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HOMEBREW Digest #5129
HOMEBREW Digest #5129 Wed 17 January 2007
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org
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Contents:
RE: Dextrins (Andrew Calder)
re: Sulfur-onion-shallot smell? (-s)
Lager fermentation ("Doug Moyer")
Re:Half coupler on my boil kettle (Michael Hartsock)
Cider yeast ("Gary Smith")
Whisky barrel aged beer? (jbryant)
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Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 21:04:48 -0800 (PST)
From: Andrew Calder <arcalder2000 at yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: Dextrins
Howdy All,
David Edge asks:"Can anyone definitively assert or
deny the fermentation of dextrins by yeast, and if so
provide a reference?".
According to David Miller's "Homebrewing Guide"
sub-titled "Everything you need to know to make
great-tasting beer". On page 41 he defines dextrins as
the following "Dextrins are carbohydrates that are
intermediate in size between starches and fermentable
sugars." He goes on to say that dextrins impart
mouth-feel (body) and head retention to the finished
beer. The source of dextrins in finished beer is
Cara-pils or Cara-Crystal specialty malt. I.E. they
are too long to ferment.
For more detail see page 91, Chapter 8 What Happens
in the Mash Tun? of this book the section titled
Starches, Dextrins, and Sugars.
The book's ISBN is 0-88266-905-2.
I would be happy to speculate with you off-line about
how someone might be mislead into thinking you don't
have to add sugar to beer (priming) in order to bottle
condition it.
Hope this helps,
Andrew Calder
New Lenox, IL
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Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 01:51:28 -0500
From: -s <-s at adelphia.net>
Subject: re: Sulfur-onion-shallot smell?
Richard Lynch asks ...
[[
My problem is: I have this funky onion-shallot,
sulfur smell wafting out of the airlock for about a
day now! I pulled a little out to sample and I could
still taste and smell a "normal" pleasant malty-pils
flavor, but there's this hint of acidic, cocktail
onion sort of smell/flavor on top.
]]
Sulfur is a good call Richard - many people cannot
recognize the sulfur character in common food aroma.
Several chemicals immediately come to mind;
dimethyl-DIsulfide (DMS's ugly cousin),
diethyl-disulphide and ethyl-mercaptan(ethanethiol).
All contain sulfur, can appear in beer and have flavor
thresholds around 1ppb.
These are often associated with yeast autolysis tho'
more common in wine making. It is possible tho'
unlikely that such a flavor could come directly from
stale hops.
Some non-beer yeasts can produce such disulfide
compounds as part of their methionine (amino acid)
metabolism.
DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) is sometimes described
as onion-like too, but it's unlikely to appear
such quantities in the fermenter if you used decent
malt and a decent wort boil
*IF* you think you have potentially autolysing yeast
in the fermenter I'd suggest you rack the beer.
*IF* it's a thiol or a disulfide compound, possibly
from infection, then there is no simple cure (according
to wine sources). It's your call if it's worthwhile
to hit the beer with metabisulfite (knock down any
infection) and repitch as a salvage effort.
-S
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Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:23:02 -0500
From: "Doug Moyer" <shyzaboy at yahoo.com>
Subject: Lager fermentation
Lagerheads,
I've only made on lager in my 16 years of brewing.
Now, I've got one happily fermenting in my fermentation fridge.
A couple of questions regarding the next steps:
(1) Diacetyl rest - I've read that this should be done when the fermentation
is about 2/3 complete. Short of taking regular samples (and I didn't force
ferment a portion warm, so I'm not even sure what the T.G. will be), how
will I decide when to do this? If I wait a week, will that probably be okay?
How long is too long to be effective? (I'm using White Labs WL838, Southern
German Lager, which is reportedly a low diacetyl producer - should I even
bother? This is a Czech pils, which should have a diacetyl note, according
to the long departed Dr. Pivo.)
(2) Secondary fermenter - when do I transfer to a secondary? After the
diacetyl rest? If yes, after I reduce it back to fermentation temps?
Brew on!
Doug Moyer
Troutville, VA
Star City Brewers Guild: http://www.starcitybrewers.org
Beer, brewing, travel & kids: http://shyzaboy.blogsome.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 06:56:16 -0800 (PST)
From: Michael Hartsock <xd_haze at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re:Half coupler on my boil kettle
Depending on the ID of the coupler, you might be able
to tap the inside of the coupler so that you can
thread in attachments on the inside of the kettle.
This might require you to ream out the coupler a bit
to make it the right size. Of course, if the coupler
is to big for any standard fittings, this option won't
work. But if it is a 1/2 NPT coupler and the walls
are thick enough, you would probably be able to run a
3/8 MPT tap through it so that you could thread any
manner of 3/8 fittings into it.
Mike
Columbia, MO
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:30:54 -0500
From: "Gary Smith" <Gary at doctorgary.net>
Subject: Cider yeast
Hi,
I'm going to be making 15 galons of hard cider & will allow it to
ferment to dry and will then keg it for carbonation if desired at
that point.
I've made mead but this will be my first hard cider. I would
appreciate suggestions for a worthy yeast.
Thanks,
Gary
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 16:06:45 -0500
From: <jbryant at wrsystems.com>
Subject: Whisky barrel aged beer?
Hey folks,
I just came into possession of a 4.5 gallon whisky barrel. It sat on my
neighbor's shelf for 35 years and when I popped the bung it still
smelled faintly of whisky (or should I say that whisky smells like
charred oak barrels?). So, I filled it up with water to rehydrate the
wood and expand it back to its watertight form. Amazingly, it only
dripped slightly for about 12 hours and is now completely sealed.
So, does anybody have any good ideas of what kind of beer I should put
in here? I presume that the correct method is to use the barrel as a
secondary. How do I sanitize this thing? Do I even try? Also, does
anyone have any suggestions on how to get the bung back out? It wasn't
in very tight when it was dry, but I tapped it in too far when I filled
it with water and now it is in there really tight.
Thanks,
Jason
Norfolk, VA
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #5129, 01/17/07
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