User:Petesoper

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Quick Intro

I'm a member interested in learning new stuff, helping improve SplatSpace, and returning to hobby electronics/programming. I have MSP430 Launchpads and an Arduino for the latter.

Homebrewing

  • In the late 80s to early 90s I got very serious about homebrew beer brewing and I collected some books at that time. Below is a list of the books available to SplatSpace members for borrowing. The first dozen titles reflect my quick judgment/memory wrt wheat vs chaff, with the first two titles being supremo technical information. Titles 13 onward range from interesting/amusing to ancient British and American info-drek.
  • A few additional comments follow after the table.
Book Title Author Owner Borrowability Condition
Principles of Brewing Science Fix Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Brewing Lager Beer Noonan Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Yeast Culturing for the Homebrewer Leistad Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
The Practical Brewer MBAA Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Homegrown Hops Beach Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Winner's Circle - 10 Years of Award Winning Homebrew Recipes American HB Assoc Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Beer and Brewing Volume 10 Loysen Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Beer and Brewing Volume 8 Thomas Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Beer and Brewing Volume 7 Thomas Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Beer and Brewing Volume 6 Thomas Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Best of Beer and Brewing Volumes 1-5 Association of Brewers Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Beer Judge Study Guide American Homebrewers Association Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Classic Beer Styles Volume 1 Pale Ale Foster Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Classic Beer Styles Volume 2 Continental Pilsner Foster Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Good Beer Guide 1989 Campaign for Real Ale Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
A Dictionary of Pub Names Dunkling and Wright Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Brewed in the Pacific Northwest Meier Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
The Essentials of Beer Style Eckhardt Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Home Brewed Beers & Stouts - Copy 1 Berry Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Home Brewed Beers & Stouts - Copy 2 Berry Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy Line Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Brewing Lager Alexander Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
The Big Book of Brewing Line Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Pubs for Families CAMRA Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
A Treatise on Lager Beers Eckhardt and McCallum Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
The Complete Handbook of Home Brewing Miller Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Home Brewing - The CAMRA Guide Wheeler Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Boots Home Wine & Beer Making 1987-88 Boots (UK chemist shop) Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Beginners Book of Country Winemaking Turner Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Beginners Book of Home Beermaking Turner Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Beer Kits and Brewing Line Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Wine and Beer Making 90/91 Boots Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Better Beer and How to Brew It Reese Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Pocket Guide to Beer Simon and Shuster Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Hugh Johnson's Pocket Encyclopedia of Wine Johnson Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
The Pocket Encyclopedia of California Wines Thompson Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
The Signet Encyclopedia of Wine Henriques Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)
Home Wine Making & Brewing Boots Pete Soper Okay Good (4/2012)

Thoughts about beer brewing

  • The one area I'd still be very comfortable/eager to share about is yeast culturing. The first couple of titles above describe use of yeast cultures as present in commercial brewing settings that many homebrewers would consider impossibly impractical to duplicate (that is, a couple order of magnitudes larger than what you buy from Wyeast or manage to grow with a starter before you get paraniod about the purity). The yeast culturing title above and the others that touch upon hobby brewing yeast cultures were written before affordable high quality air filters were available. If you follow the yeast culturing book above you will often get contaminated yeast, in my opinion, because there is improper control over the air that feeds the yeast. However, if you arrange to pump the culture with STERILE air (in addition to strictly following other procedures for sterilization) then you won't ever get an infection and you can make a culture that will start your fermentation *immediately*, and I do mean immediately. This allows the yeast to get the upper hand in your wort and the random contamination organisms that slip past your sanitizing procedures will never get a chance to multiply significantly. (This is not an excuse to avoid meticulous sanitation, in my opinion, but everybody will draw their own line between how far you want to go vs tolerance for any off-flavors and/or aromas.) Together with starting my cultures from single yeast cells, my technique for growing several ounces of vigorous, healthy yeast for a pitch are one reason why I frequently annihilated the competition in homebrew contests and club meeting tastings.
  • Another major factor with respect to having a pleasant outcome with a beer brewing project is control of fermentation temperature. If you don't have a lot of money this translates to buying a used fridge and brute forcing it on and off with a thermostat that covers the necessary range for ale and lager fermentations. In my opinion if you stick the beer in the corner of a room and call that good enough, then by definition the beer you get will be good enough, but except for the most heavy handed styles that cover weird fermentation chemistry, the results will most likely never compete with the beer you buy. Getting the wort to the right temperature before pitching yeast and then holding the right temperature so the yeast experience the environment they were bred for is the second most important factor in brewing (after avoiding infection), in my opinion.
  • Hops grow like weeds in decent soil here in North Carolina. I've had hops grow a 25' tall string so fast that with a magnifying glass I could see the growth! No kidding: perceptible growth is very spooky, but right after that it's a real thrill. Properly drying the hops to the right percentage of moisture, vacuum-sealing them, and keeping them frozen until ready to use can drastically cut the cost of home brewing.
  • Plain but high quality malted barley is available in big (50-60 pound) bags, and together with a decent mill, can also drastically reduce the cost of home brewing. A decent mill is hard to come by, though, and getting the right, repeatable grind for repeatable mashing and sparging is simply difficult in many cases. When I was into brewing in the Triangle very few folks were doing all grain, but hopefully the value of this is obvious now and perhaps a "club mill" that could be shared by area enthusiasts is practical. The point of this and previous sections is that although this will (once again) annoy Mike Williams for me to say it, a batch of top quality beer can be made for a small fraction of the cost of a "kit." (Mike and I were very close friends when I was active: don't take this the wrong way. I was delighted to find that Mike is still around and his web store front looks great!)