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HOMEBREW Digest #2087
This file received at Hops.Stanford.EDU 1996/06/28 PDT
Homebrew Digest Friday, 28 June 1996 Number 2087
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Shawn Steele, Digest Janitor
Thanks to Rob Gardner for making the digest happen!
Contents:
WBC/Rocket Science (Rob Moline)
re: total trihalomethanes ("ted hull")
More on (moron?) mashing (George_De_Piro@berlex.com (George De Piro))
RE: Oxidation and Steam Vapor (Michael Mahler/Shiva Corporation)
Enzymes, Sugars, Why ? (Steve Alexander)
Sheila in the gutter? (George_De_Piro@berlex.com (George De Piro))
Re:Problem with the digest (gmccarthy@dayna.com (Gary McCarthy))
Copper Alloy DANGER?? ("Palmer.John")
World's Most Expensive Beer (Michael.HeerBrandt@sendero.fiserv.com (Michael HeerBrandt))
Wormwood in beer (joe-sysop@cyberbury.net)
Anyone use(d/ing) the electric 12v coolers for lagering? (Steve Alexander)
140^F rest (Gregory King)
Will this make it??? 5th try (RUSt1d?)
Honey for a Weizen (Michael Mahler/Shiva Corporation)
filtering out hops (TMCASTLE@am.pnu.com)
aeration question ("Bryan L. Gros")
Michaelis Menton equation (Jim Cave)
Reusing Bottles (BR Rolya)
Re:Problem with the digest (shawn@aob.org (Shawn Steele))
Re: esters and flavor ("Tracy Aquilla")
Water Temperature and Volume Calculation for Infusion Mashing (Marler Stephen)
-ster-ring the pot, ("David R. Burley")
Enzyme Kinetics (Meyer@msscc.med.utah.edu (Larry Meyer))
Hop esters and yeast-produced esters (korz@pubs.ih.lucent.com)
Hop Variety (Brian Cornelius)
Announcing El Dorado County Fair HomeBrew Competition (CA) (cburns@spider.lloyd.com (Charley))
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Rob Moline <brewer@kansas.net>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 08:31:26 -0500
Subject: WBC/Rocket Science
>From: John Adams <j_adams@hpfcla.fc.hp.com>
>Date: Thu, 27 Jun 1996 16:54:07 -0600
>Subject: re: World Beer Cup winners
>
>Curt Speaker writes:
>> I'd love to know a little more about this contest, who was permitted
>> to enter, and how it differs from the GABF. And who judges these beers
>> anyway?
>Have been on the WBC (and GABF) judging staff I feel I can answer some
>of your questions and concerns (from the World Beer Cup International
>Competition Handbook):
>
I spoke with Marcia Schirmer on Monday or Tuesday, and there will be
no comprehensive listing of companies and products entered. There will be a
list of the judges for the comp, but not which categories they judged in.
She didn't say when the judges list would be available. The judges comment
sheets for each entry were mailed to participants on Tuesday. Maybe John
could enlighten us with regards to which judges he knows were present, and
maybe he knows some of the categories they judged?
>From: George_De_Piro@berlex.com (George De Piro)
Sometimes
> we think too much. People have been doing this for THOUSANDS of
> years. It doesn't have to be rocket science.
>
AMEN!
Rob Moline
Little Apple Brewing Company
Manhattan, Kansas
"The more I know about beer, the more I realize I need to know more about
beer!"
------------------------------
From: "ted hull" <Ted=Hull%GEN%Atlanta@brwncald.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 96 4:57:31 EDT
Subject: re: total trihalomethanes
wow, never thought that my master's research would come up in the hbd.
terence tegner wrote in hbd 2085:
> One other figure which bothers me is "total trihalomethanes = from 13 to
> 58 mg/l". Don't know what they are but they sound nasty.
trihalomethanes are compounds formed by reactions between chlorine (the most
common drinking water disinfectant) added for drinking water disinfection and
naturally occuring organic matter in the water at the point of chlorination.
generally, there are four trihalomethanes (chloroform, bromodichloroform,
dibromochloroform, and bromoform) and the concentration of each compound
relative to the total concentration depends on the bromide ion concentration
in the source water. bromide concentrations vary across the country, but are
typically higher in areas where salt water intrusion into a groundwater
source may occur.
as far as the concentration goes, 58 micrograms per liter (milligrams per
liter is highly unlikely) is pretty normal. i would assume that your water
comes from a surface water source b/c groundwater (less organic material)
tends to have really low tthms (around 10 ug/l or less).
health effects of these compounds are really still up in the air. they're
regulated by epa b/c chloroform was determined a possible human carcinogen in
the 70's. currently the limit for water utilities is 100 ug/l (possibly
dropping to 80 ug/l in the future), but they are only required to take
samples quarterly. and the limit is based on what utilities are capable of
achieving, not correlation to health effects. epidemiologists still aren't
entirely sure b/c the concentration is so low and the exposure period is
pretty much your whole life. and routes of exposure are so varied- it may be
more hazardous to take a hot shower w/ these compounds in the water than it
is to drink them.
also, because chlorination is one of several means of disinfecting drinking
water in use now (others include chloramines, ozone, chlorine dioxide) there
are a whole lot of different disinfection byproducts to be found in
differently treated drinking waters. around half of the compounds haven't
been identified, much less quantified in terms of health effects.
so, realistically, here's my approach: use filtered water for brewing and
drinking mainly b/c it tastes better (activated carbon gets a lot of this
stuff out of the water). otherwise, i don't worry about it too much. my
chances of getting cancer from the water (or beer made with it) are pretty
low compared to all of the other hazards to which i'm continually exposed.
Ted Hull
------------------------------
From: George_De_Piro@berlex.com (George De Piro)
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 10:30:11 -0700
Subject: More on (moron?) mashing
Sorry for all the postings, but after reading my last posting, I
realized it needed clarification (like I said, my brain hurts).
The decoction procedure I previously described will yield a fairly
fermentable wort, but because of the post-decoct rest at 158, it will
have some residual sweetness (this schedule usually finishes ~1.016
for me). The absolutely most fermentable wort will come if you rest
at low temp (149F), pull a decoction that rests at 158 before boiling,
while allowing the main mash to cool, then slowly add back the decoct
so that the temp still doesn't exceed 149 or so. This way, almost all
the starch is converted to fermentables. This yields beers of low
final gravity (1.008 or so) but the decoction isn't necessary to
achieve this low FG. You can get just as low a FG by just resting at
149 until conversion is complete. Decocting just adds a touch more
maltiness, and increases your efficiency VERY slightly.
An interesting bit just crossed my mind (ouch). I saw some sheets,
supposedly documenting the mash schedule for one of the Longshot beers
(not the pale ale, one of the others). I say supposedly because it
was so weird as to be unbelievable. They rested at 122F for 2
minutes. What would that be for? Was the grain tired so they let it
rest a moment before moving on to 149? Was it a typo? Did the
heating unit break briefly?
The saccharification rests were very short (I don't remember exactly,
but on the order of 20-30 min). Perhaps with constant mixing, this is
achievable. Any pro's want to comment on this? Sorry the details are
sparse, but this is from my memory...
George De Piro (Nyack, NY)
------------------------------
From: Michael Mahler/Shiva Corporation <mmahler@shiva.com>
Date: 28 Jun 96 11:20:25
Subject: RE: Oxidation and Steam Vapor
Is it possible that the reason wort doesn't experience oxidation during that
boil is that any O2 that contacts the surface (if any does) is immediately
boiled out of solution before oxidation?
------------------------------
From: Steve Alexander <stevea@clv.mcd.mot.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 11:36:51 -0400
Subject: Enzymes, Sugars, Why ?
Thin mash, thick mash, hot mash, cool mash. HBD not Seuss.
So OK, there are a lot of factors that effect the types of sugars
produced in the mash.
We universally don't want starches in the wort - that much is
obvious.
The amounts of various dextrins remaining and their composition are
dictated by style and taste issue and there is undoubtedly room for a
good discussion about which dextrins contribute what flavors.
Presumably smaller dextrins have more perceptable flavors.
Among the fermentable sugars, there have been some statements
published (and posted to HBD) that indicate that yeast byproducts
from the metabolysis of fructose contribute flavor components that
impart a cider like flavor. It's pretty clear why this might be so.
What isn't very clear is what the flavor implication are for the
metabolysis of various glucose polymers ? Do we care if the
fermentables are glucose, maltose, or maltriose ? Yeast apparently
can generate a wide range of enzymes for degrading glucose polymers
including alpha-glucosidase(maltase), alpha-dextrin endo-1-6
alpha-glucosidase (limit dextrinase, pullulanase, debranching enzyme),
Glucan 1,4-alpha-glucosidase (acid maltase, gamma-amylase),
endo-1,3(4)-beta-glucanase(laminarase) and probably a lot more.
In spite of this impressive array of enzymes, yeast are not real
effective at breaking down bigger G-polymers. What is the
impact on flavor (if any) ? Tracy - wanna take a stab at it ?
Steve Alexander
------------------------------
From: George_De_Piro@berlex.com (George De Piro)
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 11:50:09 -0700
Subject: Sheila in the gutter?
This isn't about beer, but it's bugging the heck out of me. How does
the phrase "Sheila in the gutter" remind you of which side of the road
to drive on? There's a gutter on BOTH sides of the road, at least
here in the Northeastern U.S.!
George (Nyack, NY)
------------------------------
From: gmccarthy@dayna.com (Gary McCarthy)
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 96 10:05:02 -0700
Subject: Re:Problem with the digest
Tim:
In HBD 2085 you wrote:
>Their headers both show Fri, 21 June 1996 except Marty's time says
>he posted his answer almost an hour before Kevin ask the question.
This is not a scientific explanation, and may not even be right, but. e-mail
sometimes travels at different speeds on the internet. So, for example, a
reply to a post(#2) may have been sent to both the original poster(ie you,
Tim) and the HBD, arriving at the original posters' address first. So the
original poster sends a reply(#3) to the HBD and the replying poster, and the
reply(#3) might arrive at the HBD before the #2 reply.
Is that confusing enough? So it is disconcerting to see a reply in the same
issue, and even more disconcerting to see a reply before the question is
asked, but I think the times are assigned upon arrival at the server, and not
upon sending from the originator. And I think the apparent time-compression
is due to the vagaries of the net.
Gary McCarthy in SLC We built this city on Rock 'n' Roll!
gmccarthy@sisna.com
------------------------------
From: "Palmer.John" <palmer@ssdgwy.mdc.com>
Date: 28 Jun 1996 09:09:36 U
Subject: Copper Alloy DANGER??
From HBD #2085
---------------
>From: "Derrick Yacavone" <dyacavon@southeast.net>
> Date: Thu, 27 Jun 1996 11:06:42 -0500
> Subject: RE: Distilling Dangers
>One more note on the dangers of home distillation: The copper tubing one
>would buy at your local hardware store to assemble a still is NOT 100%
>copper, it is an alloy (Danger Will Robinson !!! Danger ! Danger !).
>Once again, sorry this isn't beer related, but it is important for anyone
>following this discussion.
Please please, do not slander copper tubing and ALLOYs unless you have some
knowledge of metals. Copper tubing (soft) is 99.5% Copper with .009%
Phosphorus, remainder are various trace elements including silver. Rigid water
pipe is 99% Copper with .02% Phosphorus, remainder trace elements.
John J. Palmer - Metallurgist for MDA-ISS M&P
johnj@primenet.com Huntington Beach, California
Palmer House Brewery and Smithy - www.primenet.com/~johnj/
------------------------------
From: Michael.HeerBrandt@sendero.fiserv.com (Michael HeerBrandt)
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 10:59:48 -0700
Subject: World's Most Expensive Beer
Not necessarily Home Brewing news but fairly interesting just the same.
Pardon if
this turns out to be a duplicate post:
'World's Most Expensive Beer' For Sale In London
($1-.6505 Pound)
LONDON (Reuter) - Fancy a drop of really real old ale? It will cost you
more than most of the world's finest wine.
The first bottle of Tutankhamun Ale, brewed from an ancient Egyptian
recipe, goes on sale at Harrods department store in London next month
for 5,000 pounds ($7,686).
It's the most expensive beer in the world, according to the brewers.
The rest of the batch will be 100 times cheaper -- still a
wallet-emptying experience to quench one's thirst and curiosity.
``It has taken us five years to get this far, but eventually we have
bought a legend to life. It's literally the liquid gold of the pharoahs,''
Jim Merrington, commercial director of Newcastle Breweries, said Monday
in a telephone interview.
The ale, developed by an Egyptologist, two scientists and Britain's
largest brewer Scottish & Newcastle, is based on sediment from old jars
found in a brewery inside the Sun Temple of Nefertiti, queen of the Pharoah
Akhenaten, believed by Egyptologists to be Tutankhamun's father.
The team could only gather and grow enough of the right raw materials
to brew 1,000 bottles of the beer, said Merrington.
The specially numbered, hand-labelled bottles will go on sale in
Harrods on July 2 with bottle number one on sale for 5,000 pounds and
the rest priced at 50 pounds each, with proceeds going to aid archaeology
in Egypt.
Security vans will bring the bottles down from Newcastle for delivery
at Harrods, owned by the Egyptian Al-Fayed brothers.
The label reads ``Tutankhamun Ale'' with ``The Beer of His Majesty''
written over the top in hieroglyphics.
------------------------------
From: joe-sysop@cyberbury.net
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 10:15:32 -0600
Subject: Wormwood in beer
Hi, folks!
I came across an item in a reference book om herbs,
stating that wormwood had been used as a bittering agent in beer.
I haven't been able to find anything further. I'd like to
try useing it, if I can find reliable information. However, I
don't want to simply experiment, since I've seen statements that
wormwood may be toxic in some situations.
I'd appreciate any help, and e-mail would be fine. I'll
summarixe and re-spew the contents for the collective.
Meanwhile, here's one of my favorite recipes. It's a
simple one, but I'm a simple guy.
UNCLE BILL'S PORTER
3 1/3 lb light liquid extract
1 lb light dry extract
8 oz chocolate malt
4 oz black patent malt
1/2 cp molasses
1 oz bittering hops (about 5-6%)
1 oz Willamette
1 pk ale yeast
Specialty malts were heated just short of boiling in 1 gal water,
then removed. Malt extracts and bittering hops were added, and
boiled for 55 minutes. Willamette hops were added right at the
end of the boil, and this was poured into three gallons of cold
water in the primary. I've made this beer both with and without a
yeast starter, depending on how ambitious I felt.
OG - 1.045 FG - 1.017
- -------------------------------------------------------------
Joe Labeck --
Homebrewer, writer, house-husband, dad, supermarket cashier
- -------------------------------------------------------------
The only thing worse than hearing the alarm clock is not...
`[1;37;47mNet-Tamer V 1.04 - Registered
------------------------------
From: Steve Alexander <stevea@clv.mcd.mot.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 12:24:46 -0400
Subject: Anyone use(d/ing) the electric 12v coolers for lagering?
Michael Mahler writes ...
>Those new (well to me at least) coolers that have those cooling chips and fan
>apparently can cool low enough for lagering. I'm wondering if it's worthwhile,
>if they fit a carboy standing up, to fill the cooler with water and put the
>carboy in it and fire it up (with a 12v power supply I guess, or heck the
>120volt into it if it uses a step-dowon transformer?)...
>
>Anyone done it or at least thought about it?
This was discussed here quiet a while ago. They are called
thermo-electric devices. One point is that they eat up a lot of DC
current and may more expensive to operate than a fridge.
Rubbermaid catalog sells a large one which will still probably
not quite hold a carboy, but does have a 120VAC adapter. This would
probably work for lagering, but keep in mind that the cooling
capability of this unit is probably quite low (but OK for a small
insulated box).
I've seen a few articles on temp controlled fridge expanders and such,
and thought a lot about the economics of all these options. Frankly
is's pretty hard to beat a fridge or freezer unit with an external
controller - particularly when they become available virtually for
free occasionally as relatives of friends upgrade. Sometimes
you'll see commercial temp controlled cooler units become available as
well for a modest cost.
Steve Alexander
------------------------------
From: Gregory King <GKING@ARSERRC.Gov>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 12:29:28 -0500 (EST)
Subject: 140^F rest
Dear Collective,
In HBD #2086 George De Piro (George_De_Piro@berlex.com) wrote:
"Yes, Dave is right about the amylases being active well below 149F,
but starch isn't gelatinized till 149, so there isn't much for the
enzymes to do below 149."
It does seem strange to perform a beta-amylase rest at 140^F (60^C) in an
infusion mash if there isn't any gelatinized starch for the enzymes to work on.
Yet, some brewers (maybe you're one of them) perform this rest and get better
extract efficiency than they would have if they had omitted this step.
Can anyone explain this?
~~~~~~~~~~~
On a completely different subject: Have any of you (intentionally or otherwise)
made vinegar from beer or wine? Is this simply a matter of exposing the beer/
wine to the naturally-occurring bacteria in air, or does a specific type of
bacteria have to be added?
Greg King
gking@arserrc.gov
------------------------------
From: RUSt1d? <rust1d@swamp.li.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 12:47:18 -0400
Subject: Will this make it??? 5th try
Attempt # 5 at posting....Jeesh! This *is* crazy!
Two Stage Chilling:
Last weekend, when chilling, I was having a problem getting the wort below
80F due to the tap water temp being high. Having a cooler full of ice and
water left from the previous evening, I submerged the line between the
chiller and the fermentor into it. The two feet or so of vinyl hose in the
ice water was sufficient to drop the temp to 70F. This weekend I am going
to use a short piece of copper coil (3') in ice water to do the same. I
think this will speed the process up a little as well. Has anyone tried
such a two stage chiller setup?
Getting the HBD undigested rules. But why do none of my posts make it?
Some people seem to get 3 or 4 (winded) posts a day in. Is this why I
can't get posted? What up?
"Pour me an ale with a creamy head on top, an overdose of hops,
brewed Reinheitsgebot, and i'm sure to drink alot!"
John Varady
Boneyard Brewing Co.
------------------------------
From: Michael Mahler/Shiva Corporation <mmahler@shiva.com>
Date: 28 Jun 96 12:42:33
Subject: Honey for a Weizen
How much honey would you use to prime a 6 gallon batch of Weizen?
------------------------------
From: TMCASTLE@am.pnu.com
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 13:08:49 -0400
Subject: filtering out hops
In HBD#2086, Jason Henning talks of HSA from straining the hops
through a steel screen kitchen strainer prior to chilling because
his counter-flow chiller gets clogged.
I have a solution, but it's not cheap because it sounds like you'll
need all new equipment. I use leaf hops and an immersion chiller.
After the boil, I chill down with the immersion chiller to about 50F
(Michigan well water) and during the winter go out and stick it in
the snow for a little added chill to 35F or so. I then strain the
hops through a 10 inch stainless steel kitchen strainer equipped
with a handle and "lip overhangs" so it sits on top of my plastic
fermentation bucket very nicely. So, I get the hops out and nicely
aerate the wort substantially in one operation. Laziness is the
path to efficiency!
Contentment through brewing,
tom castle
Zen of Homebrewing
http://www.netcom.com/~tmcastle
------------------------------
From: "Bryan L. Gros" <grosbl@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 12:27:42 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: aeration question
Andy Walsh writes:
>So, after all that, I guess I agree with Tracy when he says you cannot
>really generalise on this issue. Yeasts will behave differently, and unless
>you are very familiar with a particular strain, the affect of aeration on
>ester production will be indeterminate. The only factor that all studies
>agree on, is that an increase in temperature will increase ester production.
>
A practical question.
If I use Wyeast 1056 and ptich a "standard homebrew starter"
(i.e. underpitch) and don't aerate well, what happens? I get long
lag times, probable high FG, and increase possiblity of infection.
Don't know about esters.
If I get a qt. jar full of yeast slurry from the local brewpub (which
happens to use 1056), and pitch that into my 5 gallons and
don't aerate well, what happens? I get short lag times (2 hrs!)
reasonable FG, and minimal risk of infection.
How about relative esters?
Also, what advantage is aerating if I have (presumably) "enough"
yeast to pitch?
- Bryan
grosbl@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu
Nashville, TN
------------------------------
From: Jim Cave <CAVE@PSC.ORG>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 10:28:56 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Michaelis Menton equation
Al Korzonas askes about the Michaelis Menton equation....
Gees Al. I thought you'd have all kinds of Biochemistry Texts
hanging around. You seem to write lots on the subject. Check out Lehninger,
1976. Biochemistry. That's the only reference I have in the house--A
pre-med book. Mine's old but then so's my undergraduate training. There's
other books out there, I'm sure. I don't have my Lehninnger here so lets see
if I can remember this stuff....
The Michaelis Menton kinetic equation is a non-linear relation
used to describe chemical reactions (increase in reaction products or
metabolites) and decrease in reactants or reagents. Therefore it is probably
useful in describing reactions in brewing. In it's simplest form it is:
Y = cX/(d+X),
but you can also raise X and d to any power:
Y = cX~/(d~+X~), where ~ is my notation to indicate raising
to a power. The curve becomes sigmoid when ~>1 and reverse sigmoid for ~<0.
c is basically the assymptote of the line and d is the value of x at .5 c.
Try this out in a simple spreadsheet and convince yourself.
BTW, the Michaelis Menton equation is also used in fisheries
science, which is where I bump into it from time to time.
Jim Cave
------------------------------
From: BR Rolya <brrolya@cs.columbia.edu>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 13:33:00 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Reusing Bottles
I bottle all of my homebrew and was wondering
if there was a limit on the number of times bottles
can be reused. Some have told me that I should only
use bottles 2 or 3 times, while others have said that
there is no limit. (I sterilize my bottles by rinsing with
a bleach solution and then baking them, if this makes
any difference.) I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks.
- -BR Rolya
brrolya@cs.columbia.edu
------------------------------
From: shawn@aob.org (Shawn Steele)
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 12:01:03 -0600
Subject: Re:Problem with the digest
>> Their headers both show Fri, 21 June 1996 except Marty's time says
>> he posted his answer almost an hour before Kevin ask the question.
> This is not a scientific explanation, and may not even be right,
> but...
Actually, messages were getting stuck in the queue and not being
inserted into the HBD in the correct order last week. This problem is
part of what was being resolved when the HBD acted up last weekend.
- - shawn
Digest Janitor
------------------------------
From: "Tracy Aquilla" <aquilla@salus.med.uvm.edu>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 96 14:04:04 CDT
Subject: Re: esters and flavor
In Digest #2086:
korz@pubs.ih.lucent.com Al K. wrote:
>You cannot taste esters. Bottom line. Your tongue only senses sweet, salty,
>sour and bitter (well, you can add astringency and the heat from alcohol, I
>suppose). It cannot discern things like esters. If you had a cold and your
>nose was clogged, you (nor I) could not tell the difference between an ale
>and a lager that had the same OG, FG and were bittered with the same hops.
I believe the idea that the tongue can only detect sweet, salty, sour, and
bitter is very old and has been disproved. It is also essentially impossible
to separate taste from smell, as smell contributes significantly to taste.
Esters do have flavor. If they didn't, most foods would taste very bland.
(Sorry, no references today.)
Tracy
------------------------------
From: Marler Stephen <SMarler@dol.gov>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 96 13:58:00 EST
Subject: Water Temperature and Volume Calculation for Infusion Mashing
My mash tun is the picnic cooler type, so I am limited to infusion and
decoction mashing. I was wondering if there is an equation that I can use
for calculating the water volume and temperature necessary to raise the mash
temperature a fixed number of degrees. I am looking for a formula that uses
the amount of grain, the desired mash temperature, and the current mash
temperature as the known quantity and the volume and temperature of the
additional water (or mash removed in the case of decoction mashing) as the
variables.
Thanks
Steve Marler
smarler@dol.gov
------------------------------
From: "David R. Burley" <103164.3202@CompuServe.COM>
Date: 28 Jun 96 14:57:23 EDT
Subject: -ster-ring the pot,
Brewsters:
Alan Rubinoff re-surfaces the issue, raised by that famous pot-stirrer (or is
it
- -ster-er) Andy "wohlgemuth" Walsh, of whether "brewster" is exclusively used
for female types of operators and he points out some other related uses of the
- -ster suffix.
OK, gangsters, here's the scoop. In modern day usage, the -ster ending is not
feminine exclusively. . And PC B.S. (hero, actor, etc., etc. for both sexes) is
making that distinction even less felt in the language. Personally, I think
there is something more thrilling about a woman being called a heroine than a
hero, something more majestic about a woman being called an actress than an
actor, but, then, just call me a sloppy old romantic. Enough of that before I
REALLY get into trouble.
Anyway ( how DO I get myself in these fixes? -I'm just an ORdinary man - to
quote 'enry 'iggins) according to the Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology
(1966) edited by ( would you believe it?) C.T. Onions p. 867 The suffix "ster"
is related to the Olde English istrae,istre,estre, correlated to Middle Low
German (e)ster {hopefully not correlated to high temperature fermentations,
enzymes and oxidation, if so , I quit!} and (Middle) Dutch -ster etc.etc,
Primarily applied to females, but in OE and LDu also to males. Survivals from
OE include seamster, songster,etc.etc. in Middle English appear huckster and
bellringestre ( I've met a few of these in my time! ) and
brewster,maltster,spinster.
>From the 16th century (Andy and Allan, how old ARE you guys?), the -ster ending
has been used for compositions having a derogatory force ( this is how I use
the term "brewster" - with tongue-in-cheek, of course). Words like jokester,
trickster,punster. These words are neutral. Gangster is a US invention (1896).
As a final comment, the paragraph says Feminine formations made with the
addition of " -ess" are huckstress ( I've met a few of these too! ), sempstress
( i.e. seamstress), songstress.
My last comment on this subject - I hope. Don't listen to what I say, listen to
what I mean!
Keep on brewin'
Dave Burley
P.S. In this same vein and in response to the question "What does "wohlgemuth"
mean, anyway?", I had to go to an old dictionary (how did they read that stuff
printed in that old typeface- and a foreign language besides?) [New
German-English Dictionary ( 1936), Funk and Wagnall's p. 733] which says that
"wohlgemut" (minus the haitch) means "completely joyous or completely gay". I
guess you take your choice. Which is it, Andy?
------------------------------
From: Meyer@msscc.med.utah.edu (Larry Meyer)
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 14:20:25 -0700
Subject: Enzyme Kinetics
Al asks for a reference for the Michaelis-Menten kinetics model. Although
I was not the original poster, I'm sure the poster intended to say "this
should appear in chapter 1 of any *biochemistry* textbook". Standard texts
include Stryer, Lenninger, and many others. Most large biology texts also
review enzyme kinetics.
The basis of M-M kinetics is the relationship between the substrate
concentration and reaction velocity. On a simple plot this is a hyperbolic
curve. The simple relation is 1/V = K* (1/S), where V is the reaction
velocity, K is a constant and S is the substrate concentration. For those
graphically inclined, a double reciprocal plot is linear, with the "y"
intercept representing the maximal velocity. On a stardard plot this is a
hyperbola, with the curve asumtotically approaching maximal velocity with
increasing substrate.
What this means in practice is that above a certain point, adding more
substrate (starch) will not increase the reaction speed. It is only at low
substrate concentrations that there is a roughly linear increase of of
reaction velocity with increasing substrate concentration. Conversly, if
you start with excess substrate at maximal velocity, only after most
substrate is used will the reaction slow. If there is enough substrate,
doubling the amount of enzyme will also double the velocity.
Larry Meyer
------------------------------
From: korz@pubs.ih.lucent.com
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 96 12:34:50 CDT
Subject: Hop esters and yeast-produced esters
Here's another post of mine that seems to have gotten lost in the ether...
Andrew (quoting me) writes:
>>Did you judge the fruity
>>aromas before you added the dryhops? Otherwise, I can't believe that
>>you really smell any esters at all there. Sorry...
>This got me thinking. What is hop aroma? I checked Hough (V2 pp450-453)
>and discovered that about 30% of the smell of hops is due to esters! <snip>
and:
>The two esters most dominant in terms of aroma are methyl thiohexanoate and
>methyl dec-4-enoate. <snip>
Well, I'm really proving that I'm no organic chemist this week, eh? I've
got a stack of papers from the ASBC and JIB that have dozens of hop aromatic
compounds listed and their relative concentrations for several hop varieties.
Although it's not difficult to tell that these two compounds listed above
are esters, most of the ones in these papers are not so easily categorized
(at least by amateur chemists like me).
Clearly, what I should have said was that "I can't believe that you really
smell any *yeast-produced* esters after 4 ounces of dryhops in 5 gallons."
[Since I wrote this Tracy posted that he smelled them before dryhopping,
but that the apple aroma was so strong that even after four ounces of
dryhops the apple ester was still noticeable. I would have to say those
sound like some pretty un-aromatic hops or the apple ester was in parts-
per-thousand!]
Andrew continues:
>Unlike the acetates that are the main esters produced by fermentation
>(which are mainly either solvent or banana and undesirable), the hop esters
>are all quite complex, and would contribute fruitiness. It appears
>to me that a good practice on ester control would be to minimise
>the acetates in the fermentation (see my other post), and add dry hops
>for the desired effect. <snip>
I'm a little skeptical. Yeast-produced esters and hop aromatics are usually
easy to tell apart. I would say that 9 out of 10 experienced beer judges
would be able to tell that hops imparted the aroma and not yeast. When hop
aroma is appropriate, as in Bitters or IPAs, there's no problem, but what
about English Browns or Milds? I believe that the aromatic qualities would
be noticeably wrong for the style. I think that this very well be true
even if you were to age the beer till some of the aromatics gained from the
hops disappear as Andrew suggests later in his post.
I don't think that it is that difficult, in practice, to minimize solventy
and banana aromas if you chose a yeast that is not predisposed to creating
these esters and keep the fermentation temperature in the 60's F. I have
had only one batch that unintentionally got these esters and it had both.
It was a 1.087 OG Chimay Grand Reserve clone that was fermented with Wyeast
Belgian Ale yeast (#1214 I believe) at around 75F. Since then (1992), I've
kept my fermentation temperatures around 65F for ales, avoided that yeast
and have brewed over 130 batches of beer without solventy or unintentional
banana aromas.
Al.
Al Korzonas, Palos Hills, IL
korzonas@lucent.com
Copyright 1996 Al Korzonas
------------------------------
From: Brian Cornelius <bcorneli@wsu.edu>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 13:32:25 -0700
Subject: Hop Variety
>Ray Gaffield asks
>Anybody know how to identify the variety of a hop plant or know of a book
or guide that does ?
>A the local Farmer's market in Chicago, a farmer is selling hop plants but
he doesn't know what type they are. I would like to identify them before
purchasing any.
Ray: I asked the very same question to the Oregon Hop Commission last year.
I was trying to identify a variety that was growing here at WSU, but was
"abandoned" by a grad student several years ago. They suggested _The Hop
Atlas_ published by Johann Barth & Sohn of Nurenburg. It's available
through AOB for $110.00 + shipping. The hops are probably $3.99 or less.
I'd take the chance on the unknown. Around here, most if not all "hops in a
pot" are Cascades. Fairly desease resistant and easy to grow.
Brian
------------------------------
From: cburns@spider.lloyd.com (Charley)
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 23:01:06 GMT
Subject: Announcing El Dorado County Fair HomeBrew Competition (CA)
This is kind of a short notice and here's some of the important details (see
http://spider.lloyd.com/~sandler/fair1.html to get the total lowdown):
Each beer entry shall consist of three (3) bottles free of commercial labels,
raised marks or
lettering, or otheridentifying markings that are not part of the official entry
label. A 12 oz.
brown long neck bottle is preferable.Any brown or green glass bottle between 10
oz. and 14 oz. will
be accepted. Clear glass bottles will not be accepted.
Use the recipe form as the entry form; complete the pertinent information only.
Please attach with a rubber band (no tape or glue) a properly completed
Official Bottle ID Form
which has been filled out completely. Once the bottles have been assigned a
control number, the
recipe form becomes the identifying document connecting the brewster with the
beer. Special
attention should be given to the style description as well as the category
entered. Brew entries are
limited to one per style, no more than three per category.
Each label entry shall consist of one label affixed to a bottle of the same
requirements described
for beer entries and one loose label enclosed in an envelope.
All beer and label entries must be received between June 27 and July 8, 1996.
Ship to:
Fair Entry Office
El Dorado County Fairgrounds
100 Placerville Drive
Placerville, CA 95667
Those interested in judging or stewarding should contact judge organizer Steve
Seeley at (916)
933-4835.
The entry form should be available on the announcment web page by Saturday the
29th.
Charley Burns, President
Deer Valley Brewing Co. (aka my deck)
cburns@spider.lloyd.com
http://www.el-dorado.ca.us/~cburns
------------------------------
End of Homebrew Digest #2087
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