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HOMEBREW Digest #1929
This file received at Hops.Stanford.EDU 1996/01/08 PST
HOMEBREW Digest #1929 Mon 08 January 1996
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Boston Beer Stock Offering (Jeff Hewit)
Hops Additions (Jack Schmidling)
Easymasher/Wyeast #1728 (Dadclimbs)
Floating Keg Pickup Thingy (Dan Gauss)
Chest Freezer (Dan Gauss)
Brewpubs in Indy ("Ed Lustenader")
Wort Coolers (Tom Neary)
keg float/ppm/yeast codes (MR WADE A WALLINGER)
New brewer asks about wort chiller (gravels)
Re: Crabtree (Craig Amundsen)
New Brewer wants Advice...and I'm full of it! (KennyEddy)
pH measurement of water? ("Houseman, David L TR")
Crabtree, O2 measurements, yeast storage... ("Tracy Aquilla")
Gadgets, procedures, etc. (Tom Messenger)
Re: PPMs and fruit beer (Mike Uchima)
1996 Boston Homebrew Competition (Brew Free Or Die 05-Jan-1996 1202)
How come.../Drinkur Purdee document echo (pbabcock.ford)
RE: Live Beer Chat ("Richard Scotty")
mg/l versus ppm ("Roger Deschner ")
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Date: Thu, 4 Jan 1996 23:10:36 -0500
From: jhewit@freenet.vcu.edu (Jeff Hewit)
Subject: Boston Beer Stock Offering
It appears that the return of payments for those of us not
fortunate to get in on the consumer piece of the Boston Beer
stock offering may take a while. A friend of mine, who sent in
his application a week or so before I sent in mine, received
his application and uncahsed check on Jan 2. The envelope had
been hand addressed, and included a brief note regarding the
oversubscription. My guess is that they have a crew of temps
hand processing the thousands of applications for which stock
cannot be issued. Too bad. But I'm still afraid to start
spending the money - maybe my application was put in the stack
of winners by mistake. Does anyone else have any information
on this most significant event in the brewing world?
- --
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeff Hewit Eat a live toad first thing in the morning,
Midlothian, Virginia and nothing worse will happen to you for
the rest of the day.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 96 22:18 CST
From: arf@mcs.com (Jack Schmidling)
Subject: Hops Additions
>From: George.Fix@utamat.uta.edu
>Interestingly, DeClerck anticipated these results. This was undoubtly
behind his recommendation that late addition hops be pre-processed
in boiling water to remove "undesirable constituents".
I thought I read a "Eurika" into this until I got to the next paragraph
but for what it is worth, here is what I have recently learned:
I long ago gave up on so-called dry hopping because I detested the
grass like flavor it contributed to my beer and it tasted nothing
like the great European Pilsners that I enjoy so much.
All attempts at adding hops at various times during the boil failed to
produce what I was looking for. I even "invented" the chiller in the
lid business so I could let latest additions soak for various periods
of time at various temps to see if that did anything. Nothing.
The most recent batch was finished by adding one oz of Saaz along
with the quart of water that it had been steeped in after primary
fermentation. The water was brought to a boil, hops added, heat
turned off and allowed to steep for 10 min. This was added to the
beer after the first week of fermentation. It sat on this for ten
days, at which point the beer was clear and it was transferred to
a keg and carbonated.
Guess what? It tastes and smells like European Pils.
I have now concluded that the taste and smell I didn't like was the
taste and smell of raw hops. It must be boiled to remove the grassy
flavor and aroma but not long enough to lose the desired aroma.
Furthermore, most or all of that aroma and taste are lost in long
boil, cool down and primary fermentation.
> (iii) Top marks were given the the brew using 1st wort hopping, and in
fact the brewery which participated in this study has now switched
from whirlpool hopping to 1st wort hopping. All of this comes
as a complete surprise to me....
Me too because it totally contradicts what I just got through saying.
js
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 1996 02:15:34 -0500
From: Dadclimbs@aol.com
Subject: Easymasher/Wyeast #1728
From: Paul Oliphant <dadclimbs@aol.com>
Subject: Easymasher/Wyeast #1728
<Paul Sovick in a previous post referred to problems with his newly purchased
easymasher setup>
I have a mash/lauter tun setup with an easymasher system in which I process
between 33-45 lbs of grain. The system consistently yields 31-34 pts. per
lb., dependant on the grain bill and mash schedule. The mash/lauter tun is a
converted sankey keg with 3/8" valve. I manually set the bed with as little
as 1-1.5 pints of runoff. I then connect hoses to the pumping system. I use
pumps with outlet regulating valves. Sparge rate is set to 24oz./min. I have
not had a stuck mash and the system always gravity feeds without the pumps.
I use the easymasher in the boiling kettle as well. I always incorporate
either 100% whole hops or at a minimum 75% of the hop schedule as whole. The
easymasher is an effective system to set a whole hop filter bed and results
in an extremely clean runoff. I have an integral chiller in the 22 gallon
boiling kettle which cools the wort to 37 degrees F in 45 minutes (maintained
for a minimum of 6 hours). The chiller function is reversed to heat the wort
to pitching temperatures. This system effective at precipitating hot & cold
break as well as settling the hops to the bottom of the Kettle.
<Marc Gaspard reports various experiences with Wyeast #1728 Scottish Ale
Yeast>
My experience with this product has always been extremely predictable. I
pitch a prepared yeast paste at 55 degrees and proceed to aerate the wort
with pure O2 (using aeration stones mounted in the fermentor) for 1 hr. The
resultant foam/scum is continuously scavenged off using a vacuum collection
system. The pitching rate is 1oz. of pure yeast paste/ga. of wort. I maintain
several yeast propagators which cultivate Wyeast #1728, #2007 and #1056
strains which are yeasts used in the brewery. With worts of 1.058-1.068
specific gravity, fermentation is vigorous within 6 hours of pitching.
Primary fermentation is complete within 3-4 days when ferment temperature is
maintained at 65 degrees. Terminal specific gravities are always near 1.012-
1.014. The #1728 yeast strain exhibits good flocculation.
Regards,
Paul Oliphant <dadclimbs@aol.com>
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 96 3:34:00 -0500
From: Dan Gauss <dang@traveltron.com>
Subject: Floating Keg Pickup Thingy
I've solved my sediment problem on corny's by cutting 1 1/2" off the liquid
flow tube.
Some of you may scream at the waste of beer but I brew enough that the odd
pint or so is worth it to me.
Another solution is to take a hard plastic cup and drill a hole in the top
big enough for the flow tube to fit in and some BIG ones (precise technical
term) around the sides (at least 2" up). This allows good flow but keeps
the sediment away from the intake.
This is the K.I.S.S. approach.
My daddy always told me 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.' And, I'm
basically a lazy cuss so the less modification to existing equipment, the
better!!!
C'est la vie, Say LAGER!
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 96 3:52:00 -0500
From: Dan Gauss <dang@traveltron.com>
Subject: Chest Freezer
If you use corny's, why not cut a slot in the gasket and feed you tubing
through it.
Then, mount your taps to a handsomely crafted wood box?
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 05 Jan 1996 07:26:29 EST
From: "Ed Lustenader" <usfmcf9t@ibmmail.com>
Subject: Brewpubs in Indy
I'll be traveling to Indianapolis early next week and wondered if anyone can
recommend a good brewpub in the area? Of course I'm assuming that Indy does
have a brewpub or two. If you could e-mail me direct to save some time, I
would appreciate it. Thanks.
Regards,
Ed Lustenader
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 1996 07:52:19 -0500
From: tom.neary@peri.com (Tom Neary)
Subject: Wort Coolers
> To get to the point, how can one bend the
> tubing without kinking it?
Use a copper pipe bender. You can pick it up at any plumbing store or Home
Depot. I hope you bought bendable copper tubing and not the thick tubing
which comes as 10' rods.
> is the tubing sterilized upon immersion into the boiling wort (makes
> sense it should, but...)
Immerse the cooler 15 minutes prior to ending your boil and it will become
sterile. Make sure that is is clean though before using. You might want to
sanitize it prior to using with B-brite. Never use a bleach solution on copper.
TN
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 05 Jan 1996 08:19:11 EST
From: GCTD31A@prodigy.com (MR WADE A WALLINGER)
Subject: keg float/ppm/yeast codes
On gadgets:
>How about a float connected to a shortened dip tube (cut to same
size as gas
>tube perhaps) with ultra-flexible surgical tubing? The float could
be as
>simple as a cork with the tube stuffed through, perhaps weighted to
ensure
>correct orientation:
How about inserting the tubing through from the bottom of the
float, corking the outlet of the tubing that is sticking out above
the liquid surface, and drilling an inlet hole in the sidewall of
the
tubing below the float (which is below the surface of the liquid).
The weight of the tubing should keep the float oriented
properly.
- ----------
On units of measure:
PPM = parts per million by weight
mg/L = 1/1000 grams per liter of solution
for all practical purposes, 1 liter of water weighs 1000 grams, so
1/1000 grams per 1000 grams is 1/1,000,000 (or ppm)
- ----------
On yeast codes:
Perhaps I'm the only one of us that hasn't memorized all the
Wyeast codes, but it sure helps me when someone posts the
name of the yeast along with the number when referring to it.
Wade Wallinger
brewing contraband on the Mississippi Gulf Coast
(almost time to make another run at legalizing the stuff)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 05 Jan 96 09:26:48 EST
From: gravels@TRISMTP.npt.nuwc.navy.mil
Subject: New brewer asks about wort chiller
(ummmm...Fred) asked about wort chiller in HBD #1928,
Hi Fred,
Welcome to the world of homebrewing! I saw your post on wort
chillers. Did you say that you bought 20 feet of copper pipe? Do you
have the receipt? Can you return it? I'm asking this because I think
you will find that it will be very difficult to coil this into a
chiller. However, most hardware stores also sell coils of 3/8" copper
tubing in boxes. If you can't find any at the local hardware store
try a plumber's supply. This tubing is easily formed into a chiller
and starts to stiffen up after it has been handled a lot.
I would suggest using more than 20 ft. of copper, 30 ft would be
better. Create two coils, an inner and outer coil with most of the
coils at the top. A paint can makes a pretty good form to wrap the
tubing around for the inner coil, if you have another can that is
larger than a paint can you can wrap the tubing around that for the
outer coil. Make sure it will fit into your brew pot. Don't forget
to leave some tubing sticking up to attach the tygon tubing to. The
bottom coil can be extended down to meet the bottom of the brew pot.
The double coils will give more surface area for cooling. With coils
concentrated in the upper half you will be cooling the hottest part of
the wort first and creating a convection flow of the wort with the
cooled wort dropping to the bottom of the pot and the warm wort
flowing up to be cooled. I would put the water-in connection to the
outer coil and water-out on the inner coil.
I'm sorry if I'm rambling on, but I wish I had been informed of
the best way to make an immersion chiller when I was building my first
one, I wouldn't have had to make another one.
As for taste in your beer, you probably won't detect any
off-flavors in your brew, I didn't. It has been said that the yeast
reproduce better with a little copper in the wort anyway. The old
time brewers (and some of todays brewers) used huge copper vats. Some
brewers cut off a few pieces of the copper tube and add them to the
brew pot during the boil to help control the boil and add a little
copper to assist in yeast growth.
I put the chiller in the pot for the last 15 minutes of the boil.
This should kill any nasties on the chiller. You should probably
clean the chiller before you use it the first time by either soaking
it in 5 gals of water with 1/4 cup of bleach or you can use vinegar
and water. I used to use a bleach and water soak to sanitize my
chiller before every brewing session until I found out that the bleach
eats away at the copper. Boiling works. Good luck!
Hoppy brewing!
Steve Gravel Newport, Rhode Island
gravels@TRISMTP.npt.nuwc.navy.mil
"Homebrew, it's not just a hobby it's an adventure!"
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 1996 09:13:32 -0600 (CST)
From: Craig Amundsen <amundsen@biosci.cbs.umn.edu>
Subject: Re: Crabtree
Hi -
A. J. deLange writes:
> Steve Alexander and Tracy Aquilla have been discussing Crabtree effect as
> discussed in the literature. Here's my favorite unexplained sentence (from
> H, B, S &Y, Vol II p 592) : "In yeast, therefore, growth on glucose is the
> presence of oxygen is diauxic, i.e. fermentation procedes in the presence
> of glucose then the ethanol produced is respired." Can anyone explain that
> one?
Hey! Here's one I can answer. Please forgive a certain amount of teleology B^)
When we make beer, we are taking advantage of one of the goals of the yeast:
yeast want to grow, multiply and eat without letting any other critters grow
in the same neighborhood. One way to do this is to secrete toxins into the
environment, ie, alcohol.
If there are fermentable sugars around it makes sense to the yeast to ignore
any oxygen and just make alcohol. If I recall from biochem, alcohol is made
from the end product of glycolysis (sp?). Most micro-organisms lack the enzyme
to make this end product into alcohol and many find alcohol to be poisonous.
If instead of making alcohol with this end product (I think it's pyruvate or
maybe pyruvate phosphate), it is fed into the Krebs/TCA/Citric Acid cycle, and
oxygen is consumed, you get loads of ATP (energy). After all the fermentable
sugars are used up the yeast find themselves living in a happy place,
everything else is dead and there's a bucket load of potential food floating
around. As long as there is still oxygen in the environment, the yeast turn
the alcohol back into pyruvate (reversible reactions are a good thing) and get
the energy out of the alcohol. This, by the way, is what we humans do with the
alcohol we injest. So, diauxic just means "eats two things", first the glucose,
then the alcohol.
If anyone wants more details I'll go grab my biochem texts off the shelf and
type in the actual reactions.
- Craig
+-----------------------------+------------------------------------------------+
| Craig Amundsen | DILBERT - Sometimes I wonder if it's ethical |
| amundsen@biosci.cbs.umn.edu | to do these genetic experiments. But |
| (612) 624-2704 | I rationalize it because it will |
| 250 Biological Sciences | improve the quality of life. |
| 1445 Gortner Avenue | DOGBERT - What are you making? |
| Saint Paul, MN 55108 | DILBERT - Skunkopotamus. |
+-----------------------------+------------------------------------------------+
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 1996 10:20:37 -0500
From: KennyEddy@aol.com
Subject: New Brewer wants Advice...and I'm full of it!
Larry Douville writes,
> Does anyone have any advice or comments that they could throw my way
> before I start brewing. Any comments or advice would be appreciated.
Boy, are you asking for it!!
I'm sure there will be a million posts on this one, so here is #1,000,001.
1) Substitute dry malt extract 1:1 for any sugar called for in the brew
recipe (corn sugar is OK for bottling). While you may not get a bad beer
with the sugar, it will be drier and thinner than you might be expecting. If
you *are* expecting dry and thin, fine, but I would use DME in place of at
least some of the sugar. Also, be sure to shut off your stove when adding
the extract/sugar. Syrup especially will "sink" and WILL scorch on the
bottom of the kettle if the heat is still on (on an electric stove take the
kettle completely off the burner). Dissolve the extract/sugars and resume
heating.
2) Toss out the dry yeast that came with the kit, and buy either a new/fresh
dry yeast (Edme or Whitbread are pretty safe brands) or jump on in to liquid
yeast. While a yeast starter is always a great plan, for your first batch I
wouldn't sweat it; just smack the pack before brewing per the directions, and
dump in the liquid slurry when ready to pitch. Also: be sure your wort is
75 deg F or less before pitching, to prevent killing or maiming the yeasties.
3) Try to control your fermentation temperature. Temperatures above 75 deg
F lend rapidly to off-flavors, and seems to be the number-one defect in
homebrew. If using ale yeast, keep a minimum temperature of about 65F.
4) Expect a fairly quick apparent finish to fermentation (3 days let's say).
Most newbies seem concerned that this is "too quick"; it's perfectly normal.
But use your hydrometer to tell for sure; if you passed on the hydrometer,
get one. They're cheap and will tell volumes about your beer (pun intended).
Be advised too that just because your airlock is quiet does NOT mean you're
done...there is possibly (probably) still some residual activity which will
go mostly unnoticed. Give your beer at least two weeks total fermentation
time.
5) Minimize exposure of your fermenting and (later) bottled brew to UV light
(sunlight or strong flourescent). UV light will "skunk" your hops.
6) If you're using "hopped" extract (i.e., no hops were included or
specified), you can dress up your effort a bit by tossing 1/2 to 1 ounce of
aroma hops such as Cascade into the boil about 10 min before finishing the
boil (for your cream ale 1/2 ounce is probably closer to "correct"). And be
sure to boil the wort at least an hour total (i.e., add aroma hops at 50
minutes after boiling commences).
7) Another article in HBD 1928 from a new brewer mentions wort coolers or
chillers. While not totally indispensible for your first batch of beer
(chill yours by setting the kettle in ice water -- try to cool the wort in an
hour or less), they are easy to make and will improve your beer in many ways
(debated in previous issues of this forum). Make one from a 20' or so length
of 3/8" copper tubing carefully wound into a coil which fits into your
brewpot (wrap around a bucket or paint can of suitable size to prevent
kinking). Attach tubing and fittings so one end connects to your faucet and
the other end drains into the sink. Both ends of the coil should exit the
kettle so the tubing is entirely outside. Use hose clamps to ensure
mechanical integerity. The idea is to set the chiller into the hot wort at
the end of the brew (which also sanitizes the coil), then run cold tap water
through it. This "heat exchanger" should, with a little occasional and
*mild* agitation (so as not to stir up too much gunk), should cool your wort
to pitching temperature within a half-hour. And no, it won't impart a
metallic taste; in fact, it's a hotly-debated momism as to whether copper
*adds* to good flavor in some way.
8) Never use iron or plain steel when cooking your wort. In order of
preference, use Stainless Steel (SS), copper, enamelware (NO chips or exposed
steel!!), aluminum. Again, much debate here.
9) OXYGENATE YOUR WORT to whatever extent you can. Yeast need oxygen to
properly fire themselves up and can produce nastiness in your brew if
deprived of it. If you're using a bucket for your fermenter, after SPLASHING
your wort into the bucket, whip it up till your arm falls off using a
sanitized plastic or stainless spoon. If using a carboy, you can shake the
bejeezus out of it (tip it on a carpeted surface and rock vigorously). While
not 100% efficient (see first post in this Digest), anything is better than
nothing.
Welcome to homebrewing!! And welcome to the Digest; I wish I was reading
when I started -- it would've really acccelerated my learning curve.
Ken Schwartz
KennyEddy@aol.com
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 05 Jan 96 10:29:00 EST
From: "Houseman, David L TR" <DLH1@trpo3.Tr.Unisys.com>
Subject: pH measurement of water?
In attempting to measure the pH of my brewing water, I've found that my
digital pH meter is very funky in it's readings even though it's calibrated
to buffer solutions. So I got some pH papers and lo and behold the two
don't match. In investigating I was told that one cannot directly measure
the pH of water especially if is very soft water with little ion content.
Can the chemists among us provide a [reasonable] protocol for measuring the
pH of our mash and sparge water. BTW, not only is my water very soft since
it's from our water softener but the pH (I believe) is alkaline at a little
over 7 due to conditioning of an exteamly acid water out of our well. Also
an analysis of this water resulted in the following: Ca 0ppm. Mg 0ppm. Na
50ppm. SO4 24ppm. CO3 46ppm. Cl 23ppm. Hardness 0. TDS 8ppm.
Dave Houseman
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 96 10:29:52 CST
From: "Tracy Aquilla" <aquilla@salus.med.uvm.edu>
Subject: Crabtree, O2 measurements, yeast storage...
In digest #1928, ajdel@interramp.com (A. J. deLange) says:
>Steve Alexander and Tracy Aquilla have been discussing Crabtree effect as
>discussed in the literature. Here's my favorite unexplained sentence (from
>H, B, S &Y, Vol II p 592) : "In yeast, therefore, growth on glucose is the
>presence of oxygen is diauxic, i.e. fermentation procedes in the presence
>of glucose then the ethanol produced is respired." Can anyone explain that
>one?
I'll give it a try. In the presence of glucose (above about 0.5%) S.
cerevisiae obtains energy through substrate-level phosphorylation, via the
EMP pathway (glycolysis and fermentation), hence producing alcohol and CO2,
regardless of the O2 concentration. Once the glucose is depleted, however,
yeast can actually use ethanol as a substrate (to a point), through
oxidative phosphorylation to acetate in the presence of O2, via the
mitochondrial electron transport chain (respiration). In fact, S. cerevisiae
can be made to both ferment and respire at the same time, but only if both
glucose and O2 are severely limiting. In a nutshell, yeast 'waste' energy if
it's abundant (i.e. glucose present) by using fermentation and only respire
when absolutely necessary. I'm preparing an article on this very subject and
will make it available to all once it's finished. I'm also seeking qualified
volunteers to edit and comment. My reference list is up to about 50 papers
now and I'd be glad to email it to anyone interested.
(BTW A.J., how did you measure the O2 conc. in your saturation experiments?
Did you replicate these experiments?)
Then KennyEddy@aol.com says:
>Interesting article by A. J. deLange about storing yeast in sterile distilled
>water at room temp. Being a slant-impaired individual, I began thinking
>about how one would do this with a smack-pack instead of a slant, and had
>some random thoughts. Tossed out for cannon-fodder:
>
>1) Is there anything inherent in the slurry in a smack-pack that would
>render it unusable in this way? (I assume they are packaged in a sterile
>manner or thereabouts, so my guess is "no").
Yes, nutrients. Basically, for the distilled-water-yeast-storage method to
work, you need to use distilled water. The idea is to 'put them to sleep' by
depriving the yeast of any means to grow. Otherwise they'll grow and
eventually autolyse, especially if stored at room temp, but it would
eventually happen in the fridge too. My little box of 50% glycerol stocks is
only about 6"x6"x2". Since this is a very simple and highly reliable method
and takes up very little space in my freezer, I prefer it.
And finally, "Mountain, Glenn" <mountg@post.crc.cra.com.au> says:
>After two unsatisfactory attempts at producing a fruit wheat beer I decided
>to at last ask for help. My problem has been that the bottled beer will not
>clear.
[snip]
>Am I expecting too much from a fruit wheat in terms of clarity ?
I think so. Cloudy is the norm here. I guess you could fine and/or filter
it, but the flavor would probably suffer from this treatment. Enjoy the taste!
Tracy in Vermont
aquilla@salus.med.uvm.edu
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 1996 07:53:51 -0800
From: Tom Messenger <kmesseng@slonet.org>
Subject: Gadgets, procedures, etc.
1. Someone asked about avoiding sludge from a keg. Byron Burch suggests
Cutting off dip tube in keg maybe two or three inches shorter and adding cup
piece like on racking cane to avoid sludge. I just let mine sit for two
days. Then just blow it off quickly into the first mug or two and dump it.
Or drink it and know good health.
2. Maltmills: no need to power them. But if you are lazy... use a portable
drill. The proprietor of Doc's Cellar in Pismo Beach used to grind his
customers malt with this method and I timed him at 10 pounds in about two
and a half minutes. I bought a mill and fretted when I found my drill had
only about 90% enough power to run it. Then I tried it by hand. It takes me
about 10 to 15 minutes to run mine by hand-cranking. Sometime next summer,
maybe I'll get a new drill but for now, I just crank out good beer by hand.
By the way, for gadget freaks out there who do all this stuff more out of
the fun of screwing around with gadgets than simply to get good beer, that's
ok but please don't begin to imagine certain problems with some "Rube
Goldberg" idea and then proceed to have flame wars.
3. DO levels: Yes some is good. How much? You'll never catch me trying to
shake a full carboy. Maybe I'm just lucky and my brews usually start without
using O2 bubbled through an airstone. My technique is to use an external
power source to complete the task: gravity. When the wort is chilled, it is
still in the kettle on the stove. I put my primary vessel on the floor in
front of it, crack open the valve and let it flow in a cascade to froth and
bubble into the primary. Gets lots of O2 this way. How much is lots? Enough
to do the job. (Kudos to A. J. deLange for using a bit of science to
determine O2 levels.) Now the next experiment is to carefully conduct
parallel fermentations with and without O2 to see what is needed. Somone
mentioned O2 is good to start beer with and immediately flame wars began
over which is the best way. Maybe all of them are overkill...
Happy New Beer
- ----------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Messenger, Los Osos, California, USA *** kmesseng@slonet.org
- ----------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 1996 10:56:59 -0600
From: uchima@fncrd8.fnal.gov (Mike Uchima)
Subject: Re: PPMs and fruit beer
KennyEddy@aol.com writes:
> On mg/L vs PPM:
>
> > 1. I recently received a water analysis report from my city that uses
> > mg/L as the units of measure rather than PPM. Is there a standard
> > conversion factor to help me make use of this info?
>
> Same thing: 1 mg/L = 1 PPM.
...and bush@shbf.se (Robert Bush) writes:
> My water company gave me the same units so I called them and asked them
> about PPM's. They said it's the same thing, so it's totally
> interchangeable. I hope they're right.
Yes, PPM is equivalent to mg/L, as long as you're talking about water, or
anything with a density close to that of water. The reason is that 1 ml of
pure water weighs exactly 1 gram, by definition.
*****
"Mountain, Glenn" <mountg@post.crc.cra.com.au> writes:
> Subject: Fruit Beer Problems
> After two unsatisfactory attempts at producing a fruit wheat beer I decided
> to at last ask for help. My problem has been that the bottled beer will not
> clear. The fruit (raspberries or boysenberries) are steeped prior to the
> boil in water before the malt extract is added. After hearing about pectin
> causing cloudy beer I have been careful to remove the berries before
> boiling. Berry juice is also added to the secondary at after racking.
> Gelatin added to the secondary improves the clarity but nowhere near as
> good as a wheat beer with no fruit.
>
> Can anybody suggest a cause / solution to this. ? Is pectin extracted from
> the fruit well below the boiling point of water ? Am I expecting too much
> from a fruit wheat in terms of clarity ?
My experience is similar to yours -- I made a cranberry beer recently, and
while it is pretty tasty, it is *very* cloudy. I didn't boil with the
cranberries; I steeped them after the end of the boil for about 30 minutes,
then fermented with them in the primary.
I'm a bit unclear on whether high temperatures actually extract the pectin, or
just *set* it. In your case, maybe the pectin was already extracted from the
berries, and then when you boiled your wort, this had the effect of setting
it, causing the cloudiness. In my case, I may have simply steeped the berries
too hot...
My understanding is that the temp that sets pectin is pretty close to the
temperature that is required to pasteurize, so there is a very fine line that
needs to be walked to get a clear fruit beer that is also free of infection.
I've had at least one person recommend adding unpasteurized fruit directly to
the *secondary*, where the high alcohol and low pH minimize the effects of
contamination -- sort of like dry hopping with berries, I guess. I'd like to
try this, but it sounds kind of scary to me.
- -- Mike Uchima
- -- uchima@fnal.gov
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 96 11:58:43 EST
From: Brew Free Or Die 05-Jan-1996 1202 <hall@buffa.ENET.dec.com>
Subject: 1996 Boston Homebrew Competition
Attention fellow beer and cider enthusiasts:
The Boston Wort Processers
present The Second Annual
BOSTON HOMEBREW COMPETITION
Hosted By Commonwealth Brewing Company
Boston, Massachusetts, Febrewary 24, 1996
See http://www.rsi.com/wort/
The Second Annual Boston Homebrew Competition (BHC) will be held on Saturday,
Febrewary 24, 1996, in Boston, Massachusetts. Full competition rules, style
guidelines, entry registration and bottle label forms, and judge and steward
registration forms and information can be found on the Boston Wort Processor's
WortPage at http://www.rsi.com/wort/. Folks without WWW access can request
that hard copies of the forms be mailed (or ASCII versions emailed) to them by
contacting Dan Hall at hall@buffa.enet.dec.com or (603) 884-5879.
CIDER MAKERS! The 1996 BHC now accepts your cider entries. Many of the same
folks who judge cider at the AHA National competition (including cider guru
Paul Correnty) will be judging the cider category at the BHC. This is a great
way to get quality feedback about your ciders at less than half the cost of
the AHA National competition.
The 1996 BHC is registered with the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP)
and will be hosted by Commonwealth Brewing Company, Boston's oldest brewpub.
The competition organizers promise a professionally run competition with
timely feedback for all entries. All entries will be judged by BJCP
Recognized, Certified, National or Master judges and supervised apprentices
under BJCP competition standards, rules and regulations.
In addition to the first, second and third place winners in each category,
a grand prize will be given to the competition's highest rated beer judged
in a Best-Of-Show panel. Results of the BHC (with the exception of cider
entries, this year) will also count towards the New England Homebrewer of the
Year (NEHBOTY) competition.
****COMPETITION RULES AND ENTRY INFORMATION****
Anyone may enter, but entries must have been brewed at home not using a
commercial operation. Entry fee is $5.00 per entry ($4.00 per entry if
entering five or more beers.) Brewers may enter more than one beer per
category, but only one beer per sub-category is allowed, and only one winning
beer in each category will count towards NEHBOTY. Checks or money
orders for entry fees should be made out to The Boston Wort Processors.
Brewers must submit three (3) qualified bottles for each entry. Qualified
bottles must be 10 to 16 ounces, any style, with no raised glass lettering,
silkscreening, labels or other distinguishing marks or characteristics.
Caps must be plain or blacked out.
The deadline for entries is Saturday, Febrewary 17, 1996. Late entries will
neither be judged nor returned.
Registration forms must be attached to each bottle with a rubber band. NO TAPE!
Recipes are not necessary, but the competition organizers reserve the right to
request a recipe after the competition.
For return of beer evaluation forms, a self addressed stamped envelope (SASE)
of appropriate size must be included with one postage stamp for each entry.
Ribbons will be awarded to all beers placing first, second and third provided
the entries receive a score of at least 25 points. A special Best-of-Show
ribbon and prize will also be awarded.
Categories will be collapsed as necessary to comply with NEHBOTY rules and
regulations and to facilitate judging. In all cases, judges will be given
complete information to evaluate each beer to the proper style. All decisions
of the contest organizers will be final.
Entries may be sent via UPS to:
International Beverages
c/o BHC Receiving
65 Shawmut Road
Canton, MA 02021
(Entries must be received by 2/17/96. No drop-off at IB please)
Entries may be dropped off at:
Barley Malt and Vine Beer and Wine Hobby Boston Brewers Supply Co.
26 Elliot Street 180 New Boston Street 48 South Street
Newton, MA 02161 Woburn, MA 01801 Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
(617) 630-1015 (617) 933-8818 (617) 983-1710
Boston Brewin' Brewer's Market The Modern Brewer Co.
23A Locust Street 651 Broadway, Route 97 99 Dover Street, Davis Square
Danvers, MA 01923 Haverhill, MA 01832 Somerville, MA 02144
(800) 886-2739 (508) 372-6987 (617) 629-0400
The Witches' Brew Beer Essentials Brewer, Cook and Baker
25 Baker Street 611 Front Street 104 Congress Street
Foxboro, MA 02035 Manchester, NH 03102 Portsmouth, NH 03801
(508) 543-2950 (603) 624-1080 (603) 436-5918
Stout Billy's Jasper's Homebrew Supply
61 Market Street 273 Derry Road, Unit 3
Portsmouth, NH 03801 (Route 102)
(603) 436-1792 Litchfield, NH 03052
(603) 881-3052
(Entries must be dropped off by 2/17/96)
Do NOT mail or deliver entries to the Commonwealth Brewing Company.
****JUDGES & STEWARDS****
Judges and Stewards are needed for the Boston Homebrew Competition. Please
request judge registration materials. Apprentice judges are welcome.
Judges & Stewards must report to the judging site no later than 9:00 am.
Judging will start at 9:30 am.
BJCP experience points will be awarded as per the BJCP rules and on an "as
available" basis. Where necessary, points will be awarded based on a first
come, first served pre-registration order. Please register by Febrewary 17,
1996.
Morning coffee, juice, and doughnuts and an afternoon lunch will be provided
to all judges and stewards.
****ADDITIONAL INFORMATION****
For additional information, a list of beer and cider categories, entry forms,
bottle labels, judge & steward forms, directions, accommodations, etc, contact:
Dan Hall Steve Stroud Greg Kushmerek
Competition Organizer Entry Registrar Judge Coordinator
(603) 884-5879 W (617) 395-6822 H (617) 484-0948 H
(603) 778-1231 H strouds@polaroid.com gwk@world.std.com
hall@buffa.enet.dec.com
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 05 Jan 1996 12:55:12 EST
From: pbabcock.ford@e-mail.com
Subject: How come.../Drinkur Purdee document echo
Pat Babcock Internet: pbabcock.ford@e-mail.com
Bronco Plant Vehicle Team - Body Construction Assembly Engineer
Subject: How come.../Drinkur Purdee document echo
Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to your lager!
Having read A.J.'s report on distilled water storage of yeast, and then Ken
Schwartz's comments regarding Wyeast smack packs, a curious set of questions
have popped into my thought processor. I offer them up for dissection,
discussion, and dissention...
o If you can store yeast for extreme time periods under distilled water, can
there really be such a thing as a 'dead' smack pack?
o What mechanism, I wonder, allows the survival under the water but not in
an old, unsmacked smack pack? Spoilage of media (see below)?
o Does being stored under the byproducts of fermentation eventually kill
the yeast? Since these byproducts wouldn't be present in the water, this
kind of makes sense to me.
o AJ commented that these cultures were stored at room temperature, yet we
refrigerate our slants and liquid cultures. Is this, therefor, more due
to spoilage concerns with the media than with any adverse affect on the
yeast itself?
Any takers?
Please reply/flame/whatever to pbabcock@oeonline.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Due to the length of the file, and the amount of time tied up during it's
transmission, I regret that I had to remove Ken Schwartz's appendix, er, no,
um - HBD Reader program from the Drinkur Purdee Document echo. It is still
available on the homebrewing portion of the homepage
(http://oeonline.com/~pbabcock/) as well as from the Brewery and direct ftp.
My appologies to the web and ftp impaired, but my mailer just couldn't handle
the load. By the way: if it is at all in your power to obtain it, do so! I have
found it to be a delightful utility (Good job, Ken!). (Unsolicited endorsement.
)
IYWIDRTYMJFDIY
Best regards,
Patrick G. Babcock Michigan Truck Plant PVT Office
(313)46-70842 (V) -70843 (F) 38303 Michigan Wayne,MI 48184
------------------------------
Date: 5 Jan 1996 09:06:23 -0700
From: "Richard Scotty" <richard_scotty@msmgate.mrg.uswest.com>
Subject: RE: Live Beer Chat
John Herman proposes a live beer chat at a web site (URL is
http://www.vyp.com/chat/index.html). I've been considering a similar idea,
but haven't pursued it because of platform / IRC issues. This site supports
chat directly through the web brouser, eliminating the need for IRC or other
specialized software.
Anyway, I suggest that we set a weekly time for the chat, that it be on the
weekend at a time that is somewhat convient for most of the world and that we
name the chat room Homebrew Chat. I'll throw out a suggested time of
Saturdays at 1:00 PM Mountain time (8:00PM GMT)
That looks like it'll give our friends in England and Australia opportunity
to participate without having to stay up until midnight.
Any other thoughts about this?
Rich Scotty - Grain Grinding Specialist - The Crapshoot Brewery
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 1996 12:15:39 CST
From: "Roger Deschner " <U52983@UICVM.CC.UIC.EDU>
Subject: mg/l versus ppm
Well, now this got The Department of Picayune Things all riled up, and
caused it to get out its calculator.
Parts Per Million does not specify whether it is in terms of mass or
volume, but whichever it is, both of the things you are measuring should
be the same - mass or volume. 1 PPM could be one pound in 1 million
pounds, or one liter in 1 million liters, or one standard marble in one
million standard marbles. When you are dealing with things similar to
water, it really doesn't matter - much. This is the flaw of the PPM
measure - it does not specify whether you are dealing with mass or
volume. And they ARE different - note the different numbers for the
amount of alcohol in your beer depending on whether you measure it as "%
by weight" or "% by volume".
Milligrams per liter is a measure of the MASS of a substance dissolved in
a VOLUME of a total solution consisting of the subject substance and the
solvent substance. It's probably easier to measure this in a laboratory,
(dry out the solvent; weigh what's left) which is why it is a mixed
measure like this. If *BOTH* substances are about the specific gravity of
water at 38 degrees F, then it is indeed APPROXIMATELY the same as parts
per million. However, if it is lead, a very heavy substance, in alcohol,
a very light solvent, then PPM and mg/l could be very different. And any
of these measures will vary with temperature, so to be really precise it
should be stated as "<n> mg/L at <t> degrees C" or something like that.
But, having said all that, PPM and MG/L are certainly close enough to one
another for determining what to add to your water to enhance the flavor
of your beer.
Back to beer.
Roger Deschner University of Illinois at Chicago rogerd@uic.edu
Aliases: u52983@uicvm.uic.edu U52983@UICVM.BITNET R.Deschner@uic.edu
======I have not lost my mind -- it is backed up on tape somewhere.=====
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1929, 01/08/96
*************************************
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