HOMEBREW Digest #1971 Wed 28 February 1996

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


Contents:
  Info Request: RIMS Temp Controller (Stan Gregory)
  Competition announcement (Mark Taratoot)
  Q: Dextrinous Worts, Adding body (Derek Lyons)
  Stuck Fermentation (liquori)
  Hop Tea (Imakebeer)
  Keg Priming / Old Starter (Clay Crenshaw)
  Conservation of Mass-Energy (John W. Braue, III)
  Mash Questions (Chuck)
  Going to Gettysburg ("Richard Smith")
  Scorching Unnecessary (RUSt1d?)
  Water/Chillers/Special B/Water (A. J. deLange)
  re: It's not beer (PVanslyke)
  Brettanomyces Imperial Stout (Delano Dugarm)
  High FG (Jim Busch)
  Spent grains bread (Jeff Renner)
  Kegging 101 - gas leak (Dan.Nelson)
  Lagering--time and S.G.? (Tam Thompson)
  Special B is 220 L (Tam Thompson)
  Canning revisited ("Kirk Harralson")
  Re: The Brewer's Companion (Tom Fitzpatrick)
  flour layer in lauter (Rob Lauriston)
  Re: Adding cold water to brewpot? (Derek Lyons)
  Chillers ("Manning Martin MP")
  Re: Questions on Zymurgy CF chiller test (Bill Pemberton)
  Re: Water-Brita Filters (Mike Uchima)
  Kind of a contest in Austin, TX ("Goodale, Daniel CPT 4ID DISCOM")
  RE: low gravity (BOBKATPOND)
  Cheap Hop Back (Bob McCowan)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996 20:46:39 -0500 From: Stan Gregory <cn1428 at coastalnet.com> Subject: Info Request: RIMS Temp Controller Does anyone have firsthand experience with BrewCraft, Ltd's RIMS controller and heat probes? Is this the same unit diagrammed in Rodney Morris' 1992 Zymurgy article? Have just finished building my RIMS unit (copper tubes, low-density heating element and Little Giant TE-3 MD-HC pump). Want to add a temp controller ASAP. Any thoughts/suggestions much appreciated. E-mail is fine. Will post summary of responses if any. Thanks for your help. Stan Gregory cn1428 at coastalnet.com Jacksonville, NC Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996 18:27:23 -0800 (PST) From: Mark Taratoot <taratoot at PEAK.ORG> Subject: Competition announcement Heart of the Valley Homebrewers Present: The 14th Annual Oregon Homebrew Competition and Festival At the Oregon Trader Brewery 140 Hill Street, NE Albany, Oregon 97321 (Off Street Parking Available) Saturday, May 11th, 1996 From 11 am to 5 pm JUDGING FOR THE 24 RECOGNIZED AHA BEER STYLES PLUS ALL THREE MEAD CATEGORIES The Heart of the Valley Homebrewers invite you to participate in the fourteenth annual homebrew competition and festival, the longest running event of its kind in Oregon. The focus of the event will be a judging of homebrewed beer sanctioned by the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) and the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP). In addition, the club will host a festival to promote awareness and knowledge of various beer styles, provide opportunities to share information about the homebrewing craft, and encourage interaction between homebrewers in a social atmosphere. This years activities will include several displays, a raffle, food concessions, and the opportunity to meet and talk with some of the best and most experienced homebrewers anywhere! Entry fee is $5.00. This year there will be no entries accepted the day of the competition. Entries may be mailed directly to or dropped off at the festival site or dropped off at one of our remote pick up sites. We are also offering on-line entry and judge registration. Special guest speaker: The world renowned Fred Eckhardt Complete details, entry requirements, rules, drop-off site locations, and directions to the festival are available at our web site: http://www.peak.org/~taratoot/fest.html or contact Lee Smith at (541)926-2286 or Mark Taratoot at (taratoot at peak.org) - -- Mark Taratoot "...though my problems are meaningless, taratoot at peak.org that don't make them go away." -Neil Young Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996 19:11:22 -0800 From: Derek Lyons <elde at hurricane.net> Subject: Q: Dextrinous Worts, Adding body Is a dextrinious wort sweeter or simply has more body? (I'm an extract/steep brewer, trying to add body to my Porter recipe.) Derek Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996 22:38:06 -0400 (EDT) From: liquori at ACC.FAU.EDU Subject: Stuck Fermentation Dear Collective, First I want to thank everyone who reassured me that sticking my arm in my beer wasn't the worst thing to do. Now I have a new problem. I brewed a Harpoon Winter Warmer clone (from Cat's Meow). The OG was 1.061. Four days later the gravity was 1.039. Last night I transferred from the primary (it was in the primary for a week) to the secondary. The gravity was 1.036. There has been no activity in the fermentation lock over the last twenty-four hours. I do not know what the terminal gravity should be, but I know this is too high. I am assuming the stuck fermentation is due to the fact that I did not aerate the wort (this is only my second batch and I'm still catching on). I pitched a liquid Wyeast (British ale #1028). On my first batch the fermentation was also stuck so I added some priming sugar to the primary. This dropped the gravity very little, but left the beer with a very cidery taste. Any suggestions for getting the fermentation going again? Is this actually no problem and the process is just EXTREMELY slow? Thanks in advance...Kevin...liquori at acc.fau.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 01:22:23 -0500 From: Imakebeer at aol.com Subject: Hop Tea A friend and I plan to give a presentation on hops to our homebrew club next month. We want to use hops of both high and low alpha acids and show their characteristics when used for bittering, flavor and aroma. We plan on using hop tea's to do this. Has anyone done this with any success? If so, do you have a recipe for making the tea's? Private e-mail O.K. I'll post a summary. Cheers, Robert Hops Barley Literates imakebeer at aol.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 00:35:02 -0500 From: ccrenshaw at mail.utexas.edu (Clay Crenshaw) Subject: Keg Priming / Old Starter Hello Everyone. Can anyone give me a good reason to naturally carbonate beer in a corny keg rather than simply force-carbonating it? Does the method of carbonation affect the character of the final product at all? Also, I have a ~12oz starter of Wyeast London Ale that's been in my refrigerator for around a month. Is it worth saving, and if so, what would be the best way to go about doing this? Thoroughly enjoying this newsgroup, Clay - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Jazz is not dead...it just smells funny" -Frank Zappa - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 07:15:17 From: braue at ratsnest.win.net (John W. Braue, III) Subject: Conservation of Mass-Energy CASteveB at aol.com writes: >Last Sunday (18 Feb) I brewed an American Pale Ale. I used 6 lbs. Light DME >as well as some steeped specialty grains. For a 5 gal batch, this should >have yielded a SG of approximately 1.050 (Assuming 1.042 for the DME). After >it was in the fermenter I took a SG reading and it was 1.026! (It also tasted >incredibly bitter, which I think would make sense if the SG was half of what >I was shooting for.) After a little contemplation that night I decided that >first thing in the morning I would boil up some more DME, put it in another >fermenter, and rack as much as I could out of the first fermenter into the >new one. Since I got half of what I wanted the first time, I used another 6 >lbs. DME with 1 gal of water (as little water as I thought would work) the >second time. Everything went well and I got most of the first batch into the >second fermenter (as well as a *really* clear wort because of all the trub >that settled overnight). I took another reading and the SG was 1.080! I >could see it being a little higher than the 1.050 I was origanally hoping >for, but not that high. It has been fermenting very well throughout the >week, and I will rack to the secondary sometime this week. Where did I mess >up? Do you think this will turn out to be O.K. even though not exactly what >I was hoping for? You have demonstrated the law of conservation of mass-energy. The 6 lbs. of light DME that you added at first did in fact remain in the fermenter; the initial low OG reading may well have been due to inadequate mixing (if you boiled a concentrated wort and diluted it with water; that point isn't clear), misuse of the hydrometer, or some cause that can't be diagnosed at the end of a modem. Then, when you added the second 6 lb. dose, the OG shot up to its final incredible figure (which still sounds a little low; I'd expect it to be in the 1.095 - 1.100 range. Calibrate your hydrometer on plain water). Of course, the final result is not going to be, stylistically, anything like a pale ale; it's going to be more like a barleywine or an imperial stout (but probably won't be too close to those either, since the rest of your ingredients are going to be oriented towards a pale ale). However, it ought to be eminently drinkable anyway, and you may actually decide that you like it better than the intended brew. Moral: measure carefully, mix thoroughly, and ensure that your hydrometer is calibrated correctly. If you still don't get the right answer, assume that you did anyway. Brewing is technology and art, not science; it's perfectly alright to fudge the data if that gives a better result. - -- John W. Braue, III braue at ratsnest.win.net john.braue at berlinwall.org "The water of England is not drinkable" - -- Elizabeth of York in a letter to the Infanta Catalina of Aragon I've decided that I must be the Messiah; people expect me to work miracles, and when I don't, I get crucified. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 07:30:08 -0500 From: pittprog at usaor.net (Chuck) Subject: Mash Questions Dear Collective, First time poster, long time lurker. Forgive me for I have sinned. Over the weekend, due to equipment problems, procedure problems, etc. I didn't relax, and I worried. I was making Charlie's un-american recipe that calls for: 1 lbs rice 5 lbs 6 row-high enzyme. After the prescribed mash schedule, I did a starch test and noticed that all the starch was not converted. I let it rest for another 15 minutes (at 158F) and still all the starch had not converted. Another 15 minutes and still nothing. I ASSuME that this was due to the fact that I was using a 2-row instead of a 6-row? What is the consensus? Additionally, I have noticed that in my all grain batches I get little or no hot break compared to my extract batches which get plenty. Is there a reason for this? Thanks for the support!! Bob ...Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Brewday! - -- Registered ICC User check out http://www.usefulware.com/~jfoltz Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 96 07:42:09 EST From: "Richard Smith" <QR1661 at trotter.USMA.EDU> Subject: Going to Gettysburg Greetings, In April I will be traveling to Gettysburg for a few days. Does anyone know of any Brewpubs or Micros in the vicinity? TIA- Jack in West Point ******************************************************************* Richard J. Smith qr1661 at trotter.usma.edu 72154.516 at compuserve.com ******************************************************************* Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 08:42:32 -0500 From: RUSt1d? <rust1d at swamp.li.com> Subject: Scorching Unnecessary >>>I hesitate to reprint this recipe, and forgive me, but I feel it >>>necessary as justification for what follows ... .... >>>First, John, this is a beer list. I am not a beer snob but your recipe is >>>not for beer. It appears to be a lightly flavored alcoholic solution, not >>>unlike Zima, though you do mention hops. My guess is that its primary >>>function is the production of cheap, non-lethal, drunkedness. .... >>>the operative adjective here is "better". This list is the antithesis to >>>the cane sugar, molasses, and baker's yeast type beers of prohibition >>>of which yours is a modern example. >>> >>>You have been making this for twenty years with "considerable success". I >>>am curious as to the definition of success in this case. >>> >>>Domenick Venezia >>>Seattle, WA >>>venezia at zgi.com Why all the flames Dom? Can't we all just brew along? John Varady Boneyard Brewing - Get R.I.P.'ed "Piss off and scroll down for crissakes. The post was just fine" - Jim Busch ************************** ** rust1d at li.com ** ** John Nicholas Varady ** ** Eve Courtney Hoyt ** ************************** http://www.netaxs.com/people/vectorsys/index.html Boneyard Brewing - Get R.I.P.'ed. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 10:22:18 -0500 From: ajdel at interramp.com (A. J. deLange) Subject: Water/Chillers/Special B/Water In #1970 Steve asks about his water: "pH: 7.3 - 7.7; Hardness: 480 mg/l as CaC03; SO4: 10 ppm; Cl: 6 ppm; Na: 4.69 ppm." for extact brewing. Don't worry.While that level of hardness is doubtless accompanied by about 400 ppm alkalinity (since chloride and sulfate are low) which is a lot there should be no problem in extract brewing. I suppose there is a chance at that level that the yeast might have a problem getting the pH of the fermenting wort down as low as they like. This water is doubtless a candidate for softening/dealkalinazation by boiling which should drop a fair amount of the carbonate (and the calcium/magnesium too). The sulfate is too low for english ales which require more for authentic hop character. Steve also mentions that he uses a "charcoal" filter. As I have noted before some of the small "charcoal"filters, such as the Brita, are charcoal AND ion echange filters which remove not only chlorine but also most of the ions in the water. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * In the same number Mark Schmitt asked about interpretation of the wort chiller comparisons in the latest Zymurgy. This is my opinion but I use the Q number for comparison. If the chiller is provided a coolant flow greater than or equal Q and the wort flow is less than Q/5 the wort will exit the chiller within 3 degrees F of the coolant temperature for any wort entrance temperature up to 212F. Thus I call the Q the "size" of the chiller. Thus I think the Heart's chiller (I don't have the article in front of me) had a Q near 100 and it will, thus, cool 20 gallons per hour to within 3 degrees of the water temp if it is supplied 100 gph cooling water. The reason for the development of the Q factor is that the actual performace of a chiller is a function of coolant flow, wort flow rates, coolant entry temp, and wort entry temperature, i.e. complex. There are curves which plot allowable wort and coolant flow rates normalized by Q and parametric in chiller efficiency. The Q; Q/5 point lepas off the page at you. Performance increases only a little bit if the flow rate is increased above Q. This means wasting more water for little benefit in chilling. Similarly decreasing the wort flow doesn't improve things much, it takes longer to cool a given volume, and, again, cooling water is wasted. Conversely, dropping the coolant flow rate below Q or increasing the wort flow rate above Q/5 will result in a sharp drop in performace (but there is a little leeway). Thus the chiller should be operated at Q; Q/5. The problem is that we often don't have the luxury of being able to set flow rates in home brewing. The garden bib will certainly supply 100 gph but more probably 250-300. This can be regulated by closing the valve but how do you measure the rate? Flow meters are, of course, available from many sources (Cole Parmer, Grainger) but they are a nuisance to install and cost money. In many situations, cooling water is plentiful and is not "wasted" if, for example, it is sent to the garden (but don't forget the water meter if you are on a municipal supply). Wort flow is more difficult to control as we are usually at the mercy of gravity. The only away around this is a pump, valve and another flow meter (more expense). The pump must be able to handle hot, acid wort (read about $130 for a 1/25 HP magnetic coupled job) and the flow meters WILL clog up with hop bits and cold trub. As for the interior design of the Hart's, I am curious too. A larger inner tube means a smaller ratio of surface area through which heat may pass to volume of wort enclosed so the trick is to increase the heat transfer per unit area. In the Stolting chiller this is done by affixing fins to the outside of the tube. Perhaps the Hart does the same. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Same number; Jim Cave asked about malt specs but I'm not sure whether he wanted them for Special B or Caramunich (both from DeW-C) so here are the analyses for a lot of each: Caramunich Special-B Bushel Wt (Lbs) 41.5 43.5 % On 7/64" Screen 80.1 47.8 % On 6/64" Screen 14.8 37.4 % On 5/64" Screen 4.4 13.2 % Thru 5/64" Screen 0.7 1.6 Moisture, % 5.0 3.8 Extract, Fine Grind, As Is, % 72.1 66.3 Extract, Fine Grind, Dry Basis, % 75.9 68.9 Conversion Time, Minutes 15-20 15-20 Odor of Mash Aromatic Aromatic Speed of Filtration Slow Slow Lab. Wort Color, Lov. 72 221 Degree of Clarity, Visual Dark Dark Total Protein, Dry Basis, % 11.19 10.43 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Don Walsh asks about Brita filters. They are indeed anion/cation exchangers with a carbon filter and a smidgeon of, I believe, a silver salt to prevent growth of bacteria in the filtered water. An ideal cation/anion exchanger will produce water which is virtually ion free. These are often used in laboratories where they produce water with resistances of 15 megohms/cm. The Brita need not do so good a job and I don't know how effective they actually are. I guess I'll just have to buy one and check it out. Given that they remove all the ions, the pH of the resulting water would be 7.00. If the pH is other than 7.00 that means there are ions present. The usual suspect, as I said before, is bicarbonate which comes from carbon dioxide in the air. It takes a while for this to dissolve but the pH pretty quickly starts to make it's way towards about 5.6. Boiling will drive the CO2 off and the pH then returns to where it was. Thus, if the Brita removes all ions, you might expect the pH of output water to be in the high 6's but on boiling and cooling, by whatever method, the pH should return to 7.00. The fact that Don's did not means that a) the basic assumption is wrong (i.e. the output water is not pure) b) the boiling process introduced something or c) the pH measurements were in error. WRT a) the Brita is not supposed to produce lab water. It may therefore, not get everything (such as perhaps silica). Someone suggested here (I think) that organic acids used in the preparation of the charcoal might be present in the Brita output. WRT b) very clean glassware would have to be used and even then would introduce some sodium and silica. Only very small amounts of ions ( < E-7 equivalents) are necessary to effect pH shifts of these magnitudes). WRT c) a good stable electrode, fresh, accurate buffers and good technique are necessary for accurate measurements in very dilute solutions as ionic strength is low. I have seen even high quality electrodes behave very strangely in water of high purity. I could understand a lower pH with gradual cooling (allow CO2 to dissolve) as opposed to force cooling, but not the other way around as reported. Consider me equally puzzled by that one. A.J. deLange Numquam in dubio, saepe in errore! ajdel at interramp.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 09:30:28 -0500 From: PVanslyke at aol.com Subject: re: It's not beer John Carey's recipe seems to have all the requisite ingredients, that isx malt (two kinds no less), sugar, and hops. Domenick - think decafe Paul VanSlyke >>> Brewing and relaxing in Deposit,NY Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 13:55:16 +0000 (GMT) From: Delano Dugarm <ADUGARM at worldbank.org> Subject: Brettanomyces Imperial Stout I've always been intrigued by the reference in Wahl and Henius to Brettanomyces secondary fermentation in traditional old ales and porters. They imply that this was the reason that these beers were aged so long in wooden casks. I have read that Strong Suffolk is still made this way, but I have never had this beer. Last fall I brewed an imperial stout. When it came time to bottle, I learned that Scott Bickham was building up a Brettanomyces culture, and got 35 ml of the culture from him. I primed the beer and bottled four gallons, then drained the last gallon into a one-gallon cider jug, added the Brettanomyces culture, and put an air lock on the jug. There was some fermentation evident for a week or so, then nothing. I left the beer in the jug for four and a half months. A few weeks ago my curiousity got the better of me. I racked the beer into a keg and force-carbonated it. What did it taste like? The base beer had some problems both in recipe formulation (it included roasted rye) and in fermentation (phenols and esters from over-active fermentation), but was reasonably in style. Oddly, some judges have found it to have a slightly horsey nose, though it never got near the Brett. The Bret beer was drier, and sour. It had a definite horsey, goaty nose. The dryness made the beer less drinkable, but this beer seemed to be an excellent aperitif in small quantities. I say 'seems' because I made the mistake of taking this beer to a brew club meeting and it was quickly consumed. I want to try this again, but perhaps with a strong, bitter, lighter ale. Without roasted rye. The only negative was that I became paranoid after speaking to Scott Bickham about Brettanomyces cross-contamination and threw out or heavily sanitized everything that came in contact with the Brett Imperial Stout. Delano DuGarm adugarm at worldbank.org Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 09:39:16 -0500 (EST) From: Jim Busch <busch at eosdev2.gsfc.nasa.gov> Subject: High FG Kelly and Lorne ask about high FGs: <I'm generally very pleased with the results of my work, but the terminal <gravity is not as low as sources indicate that it should be. This applies <to both low (150F) and high (157F) starch-conversion temperatures. <However, Kelly, I do use yeast starters (20 fluid oz. for ales, 30 fluid <oz. for lagers). So, if there is a common cause of our shared frustration, <I don't think that increasing the volume of yeast will bring down the T.G. <in your finished beers. <Perhaps someone else can shed some light . Id bet its not enough oxygen. People think they can just shake a nearly full carboy and that will provide enough O2, but I am suspecious of this. Try this: sanatize two plastic buckets. Pour the cool wort between the buckets 5-6 times from a height of about 2-3 feet. See if the ferment is better, and always use a starter. Or try the air pump method. Jim Busch Colesville, Md Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 96 09:42:16 -0500 From: Jeff Renner <nerenner at umich.edu> Subject: Spent grains bread Alan Folaom asked in HBD 1970 about spent grains bread: John Palmer posted my recipe from a few years ago on his page at http://www.primenet.com/~johnj/index.html I think it's under the "more brewing files" link. If you don't have web access, I can send it to you. It starts with my critique of an earlier posted recipe, then gives my standard bread recipe that I teach my bread classes, then general instructions for additions and substitutions and finally my guess at specifically how to use spent grains. I finally tried making a batch recently (from a mostly Munich alt), and found that, contrary to my expectations, the cellulose of the husks greatly softened with the ferment and bake. I *wasn"t* picking them out from my teeth the way I do if I just taste some raw spent grains, or some spent grain cookies I have had. I used some last runnings at ~1.006 instead of water. It added to the maltiness of the bread. I also used a sourdough starter rather than cultured yeast. All in all, I was quite pleased. I did find that I had underestimated the amount of liquid remaining in the grains and had to add extra flour to get the proper consistency dough, but that happens all the time with substitutions and additions. Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan c/o nerenner at umich.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 08:45:33 -0600 From: nelson at muck.isgs.uiuc.edu (Dan.Nelson) Subject: Kegging 101 - gas leak Howdy Brewers: I just kegged for the first time and the world is a creamier, foamier, heady-er place. It's a beautiful thing. I'm having one problem, though, which is is getting a perfect seal around the lid of the keg. It's a 5 gal. ball-lock corney, reconditioned, new gaskets, in very nice shape. When force carbonating at pressures of 8-9 psi and greater there is no apparent leakage, but at dispensing pressure (about 5 psi) there is significant gas leakage around to oval lid. Thinking I had a bad O-ring or micro-fissure in the lid itself, I replaced both. Same problem, same spot. With both lid & O-ring assemblies, the leak occurs right at the point where the long axis of the oval intersects the perimeter. I cannot detect any deformities in the steel top of the keg. I can feel a little roughness just under the rim of the opening, where the O-ring is seated, but I scrubbed and scrubbed and can't get rid of it, so I assume it is part of the keg and not a residue. I don't know what to try next. Any suggestions? Thanks, Dan Nelson, Boy Brewologist Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 08:47:03 -0600 From: Tamth at mail.utexas.edu (Tam Thompson) Subject: Lagering--time and S.G.? Hi everyone! This is my first posting here, although I've been homebrewing in Austin, Texas for 5.5 years. I used to teach it for Univ. of Texas Informal Classes. I'm a bit embarrassed to have to ask this, but I'm unclear about how long you need to lager things. I'd always used 2 months as a rule of thumb, except for bocks (traditional, not American or Texas) and Dbocks, which take 3 months. Lately, however, I've been thinking that the length of time required for lagering is probably related to the original gravity. A Dbock, at OG 1.075+, or bock, at 1.065-1.075, requires 3 months. Lagers beers with lighter gravities require 2 months. Right now, I am fermenting a summer Vienna, OG 1.045, and an organic ginger-pepper honey lager, OG 1.040. They will be ready to lager in a week-and-a-half. I'm thinking that gravities below 1.045 could be lagered at around 32-34 F for, say, 6 weeks. I'd be very interested in anyone's thoughts on this. My background is not, repeat, not, in chemistry---I'm a Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical Engineering, in mech. systems in design. I'm also a lady. See y'all, Tam Thompson Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 08:50:46 -0600 From: Tamth at mail.utexas.edu (Tam Thompson) Subject: Special B is 220 L We get Special B down here in Austin at Austin Homebrew Supply, my first-and- only-choice in town. (I also love DeFalco's in Houston.) It is listed as 220 L. I believe the 6% guideline sounds about right. For a 5- or 6-gallon batch, 1 lb. of Special B would be the absolute max. Hope this helps! Tam Thompson Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 96 10:11:42 EST From: "Kirk Harralson" <kwh at smtpgwy.roadnet.ups.com> Subject: Canning revisited Alec Saunders writes: >On a related topic, a while ago there was some discussion about canning >starters (I used to use one of my canned starters for "krausening" when >I did this). Someone commented that they were worried about botulism in >a canned starter, which is why they didn't do this. <snip> I think you may be referring to my post in HBD 1668, March 1, 1995 (almost a year to the day!). In researching canning techniques, several well-respected books made the difference between low-acid foods and high-acid foods. I think the cutoff point is ph 4.6. I had measured my wort's ph at about 5.3, which put it in the low-acid category, which, according to the books, requires pressure canning. >Long answer: Botulism is a toxin produced by the bacteria Clostridium >Botulinum. Simply boiling the wort kills any bacteria which might be >present, and also destroys the toxin. And, from the "Health Protection >Branch, Botulism Reference Centre" at the Government of Canada -- >"Canned fruits, jams and jellies, and pickles and relishes do not cause >botulism; high concentrations of acid, salt, or sugar prevent the growth >of botulinum bacteria". I would guess that the heat of canning combined >with the fact that wort is basically sugary water is enough to deal with >those little botulism bacterias... The actual problem, as I understand it, is that the botulism spores can withstand boiling temperatures, and carry over into the finished product. Some time after I posted this article, I read in Miller's book that the bacteria or spores could not live in beer wort anyway, which coincides with what you quote. Several people sent me mail that they had used regular canning procedures for years, with no problems. Being incredibly anal retentive, I reached a compromise of adding acid to prepared wort to bring the ph down to 4.6 (a very small adjustment), and treat like a high-acid juice, requiring only a boiling water treatment. My yeast seem to love it, and it cannot be detected in the final product. I use the procedures as described in the Ball canning book (same people that make the jars). This is a very good resource, and is probably available in most public libraries. Good luck! Kirk Harralson Bel Air, Maryland Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 09:21:21 -0600 (CST) From: fitz at fasicsv.fnal.gov (Tom Fitzpatrick) Subject: Re: The Brewer's Companion D & S Painter wrote : > I now have a quick question for anyone who has purchased or has been in > contact with Randy Mosher's book The Brewer's Companion; could you > please give me a review on this book. Mark writes: >>I picked up this book last year and after reading it I wasn't all that >>excited about it and sorry that I spent $20 for it. I have found David >>Miller's new book much more interesting and a better use of my money. I have to strongly disagree; Are we comparing Randy Mosher's book to Millers' "Brewing the World's Great Beers" ??? To me, there is no comparison. Miller's book is geared toward the beginner and you'll outgrow it in a very short time. Miller's writing style is very drab and not at all interesting. Mosher is much more of a "writer" with interesting historical facts and style related info. >>There are many pages dedicated to logging ones brew session. People complain about the brewing log section of Mosher's book as a waste, but you can tear it out if you don't like it and it still has MUCH more useful information than Miller's book. Miller wastes many pages glossing over topics such as filtering and kegging that really can't be adequately covered in a beginner's book. Also, after the beginners stage, you can throw out all the pages dedicated to recipes. Some of these recipes seem dubious at best, and I wonder whether he really ever made beer with these recipes. >>For me TBC has about 20 pages of usefull information. Much of it seems >>to be targeted towards someone that doesn't have an online brewlog or >>notebook. Again, I have to disagree. The majority of homebrewers DO NOT have an online brewing log or calculator program. The Brewer's Companion has many useful sections on water treatment, enzyme activity, hop varieties and IBU calculations, clarifying agents, extract potential, etc. I even used parts of Mosher's book to study for the bjcp exam. It presents some very technical info in an approachable manner. I frequently reference Mosher's book when I can't remember a certain detail, but I haven't even opened Miller's book recently, In fact, I'm not sure where it is ... Bob writes: >I have the first edition of this book and it does indeed have a lot of >charts, and other detailed information. However, the book is full of >errors. For instance, a page will end in the middle of a paragraph, and >the next page is a chart of some sort. Unfortunately the rest of the >paragraph does not turn up on the following page, or anywhere else in the >book, for that matter. >A number of the charts seem inconsistent, possibly they are mislabeled. >There is some good information in the book, but it is so error prone that >it's hard to figure out what to trust. How this book got past even a >cursory proofreading is beyond me. Hopefully it's improved with the >second edition. >Bob >Bob McCowan Yes, the first edition has some glaring errors. Just get the latest edition. You can save a few bucks now for a book you won't use later, or buy a useful reference manual/log book that will serve you better longer. Of course, this is all my opinion and personal preference. Good Brewing, Tom Fitzpatrick Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 96 07:33 PST From: robtrish at mindlink.bc.ca (Rob Lauriston) Subject: flour layer in lauter In HBD# 1967, nealc at selway.umt.edu (Neal Christensen) asked about the doughy layer that didn't appear in his new lauter tun: >... But I did not end up with a 'flour' layer on the >top of the spent grains as I did with my old lauter tun. I think this may >be due to not having enough sparge water covering the bed while sparging. >What do you all think? Do you usually end up with a stratified layer of >fine grayish gunk on top of the grain? Is this desirable? What may I have >done this time that prevented its formation? This is sometimes called 'top-dough' or by the German word 'tieg' (prounounced 'teague' ;-) which means dough or paste. Handy word just 'cause it's shorter. There is no advantage to having this layer appear on the top of the mash. In fact, it can be a disadvantage. Because the layer is so gluey, the sparge water can have difficulty penetrating it. The layer can even act like a piston and compact the whole bed, slowing the run-off to nil. I had this happen once on a 10 Hl system. This is a good reason to stir up the very top of the mash during lautering, so that the doughy stuff is distributed among the larger particles, rather than in an impermeable layer. The stirring also counter-acts channelling. OTOH, if there aren't any problems in run-off, then the appearance of the layer is certainly nothing to worry about. If you have quite a thin mash, then the large particles settle faster than the fine ones and you are more likely to see this stuff appear. In a thick mash, everything stays mixed up together. So the lack of sparge water on the top of Neal's mash may be the reason why he didn't see it this time around. Also, the small particles which make the run-off cloudy contribute to the tieg, so the more you have to recirculate, the more likely you might be to get this layer. So, Neal, maybe your fancy new LT has a better screen that sets up a filterbed sooner, sucking less of the fines from the bottom? - Rob L. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 16:25:51 GMT From: elde at hurricane.net (Derek Lyons) Subject: Re: Adding cold water to brewpot? charlesd at nando.net (charlesd) wrote: >A quick question for the collective: > I've recently purchased an 8.25 gallon pot and constructed an immersion >wort chiller in anticipation of going to a full 5-gallon boil. The >problem is that my poor old stove simply can't boil that volume of >water. So, while I try to convince my significant other that the 170K BTU >King Cooker is _really_ worth spending $60 on, is there any problem with >adding cold water to about 3 gallons of boiling wort to bring the total >volume up to 5 gallons and then cooling to pitching temp using the >sanitized wort chiller? Boil the 3 gallons *first* and set it aside to cool. (Overnight?) That way it's sterile and the chlorine is gone. You should be OK doing it this way. Return to table of contents
Date: 27 Feb 1996 11:48:32 U From: "Manning Martin MP" <manning_martin_mp at mcst.ae.ge.com> Subject: Chillers Mark G. Schmitt Wrote: >Could someone help me understand the test results from Zymurgy's counterflow >wort chiller evaluation? Perhaps I don't know what the authors mean by *Time >To Cool 5 Gal* of wort. To me this implies the time it takes for 5 gal of wort >to gravitate through the inside copper tube. If so, then why does it takes 20+ >min to go through 25' of 3/8 OD tubing but only 12+ to traverse 50'? Easy. A typographical error. >Are not the Brewers Resource model and the 25' Listermann model identical >except for the garden hose? Yes. The BR chiller uses Phil's Phittings. >Then how come the wort flow is 19.7 gal/hr for the former but 14.9 >gal/hr for the latter? See abvove. >I was a little suprised to note that the extra 25' of >tubing in the second Listermann chiller only dropped the wort temp by one >additional degree to 64F even though the coolent temperature is 52F. This is a fact of heat exchanger design. After the temperature differential gets low enough, increasing the heat transfer area gives little return. For this type of chiller, 25' seems to be about right, so don't waste money on extra tubing. >Finally, is the key to CF design a large diameter inner tube as in the Heart's >chiller? Nope. The Heart chiller must have fins in the coolant passage, on the outside of the inner tube, which greatly increase heat transfer area for a given length. I'm pretty sure this is an off-the-shelf, general purpose heat exchanger unit that Heart's is re-selling. MPM Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 11:12:46 -0500 (EST) From: Bill Pemberton <wfp5p at tigger.itc.virginia.edu> Subject: Re: Questions on Zymurgy CF chiller test Mark G. Schmitt asks about the Zymurgy counterflow chiller article.... I was also puzzled by the results in this article. I have a homemade 20 foot chiller using 3/8 OD and a garden hose. It's works at about 1 gallon a minute, but I use about a 15 foot drop for my chilling setup (from a deck to the basement). I've also got very high water pressure, so I get very good cooling. I think these factors are a big part of your chiller decisions. In my case, a smaller chiller works great. - -- Bill Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 11:08:04 -0600 From: uchima at fncrd8.fnal.gov (Mike Uchima) Subject: Re: Water-Brita Filters ArnoldWa at aol.com asks: > I was not aware that the Brita is more than a carbon filter. Does it > completely remove all the ions (i.e. 0 ppm Ca, etc.)? Working from memory here, I believe the box said that the filter cartridge also contains "ion exchange resin". If I'm not mistaken, this is the same sort of thing that is used in home water softeners, and would replace some of the "hard" ions (e.g. Ca) with sodium ions. - -- Mike Uchima - -- uchima at fnal.gov Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 96 10:25:00 PST From: "Goodale, Daniel CPT 4ID DISCOM" <GoodaleD at hood-03.army.mil> Subject: Kind of a contest in Austin, TX Dear Collective, While tooling around Austin, I went to the Central market HEB. They are having a contest called the "Best Bock on the Block". I picked up an entry form at the information desk. There don't seem to be any rules other than it must be brewed by a nonprofessional (home brewer). The contest requires you to bring a bottle of Bock to there on 9 March 1996. Thats it. Daniel Goodale Biohazard Brewing Company Sure its gonna kill ya, but who wants to live forever Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 12:28:27 -0500 From: BOBKATPOND at aol.com Subject: RE: low gravity In HBD 1970 Steve writes: Last Sunday (18 Feb) I brewed an American Pale Ale. I used 6 lbs. Light DME as well as some steeped specialty grains. For a 5 gal batch, this should have yielded a SG of approximately 1.050 (Assuming 1.042 for the DME). After it was in the fermenter I took a SG reading and it was 1.026! You didn't say if you did a full 5 gallon boil or if you did a partial boil and diluted it with cold water. I would gues you did the later. This happened to me once. The concentrated wort and the water didn't get mixed up well before you took your sample to read the gravity. If you had shaken it up and rechecked, I'd bet it would have been closer to what you had wanted. At any rate you will be OK, but end up with a strong beer that may be a little under hopped, but certainly drinkable.:-) Bob Morris Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 12:35:05 -0500 From: Bob McCowan <bob.mccowan at cfrp.varian.com> Subject: Cheap Hop Back I made a really simple hopback this weekend, out of components that many brewers have lying around the house. It was easy and fun. Here's how I made it: Take one of those big strainer funnels and stick a size 6 1/2 rubber stopper in the neck. Fit the 3/8 copper tubing from your CF wort chiller into the hole in the stopper; pull the stopper in tight. Check for leaks with water. Shove a stainless or copper scrub pad into the neck of the funnel above the stopper; this should prevent hops from clogging the chiller. Direct the hot wort flow into the funnel, adjusting the flow rate to keep the level in the funnel constant, slightly above the tube from the wort kettle. The wort flows through the hops, and immediately goes into the chiller, (hopefully) minimizing loss of aromatics. Simple, easy and cheap. There were no clogging problems, and adjusting the level was not a problem, since the flow through the chiller is slower than the wide-open flow out of the kettle; just adjust the kettle output valve. It's an open hopback and could be susceptible to HSA, but keeping the level above the bottom of the kettle tube should minimize HSA. Of course you need to watch it to keep the level OK. I can't say whether it makes a difference in the beer because 1) the beer I brewed won't be ready for a couple of weeks and 2) I don't have a control batch, so maybe any changes I detect will be due to something else. BTW, the funnel is also an easy way to run cleaner, sanitizer or boiling water through the chiller. Bob Return to table of contents