Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Homebrew Digest #5925 (March 27, 2012)

HOMEBREW Digest #5925 Tue 27 March 2012


FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org


***************************************************************
TODAY'S HOME BREW DIGEST BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

No "sponsor-level" donation yet this year

Support those who support you! Visit our sponsor's site!
********** Also visit http://hbd.org/hbdsponsors.html *********

DONATE to the Home Brew Digest. Home Brew Digest, Inc. is a
501(c)3 not-for-profit organization under IRS rules (see the
FAQ at http://hbd.org for details of this status). Donations
can be made by check to Home Brew Digest mailed to:

HBD Server Fund
PO Box 871309
Canton, MI 48187-6309

or by paypal to address serverfund@hbd.org. DONATIONS of $250
or more will be provided with receipts. SPONSORSHIPS of any
amount are considered paid advertisement, and may be deductible
under IRS rules as a business expense. Please consult with your
tax professional, then see http://hbd.org for available
sponsorship opportunities.
***************************************************************


Contents:
Lager (Nathaniel Letcher)


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy! *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

NOTE: With the economy as it is, the HBD is struggling to
meet its meager operating expenses of approximately $3500
per year. If less than half of those currently directly
subscribed to the HBD sent in a mere $5.00, the HBD would
be able to easily meet its annual expenses, with room to
spare for next year. Please consider it.

Financial Projection as of 03 March 2012
*** Condition: Guarded ***
501(c)3 revoked in process of retroactive reinstatement.
See Site News on http://hbd.org for details and progress.
Projected 2012 Budget $3191.79
Expended against projection $ 721.78
Unplanned expenditures $ 79.98
Projected Excess/(Shortfall) ($ 725.01)

As always, donors and donations are publicly acknowledged
and accounted for on the HBD web page. Thank you


Send articles for __publication_only__ to post@hbd.org

If your e-mail account is being deleted, please unsubscribe first!!

To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE send an e-mail message with the word
"subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to request@hbd.org FROM THE E-MAIL
ACCOUNT YOU WISH TO HAVE SUBSCRIBED OR UNSUBSCRIBED!!!**
IF YOU HAVE SPAM-PROOFED your e-mail address, you cannot subscribe to
the digest as we cannot reach you. We will not correct your address
for the automation - that's your job.

HAVING TROUBLE posting, subscribing or unsusubscribing? See the HBD FAQ at
http://hbd.org.

LOOKING TO BUY OR SELL USED EQUIPMENT? Please do not post about it here. Go
instead to http://homebrewfleamarket.com and post a free ad there.

The HBD is a copyrighted document. The compilation is copyright
HBD.ORG. Individual postings are copyright by their authors. ASK
before reproducing and you'll rarely have trouble. Digest content
cannot be reproduced by any means for sale or profit.

More information is available by sending the word "info" to
req@hbd.org or read the HBD FAQ at http://hbd.org.

JANITORs on duty: Pat Babcock (pbabcock at hbd dot org), Jason Henning,
Spencer Thomas, and Bill Pierce


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


Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:01:52 -0500
From: Nathaniel Letcher <nathaniel.letcher at gmail.com>
Subject: Lager

Tom,

While I've not yet brewed a lager, I do not think you'd want to drop
the temperature of the yeast before fermentation is complete. Lager
yeasts, to my understanding, have an optimum fermentation temp.
of something around 50 F. Any yeast when crashed to 36-38 F will
go dormant. It's possible that the Fermentis yeast will continue to
slowly consume the wort's sugars but they will be doing so at a
greatly reduced rate than would be the case if they were 10 degrees
warmer. In fact, many brewers raise the temperature of their wort
to as high as 68 F near the end of fermentation, not only to reduce
diacetyl, but to ensure complete attenuation of the wort. Most of
the undesirable yeast byproducts are produced during the initial growth
phase of fermentation. Once that period has passed it is perfectly fine
to ferment lager yeast at what are considered ale temperatures. The
purpose of lagering is to clear the beer, precipitate proteins/polyphenols,
and, of course, allow the yeast to "clean up" the beer a bit, but
before they can do that the beer needs to be fully attenuated. In your
case, I'd warm the beer back up and rouse the yeast. If you still
don't see a drop in final gravity then you've got another issue with your
process.

Nathan Letcher
St Louis, MO

------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #5925, 03/27/12
*************************************
-------