Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
HOMEBREW Digest #5069
HOMEBREW Digest #5069 Mon 02 October 2006
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org
***************************************************************
THIS YEAR'S HOME BREW DIGEST BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Northern Brewer, Ltd. Home Brew Supplies
Visit http://www.northernbrewer.com to show your appreciation!
Or call them at 1-800-681-2739
Support those who support you! Visit our sponsor's site!
********** Also visit http://hbd.org/hbdsponsors.html *********
Contents:
CO2 Pressure ("A.J deLange")
Alcohol content ("Michael Kolaghassi")
what happened to my fusels/harshness? ("Peter A. Ensminger")
old malt ("Ian Watson")
re: what happened to my fusels/harshness? ("steve.alexander")
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* The HBD Logo Store is now open! *
* http://www.hbd.org/store.html *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Suppport this service: http://hbd.org/donate.shtml *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy! *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Send articles for __publication_only__ to post@hbd.org
If your e-mail account is being deleted, please unsubscribe first!!
To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE send an e-mail message with the word
"subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to request@hbd.org FROM THE E-MAIL
ACCOUNT YOU WISH TO HAVE SUBSCRIBED OR UNSUBSCRIBED!!!**
IF YOU HAVE SPAM-PROOFED your e-mail address, you cannot subscribe to
the digest as we cannot reach you. We will not correct your address
for the automation - that's your job.
HAVING TROUBLE posting, subscribing or unsusubscribing? See the HBD FAQ at
http://hbd.org.
LOOKING TO BUY OR SELL USED EQUIPMENT? Please do not post about it here. Go
instead to http://homebrewfleamarket.com and post a free ad there.
The HBD is a copyrighted document. The compilation is copyright
HBD.ORG. Individual postings are copyright by their authors. ASK
before reproducing and you'll rarely have trouble. Digest content
cannot be reproduced by any means for sale or profit.
More information is available by sending the word "info" to
req@hbd.org or read the HBD FAQ at http://hbd.org.
JANITORs on duty: Pat Babcock (pbabcock at hbd dot org), Jason Henning,
and Spencer Thomas
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2006 03:08:10 +0000
From: "A.J deLange" <ajdel at cox.net>
Subject: CO2 Pressure
Yes, the high pressure gauge can fail but temperature is also a factor.
The saturated vapor pressure of CO2 is 830 psi at 70F and that is what
the high pressure gauge should read if the bottle is at equilibrium at
70. At 40F, however, the pressure will drop to about 590 psi and at 88F
it will increase to about 1100 psi (all assuming there is liquid in the
bottle - above 88 there will be no liquid). If all the readings you saw
were at the same temperature, then it's the gauge.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 01 Oct 2006 07:22:22 +0000
From: "Michael Kolaghassi" <kolaghassi89 at hotmail.com>
Subject: Alcohol content
Hey guys/gals,
I made some "sugar wine" out of table sugar, water, and baker's yeast, and I
siphoned it from the fermentation jug to another one after about 2 weeks of
letting it ferment. When I first tasted it I thought I could smell and
taste the alcohol, now after about a week I don't think its as strong when I
tasted it after tasting my Ancient Joes Orange mead that I just racked and
tasted. Is the mead (made also from baker's yeast) just a stronger drink
than the sugar wine or has some of my alcohol from the sugar wine evaporated
or something since I leave it at room temperature?
BTW the sugar wine tastes pretty much like the Smirnoff malted beverages...I
think Smirnoff is making a killing of a profit selling a drink that probably
takes probably less than a dollar to make a gallon and turn around and sell
it for $8 bucks for a six pack...
Thanks,
Michael K.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 02 Oct 2006 01:07:32 -0400
From: "Peter A. Ensminger" <ensmingr at twcny.rr.com>
Subject: what happened to my fusels/harshness?
Hi Matt,
Thanks for the tip about ethyl acetate in
http://www.hbd.org/hbd/archive/5068.html#5068-5 .
Both fusels and ethyl acetate are described as having "harsh" and
"solvent-like" flavors. Apparently, I can't tell the difference. Can a
more experienced beer taster can describe how these differ?
Cheers!
Peter A. Ensminger
Syracuse, NY
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2006 13:14:12 -0400
From: "Ian Watson" <hophead at sympatico.ca>
Subject: old malt
Hi all
I discovered I have a pail of milled pale malt that must be about 8 months
old. It's been in a plastic pail with a tight fitting lid and smells fine.
Is it worth brewing with?
Thanks
Ian
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 02 Oct 2006 19:11:31 -0400
From: "steve.alexander" <-s at adelphia.net>
Subject: re: what happened to my fusels/harshness?
MattB discusses finished beer less harsh than previous ...
>Glyn writes "Most of the high alcohols/fusels break down or
>combine."
If it were true that fusels were spontaneously replaced by less
flavorful products, the distilling industry could save many
millions of dollars. Doesn't happen - no way !
Now in whisk[e]y aging there is a *very modest* non-enzymatic
conversion of alcohols to esters, but note that beer is about 10x
less concentrated, is aged for at most 20x less time and that the
vast majority of the conversion involves ethanol, not fusels. The
impact in fusels converting to esters is certainly many orders
of magnitude less in berr, and is not a significant mechanism for
fusel removal.
Many fusels in low ethanol solutions (ABV <50%) are more volatile
than ethanol, but only modestly so. Unless you are aging beer in
open vessels the fusels are not lost to selective evaporation.
The fusels could potentially oxidize to the corresponding aldehyde,
and this is energetically favored, but for each of the five flavor
significant fusels in beer <iso-butanol, 2-methyl-butanol,
3-methyl-butanol. 2-phenyl-ethyl alc, n-propanol> the related
aldehydes are roughly 100 times more flavorful, and all are considered
flavor negative. This is a common form of beer staling, and is promoted
by the presence of melanoidins. No - this isn't a reasonable mechanism
for the flavor improvement.
The yeast do not and cannot 'filter' fusels. Heck, the mammalian
blood-brain is a highly sophisticated barrier mechanism, and ethanol and
fusels make their way through this readily. The simple lipid bi-layer
in yeast cells are virtually invisible to these polar solvents.
Sorry - beer fusels aren't going anywhere fast.
On a practical experience note ... it is said that some level of
beer fusels is a characteristic part of beer flavors, but I happen
to find certain types/levels (unidentified) to be particularly obnoxious.
A few years ago I had a case of SN-bigfoot ale which I found to have a
moderately offensive fusel flavor. I drank these over a ~2.5 year period
and the fusel flavor never declined. Actually the overall beer flavor
was remarkably stable with a moderate decline in hop bitterness.
>One possibility is that the rocket-fuelly thing that has been aging out
>of people's otherwise delicious beers is an excess of ethyl acetate,
This is possible. Ethyl acetate (ethyl ethanoate) in quantity certain
tastes and smells as rough as any fusel - nail polish remover and glue
come to mind. I'm not sure about the mechanism. Ethyl acetate is esterified
ethanol + acetic acid, and this can break down into ethanol & acetic. OTOH
I read that the increase in acetic acid in stored whisk[e]y is entirely due
to acetic residues extracted from oak barrels. I doubt this hydrolysis of
esters is at a high enough rate in beer to account for so much.
-S
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #5069, 10/02/06
*************************************
-------
