On Sat, Jan 17, 2004 at 01:03:01AM +0100, Steen & Anne Petersen wrote: > Mit spørgsmål er derfor: > > Hvorfor hælder man ikke den kogende urt (uden humle) over i gærtanken > og køler den ned der? Fordelen må vel være at: > - Humlen kun er i urten i de foreskrevne minutter. > - Gærtanken bliver "steriliseret" med den kogende urt.
Well, of course you could fo it like that. When I brew several boils in a row, I often cool in my fermenting bucket. Anyhow, I have a few comments: If you ferment in a glass balloon, you should not pour boiling hot wort into it, and should not immerse the balloon in a cold water. You risk a cracked balloon, and all your great beer mixed with the cooling water. With a plastic bucket it works all right. The hops give out bitter stuff (alpha-acids), and hop aromas. The bitterness does not dissolve that well in water, so you need to boil the hops long enough to get it out. The aroma stuff dissolves easier, but evaporates away when you boil too long. That is why you add hops at different times. It is quite possible to add hops in a cold wort, even in the secondary fermenter. They give a good deal of aromas, but no bitterness (not being boiled). Most commercial beers don't bother with that. us homebrewers are more free to experiment... The "public" receipies are based on some assumptions on how quickly you cool you stuff etc. Or - more likely - they are derived from what worked for one brewer in one kitchen. As a home brewer you are free - expected - to sort out the details for yourself, and tune the timing (and the rest of the receipe) to fit your kitchen, your process, and most of all, your taste. As a beginning brewer you may not have the experience to adjust things to fit the way you cool your wort (or whatever). Do not worry, it is more than likely to end up as good beer anyway. Hop boiling times etc do make a difference, but when it comes to it, the difference is relatively small. You can sweat the small details after you have got your process under so much control that you know that the random variations are going to be small. In spite of the above, it is still a good idea to study the writings of others, and to try to get an idea of what happens in the process. And (especially) to make your own experiments! Best of luck with your brews! Heikki -- Heikki Levanto LSD - Levanto Software Development <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
