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HOMEBREW Digest #3413
HOMEBREW Digest #3413 Sat 26 August 2000
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:
picnic cooler lauter tuns ("Paddock Wood Brewing Supplies")
IBU readings and Color by Spec (Brad Miller)
Capt. Newbie! Ahoy... ("Paddock Wood Brewing Supplies")
spent grain as fertilizer/compost/mulch ("Paddock Wood Brewing Supplies")
coolers ("Joe O'Meara")
Hops Toxicity in Dogs ("Spar Hawk")
Great Taste Panorama ("Bruce Garner")
Notes from Charlie P. ("Paul Gatza")
Cooler Phalse Bottoms (Dan Listermann)
Re: Starboard Newbies (John Palmer)
Printing your own Beer Labels? (Thomas Jones)
Celis Tour Report (Jim Layton)
Taking a walk on the hotside ("Charlie Papazian")
I was blind but now I see ("Warren White")
Chloramine and Priscilla ("Paul Mahoney")
Alpha/Water/Alcohol ("A. J.")
Hop back ? ("Ed Olsen / Kathy Riley")
Papazian and Phil's Phloating Phalse Bottom (Anthony Parlati)
Hops and pH (Martin_Brungard)
Re: Brussles Beer, Falstaff (John_Doherty)
Iodophor tip, FMH question (Kurt Kiewel)
Re: Decoction (Rscholz)
re: Jethro's report on urea (Jeff McNally)
beer prices in Canada (Alan McKay)
secondary vs lagering & yeast recovery ("Perry Q. Mertz")
*
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 11:44:43 -0600
From: "Paddock Wood Brewing Supplies" <orders@paddockwood.com>
Subject: picnic cooler lauter tuns
Bill <rwfishbu@nospam.home.com> asks about picnic cooler lauter tuns, and is
worried about the height of the spigot.
Bill, when you start your lauter you will have a siphon that will neatly
drain your cooler, as long as your intake is at the bottom. The liquid will
easily be drawn up the two inch rise.
Commercial false bottoms drain from the bottom (Phil's, ABT), or you can
easily make a manifold out of copper pipe. Some folks have used perforated
aluminum pizza pans as a basis for a homemade false bottom: a 90 degree 3/8
plastic elbow and flex tubing and away you go.
There are diagrams of how to build a picnic cooler mash/lauter system
on-line at Brewing Techniques.
For picnic cooler mashtuns see John Palmers most excellent article:
http://brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue5.4/palmer.html
If you batch sparge then a perfectly even lauter is not very important, all
you need is some method of keeping the grain out of your run-off tube. The
repeated rinse and stir and recirculation will ensure even extraction.
hope this was helpful,
Stephen Ross
______________________________________________
Paddock Wood Brewing Supplies, Saskatoon, SK
orders@paddockwood.com www.paddockwood.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 10:54:00 -0800
From: Brad Miller <millerb@targen.com>
Subject: IBU readings and Color by Spec
>
> "patrick finerty jr." <zinc@finerty.net> writes
>
>hi folks,
>
>i've read that HPLC and/or spectrophotometry are accepted methods for
>determining the amount of alpha acids in beer. spec measurements are
>apparently made on toluene/MeOH extracted beer. what wavelength is
>standard for the procedure? also, what is generally used for a
>standard for these measurements? i assume such standards can be
>purchased or at least the components purchased so that i could make
>them myself. no doubt test runs using commercial brews with known IBU
>levels would be useful.
>
>while HPLC is certainly more rigorous, i'm really not into spending
>the time on our HPLC to do this. i'm also not willing to risk our
>columns by pumping my beer or extracts thereof through them.
>
>basically what i'd like is an accepted protocol for measurement of
>alpha acid content by spectrophotometry as well as some idea about how
>to convert absorbance values to IBU values.
>
>cheers,
>
> Well HLPC would be like trying to drive a nail with TNT. A
>spec would be far better, it would be standard independent while
>HLPC would not. Hear's the protocol from ASBC:
>
>10ml cold beer + about 250microL octyl alcohol + 1mL 3N HCl + 20mL
>2,2,4trimethylpentane into a 50 mL conical tube. Shake for 15 min.
>Spin down and remove top clear phase. Prepare a blank with 20mL
>isooctane and about 250micro L octyl alcohol. Zero spec with blank
>at 275nm. Read sample at 275nm.
>Calculations: BU=A275*50
>
>*note: about 250microL is my estimate of the measurement given as
>"one drop". One drop in SI units=2 smigins=.5 scoches.
>
>
>Color Determination by spec:
>
>Degas beer (sonicate). Spin down sample (>500microL) in micro
>centrifuge to remove turbidity. Blank at 430nm with water. Measure
>sample in either a 1/2in or 10 mm cuvet.
>
>Calculations: SRM=10*(A430) in a 1/2 in cuvet for a 10mm: SRM=10*1.27*(A430)
>
>
>Hope that all this helps.
>
>Brad
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 12:05:55 -0600
From: "Paddock Wood Brewing Supplies" <orders@paddockwood.com>
Subject: Capt. Newbie! Ahoy...
>some of the 4ml bleach/litre water sanitizing solution I'd put in the
airlock was sucked in to the brew
Shouldn't be a problem, but it's a good reason to use vodka or a no-rinse
no-flavour sanitizer like StarSan in your airlock. I like to avoid Iodophor
or bleach solutions in the airlock for just this reason.
> 3.4kg/7.5lbs of hopped extract in 23 litres/6 gallons...whopping 1.062!
Should have been around 1.054, but extracts vary in their potential. Or you
could have had air bubbles on your hydrometer... either way, don't worry,
it will be fine, I'm sure...
>All I saw was a rolling black liquid, then a big-arsed white foam, then
more
rolling black
Sounds like a little road trip I took.. never mind... The rolling foam was
part of your hot break. At the end of the boil if you have it just gently
boiling, you will see proteins coagulating together like big fluffy clouds.
Irish moss can help them coagulate and precipitate. If you are boiling too
vigorously they will be broken up. When you chill you will get even more
precipitate, and it looks like a grayish gelatinous mass at the bottom of
your kettle.
>I'm not racking to a secondary for my first brew.
>Is it possible to safely bulk-prime a primary before bottling?
Yes, but it can be tricky with a dry yeast; they tend to not be as
flocculent IMO as highly flocculent liquid yeasts. You want to boil your
priming sugars (either DME or corn sugar) first, cool, then gently swirl
into the bucket whilst avoiding stirring up the yeast and trub at the
bottom. It's much easier to do this is secondary. FG only affects priming
if you are not letting the beer completely ferment. Let the beer finish. You
can take readings if you wish to be sure. No change in gravity for 3 days
usually indicates finished beer. Or you can just wait until you think
airlock activity has ceased, and wait 3 more days to be on the safe side.
Since you are adding sugars to your primary, you may wish to use a fining
agent like isinglass to help clarify the brew a few days before adding your
priming.
>Is dry yeast susceptible to contamination? I snipped the packets with
unsanitised scissors
On the list of possible contamination vectors this is pretty minor. Go and
sin no more.
> Is it safe to splash a little at this stage (it was pretty aggressive
stirring), or is it a no-no until it's cooled below 26oC/80oF?
Respect the wort. Treat it gently until it's cool. Then you can knock it
about all you like. I'd say below 76F.
> Can you brew smaller (say, 11.5 litre/2.5 gallon) batches just by halving
the recipe?
Yes. If you start majorly scaling recipes up or down, or changing the
gravity of the boil you have to make adjustments, but you can safely halve
and double most homebrew recipes with impunity.
hope this helps,
Stephen Ross
______________________________________________
Paddock Wood Brewing Supplies, Saskatoon, SK
orders@paddockwood.com www.paddockwood.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 12:11:13 -0600
From: "Paddock Wood Brewing Supplies" <orders@paddockwood.com>
Subject: spent grain as fertilizer/compost/mulch
EdgeAle@cs.com asks about using spent grain as fertilizer.
I see the Pat Babcock has been doing this with good results ...
I compost my spent grain, and the resulting compost makes great fertilizer,
but when I first dump the grain into the compost bin, in about 4 days it's
completely colonized by mold. I think this is what is the source of Pat's
awful smell. Well, not Pat's smell, but his spent grains'.
You wouldn't want to get mold on your damp grass. Grain makes great compost,
and compost is great for your lawn and garden. Dig it into your garden, or
top dress your lawn with about 1/4 inch well composted mulch.
hope this was useful,
Stephen Ross
______________________________________________
Paddock Wood Brewing Supplies, Saskatoon, SK
orders@paddockwood.com www.paddockwood.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 11:07:49 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Joe O'Meara" <drumthumper_2000@yahoo.com>
Subject: coolers
I built my mash/lauter tun out of an Igloo Wheelie --
Cool that cost me $15 dollars at K-Mart. No spigot,
so I was able to go through the bottom. Built a
manifold from CPVC pipe (plans are in Brew Ware,
you're welcome for the plug, Karl), and it works
great. I'd highly recommend Brew Ware to anyone who
doesn't have it, just for the plans for a motorized
malt mill that is in the back of the book.
Hope this helps,
=====
Joe O'Meara
Mad Dwarf Brewery (AKA my kitchen and coat closet)
ICQ # 60722006
http://homebrew.4mg.com
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 14:50:46 EDT
From: "Spar Hawk" <sparhawk911@hotmail.com>
Subject: Hops Toxicity in Dogs
Some Guy writes:
> What about spent hops?
> I feed them to the plants alongside the house, or I throw them out.
Haven't really looked at them in terms of the lawn or how long they take to
decompose. Sorry...
I have read several times in the HBD and various brew posting sites about
what to do with spent grains and hops. The grain, as far as I know is good
for composting, etc. Hops are TOXIC to dogs and other animals.
As a dog owner I have to pass this along.
This is a very interesting post. Size limitations prevent me from cut &
pasting it here.
Re: Hops Toxicity in Dogs: Cats, too ????
http://brewery.org/brewery/wwwboard/archives/2000-7-15/60631.shtml
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 14:16:14 -0500
From: "Bruce Garner" <bpgarner@mailbag.com>
Subject: Great Taste Panorama
This link is to a panoramic photo of August 12th's Great Taste of the
Midwest beer festival in Madison, Wisconsin. 5000 paid attendees visiting
nearly 100 breweries enjoyed perfect weather. Next year I hope we can make
an effort to have HBD members get together at the event. Be there the second
Saturday in August next year, August 11, 2001.
http://www.globaldialog.com/~steve/gt.jpg
The Great Taste is put on by the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild.
Bruce Garner
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 13:38:01 -0600
From: "Paul Gatza" <Paulg@aob.org>
Subject: Notes from Charlie P.
Hi everyone. I forwarded a couple of the posts related to hot-side aeration
to Charlie P. He offers up the following experience.
>I haven't been following the entire thread about hotside aeration and
homebrewing. But I must admit it is not and never has been a very big
concern for me. I continue to use the procedures outlined in my book and
make beer that seems excellent to me.
I have seen hotside aeration in some the most classic and famous breweries
in Belgium, England and the United States -- I'm sure the beers made by
these breweries I have seen with my own eyes are some of you very favorites.
There is no ill effect on the quality of their beers that I perceive.
In fact I've seen a lot of older breweries upgrade to newer equipment and
modern "wiser" technology and processes, only to lose the house quality
that made their beer so endearing and legendary. The modern approach has
resulted in these beers becoming a ghost of their former selves. Not
interesting to me any longer.
I go to many professional brewing conferences and I often despair that
modern wisdom is often taken so literally without consideration of
traditional flavors that we've come to appreciate. I don't think we are
looking for the ultimately cleanest and most stable of beers. If you are
then you are in the league of light lager brewers that sell and export their
beers.
I take the care of stabilizing my beer by keeping it in a cool place and
don't transport it around and don't vary temperatures. This goes sooooo
much farther in preserving the qualities of beer than extreme attention to
hot side aeration. I think.
Of course adding a pinch of cinnamon to my mash may be helping avoid hot
side aeration. Cinnamon is a strong antioxidant during the mashing process,
so I have been told by some very knowledgeable old time Dutch brewers.
Charlie Papazian
President
Association of Brewers VOICE: +1-303-447-0816 ext. 111
736 Pearl Street FAX: +1-303-447-2825
PO Box 1679 mailto:charlie@aob.org (e-mail)
Boulder, CO 80306-1679 http://www.beertown.org (web)
U.S.A.
Visited by 65,000 people every month Our web site home page is
http://www.beertown.org
Homebrewing http://www.beertown.org/AHA/homebrewing.htm
Great American Beer Festival is October 5-7 in Denver
http://www.beertown.org/GABF/gabf.htm<
Paul Gatza
Director
American Homebrewers Association
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 15:45:30 -0400
From: Dan Listermann <72723.1707@compuserve.com>
Subject: Cooler Phalse Bottoms
Bill F (rwfishbu@nospam.home.com) asked about converting a Gott cooler to a
lauter tun. Listermann Mfg. makes false bottoms for these coolers. They
are unusual in that they seal not on the sides of the cooler but the
bottom. An inverted dish design keeps the space under the bottom to a
minimum - about 5/8". The connection to the outside is an elbow that is
attached to the center on the bottom and is connected with a tube. The
bulkhead fitting is as simple as a #4 drilled stopper.
Check it out at listermann.com We are just now becomming E-tailers!!!
Dan Listermann
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 12:52:00 -0700
From: John Palmer <jjpalmer@gte.net>
Subject: Re: Starboard Newbies
Have you seen the movie Chicken Run yet? Absolutely hilarious!
Anyway, Matt apparently found my How to Brew online book very helpful and I
am really, really gratified to hear it. Glad I can help!
Here are some comments on your first batch:
1. The foam that forms on the surface of the boil is not the hot break per
se. The proteins that precipitate as the hot break are responsible for the
foaming though. And hot break is the egg drop soup stuff whirling around in
the wort during the boil. Cold break looks the same - just floaty specks
You don't notice the cold break forming during chilling, just that the wort
gets cloudier.
2. Sucking the airlock sanitizer into the fermenter is one of those things
that everybody does once. Or twice in my case. Not a big deal. You won't
taste that little bit of chlorine.
3. Based on 3.4 kg (7.5lbs) of extract at a nominal 36 pts/lb in 5 gallons,
I calculate 1.054 as the OG, but you may have had stronger extract or
boiled to less volume which could have raised your OG. With all your
shaking, I wouldn't expect a non homogeneity problem to be causing the high
OG, and your measurement method surely is not too blame. Unless your sample
was full of suspended break material. That will temporarily increase your
gravity.
4. Dry yeast packets are not really susceptible to contamination from
cutting them open. Don't be a wuss, use your teeth to tear that puppy open! ;-)
5. When cooling the wort, splashing should definitely be kept to a minimum.
And you are not trying to mix the wort, just keep it moving against the
walls of the pot for best heat transfer.
6. To bulk prime the primary fermenter:
a. Boil your priming solution to drive off the oxygen and sanitize it, and
let it cool.
b. Gently pour it into the fermenter.
c. Gently stir the solution into the beer. Stir slowly but thoroughly.
There should be very little agitation of the surface to reduce oxygen pickup.
d. Allow the trub to settle back down (half hour). Then bottle and cap.
7. Yes, you can make half-size batches, it just depends on what is
convenient for you. But since hop utilization is nonlinear, I would
recalculate any hop additions you make. Hmmm, I guess what I am actually
saying is No, you can't just cut the recipe in half. (But the difference in
amounts is small).
So, the answer is yes and no. ;-)
John
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 08:57:30 +1200
From: Thomas Jones <jonth957@student.otago.ac.nz>
Subject: Printing your own Beer Labels?
I'm trying to print my own labels (105mm by 74mm-- about 4 inches by 3
inches). To save me the trouble of designing one 'from scratch',does anyone
have a template for a label I could use, or suggest some other way I could
do this?
Cheers, Tom.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 16:16:21 -0700
From: Jim Layton <a0456830@rtxmail1.rsc.raytheon.com>
Subject: Celis Tour Report
I and nine fellow members of the North Texas Homebrewers visited the
Celis brewery last Saturday. As I'm sure most of you know, Miller
Brewing Co. now owns 100% of the Celis brewery.
The brewery tour was led by Lenzie Kinyon. I didn't ask him for his
official title, but Lenzie obviously knows his stuff. The answers he
provided to our questions indicated that he has a thorough background in
brewing science and knows the operations of the Celis brewery upside
down and inside out. He answered all of our questions in a direct
manner, without any hint of reluctance to divulge his brewing "secrets".
He spoke of such things as the importance of trace minerals in yeast
nutrition, drawbacks of the old copper mash tun/kettles they use, oxygen
and flavor stability, mash stirrers, and the row of spigots on the side
of the lauter tun. Here are a few of the details we were able to glean
regarding Celis beers and the future of the Celis brewery.
The only spices used in Celis beers are coriander and bitter orange
peel.
They use ordinary granulated sugar, sucrose, as an adjunct in some of
their beers. Up to 25% in the Grand Cru.
Four strains of yeast are currently used, down from five. Two of the
yeast strains are proprietary, brought from Belgium by Pierre Celis.
That fifth yeast, I surmise, was a lager yeast used in the discontinued
Celis Golden. I wish I'd asked if any of their beers are fermented with
mixed yeast strains, my guess would be no.
Celis White is flavored with glacial acetic acid, not lactic acid, just
prior to packaging.
The Celis brewery is for sale. $3M is the asking price. Miller wants to
sell soon, 90 days was mentioned but I don't know when the ticker was
started.
There was much more, of course, but these are some of the details that I
thought the HBD readers might find interesting. I was really surprised
about the acetic acid. I was not too surprised about Miller wanting to
sell. Barring some white knight arriving on the scene, Celis appears to
be doomed.
Jim Layton
Howe, TX
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 16:22:07 -0600
From: "Charlie Papazian" <charlie@aob.org>
Subject: Taking a walk on the hotside
I haven't been following the entire thread about hotside aeration and
homebrewing. But I must admit it is not and never has been a very big
concern for me. I continue to use the procedures outlined in my book and
make beer that seems excellent to me.
I have seen hotside aeration in some the most classic and famous breweries
in Belgium, England and the United States -- I'm sure the beers made by
these breweries I have seen with my own eyes are some of you very favorites.
There is no ill effect on the quality of their beers that I perceive.
In fact I've seen a lot of older breweries upgrade to newer equipment and
modern "wiser" technology and processes, only to lose the house quality
that made their beer so endearing and legendary. The modern approach has
resulted in these beers becoming a ghost of their former selves. Not
interesting to me any longer.
I go to many professional brewing conferences and I often despair that
modern wisdom is often taken so literally without consideration of
traditional flavors that we've come to appreciate. I don't think we are
looking for the ultimately cleanest and most stable of beers. If you are
then you are in the league of light lager brewers that sell and export their
beers.
I take the care of stabilizing my beer by keeping it in a cool place and
don't transport it around and don't vary temperatures. This goes sooooo
much farther in preserving the qualities of beer than extreme attention to
hot side aeration. I think.
Of course adding a pinch of cinnamon to my mash may be helping avoid hot
side aeration. Cinnamon is a strong antioxidant during the mashing process,
so I have been told by some very knowledgeable old time Dutch brewers.
Charlie Papazian mailto:charlie@aob.org
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 09:57:25 EST
From: "Warren White" <warrenlw63@hotmail.com>
Subject: I was blind but now I see
Hallelujah Reverend Steve!!! Ahhhh here's yaaah brudda!!!
Ahhh wuz blind... now I can see!!!
(Done to the tune of Neil Diamond's
"Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show")
- --------------------------------
Brother Steve Lacey says...
So spread the gospel of quality beer making to the unenlightened,
and fight he forces of darkness that conspire to repress our side
of the hobby.
God kows, it took me the best part of 7 or 8 years to discover a
world beyond kits.
- --------------------------------
Brother Warren replies...
Seriously though if you ever want to read the greatest
example of Homebrewing McCarthyism, go to the Holy Church
of Kmart, proceed to the Shrine of Brewing ingredients,
(it's right near the Fowlers Vacola Jars - preserve those peaches -
I hear ya lord), get on your knees boy and prey!!!
Then pick up the Holy Treatise of the Church of Brewing
Austerity "Understanding Beermaking" by Grant Sampson,
The Reverend Fred Nile of Homebrewing.
These are his 10 commandments as follows...
1. Thou shalt not rack thou beer, it will wreck thy beer;
2. Thou shalt not use thou starchy adjuncts...
follow the rules, no extras please hey says;
3. Thou shalt not use anything other than cane sugar;
(surprise, surprise);
4. Thou shalt not boil smelly hops or boil at all for that
matter as this will lead to despair, disaster and divorce,
hmmm... wonder what his thoughts on birth control are;
5. Thou shalt not like Engllish Bitter he says,
he goes on to describe it as being and I quote
"a thick mucky drink made with top fermenting yeasts"
educate thy so-called palate Mr. Sampson!
6. Thou shalt not believe any Australian Beer Kits
to be Ales, he says (and this is the best bit) that they
"ARE ALL LAGERS" (huh!), he says that lagers
or his idea of them are better, crisper beers.
7. Thou shalt not trust thou airlock, he says
you should all put Gladwrap on top of your fermenters!
Yeah I know there are only actually seven commandments,
they should really be seven deadly sins, but I'm only quoting
this book from memory as I spurned it to the pits of hell long ago,
I'm sure there are another twenty or more for us to guffaw
and poke shit at!
I Wander oops I mean I wonder how many loyal
disciples to the "Church of Wander Draught and kilo
of Cane Sugar" this little gem spawned!
Thank the lord it only took me 1 year of beer
kits to see the light! Ahhh wuuuz saved by the
"Loyal Order of the All Grain Brothers"
They sparged... oops should I say cleansed my soul!
P.S. Steve I'm now a born-again member of the Church of Alexis
Pilsner Malt - Great extraction efficiency! Hallelujah!
Warren L. White
John Barleycorn Mission
Melbourne, Australia
(Apologies to the religiously inclined)
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 20:32:31 -0400
From: "Paul Mahoney" <pmmaho@earthlink.net>
Subject: Chloramine and Priscilla
In HBD #3410 AJ discussed chlorine and chloramine. I have been following
this thread with great interest since my local public water supply uses
chloramine. Thanks AJ! AJ said the following:
>
> The most convenient methods of chloramine removal are granulated active
> carbon and chemical treatment. GAC filtration is relatively inexpensive
> and effective but you do need to buy, install and service the filter.
> Several sulfites will remove chloramine effectively without adding
> significant ammounts of new ions to the water. Sodium thiosulfate
> (photographer's hypo) will work but I recommend sodium or potassium
> metabisulfite which is sold in brewing and winemaking shops as powder
> and as "Campden Tablets" i.e. it's a readily available food grade
> source. I Campden tablet should treat 20 gallons of water unless the
> water authority is really loading it up. As a simple test, if it still
> smells chlorine-like, there's still un-neutralized chloramine.
> <end quote>
Does GAC filtration include running your water thru a Brita filter? I
use 1 crushed up Campden tablet now for about 8 gallons (mashing plus
sparging water), but I could use my Brita pitcher to prepare my brewing and
sparging water the night before. Recommendations?
Next, I read with interest about our Australian friends, and their plans
for the closing ceremonies at the Olympics. It appears that the local drag
queens will be allowed to participate in the festivities (causing great
consternation to several groups!). So will Phil/Jill be preparing a
special, "pink" brew (instead of an amber), called "Priscilla" to
commemorate this event?
- --- Paul Mahoney
- --- pmmaho@earthlink.net
Redskins and Homebrew, what more could a man want!
Roanoke, Va.
StarCity Brewers Guild
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 06 Jan 1904 07:10:29 +0000
From: "A. J." <ajdel@mindspring.com>
Subject: Alpha/Water/Alcohol
For Partrick in Toronto: yes, UV spectrophotometry on a toluene extract
is a method approved by the ASBC (Hops-6) for determination of alpha
and beta acids. Before going into the method let me just mention that
the 80 IBU pils I have mentioned a couple of times recently was hopped
based on alpha acid levels measured by this method. I was shooting for
45.
5 grams of freshly ground hops are extracted into 100 mL of toluene on a
wrist action shaker for 30 minutes. An aliquot from the extraction
bottle is centrifuged for 5 minutes and 5 mL of clarified extract
diluted to 100 mL with methanol. An aliquot of this dilution is then
diluted further with alkaline (0.2 mL 6N NaOH per 100 mL MeOH) methanol
to the extent that the absorbances at 325 and 355 nm fall within the
dynamic range of the instrument. Absorbances are then read at 325, 355
and 275 nm against a blank prepared by applying the same two dilutions
to 5 mL toluene. The three absorbtions are weighted by a set of
coefficients, summed, and scaled by the dilution factor. One set of
weights gives the alpha acid content and another the beta:
% = d(w1*A355 + w2*A325 + w3*A275)
for alpha, w1 = -51.56, w2 = 73.79, w3 = -19.07
for beta w1 = 55.57, w2 = -47.59, w3 = 5.10)
d = (mL first dilution)(mL second dil.)/[(500)(extract mL used to make
first dilution)(mL from first dilution used to make 2d dilution)]
There is a standard isohumulone mix sold by the ASBC for checking on
this and other methods. It is very expensive - I don't recall the price
but over $100 for the minimum quantity. You can get the details on how
to buy this stuff from ASBC (they have a web site).
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
For D. Root in Medina, N.Y.
Find out what the alkalinity and hardness of the water are by having it
tested. Culligan will do this for free if you'll listen to a sales
pitch. In the interim, boil it to drop the majority of the bicarb. There
will be plenty of minerals left for most beers.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
For Jim,
The constant isn't a constant; it depends on the original gravity and is
based upon some assumtions made by Balling many years ago concerning the
amount of CO2 and ethanol produced from a gram of extract. Thus any of
the values you have seen can be considered as good as any other
practically speaking. The net is very slow tonight so I don't seem to be
able to get into the archives to find them but if you will search 1999
under "alcohol" you'll find a couple of posts on this subject. The
single constant which best fits Ballings's tables is given as are
simple polynomials which yield the "constant" as a function of OG.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 21:38:37 -0700
From: "Ed Olsen / Kathy Riley" <olsen-riley@worldfront.com>
Subject: Hop back ?
Greetings all,
Just saw a really spiff drawing (in Zymurgy) for a hop back rig using PVC
and tea ball screens. I am considering building one for my whole grain
"beer machine". The real goal is to reduce the amount of trub and gak I end
up with my primary. I understand I should locate it upstream (before) the
wort counterflow chiller to get the full effect...any suggestions and/or hot
tips??
Thanx,
EO
Ed Olsen / Kathy Riley
Home: olsen-riley@worldfront.com
Life: edolsen@alum.mit.edu
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 06:10:14 -0500
From: Anthony Parlati <deadhead@ndak.net>
Subject: Papazian and Phil's Phloating Phalse Bottom
I also think you're being too hard on CP. Several years ago, when I
was a kit brewer, I read TNCJOH and took away these words of wit.
1). Don't follow the directions, BOIL your kits
2). Use light dry malt extract in place of corn sugar (except for bottling)
3). Use a good yeast, not the white foil packet that comes with the kit
4). Keep things sterile
5). Use glass to ferment in
6). Use Irish Moss
7). Keep things sterile
There ain't a single thing wrong with any of that advice. One of my
favorite beer memories is the first time I did a Munton&Fison Export
Stout kit, and applied Papazian's advice to make a wicked good kit
brew. I've got too much self respect to make beer from a can now, but...
Now, to what I really wanted to post. WHY IN GOD'S NAME DOES
PHIL'S PHALSE BOTTOM PHLOAT?????? Rhetorical question. I
know WHY it floats, but why was it made out of something that does
float? Almost as stupid as making a life preserver out of cast iron. Does
anyone make a non-floating false bottom for the ten gallon Gott cooler?
It would make my brewing life so much easier.
Tony P.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 09:27:51 -0400
From: Martin_Brungard@urscorp.com
Subject: Hops and pH
Dave Burley made the following comment:
"Marc, the hops have virtually no influence over the pH of a mash. Buffers
in the malt and reactions of calcium ions in the water with phosphorous
compounds control this, mostly."
Dave, has there actually been an experiment of this sort? I agree that the
effect of mash hopping shouldn't affect the mash pH MUCH due to the
buffering capacity of the water used. But any acid addition does consume
some of the buffering capacity. That can create a larger pH shift in
conjunction with the other mash reactions. I'm curious if its meaningful
though.
Has anyone done an experiment like this...measuring the pH drop in
distilled water with an amount of hops at a given alpha percentage? I'm
suggesting distilled water since the buffering capacity is very low and the
pH change would be more pronounced. I envision boiling a measured volume of
distilled water, removing from heat, and adding a measured quantity of hop
pellets at some reported alpha. The cooled sample would be measured for pH.
Maybe do a few different hop quantity additions to assess the effect. Could
also do a study with high alpha and low alpha hops.
I'm not sure if this experiment would show anything at all, but I would
appreciate some input from some learned souls as to whether they think this
has already been done or if would produce any useful results. This is a new
wrinkle to hops usage...mash hopping. I think that its effects on pH could
be useful.
Martin Brungard
Tallahassee, FL
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 09:54:37 -0400
From: John_Doherty@cabot-corp.com
Subject: Re: Brussles Beer, Falstaff
In HOMEBREW Digest #3411 on Thu 24 August 2000
"John S. Watson" <watson@george.arc.nasa.gov> wrote
>Subject: Re: Brussles Beer, Falstaff
>
>In HOMEBREW Digest #3407 on Fri 18 August 2000 mohrstrom@humphreypc.com wrote:
>>
>> If you are there on Friday or Saturday evening, the Falstaff, near the
>> Bourse, ...
>
>When I was staggering around Brussels in May of 1999, sampling
>as much Belgian Beer as possible, I tried to locate the Falstaff,
>and found only an empty space where it was supposed to be.
>So unless I was lead to the wrong address, I think the Falstaff was
>out of business. I could be wrong, since I was not fluent in French,
>the signs in the window may have said moved to a new location or something.
The Falstaff is alive and well... at least it was 16 days ago when the wife and
I popped in there while honeymooning in Europe. I'm pretty sure that the
address for the Falstaff in the GBG2Benelux was correct, since that's how we
found it off the Grand Place. We managed to get there early afternoon and were
the only people in the place for most of the time we were there. Of course, the
kitchen was closed, but the beer was flowing. Don't have my notes here, so I
can't tell you what I tried, but I remember that the beer was superb everywhere
we went in Belgium.
Alot of places in Brussels "close" for a spell each afternoon between the
lunch and dinner crowds. Also, some places are just plain closed on a given
day, usually Sunday or Monday. Also, the Falstaff is a little deceptive if I
recall - it stretches front to back between 2 streets, and there are signs on
both streets for it. We stumbled upon the "front" entrance first, so we went
in. When we left, we walked around the corner and saw the "back" side, which
did indeed look closed. And I think that the address in the GBG2Benelux may
have been for the "back".
>If you get a chance, pop over to Brugge. I enjoyed the small towns
>in Belgium (and the rest of Europe) a lot more than the Big Cities.
I wholeheartedly agree about Brugge. Visited Straffe Hendrik there (just
missed a tour - they have recently dropped the 5PM tour!). Took a canal boat
ride. Had drinks at Brugges Beert'je with a few other saavy tourists from UK
and Denmark where we pondered the beer list of about 200 selections. Ah, I miss
Belgium...
Cheers,
John
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 08:59:05 -0500
From: kiewel@mail.chem.tamu.edu (Kurt Kiewel)
Subject: Iodophor tip, FMH question
HBDers,
I devised a handy method for dispensing Iodophor that you may find useful.
Instead of measuring out capfuls of Iodophor and spilling it on your hands,
down the bottle, on the rug etc., go to the store and get a bottle of REACH
ACT Anticavity Fluoride Treatment Rinse by Johnson & Johnson. (by the way,
I stand to make millions, maybe billions, if you all go out and buy this
stuff) It has a small reservoir at the top that is filled by squeezing the
bottle gently. Once filled it can be poured out without spilling a drop.
The best thing is that the reservoir at the top measures exactly one capful
of iodophor. To fill the bottle with iodophor just pull out the dispenser
nozzle with a needle nose pliers, fill and put the nozzle back in.
I plan to FMH (first mash hop) my next batch. If I use 1.5 to 2 oz. of
pellets in about 23lbs of grain do I need to worry about a stuck mash?
Kurt,
College Station, TX
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 10:24:04 EDT
From: Rscholz@aol.com
Subject: Re: Decoction
Charley writes in HBD #3410
>
Please - anybody - tell me how to change the recipe, keep the flavor/body
profile the same and eliminate the double decoction (process described
below the ingredients):
Grist:
1.0 lb. Cara-Pils
1.25 lb. Cara-Vienne
0.25 lb. Chocolate
7.00 lb. Lager 2-Row (DWC Pils)
8.00 lb. Light Munich (DWC)
1.0 lb. Vienna
0.75 lb. Wheat
Hops:
1.50 oz. Hallatauer 3.7% 60 min
1.0 oz. Tettnanger 4.4% 10 min
Grist/Water Ratio: 1 quarts/pound (thick due to limitation of
mash tun size)
Munich Wyeast 2308 - 2 quart starter
>
I’ll take a crack at this one since I hate loooooong brew days I have
tried to cut down time by Batch/No Sparge and FWH into a kettle on the
heat as soon as the wort is deep enough not to scorch. And to avoid
the time of decoction I have experimented with trying to bring the
malt profile forward in the beer without decoction. From my notes
on about half a dozen iterations on Double Bocks with some input
from the Scotch Ales. I find that replacing some lager malt with
Weyermann melanoidin. (great site www.weyermann.de/specialmalt.html)
With your grain bill of 19lbs
(aren’t you Aussies jealous of the variety?) of which 7 lb. are lager
2-row I would start with 1 1/2 to 2 lbs. substitution. Then use a mash
schedule of 30-45 mins at 135-140 F followed by 45-60 mins of 160-165
until conversion. You will have to play with the
amount and the mash times. Less low temp time or high temp time will
change body profile. Good luck and hope this helps.
Richard L Scholz
Brooklyn, NY
(624 miles, 102 degree polar rennarian)
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 11:20:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: mcnallyg@gam83.npt.nuwc.navy.mil (Jeff McNally)
Subject: re: Jethro's report on urea
Hi All,
Rob, thanks for the interesting info on urea.
Since most people that read Rob's post have probably asked themselves
if the nutrients they use contain urea, I'll post the following info.
This was originally posted in the Mead Lover's Digest (MLD).
Does anyone (Rob?) have info on the ingredients used in Lallemand or
J.E. Seibel brand's of yeast nutrients?
Note for Rob: I have tried sending you email in the past, but it
bounced because your domain name (isunet.net) is not in my name server's
host table. Can you send me the IP address for this domain so that I
can add it to my local host table?
Hoppy brewing,
Jeff
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Yeast Nutrient Composition
From: Mark Evenson <wine-hop@dnvr.uswest.net>
Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 13:04:56 -0800
For the person with the question on chemical composition of yeast
nutrient: Three of the largest homebrew/winemaking wholesale suppliers
use varying formulas in their "house brand". Your local homebrew shop
should be able to identify their source (especially if you're willing to
share your info).
L.D. Carlson (Kent, OH) food-grade urea and diammonium phosphate; white
in color with fairly large, rounded granules
G.W. Kent (Ann Arbor, MI) these folks have two types
- -"Nutrient" diammonium phosphate; white, small crystals similar in size
to sugar crystals (though more long than square)
- -"Energizer" diammonium phosphate, yeast hulls, magnesium sulfate,
thiamine, folic acid, niacin, calcium pantothenate; small tan grains
with some white particles visible. I believe this is from Lalvin.
Crosby & Baker (Westmort, MA) Fermax(TM) contains diammonium phosphate,
dipotassium phosphate, magnesium sulfate, autolyzed yeast.
also DLB Vineyards (Westlake, OH) diammonium phosphate; white grains.
Sorry for the delay in responding; I wanted to check with the suppliers
listed above to get official permission to post this info. Nobody said
"no" although if you want more detailed info (i.e., what percentage of
each chemical) you should contact your local homebrew shop.
To support one of my comments of 11-22-97, I haven't found yeast
nutrient to be helpful in my fermentations when pitching *large*
quantities of yeast (5 gr dried wine yeast/gallon). My starting SG
ranges from 1.090 to 1.100, and ferments to dryness (0.996 to 1.002) in
about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks. When I did use 1 tsp nutrient in a 6 gal batch
pitching 5 gr yeast/gallon, fermentation time was still 3 weeks, and
left a strong chemical flavor (metallic, to my tastebuds). I'd like to
stress that I've not done side-by-side tests with yeast hulls or bee
pollen, so I don't know how these behave. After the "test batch" came up
with such a strong flavor of nutrient, I swore off nutrient entirely...
Anyway, that's my nickel's worth.
Thanks for providing the forum for discussion!
Anne T c/o wine-hop@dnvr.uswest.net
==========================================================================
Geoffrey A. McNally Phone: (401) 832-1390
Mechanical Engineer Fax: (401) 832-7250
Naval Undersea Warfare Center email:
Systems Development Branch mcnallyg@gam83.npt.nuwc.navy.mil
Code 8321; Bldg. 1246/2 WWW:
Newport, RI 02841-1708 http://www.nuwc.navy.mil/
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 11:51:49 -0400 (EDT)
From: Alan McKay <amckay@ottawa.com>
Subject: beer prices in Canada
Brian, $22 for a two-four (or 'case' in Ontario) is a bargain for good
beer. I regularly pay about $35 for a two-four of my favorite beer,
Muskoka (sp?)
"Brewers make wort. Yeast Makes Beer."
- Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide
http://www.bodensatz.com/
What's a Bodensatz? http://www.bodensatz.com/bodensatz.html
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 10:57:43 -0500
From: "Perry Q. Mertz" <pqmertz@netweavers.com>
Subject: secondary vs lagering & yeast recovery
Doing my first lager and all grain at the same time. Have a rookie
question I have not
been able to find a direct answer to.
What is the differance between secondary and lagering? Is it just that it
is handled
one more time to remove further slurry from the bottom? I am assume when
you lager you
still are not carbonated, or am I wrong there, where aging and lagering are
the same only
one is done under cold temps.
Also, with a lager where is it best to try to get recover yeast for another
batch? I assume
primary here too.
Thanks in advance.
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #3413, 08/26/00
*************************************
-------
