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HOMEBREW Digest #0926
This file received at Sierra.Stanford.EDU 92/07/18 09:59:23
HOMEBREW Digest #926 Sat 18 July 1992
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Malt, Correction, Kegs (Jack Schmidling)
CO2 tanks (yoost)
Re: Kevin's maltmill question ("Chris Dukes" )
Counterflow chiller plans, killer sparge gadget (Jeff Benjamin)
Trub ("CMD 2NDLT ALBERT W. TAYLOR ")
js e-mail node (Ken Johnson)
Volume Brewers: Any wheat beer recipes? (Scott Bickham)
Novice brewer needs help (Murray Robinson)
Brewers Down Under (Murray Robinson)
Wanted: Oatmeal Stout Recipe (Murray Robinson)
Wanted: Zymurgy Back Issues (Murray Robinson)
red hop bugs (Michael Gildner)
Filtering Beer (BOB JONES)
Boil over clean up (Micheal Yandrasits)
Silicones and You (oehler)
Bay Area Bottled Beers (Michael T. Daly)
Re: Homebrew Digest #921 (July 10, 1992)[D[D (Mark N. Davis)
Beating a dead silicone, sanitizers (Jim Griggers)
When plants start hopping? (Justin Aborn)
hops & bugs (Russ Gelinas)
calculating yield (CCAC-LAD) <wboyle@PICA.ARMY.MIL>
Re: Sparge Water pH (Larry Barello)
Jockey Box (John Francisco)
Wyeast wheat (korz)
Belgian ale (mcnally)
brewing your own sierra nevada pale ale (Tony Babinec)
Source for reconditioned CO2 tanks ("Steve, dtn 226-2718")
wheat & Belgian yeast (Jeff Frane)
yeast, again ("Brett Lindenbach")
Great Taste of Midwest (John Freeborg)
Smart Caps (Michael Lewandowski)
Sparge pH ("Rad Equipment")
Sparge pH Time:7:43 AM Date:7/14/92
Re: Blueberry Beer (Jeff Benjamin)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 92 11:57 CDT
From: arf@ddsw1.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling)
Subject: Malt, Correction, Kegs
To: Homebrew Digest
Fm: Jack Schmidling
>From: "Franklin R. Jones" <FRANK@VA5549.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: malts...
> 3> Has anyone out there tried making malts? Any publications on this?
At the risk of being commercial, I demonstrate how to make a small batch of
malt in my video. It's great fun but just for the exercise. It's cheaper to
buy than make. Perhaps one of the nice people out there who received free
review copies would like to pass it along to you.
>Lastly: to Jack Schmidling: re: maltmill giveaway... All the systems
network managers want to thank you for stress testing their mailers.
I am sure the surge of articles lately is only coincidental.
We are at 69 (as of HBD #920) and counting.
>A few words of "comfort"? My father, when he retired, found that he had to
retire about four more times over the next few years from the full time
"amusements" he built for himself. Best of luck.
Thanks. There is nothing that boggles me more than to hear retired folk
whining about being bored and pining for their job back.
BTW, I retired at 43 and I have never wanted my job back for a nanosecond.
>From: piatz@fig.cray.com (Steve Piatz)
>Subject: Adjusting specific gravity
How often, I have wanted such info, primarily in winemaking. You have,
indeed done us a service.
Just for the record....
> Dilution By 50%
Is taken to mean... adding 5 gals to a ten gallon batch or adding 10 gallons
to a 10 gal batch?
>From: ukcy@sunyit.edu (Kevin Yager)
>Subject: Unrefrigerated kegs of HB
} A used chest freezer with a Hunter Airstat thermostat is the best way to
go.
No doubt but.....
} I suspect you will have trouble with carbonation since the solubility of
} CO2 varies greatly with temperature. I've tried dispensing cool beer through
} a jockeybox (what you described) and had a heck of a time getting the CO2
} to stay in the beer.
} Al.
}-- End of excerpt from korz@iepubj.att.com
>Can anyone add to Al's observations on this topic. I plan to start kegging
with my next batch of beer. I don't have a place to keep kegs cold. I
do have a small dorm sized refrigerator which I plan to run some tubing
through. Effectively the same as a "jockeybox".
I can only add by disagreeing totally. I have no fridge in my basement and
have never refrigerated kegs. I do not know about your jockey box but I use
a "cold plate" which is a stainless tube serpentine imbeded in a cast
aluminum plate. It is about 8 X 12 X 1 and cools beer as fast you I can draw
it. It holds less than two oz of beer and two cups of cubes will chill a
couple of glasses. It sits in the bottom of a plastic dish pan with the tap
on top of that. I brought it to Milwaukee with a keg of you know what.
In my experience, "after chilling" gives the ultimate control in carbonation.
No matter what level the carbonation is in the keg, chilling on the way out
will force the carbonation to stay in the beer. It also allows you to
maintain a higher CO2 pressure in the keg than could normally be used for
dispensing because of the restriction in the plate.
It also makes bottling a snap. Release the pressure in the keg to just
enough to move the beer and foamless, chilled beer runs into the bottle.
The plate is available from any bar supply house.
>From: Jay Hersh <hersh@expo.lcs.mit.edu>
>Subject: ale yeast ferments to freezing (NOT!)
>What ale yeast is this?? Did you mean lager yeast. All the Ale yeasts I have
ever used tend to floculate out and go dormant when I drop them to cold
temperatures (like say below 45F), in fact I, and many many brewers
commerical and home, rely on this behavior to stop fermentation and
clarify the beer, it even has a technical name for it, called cold conditioning.
>Care to enlighten us???
Sure. Most readers didn't need enlightening. They recognized the error and
answered the question. But some folks just can not ever let an opportunity
to be nasty pass.
Obviously, I was talking about lager yeast and the problem I anticipated by
storing culture slants.
To try again..... in light of the fact that lager yeast ferments down to
freezing, how is it possible to store culture slants in a refrigerator for
months without depleting the media. I am in the habit of tightening the caps
on ale yeast culture tubes but this seems like a prescription for disaster
with lager yeast.
Now, would you like to try again?
93 and counting as #921. Looks like Monday is the big day. Sure hope I win
one of those beauties.
js
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 92 13:33:50 -0500
From: yoost@judy.indstate.edu
Subject: CO2 tanks
I have found that Beer Distributors have CO2 tanks taps etc. and are
usually very helpful.
I bought a refrigerator conversion kit for $130.00 consisting of:
5# CO2 tank w/reg
tap to fit through door
all hoses & connectors
I have both types of keg hookups Genny type (12 horse Ale)
or Coors type (George Killian's Irish Red) I have a hose clamp
that I can use to change and when I start kegging in Pepsico Kegs
I will just change to that.
I may put a short length of hose and 'Quick disconects' on all of them.
John W. Yoost
------------------------------
Date: 9 Jul 92 11:27:42 EDT
From: "Chris Dukes" <imagesys!rover!CRD@uu.psi.com>
Subject: Re: Kevin's maltmill question
> >From: klm@mscg.com (Kevin L. McBride)
> Subject: MALTMILL giveaway
Kevin writes:
>
> What happens if Jack posts the 100th article?
>
Then I guess he won't have to ship it very far.
_______________________________
| -Chris Dukes crd@imagesys.com|
| Tel:518-283-8783 Ext. 550 |
| Fax:518-283-8790 |
|_______________________________|
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 92 21:48:19 MDT
From: Jeff Benjamin <benji@hpfcbug.fc.hp.com>
Subject: Counterflow chiller plans, killer sparge gadget
I realize this has been asked before, but, like everyone, I didn't save
the discussion because I didn't need it at the time.
Does anyone have plans they can [e]mail me for a counterflow wort
chiller? The concept is pretty straightforward, but it isn't obvious
how to build some of the fittings.
Thanks in advance. As payment, here's a handy tip for you all-grain
brewers out there.
Tonight we just tried out some new lautering hardware that beats the
Zapap lauter tun hands down (Charlie, how could you have lead us astray?
:-). Build a sparge "manifold" out of 1/2" copper tubing with slits in
it that goes in the bottom of the mash tun. When you're done mashing,
simply siphon off the sweet wort and pour the sparge water over the top
of the grain. No need to transfer the mash to another container or
drill holes in you mash pot.
The manifold is made with about 5 feet of tubing, 4 tees, 5 endcaps, one
elbow, and one step-down for matching the size of the plastic hose. We
mash in a round pot, so it looks something like (attempted silly ASCII
graphics follow):
_
|
+----]
[------+
+------]
[----+
|
90 deg up \========----->to hose
The horizontal arms have 4-6 slots cut in them, 3/4" apart, facing
downward, and sit in the bottom of the tun. Then the elbow turns up the
side of the tun and connects to the siphoning hose. Standard copper
fittings are tight enough you don't even have to solder. Just cut the
pieces of tubing so that the manifold fits snugly in the bottom of your
tun.
It sparges just as well as the Zapap unit, and is easier to use, and
cost only $5 to make. Oh, make sure you put the manifold into the
tun *before* you add the grain, not after.
- --
Jeff Benjamin benji@hpfcla.fc.hp.com
Hewlett Packard Co. Fort Collins, Colorado
"Midnight shakes the memory as a madman shakes a dead geranium."
- T.S. Eliot
------------------------------
Date: 11 Jul 92 23:17:00 EST
From: "CMD 2NDLT ALBERT W. TAYLOR " <S94TAYLOR@usuhsb.ucc.usuhs.nnmc.navy.mil>
Subject: Trub
I just made a batch of beer, and this is the first time I have worried (yes,
I worried!) about letting the trub settle out. Only problem is that it took
overnight for it to all fall out, even after the wort is completely cooled.
My question is how much damage can be done by letting the stuff sit over-
night to let the trub settle out, then rack to another carboy and pitch the
yeast. I know there is a significant risk of infection, but I think I can
control for that. What risks of oxidation or other things exist, and how
much should worry about them? Does anyone know a better way than I propose?
Thanks in advance for any information!
Al Taylor
Uniformed Services University, School of Medicine, Bethesda, MD
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 92 12:57:47 PDT
From: kjohnson@argon.berkeley.edu (Ken Johnson)
Subject: js e-mail node
If anyone can send Jack S. e-mail directly, please send me some mail so that
I can try your machine as a node. I still can't send Jack e-mail, yet he seems
to be able to send it to me.
Jack, if you are reading this, please send me maltmill info one more time. I
erased the old files without knowing.
thanks
kj
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 92 19:23:44 EDT
From: bickham@msc2.msc.cornell.edu (Scott Bickham)
Subject: Volume Brewers: Any wheat beer recipes?
A couple of brewers in our homebrew club asked for some help
in formulating a recipe for a Weizen or Dunkelweizen. They will be making
a 50 gallon batch, so any tips on doing a sparge with approximately 50 lbs.
of wheat will be very useful.
Since I am on the subject of Weizens, this style, as well as Alt
and Koelsch beers benefit from a cold lagering during the secondary stage.
Since most ale yeasts are almost dormant at 45 F, would it be beneficial
to innoculate the beer with a lager yeast before the lagering period? If
anyone has ever tried this, I would be interested in finding out the results.
Happy Brewing,
Scott (bickham@msc.cornell.edu)
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1992 12:02:55 +0930
From: Murray Robinson <robinm@mrd.dsto.gov.au>
Subject: Novice brewer needs help
As a novice brewer I have a few questions about home brewing.
1. What are the best sterilsing agents and procedures to use in order to prevent the little airborne nasties infecting my brew.
2. If one brews from commercially available kits and then adds additional driedmalt to the brew (instead of sugar) can you experience problems with the yeast not being capable of fully fermenting the liquor due to high malt content? (if yes - how do you overcome it? )
3. What's with this racking the beer after primary fermentation? In Australia, no one mucks around with this step. I know it is supposed to allow for a much clearer beer but aren't you increasing the chance of infection? If anyone does use this method with success can you please let me know exactly what steps you go through in terms of sterilisation, when to rack, how long , etc.
4.Does anyone out there have a list of the various hops varieties available and whether their use is suitable for enhancing aroma or bitterness or both?
5. Can anyone give me the address and fax number of zymurgy so that I may subscribe?
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Murray Robinson robinm@mrd.dsto.gov.au
DSTO
Australia
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1992 13:49:19 +0930
From: Murray Robinson <robinm@mrd.dsto.gov.au>
Subject: Brewers Down Under
Are there any brewers out their who hail from the land Down Under. I am very interested in comparing brewing recipes/techniques with brewers who like me don't have access to the same range of malts, hops and other ingerdients that our overseas brewing mates have.
Murray Robinson E-mail: robinm@mrd.dsto.gov.au
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1992 15:41:36 +0930
From: Murray Robinson <robinm@mrd.dsto.gov.au>
Subject: Wanted: Oatmeal Stout Recipe
Does anybody out there have a good oatmeal stout recipe? I am a relatively inexperienced home brewer (so the simpler the better) but am willing to tread new ground (ie full mash brews) in anticipation of an oatmeal stout to warm me on those winter days.
Thanks in advance
Murray.
P.S Just received HBD #921 in which Steve Kennedy writes that he too is planning an oatmeal stout for some time in the next 2 weeks. So Steve, can share your recipe with me (us) ?
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1992 16:31:05 +0930
From: Murray Robinson <robinm@mrd.dsto.gov.au>
Subject: Wanted: Zymurgy Back Issues
As stated in my previous article I am interested in obtaining quality home brewing books and magazines. Does anyone have any back issues of Zymurgy they don't want any more or would like to sell to a fellow home brewer? If so you can contact me on:
Murray Robinson
email: robinm@mrd.dsto.gov.au
fax: +618 259 5200
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 92 08:47:29 EDT
From: mmlai!lucy!gildner@uunet.UU.NET (Michael Gildner)
Subject: red hop bugs
Hello,
My cascade hops have produced some beautiful flowers
but when I picked a couple the other day I noticed
some small red bugs crawling inside the leaves of the
flowers. Should I wash the hops before I package them
away for storage to get rid of these pest?
Also, what is the best indicator for harvest time? The
buds had the yellow resin inside but had very little hop
aroma.
Mike Gildner
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1992 09:29 PDT
From: BOB JONES <BJONES@NOVAX.llnl.gov>
Subject: Filtering Beer
If anyone out there is or has used a filter to filter beer, I would like to
ask you some questions. Please email me. I talking .5um polyester type
filters. Thanks.
Bob Jones
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 92 14:52:21 edt
From: michael@frank.polymer.uakron.edu (Micheal Yandrasits)
Subject: Boil over clean up
A good way to clean the stove tops after a nasty boil over is with oven
cleaner. Let it sit overnight or at least an hour, its worked wonders
for me.
-Mike
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 92 14:57:17 EDT
From: oehler@smpvax.dnet.ge.com
Subject: Silicones and You
Good Morning all,
Just a bit more about silicone caulking. As I understand it, there
are silicone grades available that are FDA approved for food use. They
should handle both the temperature and the pH of the mash. They will
corrode a copper pipe, however. The acetic acid released as they cure
is responsible. Also, when trying to seal a thermoplastic cooler, they
may require a primer to adhere properly. The primer may not be FDA approved.
Therefore, it is suggested that a mechanical solution be found instead.
Better Living through Zymurgy,
Pete Oehler
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 92 15:44:20 CDT
From: ssi!mtd@uunet.UU.NET (Michael T. Daly)
Subject: Bay Area Bottled Beers
Thanks to Nick for the further info. Also, thanks Russ for
the list of places to shop (and not shop). Now for the tough
problem. Suppose I walk into one of these places and there
in front of me is a set of shelves with 50 (ok, I'm dreaming, maybe
20) different local beers. Which are worth packing up and
bringing back to Wisconson on the airplane?
I have had some of the Anchor and SN products, and I plan on looking
for additional varieties which they don't ship (I found the SN Mai Bock
in Ft. Collins CO. Very nice. Almost convinced me to start lagering.).
I have had mixed impressions of the San Andreas Brewing Co's Richter
Scale Ale -- the first year was very good, the last one I had tasted
like orange juice....I think I'll skip them. I seem to remember
that Devil's Mt. is out of business....too bad, I liked their porter.
I'll get some of the Dead Cat Alley (or what ever they call themselves)
products, but I still have a half of a suitcase left....suggestions?
I am especially interested in varieties which I can buy in less than
6packs -- 10 different 6packs leads to either lots of fat about the
nether regions (and problems walking) or leaving something behind
(not to mention the serious sudden dent in the wallet).
(Russ mentioned Anderson Valley, Winchester, Rogue and Mendocino. Who else?)
Mike
Black Swan Femto-brewery,
A Member of the Hamilton Ave. Homebrewers Association.
Mike Daly (uunet!ssi!mtd) -- (715) 839-8484
Supercomputer Systems Inc. 1414 W. Hamilton Ave. Eau Claire, WI 54701
There are two kinds of people in this world.....Cannibals and Lunch.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 92 17:27:41 PDT
From: Mark N. Davis <mndavis@pbhya.PacBell.COM>
Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #921 (July 10, 1992)[D[D
> My friend and I made a quicky extract/specialty grain batch on Friday.
> We put 1/2 pound of ground chocolate grains in one of my girlfriends
> old white nylons and began to heat the water to about 170 F at about
> 150 F or a little less we noticed this awful plastic like smell that
> seemed very wrong and toxic. It eventually went away (we didn't just
> get used to the smell we had others come in and smell) when the water
> got close to 170 F. The smell seemed to come from the water and not
> the nylons (tested by pulling the nylons out of the water and sticking
> out noses on them).
It sounds to me like the odor was derived from the stocking, but not
necessarily the nylon itself. The obvious explanation would be your
girlfriend's feet. But since we treat brewing as a science, I feel that
you are now responsible for proving this theory. At your soonest convenience,
please stick her feet in a pot of water and gradually raise the temperature.
Take careful notes as to which temperatures produce the aforementioned odor.
If the odor begans to dissapate as you approach 170'F, then we can safely
say that we have identified the cause. Try not to confuse the smell of the
boiling flesh with the unidentified odor.
Sorry for any offense, but I couldn't pass this one up >:-)
Mark
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 92 20:17:38 EDT
From: ncrcae!brew@devine.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM (Jim Griggers)
Subject: Beating a dead silicone, sanitizers
My silicone sealant that is manufactured by Dow Corning and marketed by DAP
has this on its label:
SAFE FOR FOOD CONTACT: When cured and washed, ingredients
which remain or which could migrate
to food are listed in FDA Regulation
No. 21 CFR 177.2600.
There is also nothing in the Material Safety Data Sheet that would indicate
food contact should be avoided. I don't have a copy of the FDA regulation,
so I don't know what chemicals are available for migration. I personally
would not worry about the short term exposure of wort leaching something
poisonous from cured RTV.
Chris Lyons asked about an alternative to chlorine in sanitizers. I have
just switched to Iodophor because of a recommendation by George Fix. In the
recommended concentrations, rinsing is not needed. I have only used this for
my last batch which is still in the primary, so I can't confirm its efficacy.
Price wise, it if fairly expensive. I bought a case of 6, 1/2 liter bottles
for about $30, which I figure is a lifetime supply. One quarter fluid ounce
of Iodophor makes 2 1/2 gallons of solution with 12.5 ppm titratable iodine.
I was going to post on my home-made temperature controller for a refrigerator
that used a Hunter programmable thermostat. The nice thing about it over
the Air-Stat is that the set point can be set lower than 40F. However, it
is no longer available and the new Hunter thermostats have a "feature" in
which the a/c control is turned off below 45F.
>From the land of 80F tap water and the fifth straight day over 100F,
Jim Griggers * * * * *
brew@devine.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM * *
408 Timber Ridge Dr. * *
West Columbia, SC * * *
29169 * *
PS to Jeff Frane: Anchor Steam is now available in South Carolina as of about
two weeks ago. We still cannot get Liberty Ale, however.
Thanks for giving me my first and only taste of Libery Ale
at the AHA conference.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 92 7:54:14 EDT
From: Justin Aborn <jaborn@BBN.COM>
Subject: When plants start hopping?
Well, my rye zomes really did their thing. I have hop vines
approaching the gutter from which their support string hangs.
When do the hop cones start showing up?
And yes, some mysterious bug seems to like hops. Most of the
leaves have holes in them. I have sprayed twice with malithion
(sp?), but the invisible bug keeps coming back.
Justin
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1992 9:55:03 -0400 (EDT)
From: R_GELINAS@UNHH.UNH.EDU (Russ Gelinas)
Subject: hops & bugs
Got home from 4 days in the woods to find Japanese beetles feadin' n'
fornicatin' on my hops plant. Only on the Hallertaur, though, not on the
Cascade a few feet away. The H is a year older, and is flowering better,
but still it seems odd. Maybe they're German beetles.... ;-)
R
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 92 11:05:33 EDT
From: William Boyle (CCAC-LAD) <wboyle@PICA.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: calculating yield
I have noticed a few questions about converting from dry extract to syrup
or from all grain to extract. The easiest way to convert SG's is to know
what the yield of each item is and convert. If a recipe calls for a SG of
1.050 and one pound of dry malt yields 45 pts/gal = 9 pts/5 gal, you would
need 50/9 = 5.55 lbs of dry malt. Also if a recipe calls for 7 lbs of
grains which yields about 35 pts/gal (I know this is ideal, but you get
the idea) 7 * 35 = 245pts total, 245/45(pts for dry) = 5.44 lbs of dry
malt. I know this may be confusing, not the math but the way I have
explained it.
Here are two lists of yields which were posted previously (sorry for
stealing your work, but I hate typing and I did not want to make my own
list, so if there is any error don't blame me :-)).
===========================================================================
These are the numbers quoted by Dave Miller in his new book, "The Complete
Handbook of Home Brewing" (Garden Way Publishing, 1988). All numbers assume
1 pound of material in 1 gallon of water.
Barley Flakes...........30
Black Malt..............24
Cane Sugar..............45
Cara-Pils...............30
Corn or Rice Flakes.....40
Corn Sugar..............40
Crystal Malts...........24
Honey...................35
Malt Extract Powder.....45
Malt Extract Syrup......36
Mild Ale Malt...........33
Munich Malt.............33
Pale Ale Malt...........35
Roast Barley............24
Six-row Lager Malt......33
Two-row Lager Malt......35
Vienna Malt (homemade)..30
Wheat Malt..............38
===========================================================================
Ingredient Gravity for 1 pound in 1 US gallon Dry Malt
Extract 47
Malt Extract Syrup 40
Corn, Rice 39.5
Wheat Malt 39
English 2 row lager, pale 37.5
English mild ale malt 36
German 2 row pilsner malt 35
German 2 row munich malt 34.5
Light crystal, Dextrine malt 32.5
Brown, amber malt 32
US, Canadian 6 row lager malt 31
Chocolate malt, Dark crystal 30.5
Black malt, Roast barley 30
Note that these are theoretical MAXIMUMS. You won't get these in your
brewpot.
===========================================================================
Sorry if letters are missing my system is not the best.
B^2
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 92 08:02:10 PDT
From: polstra!larryba@uunet.UU.NET (Larry Barello)
Subject: Re: Sparge Water pH
John Freegorg writes in #922
> How many all-grain people adjust their sparge water pH? I've been reading
>about putting lactic acid in the sparge water to achieve the proper pH which
>helps improve extraction numbers.
>
> Should I worry about this? Do other people? Have you noticed a dramatic
>difference once you started doing this?
I treat my entire supply water with gypsum (about 1gm/gal). That seems
to acidify the mash and the sparge quite well. I get excellent extract
yields, but I wouldn't draw the conclusion that my yields are a result
of my sparge water acidification.
- Larry Barello
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 92 07:56:48 MST
From: John Francisco <CITJLF@ARIZVM1.ccit.arizona.edu>
Subject: Jockey Box
I,ve been using a jockey box that I bought from Foxx for several years
now. The trick to pouring beer with a nice creamy head and retaining
a nice level of carbonation is to run the CO2 pressure at 21 lbs.
You need this high level of pressure because your draft lines are very
long. If the pressure is not sufficient, the CO2 escapes from the beer
because there is not enough pressure to keep it in suspension. The CO2
pressure actually drops over the distance that the beer has to travel
and by the time it reaches your tap it's at the proper pressure. A lot
of people mistakenly think that when they have their first tapping
system that if they're getting a lot of foam when pouring a beer that
the pressure is too high - it's just the opposite, it's too low. There
is a formula, which eludes just now, for calculating line pressure but
the standard pressure for 20 to 30 feet of draft line is 21 lbs, start
at this pressure first and then adjust - if still a little too foamy
then raise it a few pounds.
I keg my beer in Cornelious kegs and bottles but the kegged beer tastes
much fresher and the head is always creamier. I have also setup a refrig-
erator system. If anyone has any questions about any of these systems,
I would be happy to answer your questions. I,ve been using these kegging
systems now for almost ten years.
May your beer give you good head!!!
John
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 92 09:56 CDT
From: korz@iepubj.att.com
Subject: Wyeast wheat
John asks about Wyeast wheat yeast.
I've used this once, fermented at 69F and got no clove character.
I've since spoken to several others who have used it, as well as
a few posts in HBD awhile ago, and the consensus is that you need
to ferment at a higher temperature, say, 75F or 80F to get the clove
character. Wyeast wheat yeast (#3056, I believe) is a mixture of
S. cerevisiae and S. Delbrueckii. It's the Delbrueckii that gives
the beer that clove character so necessary for the Bavarian Weizen
style. It appears, from what I've read and heard, that higher temps
favor the Delbrueckii.
Al.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 92 08:45:28 -0700
From: mcnally@wsl.dec.com
Subject: Belgian ale
I recently made a batch of Belgian ale using some Belgian malt I ordered
from Liberty. The malt is distinctly different.
I haven't found Chimay yeast to be slow at all. In fact, since I
started using better aeration techniques, I've found it to be pretty
snappy.
I am not fond of banana odors in my beer, so I try to keep the
fermentation temperature below 70 degrees. I still get a great deal
of that "Belgian" character to the beer.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Mike McNally mcnally@wsl.dec.com
Digital Equipment Corporation
Western Software Lab
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 92 13:00:36 CDT
From: tony@spss.com (Tony Babinec)
Subject: brewing your own sierra nevada pale ale
This recipe ought to get you close. Try it, see how the beer turns out,
and then make changes.
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, the bottle product, has a starting gravity of
1.052, while Sierra Nevada Draught Ale, the draft product, has an SG of
1.048. The draft product tastes a bit sweeter, too. Malts in the grain bill
include pale malt, crystal malt, and dextrine malt (aka cara-pils). Hops
used are Perle and Cascade. The yeast is their own, which you can culture
from the bottle or obtain as Wyeast "American" ale.
So, for a 5-gallon batch, assuming 75% extraction efficiency, try this:
9 pounds U.S. 2-row pale malt
0.5 pounds crystal malt (60L)
0.25-0.5 pounds cara-pils malt
1 ounce Perle (alpha=6.5), 60 minutes until end of boil
0.5 ounce Cascade (alpha=6.3), 15 minutes until end of boil
0.5 ounce Cascade (alpha=6.3), end of boil
Wyeast "American" ale
Mash at starch conversion temperature of 153/5 degrees F.
Comments: the crystal malt is fairly dark for some color, the cara-pils
is there for added body and sweetness. But, don't overdo it with the
specialty grains. The relatively high starch conversion temperature will
promote body and sweetness. Perles are the signature bittering hop, while
Cascades are for flavor and aroma. If I remember, SNPA comes in at about
32-35 IBUs, and the above hop schedule should get you in the ballpark. I
don't believe Chico dry-hops SNPA, but go ahead if you so desire.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 92 10:52:01 PDT
From: "Steve, dtn 226-2718" <kennedy@ranger.enet.dec.com>
Subject: Source for reconditioned CO2 tanks
In HBD #921 Dan Roman asked about a source for a source for used CO2 tanks.
There's a company called Bev-Con International (BCI) which lists
reconditioned CO2 cylinders (2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20, 50 pound sizes) in their
catalog. I acquired their catalog/price list through the N.H. based Brew
Free or Die homebrew club. As an example of their prices, the price list I
have lists a 5# reconditioned cylinder for $32.50 (I don't know if this
includes the cap/valve). I haven't looked extensively at a lot of
catalogs/brochures that carry kegs and CO2 cylinders, but in all that I have
seen, this is the first place that I noticed that sells reconditioned CO2
cylinders.
Anyway, the contact information:
Bev-Con International
6400 Highway 51 South
P.O. Box 396
Brighton, TN 38011
Phone: (901) 476-8000
WATS: (800) 284-9410
FAX: (901) 476-4811
In addition to CO2 cylinders, their price list includes various makes of
beverage tanks (ex. Cornelius) in various sizes, as well as many different
types of standard 1/4 & 1/2 size barrels.
Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with BCI and in fact I haven't bought
anything from BCI (yet), so this is not even a recommendation. I was
recently helping someone else look for a source for reconditioned CO2
cylinders so that's why I noticed BCI sells them and why I have the
information.
happy kegging!
\steve
=-=-=-=-=-=
Steve Kennedy Email: kennedy@ranger.enet.dec.com
Digital Equipment Corp. -or- kennedy%ranger.dec@decwrl.dec.com
30 Porter Road (LJO2/I4) -or- ...!decwrl!ranger.dec.com!kennedy
Littleton, MA 01460 Phone: (508) 486-2718
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 92 12:01:44 PDT
From: gummitch@techbook.com (Jeff Frane)
Subject: wheat & Belgian yeast
John Freeborg asks:
>With summer in full swing I plan to do a wheat beer. I picked
>up the special Wyeast wheat beer yeast, but have yet to get
>the wheat malt. From reading in Miller's book it says for a
>wheat beer that you must use 6-row malt in the mash with the
>wheat. The reasoning is that the wheat has no enzymes to break
>down the sugars, and 6-row has a ton of enzymes (compared to
>2-row anyways).
>What is the hbd consensus? Any great wheat recipes people swear by?
>From my own experience, I have to save Dave Miller is way off on
this. I have brewed with a ratio as high as 65/35 wheat/2-row
barley without any problems. It's possible that the difference
has to do with the sort of 2-row Dave has access to; he comes from
the midwest and here in the Northwest we use Great Western's 2-row
(which seems to be a blend of Klages and Harrington these days).
It may also have something to do with the quality of the wheat
malt. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that he uses the stuff from
Briess, which I wouldn't feed to the ducks. I've used either the
British or the German wheat malts to excellent effect; both are big
fat grains (with no barley mixed in as has been the case in the past
with Briess).
Rob Bradley says:
>Prospective users of Wyeast Belgian should still be aware of
>one point: the yeast is slow. I'm not talking about a lag in
>getting started, rather that the yeast seems to take forever
>in finishing. On the other hand, I received e-mail from
>Larry Barello who tells me that his techniques of yeast
>washing (described in the HBD more than a month ago) might
>cure this problem. I intend to try it when the the weather
>cools off (come to think of it, maybe I don't need to wait!).
Once again, my own experience has been completely the opposite,
and I've heard the same here in the HBD. I brewed with this
yeast strain last fall, and the beer went from 1.072 to 1.012 in
five days. This is not what I'd call a slow yeast!
It's entirely possible that the problem is a lack of oxygen in
the wort. A shortage of O2 will not necessarily be reflected in
a long lag time, but will definitely cause an almost-endless
fermentation. It's also possible that you under-pitched; I
definitely worked my up from the original bag through starters
before pitching the yeast into such a high-gravity wort.
If the yeast is not working well for you from the original
Wyeast supply, then washing it isn't likely to help. Washing
the yeast pack from the fermenter before storing it in the
refrigerator is another story.
- --Jeff Frane
------------------------------
Date: 14 Jul 1992 16:21:48 -0600
From: "Brett Lindenbach" <Brett_Lindenbach@qms1.life.uiuc.edu>
Subject: yeast, again
Subject: Time:4:18
PM
OFFICE MEMO yeast, again
Date:7/14/92
Brewers! I have noticed the topic of reusing yeast has come up again,
and would like to comment, as I have had some success with this
technique. When bottling, I dump the yeast from the bottom of the
carboy into sterile bottles, cap, and keep refrigerated. A few days
ahead of brewing, I pitch into some sanitary wort (Premade, bottled,
and refrigerated) to make a starter. When this topic last came up,
people said to use the yeast within 3 weeks of refrigerating, but I
have had no trouble resuscitating a 3 mo. old culture. Also, someone
(Al, I think) mentioned washing the yeast with sanitary water. I have
tried this, but found no great advantage. Any junk in the yeast settles
out (just be careful when pitching into starter), will settle out of
the starter (also pour carefully), not to mention diluted into 5 gal.
of wort. Reusing in this way has produced much shorter lag times than
when I used to keep agar plates (although single colony starters can't
be beat for strain purity). I have kept a Chimay culture, a Chico
(WYeast), and German lager (WYeast) going serially for several batches,
and only keep a library of stock plates as backup. By the way, I have
detected no contamination by colony morphology and microscopy. The one
caveat I must add is to practice better than average sanitation.
Anyways, IMHO maintaining yeast strains is better than buying new
because with time, the yeast become well adapted to you, your setup,
and your beer. It truly makes a yeast your own. -Brett
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 92 11:55:12 CDT
From: johnf@persoft.com (John Freeborg)
Subject: Great Taste of Midwest
Somebody asked about the Great Taste of the Midwest that Madison,
Wisconsin's homebrew club puts on every year. Here is the press release
I'm sending out. It is a fabulous time with a ton of breweries. I can post
a list of confirmed breweries if anybody wants it. If you are near the area
please drop by!
- John
For Immediate Release
Great Taste of the Midwest
News Release
On Saturday, August 22nd, the Madison
Homebrewers & Tasters Guild will be sponsoring the 6th
annual Great Taste of the Midwest Beer Festival. This
year's festival will continue a tradition of bringing to
Madison the midwest's finest small breweries. Last year,
over twenty breweries were represented, serving their
hand-crafted beers to over 1000 beer lovers under festival
tents. A wide variety of beer styles were served including
pilsners, ales, stouts, porters, cherry and wheat beers.
This year's Great Taste will again be held at Olin
Terrace Park in downtown Madison overlooking Lake
Monona. Gates will be open from noon until 6:00pm.
Festival admission of $12 includes a Great Taste
commemorative glass, unlimited tasting of a wide variety of
beer styles and flavors, and a chance to meet the brewers.
Food will be available, with music throughout the day.
Advance tickets are available at the Wine & Hop
Shop on State Street, Star Liquor on Williamson Street,
and Steve's Liquor on University Avenue and Mineral Point
Road, all located in Madison. For more information on this
year's Great Taste of the Midwest, contact Steven Klafka at
608-255-5030.
The Madison Homebrewers & Tasters Guild is a
nonprofit club devoted to the history, brewing and
appreciation of well-crafted beers.
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Freeborg Software Engineer Persoft
johnf@persoft.com 465 Science Dr.
608-273-6000 Madison, WI 53711
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1992 18:54:17 -0400
From: Michael Lewandowski <mikelew@brahms.udel.edu>
Subject: Smart Caps
I recently purchased some Smart Caps. If you are not familiar
with the brand name, these caps are lined with a material that is supposed
to reduce the chances of finding your beer all oxidized when you open the
bottle. Enough of the lead in, I have a question about their use. I
normally sanitize caps by boiling them for 15 minutes before use. Will
this reduce the effectiveness of the anti-oxidants? If yes, how should
I sanitize them? Thanks in advance.
Mike
------------------------------
Date: 14 Jul 92 08:20:42 U
From: "Rad Equipment" <rad_equipment@rad-mac1.ucsf.EDU>
Subject: Sparge pH
Subject: Sparge pH Time:7:43 AM Date:7/14/92
John Freeborg asks about acidifying sparge water.
According to Dr. Lewis at UC Davis, water is not a good buffer, ie. water's
ability to alter pH is very weak. In a contest between a mash of 5.0 - 5.5 and
sufficient sparge water at 6.5 - 7.5 the mash will win. Only if your local
water is on the alkaline side should you worry about modifying the pH prior to
sparge. Lewis says that there is no harm in adding lactic acid to sparge water,
especially if it makes you feel better about your beer, however the benefit is
psychological only.
RW...
Russ Wigglesworth CI$: 72300,61
|~~| UCSF Medical Center Internet: Rad Equipment@RadMac1.ucsf.edu
|HB|\ Dept. of Radiology, Rm. C-324 Voice: 415-476-3668 / 474-8126 (H)
|__|/ San Francisco, CA 94143-0628
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 92 21:24:05 MDT
From: Jeff Benjamin <benji@hpfcbug.fc.hp.com>
Subject: Re: Blueberry Beer
John Cotterill asks:
> 1) Does anyone have a good recipe for Blueberry beer? There is a local
> contest coming up that features fruit beers, and I would like to brew one
> up. An all grain recipe is preferable, but a good extract recipe would be ok.
Here's a blueberry beer I made recently. The blueberry character isn't
as pronounced as I'd like; I think it's partly because the berries
weren't particularly ripe. The fruit is very subtle, and imparts a
pleasing wine-like characteristic and acidity. I thought a brown ale
would lend itself well to the blueberries, and I must say I'm happy
with the combination.
Brown and Blue Ale
6.5 lbs pale malt
.5 lbs wheat malt
.75 lbs 80L crystal malt
4 oz black patent malt (uncracked)
2 oz roasted barley (uncracked)
1 oz Goldings (4.9% alpha)
.5 oz Fuggles (4.5% alpha)
5 lbs fresh blueberries
WYeast #1084 (Irish ale)
Procedure: mash in 2 gal. at 130F, protein rest 30 min at 125F, add
1.25 gal, mash 30 min at 150F, raise temp to 158F until converted (15
min), mash out 10 min at 170F.
Sparge with 4 gallons to yield 5.5 gal at 1.046. Add Fuggles and .75
oz of Goldings after 20 minutes of boil, boil 60 min, add last .25 oz of
Goldings and boil 15 min more.
Rinse blueberries in a dilute sulfite solution (after weeding out the
fuzzy ones), puree, and add to primary along with yeast.
This gave me 5.5 gal of beer with OG 1.046 not counting the blueberries
(how the heck do you measure gravity with all those solids in there?).
There was lots of blueberry aroma coming from the fermenter the first
couple of days, but not very much when I racked after 4 days. I bottled
after 4 more days in the secondary, at a FG of 1.010.
I think lots of aroma volatiles got lost with all the outgassing in the
primary; I think next time I may wait to add the berries to the
secondary. I may also skip the roasted barley, and use only .5 lb of
40L crystal so the blue from the berries is more obvious.
The next batch is going to be a cherry wheat, with lots of tart
baking cherries in the secondary and a looong maceration. Yum!
- --
Jeff Benjamin benji@hpfcla.fc.hp.com
Hewlett Packard Co. Fort Collins, Colorado
"Midnight shakes the memory as a madman shakes a dead geranium."
- T.S. Eliot
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #926, 07/18/92
*************************************
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