HOMEBREW Digest #1721 Wed 03 May 1995

Digest #1720 Digest #1722


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


Contents:
  Stainless Air Stones?? (Kirk L. Oseid)
  SS STOCK POTS: APPOLOGY (Tom Wenck)
  Gout (kit.anderson)
  Microwave sanitizing/Just Hops Phone # (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583)
  Grand Rapids, MI area brewers (Ed Blonski)
  calculating O.G. (Gordon.Mckeever)
  heating element for RIMS (Eamonn McKernan)
  RE: Surface Tension ("Troy Howard" )
  Summary of OG Calculations ("Palmer.John")
  Drops from the HBD Mailing List (LBRISTOL)
  Re: --Non-informative subject line -- (Russell Mast)
  Gravity contribution for heavily roasted grains (LBRISTOL)
  Re: sparging with boiling water (rdevine)
  Test Method for %E ("Palmer.John")
  Skunky odor from sunlight (PERSAND)
  Brewing with honey (Shaine_Bodnar)
  Immersion vs Counterflow/ hop bitterness (dhvanvalkenburg)
  Weinhard's Red (Glenn E Matthies)
  Identifying hops plants (STEVE GRIMMER)
  Lagering temps ("Thomas A. Wideman")
  repairing enamel (FLATTER)
  Wicked bottles (Mark Worwetz)
  Aluminum Brewpots (Rob Emenecker)
  Candi Sugar SG contribution (Dion Hollenbeck)
  First Oatmeal Stout ("Patrick E. Humphrey 708-937-3295")
  Kegging questions (BFRALEY)
  "plastic" beer; why kicked off ("Madden Ben")
  Oats, Jello, O'Rourke (Russell Mast)
  3068 Delayed explosion (Joseph.Fleming)
  Competition Countdown / GT tickets (uswlsrap)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 1 May 95 13:25:44 EDT From: klo at fluent.com (Kirk L. Oseid) Subject: Stainless Air Stones?? Brewers: I visited a fairly large pet store this past weekend and asked if they had a stainless steel airstone, which I intended to use as a wort aerator. They had never heard of such a device, and noted that most saltwater fish enthusiasts use an airstone made of "limewood," which has a suitable permeability. Is the stainless steel airstone a figment of someones imagination? Can anyone quote me a source of such a device? Thanks, Kirk L. Oseid klo at fluent.com Fluent, Inc. tel 603/643-2600 10 Cavendish Court, Lebanon, NH 03766 fax 603/643-3967 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 1 May 1995 13:28:47 -0400 (EDT) From: Tom Wenck <twenck at clark.net> Subject: SS STOCK POTS: APPOLOGY Sorry to have caused a stir with my posting of cheap SS stock pots. The information proved to be false when a trip to the vendor's outlet revealed that the pots were aluminum. Now I know why people pay $125 for a converted keg. Appologies, Tom Wenck Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 01 May 95 10:57:46 -0500 From: kit.anderson at acornbbs.com Subject: Gout >rlarsen at squeaky.free.org (Rich Larsen) wrote: >Someone wrote a a while back that you can't catch gout from over >indulgence and that it is genetic. I suppose that may be true, but >as a gout sufferer (I've had one attack and several warnings) I know >you can agrivate it by over doing red meats and alcohol. These and >other foods increase the amount of uric acid in the blood stream, >thus increasing the chance of the crystals forming. Where this line of thinking came from was that foods rich in purine (DNA) like red meats, sour cream, yogurt, cheese, and unfiltered wine were the foods of the wealthy and since only the well to do got gout, it must be related to diet. Then when it was found that the body uses purine to make uric acid.... We now know that this line of reasoning is faulty. According to "Principles of Internal Medicine" and "Pharmacokinetics", gout is a function of either the kidneys not clearing uric acid or the body manufacturing more uric acid than the kidneys can clear. Which condition determines which therapy. A purine free diet will only reduce serum urate levels by 1% and a purine rich diet has the same affect by increasing serum urate by only a few percentage points. Therefore dietary purine is not a contributor to gout. It has also been found that ingestion of lead will lead to gout. Leaded crystal can leach lead into an alcohol containing fluids. As a gout sufferer, I initially thought I would have to drink only filtered beer and retire from judging. I am glad this is not the case. >BTW If you've never had a gout attack... you don't know pain. Amen. Kit "Travels With Chiles" Anderson Metabolically (purine) challenged, frontier dentist, certfied beer judge. Bath, Maine <kit.anderson at acornbbs.com> * - --- * CMPQwk #1.42-R2 * UNREGISTERED EVALUATION COPY Return to table of contents
Date: 1 May 95 12:44:00 -0500 From: korz at iepubj.att.com (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583) Subject: Microwave sanitizing/Just Hops Phone # Rich writes: >I've posted about this before. I've had nothing but good luck with the >microwave. I sanitize all my bottles with this method. 1/2 inch water in >each, 16 bottles at a time on high for 8 minutes. > >I also use the microwave to create culture media, yeast starter worts and >sterile water for rinsing out the sediment of bottles to culture the yeast. >So far, I've had no problems with anything growing besides the yeast I'm >trying to culture. Yes, but note that either whatever you are sanitizing (media, etc.) is a liquid or, in the case of the bottles, steam is the sanitizing agent. The orginal question was about the sanitation of a plastic funnel. My gut feeling was that microwaves may not affect bacteria or they may be simply so small that a significant number of them might be missed completely by the beams. I know that when I microwave a large plate of food, sometimes there are cool spots amidst some very hot spots. *** Just Hops can be reached at 217-864-4216. Al. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 01 May 1995 13:06:00 -0500 From: s851001 at umslvma.umsl.edu (Ed Blonski) Subject: Grand Rapids, MI area brewers Greetings fellow brewers! I'll be moving to White Cloud, Michigan this June (about an hour north of Grand Rapids). I need help! (not in moving :) ) Anybody here live there? Anybody know of supply stores in the area? Anybody know of micro-breweries in the Grand Rapids area? Anybody know if there is a minor league baseball team in the area? (sorry 'bout the baseball question, but hey! beer and baseball go together!) e-mail or public is fine! TIA - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Ed Blonski (s851001 at umslvma.umsl.edu) "One likes to believe in the * *Rush fan (the band and the man!) Freedom of Email!" TNMS * *Titus 1:5-9 "But I'm young enough to remember* *Soon to be Alumni of Concordia the future and the way things * *Seminary, St. Louis, 1995 ought to be!" NP * - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
Date: 29 Apr 95 11:15:00 -4109 From: Gordon.Mckeever at jpl.nasa.gov Subject: calculating O.G. - --JPLxxxccMailxxxSMTPxxxID5783gc46x Content-Type: Text/Plain; CharSet=US-ASCII Content-Description: Text_1 Hello Beer People: I had a brain fart and dumped my yeast in at >150F (7g M&F and 7g Ironmaster). I figured that all the yeasties were dead so I stuck the primary out in the garage, planning on getting an OG later when I reyeasted. Well, when I woke up in the morning, much to my surprise, the airlock was bubbling merrily away, so the opportunity for getting an OG was gone. I know that some of you wizards can predict an OG from the ingredients, so if somebody would be willing to give me some rough numbers, I would be grateful. I started by steeping 1/2 lb of cracked light crystal in the water as it came up to boil, then dumped in 6.6 lbs of IREK light Bavarian extract. I can't imagine that the hops would affect the OG, but if so, I used 3 oz of Hallertauer. Yeild was about 4.8 gal. Thanks in advance. Gordo - --JPLxxxccMailxxxSMTPxxxID5783gc46x-- Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 1 May 1995 15:18:09 -0400 From: eamonn at chinook.physics.utoronto.ca (Eamonn McKernan) Subject: heating element for RIMS "JOHNMAJ at aol.com" rightly shoots down my suggestion to use a transformer to step up the voltage from 110 to 220V for inline heating element in a RIMS. His first point is quite valid: the transformer will draw too much current. However, his second complaint does not seem justified. He argues that it will de-activate the enzymes. I disagree. Standard temperature rise times in RIMS are on the order of 1-2 Degrees per minute. Pumps typically run at 2-3gal per minute. Total heat capacity of water + grains is usually < that of 5 or 6 gallons of wort (3 gal water + 10 lbs grain at .4 * heat capacity of water = heat capacity of 7 gal water. wort has higher heat capacity than water due to its higher density => higher mass ). So if the full system is heating at 1-2 Degrees per minute, then the temperature differential between input and output of the heating chamber must be 2-4 Degrees because half of the system's thermal mass was heated in the time period of one minute. People who have actually measured this difference feel free to comment on this "back-of-the-envelope" calculation. If one were to go from heating with 1.5KW to 5KW of power, the temperature differential would be > 3 times larger: 7-13 Degrees. As long as one never stopped pumping, one would only be heating the circulating fluid around 10 degrees higher than the target temperature of the rise. And it would only be at that higher temperature for around one second before it would end up mixing with colder grains and wort back in the mash tun. This does not seem likely to cause much de-naturing. After all, it takes 10 minutes to de-activate enzymes at mash out temperature (170 Degrees). A second or two seems rather insignificant in comparaison. Some caveats: One would definitely have to be careful NEVER to stop pumping as "JOHNMAJ at aol.com" points out! I would consider a 3 gal/min pump a minimum for this setup. I assumed good mixing of the rapidly flowing fluid in the heating chamber. If a laminar flow developed around the heating element, scorching could be a real problem. But at 3gal/min, I doubt this happens. And one could simply add some irregular protrusions in the pipe to stir things up as the flow travels past. This is purely theoretical. Those who have tried this would be in a better position to comment. As for the current drawing problem, Plug the thing into the 220V socket for you stove/washing machine/ other big appliance. No transformer required! Compared to adding another heating element, this is still an easier thing to implement than adding another heating chamber. cheaper too. Or else, get a transformer to step the 110V to 140 or 150 Volts. Or Whatever is required. The point is, you already have a heater which can more than triple its output. So don't add all that extra plumbing, when the problem seems to be an electrical one. I encourage further comments, as there may well be aspects I have not considered. Eamonn eamonn at atmosp.physics.utoronto.ca Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 1 May 95 11:54:49 PDT From: "Troy Howard" <troy at oculus.jsei.ucla.edu> Subject: RE: Surface Tension In HBD 1719, Dr. John M. Pratte (pratte at gg.csc.peachnet.edu) responded to a previous post on hydrometer usage by asking: >What I'm not sure of, though, is >why you are spinning the hydrometer. To insure that the hydrometer >will settle to an accurate reading, simply push down very gently >while the tube is plumb and wait for it to come to rest. By spinning >the hydrometer, you are creating a dynamic situation in the beer that >is not good for making your reading (Bernoulli effect, Ekman layers, >etc. and, yes, I know that they would be small effects, but you >should always take your measurements under the same condition.). I believe that you may have misunderstood what the original poster is doing. He is not taking a hydrometer reading *while* the hydrometer is spinning. His technique (which seems to be fairly ubiquitous) is to spin the hydrometer, wait until it stops, _then_ take a reading. The purpose of spinning the hydrometer is to dislodge gas bubbles that stick to the side and underside of the hydrometer. This is very important to do since the gas bubbles will increase the buoyancy of the hydrometer, leading to incorrect readings. To respond to the original poster: I have encountered the same problem, and what I do is simply poke the hydrometer stem with the nail-side of my finger if it gets to close to the wall. Cheers, -Troy - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Troy Howard | Live fast, die young, and leave a good troy at oculus.jsei.ucla.edu | looking corpse. Jules Stein Eye Institue, UCLA | - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Return to table of contents
Date: 1 May 1995 12:58:37 U From: "Palmer.John" <palmer at ssdgwy.mdc.com> Subject: Summary of OG Calculations Hi Group, First let me thank everyone for their responses, this is the HBD at its finest! Background: I was bemused over the apparent discrepancy between published %Extractions (Fine Ground) numbers from the Malting Houses, the amount of fermentables I understood the Dark grains to contain, and the math that was used to explain it. I.E. I was clueless about OG calculations and didnt know it. The Summary: 1.Malt Specification Sheets list Weight % Extraction for Finely Ground As-Is malt. (As-Is meaning with nominal moisture content) This is done in the lab using a special standardized test that results in the Maximum dissolution of available solutes in the Malt. On a weight percent basis, this works out to between 60-80%, depending on the malt type. 2. Homebrewers, including microbrewers, use conditions that are closer in practice to the Coarse Ground As-Is. But CG numbers are not as common on the spec. sheets; at least the ones I was looking at. 3. The baseline that this system of malt-extraction-yield works from is that 1 pound of sucrose per gallon will raise the OG by 46.31 pts. Therefore, the %E that is given on spec. sheets is multiplied by 46.31 to obtain the maximum points/pound/gallon (ppg) obtained from that malt. However, in the case of Roasted Malts et al., not all of the extraction is fermentable. The ppg for the malt may be 25, but perhaps only 1 ppg is fermentable, the other 24 contributing to the body and mouthfeel. This explains higher finishing gravitys for Stouts. 4. Because the amounts of specialty grains used are small, especially in the case of roasted grains, the contribution to the OG is small, about 2-3 pts. This small contribution minimized the error in my calculations. 5. Because the %E number (Fine Ground, As-Is) for 2 Row Malt is about 80%, the max ppg # for this malt is 46.31 x .8 = 37 ppg. Most homebrewers do well to get 32 ppg from their mash conditions and lauter systems. This works out to 86% Efficiency for their mash system. Brewing Programs such as SUDS may either provide an Efficiency variable field or may incorporate one in the calculations, I dont know. The numbers I was working with already had that Eff.% applied to them, as well as being just plain offbase when it came to the Roasted Malts. So there you have it: From Fine Ground As-Is %E, to 46.31 conversion to PPG, to 85-90% efficiency of the individual mash system, to the 30 PPG ballpark that we as homebrewers strive for when talking lautering and sparging. NOW I get it. Comments to the contrary won't necessarily surprise me... John J. Palmer - Metallurgist for MDA-SSD M&P johnj at primenet.com Huntington Beach, California Palmer House Brewery and Smithy - www.primenet.com/~johnj/ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 01 May 95 14:38:46 CDT From: LBRISTOL at SYSUBMC.BMC.COM Subject: Drops from the HBD Mailing List > I have posted a few messages asking questions or making minor > comments about a few topics and I have not been dropped from the list > (yet). I may go the next quarter without a single post and according > to your formula, I will be dropped. > What do others think? I find that the secret ingredient that improves ALL postings to the HBD is coriander. I put it right into the primary, along with any other significant ideas. (None of which can be found in THIS paragraph.) (Then again, that is not so unusual at times...) I used to wait and add it to the secondary, but I found that it just did not have the same impact. However, dry-coriandering can be extremely effective if it is first boiled vigorously (using a propane cooker inside a plastic bag) for the purpose of denaturing any active ingredients. The best coriander can be picked growing right alongside the Venturi highway, just south of the Bernoulli junction. Of course, it has to be finely ground first. I recommend using a genuine JJ Koch combination mill and yeast gene splicer; even though JJ is my brother and I own 50% of the stock in the company, let me assure you that I have no commercial interests at all. While sarcasm tablets might be a great ingredient for the HBD, I would not put any in my beer. After all, I follow the Rhineheitsgebot even though I can neither spell nor pronounce it. This, of course, means that I use only the pure ingredients of water, hops, barely, irony, and yeast. As always, I apologize for any recent threads which I have inadvertantly failed to parody. - -------------------------------------------------------- | Larry Bristol | DON'T PANIC! | | SYSUBMC.BMC.COM | A true Hitchhiker always knows | | (713)918-7802 | where his towel is. | - -------------------------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 1 May 1995 15:53:38 -0500 From: Russell Mast <rmast at fnbc.com> Subject: Re: --Non-informative subject line -- > Send articles for publication to homebrew at hpfcmi.fc.hp.com. Once again, sorry for all the bandwidth wasting, but after a week off, I'm wrestling with this damned 'bot to try and get one stupid little joke through. First I'm bounced for a non-informative subject line, and now I'm sending to the wrong address. Breaking glass carboys sucks. It sucks worse when they're full of beer. After almost 3 1/2 years without so much as a nick, Jake and I have broken two in as many weeks. Arg. > > > > > Date: Thu, 20 Apr 95 08:46:38 CST > > > > > From: "David Sapsis" <dbsapsis at nature.Berkeley.EDU> > > > > > Subject: dark grains again/beer talk > > > > > > > > > > I can't believe it! Jim Larson beat me to it! ... > > > > > My question Jim: is it copywrited? > > > > > > > > Actually, it is, but Jim Kock owns the copyright. Rumor is, > > > > Coors has a column that's funnier anyway. > > > > > > > > -R > > > Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 01 May 95 15:42:23 CDT From: LBRISTOL at SYSUBMC.BMC.COM Subject: Gravity contribution for heavily roasted grains > Those spec. sheets quoted the % Percent extract for various malts as ranging > from 60-75% by weight. Roast Barley being 65%. This was confusing as I would > not expect this kind of unmalted "charcoal" to contribute any fermentables > that would raise the OG. It's really pretty easy. Specific gravity is nothing more than the weight of a liquid compared to an equal volume of pure water at a given temperature. All too often, this is used as a measure of the amount of fermentables, but this is simply not the case. If you dissolve common table salt into water, you raise its specific gravity, but it clearly is not more fermentable as a result. So it should not be a surprise that heavily roasted grains (charcoal) raise the OG. Coincidentally, they probably raise the FG as well! Which brings me to a curiosity question I have pondered greatly, but never come to a satisfactory conclusion. Is there a relationship between the FINAL gravity of a brew to its thickness, mouth feel, or any of those other words used to describe this sort of thing? - -------------------------------------------------------- | Larry Bristol | DON'T PANIC! | | SYSUBMC.BMC.COM | A true Hitchhiker always knows | | (713)918-7802 | where his towel is. | - -------------------------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 1 May 95 11:41:16 TZ From: rdevine at microsoft.com Subject: Re: sparging with boiling water bgros at mindseye.berkeley.edu (Bryan L. Gros) writes: > I bring my sparge water to a boil and then drain it > into the pre-warmed cooler and seal it. I figure the water in the > cooler is probably 200F tops > I hate to say it, but I think this is similar to what Jack was > advocating a while back and it works well for me. I got > 30.5 pts/lb/gal with this batch, a little above avg. It is a bad idea to use water at boiling or near-boiling temperature to sparge because you are likely to be bursting some starch granules. That will lead to a hazy beer as the unconverted starches other carbohydrates get washed out. So yes, you will get a point or two higher extraction rate but not necessarily a better beer. Bob Devine Return to table of contents
Date: 1 May 1995 15:11:28 U From: "Palmer.John" <palmer at ssdgwy.mdc.com> Subject: Test Method for %E Hi Group, Here is some more info on the Finely Ground As-Is basis % Extraction test: I called the lab at Great Western Malting here in LA. The man I spoke with didnt have much to say because they only make 2 row and 6 row base malts there, no specialty malts. But he did give me the outline of the test they do for determining the % extraction for the different basis'. Per ASPC methods: 1. Grind 50g of malt. 2. Add 200ml of water and heat to 45C for 30 minutes. 3. Add 100ml of water and heat to 70C over a span of 24 minutes. 4. Hold at 70C for 60 minutes and then cool to 20C (didnt ask). 5. Add more water to bring total wt. (malt and water) to 450 grams. 6. Filter (didnt ask) and measure density of liquid (some machine). As you can see, this is a pretty long conversion time and a lot of water for that small amount of malt. No wonder they get such a high number. FYI: Great Western Malting is owned by Canada Malting Inc which also owns Hugh Baird of the UK. John Palmer palmer at ssdgwy.mdc.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 1 May 1995 20:14:12 -0400 From: PERSAND at aol.com Subject: Skunky odor from sunlight After reading the threads on sunlight effect on clear bottles I have a question. If I am very careful in brewing, bottling and storage will my beer develop a skunky odor or taste in 5 minutes or so if I pour it in a crystal clear mug and take it outside to drink? I'd really not like to have to guzzle a great lager or even an ale in 10 minutes to avoid a skunky taste and I really don't want to live in my basement to enjoy a brew. Also, while sanitation is extremely important I think some people are getting rather paranoid as to its effects on a homebrew. I've been brewing for about 4 years (both extract and all-grain) and I have found that a reasonable amount of care will produce a great brew. Some people just seem to think that you need sterile, laboratory conditions are necessary. Ever been to a Micro or Mega brewery?- not exactly the same environment that you would find in a micro-biology lab! This is not criticism just- Let's just have fun! Paul from Morris, IL Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 01 May 1995 17:49 -0800 (PST) From: Shaine_Bodnar at NOTES.YMP.GOV Subject: Brewing with honey Hello All, I enjoy sharing my homebrew with my fellow colleagues. One batch I recently shared was a Honey lager. I was an excellent lager, one that I would recommend to anyone. While explaining, to one of my colleagues, how this particular batch of beer was made, I told her that I used 2.5 lbs. of filtered, non-pasteurized honey. From what I could get from the discussion we had, she said that cooking with honey is harmful. She has been an avid believer in Ayurveda, which is an Indian (from India, not Native America) Nutritional belief. From what she said it seems as though the chemical structure of the honey is broken down and what results is considered toxic to the human body. However, I find this extremely hard to believe because many things are made with Honey, including most breads, cookies, and even adding honey to hot tea. Now my question: Has anyone else heard of this, and if so what is the scientific evidence for such a belief, or is my colleague a few fries short of a Happy Meal? Just curious, Shaine R. Bodnar Shaine_Bodnar at Notes.YMP.GOV P.S. You may email me at my private address Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 01 May 95 16:19:35 PST From: dhvanvalkenburg at CCGATE.HAC.COM Subject: Immersion vs Counterflow/ hop bitterness >Bob Chizmadia writes: >Anybody ever notice a difference in bitterness after switching from >immersion to counterflow, or counterflow to immersion. Yes! I have noticed a difference between immersion and counterflow, but it was more in the finish or the nose. I think a quick cool down with a counterflow right after a hop back would be the best situation. I have yet to build myself a hop back, However, but I do believe that if it takes more than 10 minutes to cool down your wort, you start loosing the subtle finish hops. I have gone to cooling down my wort in my kegs (I ferment in 5 gal pin lock kegs). This accomplishes two things: First I sterilize my fermenter because the wort 212 F when it goes into the keg. Second the keg serves as my wort chiller; I simply put it in a larger bucket with cool water running around it. To do the above it actually takes longer to cool down my wort than it did with a good counterflow, however I have gotten excellent finish hops by putting a hop bag in the keg before I start the cool down period. I take it out just prior to pitching the yeast. Cheers Don Van Valkenburg dhvanvalkenburg at ccgate.hac.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 1 May 1995 22:12:53 -0400 From: au075 at freenet.Buffalo.EDU (Glenn E Matthies) Subject: Weinhard's Red Here in Upstate NY we have been bombarded recently with radio ads for a beer called "Weinhard's (sp?) Red. I know Weinhards is out of Portland, OR and according to the lable they are also making beer in LaCrosse, WS and somewhere else in the East. My question: Is this stuff any good or is this just a red wolf clone? I am reluctant to purchace it due to its recent radio hype. Anyone that has tried this beer or knows more about this please email me or post directly. TIA (Please don't kill my subscription Nice Mr. Robot!) - -- Glenn Matthies au075 at freenet.buffalo.edu Lockport, NY Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 01 May 1995 23:30:25 -0400 (EDT) From: STEVE GRIMMER <S18312SG at umassd.edu> Subject: Identifying hops plants Dear Brewmasters, The flower garden in the yard behind the house I just rented has a hops plant coming up. (Joy!) Bob, the upstairs tenant, says the previous tenants were avid brewers and planted it a few years back but fell behind on rent and had to leave in a bit of a hurry. That explains the carboy and bottles in the basement. (Double Bonus) Anyroad, is there any way to get a clue as to the strain I've got growing? My current strategy is to simply brew a small batch and try them out as the aroma and see what happens. All suggestions appreciated. TIA Steve Grimmer Ceramics Grad Umass/Dartmouth Return to table of contents
Date: 02 May 95 08:29:32 EDT From: "Thomas A. Wideman" <75710.1511 at compuserve.com> Subject: Lagering temps Greetings, All... After many ale batches, I am ready to have a go at lagering. I have a question, though -- does anyone have info on preferred temps for some of the Wyeast lager yeasts? Basically, I am looking for some kind of temperature schedule for primary and secondary fermentation. If there is an FAQ on the subject of lagering, please point me to it -- I am unaware of one. The "Good Times" virus is dead -- long live "Good Times"!!! (Arrrgh.) Cheers, Tom Wideman <75710.1511 at compuserve.com> Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 02 May 1995 08:18:23 -0640 From: FLATTER%MHS at mhs.rose-hulman.edu Subject: repairing enamel Will Self writes: They sell an acrylic "glaze" which you paint on your object and let it dry and then *bake* it in the oven at 350 degrees F (177 C). The saleslady showed me a sample. It looked and felt really hard and durable. Since it went through 350 degrees, I reason that it ought to hold up to boiling temperatures. I haven't done this experiment, but I am quite optimistic that this will work. I would urge someone else to try this and post the results. ++++++++++++++ Appliance shops also sell this stuff for repairing stove tops, et al. While the spot I repainted isn't a perfect match, it wouldn't be noticed by the casual observer. The best part is the bottle was only a few dollars. - -------------- Neil Flatter Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Chemistry - Math (CMA) Department of Chemistry Stockroom Manager Novell Supervisor 5500 Wabash Avenue 73 (812) 877 - 8316 Terre Haute, IN 47803-3999 FAX: 877 - 3198 Flatter at Rose-Hulman.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 2 May 1995 08:39:35 -0600 (MDT) From: Mark_Worwetz at Novell.COM (Mark Worwetz) Subject: Wicked bottles Howdy from Zion! I don't know how I got on his mailing list, but I have just received an advertisement from the Pete's Wicked beer folks that contained an offer that is hard to refuse. A letter accompanying a mini-catalog explained that they were being inundated by nasty-grams from homebrewers who were upset by Pete's decision to use twist-off bottles instead of the pry-off type. As an appeasement to homebrewers, Pete's will be selling cases of 12 22oz. bottles for $3.50 plus shipping for as long as there is a demand. If any folks are interested in the ordering specifics, phone number, address, catalog number, etc, e-mail me direct. If requests are numerous I will once again 'waste' this bandwidth ;^) Mark Worwetz Mark_Worwetz at Novell.COM Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 2 May 95 10:40:57 PDT From: Rob Emenecker <robe at cadmus.com> Subject: Aluminum Brewpots In HBD #1716 Dave Bradley mentions an article in Jan/Feb Brewing Techniques and using Aluminum stockpots for brewing. I have looked are several aluminum stock pots (aluminum vs. SS) and without a doubt the aluminum pots are always significantly cheaper than SS. So what is wrong with using aluminum pots. I can think of several things that I could spend the savings on (hhmmmmm.... maybe a kegging system). What are the opinions of the collective intelligence on this issue?!?!?! P.S. This is important... my birthday is coming up and my wife needs ideas ;) +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ : "There are only two things in life that oooooo : : we can ever be certain of... _oooooooo : : ...taxes and beer!" /_| oooooo : : Cheers, // | ooo : : Rob Emenecker \\_| oo | : : remenecker at cadmus.com (Rob Emenecker) \_| o| : : Cadmus Journal Services, Inc. |______| : : Linthicum, Maryland 21090 : +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 2 May 95 07:49:06 PDT From: hollen at megatek.com (Dion Hollenbeck) Subject: Candi Sugar SG contribution Can anyone tell me what the contribution to SG is per pound of candi sugar? thanks, dion Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 02 May 1995 10:41:00 -0600 (CST) From: "Patrick E. Humphrey 708-937-3295" <HUMPHREY.PATRICK at igate.abbott.com> Subject: First Oatmeal Stout Well, last night I made my first oatmeal stout with extract and specialties. This is the first stout I have made of any kind so I didn't know what to expect. I have a question about using the specialties. First, the ingredients: 6# unhopped dark malt extract 1# unhopped dry malt 8 oz chocolate malt 6 oz roasted barley 4 oz black patent malt 8 oz rolled oats 1 tbs CaCO3 2 oz Northern Brewer - 8.2 AAU 2 oz Fuggles - 4.2 AAU Irish Moss - 30 min Liquid Irish Ale yeast I cracked the grains using my food processor in short bursts (worked great!). Transferred them to a mesh strainer and shook to remove dust. I did this outside so as not to contaminate the kitcken. These were then placed with the oats (unground) into a grain bag. I preheated a 10 qt. (12-pack) cooler with boiling water, added the grain bag and 175 deg. water. Water cooled to the target of 160 deg. and steeped for 15 minutes. Things were working beautifully. I boiled the water and added the extract, CaCO3 and the steep liquor. This is where I have the question. In previous extract/grain batches I have steeped grains, then washed them in some of the unboiled water until the water ran "clear." I started to do this with the black/chocolate malts but obviously with the black grains it wouldn't have run clear. Eventually, the water I was using started to become the consistancy of thin syrup. If I continued to wash them I would have been there for days until the liquid began to thin and probably would have ended up with 10 gallons of wort. What is the general thinking about steeping these grains? Should I have continued to wash them? When someone makes an All-grain stout do they sparge until the liquor is thin? The directions for this kit (which I loosely follow) stated that I should steep the grains for 15 minutes and strain them into the boiling water. I am wondering if I have left much of the "body" of this beer in the grain bag. Target 0G was 1.050-1.055. To top the evening off, I went to use hydrometer and the damn thing had been broken so I couldn't take a reading. AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!! Any replies are appreciated. Thanks, Pat humphreyp at abbott.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 02 May 1995 10:53:24 -0500 (CDT) From: BFRALEY at aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu Subject: Kegging questions After months of preparing for my Phd exams (I passed, whoohoo) I am finally getting back into brewing. My immediate plans are to purchase or scrounge a kegging system, so I was wondering if people could send me any hints or suggestions for putting together a system. Private e-mail is fine, I don't want to clog up the digest. I appreciate the help. Brad Raley University of Oklahoma "Beer-Nature's Perfect Food!" BFRALEY at aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu Return to table of contents
Date: 2 May 1995 11:52:09 -0500 From: "Madden Ben" <madden.ben at mail.ndhm.gtegsc.com> Subject: "plastic" beer; why kicked off Unknown Microsoft mail form. Approximate representation follows. To: hbd From: Madden Ben on Tue, May 2, 1995 11:52 AM Subject: "plastic" beer; why kicked off I have brewed a number of batches of extract beer that had a "plastic" taste. I learned that cleaning my equipment with bleach can cause this to happen. Having switched to iodophor, the problem went away. Luckily, the plastic taste/aroma in my previous batches went away with time, after which the beer tasted fine. A question: why were some people (like me) cut off from receiving the HBD? Ben Madden Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 2 May 1995 11:17:27 -0500 From: Russell Mast <rmast at fnbc.com> Subject: Oats, Jello, O'Rourke It seems all of my posts here lately are about Gelatin and Oats. I've used reg'lar Quaker oats and oats from the bulk foods section of health food stores with similar results. It seemed to me that using "Oat Flakes" from bulk, wich cost slightly more than "Oatmeal" gave me less hassle with sparging and less head-trauma. Still, in experimental terms, we're talking an "n" of 2, so take it with a grain of salt. I've been told that even "Instant Oatmeal" will work, but haven't tried it. I did an experiment with boiling vs. not boiling gelatin. The results are inconclusive and the methodology is too boring for me to go into detail right now. Basically, I now believe that boiling gelatin does NOT harm its utility in terms of clearing haze. As for use in slants, I have no clue whatsoever. I'm only talking about using them as finings. I don't like reading ads, but I think there is a reasonable place for getting the word out. I didn't notice the ad in question, but a word or two in a .sig file really doesn't bug me. Like I said, I don't know what the ad was, I've been skimming lately. I think that, as long as any financial interest in a product or service is known up front, we have the intelligence to On a similar note, I *do* dislike seeing political comments on this forum. I have a particular disdain for derogatory comments aimed at a group of people who are probably reading it. I'm willing to let it go as either an accident or an honest mistake, but I don't want it around here anymore. Before anyone starts whining about free speech, let me raise an analogy. I dislike musical plays. I have a lot of really good reasons for disliking musicals. In fact, I feel morally superior to people who do like musicals. I am willing, in private e-mail or in an apporpriate forum, to expound at great length on musicals and what's wrong with them, and what's wrong with you for not disliking them. But, NOT HERE. In fact, this is the LAST TIME I will mention musicals on a beer-related forum. (Barring the highly unlikely event that a musical about homebrewing ever comes out.) The reason I won't mention "The M-word" here anymore is NOT because I'm being oppressed for my opinion, it's because this is NOT THE PLACE FOR IT. Please, no more quotes from political figures, unless they deal with brewing. Thanks for your time, and a special thanks to Tony Alamo for the caps lock. -R Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 02 May 95 09:49:27 EST From: Joseph.Fleming at gsa.gov Subject: 3068 Delayed explosion Jim Dipalma writes: On the morning of day 4, both carboys suddenly looked liked Mt. St. Helens. The headspace was completely filled with foam, there was thick, gooey looking, foamy mess spewing from both airlocks. I brewed up a 5 gal extract weizen last Saturday as well (summer's a'commin) and experienced the same effect. The 3068 was 6 weeks old and pitched w/ a quart starter. I thought the mild activity of the starter and the low gravity of the beer warranted an airlock - boy was I mistaken! I'm glad to see that when I apply the term "infectious" to this beer in a couple weeks it'll only mean that you can't stop at just one. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 02 May 1995 13:37:08 EDT From: uswlsrap at ibmmail.com Subject: Competition Countdown / GT tickets *** Resending note of 05/02/95 10:04 *** Resending note of 05/02/95 09:25 Two announcements from the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild: Tickets for the Ninth Annual Great Taste of the Midwest, a festival of craft beers and craft brewers, went on sale Monday, May 1. There are still tickets remaining :-) for the August 12 event (1-6pm), but you need to act quickly. The event has had sellout crowds for three consecutive years, and tickets sold out by the end of June last year. Tickets are $15 and may be purchased by mail, check payable to MHTG: MHTG / Great Taste, P.O. Box 1365, Madison, WI 53701. SASE appreciated. You may charge by phone, for $16 per ticket: 608.938.1985 A portion of the proceeds is donated to Community Radio WORT/89.9FM. The admission price includes a commemorative glass and unlimited sampling all afternoon. We are moving to a larger location (Olin-Turville Park-- not Olin _Terrace_--on Lake Monona, across from the Dane County Colisseum) this year to accommodate more brewers and more patrons, but are limiting the size of the event to assure a relaxed, uncrowded atmosphere in which patrons will not have to endure long lineups and will have the opportunity to talk to the brewers about their beers. We expect about 50 breweries & brewpubs this year, and at least 150 different beers. Once the 2,500 tickets are gone, they're gone. You've been advised ;-) Coming up even sooner than the Great Taste is the Ninth Annual BIG and H U G E (HWBTA Recognised Homebrew Competition) Entries are due this Saturday, May 6, for the May 13 event, at Angelic Brewing Company in Madison. As noted in a previous post, the competition is for beers of modestly high (1.050 minimum) to Huge and Mammoth gravity. Entry fee for non-MHTG members is only $4.50/entry ($4/entry if >=5 entries). Email to uswlsrap at ibmmail.com for details, rules, and forms if you or your club has not received a packet. We have a HUGE array of prizes for the winners. In the interest of remaining non-commercial, I won't mention any sponsors' names (email for details), but the BOS winner will receive a 50 pound sack of two-row delivered directly from the malting company. If BOS is brewed by an extract brewer, we will substitute extracts plus one of the other prizes, and the grain will go to the highest ranking all-grain beer. Besides grain and extracts (MALT), we have prizes in the other important ingredient categories. HOPS: flowers and pellets from two different sponsors. YEAST: culturing kits. (Sorry, you have to provide your own WATER :-) ) We'll also have prizes that will help you measure the temperature of your fermenting wort and that will help you measure the colour of the finished beer. Also, subscriptions to two publications: one that will help you improve your brewing techniques,and another to educate you about beer. JUDGES!!! Madison is an easy drive from Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, and elsewhere. Come join us for a hugely enjoyable competition and the chance to sample some of the many beers available in the Beer Capital of the Midwest. Email to confirm your interest. Now go have a beer, Bob Paolino / Disoriented in Badgerspace uswlsrap at ibmmail.com THIS SPACE UNDER RENOVATION Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1721, 05/03/95