From: homebrew@lupulus.ssc.gov
Subject: HOMEBREW Digest #932
Organization: The Internet
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 10:48:59 GMT


HOMEBREW Digest #932		             Fri 24 July 1992


	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator


Contents:
  PET bottles & missing digests 928 & 929 (Jeff Mizener)
  Fridges, yet again. (KIERAN O'CONNOR)
  lallemand and its yeasts (Tony Babinec)
  mashout,hops,cooler (Russ Gelinas)
  re Single Step Infusions and American Malts, Blue Flakes (John Hartman)
  SN Pale Bock yeast (Pierre.Jelenc)
  Foxx Equipment Co. (korz)
  Setting up starter wort (Bob_Konigsberg)
  Re: HefeweiBbier in CA (Richard Stueven)
  Re: ESP/culturing/malehops (Richard Stueven)
  Champaign & sparging (Brian Bliss)
  ESP/culturing/malehops (lg562)
  spaced out hops (dave ballard)
  King Cooker Modification ("John Cotterill")
  Coke Beer, Window Screen (Jack Schmidling)
  Re: Lager vs Ale malts? (Jeff Benjamin)
  Priming with honey (Steven J Boege)
  Belgian Impressions - Brugge (C.R. Saikley)
  Homebrew digest posting (Kevin M. Madge)
  Re: KENYON yeast culturing (eurquhar)
  Flame (Bob Gorman)


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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 09:32:36 EDT
From: avalon!jm@siemens.siemens.com (Jeff Mizener)
Subject: PET bottles & missing digests 928 & 929



Well, I won't win a maltmill but the mailtool in Openwindows 2
has a bug that causes it to disobey the command to save a message
to a new file sometimes.

Could someone send me digests 928 & 929?  Please drop me a note
first and then send as I don't want to get 30 of each.  Thanks.

I recently went on a camping/rafting trip with number of beer brewers and
drinkers (mostly drinkers).  A friend from Canada brought
24 one liter PET (green plastic soft drink) bottles full of homebrew.
Needless to say he was pretty well accepted into the group.

But the PET bottles caused a stir.  The assembled group oohh'd and
aahhhh'd over the bottles (& the beer) but generally admitted that
this was an unfamiliar but desirable method of storing beer.

He buys them at one of the (at least 3) homebrew supply shops in Kingston,
 Ontario for $cdn9 per dozen.  He says they're cheaper mailorder.

Well, not one to be the last to try something new, I went to Canada and
bought 12 liters & 24 half liters, with caps (good sealing caps).
They don't break, they're easy to clean, they're light and my next batch
of bitter will go in them.  When they get old, you can recycle them (at
least in Raleigh...).

Any comments???  My local BrewStoreMeister said that they were available
but rather expensive.  He said that Coors had floated some trial marketing
balloons but the reception had not been real good.  In Britian you can buy
lots of different beers in 2 litre pet bottles.  Granted, there's a certain
visceral satisfaction to opening a crown-capped bottle and hearing the
`pffffssstt', but is there any reason why we shouldn't use these bottles??

Raft trip attendee and digest subscriber Bob Safranek tells me he found the
bottles at a HB store in Milwaukee @ $13.00 for 24 - 16 oz.  More expensive
than Canada but not bad...

Cheers,

Jeff
========================================================
Jeff Mizener / Siemens Energy & Automation / Raleigh NC
jm@sead.siemens.com / Intelligent SwitchGear Systems
========================================================
(reply to this address, not the one in the header!!)

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 10:10 EDT
From: KIERAN O'CONNOR <OCONNOR%SNYCORVA.bitnet@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Fridges, yet again.

Sorry, but one more note on fridges.

Refrigerator thermostats have upper and lower bounds so that they can
be used for food, not lagering.  If you have one and want to test it
to see how low a temp it will achieve, remove the thermostat.

Connect the two thermostat wires (the green one is a ground) and let
it run for about 30 minutes.  Make sure you have a thermometer in
there, or preferably, an inside/outside thermometer (the kind with a
probe). Then you can see what type of thermostat to buy.  The key here
is that you can't let this fridge run forever w/o some type of
thermomstat, the compressor will run out.

If you are interested, I wrote an article for our club newsletter
(Ithaca Brewers' Union) and I will forward it to you if you wish a
copy. Just put in the message "Brew News Request".

Kieran O'Connor

oconnor@snycorva.bitnet

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 9:31:40 CDT
From: tony@spss.com (Tony Babinec)
Subject: lallemand and its yeasts

In a recent HBD, someone asked about Windsor dry yeast from
Lallemand.  I haven't yet used it, but I picked up some information
from the G.W. Kent table at AHA National.  As many homebrewers use
dry yeasts, and as rumor has it dry Whitbread ale yeast is
disappearing, I thought I'd post some information on Lallemand.
This comes straight from their company literature.  If anyone has
experience using any of their yeasts, please post to HBD.  If
anyone in interested in Lallemand products or information, you
should obtain them from G.W. Kent via your homebrew shop.

The following is reprinted from Lallemand literature...

Lallemand, Inc. was founded in Montreal by a young immigrant who
left his native Alsace after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1.
Today, Lallemand has state of the art facilities in France,
Denmark, Canada, and the United States.  Lallemand is the largest
producer in the world of Yeast Nutrition products to aid in
fermentation.  Many of the largest breweries around the world use
Lallemand's Fermaid nutrient.  In addition to brewing yeasts,
Lallemand is a major producer of bakery products, distillery
yeasts, bacteria for the food, pharmaceuticals and agricultural
fields, and the world's largest producer of wine yeast.  More than
75% of France's champagne producers use Lallemand's Lalvin EC-1118
strain of yeast.  Lallemand also produces the popular strains
Lalvin K1V-1116 and Lalvin 71B-1122.

Windsor English Ale Yeast is a powdery yeast that gives a drier
beer which is clean and well-balanced.  This yeast produces an ale
which is estery to both palate and nose with a slight fresh yeast
flavor.  This yeast completely ferments wort within 4 days.
Windsor Ale is a classic top fermenting yeast with some
flocculating characteristics.  It is best used at traditional ale
temperatures after rehydration.

Nottingham Beer Yeast (ale yeast?) is remarkable for its high
degree of flocculation.  This yeast settles out very quickly and
firmly.  Many brewers have commented that Nottingham Beer Yeast
appears to glue itself to the bottom of fermenters and bottles.
The obvious benefit is the reduction of filter usage and a clearer
beer.

German Konig Lager Yeast produces a very clean beer with a fresh
yeasty character.  This yeast completely ferments wort within 5
days at 77 degrees F and it is not flocculent.  It settles slowly
to the bottom of the tank after fermentation is finished.  It can
be used to ferment worts between 45F and 86F.  However, it should
be noted that the flavor characteristics of the yeast change
between these two extremes of temperature.

Any enquiry, technical or commercial, can be directed to

Randy or Chantal
G.W. Kent Inc.
3691 Morgan Road
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108
313-572-1300 tel
313-572-0097 fax

OR

Lallemand Inc.
1620 Prefontaine
Montreal, P.Q.,
HIW 2NB
CANADA
514-522-2133 tel
514-522-2884 fax

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 23 Jul 1992 10:12:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: R_GELINAS@UNHH.UNH.EDU (Russ Gelinas)
Subject: mashout,hops,cooler

   Not in that order, actually.  First, those small spikey growths on
your hops may very well be the beginnings of the cones; they start out
looking like burrs, then eventually turn into cones.  I'd say give it
a couple of weeks.  If they don't change, or if you notice definite
pollen falling from the spikey growths and you have female plants
nearby, you might well have to pull it up.

   On the subject of hops, I just brewed a wheat beer finished with my
own Hallertauer hops.  In contrast, the Cascade plant (1 year younger,
actually I got it from Dave Wills of Freshops for the Manchester conference!)
is just now producing the "burrs".  I think the H may be done for the
season; Japanese Beetles really damaged it.  Strangely, they haven't touched
the Cascade.

    Re. mashout: I always mashout at 170+ degF.  I've gotten one stuck
sparge out of 10 or so batches.  The grain was crushed pretty finely, too
much powder, so I think that was the cause.  Mashing out should help *avoid*
stuck sparges, but it won't eliminate them.  It also helps extraction
efficiency.  I sparge in a *10* gallon cylindrical cooler from Wal-Mart.
Service Merchandise has them too.  That size cooler is seasonal stock, so
don't wait.

Russ

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 22 Jul 92 13:16:34 PDT
From: hartman@varian.varian.com (John Hartman)
Subject: re Single Step Infusions and American Malts, Blue Flakes

Recently Larry Barello asks about experiences with single stepping vs.
using a protein rest when mashing.  When I switched to grain brewing, I
assiduously followed everything Dave Miller told me to do.  It paid off,
as the first batch was quite an improvement over my extract brews.  One
regret I had was that there was so much more to do than when extract brewing.
Well I set out then to streamline the process of mashing.  One of the first
things I did was to try the same recipe/procedure sans the protein rest.
The elimination of the protein rest made no difference.  That was many
batches ago and have not used a protein rest since.  I assume that the
protein rest is obviated by the use of modern, fully modified malts.

Glenn asks about blue flakes coming from his counter-flow chiller.  I
suspect you use some chlorinated solution to store your chiller.  I used
to do that with mine and found that the chlorine slowly corrodes the copper.
Don't do that if you are.  When I'm done brewing I just run 140F hot water
 through
both the inner and outer flow paths of the chiller for about five minutes,
then store it dry.  This works fine and I haven't had any infections in say
30 batches.  Hope this helps.

Cheers,
John	hartman@varian.varian.com

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 11:36:06 EDT
From: Pierre.Jelenc@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu
Subject: SN Pale Bock yeast

Al (korz@ihpubj.att.com) mentionned in hbd 931 that he thought that
Sierra Nevada's Pale Bock did not contain yeast. That is not the case
in the bottles we get in New York. I recently cultivated the yeast from
one bottle, and have it now on slants and in the freezer. I have not
used it yet, so I have no idea how it behaves during brewing, but it
appears to be extremely flocculent.

Pierre


Pierre Jelenc                        pcj1@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu
                                    Columbia University, New York

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 10:42 CDT
From: korz@iepubj.att.com
Subject: Foxx Equipment Co.

Foxx Equipment Company
421 Southwest Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64108

1-800-821-2254

They carry everything for beverage dispensing: from kegs to hoses to
taps, to faucets, to keg O-RINGS, to fridges, etc., etc.  There have
another location, which may be closer to you, ask them when you call.
I've bought a lot of stuff from them -- good service, reliable, only
problem was that they did not accept credit cards -- you had to place
an order then send them a check.  Maybe they've changed that -- I hope so.
Al.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 08:43 PDT
From: Bob_Konigsberg@3mail.3com.com
Subject: Setting up starter wort

On the advice of a friend, I got a case of quart mason jars, boiled up 3
gallons (in the end) of generic wort (3# liquid malt extract), and then
canned them in a pressure cooker.  voila - several months (depending on
usage) pre-supply of sterile wort.

Just sterilize a gallon jug, start the wyeast packet a day in advance of
adding to the starter wort (or use dry yeast), pour the yeast in, and
fit with a fermentation lock about two or three days before you brew.
Use a sterilized funnel to keep the wort and yeast away from the mouth
of the bottle.

By way of example, the overflow bucket for the last batch was full of
foam the following morning; this was about 9 hours after pitching.

I avoided this for a while as being too much work, but now that I've
made three batches each with virtually no lag time (<12hours), and my
beers no longer have infection problems, I'd recommend this to everyone.
It's made a tremendous improvement in the quality of my beer.  After the
first batch this way, I threw all previous batches down the drain.
Credit would also have to go to the counterflow (got it right this time)
wort chiller for keeping the wort sterile during cooling, but I think
the vigorous (otherwise sterile) yeast culture probably deserves most of
the credit for clean beer.

BobK


------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 09:13:30 PDT
From: gak@wrs.com (Richard Stueven)
Subject: Re: HefeweiBbier in CA

Mike McNally said:

> All I can say is that the Hefeweizen from Twenty Tank was
> even worse.

Everything that Twenty Tank makes is even worse.

Bill Owens may deserve credit for getting the California microbrewing
industry off the ground, but his brewpubs make uniformly bad beer.

gak
107/H/3&4


------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 09:20:25 PDT
From: gak@wrs.com (Richard Stueven)
Subject: Re: ESP/culturing/malehops

> I have heard a
> rumour that SN has begun filtering their beers (I hope someone can
> dispel this rumour) -- I'm quite sure that their Pale Bock has no
> yeast in the bottom.

The Pale Bock is the only filtered Sierra Nevada beer.

(Thank goodness for that!)

Another data point:  the fastest, cleanest fermentation I've had to
date was with yeast I took from a couple of SN Porter bottles.

gak
107/H/3&4


------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 11:40:17 CDT
From: bliss@csrd.uiuc.edu (Brian Bliss)
Subject: Champaign & sparging


rf@ddsw1.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling) writes:
> Champaign yeast is scraped off of grapes growing in the Champaign region,

That's funny, I've never seen many grapes aound here...
Champaign is in Illinois, Champagne is in France.
I guess we could start making a sparkling wine here,
and legitamitely call it "Champaign", though.
(btw, Is that the correct spelling of "legitamitely"?)

>I however, believe that a mashout at 170F+ is the best insurance there is to
>avoid a set mash and would like to hear from people who can support or
>disprove the hypothesis.  I have never had a set mash so I do not need to
>hear from others who have not.  I just want to hear from those who have and
>whether or not they use a mashout.

I have had quite a few set mashes.  Most of them involved wheat malt,
and in those that didn't, I ground the grain finer than I usually do.
Only once did I omit the mashout.  The sparge ran noticeablly slower
at first, but wheat malt and fineness of grind seemed to be much
bigger factors.

I don't know how to define "set", though, so put it this way:
A normal sparge for me takes 2 hours.  Multiply by 1.5 if wheat malt
was used, or 2.5 if it made up 50% of the grist.  Multiply by .6 when
using < 7 lbs of grain (this is rare for me).

I suspect that your use of the Maltmill has quite a bit to do avoiding
set mashes.  I see now that the Malt Shop in WI is offering a "Maltmill"
for $99.  Is this the one and only?

Maybe this fall I'll get one, but for now, I'm trying to figure out
how to produce enough beer for my own consumption with the least
amount of effort possible.  This means using exracts only, making the
least amount of mess possible, and I'm trying to get a Firestone keg
system together.  I'm sick of putting in a 12-hr brew day, followed
by an hour or two extra cleanup of the kithen the next day, followed
by a 2-hr bottling session (includes cleanup time).  Heck, I could
drink half the previous batch in that 16 hrs!  (Last time I tried,
I passed out halfway through the boil, though.)

bb


------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 09:53:35 -0700
From: lg562@koshland.pnl.gov
Subject: ESP/culturing/malehops

   Date: Wed, 22 Jul 92 11:57 CDT
   From: korz@ihpubj.att.com

   Finally, a question:
   What do male hops look like?  I think my Nugget may be a male.  The
   "cones" look really tiny with 20-30  3/8" to 1/2" spikes sticking out
   of them.  I'd be pretty upset if I raised this plant from a pup and
   then find out I have to rip it out.

   Al.

Don't rip them out.  Those sound like immature flowers to me.  Just
wait and watch them get bigger.  The little "spikes" will drop off
shortly.

mb


------------------------------

Date: 23 Jul 1992  13:26 EDT
From: dab@blitzen.cc.bellcore.com (dave ballard)
Subject: spaced out hops


saw this today:

dab

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
(reprinted without permission from Air & Space- Aug./Sept. 1993)

                           Strange Brew

When the shuttle Discovery lifted off last January, it had, officially,
42 experiments to conduct.  But thanks to a Canadian pub and avid
homebrewer-astronaut Bill Readdy, a 43rd experiment was added at the
last minute: a study of the effect of zero gravity on hops.

Readdy smuggled aboard about nine ounces of hops, bought at a Houston
homebrew store, and slipped them into the fresh food locker.  They
were almost eaten during the flight by a fellow astronaut who,
apparently bored with his own rations, wanted to sample the "green
leafy stuff" in the plastic bag.

After the shuttle landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California, the
hops were sped by courier to Spinnakers Brew Pub on Vancouver Island,
British Columbia, where Brewmaster Jake Thomas was waiting to include
them in "Discovery Ale: A Taste Worthy of Those Who Dare to Explore."
Weeks later, Readdy and the rest of the crew showed up for a taste.
Aside from an entourage of 30 or so from NASA and the Canadian Space
Agency, only a select handful of beer connoisseurs from Campaign for
Real Ale, Victoria chapter, and a few bewildered tourists witnessed
the event.

Stepping behind the bar, Readdy drew the first glass of Discovery Ale,
rapidly quaffed a few mouthfulls, caught the drips on his NASA rugby
shirt, and proclaimed, "I declare this ale fit for human consumption!"

It certainly was.  The full-flavored amber ale drew both scientific and
spiritual acclaim as the cask was drained in the time it takes to
climb out of a spacesuit.

Discovery Ale certificates, signed by the brewmaster and the Spinnakers
proprietor, were handed out to the astronauts and the rest of the samplers.
In exchange, the pub received a large color photo of the Kamchatka
peninsula taken during Discovery's flight.




------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 10:46:52 PDT
From: "John Cotterill" <johnc@hprpcd.rose.hp.com>
Subject: King Cooker Modification
Full-Name: "John Cotterill"

I use a propane powered King Kooker for my boils.  The unit is great at getting
the water to the boiling point (10-15 min for 10 gallons).  The problem that
I have, however, is once boiling, the heat needs to be reduced to prevent an
extremely vigorous boil.  At low settings, the flame burns to rich and produces
lots of carbon on my boiler which is a pain to clean and very messy.  I would
like to add a small burner ring to the cooker for low settings.  Does anyone
know where I could locate a small ring (without buying a stove attached to
it)?  Any other suggestions?
Thanks, JC
johnc@hprpcd.rose.hp.com

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 10:28 CDT
From: arf@ddsw1.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling)
Subject: Coke Beer, Window Screen


 To: Homebrew Digest
 Fm: Jack Schmidling

 >From: korz@ihpubj.att.com

 > I would be interested to know how you think the o-ring seals without
  contacting the beer.  My guess is that at least 30% of the large one sealing
 the lid is exposed to beer on the inside.

 <I don't know at what angle you're storing your kegs -- I keep mine upright
 and the only time the large o-ring touches the beer is during the carbonation
 agitation.

 First of all I suspect the contact during agitation is not trivial because
 this is when the beer does most of its absorbing .  Furthermore, even when
 not directly in contact with beer, the rubber outgasses to the atmosphere in
 the keg and this is absorbed directly into the beer.  Whatever the mechanism
 of transfer is/was, it was sufficent to strongly flavor the beer.

 > Foxx sells the little o-rings for probably a dollar per dozen.  At that
 price, why bother keeping the old ones?

 The usual reason... sloth.

 >As you will recall when you first posted your window screen lautering
 system, I said that it would probably give you lower extraction efficiencies.
 A short while ago, you posted a recipe and your extract efficiency was pretty
 low, which could be due in part to other factors, but I'm sure that the
 fact that your lautering system only draws runoff from the center is most of
 your efficiency problem.  I checked my files and could not find your recipe,
 but to the best of my recollection, it was 9 lbs of grain yielding 5 gallons
 of 1045 wort.  This is 25 points per pound/gallon (45 * 5 / 9).  Many HBD
 posters have reported 33 points and some even higher.  33 points would give
 you 1059 from 9 lbs of grain.  Looks to me as if you're throwing away
 (or composting or making bread from) 25% of your grain's sugars.

 Two points here.  You have all the numbers right except the volume.  I have
 never made a 5 gallon batch, they range from 6 to 7+ and that may sound
 trivial but if you do the math, you will find the extra gallons put it pretty
 close to nominal.

 Having said that, I did get a little depressed over the yields Larry B was
 getting by comparison and found the culprit to be..... would you believe...
 the MALTMILL.  It turns out I have been using a reject from the early days
 when I was unable to control the spacing very well.  The spacing was about
 .080 at one end and some grain was getting through barely touched and lots
 not properly crushed.  I declared myself the winner of an impromptu lottery
 and took one out of the "shipping department" with the proper spacing.  I
 used this on the last batch and the yield improved substantially.

 In defense of the EASYMASHER, it is very easy to check the thoroughness of
 extraction by stirring and resparging the spent grains and checking the
 gravity of the runoff for lost sugar.  I do this routinely and there is none.

 I hate to seem so hide bound but that 4 inch tube of window screen works as
 well if not better than the most sophisticated lautering system.  It further
 has the distinct advantage of running clear after less than one cup is drawn
 off.

 It works so well, as a matter of fact, that it will be introduced as a new
 product in the next issue of Zymurgy.

 Bet y'all can't wait till I sell 100 of them.  :)

 js

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 13:22:08 MDT
From: Jeff Benjamin <benji@hpfcbug.fc.hp.com>
Subject: Re: Lager vs Ale malts?

> In fact (from memory, no reference at hand)
> the longer germination time (aka over modification) is what is responsible
> for the availablility of free amino nitrogen (FAN) without the protein
> step in mashing.  Lager malts (classic undermodified) presumably have more
> of the starch locked up in the steely endosperm with long interlocking
> protein chains.  The protein rest is needed here to generate FAN, reduce
> long chains (chill haze) and liberate the starch for sugar conversion.

According to Noonan's "Brewing Lager Beers," this is correct.  I was
attempting to condense, from memory, an entire evening's conversation
on a topic I really don't know much about.  Always a dangerous thing
to attempt :-).

Out of curiosity last night, I carefully de-husked small samples of both
Hugh Baird pale malt and Jim Bruce's pale malt and compared the length
of the acrospires (i.e., the modification).  The Baird was "fully"
modified; the acrospires were usually 3/4 to the entire length of the
kernel.  Jim's malt, on the other hand, was what Noonan would describe
as an undermodified "American" malt, with the acrospire usually one-half
to three-fourths the length of the kernel.

Perhaps that's why Jim advocated the use of a full step mash when he gave
us a sample of his malt.  The batch we made with it is in its final ferment
right now, so I don't yet know how it will do with respect to head
retention, chill haze, etc.  (I also haven't had a chance to discuss
the subject with Jim yet, either.  I'll post more when I do.)

- --
Jeff Benjamin                               benji@hpfcla.fc.hp.com
Hewlett Packard Co.                         Fort Collins, Colorado
"Midnight shakes the memory as a madman shakes a dead geranium."
					    - T.S. Eliot

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 15:21:30 -0400
From: sjbg@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Steven J Boege)
Subject: Priming with honey

Greetings,

	I am intersted in using honey as priming sugar.  It seems to me that
this was discussed here recently.  How much honey should be used to prime a
five gallon batch of beer?  How should it be prepared?

	I have started working on a collection of spent grain recipes,
adapting existing recipes which call for unmalted barley, steel cut oats,
cracked wheat, and other grains.  I have recipes for bread (at least one of
which was posted in the Spring).  I am looking for any other cooking
suggestions people have.  Please either post recipes, or send them to me.

Cheers,

Steve

- --
Steven J. Boege				"...I like too many things and get
Physics Department			all confused and hung-up running from
University of Rochester			one falling star to another till I
Rochester NY 14627			drop.  This is the night, what it
sjbg@troi.cc.rochester.edu		does to you.  I had nothing to offer
(716)473-8652 [Home]			anybody except my own confusion."
(716)275-3896 [Office]			On The Road by Jack Kerouac

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 12:43:09 PDT
From: grumpy!cr@uunet.UU.NET (C.R. Saikley)
Subject: Belgian Impressions - Brugge


For most visitors to Belgium, the Flemish city of Brugge (Bruges in French)
is on the list of "must see" places - and for good reason. The city's well
preserved architecture and network of canals give it a unique ambiance and
charm. A brief synopsis of Brugge's history will shed some light on how this
came to be.

A few hundred years ago, a relatively large, navigable river ran through
Brugge and to the Belgian coast. There was quite a bit of trade along this
river, from which Brugge derived considerable wealth. As a result, the town
was built with some of the finest architecture of the day. It seemed as
though Brugge would continue to grow and prosper, until Mother Nature
intervened. The river changed its course.

This left Brugge without its lifeline. Its commerce withered, and it became
much poorer. While wealthier communities were able to continue building and
"improving", Brugge was not. Furthermore, Brugge was spared in two world wars,
but many other parts of Belgium weren't so fortunate. Consequently, Brugge
is not filled with modern ugliness, but instead has retained its old world
character. As irony would have it, Brugge is again one of Belgium's wealthier
cities. Its architectural treasures attract the dollars of tourists from around
the world.

Prior to WWI, Brugge had 31 breweries. Today there are two : Straffe Hendrik
(translatable as Strong Henry), and De Gouden Boom (The Golden Tree). Time
did not permit a visit to Straffe Hendrik, but I did get to spend a
wonderful afternoon at De Gouden Boom. I was met at the brewery gates
by Louis Van Reeth, De Gouden Boom's commercial director. He proved to
be a very gracious host.

De Gouden Boom traces its roots back to 1872, when it was founded by Jules
Vanneste, and was originally called 't Hammerke (The Hammer). It has been
passed down from father to son, and is now run by Paul Vanneste, the fourth
generation brewmaster. In an age of rampant brewery closures and takeovers,
De Gouden Boom survives as an independent operation. Fortunately, the
Vanneste's have a 12 year old son, and it is hoped that the tradition will
continue.

Today they produce four different beers. Brugs Tarwebier is their Wit beer.
It is pale yellow and cloudy, with a soft yeasty and refreshing palate. It
has been a very successful product for them, as Wit beers have grown in
popularity in recent years. At 5%v, the Wit beer is their lightest entry.
They also make two Abbey style beers, a Dubbel and a Tripel, under the name
Abdij Steenbrugge. The Dubbel is a deep brown color, with rummy flavors from
the addition of dark candy sugar, and yeasty estery notes from the fermentation.
The Tripel is appropriately pale in color, and is somewhat drier than the
Dubbel. It has the same estery fermentation byproducts, but its flavors are
more in balance. Their heavy weight beer is called Brugse Tripel. It weighs
in at 9.5%v, and is my personal favorite. It's a big, rich, complex brew
which is amazingly smooth given its potency. This brew spends a full four
hours in the mash tun to extract every last bit of sugar from the grains.
It's packaged in a variety of sizes, including 1.5 liter magnums, which add
alot of weight to your luggage, but are worth every ounce.

The beautiful copper brewhouse looks traditional enough, yet is controlled
remotely from a not so traditional electronic panel. To keep all of the
modern technology in line, a larger than life image of St. Arnouldus watches
over the control room. St. Arnoldus, the patron saint of brewers, is said to
have invoked a miracle by producing beer after an abbey brewery collapsed
in the 11th century. His popularity in Belgium persists to this day.

The brews all go through about one week of primary fermentation, and are
then moved to aging/maturation tanks for secondary. The CO2 given off during
primary is collected by an elaborate system of airlocks and pipes, and is
used to carbonate kegged beer. The beers are all filtered and centrifuged
with the exception of the Wit, which retains its yeasty character. The other
bottled beers are then innoculated with a different culture for conditioning.
The rather large bottling line can crank out 14,000 bottles per hour. After
filling, the bottles move on to a warm room, where they are stored at 25
degrees C (77F) to encourage another fermentation. Both warm conditioning
and centrifuging are rare practices in the US, and may seem unusual to
readers in the states. They are, however, fairly common in Belgian breweries.

De Gouden Boom produces 30,000 hecto liters annually (about 26,000 barrels),
and of course generates quite a bit of spent grain. They dispose of this
by-product by feeding it to cattle on nearby farms. Making light of this,
Mr. Van Reeth commented, "In Brugge, the cows don't give milk, they give
beer!"

After touring the brewery itself, visitors can get a glimpse of Brugge's
brewing history. De Gouden Boom is devoted to preserving this history, and
maintains a brewery museum on the premesis. A large part of the museum is
devoted to the old malthouse, which was built in 1902 and remained in operation
until 1976. All of the original machinery is still in place. The rest of
the museum focuses on the many breweries that formerly existed in Brugge,
displaying old pictures, documents, barrels, maltmills, and breweriana from
days gone by. Of special interest is a map, complete with photographs,
indicating the locations of the defunct breweries. Since almost all of the
buildings are still intact, the truly obsessed can wander around the city and
find several of the old breweries.

Like all good brewery tours, this one culminated in a trip to the bar to
sample the wares. The hospitality room at De Gouden Boom is much like a
Belgian cafe. A large group had started their tour ahead of us, and they
were in full swing by the time we made it to the bar. Their presence added
a festive air to the simple elegance of tasting room. All four beers are
available, both for consumption on premesis or carry out. In addition,
glassware, gift packs, and the usual souveniers can be purchased.

As the brewery was closing, Mr. Van Reeth made a final gesture of good will.
He presented us each with a magnum bottle of Brugse Tripel, corked and wrapped
in foil. Definitely a beer to be saved for a special occasion, and one that
will encourage several toasts to St. Arnoldus, to Brouwerij De Gouden Boom,
and to Louis Van Reeth.

De Gouden Boom is open for public tours. Call ahead for hours.

Brouwerij De Gouden Boom
Langestraat 47
8000 Brugge
Belgium

(050) 33 06 99


------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 15:49:57 EDT
From: magdek@LONEX.RL.AF.MIL (Kevin M. Madge)
Subject: Homebrew digest posting



Does anyone have any guesses as to the recipe for Samichlaus?  I talked to
a few people with discerning palates and they claim that there is a mystery
flavor in it.  Any ideas?

Kevin Magde
magdek@lonex.rl.af.mil



------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 13:28:55 -0700
From: eurquhar@sfu.ca
Subject: Re: KENYON yeast culturing

        In a word YES.  If a yeast culture has more than one yeast
species/strain present in the mixture both must be maintained separately
and grown up separately for the balance to be maintained.  If not then one
species will become dominant over time as it is very unlikely that growth
rates are exactly matched.
        As to how you tell the difference that is a much more difficult
problem.  Since both strains are Saccharomyces they will appear to be very
similar to the naked eye and likely also under the microscope.  If you
simply streaked out from the undiluted wort mixture then chances are very
good that none of the colonies which have appeared are composed of only 1
species.
        The easiest way would be to dilute a sample of the inoculated wort
by 1000 to 10,000 times and streak out this mixture over several plates.
However, doing dilutions like this should be done aseptically with sterile
water or wort.
        Since, you are at Princeton I would suggest going over to the
biomedical library and taking a look at "Yeasts" either the edition by
Lodder(1980?) or Kreger VanRij(1984).  This is the standard reference work
on yeast taxonomy full of great pictures and detailed descriptions.
Everything including all methods you would need are included.  If you need
any more help you know where to find me.

                                           Welcome to the wonderful world
of yeast culturing
                                           Eric Urquhart,
(eurquhar@sfu.ca)Biological Sciences
                                           Simon Fraser University,
Burnaby,
                                           British Columbia


------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 17:38:21 EDT
From: bob@rsi.com (Bob Gorman)
Subject: Flame


In HBD #926 Jack Schmidling writes about his cold plate and adds:

"I brought it to Milwaukee with a keg of you know what."

This remark I can not leave untouched.  I tasted some of that beer.
It was a terrible brew, infected, astringent and unbalanced.  As one
conference goer stated: "How fitting it's served in urine sample cups.".

Although this a direct flame against Jack, it is also the truth.

 -- Bob Gorman

------------------------------


End of HOMEBREW Digest #932, 07/24/92
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