Category : Various Text files
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Filename : HBD650.TXT

HOMEBREW Digest #650 Mon 03 June 1991


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


Contents:
AHA books (Joe Uknalis)
Re: chlorine alert (Kevin L. McBride)
re: keg registration (Alan Garvey)
Partial mash (Matthias Blumrich)
modified decoction (mike_schrempp)
Re: Brewing in aluminum (Jean hunter)
Missing #646 (darrow)
Impurities, Residues, and General Yuckiness (FATHER BARLEYWINE)
Cancel my subscription (KXR11)
Cream soda, siphoning woes. (dbreiden)
back with the corn (florianb)
Re: Brewing Lager Beers (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583)
Re: Homebrew Digest #649 (May 31, 1991) (GOOOOOOOOOOD MOOOOOOOOOOORNING ACS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
question on recarbonation with dry ice (Al Duester)


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Date: Fri, 31 May 91 08:21:39 EDT
From: Joe Uknalis
Subject: AHA books


I'm interested in ordering the AHA's book on Lambic beers
Could someone send me the phone # ( & tell me the approx.cost if you know)!

By the way in regards to chlorine...
Did anyone see the article on Ozone degredation and chlorine in the latest
Scientific American?

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Date: Fri, 31 May 91 7:41:24 EDT
From: [email protected] (Kevin L. McBride)
Subject: Re: chlorine alert

With all this sudden panic going on about the dangers of chlorine,
most of you are completely missing the boat on something that is far
more dangerous:

the practice of oxygenating your wort.

Oxygen is a byproduct of the process used to produce DEADLY Hydrogen,
chief ingredient in the BOMB of the same name!

Quick, everybody, stop breathing!

- --
Kevin L. McBride (-: Nothing left to do but 🙂
MSCG, Inc.
uunet!wang!gozer!klm

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Date: Fri, 31 May 91 10:04:00 EDT
From: Alan Garvey
Subject: re: keg registration

A few digests ago Bill Thacker posted a message about a keg registration
law in Green River, Wyoming. That reminded me about a law that the town
of Amherst, MA passed a couple of weeks ago.

The new law requires anyone in possession of a container that is 5
gallons or greater and has any beer in it to have a keg license. A
license is obtained by going before the town selectboard and paying a
$25 fee. It is not clear whether this is a one-time fee or a per keg
fee. I read the exact wording of the law and it is incredibly unclear.
The intention is to give police the authority to remove kegs when they
are called to a party where beer is being served to minors. Apparently
undergraduate partying here at UMass (aka ZooMass) has gotten even more
out of control than usual and the residents of Amherst are upset about
it. I sympathize with home owners whose lives are disrupted by partying
students, but this law seems much too broad.

Homebrewers who keg their beer (rather than bottle it) certainly fall
under the ordinance. Homebrewers who brew 5 gallon or larger batches in
a carboy or bucket (that is, nearly every homebrewer), may or may not
fall under the law, depending on whether you consider the product in the
carboy to be beer before the brewing process is completed.

A friend of mine who is a member of the town meeting that voted in the
law (and who voted for it himself -- pinhead) tells me that the police
promise not to harass "ordinary" citizens and use the law only to
control student parties, but I have a hard time believing police
promises to not use the full authority that the law gives them. The law
was conveniently passed just as students are leaving for the summer. It
will be interesting to see the effects of the law when the students
return in the fall.

- -- Alan Garvey [email protected]

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Date: Fri, 31 May 91 13:45:17 -0400
From: Matthias Blumrich
Subject: Partial mash

I would like to attempt a partial mash but I don't have the equipment
for it. I'd like suggestions of how I can get started as inexpensively
as possible, and I don't mind having to build something. Please reply
to [email protected]. Thanks.

- Matt -

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Date: 30 May 91 16:48 -0800
From: mike_schrempp%42@hp4200
Subject: modified decoction

In HBD 648, Chip Upsal describes his "modified decoction" in which he removes
and heats liquid from the mash. I've never tried any kind of decoction mash,
by Noonan talks about pulling out the "thickest" part of the mash, by which
I believe he means very lttle liquid. His claim is that the enzymes in the
grain are quickly washed off the grains and into the mash liquid. Noonan also
claims that boiling those grain husks will not deliver too many tannins to the
beer (he had a reason, but I forget what it was). He claims boiling the liquid
will reduce the enzyme potential.

Can't call that a data point, but there it is.

Now a question: I'm making batch 7, my first hopped extract kit (I know that's
backward, but I got the kit as a gift so I used it), and it's been actively
bubbling for almost two weeks. The kit is a "Draught Ale" from Newbegin
Brewery in New Zealand. Has anyone had any experiences with this brand before?
Is it slow (doesn't seem that way), or maybe just VERY attenuative (no SG check
since pitching)? I'm not worrying, but all my bottled beer is nearly gone and
I'm scared of a brew-drought.

Mike Schrempp


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Date: Fri, 31 May 91 15:11:48 EDT
From: Jean hunter
Subject: Re: Brewing in aluminum

At the risk of reigniting an old controversy, (why) is aluminum a bad
material for a mash tun or wort kettle? Color, flavor, aroma, my health,
the yeast's health? Is there a brief answer or an explanation in one of
the available references on home brewing? If this is a flammable topic
please e-mail to me, in ingles por favor, and I will post a summary. --Jean

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Date: Fri, 31 May 91 15:10:50 -0500
From: [email protected]
Subject: Missing #646

Missing issues #646, please come home!
I'll trade an extra #645 that arrived in its place, cheap!


D. D>>->

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Support Systems |[email protected] (BITnet)
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________________________________________________________________________


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Date: Fri, 31 May 1991 18:39:27 EDT
From: FATHER BARLEYWINE
Subject: Impurities, Residues, and General Yuckiness

Hey Brewfreaks!
I've read many articles recently about the various molecules which can
contaminate homebrew and what measures can be taken to avoid them. My big
mouth and biochemical background have persuaded me to throw in my opinion.
The factor which most people tend to forget is the essential ingredient
in brewing: yeast. If your water contains trace amounts of organics, if the
copper coils lend a few molecules to your wort, the yeast you've pitched will
generally suck this stuff right up. Few of us realize just how many cells
are present in a completely clear glass of homebrew, much less the cloudy murk
that reigns in early fermentation. The volume of water in your pitched wort
is passed many times through yeast cells in the course of a days hard
fermentation, and at each pass the water is effectively filtered (and, of
course, effectively pissed in). Most toxic molecules have high affinities
for components of living cells (which is often why they're toxic) and will
bind strongly to them, and in the case of beer, be precipitated to the bottom
during the inevitable die-back of the yeast population. Thus the yeast are
going to clean up your starting materials.
This is not to say that beer is safe. During their life cycle, and
particularly during anaerobic (no oxygen) fermentation, yeasts produce and
excrete all sorts of questionable compounds into your beer. This is what
makes your beer taste like beer and not malted hop tea. Alcohol is a great
example (although this is a primary metabolite and not some wierd shit that
yeasts have decided to make before dying) of a poisonous result of fermentation
albeit one we have decided to take a liking to.
The conclusion is that you're more likely to die from eating the
carcinogenic compounds produced by mushrooms and by drinking the secondary
metabolites produced by yeasts than you are from the copper sulfate leached
off from your old and crusty cooling coils. So sit back, pound down a few
coffin nails, and reflect on the fact that people have been dying since the
invention of reproduction by methods other than fission. Personally, I prefer
sex and homebrews to living forever anyway.

Yours in Suds

Father Barleywine

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Date: Fri, 31 May 91 23:10 EDT
From: [email protected]
Subject: Cancel my subscription

Sorry I had to send this here, but the line at homebrew-request wasn't
working. The message line says it all. Hopefully I'll have a new
e-mail address soon. Thanks.
Eric

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Date: Sat, 18 May 91 09:51:52 -0500
From: [email protected]
Subject: Cream soda, siphoning woes.


My biggest concern with many authentic root beer recipes is that they call
for many bizarre and hard to find ingredients. Of course, one can always
get the extract, but that just doesn't sound like as much fun to me.
Besides, I'm not that big of a root beer fan anyway.

What I would love to try is a cream soda recipe! Does anyone have an actual
recipe for cream soda? I'd prefer one that starts "from scratch" rather
than from an extract.

On brewing: I whipped up a hellacious black/brown ale last night. I still
work from extract, and I don't have a wort chiller yet. My biggest hassle in
brewing is getting the wort from the brewpot to the carboy. I'd prefer
to siphon or use gravity feed, but my tubing always gets something in it to
plug it up and make me restart the siphon. I'm concerned that one of these
days I'm going to infect the stuff. I don't want to pour, as that tends to
slosh the hot wort around a lot. Also, it seems that pouring wouldn't adapt
well to the day when I finally make a wort chiller.

So, let me hear some advice on getting hot wort into a carboy (I use cold water
in the carboy to absorb the shock). Many thanks.

- --Danny

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Date: Sat, 01 Jun 91 16:02:23 PDT
From: [email protected]
Subject: back with the corn

...After a visit by NVir B, a total hardware breakdown on my Mac II
and the arrival of my new Mac IIfx, I'm back...

About a week ago, in #640, Algis R Korzonas says:

>I brew my own because I can buy clean, clear, dry, beer at Bobz Liquor's.
>Hmmm? Isn't this the same florian who praised the taste of Budweiser?
>All the pieces are beginning to fit together...

Geez, Algis, I didn't say my Pilsner was tasteless! And it was hot
when I drank the Bud. I had an excuse!

florian


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Date: Sun, 2 Jun 91 06:11:03 mdt
From: hplabs!hp-lsd.cos.hp.com!ihlpl!korz (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583)
Subject: Re: Brewing Lager Beers

MJ asks:
>What effects does temp. changes have on the beer and the yeast.

Drastic temp changes can shock yeast into dormancy or even death,
but I think that what you need to ask is: "How does temperature
affect the flavor of the finished product?"

I'm not sure what chemical reactions take place during lagering,
however, the effect of fermentation temperature on flavor is, to
put it simply, fruityness. When yeasts perform fermentation at
higher temps (60, 65, 70F, etc.), they produce more by-products
such as esters. Esters are the chemical compounds that give fruits
their flavor. Red Star ale yeast, for example, is known for "banana"
esters. Cooler fermentation temperatures (50, 45, 40F, etc.) cause
the yeast to produce less by-products, including esters.

Typically, ales are fermented somewhere in the vicinity of 60F,
and then consumed shortly thereafter. Lagers, however, are
traditionally fermented cooler, let's say around 45F, and then
*lagered* (stored) for several months, also at cool temperatures,
let's say 33F to 45F.

Maybe someone who knows beer chemistry better, can explain the
effect of lagering temperature.

Al.
[email protected]


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Date: Sun, 2 Jun 1991 21:45 EDT
From: GOOOOOOOOOOD MOOOOOOOOOOORNING ACS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #649 (May 31, 1991)


Hello,

I am interested in brewing me own beer, I however do not know where to

start. I have no experience in homebrewing. Can anyone out there recommend

where I start looking, like maybe a company that sells everything I need

to get started (like a beginners guide or something like that). I am also

health concious..so if anyone knows a company that sells only organic stuff

that would be a positive...I just don't like to use chemicals if not %100

necessary...well any info...your experiences would be greatly appreciated.

THANKS!!!! You can mail directly to me if ya want...

_,---/|
\ o.O ;
=(_____)=
U
----------------------------------------------------------------
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( Eastern Kentucky University VOICENET: 606-622-1986 )
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They say I'm crazy but it takes all my time.....



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Date: Mon, 3 Jun 91 00:05:55 EDT
From: [email protected] (Al Duester)
Subject: question on recarbonation with dry ice

Does anyone have any experience with recarbonating leftover keg remnants by
putting dry ice into a 2 liter plastic bottle with the brew? I don't want a
dry ice bomb, and am not about to try it with glass! We don't have the
fittings for this odd little keg of smoked beer (yes, wonderful) from the
other side of the country, or the CO2 equipment, but I can snag some solid CO2
from the biology labs fairly easily.

Either weight or volume results, by testing or calculation, would be
interesting. My chem is a litle rusty, and figuring out the solubility, etc.,
would take a while. Particularly since I have no idea what "good" levels
of carbonation are in phsical terms.

Thanks in advance for any replies. I'll post a summary and any experimental
results.

-Al

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #650, 06/03/91
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