HOMEBREW Digest #3283 Mon 27 March 2000

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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:
  <blush>Oops!</blush> (The Home Brew Digest Janitorial Staff)
  Milwaukee pubs (hal)
  Reducing Carbonation in Bottled Brews ("Bill Bunning")
  All Head, No Body ("Jimmy Hughes")
  Re: Cavity Search (DrPerp)
  Brass Bulkhead Fittings (Rick Lassabe)
  re: AC motor speed control / CAP/ (*) (Paul Edwards)
  Re: Long Boils (Epic8383)
  Fred's Soil (Jonathan Peakall)
  Davison Color Guides (Drew Beechum)
  Mr. Beer (ALABREW)
  honey (ALABREW)
  Assessing weight (Elizabeth Blades)
  Dr Pivo strikes (AlannnnT)
  AC motor (R.)" <rhampo at ford.com>
  Multiple HBD's?? (Joe Kish)

* Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy! * Entries for the 18th Annual HOPS competition are due 3/24-4/2/00 * See http://www.netaxs.com/~shady/hops/ for more information * 18th Annual Oregon Homebrew Festival - entry deadline May 15th * More info at: http://www.hotv.org/fest2000 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 FROM THE E-MAIL ACCOUNT YOU WISH TO HAVE SUBSCRIBED OR UNSUBSCRIBED!!!** IF YOU HAVE SPAM-PROOFED your e-mail address, you cannot subscribe to the digest as we canoot reach you. We will not correct your address for the automation - that's your job. The HBD is a copyrighted document. The compilation is copyright HBD.ORG. Individual postings are copyright by their authors. ASK before reproducing and you'll rarely have trouble. Digest content cannot be reproduced by any means for sale or profit. More information is available by sending the word "info" to req at hbd.org. JANITORS on duty: Pat Babcock and Karl Lutzen (janitor@hbd.org)
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 20:53:45 -0500 (EST) From: The Home Brew Digest Janitorial Staff <janitor@ brew.oeonline.com> Subject: <blush>Oops!</blush> Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to your lager... My apologies to all who received multiple copies of #3282. Meant to shut off the Sunday Digest last week, and did something, well, "quite different [tm]" instead. And, being at the 2nd annual MCAB (to all who have added their faces to the names there: it was great to meet y'all!) instead of at my post, I didn't notice until it executed - and _I_ had multiple copies in my box. <sigh> To any who are scratching their head wondering what I'm talking about because they didn't get ANY digest for Sunday. March 26, send your email address to pbabcock at hbd.org and I'll be sure to send you a copy. Brewfully yours, The Home Brew Digest Janitorial Staff Janitor at hbd.org Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 07:27:34 -0600 From: hal <hwarrick at springnet1.com> Subject: Milwaukee pubs ?????? I'm visiting the Milwaukee area in another month and will be at the Hyatt regency. Give me some info on any good pubs within walking distance. Everyone else thats going wants to shop. ya right, fat chance..Help Hal Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 08:00:25 -0600 From: "Bill Bunning" <bunz at pcola.gulf.net> Subject: Reducing Carbonation in Bottled Brews I have some 2 year old Barley Wine remaining that is a bit overcarbonated. The whole batch was a bit overcarbonated but I just said "Oh well" and drank it. I was wondering if I could pop the top to relieve some of the pressure and then recap. Will it affect the beer much? I figure the headspace would be fine since it would be filling up with carbon dioxide. The beer taste great but I'd kind of like to get rid of the excessive carbonation. Bill Bunning Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 08:20:50 -0500 From: "Jimmy Hughes" <inspector at bmd.clis.com> Subject: All Head, No Body I have opened about 10 bottles of a new batch and have had 3 of them be all head when poured. I poured them like all the others but had a glass full of foam with about 1/2" of beer in the bottom. When opened the was not excessive "whoosh" or any foaming in the bottle. Any suggestions? Happy trails to you, 'til we meet again.............. Check out the free items, go to, http://www.ncinspections.com scroll down, click on the free after rebate link........ Save money, enjoy........ Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 09:35:48 EST From: DrPerp at aol.com Subject: Re: Cavity Search In a message dated 3/26/00 7:15:15 AM Eastern Standard Time, homebrew-request@hbd.org writes: << From: "Doug Otto" <beerguy at hopdog.com> Subject: Cavity Search Greeting Brewing Collective According the to this mornings local newspaper, the city of Sacramento is planning on adding fluoride to our water. I live in the burbs so I'm in a different water district, but I figure it can't be far away. Apparently this move is supposed to help those who can't afford toothpaste or some other nonsense. What, if any, impact would this have on my brews? I currently filter my brewing water (0.5 micron) and use a full boil. >> It's hard to believe the a city the size and culture of Sacramento hasn't been fluorinated before. Most major cities were fluorinated in the '50s. Luckily, unlike Chlorine, flouride is odorless and tasteless in the 1ppm addition recommended by the ADA that most cities employ. As a dentist who's been in practice for over 30 yrs., I can attest to the dramatic improvement in dental health with the practice of fluoridation in the water. Kids these days just don't have cavities. I know because I've had to modify my type practice over the years due directly to this. As a homebrewer, I believe there are no problems with flouride in our brewing water. Since flouride is in the same chemical group as Chloride, it's probably filtered out by the carbon filter I use to de-chlorinate my water anyway. In my opinion, the benefits of flouride far outway any negligible effects in our beers. Michael Perpall, D.M.D. Atlanta, Ga. Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 09:04:27 -0600 From: Rick Lassabe <bayrat at worldnet.att.net> Subject: Brass Bulkhead Fittings In digest #3282, Dan Senne ask about brass bulkhead fittings. I have used what is called a "fibered shower ell", most good plumbing supply stores carry them. This is a 90 degree brass fitting that has 1 inch threads on the outside and 1/2 inch pipe threads on the inside with 1/2 inch pipe threads on the opposite end of the 90 and is used mostly for installing the shower head in fiberglass showers. Get the one that is made in the USA, it is one inch in diameter on the outside threads and the threads are fine, the foreign one I saw had a larger diameter and the threads looked to be standard pipe threads on the outside. Once you have the fitting in your hand you will see that there are a number of possibilities, i.e.. leave as is and use for installing site glass, cut off the bulkhead part and use to install valves or thermometers. You will need a gasket for the outside, the gasket that came with the ones I purchased just wasn't made to handle the heat of a boiling pot. I used a small piece of automotive gasket material. You will also need to de-lead the surface, (one part white distilled vinegar and two parts hydrogen peroxide, until buttery color). When using this as a bulkhead fitting you can only see the brass nuts and a small amount of the fitting itself. Not stainless but at less than $10.00 I personally can stand to see a little brass on my brew pots. Rick Lassabe Bayrat's "Bayou Degradable Brewery" Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 10:50:06 -0500 From: Paul Edwards <pedwards at iquest.net> Subject: re: AC motor speed control / CAP/ (*) Eric wrote: "Pat, what you need is a simple potentiometer, or pot for short. It is a variable resistor that you can simply put into the circuit with the motor, in series from the AC power source. You can find one at any electronics supply store. Just put the pot inline on one side of your ac power source. Make sure you get a pot that is rated for the voltage and the amperage of the motor that you are using. A potentiometer can generate quite a bit of heat, since it is a resistor on an AC circuit. One of the guys at an electronics supply store should not have any problem helping you pick out one that is heavy duty enough. I would stay away from the pulley idea however,, to much work, and not very adjustable." Sorry, but not only is this wrong, but it may be dangerous. Generally speaking DC motors are resistive loads (as are incandescent light bulbs and soldering irons). But AC motors are inductive loads. AC motor speed controllers can be purchased or if you understand the use of TRIAC's and SCR's, you might be able to build one. Circuit designs for AC motor speed controllers can be found in some electronic do it yourself books, like the Radio Amateur's Handbook. The synchronous (sometimes called field) speed of an AC induction motor is proportional to the line frequency [F] (in the US, 60 Hz) and inversly proportional to the number of poles per phase [P] (in US households the AC is single phase) RPM = (120 * F)/P Now, in order for a motor to deliver torque, the rotor must be moving slower than magentic field in the stator. The difference between the synchronous speed and the measured rotor speed is called "slip". So a typical 4 pole motor will have a synchronous speed of 1800 RPM and typically a rotor speed around 1740 RPM. A6 pole motor will have a synchronous speed of 1200 RPM and a typical rotor speed of 1125-1140 RPM. A triac motor speed controller works not by cutting the applied voltage (as a ptentiometer would) but by controlling the duty cycle of the AC wave that gets applied to the motor, in effect, lowering the frequency. But be careful. Many motors have built in colling fans and need to run at full rated speed to avoid overheating. BTW, most variable speed electric drills that run on household current are in fact DC motors. A diode is used to half-wave rectify the AC into DC, and then a simple rheostat in the trigger controls the motor speed. To keep this beer-related, we just tapped our latest CAP yesterday and it was mahvelous. 75 percent 2-row barley and 25 percent flaked maize. Hopped to around an estimated 35 BU's with Tettnang. ps - I think Kurt Vonnegut first used (*) or it's non-ASCII equivalent in "Breakfast of Champions". Sorry, Doc. - --Paul Edwards Foam Blowers of Indiana (FBI) "We tap kegs, not phones" Indianapolis, Indiana (a little south and west of 0,0,0 Rennerian) Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 11:32:59 EST From: Epic8383 at aol.com Subject: Re: Long Boils Hi All, In Analysis..., G & L Fix write that long boils can result in undesirable heterocyclic compounds giving the finished beer vegetal malt tones, etc. (pg. 52). How then do producers of barleywine and other high gravity beers get away with a long boil? I read somewhere that Bass boils their barleywine wort for 12 hrs.!! I understand that many high gravity beers are parti-gyled and will be trying that technique myself, but many brewers will sparge and boil the whole deal to make the strong beer, apparently with no concern for the off flavors it may produce. Thanks in advance, Gus Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 08:57:24 -0800 From: Jonathan Peakall <jpeakall at mcn.org> Subject: Fred's Soil Fred is looking for a soil expurt, which I am not. However, I'm at least close to an organic gardening expurt, with 300+ different species/varities in my landscape. So here is my unasked for $.02: (look out, hot-button topic addressed here) Do you use chemical fertilizers? Especially in a clay soil, that is asking for trouble. Not only will salts build up more quickly then most soil types because of the poor drainage qualities of clay soil, but chem. fertilizers don't feed the micro-organisms so essential for healthy soil. My old microbiology professor (incredible woman!) also teaches an organic gardening class. It has always been her statement that only in rare cases is a soil analysis really necessary. The main thing is to keep a lot of decomposing organic material in the soil. This allows drainage, provides nutrients, and encourages the bio-diversity required to keep healthy soil. This concurs with my experience, as being a renter I have set up many gardens in many types of soil (right now I garden in a Pygmy soil area, if any of you are familiar with that bizzare/uncommon soil type), and I have had success in all of them. Fred, you say yer soil is clay? Do you annually mulch around your hops with some type of well composted organic material? For example, I take horse manure and some household compost, mix it together, allow it to finish composting, and then use this to top dress all my plants, potted, in the ground, wherever. In your case, this constant addition of material will work it's way into the soil, increasing the humus content etc. I would also use some organic trace element additive, such as maxi-crop, which is made from kelp and contains almost all trace elements needed. And for some totally unasked for advice on hop cultivation: In spring, mulch heavily around the base of the plant with compost, keeping the compost a few inches away from the plant itself. I know some people that put a small barrier around the base of plants to prevent contact. In a few weeks, put a water retentive type mulch around the base. When the plant starts putting out new vines, cut back all but 3-5 of the best looking shoots. Allow the vines to establish themselves, and then fertilize with a foliar feeder. I use a manure/compost tea that I make. Renew the compost (not mulch) around the plant a couple of times a season. One can also use a multipurpose organic fertilizer. Use the foliar tea as often as you like. A few weeks before the vine buds, just as you see the change from vegetative growth to flowering growth occur, add bone meal or phosphorus bat guano to the base of the plant. Scratch up soil around base, and work in. This addition will encourage the plant to bud instead of grow. It is important to add your phosphorus addition as soon as soon as you see the transition from vegetative to bud growth, as all organic fertilizers take a while to break down and become available to the plant. Especially with a long term plant like hops, the addition of organic material is crucial. Soil compaction, salt build up, and lack of micro-biological activity will inevitably cause problems if chemical fertilizers are relied on. Often, problems that seem related to a trace element/nutrient deficiency are not because of the lack of these things, but rather plant's inability to take them up and/or utilize due to poor root growth or other conditions caused by poor soil management. A home test for humus in soil is to take a sample, weigh it, then burn it in an oven or fireplace in a tin can, and re-weigh it. As I write this I remember that I lent my reference book to someone, and hence don't have the figures handy as to what one is looking for. If anyone is interested, I'd be happy to find out and post. Jonathan Peakall Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 10:41:32 -0800 (PST) From: Drew Beechum <Drew.Beechum at disney.com> Subject: Davison Color Guides Someone was recently asking about the Davison Color Guide and where to find it now that they're out of production. The Home Beer, Wine, Cheesemaking shop carries them (I think they have 2 or 3 left) I saw them there yesterday. Check out http://www.homebeerwinechee.com for contact info. - -- Drew Beechum Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 13:38:29 -0600 From: ALABREW <alabrew at mindspring.com> Subject: Mr. Beer Bob Bratcher asks, I've had a "Mr. Beer" brewer in Canada ask me for info on who sells or ships to Canada Mr. Beer supplies. I haven't stumbled across anyone who does. Can the forrum here offer any help? I would encourage him to leave the Mr. Beer ingredients and step up to the five gallon sized homebrew kits. There would be more kits available to him and they would be easier to get. Depending on his fermenter size, he could use only part of the canned extract (storing the other half in the fridge for the next batch) with unhopped extract to make a all malt beer. He could also make his own recipes with unhopped extract, hops, and specialty grains (see our web site under "Brewing Tips" for instructions). I would hope that he would see a improvement in the beer he was making. Kim - -- Kim and Sun Ae Thomson ALABREW Homebrewing Supplies http://www.mindspring.com/~alabrew mailto:alabrew at mindspring.com Birmingham, AL Home Beer and Wine Making Specialists Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 13:43:58 -0600 From: ALABREW <alabrew at mindspring.com> Subject: honey Kelly asks, Can someone tell me how many pounds of honey a quart jar holds? Kelly, I have always used: 1 gallon = 12 lb., so 1 quart = 3 lb. Kim - -- Kim and Sun Ae Thomson ALABREW Homebrewing Supplies http://www.mindspring.com/~alabrew mailto:alabrew at mindspring.com Birmingham, AL Home Beer and Wine Making Specialists Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 23:06:27 +0100 From: numberone at freedombird.net (Elizabeth Blades) Subject: Assessing weight In hbd#3282 (which I got 10 copies of :-)) Kelly wrote:- "This is a little off topic, but, I'm about to make a mead. A friend that raises bee's has given me quite a bit of honey. The honey is in quart jars. Can someone tell me how many pounds of honey a quart jar holds? Most of my recipes call for x number of punds of honey, and I don't know how many pounds are in a quart jar...." Easy to work out assuming the jars are all the same size,empty one and rinse it,keeping the honey of course. Weigh the empty jar, weigh a full jar and subtract one from the other. HTH Liz - -- "Some people say that cats are sneaky, evil, and cruel. True, and they have many other fine qualities as well." --Missy Dizick Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 21:21:03 EST From: AlannnnT at aol.com Subject: Dr Pivo strikes I Dr. Pivo writes, > > P.S. Steve is a "nerd", Alan is a "whimp", George is a "dolt"; and Dave > is a "narcissistic personality disorder". ;-) (I think a "smiley" means > you "take it all back", but I don't want folks thinking I'm going "soft"). > No, Doctor,, the smiley face thing means that you are talking out your butt crack. Alan Talman Now you can call me a name. Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 21:41:31 -0500 From: "Hampo, Richard (R.)" <rhampo at ford.com> Subject: AC motor Patrick, The answer to your question about speed control of an AC motor is - "it depends" ;-) If it is an induction motor, then there is no way to change the speed significantly without changing the frequency (which is 60 hz from the power grid). This can be done with an "inverter" (which is what I do for a living) but this is way beyond what you would probably want to do. If it is a "universal" motor then the speed can be varied by changing the voltage. A rheostat is probably not beefy enough but if you can find a surplus "variac" you might be able to get it to work. Personally, I would go for the pulleys (or just chuck a portable drill onto the mill and be done with it!) Best Regards, Richard J. Hampo Ecostar Electric Drive Systems Technical Specialist Rm. 1023, Ecostar Building Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 20:01:10 -0800 From: Joe Kish <JJKISH at worldnet.att.net> Subject: Multiple HBD's?? What has happened to HBD? I just received 18 copies of #3282, sent one minute apart. Is this an experiment in Spam? Joe Kish Return to table of contents
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