Welcome to the February issue of the Brewmaster, the official newsletter of the Homebrewers of Staten Island. January’s meeting at Killmeyer’s was as well attended as December’s, with about 20 members in attendance. The meeting mainly dealt with the upcoming events, the Chili Cook-Off and Homebrew Competition.

As always I will continue to beg, plead and nag for submissions for this publication. Send me your recipes, questions, and comments. We will use them all!

You can mail any articles to me @

Thomas C. Kolakowski
17 Kingsbridge Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10314 

Special thanx to this month’s contributors... John and Phil... Phil has been a very consistent contributor to this newsletter. Since I started writing the newsletter hour pages keep increasing! Keep the submissions coming in!

Feb. Meeting                                  - Feb. 5^th

Chili Cook Off                                - Feb. 7^th

Homebrew Competition                  - March 22^nd

Leukemia Society Golf Outing        - May 13^th

The club’s next major scheduled event will be the Chili Cook Off, to be held on Saturday, Feb. 7^th at 4:30 PM at Pouch Camp on beautiful Lake Orbach. This year’s event is being organized by Steve Santoro (call 876-8425 for details).

Just a Reminder:

This year’s Homebrew Competition will be held on March 22, 1998 at Snug Harbor (1000 Richmond Terrace, SI, NY 10301). This year’s site is even larger than last year’s. We have this site from 8:30am to 5:30pm, which should allow ample time for both the judging and awarding of prizes. The event is being organized by the illustrious Ken Johnson.

The Best Of Show prize in the 7th New York City Spring Regional Homebrew Competition is a 10 gal PBS Stainless Steel Brew Kettle with bottom drain and thermometer

(can get credit toward a larger kettle)

Other Prizes include Gift certificates for several of NY City's best beer

bars and restaurants, brewing supplies & equipment and beer related items etc.

The BJCP/AHA sanctioned competition is scheduled for Sunday 3/22/98 at the historic Snug Harbor Cultural Center.

Homebrewers of Staten Island URL http://www.wp.com/hosi/

Last year’s competition drew 226 entries, including entries from as far away as California (so I have been told). Club members made an excellent showing, and we hope that even more people will enter this year’s competition. So Start Brewing!!! Get those lager going folks.... time is running out!

As is tradition, HOSI members have helped out at the Leukemia Society’s annual golf outing. This year’s event is scheduled for Wednesday May 13^th. I you are interested in either donating kegs of homebrew or time, please let us know. I have been told that the event is a lot of fun, and that the Hooter’s Girls were there last year... if that is still the case I might cancel classes that day! J

Without going into a long elucidation on protein and chill haze, suffice it to say that what the step infusion does is reduce chill haze by breaking down proteins that find their way into your finished beer. Accomplishing a step infused mash will require one more piece of equipment; another kettle capable of heating about 5 gals. of sparge water. Since this pot is not coming in contact with wort, it could be fabricated from aluminum.

Let’s go over the total equipment needed for this project:

· 8 gal. brew kettle/mash tun (must be stainless or porcelain )

· Phil’s Lauter tun Mash System with false bottom

· An additional 5 gal kettle for sparge water

The above items can be purchased for well under $ 100 and would be all the

apparatus needed to make single batches of really fine beer.

Now it’s time to see how this will work....With St. Patrick’s Day right

around the corner let’s make an Irish Stout. For this beer you will need 7 lb.

crushed pale malt, 1 lb. crushed roasted barley and 1 lb. flaked barley: yeast of choice and 35 IBU’s bittering hops. One of the nicer aspects of all grain brewing is that everything goes right into the mash, including any adjuncts. Consequently, you may want to include a couple of ounces of patent malt to darken the color.

In your mash kettle ( which is also your boiler ) heat one Qt. water for every pound of grain....so in this case we will heat 9 Qts. or 2 1/4 gal. to 133 degrees F. When water reaches 133 degrees stir in all your grain. This

should bring your temp. to about 122 ° . Let this sit covered for 30 mins.

While this is happening, in your sparge vessel bring 1/2 Qt per pound or 1 1/8 gals. water to a boil. When the mash has been sitting for 30 mins. add the boiling water to the mash....this should bring the mash temp. up to about 150 ° . Hold the mash @ 150 for one hour. During this hour heat 4 3/4 gals of water in your sparge vessel to 175 degrees ( you will lose about 5 ° dumping it into your sparge bucket ). After the mash has been in the kettle 1 hr. @150 ° . raise the mash temp to 168 ° . but be careful in using a flame under the mash... you must stir and check temp. constantly so raise it slowly.

This step, called mash out , helps release sugars during sparging. When this step is finished scoop mash with liquid into Phil’s False Bottom Lauter Tun and wash out the boiler to be ready for the next step. Next, pour your 175 ° sparge water into the sparge bucket and begin sparging while collecting wort into your boiler. Once that is done, bring your wort to a boil and add your hops for one hour....cool and pitch yeast as usual.

Although this method may seem very complicated at first it really takes very little extra effort and once you have the confidence that it all works, you will love it.

by John Palmer

Because it is hard to reach inside, many homebrewers settle for soaking kegs; but unless they are scrubbed inside, residue clings to the surface - especially B-Brite - which can ultimately alter the taste of the beer. Beer-stone particles also often remain, as a flashlight inspection will disclose.

For proper cleaning, I use a (new) bristle (not plastic) - toilet bowl brush with the "too short" handle removed and replaced by a 2 ½ foot by ¾ inch diameter dowel. To connect the dowel, remove the brush from the stock handle, drill a hole in the end of the dowel slightly smaller in diameter than the brush wire. Put some glue in the hole and insert the brush wire, taking care not to split the end of the dowel. Reinforce the connection with a wide hose clamp.

For cleaning I use B-Brite and for sanitizing I use Idophor. Disassemble the values and "pick-up" tube and clean separately.