steam beer

[Gerald Cohen]

  First, thanx to everyone who responded on "-stan" of e.g.
"Afghanistan." Now to steam beer; here's a response from my
colleague, Gary Bertrand (Professor of Chemistry, University of
Missouri-Rolla):


>       The story by Steve Hicks is very unlikely.  Beer processing will
>not be speeded up greatly by heating, and the cost of installing steam
>pipes would not pay for itself in the one or two days that could possibly
>be gained in the process for this one-time application.  Also, the present
>technology as I read it does not actually heat the brew - it is heated by
>the fermentation itself.  Other techniques use ice to keep the wort from
>getting too warm.  The Steam Beer technology was developed because ice was
not available.----[signed: Gary Bertrand]

>
>
>>>         I don't think anyone's given the explanation for "steam" beer
>>>beer that I heard when introduced to it as a young sailor passing
>>>through San Francisco in the late '60s:  that the beer (and the
>>>name) originated when hordes of gold-seekers suddenly des-
>>>cended on the quiet Mexican settlement ofYerba Buena in
>>>1849...and didn't want to wait for their beer.
>>>
>>>         The story was that some mechanic who recognized a boom-
>>>market when he saw one came up with the idea of running steam
>>>pipes through the wort, speeding fermentation (and profit).
>>>
>>>
>  >>
>  >> Steve Hicks
>  >>
>  >>
>