HOMEBREW Digest #3025 Sat 08 May 1999

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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: janitor@hbd.org
		Many thanks to the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers of 
		Livonia, Michigan for sponsoring the Homebrew Digest.
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Contents:
  Re: Lifting converted-keg kettles (ROATTW)" <ROATTW at UCMAIL.UC.EDU>
  Re: Listermann (ROATTW)" <ROATTW at UCMAIL.UC.EDU>
  cleaning grain-based charcoal from stainless ("Marc Sedam")
  Enzyme Kinetics (Matt Brooks)
  Re: Flux Removal ("John Palmer")
  Praag and  Vienna ("Braam Greyling")
  Re: Lifting converted-keg kettles ("Drew Avis")
  Fermenter lid (Dave Burley)
  centrifuging yeast starters (Adam Holmes)
  Autolysis (Jason.Gorman)
  Procedure Question (Loren Crow)
  Lifting 10 gallons (Nathan Kanous)
  spud caca (Cory Chadwell Page Navigation)
  Re: Clear Weizen (mark)
  Re: Lifting converted-keg kettles (Rod Prather)
  Beer & Sweat August 14th 1999 ("Robert Pinkerton")
  Vanilla! (Bill_Rehm)
  No boil capping (kathy/jim)
  1999 Buzz Off ("Houseman, David L")
  converting a keg to a boiling pot (JPullum127)
  Re: cleaning sanke kegs? (Jeff Renner)
  Hello again, decoction results, lager steps and IBU's ("Paul  Smith")
  Phosphate precipitation, beijo (Dave Burley)
  Seed Barley and malting (Dave Burley)
  Re:  1st Allgrain ("Poirier, Bob")
  "Pivo" is Slavic for "Beer" ("Alan McKay")
  Malting 101 (Dan Listermann)
  MCAB Prizes ("Rob Moline")

Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy! 2000 MCAB Qualifiers: Spirit of Free Beer! Competition 5/22/99 (http://burp.org/SoFB99); Oregon Homebrew Festival 5/22/99 (http://www.mtsw.com/hotv/fest.html); Buzz-Off! Competition 6/26/99 (http://www.voicenet.com/~rpmattie/buzzoff) Send articles for __publication_only__ to post@hbd.org If your e-mail account is being deleted, please unsubscribe first!! To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE send an e-mail message with the word "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to request@hbd.org. **SUBSCRIBE AND UNSUBSCRIBE REQUESTS MUST BE SENT FROM THE E-MAIL ACCOUNT YOU WISH TO HAVE SUBSCRIBED OR UNSUBSCRIBED!!!** IF YOU HAVE SPAM-PROOFED your e-mail address, the autoresponder and the SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE commands will fail! Contact brewery at hbd.org for information regarding the "Cat's Meow" Back issues are available via: HTML from... http://hbd.org Anonymous ftp from... ftp://hbd.org/pub/hbd/digests ftp://ftp.stanford.edu/pub/clubs/homebrew/beer AFS users can find it under... /afs/ir.stanford.edu/ftp/pub/clubs/homebrew/beer COPYRIGHT for the Digest as a collection is currently held by hbd.org (Pat Babcock and Karl Lutzen). Digests in their entirity CANNOT be reprinted/reproduced without this entire header section unless EXPRESS written permission has been obtained from hbd.org. Digests CANNOT be reprinted or reproduced in any format for redistribution unless said redistribution is at absolutely NO COST to the consumer. COPYRIGHT for individual posts within each Digest is held by the author. Articles cannot be extracted from the Digest and reprinted/reproduced without the EXPRESS written permission of the author. The author and HBD must be attributed as author and source in any such reprint/reproduction. (Note: QUOTING of items originally appearing in the Digest in a subsequent Digest is exempt from the above. Home brew clubs NOT associated with organizations having a commercial interest in beer or brewing may republish articles in their newsletters and/or websites provided that the author and HBD are attributed. ASKING first is still a great courtesy...) JANITORS on duty: Pat Babcock and Karl Lutzen (janitor@hbd.org)
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 11:12:15 -0400 From: "Roat, Todd (ROATTW)" <ROATTW at UCMAIL.UC.EDU> Subject: Re: Lifting converted-keg kettles Although I did so myself 2 weeks ago with my first all-grain batch in my new converted keg, lifting the kettle is very dangerous - on many levels (injured back, 3rd degree burns). Just dont do it. I solved my problem by constructing a wooden stand out of 2x4s that was 36"Hx36"Wx24"D. This stand is large enough that I can put my burner, kettle and propane tank on it and have it three feet off the ground. I just use a small step ladder to climb up next to it and stir, etc. This height gives me enough gravity/height to just open the ballcock valve on the kettle to send it to a CF wort chiller then into the primary. Bottom line is that you need to brew higher, the stand just has to be strong. Some folks are lucky enough to have an outdoor deck with some height, but in my garage I had no other option but to build a 3 ft stand for the setup. Hope that helps. Todd Todd W. Roat Clinical Trials Coordinator EMCREG Coordinator Department of Emergency Medicine 231 Bethesda Avenue Cincinnati, Ohio 45267-0769 (P)513-558-5216 (F)513-558-5791 <mailto:emcreg at uc.edu> emcreg at uc.edu todd.roat at uc.edu <mailto:todd.roat at uc.edu> Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 11:16:15 -0400 From: "Roat, Todd (ROATTW)" <ROATTW at UCMAIL.UC.EDU> Subject: Re: Listermann www.listermann.com <http://www.listermann.com> 513.731.1130 Todd W. Roat Clinical Trials Coordinator EMCREG Coordinator Department of Emergency Medicine 231 Bethesda Avenue Cincinnati, Ohio 45267-0769 (P)513-558-5216 (F)513-558-5791 <mailto:emcreg at uc.edu> emcreg at uc.edu todd.roat at uc.edu <mailto:todd.roat at uc.edu> Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 11:17:24 -0400 From: "Marc Sedam" <marc_sedam at unc.edu> Subject: cleaning grain-based charcoal from stainless I'm naming products in this post, so please insert blanket disclaimer here... A few months back I had a brewing calamity. I was mashing a 10 gallon batch in my mash/lauter keg (fitted with an Easymasher) and started a temperature rise. I use direct fire because...well, because I like it. Anyhoo, I got a phone call during the "direct fire" portion of the day and forgot to turn off the burner. Sure enough, the grain at the bottom of the keg had converted to its base elements (note sarcasm, not scientific statement) and my mash had a smoky flavor that even a boiler room attendant would find unpleasant. I spent hours scrubbing, rinsing, treating, etc. I used PBW, 3% hot caustic, soap and water, elbow grease, a copper scrubby, and finally Brillo. Eventually all traces of the black solids disappeared from the bottom of the keg. Topped it all off with a dilute phosphoric acid rinse to passivate the surface. I decided to buy a stainless mash screen to install in the bottom of the keg to prevent this scorching again. When I took the keg out of hiding two weeks later to install the mash screen, I noticed that the bottom of the keg (the area I'd been concentrating on) had been discolored. It wasn't rust, per se, but it wasn't the color of good stainless either. Later on I read that you should never use steel wool pads to clean stainless because bits of steel can get embedded in the surface and rust. (Why do these bits of knowledge always come immediately AFTER you screw up??) I don't know if this is what happened, but I also don't know what chemical entity is currently at the bottom of my keg either. Does anyone have a theory? Better yet, is there any way to treat the surface and return it to near-pristine condition? I can get the necessary treatment chemicals, I just need to know what they are. Marc Sedam Brouwerij Zuytdam Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 06 May 1999 11:23:04 -0400 From: Matt Brooks <mabrooks at erols.com> Subject: Enzyme Kinetics An excellent post recently by S. Alexander on enzyme kinetics and mash thickness..... A couple of questions though... >Water is required for enzymatic hydrolysis to occur. Water is just as >necessary for alpha-amylase to act as is starch, and in fact the >relationship between the concentrations of starch and enzyme vs measured >(not specific) activity follow the same kinetic rules as do the relationship >between the presence of free water molecules and activity. It's referred to >as the Michaelis-Menton equations. If water concentrations are too low, >the rate of hydrolysis drops off. The measured activity drops. Most enzymes >are more stable when water is absent, but they are of course inactive >without water. >For a given temperature, often, as Dave suggests, increasing thickness >gives more final product (for example a thick 60C mash will allow more of the >protease activity, a thick 70C mash will allow for more beta-amylase formed >maltose than a thin one), but the M-M relationship would indicate that >this won't continue at progressively thicker mashes. My understanding of the Michaelis-Menten (M-M) equation is that it represents a continuum for defining enzyme catalyzed reactions. If an experiment was started with a large amount of substrate (i.e. starch), with no new substrate added with time, the reaction would initially be a zero-order, as there would be excess food and the reaction rate would be limited by the amount and ability of the enzymes. As food became used up, the reaction would begin to become substrate-limited, and a fractional-order reaction would emerge. When the food level becomes quite low, the rate of finding the substrate would become controlling and first-order kinetics would result. Could the kinetics of this enzyme-substrate complex be improved by the addition of a mixer (or mash recirculation), as this would impart energy to the system and provide a means for the enzymes and substrate to come into contact more frequently (i.e. more collisions), especially as the system proceeds toward the first-order kinetics (i.e. when the substrate is severely depleted)? Would the addition of a mixer (or recirculation) also aid in getting water molecules in contact with the enzyme-substrate complex thus allowing for unimpeded hydrolysis (assuming water was acting as a limiting factor) of the starch complexes in thicker mashes? It seems that in a static mash bed the reaction of the enzyme with the substrate would not occur as quickly (efficiently?) as in a mixed or recirculated mash? Any thoughts on this? Matt B. Northern VA. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 08:26:21 -0700 From: "John Palmer" <jjpalmer at gte.net> Subject: Re: Flux Removal Tim asks how to remove excess flux from his new RIMSystem. Well, I assume you are using the paste type of flux. Removing that type is indeed a pain. The liquid type rinses away easily. I would recommend using an industrial solvent like acetone if you have it available, but since most people don't, I think the next best thing is a hot solution of PBW (from Five Star). Hot caustic would be the knee-jerk solution to break up the petroleum based paste, but hot caustic would be murder on your copper tubing. Therefore, a hot solution of PBW should work to break up and dissolve the excess flux without harming your copper. Probably should test it on a spare piece first. Good Luck, John Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 17:23:54 +200 From: "Braam Greyling" <braam.greyling at azona.com> Subject: Praag and Vienna Hi all, Within a week or two I am travelling abroad to Prague in Czech republic and Vienna in Austria. Can anyone recommend any good beer places in and around these cities? For sure Ill go to the Pilsner Urquell brewery in Plzen. Maybe Dr.Pivo can help, if he is not too angry with me :-) JOKE. Any places inbetween will be good also. What breweries or beer-houses are a MUST-SEE ? If there is any homebrewers around there, let me know and I'll visit. Regards Braam Greyling Snr. Design Engineer Azona(Pty)Ltd tel +27 12 6641910 fax +27 12 6641393 Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 06 May 1999 08:56:30 PDT From: "Drew Avis" <andrew_avis at hotmail.com> Subject: Re: Lifting converted-keg kettles Don Lake asked about lifting 11 gals of near boiling wort. I tried this a few times with my brewing buddy, equipped with 2 pairs of oven mitts. My advice: don't do it. Oven mitts are good insulators, but they're not real grippy. And the handles on an SS keg are pretty slippery to begin with. I switched to an immersion chiller, chilled before lifting, and things have been a lot safer around the brewhouse. Drew "Narrowly missing 3rd degree burns" Avis - -- Drew Avis, Calgary, Alberta Download HopCalc, the free IBU calculator: http://fast.to/strangebrew ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 12:07:41 -0400 From: Dave Burley <Dave_Burley at compuserve.com> Subject: Fermenter lid Brewsters: Jon Sandlin plans on using his boiler as a fermenter and asks for ideas on how to seal the lid on and provide gas relief. He anticipates drilling two holes. Why not just cover the top with a plastic ( polyethylene not one with plasticizers) sheet which is held down by daisy chained rubber bands. This provides a good seal and the gas can leak out, even though the plastic is puffed up. No holes required. I have successfully used this method for decades on a plastic 6+ gallon garbage can with no contamination. Cover the beer with an opaque covering to prevent light from spoiling the beer. Keep on Brewin' Dave Burley Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 10:47:35 -0600 (MDT) From: Adam Holmes <aaholmes at lamar.ColoState.EDU> Subject: centrifuging yeast starters Does anyone out there have any experience in centrifuging your yeast starters? I would like to spin down the yeast and decant the spent wort. I work in a lab and can use a clinical centrifuge or an ultracentrifuge (both with "swinging-bucket type" rotors). The rotors will hold six 50ml polyethylene tubes. So, it will take some time to spin down 2.5 liters of starter (spin,decant,refill,repeat). I wondered what speeds/times people had tried. How did it affect your finished beer? I am doing this just to try something new. It seems like a lot of effort to do this for every batch but will be fun to try. Thanks Adam Holmes Colorado State Univ. Cell and Molecular Biology Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 13:20:00 -0400 From: Jason.Gorman at steelcase.com Subject: Autolysis All this talk about autolysis has sure made me thirsty. I now want to autolize a beer. What yeasts are known to create an autolysis problems fast? Seriously, I want to do it. Jason Gorman-I sit at a desk next to Eric, by a window, but not near Todd or Kyle. Riverdog Brewery Grand Rapids MI Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 13:38:33 -0500 From: lorencrow at earthling.net (Loren Crow) Subject: Procedure Question Yesterday I brewed for the first time a 10-gallon batch of English mild ale. Normally I do 5-gallon batches, but had two carboys available so I decided I'd give it a try. I pitched the yeast straight into the cooled wort in the boiling pot before siphoning and then aerated well. Then I whirlpooled for about 6 minutes and let the wort stand for about an hour, and siphoned into the two carboys. Well, here's the strange thing. The airlock on the carboy I filled second was bubbling happily last night, but the second one still hadn't started by this morning. Does anyone have any ideas about why this might be? Thanks! Loren Crow ================================================================== # Loren D. Crow, Ph.D. ++ Office Phone: (903) 927-3219 # # Department of Religion ++ Fax: (903) 938-8100 # # Wiley College ++ # # 711 Wiley Avenue ++ Email: lorencrow at earthling.net # # Marshall, TX 75670 ++ http://www.texramp.net/~lorencrow # ================================================================== "If hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue, virtue has never received so much tribute as during this World War." -Ernst Troeltsch in 1916 Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 06 May 1999 14:46:00 -0500 From: Nathan Kanous <nlkanous at pharmacy.wisc.edu> Subject: Lifting 10 gallons Don asks about lifting 10 gallons of boiled wort. I brew in the garage and I use an eye screw in a rafter to attach a "winch" (it's one of those ratchet / come-along / winch things) to. One of those ratchet winches....kind of like a block and tackle thing but a ratchet....I don't remember what it's called, but I can show you exactly where they are at the local home improvement mega store. Anyhow, I mount the eye screw in a rafter, attach the ratchet / winch thing to it and I used a gas pipe with hooks to hook into the handles of the keg with an eye bolt in the middle of the gas pipe to attach to the hook on the ratchet / winch cable. Then, when I'm done boiling, I can just ratchet that sucker into the air and run through the CF chiller. I hope this helps and somebody please tell me what the name of that ratchet / winch / come-along thing is. nathan in madison, wi PS you can buy that thing right next to the electric winches you attach to your car at the local home improvement mega store Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 06 May 99 16:58:34 -0500 From: Cory Chadwell Page Navigation <chadwell at ssd.fsi.com> Subject: spud caca Hello all, In preparation for a Nut Brown I'm planning on brewing I decided to clean out my grain and hop supplies by brewing an experimentation beer, so that I wouldn't feel guilty ordering fresh ingredients for my Nut Brown. I decided to brew a potato beer loosely following the guidelines in the potato beer article at www.brewery.org I prepared the spuds by cleaning and slicing them fairly thin ( a few mm per slice. Next, I brought my brew water to boil in the garage, about 30 min before it was ready I brought to boil about 8# spuds and 1# 2row inside on the kitchen stove. When the boil water was ready outside I used it and the boiled spuds to dough in my grain to 155 def F. I let the mash rest for 90 min and then raised temp for mashout and sparged for well over and hour. After 1 week in the primary, 2 days in the secondary kegging and force carbonating the beer is ready. It has quite a bit of starch haze that I'm hoping will clear with time. The flavor is very nice. I was wondering is this the same procedure you would use for rice or polenta? Also my spuds basically turned to mashed potatoes in the mash causing a very slow sparge. Is this expected when brewing with adjucts like rice and corn or is this specific to using the spuds. I'd advise everyone to try this brew. The potato soup smell that this created during the mash was just heaven, and with a few friends to help I don't think the starch haze will pose any long term storage problems, It just won't be around that long. :) THX, Cory - -- - -------------------------------------------------------------------- Cory D. Chadwell FlightSafety International Design Engineer 2700 N. Hemlock Circle Navigation / Visual Broken Arrow, Oklahoma 74012 /| chadwell at ssd.fsi.com /c| - 9186919796 at mobile.att.net (text paging 150 characters) / | /| - ------------------------------------------------------ <-----s--- FSI \ | \| SSD \c| - \| Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 07 May 1999 12:13:01 +0200 From: mark <shrike.cars at accesinternet.com> Subject: Re: Clear Weizen Peter, Not only is pouring the yeast into the glass from the bottle give it a good taste, it also is considered obligatory in Bavaria (if you don't your considered unknowledgable, at least with my Bavarian friends). This is considered to be part of the whole "experience" of drinking a weisse bier. Usually the definition of a "Weizen" is the type of wheat beer that is from around Berlin, it is filtered clear and heavily carbonated. Wiesse Bier (helles und dunkles) is what you get in the south of Germany (in and around Bavaria). Now, I know that this will cause a stir on the HBD (and I will have 20 people tell me that I am wrong) but hey... It's what I have seen in Germany while living there. (currently living in France, land of not-a-decently-hopped-beer-in-sight, with the possible exception of the Ninkasi Ale House in Lyon. Their English Ale is nicely hopped when compared to Feldschlosschen, but not when compared to the versions one gets in most US Brewpubs. However, when one goes to England and tries anything remotely like a decent English Bitters or IPA... then you realize how wrong SOME of the Americans are when it comes to that type/style of beer). If you don't mind my asking, where abouts in Germany did you live? Prost! Mark mark at awfulquiet.com PS: Homebrewing is illegal in France... HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't stand that..... <gnashing of the teeth> >Fred L. Johnson wrote about his clear homebrewed Weizenbier in HBD >3022-12 http://www.hbd.org/hbd/archive/3022.html#3022-12 . >It is a common misconception that Hefe Weizenbier *must* be cloudy to be >true to style. I lived in Germany for about 2 years and consumed many >different commercial Weizenbiers, some brewed in the very town where I >lived, others brewed elsewhere in Germany. All bottled versions were >clear if poured carefully from the bottle into the glass; in other >words, there is no evident protein haze or yeast haze. However, it is >common practice to pour a bottle of Weizenbier into the glass with great >flourish so that the yeast at the bottom is suspended, giving the beer a >very evident yeast haze. >Cheers! >Peter A. Ensminger >Syracuse, NY >P.S. Fred - I really love Weizenbier ... can I stop by for one next time >I'm in Apex, North Carolina? Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 07 May 1999 06:25:12 -0500 From: Rod Prather <rodpr at iquest.net> Subject: Re: Lifting converted-keg kettles In an issue of safety I felt this important. Tried to mail but got bounced. How to safely lift 11 gallons of boiling water to transfer it from one bucket ot another? Use a pump. http://www.movingbrews.com/ Sorry, I don't really think there is a safe way other than this. Anything else requires suspension from some type of chain or lifting mechanism and eventually something will fail or someone will make a mistake. Death by scalding is an painful price for making beer. A lobster should be so lucky. - -- So you wanna make beer, Visit me at http://fast.to/beer Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 08:23:51 -0400 From: "Robert Pinkerton" <robertp at cinti.net> Subject: Beer & Sweat August 14th 1999 BEER & SWEAT is the largest ALL KEG homebrew COMPETITION that we know of. Beer & Sweat is hosted each year by the Bloatarian Brewing League of Cincinnati, OH and will be held this year at the Howard Johnson in Springdale, OH. Call 513-825-3129 for reservations and mention Beer & Sweat. The event is held outside (the judging is inside with air conditioning) under a huge tent and all participants get to sample the beers on hand. We also have live entertainment and an extremely good time. Since the event is held under a huge tent it is a great time RAIN or SHINE. Event Details: Where: Howard Johnson Springdale, OH 513-825-3129 for reservations When: Saturday August 14th 1999 Noon-???? Entry Deadline: August 7th 1999 Entry Fees: $8.00 First $4.00 each additional Est. # of Entries: 100 Organizer: Robert Pinkerton robertp at cinti.net Web Page: Includes online entry, judge and volunteer forms. www.hbd.org/bloat Sanctioned: BJCP style guides used and registered with the BJCP Since Beer & Sweat is keg only, entry forms and fees must be received by the deadline but kegs should be delivered to the competition site the day of the competition. Kegs must arrive between Noon and 2p.m. to be included in the judging. Hope to see you there. Robert Pinkerton Competition Organizer Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 07:33:06 -0600 From: Bill_Rehm at DeluxeData.com Subject: Vanilla! My wife and I are interested in making a Maple Vanilla Porter, we have a great Maple Porter recipe but are not sure about the vanilla. Assuming a 5 gal. batch how much vanilla bean (I don't want to use extract) should be used and when should it be added. TIA Bill Rehm The Weil Street Brewery Oostburg, Wisconsin Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 07 May 1999 08:24:17 -0400 From: kathy/jim <kbooth at scnc.waverly.k12.mi.us> Subject: No boil capping Based on the concept that "it gotta be clean before it is sanitized", I rinse the dust off my bottle caps in potable water and then put them in 160F water for a few minutes before removal, shaking off excess water and capping. Boiling the caps is a no-no since the plastic capliners distorted and caused me to toss a batch. It sounds like a variety of practices are practically acceptable, but it is so simple to do, why not? FWIW, my bottles are rinsed after use and drained and stored. At bottling, I start with a bleach water soak (gotta wet them in something), push in a bottle brush and spin the bottle (just in case of a neck ring), then jet spray rinse (I don't trust the dishwasher to spray thru the neck to the height of the bottle) and put into the dishwasher to drain and for a sanitizing cycle (no soap). When stored in a dark, cool basement, my beers stay drinkable for a couple of years (wheat beers excepted). I like to brew a wide variety of beer (30+ some beer styles plus meads and ciders to date) to always have a bunch of choices. Also, putting together an assorted 6 pak to travel with is possible only with bottles. cheers, jim booth, lansing, mi Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 09:28:50 -0400 From: "Houseman, David L" <David.Houseman at unisys.com> Subject: 1999 Buzz Off 1999 BUZZ OFF Competition The 6th annual BUZZ OFF is scheduled for June 26th and June 27th, 1999 at Iron Hill Brewery in West Chester, PA. The BUZZ OFF will again serve as the mid-Atlantic region Qualifying Event for the Masters Championship of Amateur Brewing (MCAB). Winners in 18 subcategories will qualify to enter in the MCAB national championship round in early 2000. See the MCAB website for more details. The BUZZ OFF is also the home of the Pennsylvania Club Challenge and the final leg of the Delaware Valley Homebrew of the Year competition. The Iron Hill Brewery is in Downtown West Chester, a nice little town to walk around in with several excellent restaurants. Of course we expect to have activities that will include the other breweries in the area such as Victory. Entries (three bottles) are due at Beer Unlimited, Rts 30&401, Malvern, PA 19355 by June 19th. The fee is $5 per entry. One entry per sub-category. Beer must be brewed by the entrant(s) in their homes; no beers brewed on commercial premises. Questions about entries should be addressed to Mike Cleveland at Beer Unlimited (610) 889-0905. We're looking for judges and stewards. Judging is to start at 9am on both Saturday and Sunday; participants should be present hour early. If you are interested in judging or stewarding, please contact Bob Thomas (rwthomas at chesco.com) at (610) 647-6567. Additional questions can be directed to the Competition Organizer of the Buzz Off, Chuck Hanning (hanning at voicenet.com) at (610) 889-0396. Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 09:54:20 EDT From: JPullum127 at aol.com Subject: converting a keg to a boiling pot my brother recently bought(legally!) me a keg from a brewery that is structurally sound but has a damaged valve and will not hold pressure. i would like to cut off the top and use it for a boiler. i have a friend who teaches welding at a community college and has access to a plasma cutter. does anyone have a faq or specific info on the best way to do this and type of drain valve, strainer device, ect i should use? thanks i tried using the hbd archives but it doesn't seem to like keg conversion or any other phrase i came up with Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 09:55:55 -0400 From: Jeff Renner <nerenner at umich.edu> Subject: Re: cleaning sanke kegs? "Sandlin, Jonathan Mark - BUS" <SANJM304 at bus.orst.edu> of Corvallis, OR asks: >I am curious about how commercial breweries clean their sanke kegs after >use. Is there a similar way that I can clean mine at home? Obviously there >is no way to "scrub" the insides. Thank you for your help! I've been kegging in Sankeys nearly 20 years. You can scrub the insides with a bent carboy brush, but I don't get that much gunk in mine except when I ferment in them. Commercial breweries clean with hot caustic right through the valve with a fitting that is much the same as a tap. I think that someone sells a homebrewers version, but removing the valve is simple, and it lets you see inside. First, *release all pressure* by pressing down on the ball valve or you'll get your teeth full of a heavy valve and draw tube assembly when you release it. Hold a rag over it or you will get a face full of stale beer. Then, using a small screwdriver, pry out the flat retaining ring. Next, using the jaws of a pair of pliers as a tool, turn the valve to the left maybe 30 degrees, and lift it out. It takes less time to do it than to describe it. Soak the inside with bleach water for a few hours and boil the valve/drawtube to sanitize it. Rinse, fill with beer, reverse the above steps, The hard part is re-installing the flat retaining ring. You have to press down to compress th O-ring (which is under the valve). To do this, I put a plumbing part called a reducing coupler (I think 3/4" to 1/2")) on top of the valve, hook a board under the lip of the keg top, across the coupler as a fulcrum, and sit on the other end. Then I force the ring into its slot by twisting a wide screwdriver blade in the gap against the coupler until it's home. It takes me about 30 seconds. I keg about half of my beers in these, the rest in 5 gallon Cornelius (soda) canisters, which have the advantage of being easier to fill and seal, using cheaper taps, and taking up less room in the fridge. Of course, they hold less. Good luck. Jeff -=-=-=-=- Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, c/o nerenner at umich.edu "One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943. Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 10:14:47 -0500 From: "Paul Smith" <smith at admin.uwex.edu> Subject: Hello again, decoction results, lager steps and IBU's Hi All - it's been some time. I wanted to thank the many who graciously contributed their thoughts back on the "decoction" thread of this winter. I wanted to report on the results of my experiments. To recap: I wanted to try two things: (a) compare decoction v. single infusion v. use of high-melanoidin malts for achieving the characteristic "German" maltiness, e.g., Ayinger and others, of dunkels and bocks. Fix, Narziss and others didn't see too much of a benefit with decoction, while others are devoted to the method; (b) I wanted to try out the "twin saccharification" stop as described by Darryl Richman and others, where a stop in both the beta and alpha range are employed, utilizing decoction. My mash schedule was as follows: Mash in at 1.25 qt/lbs at 140; rest for 30; decoct 1/3 to 158; rest for 20; bring to boil and boil for 30; return to mash to bring mash to 158; rest to conversion (about 20); decoct 1/3 runoff to boil, boil for 20 minutes; return to mash for mashout. Mashout for 15. My concern was that by the time I finished the initial decoct, the main mash would be sitting at 140 for well over an hour - leading to an insipid, overly attenuative beer. This was the consensus of the opinion. My results were: OG: 14 FG: 4 The beer had a nice mouthfeel, and the flavor was reminiscent of the commercial examples , although not exactly where I want it yet. My homespun theory tells me that one of two things is happening: beta-amylase begins chewing on "ends," but will eventually need alpha-amylase to liberate chains before it can continue to any appreciable extent. Thus, with a 30 minute beta rest, some fermentability is achieved, and the balance of conversion is achieved with dextrin liberation. One flavor complaint: With this particular dunkel, and with any beer I have made since then with a significant amount of munich (e.g, >30%), there is a bit of a "nut" bite that is not as smooth-malty as I would hope for. Using a single infusion and a specialty malt (e.g., melanoidin or aromatic) to get some melanoidin in the mash seems to mitigate against the nuttiness whenever I have used a lot of munich. Anyone else with this impression? BTW, I use DWC for all pilsner, munich, and cara-malts. ******* Troy wonders about lager starters. I use the same method for all my (10) gallon batches: 1C-1QT-1G step, at room temp; allow the yeast to completely flocculate, rack off the (now, beer) then add 1 pint at the beginning of the brew day. By pitching time, it is going nuts. Using this method has resulted in consistently satisfactory FG's. Previously, in my ignorance, I used to rack off the starter when the yeast was still at high-krausen, effectively tossing the best yeast and pitching on top of the wimpy critters. My FG's were always pretty high - 4.5-5. Thanks to George DePiro, somewhere in one of his contributions to BT. For lagers, if you pitch at room and maintain a fermentation temp immediately, this would result in cold shock. I have chosen to pitch at room, and keep the lager reefer at 60 until the first signs of fermentation are underway; then I bring it down to 54 in one fell swoop. This seems ok. The heat of fermentation slows the rate of drop to a manageable level, I think, so fermentation proceeds normally; I have not noticed any off-effects (unless this is what I am tasting when I say there is a bit of nuttiness, above). I know many will say it is impossible to avoid ester production using this method, but it seems to work for me. *************************** Finally, Jeff Woods wonders about "Sister Star of the Sun" IPA. I can tell Jeff that I brewed this about a year ago, and it was absolutely tremendous. My calculations showed the IBU's to be about 113! But, in all fairness, this was my first all grain batch, and not knowing my system efficiency my OG exceeded the target (OG 18.5) by far. My FG was also really high - 6 balling, so there was a great deal of sweetness to balance the admittedly whopping IBU. Try it and see! One suggestion: if my memory serves me correctly, the brewer called for a 90 minute boil. Stick to that. My experience with high alpha varieties with a strong ( or strong and unpleasant) nose is that a 90 minute boil completely vaporizes unpleasant effects. Chinook and Nugget are two that have stood out as resinous, and in my view demand a long boil (Galena is my usual bittering of choice for all British and American styles). Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 11:35:53 -0400 From: Dave Burley <Dave_Burley at compuserve.com> Subject: Phosphate precipitation, beijo Brewsters: Why is anyone talking about hydroxyapatite? Matt Brooks accuses me of discussing this. I never mentioned the word. It has little relevance in brewing as far as I know. The main reaction in brewing is due to the fact that calcium phosphate is incredibly insoluble. Much more so than either calcium sulfate or calcium carbonate. It is so insoluble at brewing pHs that the calcium salts added can be treated as an acid source due to the release of protons from the partially protonated phosphates when calcium phosphate precipitates. The acid generated by this reaction is buffered by the bicarbonate reaction which is many orders of magnitude different from the solubility constant of calcium phosphate. Calcium phosphate precipitation is the dominant driving force in wort pH. - --------------------------------- Thanks for the information on the word for "beer" in Russian and Polish. I love linguistic things. In China ( where I've spent more time than in Eastern Europe - where "bier" is well understood), the word for beer is "beezho" in most of China I visited and "beezhwer" in the Beijing area dialect. Bayzhing is the new name for what used to be called Peiping, and Peking, depending on the politically correct linguistic era and who was in control politically at the time. The northern Mandarin has a lot of ZH sounds in it and perhaps the rise of Chinese domination in the north ( Mao and his gangs) versus earlier British domination in the south ( where the Chinese symbol for Beijung would likely be pronounced without the zh sound in the Shanghai or Hong Kong dialects ) prompted this change in the accepted pronunciation in Western translations. Keep on Brewin' Dave Burley Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 12:00:24 -0400 From: Dave Burley <Dave_Burley at compuserve.com> Subject: Seed Barley and malting Brewsters: Dick Dunn is contemplating using seed barley for his maltings. Unless Dick can confirm that these seeds have been untreated with fungicides and the like I would not do it. Seed barley is most often treated to prevent fungal destruciton of the newly sprouted seedling ( damping off) and the like. Better use feed grade for practice and to wait until your barley is grown and harvested if you aren't sure. Most home malting fails because 1) the seeds are drowned by soaking without allowing a time to breathe, Give them an hour break to get oxygenated when you change the water every few (12) hours. Steep to a constant weight ( see below). 2) the seedlings are not allowed to breathe oxygen and die of carbon dioxide poisoning. Turn the bed every 4 hours or so and keep it shallow ( 6 inches). 3) most of all, the malted grains are not dried properly before they are kilned. So, advice is to stir the grain often, but gently, keep it cool ( 50s) and oxygenated during the steeping and germination and dry it to a constant moisture content for about 3 or more days at below 80F before kilning to constant moisture at 120F or so. A trick I use to evaluate moisture content is to make a small bag of cheesecloth with some grain in it. Weighing this bag daily to constant weight will provide you an idea of when the malt is dry enough to kiln. You can also do this to check when moisture uptake is constant during the steep. I also use this same trick with hops. Keep on Brewin' Dave Burley Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 11:53:31 -0500 From: "Poirier, Bob" <Bob_Poirier at adc.com> Subject: Re: 1st Allgrain Greetings! I posted this question a few months ago, but never got any responses. Scott, I notice that you've got a site gauge installed on your kettle: Should there be any concern that the wort that fills the site gauge is never boiled along with the main volume of the wort?? TIA! Brew On & Prosit!! Bob P. East Haven, CT bob_poirier at adc.com Home of the B.I.G. (Beer Is Good!) Homebrew Club Life on Earth is expensive, but it comes with a free trip 'round the sun!! Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 07 May 1999 12:59:12 -0400 From: "Alan McKay" <amckay at nortelnetworks.com> Subject: "Pivo" is Slavic for "Beer" Yes, Pivo is Russian. Yes, it's Polish. Yes, it's Ukrainian. Yes, it's Czech. Yes, it's Slovak. I don't know for sure, but I'm also willing to bet it's Serbo-Croatian, Bjelorussian, and a few others to boot. Many of the Slavic languages have quite a considerable number of common words between them. cheers, -Alan who-used-to-major-in-slavic-studies McKay - -- Alan McKay OS Support amckay at nortelnetworks.com Small Site Integration 613-765-6843 (ESN 395) Nortel Networks http://zftzb00d/alanmckay/ Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 13:08:15 -0400 From: Dan Listermann <72723.1707 at compuserve.com> Subject: Malting 101 Dick Dunn (rcd at raven.talisman.com)asks about home malting, a subject near and dear to my heart. I try to malt once a year, although I have yet to do it this year, but there is still time. The seeds need to pass through a dormant peroid after harvest. I would wait at least six weeks. Do a germination test to see if at least 95% sprout. Lay out 100 corns between paper towels and keep damp. After four or five days count the ones that did not sprout. I malt about 25 lbs of seed per batch using a ten gallon Gott cooler, a Phil's Phalse bottom, my shop's air compresser, a 2'x4' screen box and two box fans. First I clean the seed by rinsing with water. Connect the Phalse bottom in the cooler just like you would for mashing. Pour the seed in and attach the output of the bottom to a water faucet. Let the water percolate up through the seed and run over the top of the cooler stirring occasionally until the water runs clear and the floating stuff is gone. I drain it and connect the Phalse bottom to the shop air adjusted to a very low flow and refill the cooler. The seed seeps for two days. I change the water once. I am told that instead of using compressed air, you can just seep for 16 hours, drain and expose to air for 8 hours and repeat. After seeping I pour the seed onto the screen box in a pile and insert a thermometer into it. In 24 to 48 hours the thermometer will start to rise. Then spread the pile to about 3" deep. You don't want the temperature of the seeds to be much higher ( say 5 degrees) than the room temperature. If it gets too high, thin the pile. The seeds will "chit," that is start to sprout rootlets. They will need to be turned at least once a day or the rootlets will entangle and you will have to deal with a brick of malt. After 4 or 5 days the acrospire ( shoot) will be about 3/4 along the length of the corn and the rootlets will be about 1.5'" long. ( use a razor to slit the corn to check the acrospire) I haven't worked out a proper kilning method yet so I make "wind malt," that is air dried malt. I put the screen box on two box fans and block in the sides with cardboard. The fans are set to draw air down through the grain. After three or four days the corns dry so that they are crisp to chew on. I have also experimented with placing a milkhouse heater under the screen box and partially inclosing the top of the box. I could get 130 F that way. I remove the rootlets, called clums, by tumbling in a clothes dryer. I use a leg from a pair of jeans as a bag to hold about ten pounds at a time. Tie it shut more than once. After 45 minutes the rootlets will seperate with the screen box. A bit of advice. Wait until "She Who Must be Obeyed" is absent to perform this operation. I have made crystal malt using a microwave oven. Put the undried ( green malt ) in a mason jar with a saucer on top and microwave for 30 minutes at the lowest setting. It makes really cool huge crystals! The last batch yielded 27 points per pound per gallon. Not bad for heimgemacht! Dan Listermann dan at listermann.com 72723.1706 at compuserve.com Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 12:17:47 -0500 From: "Rob Moline" <brewer at isunet.net> Subject: MCAB Prizes MCAB Prizes >From: cburns at jps.net (Charley Burns) >Subject: MCAB Prizes > >Any winners receive any yeast or malt yet? I got hops, but nothing else. Charley, I can't comment on the other prizes, but as for the Lallemand yeast prizes, you should be receiving them shortly. The simple fact of the matter is Lallemand offered a brick of 500 gms per winner, for a total of 54 prizes. These would have been shipped within a week of the conclusion of the event, but for the requests of many of the winners that they be allowed to choose from varieties of yeast in 5gm sachets, further that they be allowed to receive 4 varieties, 25 sachets each, for a total of 100 sachets. This presented a slight dilemna for the shipping department at Lallemand, for not all the winners wanted a selction.....indeed the winners requsts varied from 500 gm bricks to a 50/50 blend of 2, to a 33/33/33 blend of 3, and on...........and further compounding this was the fact that not all the winners had yet to state their preferences, nor their shipping addresses. This was attempted to be handled in a bulk post sent by Louis Bonham to all the winners, stating that we at Lallemand hoped that the winners would respond with the relevant info by April 15th, so that a conclusion could be achieved. Yet as late as the 26th of April, a request was received, this apparently due to the fact that the winner is using an e-mail address at a former room-mates address. So, please be patient, I am sure that if you have made your desires known by now, you will be soon receiving your Lallemand prize. If you have any further questions, please contact me directly, and I will handle your needs in the most efficient and expeditious manner that I can. Lallemand is proud of it's association with the MCAB in it's inaugural year, and we look forward to many years of continuing this relationship. I know that the organizers learned many lessons from this first effort that will aid them in future competitions, and I can assure you that we at Lallemand have too. The delivery of prizes is one such lesson. Cheers! Jethro Gump Rob Moline brewer at isunet.net Lallemand Web Site jethro at isunet.net "The More I Know About Beer, The More I Realize I Need To Know More About Beer!" Return to table of contents
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