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HOMEBREW Digest #4832
HOMEBREW Digest #4832 Fri 26 August 2005
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org
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Contents:
molasses in beer ("Peter A. Ensminger")
Anti Home Brew Law Struck Down (Steve Holden)
Barley wine (Signalbox Brewery)
Molasses adjunct (David Edge)
Music to Brew by ("whiplash@juno.com")
re: music to brew by ("Bridges, Scott")
Mole asses ("Dave Burley")
re: Our first Barley Wine, looking for suggestions... (RI_homebrewer)
RE: Music to Brew By ("Chris Horner")
Subject: I think we found that efficiency... ("Mike Racette")
Valhalla - The Meading of Life Mead Competition ("David Houseman")
RE: I think we found that efficiency... ("David Houseman")
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Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 01:05:17 -0400
From: "Peter A. Ensminger" <ensmingr at twcny.rr.com>
Subject: molasses in beer
Papazian had a recipe for 'Goat Scrotum Ale' in "Complete Joy of
Homebrewing". His 5-gal recipe used 1 cup of molasses, 1 cup of brown
sugar (which is basically white sugar + molasses), and a bunch of other
stuff to make a porter-like beer. I tasted a version brewed by a friend
and the molasses-balance seemed about right.
Cheerio!
Peter A. Ensminger
Syracuse, NY
http://hbd.org/ensmingr/
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 23:34:58 -0600
From: Steve Holden <user81400 at comcast.net>
Subject: Anti Home Brew Law Struck Down
Well gang, looks like the do gooders are taking pot shots at our hobby
again. One of the cities here in the land of Zion are trying to one up
a town somewhere on the planet, possibly one under control of the
Taliban. Anyhow, for your amusement here is a link to a couple of
articles from the local paper. Get a load of the reasoning they use for
passing such a law. The first link is the story about why a city
attorney and mayor thought criminalization of home brewing was a good
thing. The second link is about how the city council struck down the
bad parts.
http://sltrib.com/utah/ci_2964935
http://sltrib.com/utah/ci_2971363
Unfortunatley there are a lot of misunderstandings about the kind of
people that home brewers actually are. I was blown away to see someone
draw a line connecting home brewing with riots and violence in general.
Hopefully this will raise public awareness toward the legal recognition
of home brewing here in Utah.
Steve
Salt Lake City, UT
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 10:37:55 +0100
From: Signalbox Brewery <signalbox.brewery at ntlworld.com>
Subject: Barley wine
Mike asks
>Normally, the past few beers we've done the first runoff is at or neat
1.060 and the second falls somewhere less than that.. which is normal, I
guess. Is there another way to do this, with just one sparge that
wouldn't waste any sugar?
<snip>
>I'm sort of rambling, I know... I'm having a hard time
putting into words what I'm actually looking to find out. Anyone get me?
Yes I know what you mean. Mash a little thicker - you should be able
to get first worts of 1080 to 1100. We find we can go up to 2 litres/kg
(sorry) and still get conversion. But then we don't mash out.
The answer to your question re wasting sugar is to set the second
worts aside for making a normal strength ale. So sparge down to your
nominal initial gravity in the kettle, save the rest of the runnings
and repeat.
You might consider adding some sugar / malt extract if there's
nobody looking
We emulated the Burton-on-Trent's Museum Brewery
(now Coors and almost gone - surprise!) with a barley
wine a couple of years ago and did a twelve hour boil. They're
better at it than me. Informed opinion at the beer club was that
it needed a couple more years to mature.
David Edge
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 10:43:56 +0100
From: David Edge <david.j.edge at ntlworld.com>
Subject: Molasses adjunct
Tony asks about using molasses as an adjunct.
Assuming *** (oh dear) that this is what we Brits call treacle,
my son Ralf's Treacle Chocolate Stout won the UK Craft
Brewing Association's first prize this year.
The recipe is at www.craftbrewing.org.uk, follow the link at the
bottom of the page to NEWS - Sixth National Craft Brewing Festival results
Follow the "java-free" link first if you're on dial-up.
(I'll email it to you if problems)
His prize was to brew it again at Rooster's Brewery, Knaresborough, Yorks
which he did two days ago. We await the results with interest.
David Edge
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:13:25 GMT
From: "whiplash at juno.com" <whiplash@juno.com>
Subject: Music to Brew by
One more pig on the music pile here.
If the wife isn't hogging the stereo and I can listen to music while I brew
(this also goes for grillin''/BBQ'n) I always like a wide selection of Death
Metal or Scissorfight (Balls Deep, New Hampshire, or American Cloven Hoof Blues
are best) or any Nevermore.
Jay
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 08:20:01 -0400
From: "Bridges, Scott" <ScottBridges at sc.slr.com>
Subject: re: music to brew by
from Dave Houseman:
>
>Just no bagpipes when making Scottish Ales.
>
>Dave
Dave,
I thoroughly disagree! As a bagpipe playing person of Scottish decent, I
think pipe music would be well-regarded by any self-respecting Scottish ale.
However, as Skot Rat would undoubtedly agree, wearing plaid is out of the
question....
Scott
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 14:12:17 -0400
From: "Dave Burley" <Dave_Burley at charter.net>
Subject: Mole asses
Brewsters:
Mama and Papa and baby mole were smelling the breakfast being prepared in
the kitchen above the hole they were crowded into and Mama' and Papa's noses
were sticking into the hole, baby was unable to get his nose into the hole.
Mama says "MMmmm smell those pancakes. Papa says Mmmm smell that warm
butter. Baby says Hmmph all I can smell is molasses."
After bring inspired at a state fair, Tony Brown asks about using sorghum
molasses in brewing and asks for a recipe.
As I recall (cane) molasses is a major flavor ingredient in "Old Peculier"
British Ale. It is aptly named. Probably came about in WWI or WWII as a
result of a shortage of sugar and grain. There are devotees. Look around
some of the cloning books or maybe someone here has a good clone.
As a starter:
http://www.patrickwgarrett.com/beer/9212top.htm
Here's one, but I would use Dark un-sulfured Grandma's molasses in place of
the brown sugar and your normal priming sugar in place of the Lyle's Black
Treacle (molasses) - (not available here I'll bet..). You may want to use
50/50 white sugar and molasses to start. I suspect the 1/2 lb roasted barley
is too much roast and outside my recollection of Old Peculier I consumed on
site. I would substitute high roasted (e.g. chocolate) malt here. I would
add the molasses to the boil. I can't comment on the malt extract but my
tendency would be to use an unflavored, pale extract, since crystal and dark
malt is being used. Remember this recipe was originally written by Dave
Line, bless his soul, and likely we have ingredients closer to the mark than
he had 20 or more years ago in the UK. I would make sure at least some of my
hops were Northern Brewer or some with a licoricey taste.
- ------------
>From the above address:
Theakston's Old Peculier
This recipe is for a beer that will taste very much like Theakston's Old
Peculier. The secret ingredient is black treacle. The original recipe
appeared in Dave Line's book "Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy" and was
modified a bit by Mike Williams and yours truly.
Ingredients
Specialty Malts: Crystal Malt 10L
1/2 lb Roasted Barley
1/2 lb Malt Extract: American Classic Dark 4.95 lb
Other Sugars:
Domino's Brown Sugar 2 lb
Lactose 2 tbl.
Lyle's Black Treacle (priming) 3 oz
Boiling Hops: Fuggles Pellets a4.5 1 1/2 oz
Finishing Hops: Fuggles Pellets 1/2 oz
Aromatic Hops: Fuggles Pellets 1/4 oz
Water Crystals 2 tsp
Heading Agent 1-2 tsp
Irish Moss 1 tsp
Yeast: Whitbread Ale 14 g
Basic Recipe
About two hours before you plan on making the beer, make a yeast starter. In
a small pot, bring 2-3 cups of water to a boil. Dissolve in about one
tablespoon of malt extract and boil for a minute or two. Put on the lid,
remove it from the heat, and let it cool. When room temparature, put in a
mason jar and add the yeast. By the time you're done making the beer, your
yeast should be very bubbly and active. When recipe calls for you to pitch
the yeast, pour the contents of the jar into the fermenter. This gives the
yeast a head start, which reduces the probability of any undesireable
organisms contaminating your beer.
Boil crystal malt and roasted barley for 4 minutes in about two quarts of
water. Sparge into cooking pot. Discard husks.
Add malt extract and water crystals to boiling pot. Bring to a boil. Add
boiling hops. Boil for 30 minutes.
Add the Irish Moss, and then boil for another 13 minutes.
Add flavor hops. Boil two more minutes.
Remove from heat and cool in sink full of ice water until you can touch the
pot for ten seconds without screaming.
While waiting for pot to cool, dissolve the brown sugar in about two gallons
of hot water. Put into fermenter. Add the cooled wort, and top up to 5
gallons.
When about 80 degrees, pitch the yeast. After primary fermentation abates,
rack into another container, add aromatic hops, and allow to go for another
seven days or thereabouts.
When ready to bottle, bulk prime with 3-4 oz of Black Treacle and heading
agent, if you wish. Add 2-3 cups of water to small pot, bring to boil, add
the treacle and heading agent, remove from heat, let cool to room
temperature, then add to the secondary fermenter. Gently stir to mix it
well. Bottle it.
Notes
Boil Times Spec. Malts: 3 mins
Wort: 45 mins
F. Hops: Last 2 Mins
Bitter Units 23.3
Specific Gravity
(Expected) 1.051
Specific Gravity
(Beginning) 1.054
Specific Gravity
(Ending) 1.010
% Alcohol 7.3
Priming Bulk primed with 4-oz black treacle.
Rating the Finished Beer
CLARITY
Cloudy: 1, Hazy: 2, Clear: 3, Brilliant: 4 3
HEAD RETENTION
None: 1, Most Desirable: 3 3
AROMA (Malt) / BOUQUET (Hops)
Poor: 1-3, Good: 4-8 7
TASTE (Hop/Malt; Bitter/Sweet Balance)
Poor: 1-4, Good: 5-10 8
AFTERTASTE
Poor: 1-2, Good: 3-5 4
BUBBLES (carbonation felt in mouth)
Poor: 1-2, Good: 3-5 4
BODY (feel; full or light-body as appropriate)
Poor: 1-2, Good: 3-5 5
OVERALL IMPRESSION (drinkability)
Poor: 1-4, Good: 5-10 9
OTHER VARIABLES (list):
0
TOTAL SCORE (of 50 Possible Points): 43
Keep on Brewin'
Dave Burley
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:17:47 -0700 (PDT)
From: RI_homebrewer <ri_homebrewer at yahoo.com>
Subject: re: Our first Barley Wine, looking for suggestions...
Hi All,
In http://hbd.org/hbd/CurrentHBD.html#4831-5 Mike Eyre
asked about how to get the OG up to the 1.100 or 1.120
range for a barleywine without boiling 8 or 10 gallons
down to 5 gallons.
One way that works is to drop your water/grain ratio
from the usual 1.5 qts/lb down to approx 1.0 qts/lb.
This will concentrate the sugars in the first runnings.
Limiting the sparge water amount will also keep the SG
higher during the boil and produce a higher OG.
Hope this helps.
Jeff McNally
Tiverton, RI
(652.2 miles, 90.0 deg) A.R.
South Shore Brew Club
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 14:24:12 -0400
From: "Chris Horner" <chrishorner68 at hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: Music to Brew By
I'll have to agree with the two Becks here....my first choice would most
definitely be The Grateful Dead.
Nothin like freakin the kids out while dancing around a brewpot, reminiscing
about my favorite summertime job - being on tour ;)
But I like lots of other music, and it tends to find it's way into my brew
sessions as well...Other favorites are:
Del McCoury Band
Yonder Mountain String Band
Sam Bush
and a few others http://db.etree.org/chorner
Anybody need some brewing music? Check that link out above and hit me up -
I'm always willing to share.
Thank God It's Friday!!
Chris Horner
Wilmington, NC
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:23:36 -0600
From: "Mike Racette" <mike.racette at hydro-gardens.com>
Subject: Subject: I think we found that efficiency...
Michael Eyre says:
"and the third runoff was still 1.038 but we didn't have
any room left in the kettle, so we took the 14 gallons we'd collected
and just had to call it a day."
I'm beginning to think its your hydrometer that's off. Are you adjusting
your readings for temperature?
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 20:45:37 -0400
From: "David Houseman" <david.houseman at verizon.net>
Subject: Valhalla - The Meading of Life Mead Competition
This is the second notice for this mead-only competition. Note that the
venue has changed but everything else is the same.
If you've got mead, prepare to enter the 1st annual Valhalla - The Meading
of Life
Mead-Only Competition to be held Saturday, October 15 at the Mt. Pleasant
Cafe, 311 W. Mt. Pleasant Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19119
(http://www.mtpleasantcafe.com/). This competition will judge meads in BJCP
categories 24--traditional meads, 25--melomel and 26--other mead. One entry
per subcategory per entrant, with a $5 per entry fee. The equivalent of at
least 3 12-ounce bottles is required for judging, although bottle size and
shape are not restricted. No identifying markings however can appear on the
bottles. Any standard competition entry form may be used. It is the
responsibility of the entrant to properly identify the category and
sub-category based on the 2004 BJCP Style Guidelines.
Meads may be mailed or dropped off at Home Sweet Homebrew, 2008 Sansom
Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103 by Friday, October 7th. Additional local
drop off
locations include Keystone Homebrew locations and Iron Hill Brewery and
Restaurant in West Chester, PA.
The competition would like to encourage knowledgeable mead judges to
commit to judging this event. Judges will receive breakfast and lunch.
Judges should contact David Houseman to secure a judging seat.
The judging will take place from 9am to 1pm. Awards will be given out
beginning at 1:30. There will also be a tasting with numerous commercial
meads as well as the remainder of the meads from the competition following
the judging. Following the competition there will be 2 seatings for a
Medieval dinner at 4 and 6:30 pm, reservations required; call the restaurant
at 215-242-1500 to make your reservations.
Suzanne McMurphy, Competition Organizer (theimann at verizon.net)
David Houseman, Judge Coordinator (david.houseman at verizon.net)
Vince Galet, Asst. Competition Organizer
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 20:51:03 -0400
From: "David Houseman" <david.houseman at verizon.net>
Subject: RE: I think we found that efficiency...
Michael,
So you were left with excess wort in your mash tun. Take as much as you can
into another pot and boil this down to about 1.040. This wort can then be
canned in mason jars and kept to make starters. It's far cheaper, and more
convenient, than using DME to make up starters when you need them. While
you may not get all the wort sugars into the original beer, it then doesn't
go to waste.
Dave Houseman
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #4832, 08/26/05
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