Fw: WindRiver Brewing Internet Newsletter

----- Forwarded by Allan V Boyce/MN/USB on 05/23/2005 09:35 AM ----- "WindRiver Brewing" <windrvr(a)bitstream.net> 05/22/2005 11:13 PM To windrvr(a)bitstream.net cc Subject WindRiver Brewing Internet Newsletter WindRiver Brewing Internet Newsletter WESTSIDE HOMEBREW CLUB MEETING THURSDAY 5/26/05 BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!!! For everyone living in the Minneapolis/St Paul Metro area. All meetings begin at 7:00 pm at WindRiver Brewing. Bring a glass or mug and some homebrew (or unusual commercial beer if you're in a bind). Hope to see you there. A map to WindRiver is available at www.windriverbrew.com/map.html. Too Hot To Brew Beer in Your House? Try Some Mead For a Tasty Summer Treat! If you are not lucky enough to have a cool basement to brew in (and even if you do), you can still make some good mead. For those of you who do not know, mead is a beverage made with honey and water and sometimes other flavorings like spices, herbs and fruit. Mead is one of the most ancient alcoholic beverages as references to it can be found in Roman mythology and Norse legends. Mead has a flavor similar to champagne (if served carbonated or "sparkling") or white wine (if served flat or "still"). Although mead is traditionally served like a wine in European countries, I enjoy it both ways. Sometimes the carbonation helps bring out fruit and spice flavors. If you prefer a mead with a sweeter flavor, we suggest that use what is called "Sweet Mead" yeast. This is only available as a liquid yeast, and will leave much more residual sweetness and fruit flavor than mead made with champagne yeast. The good news is that mead can be safely brewed between 70 and 80 degrees F. I have had great success making meads in my basement in the middle of summer (my basement gets up to 75 - 78 F). And if you get into the habit of making mead each summer you can get a few different vintages going, and will have the opportunity to compare meads at various ages. To help get you started, we are offering discounts on all of our mead kits. Below you will find a brief description of the mead kits we offer. Orange Ginger Mead: This mead has a zesty citric flavor as well as a nice spicy ginger flavor. The kit contains 12 lbs of honey, 1/2 oz Ginger and 1/2 oz Orange Peel, Yeast nutrient, acid blend and a dry champagne yeast. with dry yeast, WAS $42.95 NOW $38.95 with liquid yeast (XL Pack), WAS $46.95 Now $41.95 Raspberry Mead: This is a fruit mead or melomel. It is also lighter in body so it is ready to drink sooner than our other meads. This is great summer beverage, perfect for sipping on a warm summer evening while you are sitting on the porch, or at the cabin. The kit contains 9 lbs of honey, 2 oz of Raspberry Extract, yeast nutrient, acid blend, and dry champagne yeast. with dry yeast, WAS $36.95 NOW $32.95 with liquid yeast (XL), WAS $41.95 Now $36.95 Cranberry Mead: This mead combines a full flavor with a crisp citric character from the Cranberry extract. This one will take a little longer to finish than the Raspberry mead but it is well worth the wait. The kit contains 12 lbs of honey, 4 oz Cranberry extract, yeast nutrient, acid blend, and dry champagne yeast. with dry yeast, WAS $36.95 NOW $32.95 with liquid yeast (XL), WAS $41.95 Now $36.95 THIS OFFER IS GOOD UNTIL THE NEXT NEWSLETTER. Ask Dr. Zoot, Your Brewing Questions Answered Dr. Zoot, Q. I do not own and extra refrigerator or one of those fancy shmancy fridge control units, how can I keep brewing good beer throughout the summer? A. You have asked a very good question. First off, you can probably rule out brewing pilsners and other lager styles. The first thing you will want to do is pick a good recipe to go with your fermentation temperature. Lighter, less flavorful brews are much more difficult to make in the summer. You want to pick a fairly robust recipe, possibly with some roasted grains and a fair amount of hops (hops not only will strongly flavor the beer but also act as an anti-bacterial agent to prevent your beer from becoming infected). Second, you can take some basic measure to counteract the warmth of your brewing area. The most basic technique is to simply wrap a wet towel around your fermenter, and make sure to keep the towel wet. The process of evaporation will cool down your beer substantially (5 - 6 degrees). If you basement is in the mid to upper 70's you will have a good fermentation temperature. You can also set a fermenter into a shallow container partially filled with water, and then use those frozen gel packs you can buy for keeping coolers cold to also keep the water bath cold. You will need to rotate fresh gel caps about twice a day to keep the water cool. Finally, if you run your air conditioning a lot during the summer, your basement might be an acceptable temperature already (cold air has a tendency to sink). And there is always the option of spending $50 - $100 for a used refrigerator. Your wife/spouse/significant other will thank you when you have a fridge devoted to beer. Q. How should I store my WindRiver Brewing ingredient kits? A. Our ingredient kits should be brewed as quickly as possible. For prolonged storage the malt extract should be refrigerated or frozen. The yeast pack should be refrigerated but not frozen, and the hops should be refrigerated or frozen. Grains should be stored at a moderate temperature in a dry environment. Q. I sometimes see recipes calling for imported specialty grains. My question is how to convert these recipes to ones using domestic malts? A. As the homebrewing hobby has expanded, some of these exotic imported malts are becoming a little more common, so you will start to see more and more recipes calling for their use. Here are some rule of thumb conversions. Imported crystal malts can be substituted one for one to domestic crystal malt. In general British Crystal Malt is about 60 Lovibond, Dark Crystal Malt is about 80 - 90 Lovibond and Light Crystal Malt is about 30 Lovibond. Belgian Special "B" is roughly equivalent to domestic Crystal 120 Lovibond (although we do also carry Belgian Special "B" malt). Domestic Victory malt is a good substitute for British Brown Malt, Domestic Black Barley is a substitute for Stout Malt or imported Roasted Barley (domestic Roasted Barley is a little too light for a good stout). You can use Special Roast as a substitute for Biscuit Malt (we currently have some imported Biscuit malt if you want to use the real thing). Cheers and Good Brewing!! 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