From: homebrew@lupulus.ssc.gov
Subject: HOMEBREW Digest #960
Organization: The Internet
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 07:59:44 GMT


HOMEBREW Digest #960		             Wed 02 September 1992


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


Contents:
  Hydrogen peroxide to sanitize stuff. (Hiroki Morizono)
  Right beer for ______ (Theodore B. Samsel)
  Dry Hopping BudMilob (Alan Mayman)
  Cut off Digest ("Chris 'Man of Might' Dukes" )
  Halifax/Yeast Collaboration (Chris Estes)
  Maisel's Dampfbier (STROUD)
  Brewing Disasters (Norm Pyle)
  Jokes, efficiency revisited, Chore-Boy, cold break, Bev-Con kegs (man)
  oxidation vs. aeration, open fermentation (Jon Binkley)
  re: wooden kegs (Jon Binkley)
  siphon tube blues (Scott Murphy)
  Some Fun! (Jack Schmidling)
  Always doing as Jack says (Rob Bradley)
  brew info for Baltimore (taylor)
  "For a couple of pins," says Troll, and grins ... (Rob Bradley)
  Scottish Ale Recipe ("CBER::MRGATE::\"A1::RIDGELY\"")
  Christmas Ales - need a recipe (jay marshall 283-5903)
  Chuckm's Questions (Martin A. Lodahl)
  Crystalweiss, Oktoberfest, and Priming (Don Scheidt)
  Hunter Airstat  (bryan)
  RE: Propane Tanks (BMOORE)
  Another brewing mishap (chris campanelli)


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

Date: 01 Sep 1992 02:49:33 -0600
From: hiroki@limerick.cbs.umn.edu (Hiroki Morizono)
Subject: Hydrogen peroxide to sanitize stuff.


I've been using peroxide (the kind you get in the drugstore, not the 30% stuff
you can get in a lab) to sanitize my goodies lately, but
I haven't read anywhere about it--I just clean out my bottles with water and
a scrubber, then pour some peroxide into one, and shake, pour it out into the
next, till I have enough for a batch.  Then I just drain the excess, and put
the bottles in a warm--not hot--oven till they dry. Probably breaks all the
H2O2 into H20 as well. I wipe out my fermenter with a Kimwipe or paper towel
soaked in fresh peroxide, and then rinse with boiling water.
Gloves are important :-) ratty clothes are good too.

I was wondering if anyone else does this--It's a lot easier than rinsing out
bleach.

Hiroki
hiroki@limerick.cbs.umn.edu

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

Date: Tuesday, September 01, 1992  07:20:30
From: TBSAMSEL@qvarsa.er.usgs.gov (Theodore B. Samsel)
Subject: Right beer for ______


    Does anyone know of an authoritative published source on what
beers go with what sort of food? Some homebrewers without net access
were quibbling over this last night and I was asked to set this straight.
  Regards,
  Ted (TBSAMSEL@QVARSA.ER.USGS.GOV)

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

Date: Tue, 1 Sep 92 10:21:59 -0400
From: Alan Mayman <maymanal@scvoting.fvo.osd.mil>
Subject: Dry Hopping BudMilob

Greetings Y'all,

I recall from my dim and distant past, a post regarding dry hopping kegs of
 boring
beer, like bud or something.  Could the postee please send me some info on this
subject including quantity/type of hops and how long you let it hopitize (yes I
just made that word up), or any other useful info.

Thanks in advance & many thanks to those who responded to my Woodruff question.

 - Alan "When in doubt, drink a homebrew" Mayman

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

Date:     1 Sep 92 10:11:04 EDT
From: "Chris 'Man of Might' Dukes"  <imagesys!rover!CRD@uu.psi.com>
Subject:  Cut off Digest

Can some helpful soul out there in digest land send me a copy of
digest numbers 958 and 959.  They keep getting cut off recently.

Please send it directly to 'crd@imagesys.com'.

Thanks-
 _______________________________
| -Chris Dukes  crd@imagesys.com|
|    Tel:518-283-8783 Ext. 550  |
|    Fax:518-283-8790           |
|_______________________________|

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

Date: Tue, 1 Sep 92 10:43:38 -0400
From: cestes@argos5.DNET.NASA.GOV (Chris Estes)
Subject: Halifax/Yeast Collaboration

Hi all...

I've got two questios for the collective wisdom:

1) I'm going to be in Halifax, Nova Scotia in a few weeks.  Are there any
   points of beer interest there?

2) Regarding the use of multiple strains of yeast... I'm planning on doing
   a barleywine soon and would like opinions on a strategy I've used before
   with good results.  I previously made a barleywine using 12+ lbs of
   extract (syrup and grain combination).  I was shooting for a high alcohol
   content, but with a traditional ale flavor.  I pitched Whitbred ale yeast
   and let it ferment (actively) for 4-5 days.  As this began to calm down
   I pitched champagne yeast (supposedly alcohol tolerant) to finish the
   job.  My reasoning was thus:  My normal ale yeast would make the beer taste
   like my usual ale, and the champagne yeast would further raise the alcohol
   level without affecting the taste TOO much.  Am I wasting my time with
   such a procedure?  Am I doing anything wrong?  Is my  reasoning (based
   purely on conjecture) anywhere close to reality?  etc., etc., etc...

 -Chris-

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

Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 11:14 EST
From: STROUD <STROUD%GAIA@leia.polaroid.com>
Subject: Maisel's Dampfbier

Well, we all know where Bayreuth is by now, don't we? Now if I could just
figure out where Munich is........:-)

The original posting about Maisel's products asked about the six-pointed star
that occurs on the label of their Dampfbier.  I don't believe that the
question was answered.

On page 13 of Michael Jackson's "The New World Guide to Beer" there is a
picture of an engraving of a brewer whose head is surrounded by a six-pointed
star.  According to Jackson, the star is the symbol for alchemy and was
frequently used by brewers.  Certainly, it must have seemed magical to the
average man that a brewer could take grain and turn it into ale.

Steve

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

Date: Tue, 1 Sep 92 09:17:57 MDT
From: pyle@intellistor.com (Norm Pyle)
Subject: Brewing Disasters

Well, the "Brewing Disaster" thread sure petered out quickly.  Only 2
disasters in the entire net.kingdom????  I thought this would be a fun way to
show everyone how human we all are, but I guess most of the gang isn't
(human, that is).  Or they're just not as imperfect as some of us.  C'mon
folks, how about some fine tales of misery and destruction!  It'll make you
feel better...  (for those without a funny bone: :-) ;-) 8'/............

Lest he thinks it went unnoticed:
Mike Schrempp should join AAAA (awesome ascii artists of america)!

Norm

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

Date: Tue, 1 Sep 92 10:55 EDT
From: man@kato.att.com
Subject: Jokes, efficiency revisited, Chore-Boy, cold break, Bev-Con kegs

In Hombrew Digest 959, Jack Schmidling says:

 >I think I had enough fun with this just to let it drop.

Then, why didn't you let it drop? You just had to get the last word in, didn't
you ?

 >Suffice it to say
 >that I took my lumps from my Milwaukee beer and thank those who defended it
 >and grin at those who trashed it.

 >And yes, "conspiracy" is a fun trigger word and all I can say from the
 >reaction is that it was either a lousy joke or a totally ineffective
 >conspiracy... take your pick.

Come on, Jack.  Your article about the "conspiracy" was not taken as a joke
by this reader, nor by the others who I correspond with off-line. Whenever you
get effectively proven wrong in this forum, you call foul, say "let it drop",
and then say it was only a joke. Only this time, you left out the "I guess I
need to use more smiley faces in my posts" part.

Now for something new, revisited: Yield

For a while now, I've been using points/lb/gallon. I realize this works best
with a single grain type, but it can be adapted to mixed grain. Anyway,
recently, Russ Gelinas said to use the theoretical maximums found in literature
or (what he uses) the Brew Recipe Formulator. Now, I have this tool, but I
hadn't used it yet. So I looked up Pale Ale Malt. It says 1.036. Is this the
theoretical maximum ? Not according to Terry Foster in his Porter book, which
I just reread. He says (talking about Pale Ale Malt and Klages, loosely
paraphrased) "the best a homebrewer can hope
to do is 36 points/lb/gallon, which is 80% of the theoretical maximum."
This make the maximum 45. So, where are you people getting your maximums from ?
I used the numbers in the BRF for my Porter and I get 96.6% efficiency.
If I assume the numbers in there are really 80% of maximum, then I get
77.3% efficiency.

This brings up the discussion of efficiency claims by people on the digest.
When you say: "I let my sparge go 90 minutes one time and I got 90% efficiency.
WOW!", is that 90% of the theoretical maximum or is it 90% of the implied
homebrewers maximum ?

For the record, my brew was a modified Redcoat's Revenge Porter:

For 13 gallons (US):
20.75 lb Pale Lager Malt
1     lb 60L Crystal
1     lb Cara-Pils
1.2   lb Chocolate
5     oz Black
2.25  oz Chinnok 12.6 AAU 80 min
1     oz Cascade          10 min
 .75   oz Kent Golding     steep
WYeast American Ale
OG 1.062

I had a 2.5 hour sparge (remember the brew length)

I want to thank Kinney for his Chore-Boy/grain bag filter idea that I first
read about, oh, 3 years ago. I tried it this time and there is no looking
back. Using this method, there is no need to change your efficiency
calculations to claim lost wort in the bottom of the brew kettle. You get
every drop. Absolutely amazing.

Now 2 questions. I began using a counterflow chiller 3 batches ago. The last
two, I chilled into my mash tun to allow racking off of the cold break a few
hours later. When I racked it, there was no break material. My wort out temp
is 62F. How long does it take for the cold break to precipitate out ? I will
add that I rack by opening the ball valve on the bottom of my mash tun. I
realize it is possible that the break runs into the fermenter along with the
wort, but something should be there. If it takes longer, then claims for
immersion chillers having the advantage of racking off the cold break are
probably over stated.

Question 2: When I chilled my recent porter, my wort was oxegynated by
liberal splashing. This caused much foam to appear that tasted extremely
bitter. What is this stuff? Should it be allowed in the fermenter ?

I've got something else to add: Bev-Con International sells new and used
soda kegs. Right. Big news. But they sell 3 gal kegs for 29.50 and 10 gal
kegs for 36.50. All plus shipping and $4 COD. They come with relief
valves. I bought one of each. Good stuff.

Well, I've rambled on enough.

Mark Nevar


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

Date: Tue, 1 Sep 92 10:05:07 -0600
From: Jon Binkley <binkley@beagle.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: oxidation vs. aeration, open fermentation


CHUCKM@CSG3.Prime.COM wrote:

>What is the difference between aeration and oxydation?

Oxidation is a chemical reaction wherein one molecule loses
electrons to another molecule.  The former molecule is "oxidized"
the latter molecule is "reduced."  Frequently, the molecule
causing the oxidation is oxygen itself; e.g. the oxygen gets
reduced at the expense of your precious beer molecules, which
get oxidized, and your beer tastes lousy as a result.  For our
concerns, oxidation happens when very hot wort is overexposed
to oxygen, or when fermented-out beer is exposed to too much
oxygen before botteling.

Aeration is the process of introducing dissolved oxygen into a
solution; i.e., it's a mixing, not a chemical reaction.  You WANT
to aerate your wort after it has cooled down.  If you do it while
it's hot, oxidation is promoted.  Aerated wort helps the yeast
get off to a good start; they need an aerobic growth phase
to build their numbers before they go into anaerobic fermentation.

>Some brewers use open fermenters  (Anchor, Pilsner Urquell, etc). Why
>don't they have sanitary problems. I would never think of fermenting
>in the open, but Pilsner Urquell does it in caves with no apparent
>problems.... Any comments?

It's a numbers game.  The brewers add a huge number of active yeast
cells which get off to a quick start.  There's no question that
molds, bacteria, wild yeast, etc. fall into open fermentation
tanks; but they are simply overwhelmed by the 10^6 to 10^9 fold
excess of the desired yeast cells.  After the beer is fermented
out the alcohol suppresses most microbial growth.

Another seeming paradox of open fermentation which confused me
for quite some time is: given fermentation is an ANaerobic
process, how can it take place in an open, aerobic environment?
The answer is that our clever friends the yeast only turn on
their mitochondria when they really need to.  In a sugar rich
environment (like unfermented wort) the yeast get all the
energy they need from anerobic glycolysis (a.k.a. alcoholic
fermentation).  The beasts do a quick molecular cost/benefit
analysis and decide that while aerobic respiration is possible,
the extra energy obtained from it isn't worth the cost of
building more mitochondria to do the dirty work.  In a low sugar,
aerobic environment, glycolysis alone won't provide sufficient
energy and they fire up the ol' Krebs cycle.  This applies to
the "cell growth and maintenance" phase of the yeast cell cycle.
When the yeast are in their heavy-duty reproduction phase, like
right after you pitch them, they need the extra energy and so
go into aerobic respiration, even at high sugar levels, until
they reach a limiting cell density.

Smart critters, huh?  And you thought they just stupidly plodded
along and made beer at your bidding!

Jon Binkley


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

Date: Tue, 1 Sep 92 10:20:32 -0600
From: Jon Binkley <binkley@beagle.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: re: wooden kegs


<0004876702@mcimail.com> (Rachel) wrote:

>Does anyone use wooden kegs to store beer?
>Would there be some taste advantage to doing so? How would
>you make them clean enough to use? I've read in books
>lamenting this century's loss of old-time country living in
>Britain sorrowful remarks that no one uses wood anymore
>only aluminium which (it is claimed) gives the beer a lifeless
>quality.

Sam Smith's still casks their beer in wood.  They even employ
coopers at their brewery to construct said casks.  As for sanitation,
they just scrub 'em out really good.  As with all British
"real ale" their cask conditioned products are intended to
be consumed quickly- i.e., within weeks of kegging- so while
the casks are probably infected the beer disappears too quickly
for it to be a problem.

Jon Binkley


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

Date: Tue, 01 Sep 92 09:52:31 MST
From: scott@gordian.com (Scott Murphy)
Subject: siphon tube blues

I got those bubbles in my siphon tubeso.  My bottle wand and racking
tube are different diameters.  Since I didn't realize that, I ended
up stretching both ends of the tube.

When I complained about the poor siphon to my local homebrew shop,
He told me to put a little vasaline on the racking tube before
adding the siphon tube.

This works quite well.  I always sanatize the racking tube after
I put the vasaline on it.  I have never had any infected brews.

One problem is a tendency for the siphon tube to slip off.  I just
push it on farther than normal.

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

Date: Tue, 1 Sep 92 09:01 CDT
From: arf@ddsw1.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling)
Subject: Some Fun!


 To: Homebrew Digest
 Fm: Jack Schmidling

 >From: gak@wrs.com (Richard Stueven)
 >>Note that this product contains a carcinogen (according to earlier
 >>posts). USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

 >Will you guys knock it of about sassafrass already?

 I am not sure what your motive is but it seems to me that what must be
 "knocked off" is promoting the use of sassafrass as gathered in the natural
 state.  Root beer producers either use synthetic substitutes or process the
 root to remove the carcinogen.  Under NO circimstances should it be used
 unprocessed.

 >EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD is a carcinogen!

 There are thousands of carcinogens that the FDA just winks at because of
 political pressure.  When one makes their black list, it is not to be
 triffled with.

 >We're all going to die anyway...let's have a little fun on our way.

 Dieing of cancer is not MY idea of fun.

 js


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

Date: Tue, 1 Sep 92 14:10:23 -0400
From: bradley@adx.adelphi.edu (Rob Bradley)
Subject: Always doing as Jack says

In HBD #959, I said

> ... I've always done what Jack says, but ...

Ooops!  Please allow me to clarify:

I have always included trub volume when calculating efficiency,
in the manner which Jack described in #957.

On the other hand, I  have OFTEN neglected to follow the advice Jack
gives on the HBD.

Sorry for any confusion :-)

Cheers,
Rob
(bradley@adx.adelphi.edu)

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

Date: Tue, 1 Sep 92 14:29:17 EDT
From: taylor@e5sb.osdhw.syr.ge.com (taylor)
Subject: brew info for Baltimore

hi all,
I'm going to a conference in Baltimore and was wondering if anybody has any
information about brewpubs in the area or good beers to drink.  Send me what
ever info that can help thanks ... todd

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

Date: Tue, 1 Sep 92 14:24:59 -0400
From: bradley@adx.adelphi.edu (Rob Bradley)
Subject: "For a couple of pins," says Troll, and grins ...

Long ago and far away (12 years ago in England, to be precise)
I worked for a while pulling pints in a pub.  It was a
Wadsworth's house.  I recall we usually got 6X in kilderkins and
Old Timer (seasonal) in firkins.  If memory serves me correctly:

1 pin       = 4.5 imperial gal.   (=5.4 US gal, approx. 20.4 litres)
1 firkin    = 2 pins
1 kilderkin = 2 firkins
1 barrel    = 2 kilderkins
1 hogshead  = 2 barrels

Any mistakes here?  Does the sequence continue?

Cheers,
Rob
(bradley@adx.adelphi.edu)

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

Date:    Tue, 1 Sep 1992 14:52:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: "CBER::MRGATE::\"A1::RIDGELY\""@CBER.CBER.FDA.GOV
Subject: Scottish Ale Recipe

From:	NAME: Bill Ridgely
	FUNC: HFB-300
	TEL: FTS 402-1336                     <RIDGELY@A1@CBER>
To:	SMTP%"HOMEBREW@HPFCMI.FC.HP.COM"@MRGATE@WPC

          This is in reply to Mike Gauland's posting of last week requesting
          a recipe for Scottish Ale. One of my all-too-numerous passions is
          for single malt Scotch whisky, and I belong to the Washington, DC
          organization called Cuideagh O Corn O Uisgebeathe (loosely, the
          Society of Tasters of Whisky). Most the meetings are dedicated to
          the fruits of the pot still, but once each year, we set aside a day
          for lighter fare and taste the Ales of Scotland.

          This partial-mash recipe is specially brewed for the occasion. It
          represents a "missing link" in what is actually a broad range of
          ales produced in Scotland, from the relatively low-alcohol 60
          shilling (60/-) "Light" (with an O.G. of 1.030 - 1.034) to the
          traditional, full-bodied 90 shilling "Wee Heavy" (with an O.G. of
          1.070 and above). In between these extremes are the 70/- "Heavy"
          (at O.G. 1.035-1.039) and the 80/- "Export" (at 1.040 - 1.052).

          Unfortuantely, no commercial beers of Scottish origin are available
          in the U.S. (at this time, anyway) in the 60/- and 70/- strength.
          Belhaven is the only one available at the 80/-. The 90/-'s, are
          fairly well represented by the old standard, McEwan's, as well as
          McAndrews (a somewhat paler version), and what I believe is still
          the most expensive beer available in the U.S., Traquair House,
          which retails for about $9 per 10 oz bottle (Cases can be had for
          a bit over $100 if your dealer is in a good mood).

          To my knowledge, there is no beer produced in Scotland in the
          gravity range of 1.055 - 1.070, so I made my own to 1.060 and
          called it "Wee Export". It uses traditional black malt for color
          and a bit of brown sugar to boost the sweetness (per the style).
          Also, the mash was conducted at a somewhat higher temperature to
          bring out unfermentable sugars, and the yeast had a relatively
          lower attneuation than some of the other standard ale yeasts on the
          market.

          The beer ages well and is still wonderfully drinkable after a full
          year in the bottle. Slainte!

          Bill Ridgely (RIDGELY@A1.CBER.FDA.GOV)
          "Better Living Through Better Drugs"



Date:	01-Sep-1992
Posted-date: 01-Sep-1992
Author:	BILL RIDGELY

                                         OLD BEULAH WEE EXPORT
                                         (An 85/- Scotch Ale)

          Ingredients for 5 Gal:

          2 lb 2-row Klages Barley Malt
          1/2 lb 60-L Crystal Malt
          1/4 lb Black Patent Malt
          1/4 lb Flaked Barley
          5 lb Amber Malt Extract Syrup (I use American Classic brand)
          1 lb Dark Brown Sugar
          1 oz Northern Brewer Hop Pellets (6.5% AA)
          2 oz Fuggles Hop Pellets (4.5% AA)
          3 tsp Gypsum
          1/4 tsp Irish Moss
          Wyeast #1028 London Ale Yeast (In 1 qt sterile wort starter)
          3/4 cup Corn Sugar (For bottling)

          Step Mash (Temps in Degrees F)

          Crush grains and add to 3 qts water (with gypsum dissolved) at 130.
 Maintain mash
          temperature at 125 for 30 min (protein rest). Add 3 qts of boiling
 water to mash
          and maintain temperature at 158 for 1 hour (saccharification rest).
 Drain wort
          and sparge grains with 5 qts water at 170.

          Boil

          Add to the wort in the brewpot the malt extract and brown sugar. Bring
 to a boil.
          After 30 min. of boil, add 1/2 oz of Northern Brewer hops and 1/2 oz
 of Fuggles
          hops. After 15 more minutes, add an additional 1/2 oz of each hop.
 Boil for a
          total of 1 1/2 hours. Ten minutes before the end of the boil, add the
 Irish moss.
          Five minutes before the end of the boil, add 1 oz of Fuggles hops (for
 aroma).

          Fermentation

          Cool the wort with a wort chiller and add to the primary fermenter
 with
          sufficient water to make 5 gallons. Pitch yeast when temp of wort is
 below 75.
          Ferment at 65 for 5 days. Rack to secondary and ferment for 15 more
 days at 65.
          Bulk prime with corn sugar before bottling.


          OG - 1.060
          FG - 1.015
          Alcohol - 6.0% vol (4.8% wt)

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

Date: Tue, 1 Sep 92 13:59:53 CDT
From: jay marshall 283-5903 <marshall@sweetpea.jsc.nasa.gov>
Subject: Christmas Ales - need a recipe

I would like to start a spiced Christmas Ale pretty soon and am
looking for a recipe that approximates Sam Smiths Winterfest (I
think that's the right name, anyway).

I would prefer an all grain recipe, and something that is fairly
light on the cloves and ginger.

Also, will this mellow out properly in time for November/December
drinking, or am I behind the power curve?

thanks in advance,

Jay


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

Date: Tue, 1 Sep 92 12:20:12 PDT
From: Martin A. Lodahl <pbmoss!malodah@PacBell.COM>
Subject: Chuckm's Questions

In HOMEBREW Digest #959, CHUCKM asked:

> 1.  What is the difference between aeration and oxydation?

Aeration is the process of dissolving air into a solution (wort, in
this context).  It is not a chemical change.  Oxidation, on the
other hand, _is_ a chemical change.  Aeration is required if you
need to increase the population of yeast in the ferment, as we all
do, unless you're pitching massive gobs of yeast.  Oxidation, on the
other hand, is worth avoiding.

The specific compounds that can be the most troublesome are the
melanoidins, pigments produced in the malting and mashing processes.
They tend to mediate the oxidation of alcohols into aldehydes, so
it's in our best interests to have them in the reduced state.  If
the wort is cool or cold, it can be aerated without oxidizing the
melanoidins.  If it's hot ...

The best treatment of the subject that I've seen is in George Fix's
"Principles of Brewing Science", which, I believe, should be on
every homebrewer's bookshelf.

> 2.  Re: Sanitation.... How do the breweries handle this? Do they ever
>     get bad batches that they must dump or do they have some magic way
>     of salvaging....

Sure, it happens.  The Big Guys constantly sample the unfinished
beer, and all have thresholds for a variety of biological
contaminants, beyond which the beer is sewered.  If the infection is
less severe but still detectable, the beer is blended to dilute the
defect below sensory thresholds.

>    Some brewers use open fermenters  (Anchor, Pilsner Urquell, etc). Why
>    don't they have sanitary problems. I would never think of fermenting
>    in the open, but Pilsner Urquell does it in caves with no apparent
>    problems.... Any comments?

Sure.  Anchor has all their fermentors in rooms fed by
positive-pressure, sterile-filtered air.  Not much is likely to go
wrong there.  Concerning the many breweries using open fermentors
without such precautions, consider this:  hop tolerance is not all
that common among microbiota.  If the resident critters are not hop
tolerant they may fall in the wort, but they'll die micro-screaming.
If they make no contribution at all, the brewer will see no reason
to go to closed fermentation.  In some cases, the contribution they
make can actually be positive, and there are quite a few Belgian
breweries that specifically exploit the environmental biota.

> 3.  How is alpha acid content measured and Can I easily do it at home for
>    my home grown hops.

The "Readers' Digest" answer is no, you can't do it.  Anyone who
comes up with a really excellent way to do this that doesn't require
a home-grower's entire crop will have the undying gratitude of
thousands.  Well, maybe dozens.  Well, maybe you and I and a couple
of others ...

> Will the AA content of homegrown hops vary significantly
>    from the published ranges for a given species.

You can take that to the bank.  In most cases, it will be much
higher in your homegrown hops than in the commercial equivalents.
The most experienced hop grower in our club says it will be twice as
high, but his hops are so outstanding that I suspect him of
trafficking with Dark Powers ...

= Martin A. Lodahl   			Pacific*Bell Systems Analyst =
= malodah@pbmoss.Pacbell.COM       Sacramento, CA       916.972.4821 =
= If it's good for ancient Druids, runnin' nekkid through the wuids, =
= Drinkin' strange fermented fluids, it's good enough for me!  8-)   =


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

Date: Tue, 1 Sep 92 10:04:54 PDT
From: tahoma!dgs1300@bcstec.ca.boeing.com (Don Scheidt)
Subject: Crystalweiss, Oktoberfest, and Priming

In HOMEBREW Digest #959, inquiring minds wanted to know! :-)

andre vignos <andre@Think.COM> asks:
>Subject: recipe wanted
>
>
>     The last time I was in germany, the 1986 octoberfest, I stopped up in
>Bamberg Germany to pick up a friend who was stationed there. We stayed a
>couple nights in the area and sampled some quality brew. There was one type
>that I absolutely loved but I have never seen any bottled form of it, much
>less a brewpub that serves it. It is served with a thin lemon slice in a
>pilsner glass and is a wheat beer known as "crystalweissen". Being german I
>understand what the name means(doesn't take a genious). What I was wondering
>was, does any body have a recipe for said beer?

I'm truly amazed that the brew you mentioned was _not_ Schlenkerla Rauch-
bier.  Kristallweizen (or "crystalweissen") is just your standard clarified
Bavarian wheat beer, "kristall" referring to the crystal-clarity of the
pure golden (usually) brew, and there are plenty of examples of those in
Bavaria, especially southern Bavaria and (of course) Munich.  Franconian
examples also are numerous, including Tucher, EKU, and Wurzburger Hofbrau.

Part of the secret is the wheat/barley proportion in the malt - the wheat
gives the beer that distinct tangy flavour - but the real secret lies in
the yeast.  You can use any of a number of extract-based or full-mash
recipes to make a good, basic pale-golden wort, and after cooling, pitch
with the S. delbrueckii yeast.  Wyeast #3056 is a mixture of a more common
top-fermenting strain with S. delbrueckii, and the results will vary a bit,
but you can come close by using moderately elevated fermenting temperatures
(especially during the primary) to get all those esters and phenolics
forming.  By the way, it is not at all inappropriate to refer to these
beers as "deliberately infected" - but this is deliberate in the same way
that Berliner Weisse is deliberately infected with Lactobacillus.  The end
result is unique flavour, and deliberately encouraging the beer to form
flavouring compounds you may normally try to avoid.

See Dave Miller's latest book - among the many recipes for all the world's
beer styles, he gives both extract-based and full-mash recipes for a good,
estery Bavarian-style wheat beer.  Whether you want to clarify / filter it
to obtain a true "kristallweissen" is entirely up to you!



avalon!jm@siemens.siemens.com (Jeff Mizener) asks:
>Subject: Oktoberfest, priming & siphoning
>
>First, travel question:
>
>	When is Oktoberfest (the one in Munich)?

Oktoberfest ENDS on the first Sunday in October, and begins two weeks
before that.  That puts it at September 20 to October 4 this year.

>When people bulk prime, they add (something sweet) to the beer in the
>fermenter.  Then they presumably stir it up.  Which causes all sorts
>of gunk to be stirred up from the bottom.  Do we all solve this problem
>by racking first to another container?  (Primary > secondary > priming vessel?)
>Or what?

Primary > secondary > priming vessel is indeed the answer, and although we
are usually trying to avoid oxidatation, judicious and careful racking of
the fermented wort into a priming vessel is useful, and not at all a bad
idea.  While the beer is siphoning out of the secondary (a carboy in my
case), one can slowly add the sterile ('cause it was just boiled :=) priming
solution to the wort as it fills the priming bucket, obtaining (usually) a
reasonably even distribution of the priming sugar into the almost-beer.

This assumes bottling, of course, and I make the assumption here that there
is no CO2-based equipment lying around, which changes the rules a bit,
especially if you have a kegging operation.


See y'all in a couple of weeks - I'm off to Central Europe for history,
culture, and a lot of mighty fine beer-drinking!  U Fleku, here I come! :-)

- --
Don                             | Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate
dgs1300@tahoma                  | things.
 ..!uunet!bcstec!tahoma!dgs1300 |       -- Vice President Dan Quayle

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

Date: Tue, 01 Sep 92 15:09:56 PDT
From: bryan@tekgen.bv.tek.com
Subject: Hunter Airstat

The number for American Scientific Surplus is 708-475-8440. NOT -8840.
Thanks for posting anyway Larry, it got me off my duff and I ordered
one. And I'm going to look at a chest freezer tonight.

They are a surplus house, when these are gone they may not have any
more.

Bryan Olson

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

Date: Tue, 01 Sep 92 07:42
From: sherpa2!BMOORE.ELDEC%mailsrv2@sunup.West.Sun.COM (BMOORE)
Subject: RE: Propane Tanks

Another note regarding propane cookers and tanks:

NEVER, NEVER store your propane tank inside your house.  When finished
brewing, banish the tank to the porch, patio or the flower beds!
Propane tank valves contain an overpressure relief pop-off valve.
This valve will vent propane if the tank is relatively full of liquid
(which is incompressable) and it gets too hot (the liquid expands). If
such venting occurs indoors, vapors can collect in a low spot and need
only a source of ignition before...KABOOM!
By the way, the same advice applies to car trunks... If you get your
tank filled, throw it in the trunk and leave the car parked in the sun,
overpressure venting can occur... with the same results!

Happy Brewing!
Barry Moore

(sherpa2!bmoore@sunup.west.sun.com)


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

Date: Tue, 1 Sep 92 13:04 CDT
From: akcs.chrisc@vpnet.chi.il.us (chris campanelli)
Subject: Another brewing mishap

Talking about brewing mishaps?  Stand back and gimme some room!

Once upon a time i was making some yeast starters.  Pretty simple
process.  Make some wort, fill up some mason jars and boil in a water
bath.  A real no-brainer.  At that particular time my setup was spread
out.  I would prep the masons in the kitchen and at the same time boil
the wort in the basement.  When ready, I would bring the wort upstairs
into the kitchen to fill the masons.  The basement stairs are positioned
such that they come up from the basement and meet a landing with the back
door, so you can literally walk up the stairs and straight out the back
door.

On that fateful day as I was carrying the four gallons of boiling wort up
the stairs, I was thinking to myself "Boy it sure would be a mess if I
dropped this pot".  No sooner, I stumbled near the top of the stairs,
dropping the you-know-what on the landing.

It's interesting how the mind works in life-threatening situations.
Everything seems to move in slow motion.  Its as if the brain can't
believe the mess that the body has gotten the two into so the brain
decides to slow down the visual images as some form of mental denial.

I watched the pot hit the floor and dump out in slow motion.  The pot
spilled in such a way as to release the wort in one mass.  As this Wave
of Wort moved away from me and crested towards the back door, I thought
to myself "If I open it, they will come".  Roughly translated, if the
back door is open the wort should proceed to flow out the door into the
backyard, saving me much cleanup.  The back door was already open but the
storm door wasn't.  So I quickly vaulted over the Wave of Wort, fully
expecting to land face-to-face with the storm door and simultaneously
hitting the door latch so as to have my momentum push the door open
thereby allowing the door, myself and the Wave to pass through the
doorway in said order.

As I landed at the storm door and hit the latch, it became apparent that
the storm door was locked.  My momentum was such as to carry me not
through the doorway as expected but smack into the storm door.  Thus,
having formally introduced my face to the storm door, I proceeded to
unlock and open the storm door, exit the house and remove myself to
higher ground.

Yet to my shock and horror the doorsill was too high for the Wave of Wort
to pass over so with somewhat weaker force yet equal determination the
Wave reversed course and proceeded towards the basement stairs.  It is at
this point that I admitted defeat, realizing that some higher force was
at work against me.  I watched with remorse as the wort flowed down the
stairs, cascading from step to step like some perverse Slinky.  I cursed
all within earshot.  I even cursed my old nemesis Sister Sharon, my
Catholic grade school principle.

Only a quart or so reached the drain near the bottom of the stairs.  The
rest of the wort had coated the stairs and the workshelves under the
stairs.  The dry cat food in the dish on the floor near the steps was no
longer dry.

Damage assessment after the flood was painful.  For tripping UP the
stairs I received a gouge on the shin and a black-and-blue big toe.  For
kissing the storm door I received a bloody nose and one pair of bent
eyeglasses.  For ineptitude I lost one can of extract.  For General
Principle I received one wasted afternoon.

chris campanelli

FOLLOW-UP:  This occurred in winter.  Come spring, the ants not only
found what dried wort I had missed during cleanup but proceeded to tell
all their friends within a five mile radius.  It got so bad we had to
call a professional exterminator.  The house stank from insecticide for a
week.  Needless to say, ALL brewing related activities have been banished
to the garage. :(

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


End of HOMEBREW Digest #960, 09/02/92
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