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HOMEBREW Digest #3060
HOMEBREW Digest #3060 Fri 18 June 1999
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Digest Janitor: janitor@hbd.org
Many thanks to the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers of
Livonia, Michigan for sponsoring the Homebrew Digest.
URL: http://www.oeonline.com
Contents:
Rusting Stainless (Jack Schmidling)
Re: Heather ale (Rod Prather)
Walk-in coolers (Harlan Bauer)
re: adult lemonade (John_E_Schnupp)
Warm summer ferments (David Lamotte)
Clinitest: progress report (Louis Bonham)
Thanks Everyone!!! ("Eric R. Theiner")
Blow-Off tubing vs. S-Shaped Airlock (todd.m.morris)
Summer and Ommegang yeast (Frank Tutzauer)
Melomel Question; HBD 06/15/1999 ("Dennis Waltman")
heather ale. ("Rob")
Heather Ale (hal)
* Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy!
* 2000 MCAB Qualifier: Buzz-Off! Competition 6/26/99
* (http://www.voicenet.com/~rpmattie/buzzoff)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 21:36:19 -0700
From: Jack Schmidling <arf@mc.net>
Subject: Rusting Stainless
My daughter and her husband surprised me with a new mailbox for
Christmas. It's made from a Pabst 1/4 bbl stainless keg. It really
looks cool.
Problem is, we finally got round to installing it and after the first
rain, it was streaked with rust. It just kept getting worse so I
steel wooled (ss) it with turpentine and then gave it a coat of
spar varnish.
I am well aware that all ss is not equal but I did not know it could
rust. It's not just the keg but even the Hoff-Stevens hardware,
which is used as a door pull is rusting.
About all I can tell is that it is non-magnetic. Anybody know what
is going on here?
js
- --
Visit our web site: http://user.mc.net/arf
ASTROPHOTO OF THE WEEK: http://user.mc.net/arf/weekly.htm
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 23:59:14 -0500
From: Rod Prather <rodpr@iquest.net>
Subject: Re: Heather ale
Jeff Renner said with reference to Eric Fouch's Heather Ale.
> I note that this is an unhopped ale. The only heather ale I have tried,
> Fraoch Heather Ale from Scotland and imported here, contains, according to
> _The Real Ale Almanac_, "Scotch pale ale malt, wheat (5%), caramalt(3%),
> flowering heather, root ginger, sweet gale. 19 units of color [note, EBC,
> ~9L]. Brewers Gold whole hops. 22-24 units of bitterness."
>
Although this might be a modern offering of heather ale, hops are not
indiginous to Scotland. Broom heather, sweet gale, rowan and spruce were
used as local bitterings for ales. A more historic heather ale would not
contain hops though it might help with the flavour and longevity of your
ales. I guess a good question would be how to calculate the comparative
bitterness of these substitutes.
It has also been noted in the past that sweet gale, or myrica, may be a
problem for pregnant women. You might want to consider this when using it
in brewing.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 00:37:18 -0500
From: Harlan Bauer <blacksab@midwest.net>
Subject: Walk-in coolers
Commercial walkins can be had for a song at auction. Spend your money on
a refrigeration contractor who can disconnect any freon lines, and then
can then make the thing work again after you've dissassembled it from
the bar/restaurant and reassembled it in your basement. You'll walk away
in the end having spent less money with a much finer result.
Just a thought...
Harlan.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 05:27:46 -0700
From: John_E_Schnupp@amat.com
Subject: re: adult lemonade
>My initial thoughts on this years first try is to go
>with 1.5 lbs of lactose but am unsure of how much sweeter this will be.
Just make sure you don't serve your lemonade to someone with
a lactose intolerance without telling them. They probably wouldn't
expect to have problems from "lemonade"
John Schnupp, N3CNL
Dirty Laundry Brewery
Colchester, VT
95 XLH 1200
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 22:55:45 +1000
From: David Lamotte <lamotted@ozemail.com.au>
Subject: Warm summer ferments
Randy Ricchi in HBD 3059 relates a positive experience in using Australian
Ale yeast from Yeast Culture Kit Co at 78 degrees F.
While I can't find this particular strain in their current on-line
catalogue (http://oeonline.com/~pbabcock/yckco/yckcotbl.html) I seem to
recall that this yeast is the same as that used by Coopers in their
Sparkling Ale (which is different from the dry yeast packaged with their
kits).
I am pleased to hear that Randy obtained good results as the Coopers Yeast
do seem to perform well at higher temps, however 20-22 deg C (68-7?) would
normal be considered the optimum temperature. I have just come through the
ozzie summer using this yeast (cultured from a bottle of Sparkling Ale) at
these sorts of temperatures.
One warning though, I unfortunately experienced bad autolysis with a number
of batches from leaving them in primary for 2 weeks at these sorts of
temperatures. With adequate pitching rates, a 1050 ale should be down to
1015 or so and clearing within 3 - 4 days.
The different brands of liquid Australian Ale Cultures do seem to be the
Coopers Sparkling Ale yeast but I would not recommend any brands of dry
yeasts.
David Lamotte
Brewing Down Under in Newcastle N.S.W Australia
(A long away from Adelaide snif... snif..)
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 08:10:35 -0500
From: Louis Bonham <lkbonham@hypercon.com>
Subject: Clinitest: progress report
Hi folks:
Jim Benson notes the endorsement of Clinitest by Seibel guru Joe Powers, and
wonders why there've been no comments made on it in light of the old HBD
Clinitest Wars. Other folks have written me privately wondering about the
status of the offline experimental evaluations of Clinitest. Perhaps it's time
for an update to the HBD on our progress . . .
After a lot of fits and starts, and untold amounts of offline wrangling and
discussions, the participants have agreed to a protocol for testing Clinitest
experimentally. HBD regular and professional food science researcher Dr. Tom
Herlache (University of Wisconsin-Madison) has reviewed the proposed protocol
and has indicated that he will conduct some of these experiments, and he may in
fact even be able to get some sophisticated ogliosaccharide assays run on some
of his test worts/beers. Indeed, Tom informs me that using reducing sugar
measurements (which is what Clinitest does) as a test for determining whether a
ferment is finished is actually a fairly hot topic of discussion amongst
MBAA/ASBC types. (If you are interested in running one of the test minimashes,
drop me a line and I'll forward you the protocol for the experiment. Be warned:
it's a very thorough experiment that requires a fair amount of careful data
collection. We want to do this right.)
Additionally, I have run Clinitest assays on about 15 beers that were made as
part of a parallel yeast test by Randy Veasey and Phil Endacott (i.e., same wort
[OG: 1.044], different yeasts). FG's on the various beers ranged from 1.007 to
1.012. The Clinitest levels of these beers ranged from slightly below 0.25% to
slightly above 0.5%, and the Clinitest results correlated very nicely with
attenuation levels.
I have also run numerous Clinitest assays on one of my barleywines (100% pale
malt, 90 min. mash at 152F; OG: 1.110, SG (at 6 months) 1.026). Clinitest level
has consistently been slightly below 0.5%.
I've also run Clinitest assays on various commercial beers (so far, all have
used ale yeast). Results have been ranging from 0.25% to 0.5%. I'll be
checking lagers soon; given lager yeast's ability to ferment melibiose (an
ability ale yeast lacks), I suspect the Clinitest levels for lagers might be
lower . . . . but we'll see .. . .
Thus, while we have a lot more to do in terms of additional experimentation and
"bug swatting" various issues that have been raised as to the validity of some
of the data collected so far, my personal take on things right now is:
(1) Clinitest is *extremely* easy to use. Dave is unquestionably right about
this. I daresay it's quicker and easier to use than a hydrometer, and takes a
lot less beer (5 drops). (I personally still prefer using a good refractometer
and a correction chart for quick gravity checks, though . . . )
(2) Clinitest is an excellent, easy-to-use, QA/QC test for the commercial
brewer who wants to monitor batch-to-batch consistency. E.g., if your house IPA
typically reads 0.5%, but suddenly batches start reading 0.25% or 1%, you know
something's up. (Credit where it is due -- Dr. Farnsworth and other authorities
have recommended using Clinitest in this fashion for years.)
(3) While the jury's still out -- way out -- my experience so far seems to
mirror that of Joe Powers. While some beers have read 0.25%, and a couple have
read slightly below this, most have read between 0.25% and 0.5%. We'll know a
lot more from the results of the experiments, though.
Bottom line at present: Regardless of whether the experiments ultimately confirm
or refute Dave's claim that most beers will finish below 0.25%, IMHO Clinitest
*is* worth checking out.
Louis K. Bonham
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 12:34:51 -0700
From: "Eric R. Theiner" <logic@skantech.com>
Subject: Thanks Everyone!!!
Rather than take forever replying, I wanted to express my heartfelt
thanks to everyone who made some suggestions on Seattle consumables. I
actually didn't have as much time as I thought I would, but I did make
it to the Pike Place brewery as well as Pyramid. The rest of my
adventures had to consist of one or two pints at the end of the day in
Gig Harbor (at the Tides), which still gave me a lot of opportunity to
expand my horizons.
So thanks again, ya'll!!!
Rick Theiner
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 12:53:40 -0500
From: todd.m.morris@ac.com
Subject: Blow-Off tubing vs. S-Shaped Airlock
I currently use a 6 Gallon carboy as my primary fermentor, and have always used
an S-shaped airlock to keep all the assorted nasties out of the fermenting wort.
Can anyone explain to me the advantages/disadvantages of using a blow-off tube
as opposed to my current method? I've seen it recommended several places, but
have yet figure out if one is better than the other.
Thanks,
-Todd
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 15:37:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: Frank Tutzauer <comfrank@acsu.buffalo.edu>
Subject: Summer and Ommegang yeast
Nathan suggests Ommegang's (sp?) yeast for summertime brewing, and Bob
reports that they filter and add bottling yeast. He's not sure if it's
the same or not. Anyone know for sure? A buddy and I have grabbed some
yeast from a bottle of Ommegang's Hennepin Belgian Style Ale, and we're
wondering what to expect. Anyone ever brewed with it before?
Thanks,
- --frank
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 21:51:02 -0400
From: "Dennis Waltman" <wakarimasen@mindspring.com>
Subject: Melomel Question; HBD 06/15/1999
Thomas Barnett had a Melomel question regarding the addition of fruit
(blueberries, apple juice, and peaches) to a nearly completed/completed mead
(using wyeast sweet mead yeast; 15 lbs of honey for a 5 gallon batch.
>The apple juice i used was made from 100% fresh apples, no
>preservatives, and the blueberries and peaches were fresh. Have >others had
similar problems? What is the best course of action? >Did i simply wait
too long, (1 month after pitching), to add the fruit and cider? Any
suggestions/comments would be appreciated.
I by no means am an expert, and there is a mead-digest out there just as
there is a homebrew digest. However I have had some experience with Meads.
I don't recall seeing a specific gravity report in your post, but I'd guess
it was in 1.100 to 1.110 range (depending on honey type).
First, I'm glad you got an explosive fermentation with Wyeast Sweet Mead
yeast, I have not been so lucky. It always seems to poop out on me (nice
technical term "poop out") much earlier than I had hoped (a1.050 gravity
from a 1.090 OG). So a first thought is, that the fermentation stopped
because the yeast couldn't handle the alcohol so far, or some other
condition in the mead. You may need to add a different yeast to get the
meads going again.
One the other hand, my readings have informed me that the acidity of meads
often grows stronger as the fermentation continues, until the acid level is
such that the yeast can barely function. It makes for long ferments at
times. Then you add fruit to your mead, all of which can add to the
acidity of your mead. You may need to lower the acidity of your mead and
I'm not sure I know enough to tell you how (I have heard of people adding
calcium carbonate to meads for this purpose, but I've never heard about or
tasted the final product.
My experience with Melomels, is that unlike beer, the fruit works best added
from the very beginning. The fruit juice/pulp provide nutrients the mead
yeasts crave and meads so very often lack.
I hope this helps a little
Dennis Waltman
Atlanta, GA
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 21:07:59 -0500
From: "Rob" <brewmasters@texasbrew.com>
Subject: heather ale.
Here is my recipe for the Heather Ale I made a couple of years ago. It calls
for Sweet Gale (Bog Myrtle) but I couldn't find any at the time.
2 row 9.lbs.
crystal 40 1lb
.75 oz Kent Goldings 6.2%
8 cups of dried heather flowers
120 degrees for 20 min
158 35 min
pitched with Edme dry yeast. (rocket fuel)
Rob
Brew Masters
426 Butternut
Abilene, TX 79602
1-915-677-1233
1-888-284-2039
savebig@texasbrew.com
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 21:32:43 -0600
From: hal <hwarrick@springnet1.com>
Subject: Heather Ale
I'm glad there is so much feed back on the Heather Ale . Being the time
of the year
it is I may try the batch with dried flowers and then next year with
fresh. My wife
and I have been enjoying this pasttime now for a couple years and enjoy
all the
rewards.
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #3060, 06/18/99
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