HOMEBREW Digest #1670 Fri 03 March 1995

Digest #1669 Digest #1671


	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Rob Gardner, Digest Janitor


Contents:
  Ultimate Fermenters/Cold Break/$1 CP Bottle Fillers (Kinney Baughman)
  poppets... (abaucom)
  WYEAST #1007 Anyone,Anyone! ("Joseph E. Santos")
  Boiling clorox (Kinney Baughman)
  Leaky Valves (Dean Pulsifer)
  RE:weizen (Jim Busch)
  Brown scum (SnowMS_at_CNTORSSA)
  Dry Hopping ("Roger Grow")
  Re: AHA guidelines (PatrickM50)
  UNSUCSCRIBE ("Burns*, Bill WA")
  Canning wort (Delano Dugarm EDITS 36478)
  Re: AOB Style guide (Spencer.W.Thomas)
  Tubing/ ("Fleming, Kirk R., Capt")
  1995 AHA Guidelines (Shawn Steele)
  Iodophors and drip drying (Pierre Jelenc)
  Mash Yield/Fermentability Experiments (Rob Reed)
  Sodium percarbonate sanitizing (Philip Gravel)
  Beer Formula Calculator 1.0 (Carlo Fusco)
  New Club need your help (DAVID DOUGLAS STRAIN)
  Differences between bottles and minikegs ("David H. Thomas")
  Anacortes Brewing CO./San Jaun Brewing (Jeff Wade)
  Spirit of Free Beer Homebrew Competition (Delano Dugarm EDITS 36478)
  Scaling Up Recipes (Jeff Bonner)
  inquiry (Mark Lee)
  Chlorine Crystals (sic) ("Palmer.John")
  RIMS info and sources (Chris Barnhart)
  AOB styles CHART w/SGs and IBUs (00bkpickeril)
  TSP vs Cu (usfmchql)
  request information (ELIZABETH  MCCLELLAN)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 01 Mar 1995 00:19:36 -0400 (EDT) From: Kinney Baughman <BAUGHMANKR at conrad.appstate.edu> Subject: Ultimate Fermenters/Cold Break/$1 CP Bottle Fillers Will Self raises some interesting ideas about fermenters. My original idea for a "bottomless" fermenter in the early 80's had many of the features Will describes. Plain old economics reared its ugly head when I took my original design to a plastics manufacturer. So back to the drawing board where the next go 'round in the prototype "lab" resulted in the BrewCap. As I explained to Will offline, the BrewCap isn't the perfect solution. But it *is* a $13.95 solution!! And with a little attention to detail, satisfies the essential requirements of harvesting yeast and eliminating racking from the fermentation process. >I have tried the inverted carboy method using the brewcap, and the fatal >flaw, I think, is that the shoulders are not steep enough and the yeast >will not slide down them to the bottom. (I even tried pushing a stainless >steel scrubber into the brew and then moving it around with a strong >magnet to remove yeast from the shoulders.) Also I personally feel that >the brewcap system is a lot of danged trouble. As much as I'd rather let this comment pass, I just can't let people think the BrewCap is fatally flawed because of Will's experience. I agree that the carboy shape is not ideal when it comes to the settling of the yeast. If I had any influence over the Mexican carboy manufacturers, I'd have had them remold their product years ago!! But the BrewCap works in spite of it still. The key is to twist the carboy back and forth *every* day. (The instructions emphasize this, BTW.) You can't wait until the yeast drops out of solution at the secondary stage. If you do, stuff collects on the carboy shoulders, sticks, and interferes (though hardly obstructs) the desired settling of the yeast. By following this technique, the yeast falls quite easily into the carboy neck where it falls into the yeast collection hose and is easily removed. I guess you can say the BrewCap is "a lot of danged trouble". But, to me, the convenience of harvesting yeast directly from the fermenter, the elimination of racking to secondaries and priming tanks and the resultant cleaning of those vessels makes it worth it turning upside down once or twice (depending on whether you bottle or keg). >I would like to have a valve at the bottom of the fermenter and attach >a collection jar below. Here is my fondest hope: That I could leave >the valve open at pitching time and that any trub that I have got into >my fermenter would settle into the collecting jar during the lag phase >and could be removed. I'll get on my soapbox on this one so please forgive me. (And this has nothing to do with the BrewCap). Of all the things to worry about in the making of beer, I don't understand why some brewers get so bent out of shape over their beer resting on a little cold break in the fermenter? I'm the first to admit one shouldn't take hot break over into the fermenter. (See my Zymurgy article of a couple of years ago for all the gory details.) But the jury is out as to whether cold break has any deleterious effect on the flavor of beer. My reading of the literature indicates it has no effect whatsoever on the more robust flavored beers. Period. As for more delicate beers, there "seems to be more possibility of having unacceptable sulphury aroma and taste" in beers where cold trub had not been removed "during the course of successive fermentations". (_Malting and Brewing Science, pp. 523-524). OK. I admit the phrase "during the course of successive fermentations" is vague. But I've always presumed they were referring to breweries where beers are being repitched successively. If so, for those of us who tend to use fresh cultures each time, then the effects of cold trub on the flavor of beer is insignificant. In the same paragraph the authors state: "The overall impression from other studies is that the presence of cold trub may stimulate the rate of fermentation, possibly by providing nuclei for carbon dioxide release..." This is good. This is not something to avoid. As the years have gone by, I've tried to eliminate unnecessary steps from my brewing process. Though I may be wrong and surely welcome debate to the contrary, I fall down on the side of the fence that says letting cold break settle and racking to the "real" fermenter 12 or so hours later is a waste of time. In fact, it's asking for trouble. Guess that ought to get a rise out of a few people! :-) Getting back to the matter at hand... >You can see that one of my big aims is to totally eliminate racking. I >would want to send the beer straight from the fermenter into soda kegs. I've been doing that for 11 years, Will! :-) On a less proprietary note: Roger reposted Darren's $1 counter pressure filler idea. A great gadget. We've used it at Tumbleweed for over a year now. Just one *very* important point that wasn't mentioned in the original post. It's imperative you prefill the bottles with CO2 before filling them with beer else you'll have oxidized beer in a month or so. Even still, I wouldn't want them to sit around for several months if they've been bottled using this device. I think it's better to go the bottle conditioning route if you plan on "laying a bottle down" for a while. Cheers ya'll, - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kinney Baughman | Beer is my business and baughmankr at conrad.appstate.edu | I'm late for work. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 95 7:07:11 EST From: abaucom at fester.swales.com Subject: poppets... Stupid question...How does one remove the poppet from a pin-lock corny keg? It looks like the valve should unscrew but I have put a fair force on it and nothing...I am afraid of shearing it off (sounds painful!). tia, -Andrew - ------ Andrew W. Baucom, abaucom at fester.swales.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 07:50:13 -0500 (EST) From: "Joseph E. Santos" <jesantos at WPI.EDU> Subject: WYEAST #1007 Anyone,Anyone! Fellow Brewers, I have just started an Oktoberfest using Wyeast #1007 (German ale yeast). I have never used this yeast before and have a few questions. I have noticed a slight sulphery odor in the fermenting blowoff. I have heard this is common with some lager yeasts but I have never heard of it in an ale yeast. Also, there seems to be high flocculation in the primary. I am interested to know if these are the normal characteristics of Wyeast 1007 and what the final characteristics will be in the brew (due to the yeast only). ***************************** I have another product related question. In the process of gathering ingredients for this recipe I came across a new product (at least at the supply shop I frequent). It's called "Morgan's Blend Malt Extract" it is a pre blended extract of specialty grains. It comes in a 2.2# can. Has anyone had any experience using this. TIA DR J (Just another happy homebrewer!) Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 1995 09:06:41 -0400 (EDT) From: Kinney Baughman <BAUGHMANKR at conrad.appstate.edu> Subject: Boiling clorox Pier Dutcher mentioned boiling clorox in his post about "cheep pumps". This reminds me of a question I've been wanting to ask. I'm almost positive that boiling clorox ruins its sterilization properties. I've heard that this causes it to degenerate into some kind of harmless salt. I'm no chemist so my question goes out to those who are. I mentioned this to a friend in the past and he asked why, then, do people use clorox in hot water in their washing machines? Second. Assuming hot water does destroy clorox, how much contact time does the trick? I ask this because a couple of times I've had problems with clorophenols at the Tumbleweed brewery. I've eliminated it by doing 30 minute to 1 hour boiling water soaks in our fermenters. (We use HD polyethelene drums. Why? Economics.) Bringing 4 bbls. of water to a boil on brew day in the brewing kettle is a big pain so we are in the process of changing our sterilization program. I intend on using perasetic acid once a month to ensure absolute sterilization of our barrels. Then I plan on following that with a routine iodophor soak the rest of the month to maintain sterility. Both of these solutions rinse well with smaller amounts of boiling water. But I still wonder whether how much into the overkill zone I've been with the 30 minute boiling water soaks on the old plan. Wow! Two posts in two days. Just like the old days!! Cheers! - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kinney Baughman | Beer is my business and baughmankr at conrad.appstate.edu | I'm late for work. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
Date: 1 Mar 95 9:33:09 EST From: Dean Pulsifer <aic8882 at lexmark.com> Subject: Leaky Valves I finally get to contribute rather than just learn. I went through several leaky valves before I hit upon the solution. I removed the valve, wrapped it with teflon tape and reinserted. It has not leaked since. Dean A. Pulsifer -- Pulsifer at aol.com (preferred) Work is for work and Home is for brewing AIC8882 at lexmark.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 09:44:00 -0500 (EST) From: Jim Busch <busch at eosdev2.gsfc.nasa.gov> Subject: RE:weizen Jeff asks: <6 lbs. 6-row Lager Malt (Munich? German? Bavarian?) <9 Lbs. Wheat Malt You can use 6 row lager malt, but US 2 row works too. I prefer to use continental Pils malt, though. <I was planning on a 60-90 minute 125F protein rest <a 60 minute rest at 152F <a 30 minute rest at 158F <a 170F mash-out You might want to read Warners Wheat book, available from the AoB. When using this much wheat, a decoction is pretty much mandatory. Even when using a 50/50% mix, this is one of the few styles that really benefits from a dough in around 105-110F. This temp will help adjust the pH, reduce gums and beta glucans through the action of beta glucanase and also liberate ferrulic acid bound to pentosans. Warner lists the optimum for this is 111F and 5.7 pH (pg 72, German Wheat Beer). The importance of liberating ferrulic acid is that this has been shown to be a key precursor to the 4-vinyl guaiacol, which is responsible for the characteristic phenols in weizens. 60-90 minutes at protein temp is kinda overkill. Id suggest a dough in at 105F, rest for 10-15 minutes, then add heat to pass through to 122F. Hold there for 30 min, then raise to 152F for 60 min, then 170 to mash off. This would be an example of the upward step mash. If you want to do a low temp and high temp rest, Id say rest 15 mins at 145 to maximize beta amylase activity, then push it to 158F to maximize alpha amylase activity. For a decoction: Id suggest a dough in at 105F, rest for 10-15 minutes, then add heat to pass through to 122F. Hold there for 20 min, pull 1/3rd thick decoction. Raise this to saacharification, hold 15-30 mins, then boil it for 20 mins. Combine the two mashes and hold at saacharification until conversion is complete. Then mash off. A beta glucan rest (and decoction mashing) will make lautering weizens easier. <For hops, I was planning a 60 minute boil with Tettnang, and using some <Saaz at the end for nose. Traditional weizens have no finish hops, nothing less than 20 minutes to the end of the boil. < For fermentation, I was planning on 14 days at 45F in primary, You better do this at 60F or higher, or risk sluggish ferment and/or low ester and phenol production. Jim Busch busch at mews.gsfc.nasa.gov "DE HOPPEDUIVEL DRINKT MET ZWIER 'T GEZONDE BLOND HOPPEBIER!" Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 95 10:10:40 EST From: SnowMS_at_CNTORSSA at CCIP.PERKIN-ELMER.COM Subject: Brown scum Eamonn make a remark about the brown scum on the wall. Well I hate to admit it but my wife is right, it is from the beer. Now I don't know what it is! I don't think it is sugar, a rule of thumb for steam distillation is greater than 1mm vapour pressure at 100C. I could not find the vapour pressure for glucose(C6H12O6) but glycerol(C3H8O3) is 1mm at 125C and the relationship is nonlinear. In addition if it was sugar and purified by steam distillation it would light in colour. I would guess the material is the volatile components in the hops and malt, maybe materials such as furfural and other compounds that can polymerize to form the scum you are talking about. Anyone with other ideas? Miles in the Maritimes Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 08:15:42 -0700 From: "Roger Grow" <grow at sumatra.mcae.stortek.com> Subject: Dry Hopping In HBD #1668 Rob Becker asks about forgotten hops; Rob, It has been my experience that dry hopping produces good results, but is a pain in the tush. What I have started doing is adding a "hop tea" with my priming sugar instead. Put the hops in a mesh bag, and add to boiling water (2 cups?) for the same amount of time you should have boiled them with the wort, then add them to your bottling vessel with your priming sugar(boiled seperately). The first few times I tried this, I boiled my hops (in a bag) WITH my priming sugar. Bad idea. The hops and the gause bag absorbed some of the priming solution and wouldnt give it back (greedy buggers). I prime lightly anyway, so I had a couple (slightly) under carbonated batches. I guess you could add your priming sugar to the hop tea AFTER you have removed the hops, just dont boil it too much longer, or you could loose some aroma (havent tried this one, YMMV). This procedure also works good to pep up a beer that you decide is under hopped at bottling time. Hope this helps, Roger Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 10:31:54 -0500 From: PatrickM50 at aol.com Subject: Re: AHA guidelines Domenick Venezia writes: <<<<<<<< I had the AOB (AHA) 1995 style guide e-mailed to me by accessing their email server (info at aob.org, "styles" as the message body) and there are no specific gravity ranges quoted for any of the styles. What gives? >>>>>>> I also got the style guide and noticed that there were not only no specific gravity ranges, but also no IBU or SRM ranges either. Just descriptions of the styles. Could it be they have been reading the latest IBU thread and figured they'd solve the IBU style matching problem by just not publishing the range anymore??!! ;-O Or maybe there is another list somewhere with our *beloved* numbers. I'll email aob and let the HBD know what I find. To be continued . . . Return to table of contents
Date: 1 Mar 1995 10:35:44 U From: "Burns*, Bill WA" <burns at pharos-tech.com> Subject: UNSUCSCRIBE UNSUCSCRIBE ___________________________________________________________________________= ____ To: Multiple recipients of list BEER-L From: Posting Address Only - No Requests on Wed, Mar 1, 1995 3:58 AM Subject: Homebrew Digest #1668 (March 01, 1995) Enclosure: Homebrew Digest #1668 (March 01 Text too big (>32K). See enclosure. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 1995 14:35:00 -0500 (EST) From: Delano Dugarm EDITS 36478 <ADUGARM at worldbank.org> Subject: Canning wort Kirk Harralson writes: >The idea of canning starter wort in quart-sized mason jars, as >described in a few books and here on the digest, really appeals to >me.... [discussion of pressure canning vs. hot water bath deleted] I >talked to some people who claim they have canned various low-acid >vegetables for years without using pressure methods, and everything >was fine. I've had this argument for years with members of my family about low-acid foods, and for me it gets down to this: Pressure canning kills almost everything, hot water bath doesn't. Sure, pressure canning takes a lot longer (waiting for the pressure in the canner to go down), and requires special equipment. (A pressure canner big enough for 5 quart jars costs about $70 in the DC area.) On the other hand, one of the best ways to get botulism is from home-canned, low-acid food. "Putting Foods By," another good book on canning, has interesting statistics from the CDC Mortality and Morbidity Reports on this issue. Plus, exploding mason jars lead to big clean up problems and anger from spouses. I pressure can my starters because I can easily borrow the pressure canner and it's worth the extra time for my peace of mind. Your Morbidity May Vary, of course. Delano DuGarm adugarm at worldbank.org Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 95 11:11:44 EST From: Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu Subject: Re: AOB Style guide Domenick Venezia wrote about AOB Style guide: > I had the AOB (AHA) 1995 style guide e-mailed to me by accessing their > email server (info at aob.org, "styles" as the message body) and there are > no specific gravity ranges quoted for any of the styles. For some reason I've never understood, the AHA lists the "numbers" in a separate chart. On their WWW page, it is listed as "coming soon". =S Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 95 09:27:00 MST From: "Fleming, Kirk R., Capt" <FLEMINGKR at afmcfafb.fafb.af.mil> Subject: Tubing/ RE: HBD #1668 >From: "Becker, Robert" <beckerr at cclink.tfn.com> >Subject: Hydrometer Calibration... I recently received a catalog from a thermometer/hydrometer manufacturer and all their hydrometers, precision, ASTM and certified included, are of the paper-in-glass type. I don't know *for a fact*, but I would expect distilled water from the market at 60F would measure 1.000 to within the limits of resolution of your hydrometer. I wouldn't make any assumptions about the density of any other material, unless it were a lab reagent. In addition, based on a third-order polynomial to correct SG for temperature, I concluded corrections for temperatures in the 50-80F range are not significant. But, we recently acquired a replacement glass hydrometer jar that is so close to the size of the hydrometer itself that, with high viscosity worts, I feel it is seriously dampening the hyrdrometer motion and reduces my trust that the thing is indeed floating. I noticed one commercial brewer using a large (1 1/4" OD) piece of copper tubing mounted on a base for its hyrdometer jar--it allows plenty of room for the instrument, transfers heat well to get the sample down as quickly as possible, doesn't break, and looks very industrial. You have to be careful about parallax. >From: Jeff_Wolf_at_Penril-Eng at smtplink.penril.com >Subject: Recipe for Fuller's Ales Never heard of the Cat's Meow CDROM--really don't think it exists; please correct me tho. Anyway, Cat's Meow III at http://alpha.rollanet.org has at least two recipes which claim to emulate Fuller's, and each contains some additional information regarding what is known/not known about this beer's incorporation of specific hops. See Jim Busch's as an example. CM III has about six or so bitters recipes--under Pale Ale category (?). BTW, your system manager must just go insane with those usernames! :-) >From: Domenick >Subject: AOB Style guide The 1994 Guidelines at The Brewery (http://alpha.rollanet.org) contains the OG ranges for all the beers, but also contains a hotlink to a table of the same information--this is a hotlink to a single file that can of course be downloaded to your local client. I am in the process of doing the update to the 1995 Guidelines and will be done this weekend. The file should be posted real soon now, along with the 1995 Guidelines themselves. One thing that I noticed about the 1994-to-1995 delta is that in nearly every style the recommended diacetyl levels have been reduced--phrase changes from "Low diacetyl OK" have in most cases changed to "No diacetyl". Experienced beer canoyziers please comment on why. This seems like a unilateral *definition* of beer styles, rather than a reflection of actual beer styles as defined by commercial practice--OR, do the 1995 Guidelines simply reflect more accurately what is actually tasted in real products? >From:klo at fluent.com (Kirk L. Oseid) >Subject: High Temperature, Low Pressure Hose The vinyl tubing you can buy at any hardware store (crystal clear) is rated to 140F, but we've used it with a pump to move 180F wort. It's cheap and would work fine for your gravity feed setup. I don't like it because at operating temperature it has no mechanical strength, it stains, and it does not get along well with long exposure to chlorine bleach solution. Its redeeming quality is availability and cost. I have not verified that it contributes taste. Kirk R Fleming -flemingkr at afmcfafb.fafb.af.mil Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 09:14:16 -0700 From: Shawn Steele <shawn at aob.org> Subject: 1995 AHA Guidelines > I had the AOB (AHA) 1995 style guide e-mailed to me by accessing their > email server (info at aob.org, "styles" as the message body) and there are > no specific gravity ranges quoted for any of the styles. What gives? > Is this an attempt to define away the "big beer" out-of-style problem > so eloquently described by Spencer Thomas in the most recent issue of > Zymurgy (letters)? Is this part of the AHA/BJCP conspiracy? Have > aliens infiltrated the AHA in an attempt to bring down western > civilization through confusion of beer styles? The TRUTH is out there, > but where? Yes, there are specific gravity ranges, etc. in the 1995 style guide. Due to the size of the tables, I have had difficulty figuring out how to put them on a relativly narrow 80-column screen. I hope to post a 100-column version by the end of the week, but it won't be pretty if you can't get it onto a wide screen (or print it in a smaller font.) > Gary Bell asks: > >Someone mentioned the 1995 style guidelines. Are they posted anywhere > >for downloading? > > They may already be posted--I don't know where. I just completed the > guidelines last night in HTML format, and need to go over some of the > value-added data originally started by Spencer. I should be donw with > the proofreading today. As soon as I can coordinate with Lutzen and > Stevens of The Brewery Web page, expect to see the Guidelines there. > Kirk R Fleming > -flemingkr at afmcfafb.fafb.af.mil > -BEER: It's not just for breakfast anymore. The guidelines (except the table) already exist in the AOB's area of The Brewery, and also at the AOB's web site at http://www.aob.org/aob/aob.html. I intend to post the table to the web site soon. (Hopefully by the time this message is distributed.) The rules themselves should also appear at the web site shortly. - shawn P.S. Feel free to comment on how well our web site & the info at aob.org e-mail work for YOU. Shawn Steele Information Systems Administrator (303) 447-0816 x 118 (voice) Association of Brewers (303) 447-2825 (fax) 736 Pearl Street shawn at aob.org (e-mail) PO Box 1679 info at aob.org (aob info) Boulder, CO 80306-1679 http://www.aob.org/aob (www web) Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 95 11:40:09 EST From: Pierre Jelenc <pcj1 at columbia.edu> Subject: Iodophors and drip drying In HBD #1668, Tony McCauley -- afmccaul at ilstu.edu asks: > I need a method that will not require the surface (carboy, etc) to be > drip dried. Iodaphor is an option, but my understanding (limited) is that > iodaphor treated surfaces will need to be dry in order to ensure the > iodaphor is gone. "Drip dry" means that you let all the drops fall out, as much as possible. It does *not* mean that the surface should be dry. Any residual iodine will react instantaneously with organic components of the wort and will be gone by the time the yeast is pitched. Incidentally, the word is spelled "iodOphor". It is the same connecting "o" as in "a Sino-Japanese venture" or "Anglo-Indian" or "Bromo-Seltzer". Pierre Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 11:42:20 -0500 (EST) From: Rob Reed <rhreed at icdc.delcoelect.com> Subject: Mash Yield/Fermentability Experiments I have conducted some experiments on mash extract yield and fermentability as a followup to some work Dr. Fix reported on in Aug. 94 in HBD. I thank Dr. Fix for inspiration for this work and also for technical assistance in setting up the experiments and interpreting my results. I ran the experiments to determine the effects of the 40/60/70C mash program on yield and fermentability in my homebrewery. While I don't consider the results definitive in the realm of mashing grains, I do think they provide useful data on the effects of low temperature (40C/105F) mash rests and manipulating fermentability via 140F/158F mash rests. ** Mash Yield Experiment ** The following experimental mashes were conducted to determine the effects on extract efficiency in an infusion mash with the following options: a) 30 minute rest at 105F 'beta-glucanase/liquification of amylases' b) 15 minute rest at 165-170F 'Mash-out' The following conditions were used for all experiments: o Softened carbonate well water boiled 20 min. with 1.5 tsp. CaSO4 / 5 gal. to reduce carbonate/bicarbonate hardness. Used for mash and sparge. o HDM Belgian Pale Ale malt - 2# grist per mash crushed w/ fixed roller JSP grain mill o Total mash water = 1.25qts./lb. grist o Sparge water = 165-170F / 1.4-1.5qts./lb. grist o Total sweet wort runoff = 5-6qts. (2.5-3.0 qts./lb.) o Sparge time = 10 min. to gather 5-6qts. runoff o Lautering/Sparging conducted in 5gal. Gott cooler w/ false bottom o Mash pH 5.3 - 5.5 1)Mash-in at 155F - hold for 60 min. 'One-Step Infusion' extract efficiency = 55% = 1.024 s.g./lb. in 1 gal. 2)Mash-in at 155F - hold for 60 min - boost to 165-170 F - hold 15 min. grist doughed in at mash water rate of 1.25 qts./lb. grist - external heat boost to 165-170F 'Step Infusion_MO' extract efficiency = 64% = 1.028 s.g./lb. in 1 gal. 3)Mash-in at 105F (0.75 qts. water/lb. grist) - hold 30 min. - boiling water boost (0.5 qt./lb. grist) + external heat to 155F - hold 60 min. 'Step Infusion_BG' extract efficiency = 68% = 1.030 s.g./lb. in 1 gal. 4)Mash-in at 105F (0.75 qts. water/lb. grist) - hold 30 min. - boiling water boost (0.5 qt./lb. grist) + external heat to 155F - hold 60 min. external heat infusion to 165-170F - hold 15 min. 'Step Infusion_BG_MO' extract efficiency = 71% = 1.031 s.g./lb. in 1 gal. Conclusions: o In this experiment, a 30 min. rest at 105F was more effective in increasing yield than a 15 min. 165-170F mashout rest. o In this experiment, when a 30 min. rest at 105F was employed, only a minor increase in yield was obtained with a 15 min. 165-170F mashout rest. ** Fermentability Experiment ** Several experimental mashes were conducted to evaluate the effects on fermentability of 140F/40C rests of 0 min, 15 min., and 30 min. using a 40/60/70/75 mash program. Details of this experiment are as follows: o Mash conditions from Extract Efficiency experiment were used o A large amount of M&F dried yeast (2 grams /qt.) was pitched to insure complete fermentation o 20 oz. experimental worts were fermented for 3 days at 66-68F in Korbel (squat) champagne bottles. Worts from the following three mashes were fermented: Mash Rest Temp.105F/40C 140F/60C 158F/70C 167F/75C Fermentability High 30 min. 30 min. 30 min. 15 min. Medium 30 min. 15 min. 45 min. 15 min Low 30 min. - 50 min. 15 min Fermentation results are summarized below: Fementability Original Gravity Final Gravity Apparent Attenuation High 1.052 1.017 67% Medium 1.054 1.019 65% Low 1.050 1.019 62% Conclusions: Fermentability Experiment o Apparent attenuation trend matched expectations. o Apparent attenuation could be further increased by a 45-60 min. rest at 140F prior to the boost to 158F. o Apparent attenuation can be decreased through the addition of specialty malts such as dextrin or crystal malt. Rob Reed - ------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 95 23:19 CST From: pgravel at mcs.com (Philip Gravel) Subject: Sodium percarbonate sanitizing ===> BrewBeerd at aol.com asks about sodium percarbonate: >I would be interested in a having the professional chemists and >biologists among us discuss this. It's been a LONG time since I had my >college chemistry courses, but I recall the PER indicates one more >oxidation state (additional oxygen molecule) over the carbonate. It >makes sense that sodium percarbonate Na2CO4 in aqueous solution would >react to give off the oxygen as a gas more readily than would sodium >carbonate Na2CO3. Both leave HCO3- and OH- in solution. Strongly >basic. (Hydrogen peroxide in H2O decomposes to H2O and [1/2]O2, so >H2O2 in solution w/sodium carbonate as a result of using sodium >percarbonate is unlikely.) You're correct about the "per" in a chemical name. Essentially, peroxides are similar to hydrogen peroxide. Sodium carbonate doesn't give off oxygen so sodium percarbonate would have to give off more. Actually, I would expect sodium percarbonate to be more a stable peroxide (give off oxygen less readily) than hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide and other peroxides can decompose to give off oxygen gas. This is often catalyzed by transition metals such as iron. However, this is not the mechanism (forming oxygen gas) by which they exert their sanitizing effects. Like chlorine in chlorine bleach (sodium hypochlorite), oxygen in peroxides is in an chemically unstable, oxidized state. As such, bleach and peroxides are oxidizing agent. Peroxides can, in principle, cause the same kinds of reactions with organic materials as chlorine bleach does and similarly interfere with and stop metabolic processes. Unlike peroxides, bleach doesn't readily undergo decomposition to give off chlorine gas. Hope this helps. - -- Phil _____________________________________________________________ Philip Gravel pgravel at mcs.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 1995 12:24:54 -0500 From: Carlo Fusco <fusco at io.org> Subject: Beer Formula Calculator 1.0 Hello Brewers, I finally did it. You can get a copy of my MS-Excel spreadsheet Beer Formula Calculator from the HBD Archives. This spread sheet was designed using Excel 4.0 for the Mac, but it can be used by both Mac and Dos based machines since Excel saves its documents in a format that can be read by both platforms. I have uploaded two versions, a binhex file for Mac users and a zip file for Dos users. See the readme.txt file for more info on the spreadsheet. Right now, you can find it in: ftp.stanford.edu/pub/clubs/homebrew/submissions Stephen will probably move them in the next day or two and I am sure he will post to tell everyone where they have been moved to. Cheers Carlo - -- Carlo Fusco Aurora, Ontario, Canada Certified Beer Judge (BJCP) fusco at io.org Canadian Amateur Brewers ab779 at freenet.toronto.on.ca Association Board Member Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 1995 10:52:02 -0700 From: DAVID DOUGLAS STRAIN <STRAINDD at vortex.t-bird.edu> Subject: New Club need your help The Brewmeisters Club needs some assistance. A new club has poped up in Phoenix, AZ and the club is looking for guest speakers. The club is well established with over 90 members, and meets every Wednesday to not only brew a batch of beer, but to discuss special topics. The club is affiliated with Thunderbird-The American Graduate School of International Management, and meets on campus. If anyone in the Phoenix area could assist, please respond to the address listed below. We welcome all responses. David D. Strain - President Internet: straindd at vortex.t-bird.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 13:03:48 -0500 (EST) From: "David H. Thomas" <dhthomas at lis.pitt.edu> Subject: Differences between bottles and minikegs Recently, I was at a friend's house, trying his new brown ale from a minikeg. He was eager for the assemblage to taste the brew, as he had already tasted the brew from bottles and thought it tasted pretty good. Imagine his (and our) surprise when we cracked open the keg and found it to be extremely cidery. What's more, when we tasted the bottled portion of the batch, it didn't have the same cideryness to it. The two containers were brewed at the same time; only the storage methods were different. Does anyone know if the method of storage can affect the final flavor of a brew? Here are some more points: * the minikeg was a 5 liter job (I don't know more specifics) * we had problems with the CO2 cartridge to begin with, and the first few glasses came out foam only * The recipe he used included some corn sugar (I have suggested he use all malt in the future), and only 4 lbs of malt Any help would be welcome! David Thomas dhthomas at lis.pitt.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 10:24:50 -0700 From: jeffpolo at mail.eskimo.com (Jeff Wade) Subject: Anacortes Brewing CO./San Jaun Brewing Yes... The Beer Hunter, Jr., has conquered yet 2 more breweries! The Anacortes Brew house, located in Anacortes, WA gets my thumbs up most definitely! A total of 6 beers were offered to me and every last one was unique for the style, and extremely favorable. River Otter Porter: A dark, rich, full bodied ale. Chocolate malt flavor dominates this complex ale. Very soft and qu affable :) Pale Ale: A light golden ale, with significant maltiness, dry hopped with Mt. Hood hops. Flashing Amber Ale: Rich copper color, full bodied malt flavor with a balanced bitterness, slight fruitiness and a *GREAT* Cascade hop finish :) Seasonal/Specialty-Stout: Creamy body with a blended taste of coffee and toffee(balanced). Clinging head throughout. LongBoat Lager: A deep gold Czech style pilsner. Four week lagering. Reminded me of a lot of the *great* Canadian Pilsners at some of the micro-breweries in Vancouver, BC. Scottish Ale: Complex, malty, full bodied ale. Six malts and three hops. Dry hopped with Chinook. If I may, this one reminded me of one of my personal favorites in the Seattle, WA area named as ESB, by Redhook Brewing Co. :) In closing..... "You can burp the freshness of these beers!" Great menu, and Brewer Paul Wasik has Beer Dinners quite often. 320 Commercial AVE/(360) 293-2444 **San Jaun Brewing Co** Friday Harbor, WA/I feel would be to my advantage, to not say anything at all... mabey it was just the weather ?? Internet: Jeffpolo at eskimo.com OFFICIAL *under-construction* PAGE OF HONEY BEE HAMS. WWW/http://www.eskimo.com/~jeffpolo/ Eskimo North/Bellevue, WA ''' (0 0) +----oOO----(_)-----------+ | There is NO beer in | | Heaven, that is why we | | drink and Brew it on | | Earth! | +------------------oOO----+ |__|__| || || ooO Ooo Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 1995 16:36:00 -0500 (EST) From: Delano Dugarm EDITS 36478 <ADUGARM at worldbank.org> Subject: Spirit of Free Beer Homebrew Competition The Washington, DC area is hosting a major regional homebrew competition on May 20, 1995. The Third Annual Nation's Capital "Spirit of Free Beer" Homebrew Competition is sanctioned by the HWBTA/BJCP program. The contest includes 67 beer styles grouped into twelve major classes. Last year's competition drew 243 entries. As the competition organizer for the Brewers United for Real Potables (BURP) homebrew club, I am encouraging brewers of all skill levels to enter their homebrews in this competition. The Potomac River Brewing Company has agreed to accommodate cold storage needs and judging will take place on-site in closed session to avoid mistreatment of entries. This competition is an excellent opportunity to have beers judged in comparison to beers from a wide geographic region and get quality feedback. Scoresheets will be *promptly* returned following judging. Although the primary objective of the homebrew competition is to provide constructive comments on the entries, we are currently in the process of assembling a full range of prizes to be sponsored by regional microbreweries, homebrew supply shops, bars, restaurants, and others. More than $2000 worth of prizes ($50-$100 gift certificates for mail order homebrew supplies, sacks of British malt, a 3l bottle of Corsendonk Pale Ale, etc.) were awarded at last year's competition. (1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each class, plus 1st, 2nd, 3rd place best of show) The Nation's Capital "Spirit of Free Beer" Homebrew Competition provides an excellent opportunity for judges participating in the Beer Judge Certification Program to earn some experience points. We expect to exceed the number of entries received at last year's competition . We have volunteers willing to provide lodging for judges staying overnight. Anyone interested in judging can contact the Judging Coordinator, Rick Garvin, at rgarvin at btg.com. Get those fermentation locks bubbling and send us your entries. If you would like to recieve an information packet on the Nation's Capital "Spirit of Free Beer" Homebrew Competition (including full rules and entry forms), please send private e-mail to me at adugarm at worldbank.org or leave your USPS address on my answering machine at (703) 516-9659. Thanks!! Delano DuGarm adugarm at worldbank.org Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 95 10:32:40 PST From: Jeff Bonner <t3345 at fel1.nfuel.com> Subject: Scaling Up Recipes Fellow Internet Homebrew Surfers- I have always wondered how one would scale up say a 5 gal. batch to 100 gal. Is it just a matter of a 1 to 1 ratio or after some point (x gal.) the ratio changes (.75 to 1). Also, how does the hop and yeast scale up. Thanks in advance! - -- Jeffrey B. Bonner - BWR Nuclear Engineering Office: (509)375-8741, Rm. 867 email: jbb at fred.nfuel.com (work) nukebrewer at aol.com (home) Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 18:00:00 GMT From: mark.lee at access.gov (Mark Lee) Subject: inquiry I know this group is about homebrew but I was wondering if any readers in the Boston area would be willing to purchase and send me some Sam Adams Cranberry Lambic. In return, I would make a purchase of some equivalent like Celis Grand Cru (a Belguim brewery here in Austin Texas). If interested, contact me by private email. Thanks. Return to table of contents
Date: 1 Mar 1995 12:17:12 U From: "Palmer.John" <palmer at ssdgwy.mdc.com> Subject: Chlorine Crystals (sic) Eamonn asked: >There was a recent posting about not letting chlorine solutions dry on >equipment, because something crystalizes when it dries. Does this ring a bell >for anyone? Please e-mail me if you remember the digest number please. I >just read this month's CABA newsletter where it was suggested that brewers >sanitize their beer bottles whenever they feel like it by soaking in bleach >water for a day or more. Then letting them dry without rinsing, and covering >the tops with aluminum foil. Something like Papazian's suggestion in the >Companion. This seems to be a bad idea if nasty tasting chlorine compounds >crystalize out. I was hoping to write them a response, but need the reference >please. If I am correct, what you are referring to is a post I did a while back on corrosion of steel as a result of bleach water drying. In that case, when the water evaporates, the chlorides are concentrated at that spot causing eventual pinhole corrosion of the steel after repeated wettings. I dont know what CABA is, but I like to rinse my chlorine sanitized bottles with boiled water to prevent chlorophenol tastes in the beer. "Nasty tasting chlorine compounds crystalizing out" is not accurate. Chlorophenols are formed after bottling by reactions with the free chlorides and the beer (I think that's right). Detectable levels of Chlorophenols should not be a problem for not rinsing, depending on the original concentration, but I do it anyway. I believe 1 tablespoon per gallon (4 ml/l) is the standard sanitizing concentration and won't produce detectable levels if the bottles are well drained. John J. Palmer - Metallurgist for MDA-SSD M&P palmer at ssdgwy.mdc.com Huntington Beach, California Homepage at www.primenet.com/~johnj/ Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 95 14:44:32 EST From: Chris Barnhart <clbarnha at letterkenn-emh1.army.mil> Subject: RIMS info and sources Hi all, Okay, I'm going to take a shot at building a RIMS. I've got most of the details worked out but I'm not real strong in the electronics department. Can anyone give me alternatives to building the Rodney Morris speed and temperature controllers from scratch? I don't mind populating a pre-etched circuit board if these can be obtained anywhere. I could even etch my own given the artwork. I would also like input on how other folks built thier heat chambers. Any help much appreciated. Thanks, Chris Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 1995 15:08:31 -0500 (EST) From: 00bkpickeril at bsuvc.bsu.edu Subject: AOB styles CHART w/SGs and IBUs On Mon, 27 Feb., Domenick Venezia <venezia at zgi.com> said: >I had the AOB (AHA) 1995 style guide e-mailed to me by accessing their >email server (info at aob.org, "styles" as the message body) and there are >no specific gravity ranges quoted for any of the styles. What gives? >Is this an attempt to define away the "big beer" out-of-style problem >so eloquently described by Spencer Thomas in the most recent issue of >Zymurgy (letters)? Is this part of the AHA/BJCP conspiracy? Have >aliens infiltrated the AHA in an attempt to bring down western >civilization through confusion of beer styles? The TRUTH is out there, >but where? I emailed for this right after reading the HBD, and got the verbose description from the mailbot, but then, a few hours later, I got a very nice chart w/ OG,FG,%alc,IBUs and color from Shawn at aob.org. If you did not get this, you might want to try again. - --Brian Pickerill <00bkpickeril at bsuvc.bsu.edu> Muncie, Indiana Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 1995 15:46:26 EST From: usfmchql at ibmmail.com Subject: TSP vs Cu Here's one for the HBD chemistry/metallurgy thought center: Will TSP (trisodium phosphate) react with Cu? In either case (yes or no), is there a safe soaking time? If so, how long? Overnight? TIA! Brew on! Patrick (Pat) G. Babcock usfmchql at ibmmail.com (313)33-73657 (V) (313)59-42328 (F) Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 1995 13:49:02 -0700 From: ELIZABETH MCCLELLAN <1MCCLEEL at UVSC.EDU> Subject: request information Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1670, 03/03/95