From: gummitch@techbook.com (Jeff Frane)
Subject: Re: Cara Pils malt
Organization: TECHbooks --- Public Access UNIX --- (503) 220-0636
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 19:00:20 GMT

adw3345@ultb.isc.rit.edu (A.D. Williams) writes:

> Let me tell you about that all-grain batch- it was a total disaster.
>Not only did it taste awful (I think it was the tannic acid from the
>husks) but it was explosive as well. When I defused the bottles the
>caps flew well over 15 feet and I was left holding a bottle of old
>faithful beer in which pretty much the entire contents turned into
>foam. Oh well, stick to extracts for now, I said.

> However, with this batch, I can taste the off flavor that the all
>grain batch had. Objectively it's not too bad, since it is very faint
>and other people don't notice anything awful about it. However, alarm
>bells are ringing in the beer section of my brain. What exactly does
>cara pils malt do, and is my beer going to turn out to be another
>gusher? Is there a way to tell early on so I don't have glass grenades
>in my closet?

> I'm watching this batch to see if the lesson is "don't use cara pils
>malt with extracts", but perhaps someone could tell me not to panic
>(or panic- wake the children, call 911, call the bomb squad!).

> Also, is there anything real obvious why an attempt at an all grain
>batch would produce the results above? (Not enough attention to
>temperature, starch conversion failed, etc etc).

Unfortunately, I don't think the problem has anything to do either with
CaraPils malt or with all-grain brewing.  Your beer bombs, and the
off-flavor, would lead me to believe that there is some kind of
bacterial infection persisting in your procedure/equipment.  CaraPils
malt is designed to add dextrines (read: body) to your beer and there is
no conceivable way they could be responsible for your problem.  I also
think it unlikely, as someone else has suggested, that the problem is
that you bottled too early for presumably you've bottled a few batches
before without incident -- and it fails to take into account the
off-flavor.  

Bacteria, on the other hand, can cause off-flavors and can ferment
ingredients that yeast won't touch, hence the bombs.  The give-away,
really, is the off-flavor, which you initially ascribed to grain husks.
The same sort of harshness, or perhaps a sort of metallic quality, can
be a product of bacteria.

My own suggestion would be that you do a thorough review of your
process, stopping along the way to double-check that you haven't taken
one little short-cut in sanitation.  Look particularly for something
that the extract beer and the all-grain beer have in common (perhaps a
scratched carboy or a piece of hose).  I have recently eliminated (knock
wood) an unpleasant odor/flavor that was undoubtedly a result of
contamination, by tossing out all the old plastic/rubber pieces of
equipment I was using, along with one suspiciously scratched carboy.
This is after eight years of brewing; don't take my suggestion
personally.

--Jeff Frane

>-- 
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>- Derrick Williams   Rochester Institute of Technology | Insert snappy  -
>- adw3345@ultb.isc.rit.edu     Computer Science        | quotation here -
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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