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HOMEBREW Digest #0734
This file received at Mthvax.CS.Miami.EDU 91/09/30 03:09:31
HOMEBREW Digest #734 Mon 30 September 1991
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
MOMILYBUSTER (Jack Schmidling)
Archives (Tom Dimock)
Re: Brewpubs etc in Bermuda? (tmitchel)
re: Attenuation (Darryl Richman)
Re: Corona mill adjustments (Dale Veeneman)
Corona mills & Maibocks (BAUGHMANKR)
re: Torrefied Wheat, Say What? (Tim Anderson)
Re: Homebrew Digest #733 (September 27, 1991) (burghart)
Kegs, backflow valves, tap cleaning (bobc@wings.Eng - Bob Clark)
On a whim and a fancy..... (Greg Roody)
A grin. ("DRCV06::GRAHAM")
torrified wheat, weakened glass(oven sanitizing) (Carl West)
Anchor Spruce Beer (C.R. Saikley)
guinness formulation/recipe (Tony Babinec)
attenuation (Brian Bliss)
50K No Way (Jeff Frane)
On 733 (Jeff Frane)
happy buzz, Octoberfest, Canned vs dry? (Bill Crick)
Re: Dry Hopping, Hops utilization and Checkvalves. (larryba)
Recycling Yeast Cakes + Xmas Ale... (larryba)
Thanks; Honey Trubble (Rich Lenihan)
plastic carboys and grain bugs (Donald Oconnor)
Maris Otter Barley (C.R. Saikley)
Question #2, shocked yeast. (Ken Ellinwood)
Blow out tubes, dry hopping, fruity tastes (Conn Copas)
Re: Homebrew Digest #733 (September 27, 1991) (Steven M Cohn)
Hopping back and forth (The Hop Devil)
wine recipes (BERRRW)
Equation Correction (MIKE LIGAS)
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, 26 Sep 91 20:40 CDT
From: arf@ddsw1.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling)
Subject: MOMILYBUSTER
To: HBD
Fm: Jack Schmidling
RE: caa@com2serv.c2s.mn.org (Charles Anderson)
Subject: Grain Prices
In an otherwise useful source testimonial, Charles presents
us with the following MOMILY:
>Other Brewing grains that they have are Wild Rice (I was
supprised to find out talking to James that wild rice is a
member of the barley family, and is not closely related to
the regular rice that A-B adds to bud.).....
Jack says:
This would surprise any taxonomist because it is totally
wrong. First of all, there is no "barley family" and
secondly because wild rice is more closely related to
commercial rice that any rice is to barley.
ALL Cereal grains belong to Gramineae (Grass Family)
Hordeum vulgare 6 row barley
Hordeum distichum 2 row barley
Oryza sativa commercial rice
Zizania aquatica wild (Indian) rice
There is no question that wild rice has far more flavor than
commercial rice and probably a more interesting adjunct to a
beer.
His motivation is on target but the analysis is strictly
from "mom".
jack
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 91 08:33:00 EDT
From: Tom Dimock <RGG@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: Archives
I've noticed that the Miami archive has gotten quite a bit more
restrictive lately (not complaining - I know how much resource it can
eat being an archive site), and won't email the .shar archives
anymore. Instead you get a message recommending that you FTP instead.
When I try to FTP, I get a response that says (in part) "We only
accept FTP connections from recognized sites" and won't give me an
FTP connection....
Fortunately, there is an alternative, which is actually much more
convenient - there is another archive at WANG.COM which will send
single issues of HBD. It hasn't been mentioned recently, so I
thought I'd mention it for the benefit of others like me who can't
use Miami, or who find it inconvenient to get a full month's worth
of HBD when you really only wanted one issue. Just send a mail file
with "SEND HOMEBREW xxx" to ARCHIVE-SERVER@WANG.COM and issue xxx
of HBD will be sent to you overnight. Thanks to whoever at WANG
is supporting this archive! And no, it doesn't have #718.....
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 91 8:50:22 EDT
From: tmitchel@BBN.COM
Subject: Re: Brewpubs etc in Bermuda?
I was in Bermuda a few months ago, and as we sat on the porch of the
Swizzle Inn enjoying a pitcher of rum swizzles and the sun, a
gentleman sat down and asked the waiter, "What local beers do you
carry?" The waiter replied, without missing a beat or cracking a
smile, "Rum Swizzles." You see in bermuda they have standard american
and some european (Heineken, Amstel, Amstel Light) beer, but the
national drink is "rum and some kind of fruit juice". So when in Rome
do as the Romans do, and when in Bermuda, drink Rum. I highly
recommend the Swizzle Inn as the best Rum Swizzle on the Island.
Cheers,
-tom
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 91 06:34:45 -0700
From: darryl@ism.isc.com (Darryl Richman)
Subject: re: Attenuation
krweiss@ucdavis.edu writes:
> Ted Samuel asks:
> > Pardon my (seeming) ignorance, but what exactly is attenuation re:
> >yeast?
>
> ... Attenuation refers to the
> amount of residual sugar a yeast will leave when fermentation is complete.
> More attenuative yeasts will convert more of the sugar to alcohol and CO2,
> resulting in a drier beer with a lower final specific gravity. Less
> attenuative yeasts will leave more sugar unconverted, resulting in a
> sweeter beer.
This is close, but obscures why yeasts are attenuative or not. The
term actually refers to the *range* of sugars that the yeast will
digest. A more attenuative yeast can handle more different types of
sugars than a less attenuative one. Since a brewery wort is composed
of lots of different sugars due to incomplete degradation of starch in
the mash, a yeast that has difficulty with longer sugars will
leave a sweeter beer. (And because adjustment of mash temperature can
have a large effect on the make up of the wort sugar profile, this can
also result in a sweeter or drier beer.)
There is a particular genus of wild yeast, S. diastaticus, that has the
ability to break down longer chain sugars into simpler ones, and when
you get this type of infection, your beer comes out very dry and thin
(and smelling of phenols and DMS, since it is not a very refined
fermenter...). One might say that diastaticus is ultimately
attenuative.
--Darryl Richman
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 91 09:43:01 EDT
From: Dale Veeneman <dev1@gte.com>
Subject: Re: Corona mill adjustments
Bill Crick asks about Corona mill adjustments. I had the same
problem with too fine grinds (with the adjusting screw all the
way out) when I first got it. What I did was to grind (the other
kind of grind - with a bench grinder) the end of the main shaft
(the end that touches the ball) down about 3/8 inch. Now I can
keep the side bolts tight and have plenty of room for adjusting
the grind.
Dale
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1991 11:14 EDT
From: BAUGHMANKR@CONRAD.APPSTATE.EDU
Subject: Corona mills & Maibocks
Bill Crick ->Ich Brua, Dewegen Ich Bin! (I brew, therfore I am!)
writes:
>1. I have what I believe is a Corona grain mill. To get a good crushing,
> I have to loosen the bolts that hold the outer grinding plate to the
> point that its holder wobbles around a bit. I have thought of putting
> a 0.5mm washer in there(NOte recent post about needing washers).
> This is with the bolt that pushes the
> spring loaded ball to put tension on the outer plate wound right out to
> no tension. IS this normal? What is the tension spring for then?
If indeed it is a Corona mill you have, the addition of the washers is
normal. That was the only way I could achieve the correct grind.
Tension spring? There is no tension spring on my grinder but I have a
10 year old model.
> If I tighten the two bolts holding the outer plate holder tight, I get
> far too fine a grind. COmments?
I presume that's because the mill was made to turn grain into flour
for making bread instead of cracked grain for making beer.
>4. Does anyone have an all grain recipe for Mai Bock?
> Why don't the books that list beer classifications mention Mai Bock?
> Most seem to think BOck is alway a dark beer?
By far the best homebrewed Mai Bock to pass my lips was brewed by
Charlie Olchowski of the Frozen Wort. It almost won the HWBTA
national homebrew competition 3 years ago. I'll try to get a copy to
post.
Cheers.
Kinney Baughman | Beer is my business and
baughmankr@conrad.appstate.edu | I'm late for work
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 91 08:16:29 PDT
From: tima@apd.MENTORG.COM (Tim Anderson)
Subject: re: Torrefied Wheat, Say What?
John writes:
>I'd like to use torrefied wheat but have been unable to locate a U.S.
>supplier. My understanding of torrefication is that it involves
>roasting unmalted grain (possibly under pressure) until it pops or puffs like
>puffed wheat. Does anyone know of a supplier of torrefied wheat or of a
>precedure for making it?
Many long years ago, we made an alternative treat to popcorn, that we called
"popped wheat". We ate it like popcorn, with butter and salt. Making it is
really easy: Just cover the bottom of a heavy dry skillet with whole wheat,
and place over fairly high heat. Keep the pan moving so the wheat doesn't
scorch. A lid is a good idea, although the wheat doesn't explode violently
the way popcorn does. It does "pop", sorta, and looks a lot like puffed
wheat, but is much tastier (fact, not opinion %^/).
I don't know if this is the same as "torrefied wheat" or not. But if it
doesn't seem right, just pour it into a bowl, add a bit of melted butter, a
shake or two of salt, and serve with a glass of ESB.
tim (tim_anderson@mentorg.com)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 91 09:33:12 -0600
From: burghart@stout.atd.ucar.EDU
Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #733 (September 27, 1991)
Regarding the new Complete Joy of Homebrewing, Jim Homer types:
> The book is published by Avon ISBN 0-380-76366-4, $9.95.
> The AHA ((303) 446-0816) got the book in today.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The AHA does have the book, but their phone number is (303) 447-0816.
Chris Burghart
burghart@ncar.ucar.edu
National Center for Atmospheric Research
Boulder, CO
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 91 09:50:06 PDT
From: Bob.Clark@Eng.Sun.COM (bobc@wings.Eng - Bob Clark)
Subject: Kegs, backflow valves, tap cleaning
For people running multiple kegs off of one CO2 cylinder, how do
you stop things (deadly microbes say) from migrating from one
keg to the other? Are there check valves between the regulator
or manifold, and each keg? Also how do you clean or sanitize
the gas lines? I've never seen anyone mention this in any
procedures
I run a line from the regulator output to the manifold, with no check
valve. On each output from the manifold I have a check valve, and on
the end of the CO2 line to each keg is the normal quick disconnect.
This setup:
1. Prevents one high-pressure keg from forcing back-flow to a low
pressure keg
2. Allows me to have lines disconnected while keeping other kegs pressurized.
3. Forces all kegs to eventually be at the same pressure (the output pressure
from the regulator).
I have never worried about contamination on the gas lines.
If I am going to leave the taps unused for some time, I will put a TSP
solution in an unused keg, and with a little pressure use this to fill
up the tap lines. I loosen the collar at the tap to get some flowing
through the gap there, too (this is the collar where the tap connects
to the beer shank - I've had 'em loose before and grow mold). When I
want to use them next, I repeat the process, only using boiling hot water
in the flushing keg instead of TSP.
Bob C.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 91 10:24:24 PDT
From: Greg Roody <"whzguy::roody"@necsc.enet.dec.com>
Subject: On a whim and a fancy.....
Someone asked about the thought process behind brewing, and I thought
this may be an indirect answer. And yes, I have done a lot of
cooking/baking; yeast is my life.
On a whim, I picked up two gallons of fresh sweet cider at a farmstand
last night. I had the innocent thought of using up some dry yeast I
had left over from beer making (I have sinceswitched to liquid yests
for beer). Then, things kinda got out of hand.
I wanted to retain some residual sweetness, so I figured I'd add some
wort made from some crytal malt . Well, while I hand the grain mill
out, I threw in some pale malt grain. Now, I figured I should mash
this stuff and get some
usablesugars out of it so I did a 1 hour infusion mash, sparged and boiled.
Next, I went back to the freezer to put away the grains, and I found
some light DME; "oh what the heck" sais I, and I throws it into the boil.
So, now I figure I should pasteurize the cider, so I adds the hot wort
to it and heat it to 180. While I'm heating this glop, I clean up some
more, and find six pounds of honey I was saving for a mead.... "Hmmm,
a little of this couldn't hurt... could it?"; I added all six pounds.
Now I'm about a gallon short of filling my carbuoy, so tonight I'll
throw in another gallon or so of fresh (pasteurized) cider.
I have no idea what I have created, save that it will be STRONG (O.G.
measured 1.110 at racking to primary)
The total recipe looks something like this: for 5 Gallons
1.5 # 10 degree crystal malt
1.5 # 6 Row Pale malt
=== grains were infusion mashed, sparged, and boiled
2.5 # light DME (boiled with grain wort)
2 Gallons fresh Cider
6 # honey
1 cinamon stick ground finely
1 packet EDME Ale Yeat
1 Packet Red Star Wine Yeast
=== yeast was started as a slurry and pitched immediately into cooled wort/cider
Plus 1-2 Gallons fresh cider added one day into ferment
I'll let ya know how it turns out (in about six months).
/greg
------------------------------
Date: 27 Sep 91 13:13:00 EDT
From: "DRCV06::GRAHAM" <graham%drcv06.decnet@drcvax.af.mil>
Subject: A grin.
There was a young brewer named Devan,
who brewed one day in each seven,
his blowoff got loaded,
the carboy exploded,
now he brews pale ales in heaven.
Thought you might like a grin, on the other hand, this might prove that I
was too relaxed when I sent the message.
Dan
Beer made with the Derry air.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 91 13:48:45 EDT
From: eisen@kopf.HQ.Ileaf.COM (Carl West)
Subject: torrified wheat, weakened glass(oven sanitizing)
For torrified wheat I expect that you can use any unsweetened
puffed wheat breakfast ceral. How about other puffed adjuncts?
puffed rice, air-popped popcorn.
Whether oven sanitizing will weaken the bottles depends entirely
on how quickly they are heated *and* cooled, if it is done gently(slowly)
enough the glass will end up _slightly_ more annealed than before.
In general, the more annealed and therefore more stress-free the
glass, the stronger it will be (the exception is tempered glass).
If the bottles are heated and cooled too quickly, stresses will
build up in them and they will be more prone to breakage.
Carl
When I stop learning, bury me.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 91 11:22:06 PDT
From: grumpy!cr@uunet.UU.NET (C.R. Saikley)
Subject: Anchor Spruce Beer
There has been some recent talk of Spruce Beer, so I thought I'd
toss in this tidbit :
Those wild and crazy guys at Anchor have done it again. The same
folks who dared to brew a Sumerian beer, were perhaps the first
American brewery to revive the Christmas Ale tradition (mistletoe
and holly on Bud six packs doesn't count!), and who were a
microbrewery before it was fashionable, have brewed a spruce beer.
It's a pale, crisp and refreshing brew made with a portion of wheat
in the mash. Overall I thought it was quite tasty, my only complaint
being that it could have been better balanced. The spruce was a tad
overdone for my tastes. This will probably mellow with age - not that
any of it is likely to hang around long enough to find out.
It is a commemorative brew for the 10th annual Great American Beer
Fest coming up this weekend. It will be available there, and is
(make that was) available in select outlets in San Francisco - not
Oakland, not even Daly City, San Francisco. If you are fortunate
enough to encounter some, by all means buy it.
No, I don't work for Anchor. I just like them alot.
CR
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 91 13:40:19 CDT
From: tony@spss.com (Tony Babinec)
Subject: guinness formulation/recipe
The recent HBD entries on Guinness led me to look at Eckhart's (sp?) book on
beer style, along with Michael Jackson's and David Line's books.
"Essentials of Beer Style" says that Guinness has pale malts, crystal
malts, about 9% roasted barley and 9% flaked barley. Starting gravity
is in the 1050-1055 range, and Bitterness Units are in the 40-45
range. I believe Jackson indicates that Guinness is made to different
starting gravities for export to different parts of the world.
So, a recipe for 5 gallons of Guinness-like stout might go something like this:
8 pounds pale ale malt (OR 6 pounds dry malt extract,
(light,unhopped))
0.5 pound crystal malt
1 pound roasted barley
1 pound flaked barley
10-12 Homebrew Bitterness Units of bittering hop
Wyeast "Irish" ale or "London" ale yeast
I might be tempted to add a small amount of chocolate malt, although
this is not used in Guinness so far as I know.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 91 14:02:17 CDT
From: bliss@csrd.uiuc.edu (Brian Bliss)
Subject: attenuation
> The percentage drop in gravity is measured with a saccharometer
> and calculated as follows:
> Formula: A=(B-b)/BX100
> Example: (12-4)/12X100 = 66.6%
> A = attenuation: % of sugar of the original wort converted
> into alcohol and carbon dioxide after or during
> fermentation.
> B = original gravity in deg. Balling (or Plato) prior to
> fermentation.
> b = specific gravity in deg. Balling (or Plato) after or
> during fermentation.
Actually, I think that its A ~ (B-b)/B * 5/6 * 100
Since pure alcohol weighs about 5/6 as much as water, then
for every percent alcohol that the wort is raised, the SG
gravity drops by:
P * .008 due to loss of fermentables
P * .01 * 1/6 due to gain of alcohol
= P * .0016666
so the SG has actually dropped by .00966666
Since the hydrometer ready "Potential Alcohol", Multiply the
difference between the OG and FG by .008/.0096666,
or slightly less than 5/6, before finding attenuation.
bb
------------------------------
Date: 27 Sep 91 14:52:40 EDT
From: Jeff Frane <70670.2067@compuserve.com>
Subject: 50K No Way
A couple of us participating in the Digest are not on any regular network but
are receiving our copies through Compuserve e-mail, via Internet. Unfortunately,
it appears that CIS has an upper limit of 50K; whenever the digest is larger
than that--such as #732-- it gets stuck and will not read or download. I find
this very irritating, and know that Robin Garr--who is one of the sysops on the
CIS beer forum--loads it into the forum's library. When the digest jams, it
sometimes takes many days before someone gets a copy to Robin.
Does anyone have any suggestions? There are several possibilities that occur to
me.
1. Someone can help me figure out how to acquire an account (free?) on a network
and figure out how to run this software (Waffle) I acquired from a BBS. This
would solve *my* problem but not Robin's. Although Robin would certainly be
interested in learning whatever I learn.
2. Someone could offer to .ZIP or .ARC large digests and mail them to those of
us stuck on Compuserve. This would be a really nice gesture.
3. Someone a heck of a lot smarter than me can figure out another idea.
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
------------------------------
Date: 27 Sep 91 14:53:49 EDT
From: Jeff Frane <70670.2067@compuserve.com>
Subject: On 733
To Greg Habel:
I'm not sure of the current situation, but Dave Logsdon visited the islands a
few years ago. His advice: drink rum! He said the beer was *awful*.
To Bob Hettmansperger:
UC Davis means the University of California at Davis. I believe the brewing
program is actually part of the Food Science school; chief instructor is Dr.
Michael Lewis, guru of the west coast brewpub scene. (A wonderful fellow, *very*
knowledgeable about brewing science, who as far as I could tell doesn't really
like beer nor brewing; we disagree strongly on the function/output of a
brewpub.) One of the other teachers is Jean Xavier Guinard, a thoroughly
likeable Frenchmen (really!) whose excellent book on lambic beers was published
by the AHA. Anyway, you should be able to get information on Davis at any public
library.
To Norm Pyle:
Someone explained to me the difference between college and professional rugby:
in professional rugby they drink the beer *after* the game. Maybe it's true for
volleyball as well.
To Peter Berger:
I'd say you were generally right about "canned" extracts, but perhaps you should
check out my personal favorite: Alexander's light malt extract. It was developed
by the above-named Michael Lewis, and supposedly was evaporated only to the
point where no "canned" flavor would result. It's made from 100% Klages pale
malt and I have had excellent results with it whenever I've done extract-grain
beers. You will notice it's not as thick as most malts, because the evaporation
process is halted early.
You would be well advised to steer clear of Red Star; in fact, as pretty much
everyone will no doubt tell you, you should switch to liquid yeasts.//And yes,
your retailer sounds pretty expensive. Try mail order; look for ads in Zymurgy.
To John Hartman:
A friend of mine visited the Young's Brewery in London, which brags about their
"all-malt" beer. He pointed out pallets of sacked torrified barley and ?? Well,
hrmm, hrmm, we just add a bit of that for nitrogen [since, supposedly, British
malt is low in nitrogen]. He and I were never able to find torrified barley in
this country (something like puffed barley), but through experimentation
discovered terrific results from substituting a small amount of flaked barley in
ale recipes. Great head retention and lots of mouthfeel. It's possible that a
flaked wheat would substitute nicely for you.
To Bryan Gros:
I looked at a copy of the New Complete Joy (or whatever it's called) the other
day at a local homebrew store. There don't seem to be a lot of obvious changes
from the previous edition, although there is now an index and a couple of
supplements on things like lambic beers. I was appalled to note that the
publisher had managed to find an even lower grade of paper to print it
on--although it does offer the opportunity to read more than one page at a time.
As far as I can tell, the difference between Anchor's wheat and Munich-styles is
that the latter have taste. Hard to believe that the people who brew Anchor
Steam and Liberty Ale could make such a boring beer.
To Tom Hamilton:
On sanitizing in the oven> I haven't broken any bottles yet, although I guess
your doctor friend would have more experience in sterilizing than I. Perhaps the
pressure in her autoclave would add to the stress on glass; something that
wouldn't be true in the oven. ???
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1991 14:46:34 -0400
From: hpfcmr.fc.hp.com!hplabs!uunet!bnr-vpa!bnr-rsc!crick (Bill Crick)
Subject: happy buzz, Octoberfest, Canned vs dry?
Regarding the question about the "homebrew happy buzz": Get some
hop pellets of fairly high alpha content. Chew a few up and swallow
the hops. You'll get quite a glow on. I did this one day while watching
the sparge trickle, and got quite a glow off them that lasted about 45minutes.
I hadn't been drinking. Any ideas on how to grind them up fine enough to
fit up the nose;-)
Octoberfest:- Go early, there will be lineups.
-Beer and peppermint schnapps seems like a harmless combination
IT ISN'T! Major puke potential!
-Don't pass out! They'll put you outside in the rain, and
sell your seat to someone in line!
-Wear clothes that beer can be easily washed from.
beer fights are common. Beer spills are garrenteed!
- Ziggy, ziggy, ziggy, ziggy. Hoi! Hoi! Hio!
Party, party party, party. OH! OH! Boy!
Don't trust canned extract? Well to get the extract conentrated down, they
boil most of the sap out of it, and put it in a can,
To make dry extract, they boil ALL the sap out of it and put it in a bag.
Although both processes likely use low temperature vacuum boiling,
I can't see why the can would be worse than the dry when the canned extract
actually has less processing? I've used canned extracts for years, and
have used a bit of dry extract. I've seen little difference that can
be attributed to one being canned, and one being dry???
Bill Crick
Ich Brau! Dewegen Ich Bin!
------------------------------
Date: Fri Sep 27 09:39:42 1991
From: larryba@microsoft.com
Subject: Re: Dry Hopping, Hops utilization and Checkvalves.
- ---- Dry Hopping
Re, George Fix and dry hopping: one technique I have used is to dry hop
with pellets (in a fine weave bag - real cheese cloth, not the corse stuff
you get in the grocery store) - poured my boiling priming + gelatine water
over it (in the bottom of my keg). I doubt I get 100% kill (love that term),
but it gets to 180f which will kill most stuff. Leaf hops should work the
same. Anyway, then I rack the beer into the keg. Seal, let carbonate and
then drink away.
- ----- Hop Utilization Rates
The Hops issue of Zymurgy has some utilization tables. Apparently there
is some dissagreement between Byron Burch and the guy who made the tables
in Zymurgy. In a nutshell it appears that around 45 minutes of boil
the utilization takes a sharp increase so it is hard to predict utilization
in that time frame. The general idea is to boil hops for an hour or 20 minutes
to avoid that part of the curve. The numbers I use are: For 1 hour boil, the
utilization is around 27% (leaf) and 34% (pellet), at 20 minutes, it is 10 &
12%, at 5 minutes it is 5 and 6% respectively. I figure IBUs as follows:
(%alpha * %Utilization * Weight (grams) * 1000) / volume (liters)
A typical boil for me leaves 5.5 gallons or 20.6L. Just figure IBU for
each hop addition and add them up for total bitterness.
Hop freshness, Alpha acid amounts, weighing accuracy, boil temperature, pot
geometry (i.e. pressure/ temp at the bottom where the heat is coming in from)
all will affect your results. Does anyone know how to measure bitterness in
order to calibrate our home breweries? George?
- ---- Check Valves
I run three kegs off of one CO2 bottle. The "Brewers Warehouse" in Seattle
(advertises in Zymurgy) sells a three way tap, with check valves, for $10.
It screws into the regulator in place of the check valve and your gas lines
screw into it (with checkvalves).
------------------------------
Date: Fri Sep 27 09:58:38 1991
From: larryba@microsoft.com
Subject: Recycling Yeast Cakes + Xmas Ale...
I finally got a chance to try out the Farther Barleywine yeast cake trick. I
racked an ale from my carboy and chilled an Xmas ale directly onto the yeast
cake. Very impressive fermentation! I used a counterflow chiller and a wort
aerator (ref HBD #681). I really liked not having to carefully collect the
yeast and clean the carboy before reuse.
One thing I noticed: the resulting yeast cake is now twice as thick as
before. Sure, there is added trub, but not that much. Is it possible that
aerating the wort is unnecessary when recycling the yeast cake? There
probably wasn't any need for more yeast growth. Mr. Ransom: what happens
after your 4th or 5th ferment? Is there any room for the beer?
BTW my xmas ale recipe is tasting good. The green wort was pretty tasty.
Like pumkin pie made with Barley Malt instead of pumkin. It had a definite
bite of cinnamon and ginger (yahoo). Fermented out, the spicing was
considerably lighter although that Ginger heat was still detectable. In
short, the spicing is subtle and blends well with the Malt rather than
dominating it. If I were to do it again, I might subtitute a pound of 70l
crystal for some of the Munich malt, maybe punt the Munich all together and
bump up the amount of Klages.
8 lb klages
2 lb munich
8 oz chocolate
12oz Honey (added to the boil, not mashed!)
7 gallons of supply water + 8 gm gypsum (~85ppm of Ca++ in Seattle)
Step Mashed 30min @ 130f, 30 min @ 155f (Papazian technique)
Sparge water @ 175f
Collected 6 gal of wort
1 hour boil
Final volume 5.5 gal
OG 1.068
1/2 oz Willamette (5.4%) for 45 min
1/2 oz Willamette (5.4%) for 30 min
6 oz fresh ginger (peeled, diced)|
zest of 4 oranges (valencia) |
1 tsp whole clove -toss in with second hops addition.
1 tsp ground allspice |
5 3" cinnamon stick (crunched up)|
A little more than 5 gallons made it to the carboy. It fermented out in
36 hours @ 74f and has been sitting for another 4 days @67f.
TG 1.017 alcohol ~ 6.6 %v/v
I targeted the OG of the winning xmas ale described in this digest several
months ago. If you want to do this as an extract use 9.25 lb of syrup (a
porter style would be nice) or 8.5 lb of dry dark extract. I kept the hop
rates pretty low given that the spicing would be best with a sweeter flavor.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 91 17:50:18 EDT
From: rich@progress.COM (Rich Lenihan)
Subject: Thanks; Honey Trubble
First, I'd like to thank all who responded to my last submission
re: the use of "bottling buckets" and DME vs. corn sugar for priming.
The general consensus seemed to be that I should use a bottling bucket.
Well, I'm still not convinced but for the sake of homebrewing science,
I'll try it when I bottle my current batch. I'll probably use DME to
prime this batch since I think it'll be appropriate for style (basically,
an ale with 6 lbs malt extract, 1 lb specialty grains, 2 lbs honey), but
I'll continue to use corn sugar for most of my brews.
Now to my questions: in the above-mentioned batch, I boiled this for
about an hour (maybe a little more). I pitched my Whitbread dry ale
yeast (from a starter) and had really active fermentation in less than
six hours which went at a frantic pace for 24 hrs. (I keep my brewing
stuff in a closet off of the kitchen and even through a closed door
you could hear the noises from the blow-off tube. It sort of sounded
like the noises John Cusack was making at the end of "The Grifters").
Anyway, three days after putting it in the primary, I racked to a
secondary (both ends of siphon hose submerged). I had this really
gooey glop (RGG) at the bottom of the primary. It tasted a lot like
honey, so I suspect that much of the honey I added to the boil fell out
of suspension. Is this to be expected when using honey? (My first time)
Or should I boil the honey longer. Since I've been told that bad things
will happen if I boil my extract for more than 1 hour (momily or factoid?)
perhaps I should boil the honey for a while before I add the extract?
Or will over-boiling do bad things to my honey, too?
Also, after a few days in the secondary, there appears to be more RGG
forming on the bottom and the glug rate is down to .5/minute. Now, I'm
worrying. Is my fermentation finished (the SG was 1.023 when I racked
to the secondary but I'm not sure what to make of this if most of my honey
ended up in the RGG) or does this reflect the usual slowness reported with
using honey? I've had very slow ferments before but nothing this dramatic.
Or has my yeast died or taken a nap? From what I've tasted, it seems a
little sweet (and slighty vomity).
Another question: Since I'll probably rack this batch one more time
(at least) before bottling, I was thinking of saving the RGG from the
secondary for my next batch (which will probably be a more traditional
all-DME batch). The RGG contains, among other things, yeast which I
want and trub which I don't. So, is there a relatively simple method
of separating the two? I'm not equipped for lab culturing, yet. Also,
is there any chance that the honey from the RGG would impart an undesirable
flavor to my next batch (other than a slight honey flavor)?
Rich
Rich Lenihan UUCP: mit-eddie!progress!rich
Progress Software Corp. Internet: rich@progress.com
5 Oak Park Real life: 20-I Brandywine Drive
Bedford, MA 01730 Shrewsbury, MA 01545
USA (508) 754-7502
"Beer is a mellow drink, but it keeps you on the run..."
- The Bartender's Bounce
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 91 15:42:10 PDT
From: Donald Oconnor <oconnor@chemistry.UCSC.EDU>
Subject: plastic carboys and grain bugs
There have been quite a few notes on bugs in the barley malt and the
suitability of the apparently new plastic carboys as fermenters.
Bugs in the Malt: I recall that my grandfather would regularly shake
sacks of grain in order to avoid the problem of bugs. I believe the
idea behind this lies in busting up any bug eggs (larva?). My guess is
that shops aren't doing this and may also be selling very old grain.
Plastic Carboys: Someone recently asked about the usefulness of the new
hard plastic carboys apparently used by some water companies. Someone else
replied that they had used them successfully as fermenters. I have not
seen these yet, but if they are a clear and hard plastic, they are most
likely polycarbonate (aka Lexan). Polycarbonate is indeed quite hard and
more difficult to scratch than the usual water bottles. It can also
withstand quite high temperatures, certainly above the temp of boiling
water. Unfortunately, polycarbonate reacts to basic solutions, so you
cannot clean it with TSP, lye (sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide) or
even a weak bleach (sodium hypochlorite) solution which are all basic.
These solutions will eat away at the polycarbonate. They are inert to
acid so perhaps an acidic solution could be used for sanitizing. Beer
and wine are acidic so they pose no problem.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 91 17:49:22 PDT
From: grumpy!cr@uunet.UU.NET (C.R. Saikley)
Subject: Maris Otter Barley
From: hartman@varian.varian.com (John Hartman)
>Does anyone have specifics on Maris Otter pale malt? Is it any different
>from ordinary English 2-row pale malt?
The following is from an ad placed in the October/November issue
of the Celebrator Beer News :
WHAT CABERNET SAUVIGNON GRAPES ARE TO RED WINE,
MARIS OTTER BARLEY IS TO ALE MALT.
(These folks didn't do too well on the SAT exams!-)
Maris Otter is a rare, old fashioned two-row barley, low in
yield per acre and tough to grow. Seasoned brewers still
insist on the delicious, rich, plump, nut-like character
and the finesse that the variety gives their pale and brown
ales, porters, stouts and barley wines. Crisp Malting Ltd.
of Great Ryburgh continues to contract with Norfolk farmers
to supply them this extrodinary barleycorn. Crisp maintains
one of the few remaining traditional floor maltings in England.
Their fine pale, crystal, and dark dark malts are now available
to micro- and home brewers in the U.S. and Canada through Liberty
Malt Supply Company and their retail agents.
CRISP MARIS OTTER WON 1ST PLACE IN THIS YEAR'S NATIONAL
MALTING BARLEY COMPETITION.
Liberty Malt Supply Company
1418 Western Ave
Seattle, WA 98101
206-622-1880
206-622-6648 fax
Despite the advertising hype, it sounds like an interesting malt.
CR
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 91 17:47:07 PDT
From: aimla!ruby!ken@uunet.UU.NET (Ken Ellinwood)
Subject: Question #2, shocked yeast.
Bill Crick writes:
> 2. For people running multiple kegs off of one CO2 cylinder, how do you
> stop things (deadly microbes say) from migrating from one keg to the other?
> Are there check valves between the regulator or manifold, and each keg?
> Also how do you clean or sanitize the gas lines? I've never seen anyone
> mention this in any procedures. If you got a contamination in one of the
> kegs, wouldn't it get into the lines? Or again is there a check valve
> I don't know about.
I think that there are check valves in my manifold that not only allow me to
selectively shut off gas to a particular keg, but keep gas from flowing
backward towards the regulator in case it is disconnected from the tank.
But even so, I have always assumed that nasty beasts like bacteria can't
survive in a high-pressure (10psi) C02 environment, and hence would not
be able to crawl from keg to keg. I am lucky, though, in that I have
had very few bad batches so I can't say from experience that this is a
problem or not. I have never considered cleaning the gas lines.
On other matters, I am currently in second stage fermentation with a
beer brewed with Sierra Nevada ale yeast. I ferment in a fridge
controled by a Hunter Energy Monitor unit. Yesterday, when I checked
on the beer, I noticed that I had inadvertantly left the temperature probe
outside the fridge. Because the ambient temperature was 75 degrees
and the unit was programmed to hold the temperature at 68, the temperature
of the beer dropped to around 40 degrees (I had left a thermometer in the
fridge to check the accuracy of the Hunter unit). Question: I don't suppose
that there is anything to do about shocked yeast but let the temperature
return to normal and pray like hell that the fermentation resumes, is
there?
Ken Ellinwood
ken@aimla.com
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1991 15:17:13 +0000
From: Conn Copas <C.V.Copas@loughborough.ac.uk>
Subject: Blow out tubes, dry hopping, fruity tastes
This question almost seems too obvious to ask, but we've heard recently
that a blow out tube is a good means of removing fusel oil from the
primary. Is this referring to volatile fusel oil or that which is bound up
with the krausen in some fashion which escapes me. If the former, surely an
air lock is just as effective, and an open ferment is more effective still
? If the latter, surely skimming the brew is more effective ? Do top and
bottom ferments behave differently ?
One phenomenon I have noticed is that dry hopping increases the attenuation
of the brew. I have proved this to myself by dividing the same brew in half
and treating each half differently. I would be interested in any
explanations for this reaction. Here are some tentative ideas : the hops
introduce additional enzymes or microorganisms into the brew, they cause a
mechanical rousing of the brew, or maybe simply opening the fermenter and
introducing oxygen is the key factor.
My all-time greatest fruity brew occurred when making a standard extract
ale, using standard yeast, at standard temperatures, with 4 oz Goldings
bittering hops. It was not so much a case of 'subtle overtones of
blackcurrant' as the sensation that someone had sneaked in and poured a
bottle of Ribena cordial into the brew! Before you all leap in and tell me
that I may have been using mislabelled Bullion hops, I wasn't. The hops
looked like Goldings and behaved like Goldings as part of an aroma
technique. The bottled brew was undrinkable for the first 2 months of its
life, then the flavour vanished as mysteriously as it had appeared. Any
ideas or similar experiences ?
Conn V Copas tel : (0509)263171 ext 4164
Loughborough University of Technology fax : (0509)610815
Computer-Human Interaction Research Centre
Leicestershire LE11 3TU e-mail -
G Britain (Janet):C.V.Copas@uk.ac.lut
(Internet):C.V.Copas%lut.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1991 13:17:51 -0700
From: stevec@retix.retix.com (Steven M Cohn)
Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #733 (September 27, 1991)
Hi all,
Sorry to waste the bandwidth, but I've just been told that I get to
go to our nations capitol on Tuesday morning. I was hoping to sample
some of the local brewpubs. Specifically, I will be staying in Arlington
VA, but will have a car and all week to explore/drink. Please e-mail
me directly (stevec@retix.com), as I will probably not get to read the
digest until I get back.
Cheers,
Steve
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Steven Cohn |
| National Technical Specialist |
| Retix, Inc |
| smc@retix.com |
| |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 91 12:26:32 CDT
From: hopduvel!john@linac.fnal.gov (The Hop Devil)
Subject: Hopping back and forth
Doug Latornell writes:
>Unfortunately, my local supplier has neither Bulion nor Williamette
>hops (for which the recipe calls) so I am open to suggestions
>as to suitable substitutes. The Bulion are for boiling and the
>Williamette for finishing.
>Also, would anyone be willing to venture ballpark alpha
>acid percentages for these varieties to help me in working out the
>mass of substitute hops I need.
>(I realise that the alpha acid % is variable
>from crop to crop but any typical values would be of help).
Alpha acids are comprised of 3 ingredients, humulone,
cohumulone and adhumulone. The content profile of these is what
makes the bittering potential different among hop varieties.
Cohumulone seems to be the one that causes the more harsh bittering
effect. Bullion has high ratio of cohumulone (comprises just under
40% of the alpha acids and I think the alpha content runs around
6%). Eroica, Southern Brewer, Comet, Cluster and Brewers Gold also have
high cohumulone ratios.
Bullion has really poor storage characteristics and is fading from
production, along with Brewers Gold. Those high alpha hops are
being replaced by Clusters (runs about 7% alpha), Nugget and Chinook
(runs 10-12%). Centennial runs around 10% alpha and is what I'm
using now.
Among the 'noble' (mighty fine aromatic - finishing) hops,
Fuggles (~3.5% alpha) is a good substitute for Willamette, Fuggles
being the 'father' of the Willamette variety.
I think Willamette is replacing it in terms of production.
Willamette runs around 4.x% alpha, my current batch is 4.5%.
I *really* like Kent Goldings, if you can get them fresh the
aromatics are powerfully seductive (Alpha around 3.5%).
Cascades don't store too well, but are popular in the U.S. and run
around 5.5% alpha.
Tettnanger has a nice finishing aroma and is about 4% alpha.
If I was making a classic stout I wouldn't go too overboard (as I
typically do) on finishing hops, not quite true to style. You'll
want the cherry aroma to be noticable.
- --
John L. Isenhour
inet: hopduvel!brewmaster@linac.fnal.gov
renaissance scientist and AHA/HWBTA certified Beer Judge
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 91 21:00:00 EDT
From: BERRRW%morekypr@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Subject: wine recipes
I'm just starting my venture out into the world of self-brewing
and mixing. I really want to get a good start somewhere, but
don't have the space to really do anything. So I thought maybe
I could get some help from you friendly chaps and get my feet
wet with making my own wine. I could really use some recipes-with
directions, please!
Thanks
Thanks a lot,
Ron W. Berry
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1991 23:13:00 -0400
From: MIKE LIGAS <LIGAS@SSCvax.CIS.McMaster.CA>
Subject: Equation Correction
Well, a buddy of mine has pointed out that I made a typo in the letter I wrote
in HD733 about attenuation. The chemical equation has ethanol as C2H6OH when it
should be C2H5OH. Therefore the full equation would read:
C6H12O6 ----> 2C2H5OH + 2CO2
I apologize if this caused extreme and undue stress resulting in a sleepless
weekend. Did anyone actually notice this?
Special thanks to the Anal Chemist/Deadhead Brent Derry.
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #734, 09/30/91
*************************************
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