Subject: Digest for the period 2/17/2005 - 2/18/2005 Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 01:03:29 -0500 Table of contents ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. big and huge beers (Jeff Renner) 2. Wikipedia and sulfur sources (Francisco Jones) 3. My usual rant about editing your postings (Chuck Cox) 4. Re: Digest for the period 2/16/2005 - 2/17/2005 (Annie Johnson) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jeff Renner Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 10:18:27 -0500 Subject: big and huge beers Bob Paolino wrote of the Big and Huge Competition: >"big" is defined very modestly, starting at OG=1.050 that relatively >few styles are excluded from this event. This prompts me to take note of something that has happened in craft brewing in general. Brewpubs and microbreweries all seem to make big beers. I don't know if this is a case of the general American attitude of bigger is better or the fact the bigger beers just have more flavor or the brewers want to give the customers their money's worth. Sort of like portion sizes in restaurants in the US. Ingredients are a small portion of the total cost, so make a dinner portion of pasta big enough to feed an Italian family, and make your pale ale 1.060. One of our local micros' Pilsners is 1.066! I'd rather have a couple or three of normal strength beers than fewer of these behemoths. I've been brewing long enough to remember when 1.050 was a big beer. Obviously, when the competition began 18 years ago, it was. Now if you were starting a competition with that name you'd probably set big at 1.060 and huge at 1.095. In most of the world, 1.050 still is a big beer. Look at English bitters. Or German Pilsners. Even most of the beer that Belgians drink is of lower gravity. Jeff One -- Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, JeffRenner`at`comcast.net "One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943 ********************************************************************** * JudgeNet - the beer judge digest * * Send plain text only, no HTML, MIME, encoded text or attachments * * Manage your subscription online: http://synchro.com/judge * * Send subscription requests & changes to judge-request`at`synchro.com * ********************************************************************** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Francisco Jones Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 10:24:58 -0600 Subject: Wikipedia and sulfur sources >>There was some good discussion on HBD a week or so ago about the >>differences between sulfite and sulfide: how they smell, etc. A perfect >>candidate for the comprehensive vocabulary list, IMO. Is the committee >>going to include sources for all the flavors and smells as part of the >>descriptions? >Until that happens, may I suggest the Wikopedia? >Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfate for example. I checked out that article. It wasn't at all brewing-specific, so I guess I should clarify what I meant. I meant the sources of the flavors in the brewing process specifically, like for troubleshooting a batch. For example: -Hydrogen Sulfide: smells like rotten eggs. Sometimes produced by lager yeast at higher temperatures. Dissipates with age. That is not to say that Wikipedia couldn't provide some broad background information. F. Jones ********************************************************************** * JudgeNet - the beer judge digest * * Send plain text only, no HTML, MIME, encoded text or attachments * * Manage your subscription online: http://synchro.com/judge * * Send subscription requests & changes to judge-request`at`synchro.com * ********************************************************************** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Chuck Cox Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 13:08:56 -0500 Subject: My usual rant about editing your postings Long-time subscribers know the drill, it's time for my periodic pleading for conciseness: Lately I've had to reject a number of postings that had excessive amounts of extraneous content. Often an entire digest is quoted with maybe a paragraph of original material. I don't know if the problem is that people feel they need to support their message with lots of quoted material, or if they just post without checking to see what they are sending. In any case, I'd appreciate it if you would keep a few things in mind when posting to JudgeNet: - Include only as much quoted material as is necessary to provide context for your own message. As a rule-of-thumb, you should include more original material than quoted material. This is a small list with low turnover, so you can assume that readers do not require exhaustive quoting of previous messages on a current topic*. You spent time formulating an articulate and thoughtful message, don't hide it amidst a bunch of extraneous information. Subscribers are not obligated to read your posting and may skip it if it is too cluttered. - Review and edit your posting before you send it. You are asking over 400 of your peers to take time out of their day to read your message. Be respectful of them and make sure your posting is concise and free of extraneous or unintended content. If you don't think your message is worth taking the time to review and edit, do you think it is worth 400 people taking the time to read? - Send only plain text. If you send formatted text (HTML, rich text, etc), our server will automatically convert it into plain text, but it will probably not be formatted as you intended and may include extraneous characters. If you format and send your message as plain text, it will be formatted correctly when published as plain text. - Please resubmit your message. Don't take it personally if I reject a poorly edited posting. Vigorous dialog is good for JudgeNet, but it is my responsibility to keep JudgeNet concise and I'm just getting crankier as I get older. I want to include your message, just take a minute to reformat it as plain text, delete the extraneous content, and resubmit it to judge`at`synchro.com. - Fortunately, no one has tried to use SMS-speak or sent too many emoticons. You don't want to get me started on that. * Those readers who need more historical context can always use the news server to get a threaded history of at least 3 years worth of postings. Go to synchro.com/judge/subscribe.html for more info. -- Chuck Cox - SynchroSystems chuck`at`synchro.com, cccox@fas.harvard.edu, www.synchro.com ********************************************************************** * JudgeNet - the beer judge digest * * Send plain text only, no HTML, MIME, encoded text or attachments * * Manage your subscription online: http://synchro.com/judge * * Send subscription requests & changes to judge-request`at`synchro.com * ********************************************************************** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Annie Johnson Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 16:53:57 -0800 (PST) Subject: Re: Digest for the period 2/16/2005 - 2/17/2005 I would love to see the BJCP offer a yearly scholarship(s) to the Siebel Institute like the California Fermentation Society does. Plain and simple, it sucks about the missing monies and hopefully, lesson learned. On the positive, there is only one way but up! Just my .02 Cheers! Annie Johnson E.S.B. - East Sacramento Brewers --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! – Get yours free! ********************************************************************** * JudgeNet - the beer judge digest * * Send plain text only, no HTML, MIME, encoded text or attachments * * Manage your subscription online: http://synchro.com/judge * * Send subscription requests & changes to judge-request`at`synchro.com * **********************************************************************