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HOMEBREW Digest #2150
This file received at Hops.Stanford.EDU 1996/08/19 PDT
Homebrew Digest Monday, 19 August 1996 Number 2150
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Shawn Steele, Digest Janitor
Thanks to Rob Gardner for making the digest happen!
Contents:
Botulism (Derek Lyons)
Re: Fruit beers (Derek Lyons)
Fruit Beer (Zurekbrau@aol.com)
The Jethro Gump Report (Rob Moline)
Narragansett Lager (Phil Slotter)
Re: Simple Recipe ("Palmer.John")
Cellulosic Projectiles (eric fouch)
Nestle's Tollhouse Porter ("Pat Babcock")
crud (NOKOMAREE@aol.com)
King Kooker: Jet Style Cooker vs. Radial Cooker ("Chuck and Grace Burkins")
Puffy malt extract (Wallinger)
sunlight (The Holders)
Coriolis ((A. J. deLange))
carbonation (liquori@ACC.FAU.EDU)
Male hops (Miguel de Salas)
ESB yeast in IPA? (Vincent A Voelz (Vincent A Voelz))
Def: carbonic maceration? (Vincent A Voelz (Vincent A Voelz))
New Las Vegas Brewpub (Ray Ownby)
colored carboys ("Goodale, Daniel CPT 4ID DISCOM")
Mr. Wizzard (AJN)
Re: water or grains first? (Don Trotter)
Smooth Stout Recipe? ("John Penn")
Greg Krehbiel, Heath `Q' Doane, and Mike Bernardoni - WELCOME (Dave Greenlee)
Brewery Visits (Pete Finlay)
Guiness Recipe (Bob Bessette/PicTel)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Derek Lyons <elde@hurricane.net>
Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 22:06:08 -0700
Subject: Botulism
At 10:46 AM 8/16/96 -0400, you wrote:
>Mark Tumarkin commented on the e-mail versus HBD for discussions of various
>topics:
>
>Richard Moore has a puffy bag o' malt. The manufacturer admitted a wild
>yeast had been packaged along with the goods. While boiling will kill the
>wild yeast, the question is, what damage (if any) has been done to the malt
>from yeast byproducts? Off-flavors from wild yeast may not be removed by
>boiling. And as has been discussed may times here, the chances that it's
>something more serious (like botulism) makes it hardly worth the effort.
>
Both the botulism toxin and bacteria will be well and truly destroyed by the
typical 1 hr boil.
I do agree that given the possibilities of off flavors, it's probably best
to ditch the bag.
------------------------------
From: Derek Lyons <elde@hurricane.net>
Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 22:06:10 -0700
Subject: Re: Fruit beers
>
>Then what he does is lightly press fruit in the bottom of the primary
>(reserving 1/3 for later), and prepare wort as usual. It gets poured over
>and allowed to steep and then brought down to target temp. When the
>whole thing has cooled to below 100 degrees, he adds pectic enzyme! This
>is the kicker. It breaks down the cellular structures, and heavy
>protageonous clusters left by the fruit. When he racks into the
>secondary, he adds in the last third of the fruit/fruit juice. This way
>he gets a robust taste of the fruit, combined with a fresh aroma.
>
I hope to heck he is not pouring hot wort into a glass carboy... *DANGEROUS*
------------------------------
From: Zurekbrau@aol.com
Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 21:05:56 -0400
Subject: Fruit Beer
Hello
Here is a post about fruit beers. I read in a book called the Brewer s
Companion by Randy Mosher that you could make fruit beer by priming with a
good quality fruit liqueur. I tried using this method. I made a wheat beer
base with 8 oz. of dried malto dextrin for residual sweetness. At bottling
time I added about a bottle of peach schnapps. I liked the way it tasted.
It could have used a little less peach flavor and a lot less carbonation. I
was wondering if anyone else tried making fruit beer this way and if there is
away to figure out how much liqueur is equal to one cup of corn sugar?
Thank you
Rich Zurek
Zurekbrau@aol.com
------------------------------
From: Rob Moline <brewer@kansas.net>
Date: Sat, 17 Aug 1996 02:11:33 -0500
Subject: The Jethro Gump Report
The Jethro Gump Report
The Little Apple Brewing Company, (at least the brewing side of the
company),...and the Jethro Gump School of Brewing...wish to announce the
birth of an assistant brewer...as yet un-named......seven pounds and one
ounce...at 12:17 am ..CST...8.16.96...for our Aussie mates, 16.8.96.....Mom
and brewer's assistant doing GREAT!!!
All I can say is ....by the time this boy is grown, he will know the
difference between mash temps and viscosity,.... How to Skydive and pack a
rig,...... Where the Hell Wilton Is (best DZ on the Planet)!!,.....The
difference between the Best Motorcycle in the World...(BMW)...and everything
else,......And then I've got his Mum to teach him music and languages....
I think I'll call him "Sparge Ball"...or "Mash-Tun"...or maybe even
"Porter,"...acidified, of course!!!... .-)
Hell, I'm so BLOODY happy...I'll name the
SOB..."Schmidling"...(proudly!)..or DARE I SAY IT ..."nokomaree".....
Doesn't matter what you call him...he will be his own bloke...no
matter what....As long as he know's the difference between 4 X and
Toohey's, what's the diff???
Cheers!
Jethro!
Cheers!
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: Phil Slotter <pslotter@ids.net>
Date: Sat, 17 Aug 1996 08:48:49 -0400
Subject: Narragansett Lager
Being from Rhode Island, a lot of people ask if I can make a beer that
resembles 'Gansett.
Being an outsider (only lived here 15 years) I have no real recollection
of the taste and have only tried it while here in the navy 25 years ago.
At that time it was just considered a "cheap" beer and it's finer points
went unappreciated until the micro revolution after the Cranston
brewery's demise.
There must be a few people out there that have a good idea of how this
fine lager was produced, and ask that they share the recipe and process.
HAppy Brewing
Phil Slotter
Flying Goat Dog Pico Brewery
------------------------------
From: "Palmer.John" <palmer@ssdgwy.mdc.com>
Date: 17 Aug 1996 07:36:09 U
Subject: Re: Simple Recipe
Mike asked for a Simple Recipe for a beer for a virgin brewer. I think most of
us here would say that your status as a virgin really will not make much
difference to a recipe, except perhaps that you might like it with less hops.
A Simple Recipe is hard to define too. A simple recipe for which style? Well, I
will assume you mean a common all-extract American Pale Ale. That would be
pretty easy:
Barebones Beer
6lbs of Pale Hopped Extract
1 packet of quality Dry Ale Yeast.
Now, If you want to add your own Hops, for better Hop Flavor,
6 lbs of Unhopped Pale Extract
1.5 oz of ex. Cascade, Hops half added at beginning and middle of the boil.
1 packet of quality dry ale yeast
But, lets say you want some sweetness, a bit more complexity,
4 lbs Unhopped Pale Extract
2 lbs of Unhopped Amber Extract
1.5 oz of ex. Cascade, Hops half added at beginning and middle of the boil.
1 packet of quality dry ale yeast
But maybe you like your beer darker than that (in spite of virginity) ;)
4 lbs Unhopped Pale Extract
1 lbs of Unhopped Amber Extract
1 lbs of Unhopped Dark Extract
1.5 oz of ex. Cascade, Hops half added at beginning and middle of the boil.
1 packet of quality dry ale yeast
Okay, I think you get the idea. There are a multitude of possibilities. Hit the
Yellow Pages for a Homebrew Supply Shop and talk to them. They probably have a
kit that includes all the above ingredients and instructions. For further
instructions on the Equipment and Processes, see my web page (or many of the
brewing www pages) for my file, How To Brew Your First Beer, it has helped many
a beginner over the past few years.
Have Fun,
John
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: eric fouch <S=eric_fouch%S=fouch%G=eric%DDA=ID=STC021+pefouch%Steelcase-Inc@mcimail.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Aug 96 09:54 EST
Subject: Cellulosic Projectiles
Date: Saturday, 17 August 1996 10:51am ET
To: STC012.HONLY@STC010.SNADS
From: Eric.Fouch@STC001
Subject: Cellulosic Projectiles
In-Reply-To: The letter of Friday, 16 August 1996 10:04pm ET
Imagine my confusion as I stood in my kitchen (actually my Wifes' kitchen) at
5:00a.m. with one of my twin daughters, who was asserting her desire for an
early morning breakfast, when I saw this large black-red puddle on the floor,
stretching from the counter to under the 'fridge. Was it a bad steak in a
defrosted freezer? Did one of the damn older kids hide some hamburger in the
cupboard? Did somebody get murdered in the kitchen? My God- is he still in
the house?
Then I spotted the source - on the wine rack, next to the dandelion wine, a
suspiciously empty bottled that first held some Chapeau Kriek Lambic, then
(briefly) some coffee porter. You know those lambic bottles that are corked
AND capped? Now I know why. OK, I'm DUMB DUMB DUMB. I knew why before,
but they must use metric caps in Belgium, 'cause my caps wouldn't fit. I
still should have 'rigged a wire.
After realizing what happened, and who was at fault, and hearing the other
twinLOUDLY expressing the feeling she's been left out, I tried three things at
thesame time: Clean up the mess as fast as I can and feed the twins before
my wife gets up and sees it, no feed the twins first to quiet them down, then
clean up... what was third thing? Oh S#$T! Where's the formula? Oh yeah,
ther're on whole milk! -- Too late, the wifes'up. RUN!!! No she'll only find
you. (Amazing how fast the mind works sometimes)
After about 45 minutes of scrubbing and mopping and squirting bleach down the
register, and searching for the cork (so she wouldn't realize how forcefull
the event had been, and lucky we were no one was in the kitchen) I thought I'd
use some bandwith to share my misfortune, and re-iterate: For Petes' sake,
WIRE THOSE CORKS ON. Like I should have. I've never had to dump a batch
(I'm not that good, I'm just that stubborn), but the loss I felt over that one
bottle was bad enough.
SEE ya
E-man
"If everybody was abnormal, nobody would be."
------------------------------
From: "Pat Babcock" <pbabcock@oeonline.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Aug 1996 12:02:38 +0500
Subject: Nestle's Tollhouse Porter
Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to your lager...
About a month ago, Rich Byrnes alluded to this creation and had some
requests for the recipe. I had some commercial plans for the recipe
(which I decided not to pursue. Think I'd rather be a homebrewer...),
so I had asked him NOT to share it.
After reading Don Trotter's treatise on recipe sharing (yes, Don. I
understand the vein in which you claim to have written it, but your
insistence that you'll not share recipes is... well, let's just say
that it's not in character with your claim.), and being a devoted
formulator of recipes, I decided to share this.
I apologize for those that requested it and had to wait for me to
come to my senses...
Nestle's Tollhouse Porter
Batch size: 20.0
Style: Robust Porter/Specialty
Date Gravity Plato
Brewing: 5/27/96 1.060 14.7
Racking: 5/30/96 1.027 6.9
Bottling: 6/27/96 1.027 6.7
Alcohol: 3.5% (w/w)
Alcohol: 4.4% (v/v)
Ingredients:
Pale 26.0 pounds
Black Patent 1.0 pounds
Chocolate 2.0 pounds
Crystal 80 4.0 pounds
Belgian Malted Wheat 1.0 pounds
Flaked Oats 2.0 pounds
Perle 2.0 ounces FWH 8.0 % AA leaf
Perle 2.0 ounces 60 min 8.0 % AA leaf
Styrian Goldings 4.0 ounces 60 min 2.5 % AA leaf
Willamette 8.0 ounces 15 min 2.5 % AA leaf
Nestle's Tollhouse
Baking Cocoa Powder 24.0 ounces (added 15 minutes prior to
knockout)
Irish Moss 1.0 ounce
Mash water amount: 52.4 quarts
Strike temperature: 109 'Fahrenheit
Sparge water amount: 82.4 quarts
Sparge water temp: 170 'Fahrenheit
Extraction efficiency: 96 %
Spargate collected: 27.2 gallons
Boil size: 27.2 Gallons
Mashing schedule
minutes Fahrenheit
15 104
5 inc to 140
15 140
5 inc to 158
45 158
5 inc to 170
15 170
Mashing comments
During and following mashout, and prior to transferring to the boil kettle,
remove a gallon at a time of the first runnings to a pot. Boil until
caramellized and return to the mash tun. Continue until 1/4 to 3/8 of
the final volume has been caramellized. (Five gallons in the 20
gallon case). Throw the first wort Perle into the boil kettle prior
to beginning the sparge.
Fermentation:
Wyeast British ale yeast from starter
Primary fermentation: 5 Gallon Carboys
Secondary Fermentation: 5 Gallon Carboys
Kegged and primed with: CO2
Fermentation schedule
days Fahrenheit
3 60
3 63
28 66 (You don't _need_ to leave it this long. I didn't get an
opportunity to rack before then...)
Fermentation comments
Batch will require rousing. Transfer to secondary will normally be
sufficient, but an occasional swirl after transfer will do no harm.
Transfer to secondary is HIGHLY recommended due to the incredible
amount of sediment from the chocolate powder dropping out of
suspension after the most vigorous fermentation has subsided. (Wait
until the kraeusen falls before racking.)
Sub 8.5 # LME, 7.5 DME for pale malt for extract/specialty grain
based (5 gallons). Scale everything else down accordingly. IBUs
should scale fairly linearly.
All sharing in the wort have raved!
Have at it, my friends! And may your ruin be beered! ;-)
See ya!
Pat Babcock in Canton, Michigan (Western Suburb of Detroit)
pbabcock@oeonline.com URL: http://oeonline.com/~pbabcock/
President, Brew-Master and Chief Taste-Tester
Drinkur Purdee pico Brewery
------------------------------
From: NOKOMAREE@aol.com
Date: Sat, 17 Aug 1996 16:35:02 -0400
Subject: crud
boy, somebody...........domenick venezia...in particular
.............has violated the internet.............he has downloaded hundreds
of the hbd to my mail box I think it is funny, but for those of you who
are bothered by this type of EXTREEM STUPIDITY...............PLEASE
tell him that he is a jerk.......why doesn't he have anything else to do
other than sending me messages..
------------------------------
From: "Chuck and Grace Burkins" <burkins@oa.net>
Date: Sat, 17 Aug 1996 21:48:18 -0400
Subject: King Kooker: Jet Style Cooker vs. Radial Cooker
Hi Folks. Whats your impression of the jet style King Kooker burners?
Has anyone doing all grain actually scorched some wort, or is that a
momism? I was sent the jet style in error, (miscommunication
actually) and I want to know if I should send it back. It's quite a
bit cheaper than the radial (ring) burner style cookers, and the
claim that it can boil 7.5 Gal in 15 min is quite impressive (and
tempting). My guess is that the radial style is more efficient and
gives better control. What do you all think. Private Email is
welcome, I'll summarize. Thanks
Chuck Burkins Protein Chemist, Homebrewer
burkins@oa.net
------------------------------
From: Wallinger <wawa@datasync.com>
Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 07:10:41 -0500
Subject: Puffy malt extract
Rich Moore wrote: "Just got a free 6# bag o' malt from my friendly HB=20
dealer. Only problem is that it's kinda puffy."=20
=20
Don Trotter wrote: "Dont put any more money into it. It'll probably =
make a beer that has=20
off flavors. I've tried it, and dumped the batch. As with all brewing=20
ingredients, they are all best when fresh."
=20
Wade writes - I've had this happen to malt extract twice, and both =
batches turned out fine. My advice would be to taste the extract and =
decide if it's worth using. Now, I wouldn't plan that batch that you =
intend to win the blue ribbon with, but for an everyday house beer, the =
pre-fermented malt extract may work just fine.
Wade Wallinger
Pascagoula Mississippi
http://www.datasync.com/~wawa
------------------------------
From: The Holders <zymie@sprynet.com>
Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 15:38:30 -0700
Subject: sunlight
As I watch my wort boil, I wonder what the effect of sunlight peeking
into my pot might be. I apologize in advance if this is the old
"sunlight in the wort thread" as I'm a fairly recent subscriber.
TIA,
Wayne Holder
Head of maintenance, engineering, brewing, sanitation:
Wayne's Ocean Avenue Brewery
"Where Avenue is spelled Boulevard"
------------------------------
From: ajdel@interramp.com (A. J. deLange)
Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 23:25:33 -0500
Subject: Coriolis
I don't think Coriolis is a major factor in brewing but neverhteless the
term refers to a "fictional force" which is one used to explain the
deflection of moving bodies in frames of reference which are rotating with
respect to inertial space. The usual illustration places a canoneer at the
center of a phonograph record (CD will do) which is rotating. He fires his
gun and follows the projectile. To an observer looking down on the record
the projectile moves in a straight line. The path over the surface of the
record as seen by the little guy) appears curved because the record rotates
as the projectile flies. The extension of this model to a gunner at the
north or south pole is obvious. At other lattitudes, it is not quite so
easy to see what is going on. The net effect is that there appears to be an
acceleration whose magnitude depends on the velocity of the moving particle
and the lattitude. Maximum at the poles and 0 at the equator. Yes vortices
swirl in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere where the force
is to the left of the velocity vector as opposed to the northern where the
force is to the right. The magnitude of the force is so small that a couple
of hyndred miles per hour is necessary to deflect the bubble in an aircraft
sextant to the point where a correction is needed (mid lattitudes).
A.J. deLange Numquam in dubio, saepe in errore!
ajdel@interramp.com
------------------------------
From: liquori@ACC.FAU.EDU
Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 19:33:09 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: carbonation
This is my third attempt at brewing, I have two disasters under my belt.
I brewed Papazian's Righteous Real Ale (an Ordinary Bitter). The OG was
1.045 and the SG at bottling was 1.009. It has been bottled for 5 days
now and, unable to wait any longer, I tried a couple. I know I should
wait at least a week, but... Well, it tastes great, but there's no
carbonation. I followed correct procedures for priming with corn sugar
(actually I put in too much -- 3/4 cup instead of the 1/2 for a bitter).
My other batches tasted horrific and had stuck fermentations and they
were extremely well carbonated in less than a week. I read somewhere that
high alcohol content (I guess this would be about 4.8 abv) may slow
carbonation down. I see yeast in each bottle so I know it's there. Do I
have to resort to dropping in a few grains of dry yeast to each bottle?
Someone please make me feel better by telling me that the seventh day is
magical!! Thanks in advance...Kevin
liquori@acc.fau.edu
------------------------------
From: Miguel de Salas <mm_de@postoffice.utas.edu.au>
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 12:32:29 -1000
Subject: Male hops
Randall wrote:
>Sounds to me like you're looking at burs. I could be wrong here, having
>never seen (and hoping never to see!- at least not near MY garden) male
>hops.
Why??? Do you only brew lagers? In the UK male plants are planted on
purpose, at the rate of 4-5 per acre, in order to assure seeded hops, for a
very good reason: Seeded hops grow a lot larger than unseeded hops. Here in
Australia all diploid hop varieties (all except Willamette, Mt Hood, and
other triploids) are seeded.
I brew mainly ales, and I am looking for a male plant to improve the
harvest. If you only brew lagers, then you may get objectionable flavours
from seeded hops, hence the practice in continental Europe of erradicating
all male hops, and in New Zealand and to a lesser extent in the US of
growing triploid (hence naturally seedless) hops.
Even here in Australia the overwhelming majority of beers brewed
with Pride of Ringwood (seeded) are lagers, and although they are not really
great beers by world standards (most of them), they have a nice, clean flavour.
So if you brew ales, you might actually consider growing a male plant :)
Cheers...
Miguel
------------------------------
From: Vincent A Voelz <voel0009@gold.tc.umn.edu> (Vincent A Voelz)
Date: Sun, 18 Aug 96 22:44:41 -0500
Subject: ESB yeast in IPA?
I'm considering using London ESB ale yeast (Wyeast #1968) in my next India
pale ale. Any disadvantages to this "highly flocculant" strain? Any
unique charactistics of the yeast that may conflict with the IPA style? I
plan to use oak chips in the secondary to achieve that "cask-conditioned"
taste.
TIA,
Vincent Voelz
------------------------------
From: Vincent A Voelz <voel0009@gold.tc.umn.edu> (Vincent A Voelz)
Date: Sun, 18 Aug 96 22:59:22 -0500
Subject: Def: carbonic maceration?
And, oh yeah, I almost forgot: does anyone know "carbonic maceration" is??
This may more a question for winemakers, so FMIA (forgive me in advance) if
you feel I'm wasting HBD bandwidth....
Vincent Voelz
------------------------------
From: Ray Ownby <rownby@televar.com>
Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 21:28:13 -0700
Subject: New Las Vegas Brewpub
I haven't seen this mentioned lately (but I am a bit behind on my Digest
reading), so forgive me if it has already been brought up. I was in Las
Vegas last weekend and we visited the new Monte Carlo casino. They have a
new brewpub there that has apparently only been open about 6 weeks. We
showed up on a Friday night the first time; the beer was good but the cheesy
lounge lizard piano players were clearly out of place for the crowd
(everyone was in the 20 to 40 age group). We left early because we couldn't
take it anymore. Since the beer was decent, we returned Sunday for lunch.
Luckily there was no entertainment then. The food was great, the quantities
huge. I actually left food on my plate when we left (yea, THAT happens a
lot!). Anyway, they have I think 5 kinds of beer; the requisite wheat,
which was decent, but much too mild for my tastes. The pale ale was really
good; I had several glasses of that. The red ale I only had a taste of, but
it was pretty good. They also served a stout and a Brewmaster special,
which I don't know what that was. Overall, everyone liked the place (with
the exception of the entertainment). Unfortunately I had drank too much the
first night and was rushed during the second visit (had to get a friend off
to the airport), so I can't give a better report. I would say if you're in
the area to give it a try, they're bound to get some of those little
problems worked out.
Ray
rownby@televar.com
Home Page:
http://www.televar.com/~rownby
- -Ray Ownby-
Moses Lake, WA
------------------------------
From: "Goodale, Daniel CPT 4ID DISCOM" <GoodaleD@HOOD-EMH3.ARMY.MIL>
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 00:09:00 -0500
Subject: colored carboys
At the risk of resurrecting the skunking beer thread,
I've been wondering why some savvy manufacturer
has not come out with dark brown glass carboy. I don't
think they would have to alter the manufacturing process
at all, just substitute brown glass stock for clear. I believe
that brown glass is cheaper anyway.
Many HBDs ago, I remember one person who ran
across some cobalt blue carboys. Now this is a brewing
vessel, aesthetic and practical. I think that pharmaceuticals
were originally stored in cobalt glass to cut down on
degradation due to long wave light.
How about simply painting a carboy black, or some
other designer color to match your decor. This may
cause some problems in cleaning as you won't be able
to see it as well.
1. Does anybody know where to go to get a funky colored
carboy?
2. Has anyone painted their carboy? What problems did
this cause?
Daniel Goodale (yes, that is my real name)
The Biohazard Brewing Company
I like to think of myself as a chemical super-freak.
------------------------------
From: AJN <neitzkea@frc.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 07:50:33 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Mr. Wizzard
Hope this isn't a waste of bandwidth, but I have seen a couple of "Mr.
Wizzard" shows on TV, that may be useful to homebrewers.
Experiment 1 was the creation of carbon-dioxide using vinegar and
baking-soda.
Experiment 2 was using red cabbage juice as a universal indicater.
For experiment 1, he used a fish aquarium with several lit candles at
various hights and had vineger on the bottom. As the baking-soda was
sprinkled on to the vineger, carbon-dioxide was produced and extinguished
the candles all the way to the top.
So if you want to store hops in a jar loaded with carbon-dioxide, you
could "dunk" your jar into the tank.
For experiment 2, he used red cabbage juice to determine if a liguid
was a base or a acid. When mixed with grapefruit juice it turned
pinkish-red (acid) and when mixed with ammonia, it turned blue-green (base).
What was really interesting was the differance there was between tap
water and distilled water. The distilled water changed very very little,
where the tap water turned green.
I have not tried any of these experiments myself, just passing on what I
observed. YMMV.
------------------------------
From: Don Trotter <dtrotter@imtn.tpd.dsccc.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 09:04:54 -0500
Subject: Re: water or grains first?
>Julio Canseco writes:
>
>When doing an all grain mash; is there a reason to put the grains in first
>and then add hot water? any problems if I put the water in first? It is
>easier to measure the amount of hot water this way. TIA
Well, I've mashed in both ways. I like adding the water first, except
that it is a little more difficult, because my false bottom likes to
float up. So I've got to hold it down with a paddle while pouring in
the grain. This takes three hande, however, I've only got two, so it's
a little more effort.
don
------------------------------
From: "John Penn" <john_penn@spacemail.jhuapl.edu>
Date: 19 Aug 1996 10:09:48 -0400
Subject: Smooth Stout Recipe?
Subject: Time:9:54 AM
OFFICE MEMO Smooth Stout Recipe? Date:8/19/96
I want to make a fairly smooth stout?/brown ale? and was hoping for some
comments and suggestions on the following extract based recipe, private email
is fine.
5 Gallons:
8.33# M&F Light Extract Syrup
2 oz (1/2 cup) Roasted Barley
Bittering Hops 10HBU (2 gallon boil)
1oz Cascade Finishing Hops (2 mins)
Estimated OG ~1.057, Color ~10, Bitterness ~28-30 IBU
Thanks for any advice, comments, etc.
Johh Penn
------------------------------
From: Dave Greenlee <daveg@mail.airmail.net>
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 09:55:06 -0500
Subject: Greg Krehbiel, Heath `Q' Doane, and Mike Bernardoni - WELCOME
Dear Greg, Heath, and Mike,
Though I'm not much more than a newbie myself, please allow me to welcome
you to the HBD. You'll find a wealth of information here and folks eager
to give you help and advice.
Mike says:
>Hello, I am new to this list and homebrewing. Please bear with my
>ignorance.. Could someone please post a simple recipe for homebrew
>beer for the virgin beer maker??? Thanks Mike Bernardoni
There are several good sources for this kind of information on the net.
Let me suggest a couple; if you don't have web access, email me and I'll
grab these and email them to you. The first is the better of the two,
IMHO.
http://www.primenet.com/~johnj/Howtobrew.html
http://www.aob.org/aob/brew.html
Two things I would suggest: (i) the document from www.aob.org recommends
using hopped extract and (ii) both documents recommend using dry ale
yeast. While I suppose that there's nothing wrong with either of these
recommendations for your first batch, I'd very strongly recommend moving
to liquid yeast and unhopped extract either between your first and second
batch or just staring with them. You'll get a much better flavor (and
much more control) using hops on your own, rather than using the hopped
extracts. As for the liquid yeast, just buy a pack of Wyeast (their
American Ale Yeast #1056 is readily available and is forgiving on its
preferred temperature range) and follow the instructions on the packet.
You will soon want to begin making a yeast starter (see The Brewery,
mentioned below, for some good how-to articles), but for your first
batch, pitching your yeast straight out the pack will work fine.
Finally, avoid adding _any_ sugar to your brew, except for 3/4 cup of
corn sugar for priming just before bottling. You can later experiment
with sugars, mainly dark sugars like brown sugar and molasses, if you
like, but don't start that way. White sugar, whether corn, cane, or milk
- - does nothing but make your brew taste thinner and adds alcohol, cane
sugar can add a 'cidery' flavor if misused, especially in combination
with low yeast pitch rates, which is what you'll be doing until you begin
to use yeast starters.
After those introduction documents, you can either go buy a few books or
search out information on the net; I did both. The best beginner's books
available are, IMHO:
The Complete Handbook of Homebrewing by Dave Miller
The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian
Note that the title of the Miller book can be easily confused with some
of his other books; this is the one you want, not the others. Miller is
extremely detailed, technical, and opinionated; Papazian is simple,
friendly, and a bit oversimple. Both contain errors which some would
find critical, others would just blow off.
If you've not found it already, IMHO the single best site on the net for
homebrewing information is The Brewery. It's depth and width of
information is simply incredible. It's at:
http://alpha.rollanet.org/
The HBD archives are probably the second best source of information. By
ftp, they're at:
ftp://ftp.stanford.edu/pub/clubs/homebrew/beer/digests
and a search engine for them is available at:
http://nemesis.engin.umich.edu:8080/cgi-bin/dothread
The next best is harder to pick, but it's probably the Real Beer Page,
though it's not exclusively homebrewing, there's still plenty of
information there that will help you:
http://realbeer.com/rbp/rbp.html
Though both The Brewery and The Real Beer Page have link pages which will
eventually take you just about anywhere that brewing information exists,
I think that the SKOTRATS page is one of the more discerning lists. The
SKOTRATS site also has many other useful features you can check out. It
can be found at:
http://miso.wwa.com/~skotrat/
Finally, some other random homebrewing sites which I have found to be
useful:
http://www.orcalink.com/~curator/beerjump.htm
http://www.tezcat.com/~sstrong/madbrewers/links.html
http://realbeer.com/hops/
http://pekkel.uthscsa.edu/beer/brewpub/texas/dallas.html
http://206.159.0.13/cocks/
http://realbeer.com/spencer/
http://www.aa.net/~flip/beer/beer.html
http://members.aol.com/kennyeddy/index.html
http://oeonline.com/~pbabcock/brew.html
Another source similar to HBD are the newsgroups rec.crafts.brewing and
rec.food.drink.beer, especially the former.
Have fun!
Nazdrowie,
Dave
P.S. Greg, I'm not ignoring your questions, I just don't know the
answers. The solution to your temperature problem may not be a different
yeast (you should try liquid yeast anyway), but lowering your
temperature. The spare bathroom I use for a ferment room never gets
below 78-80F during the summer, but I just stand my fermenter in a pan of
water and drape a soaked towel around the fermenter, dangling it into the
water. Evaporation alone drops the brew temperature to about 70F; I
could drop it another 5-6 degrees I suspect if I put a fan on it (I'd use
a timer to keep it from drying out the towel); finally, if I wanted it
even cooler, I'd put a block of ice on top, frozen in a 1 gal milk jug
and wrapped with a towel or two to keep it from melting too fast. If I
was using a glass carboy (I use plastic buckets), I'd freeze a ring of
ice in a ring cake pan so it would stay on the top better. For other
suggestions, see the article 'Cool Summer Brewing' at:
http://byo.com/Back/summer.html
and Ken Schwartz's incredibly ingenious plans for a icebox cooler at:
http://members.aol.com/kennyeddy/index.html
already mentioned above.
------------------------------
From: Pete Finlay <pete@meads.demon.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 00:36:10 +0100
Subject: Brewery Visits
In message <9608181726.aa15374@bacchus.aob.org>, Homebrew@aob.org writes
>
>In message <9608160428.aa16550@bacchus.aob.org>, John Vardy of the
>Boneyard Brewing Co., writes
>>When I go to a festival or a brewpub I expect the person filling my
>>mug to know something about what they are filling it up with...
>
I think you have every right to expect knowledgable people on a brewery
tour.
Living in England, as I do, I am blessed with a multitude of breweries.
Early this month, I had a tour round the Guinness brewery at Park Royal
in London. The three hour tour was hosted by two ex-employees.
One had been involved in the brewing side of things for over 30 years,
and remembered when brewing was an artform, not a science. He remembers
manual steam valves, shoveling malt (they malted their own barley then),
The Day When The Malt Roaster Burnt Down (twice) etc...etc...
Interesting and entertaining though his talk was, the important thing
was he was also fully conversant with present day methods and could tell
me what strike temp. they used now (169 degrees F), what their mash temp
is (158 degrees F), and that they use 8% Black Malt, etc.
Going round a brewery with someone who knows what they are talking about
is not only nice, it is also essential!
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Pete Finlay. . . in England
<<I brew, therefore I am>>
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
------------------------------
From: Bob Bessette/PicTel
Date: 19 Aug 96 11:12:50 EDT
Subject: Guiness Recipe
Fellow HBDers,
I would like to brew a stout this Fall and would like an all-grain recipe
utilizing an infusion mash. I'm too lazy for step mashes. I love Guiness on
tap and would like anything slightly resembling Guiness. Would appreciate
private email to bbessett@pictel.com....
Cheers,
Bob Bessette
------------------------------
End of Homebrew Digest #2150
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