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HOMEBREW Digest #2206
This file received at Hops.Stanford.EDU 1996/09/26 PDT
Homebrew Digest Thursday, 26 September 1996 Number 2206
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Mike Donald, Digest Janitor-in-training
Thanks to Rob Gardner for making the digest happen!
Contents:
Bridgewater/WHC/pseudo-decoction/bulkhead fitting (korz@xnet.com)
Re: Blue Moon Pumpkin Beer (shane@cais.cais.com)
The World Beer Hunter (shane@cais.cais.com)
Cluster hops and first wort hopping (Jeff Renner)
Is it safe? (Dave_Barker@jabil.com)
Windsor Ale ((Nigel Townsend))
Oxygen Removal ("Robert L. Snyder")
re:RIMS heating alternative - no scorching ? ((Rick Calley))
Janitor In Training ((Shawn Steele))
Iodophor, Quat, Bleach, etc. (Clint Weathers)
Rocky Mountain Brewer of the Year - Update (KEITH_SCHWOLS@HP-Loveland-om10.om.hp.com)
[none] ()
Re: Spiced Beers / Water-Jet Purging / BananaRama Brew (Spencer W Thomas)
[none] ()
What the devil is 'spelt'? (Charles Capwell)
Whoops. . . (Charles Capwell)
Cascade grapefruit and addition time (Tim Fields)
DeWolf-Cosyns base malt (TMCASTLE@am.pnu.com)
Sparrowhawk Porter Gravity (John Penn)
Re: Quats (Joe Rolfe)
Malt sweetness (Dave Greenlee)
RE: Beck's Octoberfest ("Dennis Marshall")
High gravity fermentation (BRIAN F. THUMM)
Re: eliminate oxygen before bottling ((Jay Reeves))
Re:pale malts (Jeff Frane)
Ginger Wit ("Ed J. Basgall")
malt invaders!!!! ((Jeff Sturman))
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: korz@xnet.com
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 17:27:20 -0500
Subject: Bridgewater/WHC/pseudo-decoction/bulkhead fitting
>It is actually produced by Sheaf & Vine in Bridgewater, IL.
Actually, the PO Box is in Bridgeview, IL, but the phone is elsewhere.
(Trying to be as non-commercial as possible.)
***
I urge all World Homebrew Competition entrants who felt their beer was
misjudged to write to the Boston Beer Company and complain. Simply
boycotting without telling them why leaves them just as lost as they
are now.
***
Someone (sorry, lost the name in the ftp) wrote:
>Im planning a (simple) single decoction mash and thought Id run it by you
guys.
>Im going to divide the grain into a 60% pile and a 40% pile. Im using 2
<snip>
>Ill put the
>60% in 125 degree strike water in the mash tun. Itll settle to about 120 deg.
>Ill
>put the 40% in a boiler with strike water ranging from 155 to 165. Itll settle
>at 148
>to 158. First question: is this point similar to infusion mashes in that if
you
>achieve
>a settled temp of 148, the effect will be a drier beer; and if you shoot for a
>settled
>temp of 158, the effects will be a fuller beer?
Yes.
>I let the 40% sit for 15 minutes at
>target temp and then raise to a boil over a span of about 15 minutes. I boil
>for 15
>minutes. Then I combine this slowly into the 60% (still at 120 deg) until it
>reaches a
>new target temp ranging once again from 148 to 158. Same question: what should
>I shoot for?
Depends on whether you want more fermentable (150F or so) or more dextrinous
(158F or so).
>Once the taget temp is reached, any extra boiled mash I let cool to
>target temp
>before adding. I let this rest for 30 minutes (too much? too little?) in
>mash/lauter tun. <snip>
Sounds good, but the snag is that in a decoction mash, you leave all the
liquid part of the mash in the main mash (because the liquid contains the
enzymes). In your method, you are killing 40% of your enzymes. Perhaps
you could scoop the liquid part from the 40% mash and put it into the
main mash before raising the decoction (the 40% mash) up to the saccharifi-
cation rest.
***
Tom writes:
>I am attempting to design my new three tier brewery. I just obtained the
>1/2 kegs. Originally I had planned to simply drill a 1/2" hole and use
>washers, compression fittings and teflon tape to hold the ball valve in
>the bottom side of the kegs (instead of having them welded).
>
>My question are
> 1. Does anybody currently their drain valves connected to the
> keg in this fashion?
Yes. I have a couple like that.
> 2. Does the constant heat at such high temperatures affect the
> washers (i.e., do they melt)?
No, because they are stainless steel! Seriously, I have nothing but
metal in my home-made bulkhead fittings. SS T-fitting on the inside
and brass ball valve on the outside, joined by a SS nipple. I could
not crank down the two far enough to make a seal, so I stuck in four
SS washers. If I was to get a leak, I would probably put a teflon
washer on the inside (I believe that teflon is good to 500F).
I had considered a bulkhead fitting, but in SS, they wanted something
like $40!
Al.
Al Korzonas, Palos Hills, IL
korz@xnet.com
P.S. Sorry again about the bouncing email... as you can see, I've switched
to a private ISP account.
------------------------------
From: shane@cais.cais.com
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 18:46:57 -0400
Subject: Re: Blue Moon Pumpkin Beer
I'd like to say thanks to everybody who responded to my post about
the beer. Thank you. :)
------------------------------
From: shane@cais.cais.com
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 18:56:40 -0400
Subject: The World Beer Hunter
There is a CD-ROM called The World Beer Hunter. It was originally presented as
a
[series] special by the Discovery Channel. It's hosted
by "renowned" beer expert Michael Jackson as he intrduces you to 300
of the worlds finest beers on the planet. Price range between $25.00
- - $35.00, depending on where you buy it. It's publisher is Discovery Channel
Multimedia
------------------------------
From: Jeff Renner <nerenner@umich.edu>
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 96 19:20:06 -0400
Subject: Cluster hops and first wort hopping
In HBD 2205, Delano Dugarm <adugarm@worldbank.org> said
> I brewed "Your Father's Moustache" using Clusters for
> bittering, since I wanted that extra bit of
> authenticity. The beer did have a black-current sort of
> flavor, but I do not think that this was a negative.
This "black currant" flavor realy interests me. In my last "Father's
Moustache," I decided to first wort hop with Cluster, just to see what
happened. I got black currants too, big time, in flavor and aroma! I
even wrote to Glenn Tinseth to see if he had any experience with this,
since I have seen some hops described as having that flavor, although
not Cluster. Glenn had no insight, but this confirms it.
I find the flavor distracting, although not unpleasant. I have never
experienced it using Cluster for a normal boil. It does re-emphasize
the efficacy of first wort hopping. Next time, though, I'll use noble
hops for first wort hopping and leave the Cluster for the boil.
I was going to post my experience when I tapped the beer several weeks
ago, but decided to wait until after a competition I was entering was
over, so as not to prejudice the judges. However, since Delano had a
similar experience, and he may enter his beer, then there may be two,
and no one will know whose is whose.
Jeff
------------------------------
From: Dave_Barker@jabil.com
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 17:15:13 -0400
Subject: Is it safe?
I made an apple cider about nine months ago. Originally I had planned
to bottle it after a 1 week primary/2 week secondary fermentation. But
things don't always go as planned. I used a couple of Campdon (sp)
tablets that I think were supposed to act as a preservative. The
question.... Could this stuff be dangerous (the cider I mean)?
Vid
------------------------------
From: nigelt@delm.tas.gov.au (Nigel Townsend)
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 10:52:48 +1000
Subject: Windsor Ale
This is a recipe for Windsor Ale from a household compendium dated 1883
which may interest some of you. Copied verbatim.
"Take 5 quarters of the best pale malt, half hundredweight hops, 8 ponds
honey,one pound coriander seed, half pound grains of paradise,half pound of
orange peel, two and a half ponds of ground liquorice root. The hops
should be of the best kind and soaked all night in cold liquor. Turn on
at 180 degrees, mash thoroughlyan hour and a quarter, and stand for one
hour. Boil one hour.
Turn on second liquor at 195 degrees and stand three quarters of an hour.
Boil 3 hours; tun (thats the spelling!) on third liquor at 165 degrees, and
mash three quarters an hour and stand the same. Pitch the tun at 60 degrees
and cleanse at 80 degrees, on the third day. Skim as soon as a close yeasty
head appears, until no yeast arises. Half a pound of hops per quarter
should be roused in, and the whole left to settle. Also rouse in 6 ounces
of salt, half a pound of finely sifted flour, six ounces of ground ginger,
and six ounces of ground carraway seeds."
Unfortunately the page which describes most of ordinary ale production is
missing. What remains describes the following for the production of a
table ale.
(presumably after mashing and sparging the ordinary ale) "After the beer or
ale has run from the grains, pour a hogshead and a half for the 12 bushels,
and a hogshead of water if 8 were brewed: mash, and let it stand, and then
boil etc.Use some of the hops for this table beer that was boiled for the
stong."
It also provides the following advice.
"When thunder or hot weather causes beer to turn sour, a teaspoon, or more
if required,of salt of wormwood put into the jug will rectify it"
There are some interesting additions used in this recipe, I wonder if it
would match a style nowadays. There is also an interesting recipe and
process for table beer which will follow if there is the interest.
Nigel Townsend, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
------------------------------
From: "Robert L. Snyder" <rsnyder@universaltech.net>
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 20:52:47 -0400
Subject: Oxygen Removal
In HBD 2204, Tom Krivec asks about removing oxygen from bottle necks before
capping.
I'm a relative newbie here, but I find that Papazian's method works fine.
Put the caps on the carefully-filled bottles and let them stand for 15 minutes
or so, then cap them tightly.
The rationale is that, having used some priming mechanism, corn sugar or Dry
Extract, the yeast should produce enough CO2 to drive out the air in the
headspace. Reasonable enough.
I would not venture a guess as to the effectiveness of this if you used fresh
wort.
Yes, I'm aware that this is NOT an awful lot of CO2, but I'd venture to opine
that it doesn't take a whole lot. Actually, I'd be more leery of air getting
in during the filling phase (bubbles, etc). The brewery you refer to may,
in fact, have a good idea that this beer will not be drunk for several months.
Staling may be held off by their process.
Bob
------------------------------
From: rcalley@pressenter.com (Rick Calley)
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 96 19:17:17
Subject: re:RIMS heating alternative - no scorching ?
>>>>>>>>>>
I plan on putting a 2000 W+ heating element in the
hot water vessel above the mash tun. Why not use
an immersion chiller (coil of copper tube) in the
hot water. Now all you have to do is pump the wort
through the INSIDE of the immersion chiller tube.
The wort will reach the temperature of the hot
water (122 F, 155F, 170 F etc.) and return to the
mash tun. <<<<<<<<<<
What you are describing is what I have done with
my system. I don't heat the water with an
electric element but rather with a "cajun cooker"
type burner. Works great.
>>>>>>>>>>
Also after mashing the water in the hot water
vessel is not wasted. When you need to mash out
at 170 F you would raise its temp from mash temp
(152 F) to 170 F while still recirculating the
wort through the copper tube. The wort will pick
up this heat and return to the mash tun at close
to 170 F. When mash out is complete. Use the 170
F water to sparge with. <<<<<<<<<<
Yup. That's exactly how it works. The only real
chance for a temperature overshoot is when
doughing in. That is if you're paying attention.
My system is manual control. If I undershoot the
temp at dough in, just raise it a little by
recircing through the coil for a little while.
I know that there are those that will hate this
but, here goes... Look at my web page.
http://www.pressenter.com/~rcalley/index.htm to
see my system in excruciating detail.
- -----------------------------------------------------------
Rick Calley -- rcalley@pressenter.com
http://www.pressenter.com/~rcalley/index.htm
- -----------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
From: shawn@aob.org (Shawn Steele)
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 19:16:39 -0600
Subject: Janitor In Training
Mike Donald will be monitoring the HBD traffic and doing the janitorial
tasks while the AOB looks for my replacement.
Thanks Mike for helping out!
- - shawn
Old Digest Janitor
------------------------------
From: Clint Weathers <clintw@echo.sound.net>
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 20:57:00 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Iodophor, Quat, Bleach, etc.
We use all 3 at the hotel I work at. (Im an apprentice chef) IMHO,
bleach is the only one I really trust. I can eyeball a dosage in a
gallon, dont need any funky test strips that we always run out of or the
dishdogs drop in the sinks.
Plus, even after having extensive education in foodservice sanitation and
college chemistry, I just understand how bleach works a lot better than
the others. Yes, I understand that I dont want to bleach the laquer off
the inside of my minikegs, and I dont, but aside from minikegs and dishes
at home, I dont use iodophor for anything, and I can get gallons of it
for free...Same for quat. We use quat as a sanitizer for the potsink
after the rinse, airdrying.
Anyhoo, for our workaday sanitizing bucket at the end of the line needs,
we use bleach at 50 ppm, just your average cap per gallon.
Merely the opinion of someone whos livelyhood depends on good sanitation...
| Clint Weathers | Clint's First Rules of Cooking: |
| ACF Apprentice | ------------------------------- |
| Embassy Suites KCI Airport | 1: Mise en place, mise en place, |
| Kansas City, MO | mise en place!! |
| clintw@echo.sound.net | More to come as I find them.... |
| Clint Weathers |
| Nano-brewer and Yeast Rancher |
| Kansas City, Missouri |
| Relax, Dont worry, Breed Yeast! |
------------------------------
From: KEITH_SCHWOLS@HP-Loveland-om10.om.hp.com
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 96 17:03:31 -0600
Subject: Rocky Mountain Brewer of the Year - Update
Item Subject: 1.txt "unix headers"
Could not convert BINARY FILE item to text.
Will attempt to 'shar' item as file '061185n' at end of msg.
.......................................................................
Here is the current leader board in the Rocky Mountain Homebrewer of
the Year competition. This update reflects the results of the 8
seconds of Froth and State Fair competitions. The next competition in
the series is the Unfermentables Homebrew Shootout (November 1st and
2nd).
More information about the RMBOTY award is available at URL:
http://www.lance.colostate.edu/~ks336514/rmboty.html
]<eith
Top Ten Brewers
Brewer Name Total Points Number Unique Club Affiliation
Winning Categories
Keith Schwols 29 6 Mash Tongues
Tony Demarse 12 4 Brewnion Colony
Paul Dey 9 3 High Plains Drafters
Roger Grow 8 3 The Tribe
Kevin Schultz 8 2 Deep Wort (?)
John Landreman 7 3 Deep Wort
Steve Dass 6 2 Deep Wort
Ron Kaufmann 6 1 Pueblo Club
Ron Funkhauser 6 2 No Club
Gary Irish 6 2 High Plains Drafters
Club points are computed by adding up all the points received by their
members.
Club Totals
Homebrew Club Total Points for Points for Average
Points 8 Seconds State Fair Per Brewer
Brewnion 13 13 (2) 0 6.5
Deep Wort 40 0 40 (14) 2.85
High Plains
Drafters 23 23 (4) 0 5.75
Hop, Barley
and the Ale'ers 5 5 (1) 0* 5.0
Keg Ran Out Club 0 0 0* 0
Mash Tongues 29 11 (1) 18 (1) 14.5
The Tribe 8 0 8 (1) 8.0
Unfermentables 16 0 16 (6)* 2.67
*Club Affilliation from the State Fair has not been verified, some of
the brewers credited with membership in the Unfermentables may in fact
be members of the "Hop, Barley..." or KROC clubs.
======================================================================
# This is a shell archive. Remove anything before this line,
# then unpack it by saving it in a file and typing "sh file".
#
# Wrapped by HP OpenMail System <openmail@hpbs4813> on Wed Sep 25 17:04:02 1996
#
# This archive contains:
# 061185n
#
# Error checking via wc(1) will be performed.
LANG=""; export LANG
PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:$PATH; export PATH
rm -f /tmp/uud$$
(echo "begin 666 /tmp/uud$$\n#;VL*n#6%@x\n \nend" | uudecode) >/dev/null 2>&1
if [ X"`cat /tmp/uud$$ 2>&1`" = Xok ]
then
unpacker=uudecode
else
echo Compiling unpacker for non-ascii files
pwd=`pwd`; cd /tmp
cat >unpack$$.c <<'EOF'
#include <stdio.h>
#define C (*p++ - ' ' & 077)
main()
{
int n;
char buf[128], *p, a,b;
scanf("begin %o ", &n);
gets(buf);
if (freopen(buf, "w", stdout) == NULL) {
perror(buf);
exit(1);
}
while (gets(p=buf) && (n=C)) {
while (n>0) {
a = C;
if (n-- > 0) putchar(a << 2 | (b=C) >> 4);
if (n-- > 0) putchar(b << 4 | (a=C) >> 2);
if (n-- > 0) putchar(a << 6 | C);
}
}
exit(0);
}
EOF
cc -o unpack$$ unpack$$.c
rm unpack$$.c
cd $pwd
unpacker=/tmp/unpack$$
fi
rm -f /tmp/uud$$
echo x - 061185n '[non-ascii]'
$unpacker <<'@eof'
begin 660 061185n
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X
end
@eof
set `wc -lwc <061185n`
if test $1$2$3 != 14100930
then
echo ERROR: wc results of 061185n are $* should be 14 100 930
fi
chmod 660 061185n
rm -f /tmp/unpack$$
exit 0
------------------------------
From:
Date:
Subject: [none]
------------------------------
From: Spencer W Thomas <spencer@engin.umich.edu>
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 02:07:06 -0400
Subject: Re: Spiced Beers / Water-Jet Purging / BananaRama Brew
Well, I have to brag.
A couple of years ago, I made a spiced strong Belgian ale. I made 3.5
gallons from the first runnings of a basic Belgian ale recipe (I don't
have the recipe handy, of course). Probably something like 90%
Pilsner malt and 10% CaraVienne, and 3/4lb of table sugar in the
boil. Hopping was relatively low (25IBUs?) with no finish hops. That
part of the recipe is not too important, anyway.
I spiced it with
1 gram freshly crushed cardamom (just the black seeds).
1 gram sweet gale.
2 ounces of dried Belgian sweet orange peel (i.e., bought in
Belgium, not grown there. :-)
All boiled for not more than 15 minutes.
OG about 1.070.
Fermented with LaChouffe yeast in the basement at winter temps (so
probably 60-65F). It took quite a while!
Bottled in *strong* bottles (Duvel, e.g.) with priming sugar at the
rate of 1c/5gal, aiming for a high carbonation level.
For the first 6 months it was undrinkable -- too much cardamom. At
almost 2 years of age, I served what was probably the last bottle to
Charlie Papazian. He said it was the best beer he'd had all evening
(earlier beers had included LaChouffe itself), and went on to talk
about how the best Belgian beers he'd had were made by homebrewers.
Needless to say, I was floating for the rest of the night.
(It also took first place Huge Ale at this year's Big & Huge competition.)
Words of wisdom: moderation and patience!
It's easy to add more spice next time if it's too light this time.
It's really hard to take any out if it's undrinkable.
If the spices are too strong, wait! They will mellow. This
definitely happened to mine.
Also, go really light on the cardamom!
=Spencer
------------------------------
From:
Date:
Subject: [none]
------------------------------
From: Charles Capwell <chas@A119018.sat1.as.crl.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 02:45:03 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: What the devil is 'spelt'?
Whilst looking around a chain supermarketish health/new age store(Whole
Foods) here in San Antonio, I spied something called 'Flaked Spelt'(right
next to the $.89/lb Flaked Barley) and I started wondering what the heck
'spelt' was and what kind of effects it might have as an adjunct. If anyone
knows I'd appreciate your sharing of knowledge. :>
- -Chas
------------------------------
From: Charles Capwell <chas@A119018.sat1.as.crl.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 02:49:22 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Whoops. . .
Sorry for the wasted BW, but forgot to include the proper reply-to
address on my last message, so here it is. :>
- -Chas (chas@crl.com)
"We now return you to your regularly scheduled digest, already in progress."
------------------------------
From: Tim Fields <74247.551@CompuServe.COM>
Date: 26 Sep 96 07:38:17 EDT
Subject: Cascade grapefruit and addition time
Does anyone have info about the relative contribution of flavor vs aroma
hop additions to the "grapefruit-like" flavor profile of cascade hops?
I'm wondering if I can reduce the "grapefruit effect" by adjusting the
amount of flavor vs aroma (primarily dry hopping) hop additions.
Reeb!
Tim Fields .. Fairfax, VA (74247.551@compuserve.com)
------------------------------
From: TMCASTLE@am.pnu.com
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 07:48:57 -0400
Subject: DeWolf-Cosyns base malt
Hey,
I've seen DeWolf-Cosyns Pale Ale Malt and Pils Malt in the catalogs.
Oh, Grain Gurus, what are the differences in these grains and what
are the different characteristics typically associated with each?
Also, I'd like to experiment with DeWolf-Cosyns Amber Malt (35L),
Aromatic Malt (22L), and Biscuit Malt (23L?) in no frills amber ales
(I KNOW IT'S NOT A STYLE) to discern the qualities of these
specialty malts first-hand. Any experience out there? Caveats?
Suggestions on percent of grain bill limits, that sort of thing?
Thanks,
Tom Castle in Kalamazoo, MI
The Zen of Homebrewing
http://www.netcom.com/~tmcastle
------------------------------
From: John Penn <john_penn@jhuapl.edu>
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 09:06:09 +0000
Subject: Sparrowhawk Porter Gravity
I've noticed a few errors in Papazians NJOHB book concerning gravity.
Noonan gives 1.034 OG/# of liquid and Pap gives 1.037 OG/#. Both give
1.045 OG/# of dry. I came out about 10% low in my first two Pap recipes
so I started using 1.034 and came out pretty close. Most of the
mistakes I noticed seemed to be the listing of liquid malt in place of
dry malt and vice versa based on the listed gravities. However, the
1.056 number for your Sparrowhawk Porter sounds about right. (6.6 *
1.034 / 5) + (1.045 / 5) = 1.054 plus 1 or 2 points for the Black Patent
should yield a lot higher than 1.042. Maybe you could check your
hydrometer?
John Penn
------------------------------
From: Joe Rolfe <onbc@shore.net>
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 09:17:09 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Quats
reffering to a request for info on quat ammonia as sanitizers:
there are some breweries that do use quats on tanks but from
talking to several brewmasters - they would require a rinse.
it really depends on what the product documentation indicates, use wise
it is real good for long term killing and fairly wide spectrum - so say
the info for the one i use. i do not use it on fermenters, floors only.
there are far better no rinse sanitizers, iodine-based, acid based and
even a newer clorine dioxide that is finding increased use.
the quats really does a good job on the floor, in heavy loads we apply
a liberal dose 2 times a week, and it makes the place smell real clean.
any way, that is my 2 cents worth.
joe
------------------------------
From: Dave Greenlee <daveg@mail.airmail.net>
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 08:29:10 -0500
Subject: Malt sweetness
I'd like to experiment with making a very low alcohol mild using as a
base Laaglander extract, but building the body and maltiness using a
specialty grain such as Belgian Aromatic, then hopping a bit heavier
than might be customary for a mild. I've not used Aromatic before and
I'm concerned that it will further increase the sweetness, in light of
the fact that comments in older HBD's suggest that Laaglander leaves the
brew pretty sweet by itself, due to its low (55% +/-, I understand)
attenuation.
Which of the various specialty malts are noted for adding character
without adding much sweetness?
Nazdrowie,
Dave
------------------------------
From: "Dennis Marshall" <marshall@ccom.net>
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 06:51:55 +0000
Subject: RE: Beck's Octoberfest
To help out Tom's Octoberfest contest I went out and tried a couple of
Octoberfest beers.
The two I tried were Sam Adams and Beck's
Beck's gets my vote
******************************
Dennis B. Marshall
The Brew House
Advanced Homebrewing Equipment
http://amsquare.com/brewhouse/
marshall@ccom.net
******************************
------------------------------
From: BRIAN F. THUMM <THUMMBF@GWSMTP.NU.COM>
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 10:24:11 -0400
Subject: High gravity fermentation
I usually brew beers with an O.G. of between 1.030 to 1.040 (30 to 40). After
pitching yeast, I will usually notice activity in my fermenter after 12-15
hours. Monday, I boiled up a wort with a gravity of 65. I cooled it to 70
degrees, and pitched an English brewery yeast ( I don't know the Wyeast number
- - my distributor covers up the Wyeast information with his own label, and puts
the Wyeast logo on his label). The yeast was also at room T of ~70. It took
near 30 hours for acticity in the fermentation lock. Do higher gravity worts
take longer for the yeast to transition from aerobic respiration to anaerobic
fermentation? Or was my yeast just sleepy?
Brian
------------------------------
From: jay@ro.com (Jay Reeves)
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 10:02:38 -0500
Subject: Re: eliminate oxygen before bottling
In HBD 2204, Tom Krivec <9535095@grz08u.unileoben.ac.at> ask:
>Do any of you have experiences with eliminating the oxygen before bottling
>and if yes, how do you do it ? (Buying an automatic filling station maybe
>could be a little bit too expensive ... :-) )
After your beer is finished fermenting, there should be a good deal
of CO2 still in solution. After you fill the bottle, place the cap on top,
but don't cap yet. Have your capper ready though. Take the handle-end of
a screwdriver and lightly tap the bottle a few times. This knocks the CO2 out
of solution, causing the resulting foam to fill the airspace, pushing
the oxygen out. When the cap starts to rise from the foam trying to get out,
cap it quickly!
You'll have to experiment with how hard you need to tap the bottle to get the
CO2 to nucleate. The colder beer will have more CO2 in suspension, therefore
you shouldn't have to tap the bottle very hard at all to do this. However
if it's at room temp, you may have to tap it quite hard.
Some may say "you'll weaken the bottles". Out of about 35 bottled batchs,
I've only had one break (not during bottling, but during conditioning) that
may be attributable to the tapping.
I've helped bottle at a local micro several times, and if the head space in
the bottle is not full of foam when it comes off of the filler, the brewmaster
is standing there using an open-end wrench to tap the bottles to get
them to foam -- not sure where you'd get that high-tech brewing tool he
uses ;^)
-Jay Reeves
Huntsville, Alabama, USA
------------------------------
From: Jeff Frane <jfrane@teleport.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 08:24:24 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re:pale malts
>From: "Curt Speaker" <speaker@safety-1.univsfty.psu.edu>
>Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 13:50:13 EST
>Subject: A ? on Pale Malts
>My real question is, how much difference (if any) is there in some of
>the base pale malts that we use? Is there a whole lot of difference
>between:
>
>Briesse, Harrington, Hugh Beard, Marris Otter and other pale malts???
>
Briess and Hugh Baird are brand names -- maltsters.
Harringtons, Klages, Marris Otter, etc. are barley strains. The first two
are North American and *generally* malted as very pale lager malts.
Marris Otter is an increasingly-rare British barley used for pale ale
malt. There are brewers, commercial and amateur, that consider
it the finest possible ale malt and well worth the additional price.
My personal experience has developed a preference for malts from
virtually any British, German or Belgian maltster, as well as Great
Western (now doing an ale malt), Gambrinus (likewise) and
Schreir (fine midwestern malts particularly suited to lagers).
I've never used Marris Otter, but the ale malt I've been using from
Gambrinus is a satisfactory (and less expensive) equivalent to
British ale malts in general. As many will tell you, the pilsner
malt (and caramel malts) from Belgium's DeWolf-Cosyns are
extraordinary, but there are other Belgian maltsters just as good.
>
Delano Dugarm wrote:
>
>Jeff Frane writes about his pre-prohibition American lager:
>
>" Bittering hops were Northern Brewer and the beer was finished
>with Mt Hood, 30 min. before end-boil. Renner's recipe is more
>authentic, with 6-row, but 2-row works very well. Neither of us,
>apparently, wanted to be really authentic, or we'd be using
>Clusters in the boil <yuk>."
>
> I don't think that Clusters really deserve their bad
>reputation. I won a great deal of 6-row malt and Cluster hops in
>a homebrew contest so I did a fair amount of experimentation with
>both. I quickly overcame the prejudices I had against them.
> In my opinion, Clusters are a good, clean bittering hop
>that keep very well. I brewed "Your Father's Moustache" using
>Clusters for bittering, since I wanted that extra bit of
>authenticity. The beer did have a black-current sort of flavor,
>but I do not think that this was a negative. Both Jeffs are
>correct: this is great beer. YMMV, of course.
>
Jeff Renner noted that his recipe actually called for Clusters;
I was wrong again, folks! My memory from his magazine
article was wrong, apparently.
At any rate, my own exposure to Clusters has been very negative;
the stuff smelled just like a dirty cat box (the source of that "catty"
description the British applied to American hops). Nice to know
you can brew good beer with them. They do have, as Delano
notes, a reputation as very good keepers.
- --Jeff Frane
------------------------------
From: "Ed J. Basgall" <edb@chem.psu.edu>
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 96 11:52:39 EDT
Subject: Ginger Wit
Hi Jeff,
Sorry that you got shat on by so, so judging.....
What a weird coincidence, I just bottled my first attempt at a Ginger Wit.
I know our recipes cannot be identical, but I used yeast from
a Blanche de Bruges White that I cultured and made a starter from.
I have but a couple of ?? What, in your opinion is a good amount of
ginger to add? and when?
I used 1.5 oz of fresh grated ginger added during the last 10 min of the boil.
This Summer I had a marvelous (IMHO) ginger beer called Caribe from Trinidad,
serious ginger. Not what I would expect from a Ginger Wit Belgian though.
Anyway, I used 5# Belgian Pils, 5# Malted Belgian Wheat, 1tsp gypsum, 3.5 gals
RO water,
12oz quick oats, mashed at 50C for an hour then added 1 gal boiling RO water
and decocted
1 gal heated to near boiling to raise to 70C for 8 hrs (went out mushrooming)
dropped to 60C.
Sparged with 78C RO water. I added 3.3# Mexican Brewmart hopped extract to the
boil
along with 1/2oz Styrtian Goldings (3%AA)and 1/2oz Hallertau
Hersbrucker(2.5%AA) pellets.
(Boil volume of 4.5 gals @ 1.095 spec grav)
Added 1-1/2 oz fresh grated ginger, 1/2oz ground coriander, fresh grated
valencia orange zest
from 3 small oranges. and 1tsp irish moss during last 10 minutes of boil.
1/2oz Saaz pellets(2.5%AA) finishing hops added to hot wort during cooling with
copper
water chilled coil. Pitched at 84C with 1 liter of starter. Aerated cool wort
and yeast for
10 min. with aquarium airstone and pump, bubbled first through hydrogen
peroxide. (Al, don't
blow a gasket). Kept ferment cool 18-21C with ice water bath surrounding
fermenter.
Bottled after 11 days fermentation. FG=1.106.
At bottling it tasted slightly sweet and dry but there doesn't seem to be
enough
ginger.... Opinions???
I'll send you one of mine if you send me one of yours....
Ed Basgall
SCUM
------------------------------
From: brewshop@coffey.com (Jeff Sturman)
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 10:38:23 -0600
Subject: malt invaders!!!!
E-man said after finding a mushroom in his grain:
<
Anyway, anybody else ever find a fungal specimen in their pre-grind?
>
I have never found a mushroom (I think), but I have found:
snails
beetles
rocks
other 'bugs'
several unidentifiables
I go through about 250 pounds of malt a month during brewing season in my
supply shop. I am constantly finding these damn things in the malt bags,
no matter where the malt came from. German malt, English malt, American
malt, Supplier X, Supplier Y, Supplier Z, they all have sent me bags of
malt with foreign specimens in it. The bugs, btw, are always dead and
dried up. I have never found anything alive in the malt. I used to call
and complain but I am now thoroughly convinced it just can't be avoided.
Some 'stuff' is always going to make it into the malt. When I receive malt
I immediately transfer it to HDPE buckets, at which time I carefully screen
it and remove most of the stuff. Occasionally a piece of stuff makes it
into the mill and the customer sees it. Usually I am able to calm their
fears but occasionally they freak out, and undoubtedly think it's my fault.
One of my fears is running a rock or some other hard object through the
mill and damaging the rollers, so I do a pretty thorough screening of the
malt upon receipt. Don't worry about it! Any other supply shop owners out
there having this same experience?
Now I gotta go pack for the GABF! Yaaaaahoooooo!!!!!!
jeff
casper, wy
------------------------------
End of Homebrew Digest #2206
****************************
