckii. If you're interested I wrote a
fairly extensive article on purifying S. delbrueckii from the Wyeast mixed
culture. The article appeared in HD686, July 24, 1991, "Isolating S.
delbrueckii". It is possible that the S. delbrueckii strain would eventually
dominate the culture judging by its rapid growth rate on plates, although I've
never done a growth rate determination of this strain in liquid culture. The
yeast population of this strain appears to grow rapidly *but* ferments slowly
ie. rate of attenuation. Doubling time and fermentation rates can vary quite
drastically from strain to strain. A nice example of this can be found in the
Zymurgy "Yeast and Beer" special issue, Vol.12, No.4, 1989, pp. 49-54.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1991 09:14 EDT
From: MIKE LIGAS <LIGAS@SSCvax.CIS.McMaster.CA>
Subject: My Favourite Recipe: Sweetport Porter
Sweetport Porter
Ingredients:
3.3 lbs. (1.5 kg) Munton & Fison dark malt extract syrup
2.2 lbs. (1.0 kg) dark dried malt extract
1.1 lbs. (500 g) light dried malt extract
8.5 oz. (250 g) malto-dextrin powder
1.1 lbs. (500 g) crystal malt (40 L)
4.25 oz. (125 g) chocolate malt
4.25 oz. (125 g) black patent malt
1 cup light clover honey
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup blackstrap molasses
1 oz. (28.5 g) Clusters hop pellets (45 minutes)
1 oz. (28.5 g) Cascade hop pellets (45 minutes)
1/2 oz. (14.25 g) Cascade hop pellets (5 minutes)
1 tsp. gypsum
1/4 tsp. Irish moss (15 minutes)
3/4 cup dextrose (to prime)
1/2 quart (500 ml) Irish ale yeast culture (WYeast #1084)
Procedure:
Crush grains and steep for 30 minutes in water at 158F (70C). Strain
into boiling vessel and sparge with 158F (70C) water. Add malt
extracts, dextrin, honey, brown sugar, molasses and gypsum and bring to
a boil. Add boiling hops, Irish moss and finishing hops as indicated.
(Total boil = 50 minutes) Cool to at least 68 F (20C) before pitching
yeast. Prime with dextrose as usual.
Comments:
Although I tend towards all grain brewing it seems I always come back
to this one as my Porter. The rich body and residual sweetness of this
beer is something which I have found hard to replicate in an all
grain recipe. This beer finished 2nd at the Canadian Amateur Brewers
Association national competition in 1989 and a variation of this recipe
finished 3rd in 1990 (if it ain't broke don't fix it). The yeast strain
is critical as well as the molasses to get the most out of this beer.
I can hear the anchor dropping.
Specifics:
O.G. = 1.066 (68 F) F.G. = 1.025 (68 F)
Primary Ferment: 5 days Secondary Ferment: 3 weeks
* This recipe makes 6 US gallons (5 Imp. gallons) *
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1991 10:09 EDT
From: Dave Rose <CHOLM@HUBIO2.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: Wyeast 1007
Hi. I wanted to alert HBD readers to a possible problem with packets
of Wyeast 1007 (German Ale) code dated August 14, 1991. I recently bought
some and 'popped' according to instructions. After two days, no puffing of
the package was evident but I pitched to a starter anyway, hoping for the
best. Since I was a little concerned, I took the package into work and looked
at a sample under the microscope. I was surprised to see a huge number of
bacteria in the culture. The package contents were also incredibly sour. I
am quite confident this wasn't due to contamination on my part, since only
one hour passed from opening the packet to looking under the microscope (the
doubling time of bacteria is usually on the order of 20' and MANY doublings
would have been necessary to produce the number of bacteria I saw). I also
streaked the culture out on YEPD plates (rich media), and sure enough got
singles of both yeast and bacteria. Needless to say, I didn't want to use the
starter I had pitched, but I kept it and examined it after a couple of days.
Very little fermentation activity was evident, but there were also few or
no bacteria present in the culture. So, I figure, either there is a lag
time for bacterial growth relative to yeast and they will show up in a few
days, or the bacteria cant grow in my starter solution (which is made with
hopped malt extract, providing one possible explanation). Anyway, this
packet was clearly infected and my concern is that others of that code date
might have the same problem. I know that Wyeast has an excellent rep, and
this sort of thing is an anomaly, but be careful out there.
Dave Rose
CHOLM@HUBIO2.HARVARD.EDU
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 91 09:30:46 CDT
From: lutzen@phys1.physics.umr.edu (lutzen)
Subject: Cat's Meow/HBD FTP site
Boy, It's good to have the HBD back on-line again. I was going through
withdrawls this past week. Here is a posting that was destined for reading
over a week ago:
**************************************************************************
For those of you who have tried to access the FTP server at 131.151.23.29, I
am sorry for it being so slow during ascii file transfers. There is a bug
in software and I don't have the time to run it down right now. If you
set "type binary" prior to transfers, it will run about seven times faster.
So as a work-around, please set "type binary" immediately after login.
I have also moved my Homebrew digests into the HBD sub-directory. This
directory contains all of the homebrew digests (except for 153 and 718),
in .ZIP format. Download the index to find out the contents of the .ZIP
files.
Mark Stevens and I are compiling recipes for a new Volume of "The Cat's
Meow". If you have any recipe corrections/submissions that are destined
for "The Cat's Meow, Vol. 2", please put them in the UPLOADS sub-directory.
Please put suggestions here as well. But please, no requests like "Send
me a copy when ...". These will be ignored/deleted. We will announce to
the Digest when the book is ready.
Karl Lutzen lutzen@apollo.physics.umr.edu
Physics Dept. lutzen@olson.physics.umr.edu
University of Missouri - Rolla 314-341-6317
------------------------------
Date: 17 Oct 1991 10:45 EDT
From: dab@pyuxe.cc.bellcore.com (dave ballard)
Subject: anybody want a carboy?
Hey now- I hope I'm not getting myself into trouble with this, but
here's the deal: my roommate has a friend who works for a water company
and has approximately 60 used glass carboys. I snagged 2 so far- they're
a little beat up on the outside but the insides are okay. They are all
5 gallons. He MIGHT want to sell them for like 7 to 10 bucks each, plus
shipping (from central NJ) depending on how much interest there is.
If you are at all interested, please send me email and include the
word carboy in the subject line. I'm not getting anything out of this,
I'm just passing the word along, so if you feel the need to flame send
it to /dev/null or to a more anal newsgroup ;-) ....
later!
dab
========================================================================
dave ballard
dab@pyuxe.cc.bellcore.com
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 91 12:00:43 EDT
From: hersh@expo.lcs.mit.edu
Subject: Bosotn Ale
Oops, sorry, that info on Boston Ale of course applies to the right (that's
East to you and me) Coast.
- JaH
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hopfen und Malz, Gott erhalts
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 91 09:30:20 MDT
From: pyle@intellistor.com (Norm Pyle)
Subject: Wyeast info and SG measuring
1st:
Thanks to Dan Krus for providing the great info from Wyeast. It's real handy
to have put together like that.
2nd, Dan says:
>I plot Correction vs. Temperature and keep this plot in the back of my
>brewing note book for quick and handy visual reference. This data does not
>yield a linear relationship thus a graph is quicker to work with than some
>polynomial equation.
Plotting this is a good idea for a quick reference. I just do a quick and
dirty interpolation (read guestimate) for other temperatures. Do you really
think _anyone_ does a calculation of some polynomial equation? Let's face
it, we're talking a change of .001 for several degrees F of temperature
change. Does anyone care if their gravity (specific) is off by .001??? I
think the gravity of the earth changes that much.
Cheers!
Norm
P.S. Anybody know an easy way to siphon my Christmas Ale off of a dozen or so
mashed up apricots without aerating the hell out of it?
------------------------------
Date: Thu Oct 17 12:10:11 1991
From: synchro!chuck@uunet.UU.NET
Subject: Dixie Cup!
Well folks its about that time again. Yes, the 8th annual Dixie Cup is this
weekend in Houston. This is the finest and most entertaining homebrew
competition/conference in the country. If you're going, please look me up.
And don't forget to enter the Homebrewer's Gran Prix on Sunday, I will be
defending my title as "America's Fastest Homebrewer".
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chuck Cox chuck%synchro@uunet.uu.net
Hopped/Up Racing Team uunet!synchro!chuck
thank god for women with bad taste in men
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 91 10:30:38 PDT
From: lg562@koshland.pnl.gov
Subject: apricots in beer
A while back I asked about using apricots in a beer recipe.
Hearing of no direct experience with this fruit, I put on my
exprimentalist hat and here's what resulted.
1 lb German pilsner malt (steeped at 150 F for 1 hour)
4.5 lb light dry malt extract
1/4 tsp irish moss
1/2 tsp salt
1.0 oz Chinook hops (12.2% alpha) added at the 30 min mark
0.5 oz Mt. Hood hops (5.3% alpha) added in the last 2 minutes
2.5 lb frozen, pitted, halved apricots
1 packet ale yeast
3/4 cup corn sugar for bottling
Original gravity about 1.050, final gravity 1.015.
The apricots were added at the end of the boil. The wort was then
sparged into the primary fermentor, say about 10 minutes after the
apricots were added. The wort was cooled over night and the yeast
was pitched in the morning. After a week, the beer was racked to
the secondary. Here it rested for one month (either I'm busy or
patient; I wish I could say the latter) before bottling.
How did it turn out? It was a fine light ale. Nice golden amber
color with a good hop bite. About half way through a mug, I start
noticing the taste of cloves. But I didn't notice any apricot
taste. I think it would be worth trying it again only letting the
apricots sit in the primary fermentor. At least that's what I'd
try next.
I did notice a slight bacterial/wild yeast infection in the beer --
the small white stuff around the neck of the bottle. Since it
didn't cause any harm to the beer or my health, I guess I've
created a lambic. Hey, why would the air in my basement be any
worse than the air in Belgium?
Michael Bass
Molecular Science Research Center, K2-18
Battelle - Pacific Northwest Laboratory
Richland, Washington 99352
lg562@pnl.gov
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 91 14:37 CDT
From: jws3@engr.uark.edu (JW Smith)
Subject: Another set of first-batch questions.
First post, and all that. I'm new to homebrewing, and in a fit of silliness,
I decided to try the recipe for spruce beer which is in Papazian's book (the
second one, not the fancy one). Yeah, dumb choice for a first try, but it's
done.
here's the ingredients:
1 can Edme SFX dark malt extract
1 3/4 lbs. Laaglander Dark dried M.E.
2 oz. Hallertauer hops pellets
-brought above to boil and held 30 min.
1/6 oz. spruce extract (got it free from the supplies lady)
-added during last 3 minutes of boil
Sparged above through a screen strainer into a carboy of bottled spring
water (I paid for it, why waste it?) which I'd shook around a bit to aerate.
Ended up with about 4" of space in the carboy. Pitched yeast at 79 F, 9/21.
Got activity after about 10 hours; at 35 hours my blowoff hose plugged with
hops bits, and foam hit the ceiling while about 2-3 quarts of beeroid went
into my carpet. Any suggestions on how to avoid that particular problem?
My apartment has stunk ever since.
Anyway, the kraeusen fell in on 9/24, and I put on the airlock. Since then,
the bubbles have ranged randomly from 1 per 2 minutes to 1 per 10 minutes,
with no dependence on anything that I can see. It's still cloudy, though a
lot of white stuff (yeast, I guess) has settled out. I acquired a hydrometer
on 10/3, and it tested 1019 at 80 F (the thing said "accurate at 70 F", but I
cooled the stuff to 70 F and there was no difference). 10/5 it was 1018, 10/6
it was 1016. If anything, fermentation seems to be speeding up.
UPDATE (I originally sent this Oct 9): Bubbles are down to about 1 per 10
minutes and constant, but the beer is still very cloudy. SG is 1016.
Questions: How long am I gonna have to wait for this stuff? Will sitting much
longer in the primary ruin the beer? I don't have another carboy.
Has anyone tried this recipe and knows how it's supposed to come
out? It's so weird tasting, I don't get any information out of tasting it.
The yeast was Cooper's, from Australia. Is it normally slow after
the initial active fermentation?
Does anyone have any recipes for decent, economy ale? I'd like
to brew stuff that's substantially cheaper than storebought horsewater, being
a poor student type. I'll get into the real stuff when I get a real job. :)
Any other suggestions for a novice brewer, especially concerning
troubleshooting, when to bottle, and taste testing?
Reply via email, please, if these subjects are flogged to death on the digest.
thanks,
| James W. Smith, University of Arkansas | jws3@engr.uark.edu |
| I'm so depressed. If I didn't have so much to do, I'd be a nihilist. |
| Neither NASA nor the U of Ark. is responsible for what I say. Mea culpa. |
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 91 15:27:50 CDT
From: Jacob Galley <gal2@midway.uchicago.edu>
Subject: Sir Kenelm Digby, Kt. -- Egg whites in the boil?
Received: from ellis.uchicago.edu by midway.uchicago.edu Sat, 12 Oct 91 18:17:43 CDT
Date: Sat, 12 Oct 91 18:17:39 CDT
From: Jacob Galley <gal2@midway.uchicago.edu>
To: homebrew@hpfcmi.fc.hp.com
Subject: Sir Kenelm Digby, Kt. -- Egg whites in mead?
Message-Id: <CMM.0.90.2.687309459.gal2@ellis.uchicago.edu>
I have finally found a copy of _The Closet of the Eminently Learned
Sir Kenelme Digbie Kt. Opened: Whereby is Discovered Several Ways for
Making of Metheglin, Sider, Cherry-Wine, &c. Together with Excellent
Directions for Cookery, as also for Preserving, Conserving, Candying,
&c., Published by his Son's Consent_. Originally printed in 1669, the
copy on my lap is a reprint (London: Philip Lee Warner, 1910).
I am looking forward to trying one of the many mead recipes, but there
are some peculiarities in Sir Digby's language that I'd like to
straighten out first. I quote an example (without permission, of
course) from page 32:
STRONG MEAD
Take one Measure of honey, and dissolve it in four of water, beating
it long up and down with clean Woodden ladels. The next day boil it
gently, scumming it all the while till no more scum riseth; and if you
will clarifie the Liquor with a few beaten whites of Eggs, it will be
the clearer. The rule of it's being boiled enough is, when it yieldeth
no more scum, and beareth an Egge, so that the breadth of a groat is
out of the water. Then pour it out of the Kettle into woodden vessels,
and let it remain ther till it be almost cold. Then Tun it into a
vessel, where Sack hath been.
This recipe raises a few questions:
Has anyone out there ever heard of putting egg whites in the boil? I
don't see how that could have any positive effect, though I'm no
expert on eggs or on mead. (In another recipe, Sir Digby requires that
the egg be "freshly laid.")
What on earth does the phrase "beareth an Egge" mean? Most of his mead
and metheglin recipes bear eggs near the end of the boil. Is this an
especially mucky portion of the scum? Is it the remains of the egg whites?
What does the thickness of the "Egge" have to do with anything, if
you've been scumming off the top all the while? (My Webster's says
that a groat is an old coin worth four pennies.)
I hope somebody reading this can help me out!
Here is the address to complain to:
Jacob Galley, merely an undergraduate in The College
gal2@midway.uchicago.edu
------------------------------
Date: 17 Oct 91 16:41:32 EDT
From: Jeff Frane <70670.2067@compuserve.com>
Subject: Welcome Back!
Glad to know that everything has gotten straightened out with the Homebrew
Digest. #742 was a welcome visitor in my mailbox this morning.
In 741, Martin Lodahl: I've been planning a Belgian abbey-style double or
triple. Wuffo you put in that brown sugar? I know Jackson has mentioned that
some of these beers have "candy sugar" added in the kettle. I'm not clear what
the British or Belgians consider candy sugar; could be something like rock
sugar. Anyway, local beer importer Jim Kennedy visited the brewery at Chimay and
is certain there was NO sugar added. Hmm. WYeast, by the way, will be offering
a abbey-style yeast within the next month or so. You might have better results
and avoid the banana-esters; it's possible the bottle yeast wasn't all that
clean. ??
To Ifor Williams: I've been told that some British breweries *deliberately*
oxidize the wort in the kettle in order to darken it; this in lieu of adding
more caramel malt. Since you seem to be in the right place to ask, why not knock
up a few quality brewers and ask them. You might also ask them how we get
torrified barley or wheat. Hmmm? I'm not at all sure what Miller has in mind;
aerating the wort on its way to the fermenter should be a Plus, since the yeast
need the oxygen. Maybe it depends on whether you're trying to brewing Budweiser
or not. Sometimes I think Miller's too close to A-B.
To Darryl: We'll have to wrassle about recommending Dave Miller's book. I think
it's absolutely the wrong book for a beginning brewer; only an experienced
brewer is likely to notice all the places Miller's wrong. And his decision to
offer an American light lager as the first beer for a new brewer is simply
absurd. Not to mention the illustration on how to start a siphon! Aaaagh! Get
your mouth off that, Dave!
John Reed: Look around for Fred Eckhardt's book on beerstyles. Malt liquors are
generally standard American commercial beers with a lot of extra fermentables,
usually in the form of corn syrup added to the boil. Hopping rates are generally
below threshold. They're technically lagers, although they're not lagered for
any appreciable length of time. Our local club once held a blind tasting of malt
liquors, including Schlitz Red and Blue Bulls, Old English 500 (?00). (Actually,
Fred Eckhardt held the tasting; the club members who unwitting victims.) The
only beer deemed potable was a ringer: Kaliber, a non-alcoholic brew from
Guinness.
To Bob Konigsberg: It's probably a bad idea to boil the oak; it's not even clear
to me why they're in there. You'll have better luck reaching that nutty taste by
adding a small amount of home-toasted malt. Try 4-8 ounces of pale malt that's
been toasted in the oven at 300^ for about 1/2 to 1 hour. Spread it on a cookie
sheet and periodically give it a stir. Then crack it and put it in a cheesecloth
bag along with your crystal malt. Make an infusion in 150^ water for 45 min.-1
hour and use this liquid in your wort. I would also suggest cutting WAY back on
the black malt, particularly if you're using American rather than British.
Better yet, leave it out and substitute 2-3 oz. of chocolate malt.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 91 16:47:48 EST
From: KCDESCH@ucs.indiana.edu
Subject: Sanitizing plastic
Recently I have been using a seven gallon plastic fermenter for the primary
fermentation stage. I use a seven gallon bucket so that my net yield to the secondary glass carb is 5.0 gallons. Thus the carboy is basically full and the
exposure to oxygen is kept low. I use plastic instead of glass because 6.0 gal.carboys tend to be too expensive.
Anyway, the plastic fermenter was quite aromatic after its first use. I
sanitized it with a bleach solution but the smell didn't go away. I continue touse the plastic but it bothers me that I can't get rid of the smell. So:
Does anyone know a good way to sanitize plastic fermenters?
Is bleach a bad idea?
Do I need to worry in the first place?
I sure would appreciate anyone's view on the subject.
Karl Desch
KCDESCH@indiana.edu
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 91 15:57 MTS
From: Chuck Coronella <CORONELLRJDS@CHE.UTAH.EDU>
Subject: oxidizing wort
Oh, what a relief- the HBD is back!! (Now I know what my smoker friends
must go through! ;-)
Sometime last week, before we were interrupted, Ifor Williams
<ifor@computer-science.manchester.ac.uk> posed a question that caught my
interest:
>This leads to my question - if the wort oxidises so easily, does it
>not oxidise during a long open boil? If not, why not? If so, is the
>oxidation not much more significant that can be expected during the
>other brewing stages?
>What am I missing?
Hmmm... Yeah, what? Certainly, hot wort is exposed to oxygen during a
long, open boil. We're told that these are all the criteria (hot wort + O2)
that cause oxidation, with all its consequences. (Can't remember what they
are, but I remember being told to avoid it.) So what gives? Is this
another (God help us) "momily"?
Chuck
(I have nothing original to contribute, but I didn't want the subject to be
dropped.)
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 91 18:09:38 EDT
From: gt3021b@prism.gatech.edu (Eric Zundel Ayers)
Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #742 (October 17, 1991)
Please take me off the mailing list, I would like to unsusbscribe.
gt3021b@prism.gatech.edu
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1991 18:44:31 -0400 (EDT)
From: D_KRUS@UNHH.UNH.EDU (Daniel L. Krus)
Subject: Unoffical overview of The New CJofHB
Hi everybody,
This is a reposting of my earlier submission that I think got lost.
Today I received The New CJofHB and thought I'd give a relatively
comprehensive summary of additions/deletions/modifications relative the the
1st version. This might help you to make a decision as to whether to buy the
book or not.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Old: No index New: index
- Old: 331 pages w/o index New: 393 pages w/o index.
- Old: $8.95 New: 9.95
- Old: cheap paper New: same cheap paper
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- smaller margins (more words/page)
- BEER, HISTORY, AMERICA AND HOMEBREW
- A long, long time ago
- gramatical changes
- ESPECIALLY FOR THE BEGINNER
- Getting Your Homebrewery Together
- Equipment
- stype changes
- Ingredients
- stype changes
- addition of information of using malt to prime
- BETTERBREW - INTERMEDIATE BREWING
- Color
- whole section added. discusses Lovibond and SRM w/ color guideline
chart.
- Compendium of Ingredients
- Specialty Malts
- Vienna is now included w/ Dextrine and Munich w/ a short
description.
- Hops
- added section on, "How Bitter is Bitter?" containing a section
detailing the crude calculation of a HBU.
- added section on hop oil.
- hop varieties reference chart greatly expanded w/ many new hop
varieties added.
- Yeast
- section on "Where Can Good Brewing Yeasts be Found and How Are They
Packaged" is rewritten.
- Miscellaneous Ingredients Often Used By Homebrewers
- section on vegetables added.
- section on coffee added.
- Some World Classic Styles of Beer
- References to "English Ale" are reworded to reference "British Ale"
- whole section has been vastly rewritten now including more data w/
added section on Scottish Ale
- Other Top-Fermented Styles of Beer
- section vastly rewritten with more data included. a greater number
of styles described.
- German and Continental Lagers
- section vastly rewritten with more data included. a greater number
of styles described.
- American Lagers
- section vastly rewritten with more data included. a greater number
of styles described.
- added: "Beer Styles Table" which shows data relative to a great variety
of beers.
- "Guidelines For Brewing 5 Gallons of Traditional Beers" table greatly
expanded.
- Worts Illustrated
- Homebrew Recipes
- section on notes, Substitutions and Adjunctions expanded.
- "Gardyloo Bitter" recipe deleted (pg 154, old).
- "Palace Bitter" recipe added.
- "The Sun Has Left Us On Time" Stream Beer recipe has been reworked
and rewritten.
- "November's Lady Light Lager" recipe deleted (pg 160, old).
- "Quiddity Dutch Lager" recipe deleted (pg 162, old)
- "Oktoberbest Golden Malt Lager" recipe deleted (pg 165, old).
- "Whoop Moffitt Vienna Lager" recipe added.
- "Crabalocker German Pils" recipe added.
- "Lovebite Weizenbier" recipe added.
- "Osmisis Amoebas German Alt" recipe added.
- "Tumultuous Porter" re-renamed back to "Goat Scrotum Ale"
- "Borborygmous Bock" recipe reworked and renamed to "Doctor Bock"
- "Danger Knows No Favorites Bock" recipe reworked and renamed to
"Danger Knows No Favorites Dunkel"
- "Limp Richard's Schwarzbier" recipe added.
- "Armenian Imperial Stout" recipe added.
- "New Moon Black Smoke Ale" recipe added.
- "Cherries in the Snow" recipe reworked and rewritten.
- "Who's in the Garden Grand Cru" recipe added.
- "Daisy Mae Holiday Lager" recipe reworked and rewritten as "Daisy
Mae Dortmund Lager".
- "What the Helles Munchner" recipe added.
- "Uckleduckfay Oatmeal Stout" recipe added.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ = [Great Title!]
- "Limnian Wheat Dopplebock" recipe added.
- " Colonel Coffin Barley Wine Ale" recipe added.
- ADVANCED HOMEBREWING FOR THE PRACTICAL HOMEBREWER
- Adjuncts Commonly Used and Available To Homebrewers
- section on "Quinoa, Tef, Buckwheat, Dinkel, Amaranth" added.
- Advanced Homebrewing and Hops
- highly welcomed section on calculating IBUs w/ table of "Hop
Utilization Chart Based on Density of Boiled Wort and Boiling Time"
added.
- All-Grain Recipes
- "Amaizeing Ale" renamed to "Amaizeing Pale Ale"
- "Hesitation Red Pilsener" renamed to "Hesitation Red Maerzen"
- "Propentious Stout" reworked and renamed to "Propentious Irish Stout"
- "Dream Lager" reworked and renamed to "Dream Export Lager"
- "Spider's Tongue German Weiss-Rauchbier" recipe added.
- APPENDIX 1 - Glossary
- some words added
- APPENDIX 2 - Kegging
- short section on Quick Draft Beer added
- APPENDIX 5 - Making Honey Mead
- section greatly expanded which includes much more information.
- "Antipodal Mead" recipe added.
- "Chief Niwot's Mead" recipe added.
- APPENDIX 6 - "Sour Mash/Extract Beers and Belgian Lambic" added, 7 pages.
Includes recipes: "Vicarious Gueuze Lambic" and "Loysenian Cherry Kriek"
- APPENDIX 8 - Troubleshooting
- section on Bacterial Infections, Solving the Problem written.
- new picture of Charlie listening to his beer.
- APPENDIX 13 - Conversions and Measurements
- mildly expanded.
- APPENDIX 14 - Bibliography of Resources
- greatly expanded.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dan
|**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:|
| Internet: D_KRUS@unhh.unh.edu | Daniel L. Krus |
| Compuserve: 71601,365 | Parsons Hall |
|-----------------------------------------------| Department of Chemistry |
| "A good word is an easy obligation, but not | U of New Hampshire |
| to speak ill, requires only our | Durham, New Hampshire 03824 |
| silence, which costs us nothing." Tillotson | (603) 862-2521 |
|**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:**:|
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 91 19:09:57 EDT
From: Curt Freeman <curtf@hpwart.wal.hp.com>
Subject: DME bricks
Full-Name: Curt Freeman
>From: russo@carlos.sps.mot.com (Russell L. Oertel)
>While making up a batch of India Pale Ale last night, I
>discovered that the summer humidity had turned my DME into
>something better suited to building a house out of rather than
>brewing beer from. After several hours with a hammer and lots
>of hot water, I finally managed to get it all dissolved.
I apologise for the late addition to this thread, but I've been behind in
my HBD's. During a home renovation, my DME ended up rock hard and musty
smelling from being stored in the basement. A few hammer blows shattered it
nicely, so I placed the resulting chunks into my wort pot, added warm water
and covered it. Twenty-four hours later I was happy to find the chunks had
almost entirely dissolved, with the remaining pieces disappearing in the
boil. There was no musty odor or taste in the resulting beer. While I
wouldn't recommend this as standard brewing procedure, I wouldn't toss
less-than-ideal DME either. Interestingly, the second batch I did this with
sat in the pot for two days before use, and showed signs of fermenting on
it's own before I turned it into wort and boiled.
- --
Curt Freeman | INTERNET curtf@hpwala.wal.hp.com
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 91 17:11:59 -0600
From: Mike Zulauf <zulauf@orbit.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: another Christmas recipe
Welcome Back HBD!
Since everyone was posting their favorite recipes before the break,
I thought I might contribute one of mine. This is also in keeping with
the recent requests for holiday brews.
Unfortunately, it is probably too late to brew this one if you want
to have it in peak form for Christmas.
Zulu's X-mas Lager
3.3 lb. can Munton & Fison Light Hopped Malt Syrup
2 3/4 lb. (approx) light dry malt extract
2 1/2 lb. light clover honey
1 lb. crystal malt
2 tsp. gypsum
2 oz. Cascade hops (4.5% alpha) - 60 min
1 oz. Cascade hops - 8 min
1/2 oz. Cascade hops - 5 min
1/2 oz. Cascade hops - 2 min
2 tsp. dried ground ginger - 10 min
2 tsp. dried ground nutmeg - 10 min
3 tsp. dried ground cinnamon - 10 min
grated orange peel from 4 oranges - 10 min
1/4 tsp. Irish Moss - 10 min
3/4 cup corn sugar for priming
M. eV. German Lager liquid culture in a 1 qt. starter
Original Gravity : 1.071
Final Gravity : 1.018
Primary Fermentation: 50 degrees F.
approx 12 days
Secondary Fermentation: 40 degrees F.
approx 30 days
Lagering: 30 degrees F.
approx 30 days
This recipe makes a golden, rather than dark, Christmas beer. With the
proportions of hops and spices used, you get a complex mix of aromas,
with none of them being too dominant. Other than being a lager and
using various temperatures, this is a very easy brew to make. If anyone
else tries it out, I'd be curious to hear the results.
Good Luck!
- Mike
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1991 16:36:21 -0800
From: krweiss@ucdavis.edu
Subject: first aid tip, repitching note, recipe
I finally had my first brewing related injury, and thought I'd share the
experience. I was removing my boiling priming syrup from the stove, sloshed
some onto the back of my hand, dropped the whole pot and spilled more on my
stomach. It's the first time I've been scalded.
Some notes on scalding -- this method of burning yourself can cover *lots*
of surface area very quickly. Most kitchen burns are small, from things
like accidentally touching a pot. You just burn your fingertips or hand.
Scalds can get big. I only spilled about a pint of liquid, and I burned
about a 3" x 6" area on the back of my hand, and a 5" x 7" area on my
stomach. At that, I was lucky, since most of the hot liquid landed on the
floor, not on me. I don't even want to imagine what I could have done with
3 gallons of boiling wort.
First aid notes: If you spill on your clothing, get the clothing out of
contact with your skin as quickly as possible. Second, apply ice, as much
and as fast as possible. I had ice packs on both burns within seconds of
the injury. As a result, neither burn blistered. It's been five days now,
and both areas are deep, dark red, but neither blistered. I kept the ice
packs on for over 12 hours, straight.
For some time I've been repitching the yeast slurry from my secondary
fermentor for new batches. I generally got fair results, with active
fermentation in about 24 hours. This most recent batch, the beer was only
in the secondary for two weeks when I bottled the beer and repitched the
slurry. Usually, due to laziness I leave the beer in the secondary for 4-6
weeks. The freshness of the slurry makes a big difference. This time I had
3" of krauesen in 6 hours! So, you repitchers, sooner is better.
Finally a recipe that came out great:
7 lbs. amber liquid extract (Alexanders, I think)
2 lbs. crystal malt, cracked
1 lb. chocolate malt cracked
2 oz. Hallertauer hops
2 oz. Saaz hops
4 oz. fresh ginger, grated
2 TBSP. ground cinnamon
Wyeast American Ale (Sierra Nevada ?) yeast, 1 pint starter
Steep crystal and chocolate malt in hot, but not boiling, water for about
1/2 hour. Strain out grains, sparge with hot water. Add extract, stir until
dissolved. Bring to a boil and add all the Hallertauer hops, the ginger and
the cinnamon. Boil 1 hour. Chill the wort, transfer to primary, and add
Saaz hops. Pitch the yeast. When the fermentation slows, transfer to
secondary fermentor. Prime with 3/4 cup corn sugar and bottle when
fermentation appears complete.
Notes: Really nice balance of flavors. The dry-hopped Saaz blended with the
ginger and cinnamon aroma really well, and the ginger flavor is perfect.
The cinnamon didn't contribute much flavor, and seems to have led to a
muddier beer than I usually get. Probably would have been better to use
stick cinnamon instead of ground... The color is much lighter than I would
have expected.
Ken Weiss krweiss@ucdavis.edu
Computing Services 916/752-5554
U.C. Davis
Davis, CA 95616
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 91 19:44:05 -0400
From: msdrl!allen@uunet.UU.NET (Eric Allen)
Date: Tue., Oct. 17, 1991
From: allen@msdrl.com (Eric Allen)
Subject: Bass India Pale Ale
Hey guys, any ideas?:
I have been trying to fashion a recipe to give a brew similar to
Bass Ale. I am a malt extract/specialty grain brewer and do no
real mashing. So far I have come up with brews that are more like
Dock Street Amber or New Amsterdam Ale (both more malty than
Bass). Fred Eckhardt has two descriptions of Bass India Pale Ale
in his book "Essentials of Beer Style", an 1896 version and a more
recent version (1975, I think). He says that Bullion, Fuggles,
and Goldings are mandated and that the Brits are not above using
adjuncts in their beer. Members of my homebrew club (Outlaws of
Homebrew, Staten I., NY) have suggested that I use half malt
extract and half brown sugar in the wort to achieve that Bass look
and feel. I haven't used any adjuncts in my beer so far and don't
have a feel for how they would work out. Any ideas? Recipes?
Eric Allen
Rahway, NJ
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #743, 10/18/91
*************************************
-------