From: sagard@digi.lonestar.org (Steve Agard)
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing
Subject: Your brewing expertise needed
Date: 8 Jan 93 00:14:47 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: DSC Communications, Plano Tx.

I'm a new brewer, and have had the good fortune of reading many of
the articles/comments posted here over the past two months. I say
good fortune because I have learned many things here from several
of you that will have undoubtedly saved my first batch, and will
likely have improved it. My thanks.

I've also done quite a bit of reading prior to my first batch (Miller,
Papazian, etc.) I see contradictions among these books (and between
Miller and Papazian) and even between Papzian's book and his video.
I know I should just relax and have a beer (I don't have any homebrew
yet). I believe that you can still help me in these "gray" areas, and 
with some questions I have about my first batch.

I obtained an analysis of the local tap water from the city, and adjusted
it accordingly after filtering to eliminate residual clorine. I cut this
with 25% distilled water to further dilute some of the standard "but
acceptable" nasties (iron, barium, arsenic, etc.) that pervade city water...

To make a few questions a long story..er, uh the other way around:

    1. Assuming that I want to eventually make all grain brews, how
       many batches of extract brewing is considered good training
       before moving on?
    2. How does CO2 in the headspace "protect" against infection? Are
       all beer-infecting organisms (other than wild yeasts) aerobic?
       Did I answer my own question here?
    3. After brewing my first batch (6 lbs dry extract, 1/2 lb crystal
       malt, 1-1/2 oz cascade boil, 3/4 oz cascade flavor, 3/4 oz
       cascade aromatic) of pale ale, I noted that the rivets holding
       the handles onto my 20 qt (couldn't find a 21 or 22 in SS) SS
       boiler had become pitted. I guess the rivets were aluminum or
       steel. Having not tasted the beer yet, would you expect the beer
       to have a metalic flavor? Slightly? 5 gallons is a lot to dilute
       this respective to the small surface area of the 8 dime-sized rivet
       heads. Is there a way to prevent this next time, short of boiling
       only 3 gallons in the pot or replacing the pot?
    4. I made a starter, but not far enough ahead of time, and used this
       to pitch into 60 degree wort about 1-1/2 hours after starting the
       starter. At that point I pitched the total contents of the starter.
       Was this appropriate? Under ideal conditions, what do you recommend
       as the normal process?
    5. Is a starter worth the trouble?
    6. I pitched at just after mid-night on New Year's (the weather looked
       like freezing rain - okay when I worked at Bell Labs in NJ, but having
       lived in Texas since '78, I know better than to chance other drivers ;)
       Initial fermentation was extremely vigorous. By the evening of the
       2nd, all bubbling had stopped. I racked into the secondary early on
       the morning of the 3rd. A few bubbles shortly thereafter, and then
       nothing. I plan to let it rest until the 9th or 10th, and then bottle.
       I assume the above was normal, if slightly fast (O.G. of wort was
       about 4 pts higher than recipe (@41 rather than 37) even after
       checking hyrometer calibration.
    7. During primary fermentation, I let wort warm from 60 to ~72 for 30
       hours, and then brought it back to 60 degrees. What might the effects
       of this be under the best and worst circumstances?
    8. If I use priming sugar in my secondary (as was posted earlier today?)
       can I let it sit for an hour (instead of the poster's 10 minutes) and
       achieve virtually sediment-free beer? Is an hour too long? If so, if
       I brought the temp back down to 60, and slowed the yeast could I get
       away with this? Can I get away with this without temperature mods?
    9. Do you agree with Miller's view of "ideal" p.p.m. of minerals
       and trace elements?
   10. Do you think there might be a different "ideal" water content for
       Ales and Lagers?
   11. I used Everclear in my air-lock. Do you believe this is healthier/
       safer than water or, for example, B-Brite?
   12. Do you see a benefit to introducing (i.e., floating) additional
       CO2 or N to the open secondary or bottling containers to further
       reduce the likelihood of airborne contamination? Note, I'm not
       talking about pressurized transfer or artificial carbonation.

Thanks, in advance. I hope I have not imposed upon you by asking your help
on such a large list of questions.

Cheers,
Steve Agard
sagard@dsccc.com
From: Polly.Goldman@p2.f615.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Polly Goldman)
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