HOMEBREW Digest #3071 Thu 01 July 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.
				URL: http://www.oeonline.com


Contents:
  Heat exchangers (avasile)
  spelling, spelling, spelling ("David Kerr")
  RIMS Controllers (Jonathan Peakall)
  Re: Hopectomy and Witches (Matthew Arnold)
  re: tripel versus belgian golden strong ale? ("Curt Speaker")
  Automatic Mill ("Mark Vernon")
  Palmers new book (mike rose)
  oligosaccharides/thermometers ("Stephen Alexander")
  dean's cold storage ("Bayer, Mark A")
  Putting From the Rough (Eric.Fouch)
  Kudos to Schrier/DWC (Dean Fikar)
  re: Thanks to all the HBD Folks that came to KC (Mark Tumarkin)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 16:07:33 +1000 From: avasile at csc.com Subject: Heat exchangers I know most people either use a counter flow or an immersion chiller, but has anybody build a plate heat exchanger? Isn't that what the big boys use in their megabreweries? Do the volumes in home brewing make this type of chiller over kill? Enquiring minds would like to know! Yours Tony Vasile __________________________________________________ CSC Australia Cnr Nicholson & Oxley Streets, St Leonards NSW 2065 Ph: +61-2-9901-1536 Fax: +61-2-9901-1178 Email: avasile at csc.com.au Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 10:09:15 -0400 From: "David Kerr" <dkerr at semc.org> Subject: spelling, spelling, spelling Dean reported from the AHA Nationals: >Al K gave a great talk packed with brewing tips, sharing some of his >vast knowledge with the rest of us. For any of you who don't have his >book, I highly recommend it (no, Al's not paying me to say this!). BTW, >good luck with the triplets Al. Isn't the term tripel(ets)? Dave Kerr - stuffing the All Star ballot box for Nomar in Needham, MA Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 07:54:30 -0700 From: Jonathan Peakall <jpeakall at mcn.org> Subject: RIMS Controllers Howdy, I posted this question last week, and got no response. I am looking for a schematic for a RIMS controller. Does anyone even have a line on where I could look for one? I've done a lot of surfing, and only came up with one that requires a PC to program, and looks like more dog than I need. Are RIMS pass? Are there functional and or quality problems with RIMS? No-one seems to talk much about it here. Thanks, Jonathan Peakall ******************************************** "I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves." -- John Wayne ******************************************** Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 15:07:14 GMT From: marnold at ez-net.com (Matthew Arnold) Subject: Re: Hopectomy and Witches Thanks to everyone who responded about my hopectomy (accidentally snapped off the end of a bine), advising me to leave the bine because shoots would sprout to take over. They did just that and it is growing very happily. Later, I had a minor nutrition problem (easily solved) and an aphid infestation (not so easily solved, but I did it). I was thinking of planting some marigolds by the bines to discourage future aphids. I have my bines grow up a six-foot arbor then go vertically across four feet of arbor and about 15 feet of twine to the garage (I'll spare you the ASCII art). Will a couple of marigolds by the mound itself be enough to keep aphids at bay? Also, the bines are sending out some rather strong branches. Should I trim the ones that are coming out of the lowest four feet of the bine? Should I train them to grow up the twine? - ----- >How do we know it's a witch? Does it have a long nose? Will it float? Firstly, did it turn you into a newt? Did you get better? Secondly, to determine if it is a witch, see if it weighs the same a as a duck. If it does, then logically it is made out of wood and therefore a witch. Simple as that. For those of you who are painfully confused, pick up a copy of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" which will explain everything. Sort of. Ahh, Python . . . Matt - ----- Webmaster, Green Bay Rackers Homebrewers' Club http://www.rackers.org info at rackers.org Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 11:09:07 +0500 From: "Curt Speaker" <SPEAKER at SAFETY-1.SAFETY.PSU.EDU> Subject: re: tripel versus belgian golden strong ale? Roger Ayotte asks the difference between these two styles (both favorites of mine): The BJCP guidelines don't do a lot to help clarify the difference between the two, but the AHA guidelines certainly do. The major differences are that tripels tend to finish sweet and have a noticable phenolic edge to them, while belgian golden strong ales tend to finish dry and more alcoholic (the beer, not you :-) If you really want to see the difference, sit down and taste two good examples side-by-side, such as Duvel versus Westmalle tripel. I think you will find some noticable differences in these beers, especially in the finish/aftertaste. I've started to notice that the BJCP and AHA style guidelines are starting to look decidedly different, with the BJCP having shorter and more generic descriptions, while the AHA seems to provide a more detailed analysis of what the style should taste like. Wonder why they are diverging like this...after all, it's all beer! My $0.02 Curt BJCP Certified, but starting to wonder... Curt Speaker Biosafety Officer Penn State University Environmental Health and Safety speaker at ehs.psu.edu http://www.ehs.psu.edu ^...^ (O_O) =(Y)= """ Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 10:43:22 -0500 From: "Mark Vernon" <vernonm at goportable.com> Subject: Automatic Mill Alan, (and anyone else interested) I have been using an Automatic since my wife got me one for Christmas this year. I love it. Gives me a very even crush, the preset detents make it easy to set and forget the settings. I have been doing a two pass crush using the next to lowest and lowest setting. The only problem I have run into is if you overfill the hopper it seems to have a hard time feeding the grain.... Mark Vernon, MCSE,MCP+I, MCT Integrated Software Solutions VernonM at goportable.com http://www.goportable.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 09:07:59 -0700 From: mike rose <mrose at ucr.campuscw.net> Subject: Palmers new book John Palmer writes; > BUT WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?? > Is this a good witch or a bad witch? Or is it just a munchkin and not a > witch at all? > How do we know it's a witch? Does it have a long nose? Will it float? JOHN, Get that book done! You could have a beer brewing book on the Times best seller list! Mike Rose mrose at ucr.campuscw.net Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 13:06:20 -0400 From: "Stephen Alexander" <steve-alexander at worldnet.att.net> Subject: oligosaccharides/thermometers >Lager yeasts do in fact remove all the oligosaccharides The definition of oligosaccharide includes all sugar polymers with degree of polymerization(DP) 2-10. In light of this the above statement is nonsense. Brewing yeast cannot ferment the simple glucose disaccharide 'isomaltose', much less those of DP 4 through 10. 'The Yeasts, v3, chap4(Brewing yeast).pp 161: "The uptake of wort carbohydrates was studied by Phillips [...] he showed by paper chromatography that, with brewery strains of Sacch.cerevisiae and Sacch.carlburgensis, sugars were removed in the order sucrose (first) [..list..] and maltotriose (last), while maltotetraose and more complex dextrins were not attacked. Unpublished observations by the author [C.Rainbow] on commercial fermentations with top yeast confirm these conclusions." The Phillips reference is to JIB v61, pp122-126. === Thomas Murray mentioned ...Surplus Center (800) 488-3407 These guys have a lot of electric motors and sundry electrical surplus equipment, some pumps, valves, pressure release valves, fittings. Quite a bit of their catalog is hydraulics, but the rest is interesting to DIY-HBers. I recently picked up several ~5 inch stem digital thermometers -40F to +300F w/ 0.1 degree resolution. for $10 each there (#21-1228)- decent accuracy too. Happy customer, no affiliation. -S Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 10:17:04 -0700 From: "Bayer, Mark A" <Mark.Bayer at JSF.Boeing.com> Subject: dean's cold storage kullaktuv hoambrue konnshuntz_ dean wrote: >I will store my finished beer (ales and lagers) in this freezer in >hopes that i can increase the shelf life<snip> >My question is what temperature should I store the finished (always >unfiltered) beer at?<snip> I figure at cellar temperatures good things >would happen with regard to yeast activity and beer maturation, >particularly with ales. However, any staling reactions >would certainly take place at a slower pace at 32 degrees. first, i am assuming by "finished" you imply already carbonated. my opinion is that with standard gravity ales, og's less than 1.050 or so, there is a point at which the "good" yeast activity and conditioning stops and deterioration sets in. if you open a bottle that's been kept at cellar temps, and it tastes good to you, you can best preserve that moment in the beer's life by turning the temp down to 32 deg f. with lagers it's a no-brainer. michael jackson's opinion is that "no beer likes extremes of temperature". he was referring to keeping ales at very cold temps. i don't imagine a beer in his household remains unopened for more than a few days, either. very strong ales might be the ones you want to give extended storage at cellar temps, but if you only have one freezer you're probaby not going to be able to use it per the above advice unless you brew strong styles exclusively. one of the things i remember from george fix's recent bt article on cold side deterioration was that temperature was a more important consideration than the amount of air in the headspace. in fact, i think he cited some example where they took a beer with a large amount of headspace air, at very cold temperature, and it held up better than the same beer with a much smaller amount of headspace air that was kept at a higher (but not exceedingly high) temperature. the best advice for "finished" standard gravity beer is to keep it cold and drink it quick (i think dave miller wrote that). i would recommend that you try storing a particular beer at both temps and periodically evaluate it side-by-side to see for yourself what the effect is. your experience may be different than mine. brew hard, mark bayer stl mo Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 16:46:00 -0400 From: Eric.Fouch at steelcase.com Subject: Putting From the Rough HBD- Fred and I took the Bent Dick Workshop on the road for a brewing exhibition: We brewed 5 gallons of an American Wheat during our department's Golf Outing. The original plan was to strap the 10 gallon Gott on the golf cart in lieu of clubs, but due to an emergency trip to the proctologist's office (Fred STILL won't speak to me), we got a late start, and left the Gott mash tun in the back of my Rodeo. Good thing, actually, as I'm sure we would've thrown the cooler no fewer than 9 times, due to irresponsible golf cart driving behavior. I threw Fred at least 8 feet out of the cart and onto the 10th tee once. Anyway, we doughed in in the parking lot, 6# pale ale malt, 5# wheat malt, .5# carapils and .25# 80L crystal into 4 gallons of water for a mash in of about 150F. The strike water was 165F when we left the lab, and it took nearly an hour to get to the golf course. Lacking a mash mixer or my trusty RIMs, I stirred it all up with my 9 iron. Fred was ticked at me again, as I wouldn't let him stir the mash with his prosthesis. After all, it was a public place. After mashing for about 5 hours, we transported the operation to a nearby park, where we drained off the sweet wort, fired up another 5 gallons of sparge water, and collected 5 gallons of spargent. We FWH'd with .5oz of homegrown Northern Brewer, and hit it with another .5oz HGNB at 60 minutes. We boiled it down to 4 gallons with lots of interest from the joe-six packers in the department whilst handing out samples of our homebrewed beers, meads, ciders and wines. We cooled in a large garbage can filled with creek water and ice. A rehydrated 14 gram packet of Edme was pitched to the fermenter. Upon completion of fermentation, the beer will be diluted up to five gallons, racked to a corny and keg conditioned for dispensation (no Kyle, not dispensationism) at our departmental canoe outing in August. If we don't get fired for misuse of the Internet before then. Then we won't share. This way, we feel we can let our co-workers participate in the brewing and consumption of a homebrewed product, increase their interest, and get more paying tourists through the Bent Dick (ouch!) But seriously, we took no measurements other than volume estimates, no pH, no SG's or nothin. Hopefully we will show interested parties that if you can brew in a park, you can brew in a kitchen. Canoe outing beer reception information will follow in August. Eric Fouch Bent Dick YoctoBrewery Kentwood, MI P.S.- In order to protect the innocent, the persona of "Fred" in this report was actually a composite of the actions of at least three persons. Other than that, this account is almost totally factual and accurate. I just didn't want to get Jason and Todd in trouble. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 19:16:48 -0500 From: Dean Fikar <dfikar at flash.net> Subject: Kudos to Schrier/DWC Just found out that you can enter the lot # on your bag of Schrier/DWC malt and get the specific lot analysis on their website: http://www.schreiermalt.com. This is great news for all serious all-grain brewers and will make specific tailoring of mash programs much more feasible in the future. We, as homebrewers, have been asking for this for a long time and now at least one maltster has given it to us! Now I plan to use DWC malts even more in the future. Dean Fikar - Ft. Worth, TX Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 21:45:13 -0400 From: Mark Tumarkin <mark_t at ix.netcom.com> Subject: re: Thanks to all the HBD Folks that came to KC I'd like to echo some of Dean Fikar's thoughts and add a few of my own. John Weerts and the KC Bier Miesters did a fantastic job on the AHA convention, supported by the other local clubs. I'm sure it was a tremendous amount of work, I rarely saw John at the convention when he wasn't busy doing something. And that goes for Paul and Brian as well. This was my first AHA convention, so I can't compare it to previous ones, but this one was a great success. Lots and lots and lots of great beer, and great people to drink it with. It really makes you feel part of a larger homebrewing community. And the HBD people just may be among the best part of that community. I really enjoyed partying with and getting to know more of you. It is notable that this convention was basically put on by the clubs, with only a supporting role taken by the AHA staff. This is in keeping with some of the things Paul and Brian have written here in the HBD, about the increased role of the membership. I know that some of you have bad feelings about the AHA, and I'm sure you have good reasons for them, but I think that things have changed at the AHA. People like Paul, Brian, and Jethro (as well as a lot of other Board of Advisor members) are certainly folks that we can talk to and expect to be responsive to our wants. There may have been a lot of bad history, but it's time to get over it. That said, I would be interested in what the old issues were - not the Charlie makes too much money thing, but whatever other problems you saw (or see) with the AHA. But mainly with the perspective of seeing what we can do to solve things, or how we can improve them. I don't mean to sound like an apologist for the AHA, I'm not even sure what all the old issues were. But I do feel that things are changing for the better. For example, I do know that there were problems between the AHA and the BJCP. Paul and Brian are aware of this, but they are doing their best to make things better. There have been problems with getting judge points reported and recorded. The responsibility for this is shared, but Brian has said he will make it a priority and do all he can to dig up any old points records in the AHA files. One of the seminars I attended at the convention was on the work being done on new BJCP style guidelines. The style committee (including Al K) has been putting in a lot of work on this, and in fact, the new style guidelines are almost done. The new format is going to be based on the BJCP judging forms. Each style will have information on aroma, appearance, flavor, mouthfeel, etc. This will give a more complete picture and information of the styles, helping us as brewers to brew to style for competitions. And it will also provide judges a more accurate basis for evaluating beers in competitions. This will be a great improvement over the current guidlines, which are incomplete and spotty. Some styles have a lot of info, others almost none. The other point is that the AHA will be adopting these guidelines as well. This is indicative of the new (or maybe renewed) cooperation that is developing between the two organizations. Bottom line is that I feel the AHA is changing for the better, and if we help, this trend can continue and improve. I have seen comments that the AHA doesn't offer much by way of membership benefits. Well, the AHA conference and the NHC are certainly worthwhile benefits, and actually you don't even have to be a member. Anyhow, enough said - it was a great party and I'm really glad I got the chance to be part of it. Mark Tumarkin Gainesville, FL Return to table of contents
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