HOMEBREW Digest #3201 Wed 22 December 1999

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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: janitor@hbd.org
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Contents:
  Source for SS washers/Mead Digest info (jslusher)
  RIMs Solutions (Eric.Fouch)
  Anybody modify their propane burner? ("J. Doug Brown")
  Re: CO2 and Handpumps (Jeff Renner)
  I shoulda brought the damn rock with me... (Charley Burns)
  RIMS / SS Washers / Diets (Djhbrew)
  Jack Daniels locus (Jeff Renner)
  RE: grain bed temperature distribution (LaBorde, Ronald)
  RE: Oxygenator regulator (happydog)
  growler caps and gaskets ("Mark E. Perkins")
  grain bed temperature distribution ("scott")
  Cleaning? ("Steven J. Owens")
  Re: dispensing English "Real" Ales (Bret Morrow)
  Re: Gravity vs Plato (JohnT6020)
  Boiling yeast starter ("John Slavik")
  Chill Haze & FWH ("Michael Marshburn")
  Stuck Ferment (BsmntBrewr)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 07:36:56 -0500 From: jslusher <jslusher at flash.net> Subject: Source for SS washers/Mead Digest info A great source for SS items (especially hardware) is McMaster-Carr Supply Company in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Very fast service and delivery. There number is 732-329-3200 (Sales and Customer Service). Their catalog can be viewed online (you need the Adobe Acrobat Reader for this, but you can download it from their site if you don't have it). The web address is http://www.mcmaster.com Hope this helps in your quest! John A. Slusher E-mail: jslusher at flash.net Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 08:59:00 -0500 From: Eric.Fouch at steelcase.com Subject: RIMs Solutions HBD- In response to Mr. Joy T Brews publicized opinions regarding converted Sanke kegs, I would like to offer my opinions: I have successfully built to RIMs vessels, a 10 gallon based on a Gott cooler, and a 15 gallon based on a Sanke keg. The Gott cooler consists of a 1/2" CPVC slotted manifold for the liquid out from the mash. With this system, I have not had any stuck mashes, including several wit grist bills involving 40% raw wheat, and mashing in at 154F, no protein rest. I have been able to run the pump at full speed with no problems. The second system I fabricated involved obtaining a Sanke keg sold for scrap, and having an acquaintance plasma cut the top out. I then took the cut out top, about 12" in diameter, crimped some brass shim stock over the dip tube opening, and drilling as many 1/8" holes in the top as I could space at about 1/4" OC. I ran a 3/8 copper dip tube through the center of the brass shim stock, used it as a false bottom and once again, have had no stuck sparges, or collapses. Except for that one day when I took some 220 across the chest while fooling around with the heater. I got better. Point is, you CAN make a cheap, sturdy RIM system out of inexpensive, legally obtained Sanke kegs, and get it right the first time! Rewiring the garage for 220, on the other hand may better be left to the professionals. On the fad diet front, once a year I purposefully become infected with the swine flu. I get two weeks off from work, get to lay around all day, and once I have had my fill of Opra Winfrey and Bob Barker, I'm back to work, a svelte 25# lighter. Back to the pickled egg thread, I have now determined I need to make my own malt vinegar in order to keep my self in pickled eggs in the fashion to which I have become accustomed. Where can I obtain a good Vinegar Mother? Eric Fouch Bent Dick YoctoBrewery Kentwood MI "Everything that can be invented, has been invented." - CHARLES DUELL, 1899- Head of the Office of Patents Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 14:11:03 +0000 From: "J. Doug Brown" <jbrown at labyrinth.net> Subject: Anybody modify their propane burner? Hi all, I am looking to up my heat output a little on my propane burner. I have a low pressure propane burner in a star configuration with many holes in the top. I was wondering if I increased the size of the gas orafice and the holes in the burner if I could get more btu's out of the burner. Thanks Doug - -- J. Doug Brown - Fairmont, WV Sr. Software Engineer jbrown at labyrinth.net jbrown at ewa.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 08:43:35 -0500 From: Jeff Renner <nerenner at umich.edu> Subject: Re: CO2 and Handpumps czsqdt at agt.gmeds.com (Doug Cook) wrote: >Some of the solutions seem a little complicated. All I do is set the >regulator >to about 5 psi, but I keep the shutoff valve in the off position. When I want >a beer, I turn the valve on, pull a pint, then shut the valve off, and finally >vent the keg. No outside air can get in, and the only time the beer sees >"pressure" is during the pull. Your beer engine must be different from Jason's, and what I understand most are, because pressure over about 1 psi (it was hard to read the gauge that low) just pushed the beer right through the pump. You wouldn't have time to move your hand from the gas valve to the pump handle. With the pressure low enough to not push the beer, CO2 didn't flow fast enough to keep from pulling a partial vacuum, which resulted in air being sucked past the lid O-ring. Hence the complicated suggestions. 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: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 06:40:17 -0800 From: Charley Burns <cburns99 at pacbell.net> Subject: I shoulda brought the damn rock with me... I moved. I used to have the perfect brewing setup. Now I have a 5 foot by 15 foot patio which is the same size as my back yard. In fact it _is_ the back yard (and the side yard too). I moved into a condo half the size of my old home. Long story and thankfully this is temporary, at most a year. So anyway, about a year and a half ago, I started using cut down kegs for kettle and hot liquortank. I fashioned a hopback of sorts out of stainless mesh which fits down in the bottom of my kettle. I switched to all whole hops and never looked back. But, the first time I used the screen, when the boil started, the screen floated up and was completely useless in keeping the hops from plugging up the outlet valve. So I asked Dave Sapsis (hi dave, long time no see, happy holidays), who has a similar setup, how he keeps the screen in place. Rocks. Too simple. Get a couple of rocks and set them on top of thescreen says Dave, the most dangerous and pragmatic brewer I know. So I got me a nice smooth river rock, about 2 lbs, cleaned it up, boiled it and used it for the last year and a half. Well, when I moved, I said to myself, "self, why carry an extra two pounds of rock,when you can just pick one up at the new place?". So I left it.Today I inaugurated my new brewery. Man is it crowded and a pain. Found a rock but it had paint on it. Found another but it was covered with spray on stucco. Finally found a nice smooth one and decided to go ahead and boil it after cleaning. I brushed it off, stuck it in a spare kettle and left it for 45 minutes (boiled about half hour). Went to pull the hot rock out of the kettle withsome tongs and the damn rock started coming apart. I was able to scrape the rock and it would crumble. I finished the brew by jamming the chiller coil between the screen and the protruding thermocouple inside the kettle. Ended up just racking the wort into the carboy, wasn't even going to try the pump(I knew it would get plugged up). So its not a total loss. Nice Robust porter at 1.070 OG. Only time will tell if the water is any good around here. I boiled 10 gallons of it the day before trying to get the chlorine stink out of it. Gotta get a water filter soon. Moral of the story, don't leave your rocks lying around, take 'em with ya, wherever you go. Charley, brewing again, now in Fair Oaks CA, about 2500 miles west of the center of the brewin guniverse (according to JR). Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 10:37:10 EST From: Djhbrew at aol.com Subject: RIMS / SS Washers / Diets I am near the end of my design stage of my RIMS and have most of the material needed to construct it. I am always open to designs and information that would make my RIMS operate more efficient. I am very interested in any schematics that could be provide. For the SS washers try marine supply stores, Lowes Hardware, Menards Hardware or aircraft supply stores. As for diets go to a different digest this is HOMEBREWING. Thank You, Darryl Jon Hickey Miami Area Society of Homebrewers <A HREF="http://www.hbd.org/mash">Miami Homebrewers</A> Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 09:34:32 -0500 From: Jeff Renner <nerenner at umich.edu> Subject: Jack Daniels locus Spencer W Thomas <spencer at engin.umich.edu> wrote: >A long time ago, I visited the Jack Daniels distillery. The tour >guide told us that the county (Boone?) It's actually in Moore County, formerly part of Lincoln County, origin of the eponymous "Lincoln County Process" of filtering raw distillate through maple charcoal before aging (sometimes after as well), which distinguishes Tennessee whiskey (by law) from bourbon. I suggest those interested in tasting a particularly fine example of Tennessee whisk(e)y eschew the ubiquitous JD and try George Dickel No. 12. A sidelight - Bourbon County, Kentucky, used to encompass most of Kentucky. It was part of Virginia before Kentucky gained statehood in 1792, and was created in 1786 from part of Virginia's Fayette County. At about this time, whiskey from Kentucky began to be shipped downriver to St. Louis and New Orleans. It wasn't yet modern bourbon whiskey in style (aging in charred oak barrels was necessary for that, among other things), but its quality began to make it a product distinguished from other whiskies and asked for by name. Bourbon County was subsequently split into many counties and now has no (legal) distilleries. If the topic of spirits interests you, you may want to subscribe to Distilled Beverage Digest (DBD). To subscribe, send the word "subscribe", without the quotes, to dbd-request@hbd.org. Jeff PS - not often you get a chance to work "eponymous," "eschew" and "ubiquitous" all into one post. -=-=-=-=- 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: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 10:31:12 -0600 From: rlabor at lsumc.edu (LaBorde, Ronald) Subject: RE: grain bed temperature distribution From: "Timmons, Frank" <Frank.Timmons at AlliedSignal.com> >...I was shocked at the temperature differentials in the >grain bed, which were up to 14 degrees F (142 -156 F, with the HLT temp >170F), depending on where I was around the bed, even when just recirculating >with no heat addition... This is what I have suspected all along. I think that circulating could cause channeling quite easily. >...1) Is this a big problem, or do the various >enzyme reactions all "even out" to make everything ok?... You said your beer was good, so this is not a big problem for you, but a problem still. It would pay off to continue refining your system. I know I am still in there trying. >...2) Should I try to >stir the grain bed while running the pump and adding heat to even things >out... Well, I have just one data point. I tried an experiment last week. I used a 1/2 inch ID copper wand with a flattened end at 90 degrees as the wort delivery device into the mash. I placed it into the mash resting at the bottom on the mash screen. I could easily move it around and I did, I used it to stir, and it also caused a lot of mash motion because of the jet action at the flattened output end. At first, the circulation was great, the jet really shooting out the end. After I started stirring and after a few minutes, the circulation slowed to a near standstill. So I stopped the pump, stirred up with my spoon, then started the pump again at a lesser circulation rate. This went along well, the temperature was even throughout the mash, and I got an unexpectedly high efficiency. I used 13.5 pounds of malt for a final boil down OG of 1074. Much higher than I normally get. I plan to go to a rectangular cooler with slotted pipe mash system, which I hope will give me a high flow rate without grain bed compaction. I am still testing the wand idea, but it shows promise. Ron Ronald La Borde - Metairie, Louisiana - rlabor at lsumc.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 16:49:02 GMT From: happydog at nations.net Subject: RE: Oxygenator regulator >Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1999 12:09:51 -0500 >From: "Mr. Joy Hansen" <joytbrew at patriot.net> >Subject: Oxygenator regulator >One is a concentrator <snip> >The other supply is a small portable oxygen breather tank. Each has a >regulator and three hours of oxygen exhausted at 3 liters/minute. Seems >like it would be sufficient for a life time of home brewing? Leasing these >refillable tanks with regulator from a medical supply house like "Roberts" >might be a practical solution for some. The only problem with this is that both require a prescription from an MD in every state that I have ever worked in as an ICU RN. (Calf. MO. & SC) and I am 99% sure that holds true in all states. Wil Kolb RN Happy Dog Brewing Supplies Mt Pleasant SC wil at maltydog.com happydog at nations.net Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 11:57:36 -0500 From: "Mark E. Perkins" <perkinsm at bway.net> Subject: growler caps and gaskets Does anyone have a source for replacement caps and gaskets (esp. gaskets) for 1/2 gal. growlers? TIA, Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 09:51:18 -0800 From: "scott" <Cuckold at cornerpub.com> Subject: grain bed temperature distribution Frank, I have just finished my first season with the EXACT same system you describe. I have found that occasional stirring is adequate to help with temperature stabilization. I ran across this when in spring, I was brewing and found my mash temperature dropping.. At the same time, I was recirculating, thinking I was heating up the mash contents. In reality, I was heating the mash. However, with a little stirring, the hotter liquid found the temperature probe, and the thermometer stabilized where I thought it should be. So, I am fairly vigilant about stirring. I also went to 10 gallon batches. Since I have a sankey keg for a tun, it just works better. Even in cold weather, if I have a lid, the temperature, once warm, holds forever at that temp. I also use that bubble reflective insulation on the sides. Sounds like you do like me and just point the previously heated wort inlet tubing into the tun. I reposition it frequently (probably just anal about it). My thinking is if I don't, will suffer more temperature disparity in the mash. I follow this with a good stir (making sure not to upset the grainbed). A couple things others have done to minimize temperature disparity: 1. Something to spread the returning liquid over a larger area of mash. Copper manifold and pie pan are some examples. 2. electric motor driven stirrer for the mash. Good luck. Scott Richland, Wa. Greetings! I have a mashing question for the group. I do (mostly) single and multi-step infusion mashes with a HERMS system of my own design, in which I pump liquid wort from the bottom of the grain bed, through a copper coil that is immersed in the HLT to heat it up. The return is 3/8" vinyl tubing, set just below the top of the grain. I have been using it for two years now and am happy with it, and think I brew some pretty good beer. I have been struggling with temperature control of the grain bed for some time, however. The control is manual. I monitor the temperature with a fixed dial thermometer set at the middle of the bed, and I use ball valves to control flow through the coil. This past weekend, while brewing a 10 gallon batch, I used a digital thermometer (correctly calibrated) I borrowed from work to try to get better data to work with. I was shocked at the temperature differentials in the grain bed, which were up to 14 degrees F (142 -156 F, with the HLT temp 170F), depending on where I was around the bed, even when just recirculating with no heat addition (I allowed 10 minutes of this to allow the temps to stabilize). I have two questions: 1) Is this a big problem, or do the various enzyme reactions all "even out" to make everything ok? 2) Should I try to stir the grain bed while running the pump and adding heat to even things out, even though this seems to me to be extra work that I would like to avoid? Not having to mess with stirring was a big reason for building the recirc system. I am going to make a better distribution header/nozzle thing for the wort return, figuring that will help, but any other advice is appreciated. Frank Timmons James River Homebrewers Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 10:24:33 -0800 (PST) From: "Steven J. Owens" <puff at netcom.com> Subject: Cleaning? Folks, Thanks to the many people who sent me advice on "Scaling up"; if anybody wants a summary of the responses, drop me a line. In some followup conversations, I realized that a big part of my concern is ease of cleaning. Some of those setups, with the huge pots and the screens in the bottoms of the pots, do *not* look easy to clean. I have a tough enough time cleaning my relatively small pot today. The first big win is going to 5 gallon cornelius kegs instead of bottles (though I still want to bottle on occasion). The kegs are bit unwieldly, but a lot simpler and faster to clean. A friend suggested building my larger brewing setup inside, effectively, a big shower stall, so I could hose it down. Does anybody have any tips on making the cleaning easier? Steven J. Owens Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 13:37:39 -0400 From: Bret Morrow <bret.morrow at yale.edu> Subject: Re: dispensing English "Real" Ales Greetings, All the talk about low pressure dispensing of "real" ales seems to focus on relatively high tech solutions to recreate very old technology. There is, I believe, a much simpler solution. The late, great Dave Line suggested putting the finished beer, along with priming sugar and some hops, if you like, in a 5 gall. collapsible plastic "carboy"--similar to the kind the Boy Scouts carry water in (see your camping supply store). The carboy is placed in a cool (English cellar temp) place like the coal scuttle under the stairs but close to the telly (at least at Dave Line's house). You would have to keep an eye on the carboy and drink some as it swells up (what a shame!). The goal is to drink it at the same rate that the priming sugar ferments. The real shame is that you really couldn't drink it too fast or you will end up with really flat beer (even for an Englishman). One draw back for many here, is that it does not take several hundreds of dollars, 30 or 40 hours of engineering, and 200+ hours of construction. Sorry. But if you really wanted to you could probably get some oil and make the plastic yourself! Keeping it simple, Bret Morrow, Hamden, CT Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 16:00:41 EST From: JohnT6020 at aol.com Subject: Re: Gravity vs Plato Flossmoor IL 99-12-21 at 1138 CST Fellow Brewers: AJ included his system of calculating brewing efficiency in today's post. It seems to me we should have some sort of "standard method" that we all use but this is not always easily discernible from a brewer's post. Maltsters usually give an extract percentage based on some combination of coarse and fine grind lab yield . . . or give both FG and CG and let you figure it out. Most [?] of us use gravity in our calculations. I have a table to convert Plato to gravity but would like to have a formula. Do you have one handy or a reference? IMHO we should give our efficiencies in terms of potential yield rather than gross grist weight. 73, JET Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 15:06:05 -0800 From: "John Slavik" <brewer1 at airmail.net> Subject: Boiling yeast starter Thank you for all the replies I received concerning boiling my yeast starter, in a "Pyrex" Erlenmeyer flask, on my electric range. I also gave an incorrect link to my SC-RIMS Homebrewery in Digest #3200. The link should be http://web2.airmail.net/brewer1/ . John Slavik DeSoto, TX Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 16:57:19 -0500 From: "Michael Marshburn" <mike48 at rcn.com> Subject: Chill Haze & FWH Greeting All I have been following the first wort hopping discussion with a lot of interest, I tried it on an ESB made about a month ago. I also used the Czech Moravian malts from St Pats and a single 151F mash for 75 mins. The beer turned out great, but has a chill haze that none of my other beers using the same mash schedule has had. Recipe 5lbs pilsner 4lbs vienna 1lb caravienne 10L 1.5oz Liberty 3.2AA FWH removed before boiling 1oz EK Golding 5.2AA 60 mins .5oz EK Goldings 30 mins .5 EK Goldings dry hop Wyeast 1007 from .5gal starter. 75 mins 151F, boiling water to 168F, recirc to clear, drain tun, add 3.5 gal 170F stir well, rest 15 mins recirc to clear, drain tun. FWH in the boil vessel when wort covered the bottom, wort kept 160-70F with heat when needed, sparge about 60 mins. 5 gal of large hop flavor, lingering, but not excessive bitterness overall good beer into the keg. OG1.054 FG 1.012. The question I have is about the chill haze. Could the FWH hops be the culprit or the mash schedule? I was given to understand the malts were modern highly modified and I did a iodine check and got no reaction. The beer is very good and I don't mind the haze, but I would like to refine my technique for cosmetics or maybe there is something missing. Thanks Mike M Virginia Beach, Va Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 23:23:03 EST From: BsmntBrewr at aol.com Subject: Stuck Ferment Brewers, Had my first stuck fermentation. Used Danstar Windsor. Recipe was for an all grain, single infusion Rock Creek Black Raven Porter clone. (specs on Black Raven http://hbd.org/starcity/descriptions.html#e) After two weeks at just over 1020 I decided to pitch a rehydrated packet of Pasteur Champagne yeast. After just about ten minutes the airlock had bubbles every few seconds. I figured I had just disturbed the CO2 in solution and it was working its way out. After about two hours I'm getting bubbles in the airlock every seven seconds. I had hoped for some activity but did not expect this much this soon from a single packet of rehydrated yeast. Is this a common occurrence? Am I actually seeing renewed fermentation or is there another explanation? Bob Bratcher Roanoke, VA Star City Brewers Guild http://hbd.org/starcity http://members.aol.com/bsmntbrewr Return to table of contents
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