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HOMEBREW Digest #2125
This file received at Hops.Stanford.EDU 1996/07/25 PDT
Homebrew Digest Friday, 26 July 1996 Number 2125
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Shawn Steele, Digest Janitor
Thanks to Rob Gardner for making the digest happen!
Contents:
Wheat Protein Size/ Taste Buds ((Larry Meyer))
Re:Blue Whale (Suzette Smith)
Re: Decoction (tgaskell@syr.lmco.com)
HSA/Cream Stout/Victory (Jim Busch)
re: indoor propane (Rscholz@aol.com)
Beer in MB, SC? ("Bridges, Scott")
RE: Cream Stout (Milk in stout) ((George De Piro))
Cream Stout2 (Schwab_Bryan@CCMAIL.ncsc.navy.mil)
Wedding beer/Blind spots/Blue Whale Ale/decoction/gelatin/Rager vs. hoptech (korz@pubs.ih.lucent.com)
acetic Rodenbach ("Allan Rubinoff")
Re: Home Distillation Manual here (John Varady)
Iodophor for fruit sanitation (korz@pubs.ih.lucent.com)
Aeration thanks ((Mike Spinelli))
Wooden keg coating ("Thomas K. Simacek")
Bulkhead for Gott coolers (MadAntBrew@aol.com)
Indoor Propane ("Gregory, Guy J.")
Re: Wheeler on Porter (Kelly Jones)
5 Liter Kegs (David Root)
Re: Home Distillation Manual here ((Shawn Steele))
esters abound (Greg Thompson)
Using an Insulated Cooler (Jack Schmidling)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Meyer@msscc.med.utah.edu (Larry Meyer)
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 11:26:43 -0700
Subject: Wheat Protein Size/ Taste Buds
Protein chemistry ahead, page down if not interested.
George_De_Piro@berlex.com (George De Piro) quotes a news and views report
from the June 27, 1996 issue of Nature (p.738) on the size of wheat
proteins. These mid-size proteins form polymers, which the reviewer from
Nature states gives them their insoluable characteristics. I have worked
with these proteins and would modify this slightly.
Gluteins and gliadins are insoluable in water as monomers. They are defined
as proteins insoluable in water, but soluable in acid and alcohol (thus
soluable in Coomassie destain, for those who have experience with protein
electrophoresis). Monomers are easy to create by reduction (e.g 2-ME).
I am not as impressed by the size of these proteins as the reviewer. Many
proteins polymerize to form huge multimers both extracellularly and
intracellularly, e.g. collagen, keratin.
These proteins are produced from 4 major families of duplicated genes with
a high copy number, present on all wheat chromosomes. A side note is most
wheat is hexaploid, semolina is tetraploid. Although semolina is called
high glutein, this is a characteristic of the flour; the gluten protein
level is similar to hexaploid wheat. There are 60-100 of these genes
transcribed in most wheat strains, as assessed by 1-d protein
electrophoresis. These are the things that sink to the bottom after letting
a flour an water mix sit.
Finally, these proteins are also present in barley and rye. The strict
presence or absence of gluten cannot explain the differences in flour
characteristics, but there may be qualitative differences. In a curious
immune reaction some people react to these proteins, as well as developing
auto-antibodies (gluten sensitivity or celiac disease and dermatitis
herpetiformis). These people should basically avoid all 3 of these grains,
and their condition settles down. This includes avoiding beer.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
re: the 4 taste bud thread--- the cover of the same Nature cought my eye- a
mouse taste bud.
The article (p796) clones a taste bud protein, but the review (p737) states
many compounds trigger taste sensations, and they are clasified in 5
groups: sweet, salt, bitter, sour and umami (a new one to me) which is
triggered by glutamate. A knockout of one taste bud protein causes a loss
of both bitter and sweet taste in the mouse. It appears that multiple
stimuli can trigger the same bud, with a different sensation (bitter or
sweet).
Larry Meyer
meyer@med.utah.edu
------------------------------
From: Suzette Smith <SSMITH1@drew.edu>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 13:32:28 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re:Blue Whale
Subject: Re:Blue Whale
Duffy asks about making the Blue Whale Ale. Do it. I made a batch earlier
and it's quite an experience. When I bottled it, it tasted almost like
grapefruit since the hops were so intense. It is a beer that will mellow
with age, but is very drinkable after a few weeks in the bottle.
Besides, I couldn't help but feel I was pushing the envelope, getting
away with something by adding that many hops to a single batch! You will
invariably find hop-heads who will love this beer.
Nothing to fear but the beer...
Suzette
------------------------------
From: tgaskell@syr.lmco.com
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 96 12:46:18 EDT
Subject: Re: Decoction
"Fiction and Fact from Tom's Almanac" on decoction mashing,
then some ?s.
I have made two beers recently that I have decoction mashed. It has
proceeded much more easily than I had expected (I believed all of the
horror stories, but wanted malty beer). Sure, I had a burnt spot or
two on the bottom of my decoction pot, but thats a minor price to
pay for maltiness, IMO.
The things that I learned:
- - Marc de Jonge deserves at least a round of applause for his article
at the brewery on decoction mashing. A complete, easy to follow, and
well presented treatise on decoction mashing. A must-read for any
aspiring decoction mashers.
URL: http://alpha.rollanet.org/library/DecoctFAQ.html
- - Take BIG decoctions. Even though I thought that I had enough grain
(1st two of a three decoction) in my decoctions, I fell far short of
the target temp for my next rest. I have yet to hit or exceed any
of my targets and have always had to add boiling water or propane
heat to my main mash to get up to the next rest temp.
- - Get as much grain and as little mash liquor within reason as you
can in the decoctions, and thin them with treated water. Before I
boil the decoctions, the liquor level is even with the top of the
grain. I add distilled water (my tap water is liquid rock), and
about an eighth of a teaspoon of gypsum to the decoction and have not
extracted any discernable tannins or astringency from the husks.
I have yet to get my sh*t together in measuring and maintaining pH.
But I will real soon now.... I plan to get the ColorpHast (?)
sticks. The cheap papers are COMPLETELY WORTHLESS, and a meter is
way too far gone.
- - Use a big pot for boiling decoctions. The thick boil spews globs
hot grain each time it bubbles, after 30 minutes the area around the
stove looks pretty rough. There is about a quarter cup of grain
clumps lying on the counter around the decoction pot.
- - Decoction mashing does make for a longer brew day, but I like
making beer better than nearly all of the other tasks I would
otherwise get dropped in my lap.
Now for my deccotion questions (attn: George, Tracy, Mark, etal.):
I have conducted a triple decoction on 100% Vienna malt and not
gotten the intense maltiness that I wanted. I boiled each thick
decoction for 30 minutes and got plenty of browning, but I had hoped
for a really malty beer, which never quite came about. I sparged
with slightly less water than went into the main mash and got around
26 pts/lb/gal, but not as much maltiness as I was trying for. Did
I oversparge? I have read George Fix's "Yummy Malt Flavor" article
at the Brewery and was curious if you decoction wizards agree with
him (use 33% more grain, and no or minimal sparging).
URL: http://alpha.rollanet.org/library/YMltGF92.html
M257876@sl1001.mdc.com (bayerospace@mac) asks about what happens in
the rest (main) mash while a decoction is boiling:
> when the cold (rest) mash sits at protein rest temperature
> (122-131 F) for an extended time ( in my case, it sits a minimum
> of 90 minutes) while the decocting is going on, what's going on
> in terms of protein degradation, and why doesn't this have an
> effect on the body/head retention of the finished beer?
In addition to this question about the first decoction, I want to
know what happens during the second decoction. Sure, most of the
grain and its starch are in the decoction, but doesn't the long
rest at the low end of the sacchrification range break down excessive
amounts of starch into simple sugars at the expense of dextrins?
Bocks are pretty sweet beers. What sort of decoction schedule is
used for the rich malty sweetness of a bock? Is it possible to
achieve this with a standard triple decoction, or must the rest at
about 150F be adjusted to a higher temp to get more dextrins?
For the decoction guys out there, thanks for the answers. For the
soon to decoct mashers out there, read Marc's FAQ, A.J. deLange's
list of pluses and minuses about decoction mashing, and any other
information you can, then make a decocted beer. It is not as
difficult as some would have you believe, and the effect on your beer
can be incredible. Do what I did, start with a single and progress
toward a triple, or you will feel like the one legged man in an ass
kicking contest - busy.
Cheers,
Tom Gaskell tgaskell@syr.lmco.com Hog Heaven Homebrewing Clayville, NY, USA
------------------------------
From: Jim Busch <busch@eosdev2.gsfc.nasa.gov>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 14:25:15 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: HSA/Cream Stout/Victory
George writes:
<In reality, pro brewers splash like mad as the grain flows into the
< mash tun at mash-in, and they don't care about it.
It depends on the brewery. Most older and traditional breweries were
designed with little regard to HSA. In many of these there is a
considerable degree of oxidation of the mash and wort going on. Most
modern brewhouses, and even micro sized ones are now being designed
to minimize O2 pickup. The brewmasters at Victory Brewing spent
several days with the engineers of Century Manufacturing to specifically
eliminate several areas that are traditionally high O2 pickup points.
While the dough in process can be an area of O2 pickup, I feel it
is not that critical, particularly if one does a lower temp dough
in, acid rest (104F), or protein rest (122-135). The rate of the
oxidation reactions are less of a problem at these temps. What
is of major concern is handling the mash, pumping from mash tun
to lauter tun, decocting and so forth. Since most of Victory's
beers are decocted this was a major issue to address. The other
area is in wort transfer, mostly from the lauter tun back into
the boiler. Victory has no open aired grant but uses a closed
pumping system which is based on a German design to minimize O2
pickup.
<Just try to keep
<aeration of the hot mash/wort to as little as reasonably possible, and
<you'll be fine.
Very sound advice, especially for the homebrewer. Many negative HSA
effects arise in warm shipment of lighter, more delicate beers.
Homebrewers tend to baby the beer compared with normal shipment in
the industry.
<A question just occurred to me: in Fix's book
<"Vienna/Marzen?Oktoberfest he states (sorry, no page # and I'm
<paraphrasing) that it is generally accepted that multiple additions of
<hop pellets do not make a difference in their contribution to the
<beer.
Maybe he was specifically referring to Festbiers. I wouldnt want
to hop a Festbier later than 30 minutes before knockout. In general
they do make a very wide difference but I feel less so with pellets
than with whole hops.
Bryan says:
<Or is there something more in line and accepted practice when one
<is brewin up a Cream Stout?
Use lactose.
<On another note, if anyboby gets over the Victory Brewing Company in
<Dowingtown PA, it is wort your visit. GREAT BREWS, Good Atmosphere (
<some of the waitresses need to lighten up abit though! :) ) Good pizza
<even. Good Job Jim!!:):):)
Wort your visit, I like that! Thanks!!! Seriously, its not me. Im
involved but not day to day. 99% of the credit is due to the very
accomplished brewmasters Ron Barchet (formerly of Old Dominion) and
Bill Covaleski (formerly of Baltimore Brewing). Both have extensive
experience with German brewing and both have studied brewing in
Germany. Despite Victory's emphasis on decoction mashed German
lagers made with German malts, the largest sellar is our American
IPA, HopDevil. Thats fine by me, its my every day beer! Will have to
work on that wait staff. Hope you enjoyed the summer Hellesbock at
7.4%!!!
Prost!
Jim Busch
--- ---
--- ---
--- ---
--- --- ICTORY BREWING CO.
----- Downingtown, Pa.
---
-
A Victory For Your Taste!
Victory Festbier, Brandywine Valley Lager, HopDevil IPA
Prima Pils, Milltown Mild, St. Victorious Doppelbock
St. Boisterous HellesBock, HefeWeizen
------------------------------
From: Rscholz@aol.com
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 14:32:10 -0400
Subject: re: indoor propane
brewsters,
motten@fcmc.com ([Michael Otten]) asks: indoor propane??
cburns@spider.lloyd.com (Charley) replies: I say go for it Mike.
I'm sorry to disagree,
All household uses of propane, leave the tank outside, and all housing codes
INSIST that all apliances be above ground level. (propane sinks in air).
If you, Mike, are setting up in your basement, for the cost of the propane
cylinder and a couple of refills, just have your plumber add a gas line over
to your brewing bench. ( I assume the heat & hot water are just behind you)
MUCH safer and up to code. If you know how to use gasline pipe dope,
you can do it yourself for the cost of the pipe and end fitting ( a lab type
valve)
hope this helps, NOBODY should use propane in the basement! Just a small
leak could pool in a depression and migrate over to the hot water heater
pilot.
Can you say BOOM !!! ;-)
richard scholz
bkyln ny
------------------------------
From: "Bridges, Scott" <bridgess@mmsmtp.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 96 14:39:00 PDT
Subject: Beer in MB, SC?
>From: MANCUSJM@sysadm.suny.edu
>Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 09:22 -0400 (EDT)
>Subject: Brewpubs
>
>I am heading to the Myrtle Beach, SC soon and would appreciate
>information about brewpubs or other decent establishments in the area.
>Jim Mancuso
>mancusjm@sysadm.suny.edu
Jim,
There are now 2 brewpubs in MB. The first is Liberty Stakehouse and
Brewery, located in Broadway At The Beach. This is an
entertainment/shopping complex off of Rt 17 bypass. I've been there once.
The beer is ok, but not great. They are making beer for the great unwashed
masses. It does nothing to dispel Michael Jackson's belief that only timid
beer is being brewed in the South. The other one is very new and I haven't
had the chance to make it over yet. It's called Wild Boar (or something
Boar). I believe that it's at Barefoot Landing in North MB. Other than
that, you're pretty much SOL. Good beer is mostly a foreign concept in the
area. There are quite a few bars, but I've not seen much in the way of a
focus on good beer. At most restaurants (your food choices are virtually
endless) the best you can hope for is a Sam Adams.
My parents live there. Any time I visit, I take my own. At least that way,
I know I where I can find a good beer :)
Scott
------------------------------
From: George_De_Piro@berlex.com (George De Piro)
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 14:56:16 -0700
Subject: RE: Cream Stout (Milk in stout)
Bryan ponders adding milk to his stout. I guess you could, and then
claim that "It makes a body good," but traditionally only milk sugar
(lactose) is added to the stout. Contrary to what I've read in one of
Jackson's books, lactose is not fermentable by brewer's yeast. It
therefore adds sweetness to the beer.
It can be added to taste at packaging time in the same way you add
priming sugar. Add it before the priming sugar if you're doing it to
taste, or else the sweetness of the priming sugar will confound you.
Mackeson is a wonderful commercial example of milk stout. Just be
sure to warn your friends about the lactose in the beer: strict
vegetarians and people who are lactose intolerant (a relatively common
condition) will appreciate it!
Lactose is available at some homebrew shops for ~$3.50/lb.
George De Piro (Nyack, NY)
------------------------------
From: Schwab_Bryan@CCMAIL.ncsc.navy.mil
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 96 14:03:37 CDT
Subject: Cream Stout2
Greetings, just a couple issues which I need to clarify to those of
you out there in Beerland. Yesterdays post where I mentioned the
waitresses at Victory Brewing.... It was ment to be taken as a joke
for Jim. I am sorry if anyone has taken me and my comment serious.
The staff there at Victory was curtious and friendly towards me and my
traveling partner during my visit there. I, if anyone was abit out of
line and have made all of the appropriate explanations to Jim.
Secondly, as you could tell by my post there were alot of missing
words and misspelled words in the post. Reason to worry about the
Defense Buget being cut, my Proof reader lost her job already! Uncle
Sugar's Canoe Club hasn't replaced her yet, and here at Club Fed we
haven't figured out if proof reading is in our job descriptions yet!
:)
Bryan
------------------------------
From: korz@pubs.ih.lucent.com
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 96 15:09:02 CDT
Subject: Wedding beer/Blind spots/Blue Whale Ale/decoction/gelatin/Rager vs. hoptech
Bill writes:
>I'm busily brewing several batches of beer for a wedding (mine), and I got
>to second guessing the amount of beer needed for a large group of mixed
>company. The bride and groom are pushing 40 (I like to think I'm in my
>'Brewing' prime...) and we are expecting about 175 at the reception.
Just a datapoint: I brought two 5-gallon cornys to my wedding reception
(one was a Pale Ale and the other a Cherry-Raspberry Ale). It was an
even mix of people and I was 31 at the time (if it makes a difference).
These were not the only beers served (the rest was swill, sorry). The
head table drank from my cooler which was under the table, but everyone
else drank either swill or the two homebrews. The Pale Ale ran out
after 2 hours and there were only a few pints of fruit beer left after
the 4 hour reception at which there were about 300 people. Note that
these were not self-serve, but there was a sign on the bar and people
had to ask for them.
***
Jim writes:
>Not to pick on Al, but here is a
>very good example of my point. He says he can't taste the acetic acid in
>Rodenbach. Well it is quite likely that some of the writers and historians of
>the past also had their own perceptual blind spots.
Jim, I am a pretty good beer judge IMO (BJCP Master). Part of being a good
beer judge is knowing one's own sensitivities and blind spots. I can assure
you that my sensitivity to acetic acid is par with other judges with whom
I've judged (both in competition and at tastings). Besides a Dr. Beer session
the best way to find out your level of sensitivity to judge beers with others
and compare notes. I've done this know that my sensitivity to sourness (taste
- -- on the tongue) is slightly less than most judges (or perhaps just that
my consumption of large quanitities of traditional Lambieks has stretched my
scale a little more than most judges) but that my other sensitivities are
average compared to other judges.
Furthermore, neither you nor I nor anyone else can differentiate acetic
acid from lactic acid by *taste*. I said that I did not sense any vinegary
character (aroma, actually) in Rodenbach. Your taste buds will only tell
you that "this liquid is sour" -- it's your nose that will tell you that
it is lactic, acetic or a combination of the two. I simply cannot recall
a Rodenbach or Rodenbach Grand Cru that was noticeably acetic. I do recall
one Rodenbach I tasted at the Evanston 1st Liquors' tasting three years ago
that had an iron-like character -- like rust. Yuk!
***
Duffy writes (regarding the Blue Whale Ale recipe in Zymurgy):
>A. I calculated the IBU's to be in the neighborhood of 170 using both
>BrewWiz and by Papazian's formula in NCJOHB.
>B. Pale Ale/IPA stylistic guidelines for bitterness would be 30-70 IBU's
>max, according to Papazian and Miller. (Dave Miller, not the heart of the
>hops guys.)
>
>My questions are:
>1. Did I figure the IBU's right?
>2. If #1 is correct, will this be *way* overdone on the hops to the point
>of not being drinkable?
>3. Am I placing too much faith in stylistic guidelines? I know they are
>important when brewing to a style for entering in contests, but should they
>be used as a benchmark for evaluating a recipe before you brew?
I flagged this as a problem when I reviewed this recipe for Zymurgy. I
suggested that perhaps there was a typo or mistake on the recipe form.
Zymurgy called the brewer who confirmed the hop schedule.
Here's my take on the whole thing:
Yes, you figured the IBUs in the right range based on what you had for
formulas, but there are other factors that could have affected the actual
IBUs/bitterness in the beer:
1. perhaps the hops were old, stored in regular polyethylene bags and
were stale -- this will severely reduce their bittering potential,
2. perhaps they used whole hops which can have slightly less IBU contribution
than pellets, especially for the shorter boils,
3. perhaps they used hop bags -- my tests have shown that my initial guess
of 10% loss due to hop bags was about right,
4. perhaps they used blowoff -- my tests have shown that blowoff can cause
as much as a 17% loss on IBUs and none of the currently published formulas
account for it, and
5. as the hop rate goes up the utilization comes down -- i.e. if 1 ounce of
a hop adds 40 IBUs, 4 ounces will add less than the anticipated 160 IBUs
(I have yet to see any formula based upon *actual experiments* that accounts
for this factor).
So, if they used oldish whole hops, hop bags and blowoff, perhaps they really
got only 120 IBUs. I had an American Pale Ale at the Portland Conference
homebrewed by Thom Thomlinson and it had an estimated 135 IBUs. Delicious!
***
Mike writes:
> First, in discussing decoction mashing, Noonan writes that boiling
>the decoction "deoxygenates the mash", reducing hot side aeration. (page
>135) I had thought that boiling did nothing to reduce hot side
>aeration---if it did, why would aeration of the sparged wort be a problem,
>you could simply reduce it later in the boil. Am I missing the point here?
When you raise the temperature of a liquid, it hold less dissolved gasses.
Notice that he says "reduces." Actually, it doesn't reduce "hot side aeration"
per se, it reduces the dissolved oxygen which therefore reduces the amount
of oxidation that takes place during the mash, but this is just a matter of
semantics. In the end the bottom line is (as Charlie S. has written in the
past) that oxidation during the mash is a factor and that some breweries
deoxygenate their brewing water.
The oxidation continues to take place. You should try to avoid aerating
your liquor (water), your mash and your wort. If you aerate your sweet wort
while taking the runnings, yes you will boil later (which will boil out the
dissolved oxygen), but the 30 or 60 minutes of time that the wort spends with
a "lot" of dissolved oxygen in it is enough time to cause damage to your wort
which can carry over to your beer.
Also Mike writes:
>Noonan writes that gelatin is not
>effective *unless* the beer temperature is dropped below 50 degrees F
Not in my experience. I fined half of a split batch with gelatin at 70F
and there was considerable improvement in the settling of the yeast. Perhaps
it would have been even more effective at 50F or 40F, but it was not
ineffective as suggested by Noonan.
***
Mark writes:
>about a year now. one is jackie rager's formula, found in the zymurgy
>1990 special issue (i think), and the other method is from the hoptech
>catalog.
>
>the biggest difference in these two methods is the utilization factor, which
>rager states as 30% for a 60 minute boil; hoptech says 20%. gee, are they
>trying to get me to use more hops????
I tested Rager's formulas on MY system by sending beer made with them to
the Siebel Institute. For MY system (not unconventional, 10 gallon pot on
a 12,000 BTU kitchen stove) Rager's formulas worked if I used hop bags,
added 10% more hops (to compensate for the hop bags) and did not use the
blowoff method. The actual numbers are listed in my review of Using Hops
in Zymurgy about a year or 18 months ago. They are also in my Brewing
Techniques article on Blowoff.
The hoptech utilizations as well as the ones in Using Hops will make much
hoppier beer than expected (both based upon my experiments and on private
email with a highly esteemed HBD contributor who will remain nameless).
Al.
Al Korzonas, Palos Hills, IL
korzonas@lucent.com
Copyright 1996 Al Korzonas
------------------------------
From: "Allan Rubinoff" <allan_rubinoff@mathworks.com>
Date: 25 Jul 1996 16:03:15 -0400
Subject: acetic Rodenbach
In HBD #2122, Steve Stroud writes:
> From personal experience, I can report that the Boston area had bottles
> of Grand Cru some years ago that was acetic enough to clean your teeth
> off. The more recent vintages have been much more restrained.
This is interesting. I live in the Boston area, and I tried Rodenbach
only once, probably about 5-6 years ago. It was so acetic, it tasted
like pickles! Definitely not to my liking, so I've never been tempted
to try it since. Perhaps I should give it another chance.
Allan Rubinoff
rubinoff@mathworks.com
------------------------------
From: John Varady <vectorsy@netaxs.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 96 16:13:19 -0700
Subject: Re: Home Distillation Manual here
It's funny how people think the BATF cares about home distillation.
You know, it's also illegal to brew more then 100 gallons a year
for a single person household, 200 gallons for a multi-person
household.
So, how many of us can expect the BATF to come bustin' down the door?
Guilty,
John Varady
Boneyard Brewing Co.
Http://www.netaxs.com/people/vectorsys/index.html
------------------------------
From: korz@pubs.ih.lucent.com
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 96 15:27:22 CDT
Subject: Iodophor for fruit sanitation
Do you see any problems with using iodophor for sanitizing fruit?
I was thinking of a 15 min soak followed by a rinse in boiled/cooled
tapwater. Any problems you can think of? Primarily I'm thinking of
blueberries and raspberries because I've had trouble blanching these
(they fall apart when you dip frozen berries in boiling water for few
seconds -- I ended up having to put the blanching water right into the
secondary too).
Al.
------------------------------
From: paa3983@dpsc.dla.mil (Mike Spinelli)
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 96 16:46:01 edt
Subject: Aeration thanks
HBDers,
thanks to all those who've come forward to explain every aspect of aeration one
could imagine.
Now, armed with all this info., I'm leaning towards a pump of some kind. Quick
question:
Would an air compressor like one used for paint spraying do the same thing as
an
aquarium pump? It would seem to me that the air compressor would be a better
choice since the gas is compressed as opposed to just being pumped thru with an
aqua. pump.
Comments?
Mike
------------------------------
From: "Thomas K. Simacek" <c22tks@icdc.delcoelect.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 16:11:06 -0400 (CDT)
Subject: Wooden keg coating
> Many years ago, I purchased two wooden barrels from a local
> cooper for making beer. He informed me that beer barrels were
> always lined with a coating of paraffin (wax). I saw him do
> the coat as I was there when he finished assembling my two kegs.
> He coated all interior surfaces with melted wax and a torch
> before assembling the final end piece, then poured the
> flaming melted wax in through the bung to seal
> up the end and swished it around. I am sure there was an art to
> doing this just right, but he made it look simple. At the time
> he showed me charred barrels he made for people who liked to
> further age their whiskey.
>
> In previous articles I have seen refrence to "brewer's pitch" coating
> the kegs holding IPA for it's long journey to India. It was
> probably some type of pitch with the volatiles boiled out so
> the beer's flavor would not be contaminated. Or, perhaps this pitch
> was a contributing factor to the unique East Indian IPA flavor
> some are trying to re-capture? As paraffin is also a petroleum
> byproduct, could brewer's pitch and paraffin be the same coating?
>
> The life of these barrels was probably short-lived, as there was
> no liquid in contact with the wood to swell it up to maintain
> the hoop tension. Or, after use, the coating could be removed
> with boiling water and used in a conventional manner.
>
> This could be an interesting subject for a budding brewmaster's
> research paper.
>
I have read some article about that. Originally coopers used
wooden resins (pinewood??) or wax and burned them in barrels as described
above.
It was a procedure used for all (almost all) kegs and did increase the keg
life since wood rots when in contact with watter. It is the dry wood which
can last forever.
The wax (resins) and tannin from wood added distinguished taste to the beer.
Unfortunatelly this presented also major undoing for wooden barrels.
It is VERY hard to maintain consistency in the above procedure and resins
burned too much add a very bad taste to beer. The consistency of the coating
has been mentioned as the main reason why most breweries got rid of wooden
kegs. (They strive to get the same beer all the time.)
Tom Simacek
------------------------------
From: MadAntBrew@aol.com
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 19:00:57 -0400
Subject: Bulkhead for Gott coolers
Bryan Gros in HBD 2112 writes I'm suprised their is no commercial
alternative.....
Checkout "Hoptech" in Pleasanton CA 1-510-426-1450 http://www.hoptech.com
They offer a nice, screw into place, leak-free, bulkhead made from high temp
polypropylene. A little expensive at $10 but no "construction" involved.
------------------------------
From: "Gregory, Guy J." <GGRE461@eroerm1.ecy.wa.gov>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 96 13:53:00 PDT
Subject: Indoor Propane
Charley writes, by no means alone,
"I've been using propane to heat my house and cook my food in the kitchen
for 2 1/2 years with absolutely no problem (hasn't gon e "boom" yet).
Millions of people use it in
rural communities because its cheaper than electricity (by a long shot) and
natual gas just isn't available in places like where I live (on a mountain
side). I don't understand the paranoia here."
Look, guys, there's no paranoia. Propane is used as a fuel in zillions of
houses, yes. Propane is used in appliances every day. Yes. Propane is
wonderful stuff. Yes. I use it in my jet cooker on my back porch every time
I brew....like this weekend. (no affilliation, blah, blah, just a satisified
customer)....
Propane is also heavier than air. Propane presents challenges to the home
installer which are unique to the fuel and require reasonable care. I,
personally, would not use propane in a basement and rely on detectors for my
home and family's safety. Most (not all) propane installations I have seen
have some pathway for the gas to travel outside by going down.
Yes, CO is an issue with any combustible. For my money, with propane, it's
not the paramount one. A professional can help you design around the
issues. On boats, propane is seldom used, and only when it can be vented
overboard.
If you'll read the original post, I believe you'll note I referred the
original guy to a professional for his requested installation. I'll stand by
that advice.
Guy Gregory
GuyG4@aol.com
Lightning Ck. Brewing....Home of Flaming Turf Ale
------------------------------
From: Kelly Jones <kejones@ptdcs2.intel.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 17:34:53 -0700
Subject: Re: Wheeler on Porter
Al wrote, regarding Wheeler:
> He also hailed Guinness's blending-in soured
> beer as being a new revival while they have been doing it in their stouts
> for years. There were my greatest gripes and really the only parts of my
> post that were harsh.
But Wheeler didn't claim that at all. The quote was:
> The newly introduced Guinness "Harwood's Porter" breaks history on
> two grounds. Not only is it the first cask conditioned beer ever to be made
> at the Park Royal Brewery, but it is the only example of the new generation
> of porters that is a proper porter; a blend of mild and stale like old time
> porters used to be.
Wheeler said that the new porter is the only *PORTER* which uses blended-in
soured beer. He clearly was not saying this was the first soured *BEER* put
out by Guinness, nor was he talking about their stout. It sounds much more
reasonable when properly quoted. What's the gripe?
Kelly
------------------------------
From: David Root <droot@cris.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 20:10:37 -0700
Subject: 5 Liter Kegs
I've been using 5L kegs for over one year and have had some
problems. Some swelled the tops and one split a seam on the bottom
and leaked out all the dunkel in my basment. My homebrew supply shop
Niagara Tradition <disclaimer> recomended 3 tsp corn sugar. I have
had NO problems since. The first two or three glasses come out on
their own and need a Co2 cartridge after that. I have had the whole
keg empty without using Co2 when I primed as if I were going to
bottle. When this happens the beer never settles down and is cloudy.
Just my .02
Droot@concentric.net David Root Lockport NY
------------------------------
From: shawn@aob.org (Shawn Steele)
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 18:59:07 -0600
Subject: Re: Home Distillation Manual here
> It's funny how people think the BATF cares about home distillation.
> You know, it's also illegal to brew more then 100 gallons a year
> for a single person household, 200 gallons for a multi-person
> household.
> So, how many of us can expect the BATF to come bustin' down the door?
Actually 13 states don't even allow homebrewing, and another 7 are
questionable. They still have homebrew clubs & shops though ;) Check
out http://www.aob.org/aob/legal/legal.html
- - shawn
Webmaster@aob.org
------------------------------
From: Greg Thompson <gregt@visix.com>
Date: 25 Jul 1996 21:34:17 -0400
Subject: esters abound
i just bottled what was supposed to be a northwest style somewhat
bitter ale, and boy does it taste like a belgian. what the hell
happened? i used wyeast's 1098 british ale yeast, which i've used
before with great success, and it tastes like i used the 1214 belgian
abbey ale yeast, which i've also used with even greater success. has
anyone heard of wyeast mislabeling their packets?
anyway, the recipe was:
3.3# M&F light syrup
3# muntons plain amber dme
2# muntons plain light dme
1# crystal malt (20L)
1.5 oz northern brewer pellets (7%)
1 oz cascade pellets (4.4%)
.5 oz cascade pellets (5.4%)
Wyeast #1098 british ale yeast (i think, but it tastes more like 1214)
i mashed the crystal malt by holding it at 120F for 30min, 150F for 10
min, and 158F for 10min. boiled for 57min with the northern brewer,
tossed in the .5oz of 5.4% cascade and boiled for 3 more, then dumped
in the final ounce of cascade to do yummy stuff while the wort cooled
down. OG: 1.058. primary for 3 days, secondary for 9. FG: 1.014.
smells super banana-y. why? don't get me wrong, though, i certainly
plan to drink it...
- --
-greg listening to when Ann cries
and swears and kisses all
her lover's ex-lover's lips
-swervedriver
------------------------------
From: Jack Schmidling <arf@mc.net>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 22:20:41 -0700
Subject: Using an Insulated Cooler
In HBD 2112 "Bryan L. Gros" <grosbl@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu> wrote:
HH> I'm suprised Phil (TM) or no one has come up with a commercial
HH> solution the the hole in the cooler. There is certainly a market
HH> for something...
I don't know about those other folks but putting an EASYMASHER in an
insulated cooler is so simple that no entrepreneurial spirit is required.
All you need is a rubber stopper with a 3/8" bore. You poke the EM
into the stopper till it sticks out far enough to put a hose on it and
push the stopper into the hole on the cooler. Done!
We even make an EM for the purpose. It's just the tube and strainer
assembly. You supply the stopper.
I don't push it because I have never used it but we have a dealer on
the West Coast that sells hundreds of them that way and says it works
like a champ.
js
p.s. I agree with the comments on usenet and often wondered why the
HBD exists myself. The only thing I can conclude is that lots of folks
don't have access to usenet.
- --
Visit our WEB pages: http://dezines.com/@your.service/jsp/
------------------------------
End of Homebrew Digest #2125
****************************
