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HOMEBREW Digest #4968
HOMEBREW Digest #4968 Wed 08 March 2006
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org
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Contents:
Judges for 1st Round Eastern Regionals - AHA NHC ("David Houseman")
Disappearing hop aroma (Fred L Johnson)
Re: Corn conversion, enzymes, and one lost brother! (Jeff Renner)
fastening stainless steel mesh (Aaron Martin Linder)
Melomel, Polyclar, and Kegging (Ken Schramm)
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Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2006 21:06:06 -0500
From: "David Houseman" <david.houseman at verizon.net>
Subject: Judges for 1st Round Eastern Regionals - AHA NHC
A number of judges have contacted me to judge the 1st Round of the 2006 AHA
National Homebrew Competition in Philadelphia. But we need MANY more. So
if you haven't done so already, please contact me to judge the Eastern
Regional that will be held in Philadelphia, at the HRIM Academic Bistro of
Drexel University on Friday night and Saturday, April 28th and 29th.
You don't have to be an high ranking judge with lots of experience to judge
this event (although we'll certainly take those as well). We'll match less
experienced with the more experienced judges -- it's a great forum to gain
experience. Friday judging, for those that are local or wish to come in the
night before, will commence at 7:00pm. Pizza and beer will be available
from 6:15 until 7:00.
Saturday judging will commence at 9:00am and proceed with up to three
sessions of judging. Lunch will be served as well as a beer and hors
d'oeuvre reception just after judging. The Reception will also be a BYO
affair, so feel free to bring your own homebrew to share but we'll have
plenty of other beer there as well. For those that can stay around, there
will be a hosted pub crawl by the knowledgeable George Hummel from Home
Sweet Homebrew and Mid-Atlantic Brewing News.
The Drexel University Academic Bistro is within a few minutes walk of
Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, the main hub for local commuter trains,
subways and Amtrak's Northeast Corridor trains from Boston to Washington.
Upon exiting the 30th Street Station, proceed West on Market Street to 33rd
Street. Turn Right and go to the Academic Building on the Northeast Corner
of 33rd & Arch Streets. The Academic Bistro is on the Sixth floor. There
is parking available on the street (watch time turnover and meters). Free
on-street parking is available on 32nd Street, North of Powelton. Google or
Yahoo! MAPS for driving directions to this location.
So plan to visit Philadelphia, judge some beer, drink more beer and have a
great time with old friends. For those of you from out of town, the Best
Western Center City at 22nd & Pennsylvania, next to the Parkway and the
museums, is the cheapest. Otherwise there are hotels around the University
of Pennsylvania and Drexel Campuses. Center City is also nearby. This
could make the weekend a family affair. This weekend will also see
Philadelphia host the Penn Relays, so if you want a hotel reservation, get
those in very soon. Parking will also be at a premium, so do consider
public transportation as your best option.
Contact David Houseman, judge coordinator, at david.houseman at verizon.net to
reserve your judging assignment. Let him know what categories you cannot
judge, prefer to judge and prefer not to judge. Let him know whether you
can judge Friday, Saturday or both. Contact Nancy or George at Home Sweet
Homebrew (www.homesweethomebrew.com) if you have other questions or need
help with hotels.
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Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2006 06:54:16 -0500
From: Fred L Johnson <FLJohnson52 at nc.rr.com>
Subject: Disappearing hop aroma
Are there any tricks to maintaining fresh hop aroma in beer from either
late hop additions or dry hopping? I have been having difficulty
keeping that wonderful aroma in my pale ales. It doesn't seem to matter
whether I'm putting in aroma as late hopping, hop backing, or dry
hopping. In a few weeks, the aroma is gone. I even took first place in
one competition with a pale ale that scored 39.7 and received lots of
judges comments like, "Nice hops up front", "Nice hoppy aroma", "Shouts
HOPS!", but when the same brew was entered into another competition
five weeks later, it scored a 28.5 and received comments like, "Overall
aroma & bouquet very low", "Low hop aroma".
I'm about to give up brewing if I can't find a solution. Help!
Fred L Johnson
Apex, North Carolina, USA
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Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2006 09:33:18 -0500
From: Jeff Renner <jsrenner at umich.edu>
Subject: Re: Corn conversion, enzymes, and one lost brother!
"Michael Eyre" <meyre at sbcglobal.net> has some cereal mash questions:
> I have attempted two experiments with limited success and have
> searched
> the internet to no end, and still have not found an easy to understand
> answer.
Some thoughts.
You cracked corn may be too coarse for good mashing, but you don't
want fine powdery stuff if you are going to lauter. If you are going
to ferment the entire mash, as Makers Mark does, and then further
process it, then that's OK. But you don't want pieces bigger than,
say, a millimeter. The smaller the chunks, the shorter you will need
to boil.
Be sure that the whole-meal corn is freshly cracked or it will turn
rancid and spoil your results.
You need to add some malt (pre-malt) to the corn and briefly mash it
before cooking it. This will keep it from setting up. Whiskey
makers do this, too. Use enough water to keep it thin enough not to
scorch, and stir it as you heat it until it settles down into a
gentle simmer. Add more water if necessary.
You can mash well over 50% adjuncts with good, North American malt.
Six-row is somewhat better than two-row, but not by as far a margin
as historically. Bourbon is made with as little as 5% malt, but the
enzymes continue to work, albeit slowly, during the two-three day
fermentation.
If you are mashing a high-adjunct/low malt grain bill, you may have
trouble maintaining proper pH of 5.2-5.5 if you water is alkaline and/
or low in calcium. That's why whiskey makers developed the sour mash
system. You can use some lactic acid if you don't want to mess with
souring a small mash before beginning the whole thing.
For more details and answers to your questions, check out some
previous posts by me and Marc Sedam
http://www.hbd.org/hbd/archive/3737.html#3737-5
http://www.hbd.org/hbd/archive/4860.html#4860-7
http://www.hbd.org/hbd/archive/3981.html#3981-13
http://www.hbd.org/hbd/archive/3830.html#3830-8
http://www.hbd.org/hbd/archive/3982.html#3982-2
Jeff
- ---
Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, jsrennerATumichDOTedu
"One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2006 14:41:09 -0500 (EST)
From: Aaron Martin Linder <lindera at umich.edu>
Subject: fastening stainless steel mesh
Hi,
I am in the process of fabricating some brewing equipment out of type 316
stainless steel mesh, 20 X 20 and 32 X 32. What is the best way to form
shapes out of the mesh? Is it possible to solder/weld the mesh? Is it
better to try to sew it somehow? i can of course crimp it, but i don't
think that will be as secure as i would like it.
aaron
ann arbor, mi
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Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2006 20:52:25 -0500
From: Ken Schramm <compleatmeadmaker at wowway.com>
Subject: Melomel, Polyclar, and Kegging
I think you got pretty good advice from Jeff, but I'll add two cents.
You should end up with a clear melomel, but if you have concerns
(can't shine a clean beam from a flashlight through the carboy) you
might want to consider some pectinase before resorting to polyclar.
If you have hit 10% alcohol, your biggest threats aren't going to
come from the liquid you're using to dissolve the clarification agent.
Don't worry too much about light struck issues. I am not aware of
any photosensitive compounds in mead, which is not to say there
aren't any in there, but don't sweat it.
On your carbonation question, I'd say you might want to consider
doing a shake/rock at 35 psi, and then leave it that way for a day or
two. Then reduce the pressure to 12-14 psi and dispense. If you
can't afford to be patient for a day or two, you aren't making enough
beer.
Ken
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #4968, 03/08/06
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