229 lines
9.3 KiB
Plaintext
229 lines
9.3 KiB
Plaintext
Newsgroups: alt.beer
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From: brown@ins.cwru.edu (Dan Brown)
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Subject: The FAQ list...
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Organization: Morgue Brewing Company. Cleveland Oh.
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Keywords: Finally!
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Well... here it is... This is the first "public" appearance of this
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FAQ list. Please write me and tell me what you think. There are a lot of
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things that can and probably will be added as time goes on.
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Thanks to all of the people who have contributed to alt.beer in the time
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that it has been around (going on 10 monthes... will be a year in June.)
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Keep the beer posts coming...
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And so... I give you the Alt.beer FAQ list!!!
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Alt.beer FAQ list.
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i. Intro.
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This list has been compiled over the time that alt.beer has been up
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available on Usenet. Please send any suggestions, corrections or
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changes to Dan Brown, brown@ins.cwru.edu.
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Many Thanks to all of the people that contributed, notably:
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Tim P McNerney, tpm%wdl58@wdl1.wdl.loral.com
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Dean Cookson, cookson@mbunix.mitre.org
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and all of the people that have kept this newsgroup going!
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This list is divided into several sections, each addressing a bit
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different aspect of beer. The topic is as broad as there are tastes for
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different kinds of beer. Due to this, this FAQ list cannot possibly
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cover every aspect of the subject. It is only meant as an overview
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that answers a few of the multitude of "Frequently Asked Questions"
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Cheers!
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Dan Brown
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brown@ins.cwru.edu
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ii. Table of contents
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The sections are as follows:
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i. intro.
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ii. Table of contents.
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I. Drinking Beer.
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II. Making Beer.
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III. General Beer FAQ's
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and
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IV. Questions about alt.beer.
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I. Drinking Beer
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What kinds of beers are there?
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What are Ales and Lagers, etc, types and styles.
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What are ales? Ales are generally beers made with top fermenting yeasts
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They are brewed at "warm" temperatures, normally between 50 and
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70 degrees Fahrenheit.
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What are lagers? Lagers are generally beers made with bottom Fermenting
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yeasts. They are brewed at cooler temperatures, generally 35 to
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50 degrees Fahrenheit.These cooler temperatures mean longer
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brewing. The process of brewing at cool temperatures is called
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"lagering." Pilsners (most American beers) are a subset of lagers.
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The style originated in Pilsen Chezkoslovakia.
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What are lambics? Lambics are specifically Belgian
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beers, made in a certain part of Belgium using wild yeasts. They have a
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very distinctive taste, and are often flavored with fruit syrups.
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What are the government classifications?
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What is malt liquor? Malt liquor is a classification bestowed on beers
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that are above a certain alcohol content. The laws vary from state
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to state in the US.
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What do 3.2 and 5.0% mean? This is a "rating" of the amount of alcohol in
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the beer, by volume or by weight depending on where you are.
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What is Rheinheitsgebot? It is an old German "purity" law that delineates
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the ingredients that can be used to make beer. Under this law, there
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are only four; water, barley malt, hops, and yeast.
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What is do the terms used in beer commercials mean?
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What is "Dry" beer? Dry beer is beer that has less malt, and more corn
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or rice sugars added to it during the brewing process. This
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produces a lighter, slightly more alcoholic, "dryer" tasting beer.
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It also probably reduces the brewing costs.
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What is "Cold Filtered?" Cold filtering is beer that is physically filtered
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after it has been brewed, before it is bottled. This tends to
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eliminate all sediments (yeast and malt leftovers... things that
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can give beer character), and makes the beer clear.
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What does "Heat Pasteurized" mean? It means the beer has been heated after
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fermenting, killing all of the remaining live yeasts and any other
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microganisms. It means that the beer will not continue to age in
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its bottle.
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What does "bottle conditioned" mean? It is beer that has not been
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pasteurized, and still has live yeast in it. It will continue to
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age in the bottle, and the character of the beer will change over
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time. For some kinds of beer this is good, for others it means
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they will spoil after a while.
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What is "draught" (draft) beer? It is beer that has been drawn or pulled
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from a cask. Beer from pressurized kegs is often referred to as
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draft beer, but this is probably a misnomer, or an "Americanism"
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How can you get draft beer in a can or bottle???
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Unknown.
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Where can I get beer? Breweries, brewpubs, stores, restaurants,
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distributors, and by making your own.
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What is a brewpub? It is a combination of brewery, pub, and maybe
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restaurant. There are LOTS of these in Europe, and are getting
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to be more in America.
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How do I make my own?? See below.
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How do I judge a beer/what is good beer
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Good beer (what is it, and how to tell). Good beer is determined by an
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individuals tastes. It has been suggested that trying a wide variety
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of beers will usually help a person figure out what beer tastes good.
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Bad beer (what it is and why it is bad/skunked.) Bad beer is beer that
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tastes bad of is spoiled. Beer can and will spoil under certain
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conditions. Mishandling and old age are the two biggest causes of
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spoiled beer. Skunked beer refers to beer that has been lightstruck,
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causing the hops to take on a skunky odor. This is often happens
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with clear or green bottles, and tends to be prevalent in certain
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imported beers.
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II. Making Beer
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WHERE DO I START... How do I make beer? Beer is made with
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basically, water, barley malt, hops and yeast. The water, malt
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and hops are boiled to produce a wort. This wort is cooled, put
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into a fermenting vessel, and the yeast is added (pitched). This
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vessel is sealed with an air lock, and the beer is allowed to
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ferment (sugar and water is turned to alcohol, carbon dioxide, etc)
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and age for a period of time. When the fermentation is over, a
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bit of additional malt or other sugar is added (for carbonation),
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and the beer is bottled or kegged. It is once again allowed to age
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for a period of time, during which the additional sugars carbonate
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the beer, and the taste of the beer developes and ages. The beer
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is then consumed.
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Where to find more information about making beer??
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What other Internet resources are available? You can find more information
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in the newsgroups rec.crafts.brewing, and rec.food.drink. There is a
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mailing list, "The Homebrew Digest" sent out almost daily. There
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is an archive of HBD items on (some machine in Florida...)
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What books are available on homebrewing? The most popular is "The Complete
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Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian. This is the book that
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made the phrase "Relax, Don't worry, Have a Homebrew" popular.
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Where can I find recipes? TCJOH by Papazian, "The Cats Meow" from the
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HBD, etc etc.
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How should I store my homebrew? The most common method is in bottles.
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These can be either the Grolsh kind, that have a stopper that
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is attached to the bottle, bottles that you put a crown cap on,
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or bottles that you cork. How do I get the labels of the bottles
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that I am going to use for my brew? The most effective method is
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Commonly said to be by soaking them in a solution of water and
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ammonia. Most labels will fall off after soaking overnight.
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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III. Some General Beer FAQ's..
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What does the "33" on the back of Rolling Rock bottles mean? There are
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several common answers. First, it is said to be the number of
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words on the back label. The story goes that the Latrobe Brewing
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Company was deciding on which slogan to use on the new bottles,
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and had counted the number of words, and written it on the piece
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of paper that went to the bottle supplier. The bottle supplier
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mistakenly included the 33 on the printed bottles, and it has been
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there since. Another explanation is that it is the year that
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prohibition was repealed. One notable comment about the mysterious
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33 from a Latrobe exec goes something like; "Who cares what it
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means as, long as people continue to ponder it while drinking a
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cold Rolling Rock."
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What is this new thing that Guinness is test marketing? How does it work?
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The thing is a can that has a pouch of Nitrogen gas in it that is
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used to produce a creamy head as you pour the beer. Probably the
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closest thing to "draft beer in a can!"
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What is Jagermeister? It is a German herbal liquor. It is NOT beer.
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Discussions about it should be held on rec.food.drink. The same
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holds for all other beverages... like Everclear...
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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IV. Questions about alt.beer.
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What is it about?
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alt.beer is a newsgroup that was created for the express purpose
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of discussing topics related to beer.
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Where are the archives? The alt.beer archives are available via anonymous
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ftp to ftp.cwru.edu. Change directories to ~/pub/alt.beer.
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What is in the archives? Various files... this FAQ list, the alt.beer
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charter, some information about CAMRA, etc etc.
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