From: homebrew@lupulus.ssc.gov
Subject: HOMEBREW Digest #956
Organization: The Internet
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 07:38:44 GMT


HOMEBREW Digest #956		             Thu 27 August 1992


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


Contents:
  Coors and "Rocky Mountain" Spring Water (919) 541-7340" <FP$JEFF@RCC.RTI.ORG>
  Questions answered. ("C. Lyons")
  Re: Beer Concentrate (Daniel Roman)
  Clean siphoning (Ed Hitchcock)
  Brewin' In Chicago (craigman)
  Catalogs ("Richard Moreaux" )
  Re: Brewing Disaster (Norm Pyle)
  re: where is Bayreuth (mcnally)
  Scottish Ale Recipe Wanted (Mike Gauland)
  Siphon Starting ("Rad Equipment")
  Jeff's Geography Lesson (Richard Stueven)
  RE: Siphons (Roy Styan)
  Woodruff (Alan Mayman)
  lallemand windsor ale yeast--a data point (Tony Babinec)
  Wanted: Brewpub listing for San Fran. (Christopher Butler)
  Metal Taste and Mashing Questions (Thomas D. Feller)
  Vinometers & Beer Making (wegeng.henr801c)
  Bubbles while siphoning / Labelling bottles  (J.N.) Avery"
 <javery@x400gate.bnr.ca>
  Bringing beer back from Europe (Phillip Seitz)
  RE: Hop questions (Paul dArmond)
  Altbier/Oktoberfest Recipe ("Jim Ellingson")
  need yeast (Roy Rudebusch)
  Siphon starters (Kinney Baughman)
  Re: BEER CONCENTRATE (Bob Devine  25-Aug-1992 1642)
  Re: Digest reader/extractor for Unix? (Chuck Cox)
  Cajun Cooker/Dry Hopping/Marga Mulino/Siphon/Coors (Darren Evans-Young)
  diluting boiled wort (Brett Shorten)
  Re:  Digest reader/extractor for Unix? (whg)
  liquid yeast (Mark R. Garti)
  Commercialism on the Network ? (919) 541-7340" <FP$JEFF@RCC.RTI.ORG>


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

Date: 25 Aug 1992 09:10:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Jeff McCartney (919) 541-7340" <FP$JEFF@RCC.RTI.ORG>
Subject: Coors and "Rocky Mountain" Spring Water

>>From: Arthur Delano <ajd@itl.itd.umich.edu>
>>Subject: Re: BEER CONCENTRATE
>>
>>Jack writes:
>>] It seems that
>>] Coors is claiming to use Rocky Mountain Spring Water in the beer that they
>>] are "brewing" in Virginia
>>
>>They may be hewing the the letter, if not spirit, of their claims.  If
>>Coors prepares a heavy wort in Colorado and then ships it to Virginia,
>>the beer will, in fact, have some water from the Rocky Mountains in it,
>>albeit not much -- more of a homeopathic dose.
>>
>>] It is interesting to speculate just what "beer concentrate" might be.
>>
>>My uneducated speculation is that they prepare a heavy wort, ready for
>>fermentation, in CO and ship it to VA to dilute, ferment, and bottle.
>>If i were covering the story and had the time to do so, i would take a
>>tour of the Virginia plant to see what is done there.
>>
>>------------------------------
I attended Bridgewater College which is about a half hour from the Coors
Virginia Plant.  I drove by it's location many times prior to it's opening.
When Coors purchased the land (located conveniently to RR lines), they also
purchased a mountain.  The name of that mountain was "Rocky Mountain".  I'm
fairly certain this wasn't hearsay.  There were articles published in the
Harrisonburg paper with this news, but I personally never verified it.  Thus,
the intention was that initially beer would be shipped to VA and then bottled
with the long term plan being to brew in VA.  And because of the "Rocky
Mountain" in VA providing very good spring water, there'd be no problem with
labeling.  Any of you guys from BackDoor Brewers in Charlottesville have
anything to add to this posting?

Jeff McCartney
Durham, NC
INTERNET::"JEFF@ZEUS.RTI.ORG"




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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 08:49 EDT
From: "C. Lyons" <LYONS@adc1.adc.ray.com>
Subject: Questions answered.

Several people answered my questions on adding ice to cool the wort to
yeast pitching temperature and the use of 170F water for sparging.
Thank you all!

The concern with using ice is that of sanitation.  It appears that the
freezer is a happy haven for free-loving bacteria.  Transferring ice
from the freezer to the cooling wort can be a means of introducing
nasties.  Suggestions were made to avoid tray ice, boil water and
freeze in a sanitized closed milk container, cool wort by placing
brew pot or primary in an ice bath, or use a wort chiller.

As for the use of 170F water for sparging.  The general consensus is
that the purpose of the sparge is to remove remaining sugars from the
grains.  To do this the water should be as warm/hot as possible without
extracting tannins from the grain.  Cold water will not dissolve the
sugars to the extent of warm water, and boiling water will result in
obtaining a harsh (astringent) beer flavor.

Thanks for all your comments!  Since I am always looking for
short cuts, it helps to have an understanding of the techniques.

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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 9:12:28 EDT
From: roman@tix.timeplex.com (Daniel Roman)
Subject: Re: Beer Concentrate

Arthur, I heard a commercial for Natural Lite (or is it Light) beer
where they talked about Coors Lite (or is it Light :-) being shipped in
tankers as a concentrate to Virginia and reconstituted there with Virginia
water as opposed to Rocky Mountain spring water.  This radio spot was on
a major New York City station August 22nd so if the spots were supposed
to have been pulled prior to that it's news to them!

If I recall correctly, there was a short spot in Zymurgy as well as the
New York Times before Christmas 1991.  I would have to surmise that
there is something to this and Coors is none too happy ;-)

Anyway, the radio spot goes on to say that since Natural Light is brewed
locally and not shipped concentrated in tanker cars you should buy it
because it's fresher, and by implication, a more "honest" beer.

I personally don't care what Coors does with Coors Light (I don't like
Perrier either), just as long as they keep the Killians and Winter Fest
in their product line!
- --
____________________________________________________________________
Dan Roman                          Internet:  roman@tix.timeplex.com

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

Date: 25 Aug 1992 10:46:17 -0300
From: Ed Hitchcock <ECH@AC.DAL.CA>
Subject: Clean siphoning



In the last HBD Chris was looking for a method of siphoning cleanly.  I
believe Papazian would blame his troubles on insufficient relaxation, but
to help Chris and others relax, here is a simple way to start siphoning
without sucking or using motorized pumps.  Items required: one two-hole
bung (I have seen two-hole orange rubber carboy caps, they will do nicely);
one bicycle tire pump; siphon tubing.  First, take the bike pump apart
and reverse the washer so that it makes a seal when pulling, rather than
pushing.  Then connect some siphon hose from the bike pump to one hole of
the bung.  Connect siphon hose to the other hole, and run it to the brew.
The hose may be extended from the bung down to the bottom of the carboy
to prevent  splashing, or left at the level of the bung to allow splashing
if siphoning cooled wort before pitching.  Step three, pull on the bike pump
a few times.  This sucks air out of the carboy, which draws wort in through
the hose.  This technique also works for starting flow through a chiller.
If one is over-worried about sanitation and handling the equipment, pick up
some surgical gloves at the local pharmacy.


	-Ed


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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 08:52:46 -0600
From: craigman@casbah.acns.nwu.edu
Subject: Brewin' In Chicago

hasn@midway.uchicago.edu (Sheheryar Hasnain) writes:


>Any one know of any stores in Chicago other than Brewin Beer and Indoor
>Garden.
>The Yellow Pages had "Brew for less" but when I called, the number had
been
>disconnected (hint!).  Since I dont have a car, a store closer to me would
>help (plus I cant believe that Chicago could have only 2 stores!).
>Thanks

        You know, it's funny, but I've only found one other supplier in
Chicago.  Since I've found it convenient to shop at IGS, I've never been to
or called any other.  In Elmhurst, you should find Winemakers.  I don't
know about the address, but I think it's on Elmhurst road right across the
street from Who's On First, the now defunct comedey club.  As far as IGS is
concerned, I've been homebrewing 1 1/2 years and have only ever been out
there once, and their stock variety has more than doubled since my first
purchase.  Call them up (800) 444 2837.  They'll send you a list and sell
you what-u-want.  The fellow I've always spoken to is quite friendly (a
rarity in this city) and lends good advice when I need it.

Happy Homebrew

LizardArm

craigman@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (craig anderson)


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

Date:         25 Aug 92 09:04:28 CDT
From: "Richard Moreaux"  <RMOREAUX@oz.umb.ksu.edu>
Subject:      Catalogs

I would like some information on where to get catalogs that carry
homebrewing supplies as I have not found any stores in the Manhattan,
ks area.
I would also like the address to Zymurgy.

Thanks in advance!

+--------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| Richard Moreaux     :-)        |    rmoreaux@oz.umb.ksu.edu       |
| computer consultant            |     moreaux@ksuvm.ksu.edu        |
| Computer systems office        |                                  |
| Kansas State University        |                                  |
+--------------------------------+----------------------------------+

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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 09:01:18 MDT
From: pyle@intellistor.com (Norm Pyle)
Subject: Re: Brewing Disaster

A couple of years ago in my brewing youth I had an interesting experience:

My own brewing disaster came in the winter here in Colorado, my second batch,
I think.  It too involved cooling the wort.  I hadn't learned about wort
chillers.  I didn't even have the sense to put the cold water in my primary
prior to adding the hot wort (oxidation?  what's that?).  Soooo, I sanitized
my 7 gallon glass carboy primary and heated it up with hot water before
adding the hot wort (I did know a little about thermal shock...but not
enough).  The hot wort was not a problem going into the carboy (fooled you,
didn't I?).  I then added cool water on top of the hot wort, no problem.

Well, the temp was still too high; I could tell by touch that it was over a
hundred degrees F.  I decided to put it outside in the cold Colorado air to
cool it faster.  When I was carrying it out, the hot bottom started getting
to my hands (the thermal mass of the original hot wort really had the bottom
of that carboy toasty).  I decided I'd better put it down quickly before I
dropped it and, heaven forbid, broke it.  Well, the spot I chose (or got
stuck with) had a small patch of snow which I didn't really pay attention to,
since I was starting to get concerned with the first layer of skin on my
hands.  You guessed it this time, the carboy cracked from the thermal shock
of the snow against the hot carboy.

Only a small bit of hot wort came out the bottom and then the contraction of
the fluids inside pulled the carboy back intact!  It was holding!  I decided
"if I'm going to lose a carboy I'm sure as h*ll going to try and save that
homebrew".  Sooooo, I went and got another carboy and sanitized it, figuring
on racking off most of the wort while avoiding the bottom few inches to
prevent sucking up some glass shards.

Of course, as soon as I pulled the foil, or plastic wrap, off the top of the
carboy the vaccuum was broken.  The carboy came apart and the goods were
lost.  And then depression set in...  It was an interesting crack, though, in
that the entire bottom of the carboy came off clean in a disk shape.

Moral:  Use a wort chiller, OR put cold water in the carboy before adding the
hot wort, OR use a plastic primary, OR use some common sense...

Norm (brewing adolescent)

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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 08:36:58 -0700
From: mcnally@wsl.dec.com
Subject: re: where is Bayreuth


Just goes to show ya: as the "where is Iowa" affair demonstrated a year
ago, and as my latest foray into the dimwit zone reinforces, it's real
dangerous to attempt geographymanship ploys without access to a map.

Sorry Darryl.

On to beer.  I've been working my way through a "Belgique" ale brewed
with some "Ambre" malt I got from Liberty.  At the time, I had no mill,
so the crush was achieved with a marble rolling pin (see "dimwit zone"
above).  The crush was thus insanely uneven.  The beer is not bad, but
it's kinda thin; the head consists of relatively big short-lived
bubbles.  I suspect that the poor crush is in some way responsible,
but I'm not able to rationally explaiin it to myself.  Suggestions?

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Mike McNally                                           mcnally@wsl.dec.com
Digital Equipment Corporation
Western Software Lab

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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 08:43:04 PDT
From: gaulandm@tekig7.pen.tek.com (Mike Gauland)
Subject:  Scottish Ale Recipe Wanted

I've tasted a couple of micro brews claiming to be "Scottish Style Ale".  Would
anyone out there have a recipe in this style (preferably extract or partial
mash)?

Bottoms up,
Mike

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

Date: 25 Aug 92 08:54:54 U
From: "Rad Equipment" <rad_equipment@rad-mac1.ucsf.EDU>
Subject: Siphon Starting

Subject:  Siphon Starting                       Time:8:34 AM     Date:8/25/92
Chris Estes mentioned his concerns for starting siphons when he uses the "fill
first with water" method. I frequently use this approach when racking. Here's
how I do it.

I transfer from my 15 gallon fermenter to kegs with a 1/2 inch siphon. The cane
is made from soft copper so it can be sanitized with boiling water. The tubing
(about 5') is stored in a bleach solution between uses and rinsed in  water
just prior to use (about a 1/2 gallon of boiling water in a large pot with
tubing submerged in it). When I have the cane in place, I take 2 large
hemostats (about 10") and pinch off both ends of the tubing in the pot,
trapping the solution inside, and remove the tube from the water. I pinch one
end of the tube leaving enough free to mate with the cane. Hand contact at this
end isn't a problem since you're only concerned with the inside at this end.
Once mated, I clamp the tube to the cane with a plastic pinch clamp and remove
the hemostat at that end. The other end of the tube is then lowered and its
hemostat removed, starting the siphon.

RW...

      Russ Wigglesworth              CI$:      72300,61
|~~|  UCSF Medical Center            Internet: Rad Equipment@RadMac1.ucsf.edu
|HB|\ Dept. of Radiology, Rm. C-324  Voice:    415-476-3668 / 474-8126 (H)
|__|/ San Francisco, CA 94143-0628


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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 09:28:04 PDT
From: gak@wrs.com (Richard Stueven)
Subject: Jeff's Geography Lesson

>No, Linz (Austria) is east of Munich.
>Bayreuth is directly NORTH of Munich (about 200km).
>Kulmbach (home of EKU) is ~25km NNW of Bayreuth.
>Ceske Budejovice (Budweis) is ~230km ENE of Munich.
>Plzen (Pilsen) is ~220km NNE of Munich.

And I'm thousands of kilometers from all these places...  :-(

gak

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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 09:35:49 PDT
From: rstya@sparky.mda.ca (Roy Styan)
Subject: RE: Siphons


> In HBD #954 Chris Estes writes:
> Starting siphons is a part of brewing that I WORRY about!  ...

I have found a very simple solution for siphoning worries.  Rubber gloves.
I thoroughly clean and sanitize the siphon, put my gloves on, and dip these
in a jar of sanitzing solution.  Then I can pick up the siphon and manhandle
it any way I want.  To start the siphoning action, I jamb a sanitized pipet
into the end of the siphon and suck on it.  When the flow starts, the pipet
is removed and the siphon's end stuck in the carboy.  It doesn't take much
care to ensure that nothing but sanitized parts touch the siphon.

 - Roy -

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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 13:35:53 -0400
From: Alan Mayman <maymanal@scvoting.fvo.osd.mil>
Subject: Woodruff

Howdy,

After sampling a May wine from a local winery I was very
impressed with the flavor of Woodruf(f?).  If anyone has
used this herb before in mead or beer please e-mail me
about your experience.

 - Thanks,

Alan

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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 13:05:29 CDT
From: tony@spss.com (Tony Babinec)
Subject: lallemand windsor ale yeast--a data point

I picked up some of Lallemand's "Windsor" and "Nottingham" yeast at
the AHA Milwaukee conference.  I don't customarily use dry yeast,
but I recognize that it's convenient and that many use it.  I
recently used Windsor to ferment a Bitter, and to all appearances,
it performed well.

I first rehydrated the yeast by sprinkling it into some pre-boiled
tepid water in a flask and letting it sit for 10 minutes.  I then
added some sterile wort and put a fermentation lock on.  The yeast
took off relatively quickly, say, within an hour.  Meanwhile, I
finished the boil, chilled the hopped wort, and combined the wort
and yeast in the primary.  Fermentation was complete within about
3 or 4 days at an ambient basement temperature of 68 degrees F.
The wort clarified nicely.  I have since racked to secondary, dry-
hopped, kegged, and tasted it, and noticed nothing amiss.

This account is merely one data point.  I cannot speak in any
technical way to the purity of the yeast.  But it seems that if the
yeast is well-handled and fresh when you get it, it will produce a
clean beer.

I intend to use the Nottingham yeast on a similar recipe to see
whether it performs any differently.

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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 13:12:12 -0500
From: cab@jezebel.wustl.edu (Christopher Butler)
Subject: Wanted: Brewpub listing for San Fran.


I will be traveling to San Francisco in a couple of weeks and I would like to
get a listing of all of the microbreweries and brewpubs in San Francisco.  A
while ago on HBD (early spring) I saw such a listing, but didn't think I would
be going to SF so soon.  So, if someone could send such a list directly to me at
cab@jezebel.wustl.edu, I would be very happy.

Thanks
Christopher Butler
Graduate Student (Mathematics)
cab@jezebel.wustl.edu

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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 11:17:15 PDT
From: thomasf@deschutes.ico.tek.com (Thomas D. Feller)
Subject: Metal Taste and Mashing Questions

I again want to thank everyone for the help and ideas about my
first all grain brews. Thanks!!!!

Now to the problems/questions, I have been using my SS soda kegs
for both primary and secondary fermenters for the past year and I
have been quite happy with the way they work. On the pickup tubes
of my two primary kegs I have short(~1 in.) pieces of copper pipe
with caps on one end. These work like the caps on sphioning tubes
to keep me from picking stuff of the bottom of the kegs. I got the
idea for these caps from an article in Zymurgy about transfer from
keg to keg. I transfered my Blueberry Wheat beer from the primary
to my secondary over the weekend, I took a sample and tasted it.
It has a very bitter metal taste, I also notice this metal taste
in a Blackberry Stout I made about a year ago. With the stout the
taste when away in about two weeks but I used much less berries
than my Blueberry wheat and of course the stout flavor could have
hidden some of the metal taste. I figured I would give my wheat
beer a month or so and see if the metal taste went away.

Well,last night I cleaned out the primary keg which had the wheat
beer in it and when I remove the copper cap it looked like it had
been etched by an acid. I had cleaned it well before putting the
wheat brew in it and at that time it was smooth. I use iodophor
as my sanitizer so I don't think it was etched by my sanitizing
agent.

 I believe the berries are the cause, what does the HBD think?

I am going to throw all my copper caps away and use a SS pickup
tube with about 0.75 in cut off the bottom. This should do the
same job as the caps and elimate the question of the copper. The
only problem is that all the fresh Blueberries are gone so I will
have to frozen but that is the way we lrean.

Ok, now about my second all grain brew. I got a stopped sparge,
I tried blowing in the drain tube, it would flow again for a
minute or two and then reduce down to just the smallest of flow.
I poured the grain out and cleaned out my Phil's Phalse bottom,
I thought the hose which comes out of the bottom was cloging
before the grain bed could set. After much messing about I got
it to flow again but only a trickle. I used a right angle water
shut off value like you see under sinks, so I removed the valve
part from the assy. and used a wire to check for clogs. Everything
was clear, so I am sure the problem was with the grain bed. I used
the grain mill at my local homebrew store and I believe I got too
fine a crush and this caused my mash problems. It did slow down my
sparge rate from my first brew but this is not the way I wanted
to do it.

So the point here if you have a poor flow rate look to the crush
first and not the size of the holes in you manifold.

Tom Feller




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

Date: 	Tue, 25 Aug 1992 11:54:46 PDT
From: wegeng.henr801c@xerox.com
Subject: Vinometers & Beer Making

A friend of mine (who is a home winemaker) has told me about a device called a
"vinometer" which is used by winemakers to determine the amount of alcohol in
their wine.  I`ve never seen one, but apparently this is a device with a small
diameter glass tube sticking out the top.  The glass tube is marked with
alcohol percentages.  When you pour wine into the vinometer some of it goes up
the tube (capillary action?), and the level of liquid in the tube tells you how
much alcohol is in the wine.  My friend claims that he has tested his vinometer
with whiskey and other alcoholic beverages of known alcohol strength, and it`s
always been correct.

Has anyone ever heard of this device?  Does it really work, or is my friend
full of baloney?  Will it work for beer?  While this device would not replace
my hydrometer, it sounds like it would be a useful addition to my beer making
kit.

Thanks,
/Don

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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 15:23:00 +0000
From: "Joel (J.N.) Avery" <javery@x400gate.bnr.ca>
Subject: Bubbles while siphoning / Labelling bottles

We've talked for a while about getting bubbles in the siphon hose,
and ways to get rid of them, but never about what they mean.  Bubbles
happened to me a couple of times way back in 85 or 86 when I was
a rookie.  When this happened, I took it to mean that, since there
still was a lot of dissolved carbon dioxide in the beer, that perhaps
the beer was not ready to be racked (or bottled, depending on when
the event occured).  So, like the good book says, I relaxed, and let
the beer sit longer in the primary, and I never have this problem
any more.

So, does the presence of bubbles in the crook of the siphoning tube
(I still use the stiff J shaped tube), indicate that the beer is being
racked too soon, or does it really matter?  For that matter, can you
actually rack beer too soon?

Labelling brews.  Ever since the first batch (which was brewed with
a lot of interest and excitement), I have never glued a label to a
bottle of my homemade beer - I just write the batch number on the cap.
This way, I find it real easy to dig up a bottle of #17 in my beer archive.
It also cuts down the bottling process, and the bottle cleanup process, as
the cap just goes into the recycle bin.  Well that, and perhaps the fact that
the White Beaver brewing company dropped from having three employees
to just one has resulting in a streamlining of the labour involved
in the process (and the quality improved!).

Joel Avery   <javery@bnr.ca>
Slave, Bell-Northern Research
Onwer and Operator, White Beaver Brewing Company

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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 20:01 GMT
From: Phillip Seitz <0004531571@mcimail.com>
Subject: Bringing beer back from Europe

In HBD 953 Brian Davis (Brian%mbf.uucp.ics.uci.edu) asked for information
about bringing large quantities of beer back from Europe.  I replied with
some of my experience, but in retrospect I felt guilty for shooting my
mouth off without providing any real, hard information.  Guilt is the
great motivator, so I called the U.S. Customs Service here in Washington
to get the scoop.

According to the folks there, people are allowed to bring back one liter
free of duty or taxes.  Depending on the state you are returning into
(that is, where you clear customs) you may now or soon will be able to
bring in a gallon instead.  Beyond this you are supposed to pay a
10% duty, which is calculated at 10% of the purchase VALUE of the
beer you are importing.  I stress this because duty is payable on
stuff you were given, as well as things you bought.

But there's a catch (isn't there always?).  The Customs Service
doesn't seem to care how much you bring in, as long as you pay
the duty.  However, the actual amount you can bring in is
controlled by each state.  In other words, the state where your
airport is located (i.e. New York for Kennedy Airport arrivals)
can sieze beer if you bring back more than they allow.

How much do they allow?  Well, that's where I ran out of information.
Based on the assumption that most European travelers return through
Kennedy Airport, are there any HBD readers in New York who'd be willing
to check on this?  If you could just figure out who to contact I will
be happy to do the calling, and I'm sure that this information will be
of use to a good number of readers.

For more general information the Customs Service can be reached at
202-927-2095.  For information on duties in particular, call
202-927-0770.  The guys who know about beer appear to be Arnold
Sarasky and Ed Bohannon, whose office can be reached at the
second number.

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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 13:37:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: Paul dArmond <paulf@henson.cc.wwu.edu>
Subject: RE: Hop questions

In HBD 953, Mike Schrempp wonders:  Why not let hops dry on the vine?, and
How come his fingers don't turn sticky?

I've been waiting out the ripening period here in Washington state.  We've
had some cooler weather and my hops aren't ready to pick yet.  I've been
bringing samples to the office.  My co-workers refer to the little pile of
fresh hops as my "hop altar".  As the not-yet-fully ripe hops dry, they
start to shed some of the lupulin powder.  This is very evident if they
are kept on a dark surface.  The lupulins start coming loose as the hops
dry out.  If you let them go on the bine, the precious resin glands will
be scattered by the wafting breezes.

I have a brochure on hop growing that was printed by the John I. Haas Co.
It has a chart that shows the alpha content steadily rising from 4% to 8%
for clusters during a two week period in August.  The rate of change is
straight as a line.  The booklet says that ripeness and picking time is
determined by testing for alpha acid content.  Though the chart doesn't
tell you much, I assume that alpha production levels off and then falls,
with the best time to pick, just as the curve levels off.

My dad (he's 74) used to pick hops in Yakima when he was a kid.  He says
that his hands would be black from the hops at the end of the day.  He
also said that the hops made people's hands very sore, though he can't
remember if it was the sticky stuff or the roughness of the bines.  Some
people wore gloves, but that made it harder to pick.  I'll ask him more
about it next time I see him.

Paul de Armond  --  The flames go out if you don't feed them


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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 15:58:28 -0500
From: "Jim Ellingson" <jimme@pi28.arc.umn.edu>
Subject: Altbier/Oktoberfest Recipe

There was recently an inquiry about alts and Oktoberfest recipes.
We are posting this recipe in response to that request.  We have
not yet bottled, but we felt compelled to post initial results so that
others wishing to make a similar brew for Oktoberfest will have time
to do so.  This is an initial recipe only, and is not meant for
inclusion in the Cat's Meow (should another one be created).
A complete recipe with taste results will be posted at a later date.


Brewers: Cush Hamlen (cush@msc.edu) and Jim Ellingson(jimme@ahpcrc.umn.edu)

Wishing to create an Oktoberfest-style beer, but lacking facilities to
lager during the summer months, we decided to try our hands at an
Oktoberfest-style altbier.  At racking to secondary, it shows promise,
so we hereby post the following recipe for:


                            "ALTOBERFEST"

10 # 6-row pale malt
1/2 # caramel malt (90L)
1/2 # toasted malt - also called Victory malt (25L)
1/8 # chocolate malt (350L)
1 tsp gypsum
1 oz. Hallertau hops (alpha = 4.5), boil 60 minutes
1/2 oz. Tettnanger hops (alpha = 2.6), steeped 5 minutes
1/2 oz. Tettnanger hops (alpha = 2.6), dry-hopped
1 tsp Irish moss, last 10 minutes of boil
Wyeast "European" yeast (#1338) in 3 cups 'starter' (SG = 1.030)

Procedure:

Use step-mash: add 2.75 gallons 130F water to achieve a 120 - 124 grist,
hold 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes (shortened protein rest).

Add 1.4 gallons 200F water to achieve a 150F grist.  Hold 5 minutes.
Raise grist temperature to 158 (we used direct heat on a stove).  Hold
25 minutes or until iodine test shows conversion.

Raise temperature to 170 (mash-out).  Hold 15 minutes.
Sparge with 5.5 gallons water, maintaining 170F grain-bed temperature.

Boil one hour.  Add Irish moss for last 10 minutes of boil.  Add 1/2 oz.
Tettnanger hops as heat is turned off.  Allow to steep for 5 minutes.
Cool wort to pitching temperature (imersion chiller, 30 minutes to 70F.)

Yield: 5.5 gallons at OG = 1.052.

Pitched to starter 48 hours after breaking capsule.  Pitched to wort
3 days later, long past krausen.  Slow bubbles in 7 hours. Established
a nice steady fermentation in 18 hours (a bubble every 15 Seconds.)
Transfer to secondary and dry hop with 1/2 oz. Tettnanger after
seven days.  SG at racking = 1.016.



Comments:
The 1/8 # of chocolate malt gave a surprisingly dark, reddish brown
color to this brew. Not too far out of character, but not quite what
we had anticipated.

Fermentor was still bubbling about 1 bubble every minute, and wort was
cloudy at racking time.  This yeast is supposed to be a slow working yeast,
so this did not concern us.  The aroma of fermentation was yeasty,
but quite pleasant.  Tasting at racking showed a smooth brew, perhaps a
bit under-hopped (by Pacific Northwest Standards. By MaltWest Standards
it's fine to hoppy  }:~)!!).  The dry-hopping will help balance the malt
flavor. The 'Alt' character of the yeast is very apparent, and very delicious.

We plan to bottle in about two weeks, and will post a complete recipe/comments
sometime after.  Too bad we have to wait until Oktober to REALLY enjoy
this batch!

Cheers,
Cush and Jim
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Jim Ellingson                                     jimme@ahpcrc.umn.edu
 AHPCRC/University of Minnesota                    (612) 626-8087
 1100 Washington Ave. So.
 Minneapolis, MN 55415
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------


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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 14:32:00 -0500
From: roy.rudebusch%travel@wugate.wustl.edu (Roy Rudebusch)
Subject: need yeast

From: wugate.wustl.edu!travel!roy rudebusch

Dear Friends;

   Anybody have a trappist yeast slant that they could part with?

   Send to: Roy Rudebusch
            IMO Homebrew Supply
            2901 Hallmark
            St. Louis, MO  63125


   I figure $5 is about fair.(?)

   Thanks!

 * OLX 2.2 * marriage is ok, but I wouldn't recommend it for singles


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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 18:14 EDT
From: Kinney Baughman <BAUGHMANKR@CONRAD.APPSTATE.EDU>
Subject: Siphon starters


Chris Estes asks:

>Anyway... My question:  Has anyone ever used a hand or drill operated pump
>for racking.

Don't know about drill operated pumps but HBD regular and gadget-maker
extraordinaire, Russ Wigglesworth, distributes The Sucker, a Siphon Starter.
It's low-tech but sure to please.  You could email him for details.

Kinney
baughmankr@conrad.appstate.edu


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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 16:49:41 PDT
From: Bob Devine  25-Aug-1992 1642 <devine@sfbay.enet.dec.com>
Subject: Re: BEER CONCENTRATE

The gist of the Anheuser-Busch v. Coors lawsuit stems from the
advertising that Coors does.  Its claim of fresh Rocky Mountain
spring water was challenged by A-B because Coors brews high-gravity
batches at its Golden Colorado site and then ships the undiluted
beer via refrigerated railcars to its Virginia bottling plant.
A-B claims that by adding Virginia water to dilute the beer Coors
is practicing false advertising.

I agree that A-B is factually right on this (even though the Coors
plant is near a mountain called "Rocky Mountain" in Virginia!)

However, PLEASE don't discuss this in HBD since it ain't homebrewing!

Bob "who died and appointed me arbiter?" Devine

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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 19:55:52 EDT
From: chuck@synchro.com (Chuck Cox)
Subject: Re: Digest reader/extractor for Unix?

Stefan Karlsson asks:
>
> I've seen programs for reading the digest in a nice way for
> PC and Mac, but does someone know about such a program for Unix,
> for example a script for sed or emacs. mp -d breaks pages
> for printing but it would be nice being able to extract
> a single article. Please post or email.

>From what I've seen on the digest, and in private email, I think the
following might be of general interest to the digest even though its not
strictly homebrew-related.

Here's the 'undigest' script I use.  This works on my mutant, antiquated
Xenix system, so you will probably have to change at least the
'execmail' line to work on any reasonable system.

#
# split digest on stdin into separate messages
#
# usage: undigest reply_address recipient_address
#
# init variables
FROM=$1
TO=$2
TMP="/tmp/ud.$FROM"
# copy stdin to tmp file
cat - > $TMP
# split tmp file into individual article files
csplit -s -k -f $TMP. $TMP '%^Date:%' '/^Date:/' {99} 2> /dev/null
# mail each article to recipient
for MSG in $TMP.??
do
    (echo "Reply-To: $FROM"; cat $MSG) | /usr/lib/mail/execmail -f $FROM $TO
done
# clean up
rm $TMP*

Here's how its invoked from my '.elm/filter-rules' file:

if ( from = "homebrew" ) then execute "/usr/local/bin/undigest hbd chuck"

I use the Elm mailer and filter.  You can accomplish the same thing with
most modern mailers.  Since the individual messages are mailed, you can
use additional rules to filter each article.  If you don't have a filter
program, you can probably establish a mail alias to receive the digest
and send it to the 'undigest' program.  See your sysadmin for details.

Warning, ranting ahead:

You'd be amazed how much the quality and attitude of the digest improves
with a little filtering to delete articles from certain authors, with
certain subjects, or containing certain keywords.  My filter normally
removes one or two articles per digest (except during the recent
promotional campaign when most articles were tossed).  Yet it hasn't
interfered with any threads that mattered to me.

As unmoderated mailing lists grow, the signal-to-noise ratio degrades.
Thats just a fact of life.  Don't worsen the problem by complaining
about it to the list.  Use your computer to filter out most of the
noise.  After all, shouldn't these #%&@* machines do something to
improve our lives?

- --
Chuck Cox <chuck@synchro.com>
In de hemel is geen bier, daarom drinken wij het hier.

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

Date:         Tue, 25 Aug 92 19:35:34 CDT
From: Darren Evans-Young <DARREN@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      Cajun Cooker/Dry Hopping/Marga Mulino/Siphon/Coors

On Thu, 20 Aug 92 10:00:45 CDT, Phil Miller <pmiller@mmm.com> said:

>How long can I expect a standard tank of propane to last if I use
>a Cajun Cooker type burner to heat my wort for boiling (i.e., rocket
>blast mode to bring 5-6 gallons to a boil and then idle mode to
>maintain a vigorous boil for 1 1/2 hours)?
>

Phil,

My first tank just ran out last Sunday. I have 2 tanks so there is no
down time. I know I've gotten at least 6 batches at the modes you
mention.  I'll check my records at home and give you an exact
count soon.
 - ---------------
On 20 Aug 92 13:59:00 EST, Ruth Mazo Karras <RKARRAS@PENNSAS.UPENN.EDU> said:

>I dry hopped a Liberty Ale tastealike (I hope) with 1 oz. of Cascade pellets
>in the secondary. The pellets pretty rapidly expanded to form an inch-thick
>layer on top of the beer. If I shake the carboy they fall into suspension, but
>eventually float to the top again. Now that fermentation activity has slowed
>considerably, I think it is about time to bottle, BUT even when the hops are
>all at the top of the carboy the beer is very cloudy. Here are the questions:
>(i) does dry hopping tend to make beer cloudy, or should I look elsewhere for
>my problem and (ii) how do I bottle this beer without getting the hops in the
>bottles?

I dry hop all the time with pellets. Simply swirl your carboy about
twice a day to get the hops to mix with the beer. Somewhere between
the first and second week, all of the hops will have sunk to the
bottom and your beer will be clear. Patience!  To keep from getting
hops in your bottles, wrap a piece of sanitized cheesecloth over
the end of the racking tube and secure with a plastic wire tie.
 - ---------------
On Thu, 20 Aug 92 18:34:22 EDT, Jay Hersh <hersh@expo.lcs.mit.edu> said:

>Solution: I went to the hardware store and got a disc shaped grinding
>stone. I used this to grind 4 small (~1/8 inch) grooves parallel to
>the length of the roller. These grooves are pretty shallow, but they
>work real well to pull the grain in. While I did dissasemble the mill
>to grind the roller I now realize that that was not necessary at all,
>I could have simply used the table clamp that comes with it to hold
>the whoe assembly in place, and have ground the roller in place with
>no problem.

Jay,

I have this problem too. Can you be more specific? Did the grooves
go from one end of the roller to the other?  Or just in the middle?
How far apart did you space the grooves?  Did/Can you access the
rollers from underneath?

       ..................................
     /  --------------------------------  \
    |   --------------------------------   |
    |   --------------------------------   |
     \ .................................. /

Is this how you did the grooves (the dashes)?
 - ---------------
Re: Siphon bubbles

The best way to siphon from a carboy is to use a carboy cap.
This orange cap has two openings, one for your racking tube,
another for you to blow through.  I never have siphon bubbles.
I blow through hard enough to get a good fast flow.
Also, if your siphon stops for some reason, it's easy to restart
without you having to put your mouth on the siphon hose.
Dont worry about blowing into the carboy, your breath is relatively
sterile. In any case, I've NEVER had an infection.

If you have bubbles reform at the junction of the soft vinyl hose
and the racking tube, you probably have an air leak. Make sure the
hose is on securely.
 - ---------------
Re: Coors

I would think the best way for Coors to transport would be a high
gravity beer, already fermented. That way you have alcohol present
to ward off bacteria and not as much beer to ship.
Tanker cars just dont seem to clean to me.
Just my 2 cents.

Darren

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

Date: Wed, 26 Aug 92 15:28:37 EST
From: Brett Shorten <s05bas@cc.uow.edu.au>
Subject: diluting boiled wort

 I have a question about diluting boiled wort in order to obtain a target OG
figure.
  Last weekend, I followed Line's recipe for 'Guinness Extra Stout',
but after boiling and chilling I ended up with 21+ litres of 1057 wort,
rather than 1045 as Line suggests.
  I figured to lose about 2 litres due to break material, so that leaves
19 litres. I figured that if I added 3 litres of (pre-boiled) water, I
would end up with 22 litres of wort at 19/22*57 = 49, or 1049 OG.
  My question is, is the formula really this simple?

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

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 11:19:16 CDT
From: whg@tellabs.com
Subject: Re:  Digest reader/extractor for Unix?


I wrote a really stupid but actually quite useful little program about a
year ago.  I recieve the HBD in the mail and write it out to a "temp"
file.  The I run my "hbd" program on it and it.  It simply scans through the
temp file and inserts a unix mail heading above each digest line that starts
with the string "Date:".  It works something like "hbd < temp > HBD". Then I
do a "mail -f HBD" and voila each digest artical is its own piece of mail.
You can scan the heading, go to a particular mailing, go back to an artical,
and save individual articals.  A reply ("r" from the mail prompt) will reply
directly to the sender.

Although this is a rather "low tech" solution it works great 99.9% of the time.
Every once in a while an actual line of text will start with "Date" and become
its own piece of mail but not often.

Folling is the above C program:

/*******************************************************
1) save the digest to "temp"
2) hbd < temp > HBD
3) mail -f HBD
********************************************************/

# include <stdio.h>

main()

{
  char dummy,line[81];
  int i;

  i = 0;

  while( (dummy = getchar()) != EOF){
     if( dummy != '\n') {
	 line[i] = dummy;
	 i++;
     } else {
	 if ( (line[0] == 'D') && (line[1] == 'a')
	     && (line[2] == 't') && (line[3] == 'e') )

	     /*  This line just signals the start of a mail artical.
		 You can make the user, date and time whatever you want.
			  |
			  v                                  */
	     printf("From whg Wed May 15 04:27:24 1991 \n");
	 line[i] = '\0';
         printf("%s\n",line);
	 i=0;
     }

  }
}

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

Date: Wed, 26 Aug 92 08:26:42 EDT
From: garti@mrg.xyplex.com (Mark R. Garti)
Subject: liquid yeast

I recently purchased two packs of brewers choice (British Ale
and London Ale).  One was dated Aug the other Jul.  According
to the directions on the package, 1 extra day for each month
past due, in addition to the first day.  It continues to read
that its ready after the package swells to 1 inch thick.  Well
at 75F i got 1 inch in about 4-5 hours not 1 day.  I had to
refrigerate the package as was not prepared to brew for at least
another 15 hrs.  What are the correct incubation instructions
for these packages (or better yet what seems to work? )?

Also i just poured the contents of the package into my primarys.
Both primarys had a good inch of krausen after 20 hrs.  I've
heard of many people making starters with the packages?  How?
Does this yield a faster, stronger start?  Am I making any major
mistakes?

Thanks,
Mark

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

Date: 26 Aug 1992 08:59:15 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Jeff McCartney (919) 541-7340" <FP$JEFF@RCC.RTI.ORG>
Subject: Commercialism on the Network ?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
WARNING WARNING: FLAME in progress...............
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>>Date: Sun, 23 Aug 92 10:23 CDT
>>From: Jack Schmidling
>>Subject: WHO IS WHO IN CHIGAGO

Jack "shared" his observations of a review of a Chicago homebrew club meeting
he found in The Chicago Tribune.  Nothing useful was said until the end when he
added (realizing many of the brewers owned his MALTMILL):

>> What was even more peculiar was that the third picture was indeed of a
>> MALTMILL, but it was cropped in such a way that all one could see was the
>> hopper full of grain and the logo carefully excluded.

>> Now this normally would not bother anyone except that there was no shortage
>> of plugs in the article for gizmos for sale and places to buy, associated
>> with others in the article.

>> Do I detect a conspiracy?

Yes!  There is a conspiracy!  It's called marketing your product on the
Homebrew Digest.  I see no other point of your article than putting in a plug
for the MALTMILL.  I don't doubt it's a fine product - when I make the switch
to all grain (I've been doing extracts since 1981 and make some FINE beers), I
will certainly put these feelings aside and probably buy one!  However, I'm
tired of reading this crap on the digest.  Let's get some sharing of ideas
rather than sharing of advertising on the digest!!!!!





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


End of HOMEBREW Digest #956, 08/27/92
*************************************
-------

Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing