HOMEBREW Digest #3369 Wed 05 July 2000


		Digest Janitor: janitor@hbd.org
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  oz hop imports, defence (Graham Sanders)
  Zymurgy- Beat the Heat (Ant Hayes)
  Contamination by Lambics (LyndonZimmermann)
  Water analysis ("Braam Greyling")
  Adelaide Home Brewers / Frequency of posts from   *.au   and is there an original brew ("Peter Fitzsimons")
  Australian Brew?, more on Wits ("Graham Sanders")
  Re: phenolic flavors (Jeff Renner)
  Subscribe/Unsubscribe/Address change and posting (Some Guy)
  pH probes (Dave Burley)

---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 16:05:24 +1000 From: Graham Sanders <GrahamS at bsa.qld.gov.au> Subject: oz hop imports, defence G'day all We Oz types can be a strange breed. Having a go at each other, then to their defence. Its in this spirit of mateship I must come to Regan's defence against Darren's tyrade. He wrote The short answer is don't. If AQIS wont allow it, its for a reason. Regan, I think you as a brew shop owner should know better than even to suggest in a public forum that people might circumvent Australian import quarantine legislation. ____________________________--- Now we all agree the need for AQIS. But Darren, understand we also want it in the spirit of fair play. Go against that and we will buck the system, very quickly. What gives the right for the major breweries to get flowers and no one else. Also some major distributors can get flowers as well, but us brewers cant. The hops from NZ, (thats where they will come from) are as clean as Aus, thats why the breweries can get them. There big advantage is that they are sooooo dame cheep, and you get an excellent variety. That goes against the industry here. I tried to get flowers from NZ. Had some long conversations with AQIS on the subject. It was admitted to me (unofficial of course) that there is no reason really that flowers cant come from NZ. Its the pressure of the heavy weights in the brewing industry that puts up the barriers. AQIS admits that plugs WILL NOT kill all the potential bugs and diseases. Plenty have the potential to survive plug processing, yet this is allowed to be imported. And the mega-brewiers cant guarantee that their flowers wont contain pests that cant escape. When faced with this, any wonder some of us go the back door to get our stock. Shout (and now waiting for the customs raid) Graham Sanders Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 09:04:48 +0200 From: Ant Hayes <Ant.Hayes at FifthQuadrant.co.za> Subject: Zymurgy- Beat the Heat It is very strange reading an article on brewing in the heat when my fermenter sleeps with an electric blanket at night. Ant Hayes Brewing in the southern part of where beer was invented. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 16:38:09 +0930 From: LyndonZimmermann <lyndonz at senet.com.au> Subject: Contamination by Lambics Greetings, I'm interested in making a Lambic and have been warned about the possibility of contamination into other brews of the yeast. I make beer, wine and mead, and venturing into yoghurt and cheese. How serious is this issue? What steps should I take to prevent cross contamination and sanitise brewgear used? Can the infection spread through bottle trub? Lyndon Z Lyndon Zimmermann BE (Mech Adel) Grad Dip Bus Admin (UniSA) 24 Waverley St, Mitcham, South Australia, 5062 tel +61-8-8272 9262 mobile 0414 91 4577 fax +61-8-8172 1494 email lyndonz at senet.com.au URL http://users.senet.com.au/~lyndonz Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 11:48:28 +0200 From: "Braam Greyling" <braam.greyling at azoteq.com> Subject: Water analysis Hi, Since I have moved to a new town, I need some help in analising our water profile. Here is the details I got from the Mrs. Frans at the water shop. pH 8.3 total alcalinity CaCO3 mg/l 29.0 conductivity mS/M 9.7 Cl mg/l 11.0 Total hardness CaCO3 mg/l 31.1 Color mg/l platinum <10 N T U (murkiness) 1.5 Flouride mg/l F 0.1 Unfortunately, this is all I got. What is the difference between total alcalinity and hardness ? It is measured in the same units ! Im not sure if I understand it correctly. Can someone help me make something out from this please ? What minerals should I add when making a fairly standard ale ? Regards Braam Greyling Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 21:04:04 +0930 From: "Peter Fitzsimons" <peterf at senet.com.au> Subject: Adelaide Home Brewers / Frequency of posts from *.au and is there an original brew There seems to a be a lot of interest from people in Adelaide about Home Brewing, but there seems to be a severe lack of clubs. Is anyone in Adelaide interesting in fixing that (and no, I'm not volunteering for anything just yet ...) Also Pete Calinski asked Anyway, I was also wondering, is there a unique Australian brewed beverage? Perhaps something developed by the aborigines made of beetle juice fermented in a kangaroo pouch or something? Yeah, we call it Fosters and export it because we won't drink it..... Peter Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 21:37:52 +1000 From: "Graham Sanders" <craftbrewer at cisnet.COM.AU> Subject: Australian Brew?, more on Wits G'day all Peter asks Anyway, I was also wondering, is there a unique Australian brewed beverage? Perhaps something developed by the aborigines made of beetle juice fermented in a kangaroo pouch or something? ___________________________ As far as I'm aware, the poor native abo's of this land never mastered or understood fermentation nor alcohol. They were one of a few races never to have alcohol as part of its culture. Its not surprising. As primitive hunters and gatherers, they concern was survival, moving place to place, spending a majority of their time just staying alive. Add to that this brown land has precious few sugary fruits that could ferment naturally, And any fruit about was quickly gobbled up by all sorts of wildlife. In all my travels I have found only one example of anything remotely approaching a fermented beverage. This occurred in the cape. Very rearly there would be an abandoned native bee hive (these are usually very small). If they weren't raided, the honey would ferment slightly. This sugar baby was highly prised and given to the elders. But they never made the connection (as far as I know) to go the next step, to add water and honey and let her rip. Can any over there tell me if the Eskimos ever had a fermented beverage. - ----------------------- Jim asked BTW, I can't help but wonder where you read or heard about mash souring in connection with wit brewing. Please tell. - --------------------- Well I cant remember exactly where I heard it, but the lactic mash was memtioned as a technique to control the acid level of Wits. I can understand using lactobacillus in my wort, but I,m reluctant as i will not have any control over the final acidicity. (had this experience with Lambics and Pediococcus) I could use Lactic acid as you suggest, But the beers I have found that have used it sort of taste like lactic acid has been used out of a bottle. Just a bit artificial. I want to go with some 'natural lactic acid addition' so that it tastes more authenthic. (i hope this makes sense). Thats where I think (and hope) the lactic mash will do it for me. Shout Graham Sanders Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 10:53:21 -0400 From: Jeff Renner <nerenner at umich.edu> Subject: Re: phenolic flavors Dan Lyga <lygadm at pweh.com>, who remembered to tell us that he's from Harwinton, CT, has a koelsch with phenolic flavors and writes As I've never actually tried a >Kolsch (or a Kolsch clone), I'm not sure if the beer I've created is a close >interpretation. A Koelsch should be very clean tasting and have no phenolic flavors. >Would anyone else describe the Duvel and Franziskaner beers as having a >phenolic flavor/taste? Yes, especially the Franziskaner. It is typical of weizenbier and many Belgian ales. As you surmise, the yeasts are more or less tame wild ones. >Are certain yeast strains expected to produce phenolic flavors? Yes - see above. This characteristsic has been selected against in most yeasts. I have found it in one or two British ale yeasts. Stonebridge comes to mind. It was mild and sort of a spicy note. >Does a high(er) percentage of wheat malt contribute to phenolic flavoring in >a beer? No. >After drinking several >of my beers and commercial examples of beer >with a similar taste, the flavor has actually grown on me. Many beers with this flavor can be enjoyable, but it isn't an accurate clone of a Koelsch. Any brewers who are close enough and want to taste a real Koelsch on tap, come to the Ann Arbor Brewers Guild BeerBQ this Saturday (see the July newsletter at http://hbd.org/aabg/ for details). We'll have a 50 liter keg of Reissdorf, which we are hoping will be fresh enough to appreciate. (Note - we planned this before we heard of Larry Bell's "Drink Only American Beer in July" campaign). Jeff -=-=-=-=- Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, c/o nerenner at umich.edu "One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 11:39:31 -0400 (EDT) From: Some Guy <pbabcock at hbd.org> Subject: Subscribe/Unsubscribe/Address change and posting Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to your lager... Due to a rash of misplaced posts, address change requests, misplaced subscribe requests, etc, I make the following informational post: To SUBSCRIBE to the HBD, send the word subscribe to req at hbd.org. Be sure to send it from the address you wish to have subscribed as the software reads the headers to determine what address to subscribe and ignores all else. Using the automation to subscribe ensures that the address is recorded in such a way as to allow you to use the automation to later unsubscribe should you need to. To UNSUBSCRIBE from the HBD, send the word unsubscribe to req at hbd.org. Be sure to send it from the address you wish to have unsubscribed as the software reads the headers to determine what address to unsubscribe and ignores all else. If the automation fails to find your address in the list, it will respond with instructions regarding how to proceed to stop the flow of Digests to your address. Please follow the directions. If you no longer have access to your old address, please contact the Janitors at janitor@hbd.org so we can manually remove the old address. To CHANGE YOUR SUBSCRIBED ADDRESS, first UNSUBSCRIBE from your old addres, then SUBSCRIBE from the new address. See the pertinent procedures above for instructions. POSTS intended for publication in the digest should be sent to post@hbd.org. We are revising the web page and the Digest headers to make this information more obvious and easily found. Please bear with us! Thanks! - -- - See ya! Pat Babcock in SE Michigan pbabcock at hbd.com Home Brew Digest Janitor janitor@hbd.org HBD Web Site http://hbd.org The Home Brew Page http://hbd.org/pbabcock "The monster's back, isn't it?" - Kim Babcock after I emerged from my yeast lab Saturday Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 14:13:29 -0400 From: Dave Burley <Dave_Burley at compuserve.com> Subject: pH probes Brewsters: Measuring pH at mash pH shouldn't be done IN the mash as some may have thought by Lynne O'Connors comments about not leaving the pH probe in the hot mash too long and reducing the lifetime of the probe. I can't speak for all probes nor for any substantially new solid state technology in this area, but some probes may have calomel ( mercuric chloride) in them. There are online pH probes used in the food industry, so I suggest you use one of these or at least contact the manufacturer and ask about the safety of using their probe in a foodstuff and what happens if it breaks or leaks. In any event, the proper way to measure a pH is to remove a sample of the mash, cool it to RT or if you have a temperature compensating probe, measure the temperature and the pH ( after probe temperature equilibration) and THROW the sample away. Do NOT put the probe directly in the mash nor return the sample to it. Keep on Brewin' Dave Burley Return to table of contents
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