HOMEBREW Digest #3515 Thu 28 December 2000

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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  Fridge in cold garage (fridgeguy)
  Best Beginners Kits (nap_aca_bh)
  0,0 Rennerian defined (Jeff Renner)
  Mash Stirring using a Rotisserie Motor? ("Branam, Mike")
  Darcy's Law ("Jim Bermingham")
  re: liquid malt extract density (Jim Wilson)
  Kettle drains and pellet hops ("Glen Pannicke")
  Re:  Kettle Drain with Pellet hops ("Scott")
  Iron Precipitatin', Cold WX Brewing, That (Un)Certain Something,  Let's (mohrstrom)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 07:51:36 -0500 From: fridgeguy at voyager.net Subject: Fridge in cold garage Greetings folks, In HBD #3514, Steve Hill asked how to determine if is too cold to run a fridge in his unheated garage. This question is best answered by looking at the relationship between the temperature inside and outside the fridge. It is ok to run a fridge as long as the temperature inside the cabinet is lower than or equal to the temperature outside the cabinet. This remains true until the ambient temperature drops below freezing. It will necessary to warm the compressor if you need to run the fridge in colder ambient temperatures or if the desired temperature inside the cabinet is higher than ambient (by more than a few degrees). Compressor crankcase heaters are available for this purpose but there are any number of small heat sources that will work and would be cheaper to buy. A small light bulb, water pipe heat tape, etc. would work. Hope this helps! - ---------------------------------------- Forrest Duddles - FridgeGuy in Kalamazoo fridgeguy at voyager.net Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 08:19:23 -0500 From: nap_aca_bh <nap_aca_bh at nwoca.org> Subject: Best Beginners Kits My nephew was home from university over the holidays, and naturally we enjoyed a few homebrews (he's officially 21, BTW). I mentioned that the and his apartment mates should try a batch of their own. What would be the group's suggestions for best beginners kits that include both equipment and ingredients? I really want to them to have as successful a first batch as possible. Thanks, Bob Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 09:59:59 -0500 From: Jeff Renner <nerenner at umich.edu> Subject: 0,0 Rennerian defined Brewers We just got back from visiting our kids in California for the holidays and are trying to get used to more than a foot of snow and cold temperatures (-10F [-24C] tonight). I haven't caught up on back HBDs yet, but thought I'd get this information out. Santa brought me a toy for Christmas - a GPS receiver. So now we can accurately define the center of the brewing universe. 0,0 Rennerian is: N 42^17'46.9" W 83^49'34.5" This is subject to minor revisions as our two story house with snow on the roof makes it difficult to get a strong signal inside at the computer desk, and it's too cold and snowy to go out. I did have fun playing with it in sunny California, though, at the temporarily relocated 0,0 Rennerian N 36^18'31.6", W 119^47'31.7", my son's house in Lemoore, CA, and on the flight back. To make this brewing related, I drank some beer during the holidays, some nice Gordon Biersch Export and others. Happy Holidays to all HBDers. For those of you in Oz and other warmer climes who are lacking the snow necessary for a traditional northern hemisphere mood, I have large quantities available at only $1.00/lb. FOB Ann Arbor plus shipping and handling, insulated packing and dry ice extra. 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: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 10:20:20 -0500 From: "Branam, Mike" <Mike.Branam at BellSouth.COM> Subject: Mash Stirring using a Rotisserie Motor? I have been working on a design to create an automatic wort stirring device. I have come up with several ideas one was to use a gear motor from Grainger, second to use an ice cream motor, and last to use the motor off my Rotisserie. The motor turns slow about 2 to 3 RPM and has a lot of torque. It also has a long square shaft that I could mount some kind of paddle. I would like to incorporate this device with a coiled heat exchanger that could have hot water from the HLT pumped through it when the Temp controller saw a drop in temp. The stirring device would move the mash around and distribute the heat more evenly. Do any if you have any ideas in the Rotisserie Motor? Do you think that is will work? Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 09:52:55 -0600 From: "Jim Bermingham" <bermingham at antennaproducts.com> Subject: Darcy's Law I received my lab coat as a Christmas present so I can come out of the closet and get involved with the scientific post. Now Paul, I want to start applying Darcy's Law to the flow from my lauter system but need an answer to the following before I proceed with the experiment. If I don't achieve the calculated flow rate will I be arrested by Darcy for violating her Law? Is this Law on the books in all states, or is it ok if I violate it at home and don't inhale, or tell anyone? If I do violate it, and Darcy does arrest me, is the violation punishable by being forced to join a circle jerk? Note: Now if Darcy is good looking and has something to do with head, I can see where dh = change in head, and dl = change in length, but how can you measure v? Wouldn't the specific discharge depend upon the individual? I'm beginning to like this scientific stuff. I'm off to play "what if" with Darcy and the girls. Jim Bermingham JackAss Brewery "Where Science gets Down to Business" Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 09:07:55 -0800 From: Jim Wilson <jim.wilson at home.net> Subject: re: liquid malt extract density Thanks to everyone who replied. The simple answer is 3 pounds/quart. If your curiosity is satisfied, page down. If you want to do a Fineman and learn the details, forge on. If I don't have them quite right, I'm sure corrections will rain down. 80 Brix is a common LME density, Alexander's is 80 Brix for instance <http://californiaconcentrate.com/maltmug.htm>, but I've read that LME is commercially produced in the range of 70-80 Brix. Brix ,Balling and Plato are units expressing the per cent sugar dissolved in water and are equivalent for our purposes. Manning's BT article <http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue1.3/manning.html> gives several formula for converting deg Plato to SG. SG=259/(259-deg P) is simple and accurate enough for me. For example, 80 Brix is 3.02 pounds/quart. AJ discussed a third order polynomial converting P to SG in HBD 3145 (Oct 15, 1999), but I can't read it. Darned e-mail clients should learn to talk to one another better. Luckily, I think this one is overkill for home brewing. o \o __o /\ / `\ <> `\ `> `\ > (*)/ (*) (*)/ (*) (*)/ (*) I ride my bicycle to ride my bicycle. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 12:04:07 -0500 From: "Glen Pannicke" <glen at pannicke.net> Subject: Kettle drains and pellet hops Kevin P. asked about using kettle drains and pellet hops: My biggest pet peeve in brewing is hop pellet "spooge" in my fermenter. That's why I prefer plugs and cones. I've added a ball valve to my kettle with a brass tee on the inside. 2 soft copper pickup tubes extend to the sides of the kettle to draw wort nearest to the wall. It works pretty well if you whirlpool the wort after cooling and you have a moderate amount of hop particulates. If you have a very heavy amount like I had last night (bag of pellets broke) then there's no saving you - even with a screen. I did however, try one of those herb steeping balls (screen type). The 3" diameter only allows you to put about 1 oz of pellets, no more. If you try 2 oz of pellets they will swell to the point that you have a dense mass of "hop baseball" when you open it. I'm assuming that your utilization will drop since the hops in the center recieved very little exposure to the wort. My suggestion: Save these guys for dry hopping kegs! Glen A. Pannicke glen at pannicke.net http://www.pannicke.net Check http://pgpkeys.mit.edu/ for PGP public key 75CE 0DED 59E1 55AB 830F 214D 17D7 192D 8384 00DD Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 11:48:30 -0800 From: "Scott" <Windsurf at bossig.com> Subject: Re: Kettle Drain with Pellet hops Kevin asks if any kettle drain is acceptable for pellet hops: I try to use whole leaf when possible, for the filtering. However, on occasion, have had to use pellets, with no problem whatsoever. My Boil Kettle Sankey keg, with a 1/2" S.S. coupling welded on the side. The mannifold is circular, with small drilled holes on the underside (exact size escapes me). What makes this work, I believe, is the mannifold is set about one inch above the bottom of the keg. After the boil, I wait about 10 minutes, then start the draining into the counterflow chiller. No stuck boils, ever. I have a couple pictures, if interested: http://homebrewery.homestead.com/homebrewery.html Scott Richland, Wa. From: Kevin Peters <kpeters at ptd.net> Subject: Kettle Drain with Pellet Hops I've been thinking about adding a drain to my boiling kettle, but in searching the archives, the posts I found said this works only with leaf hops. No pellets, since the screen will be clogged. Is anyone out there using a kettle drain who brews with only pellets? What arrangement works? A screen such as an easymasher? Along the sides of the kettle? A full false bottom? Kevin Peters Mechanicsburg, PA Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 16:52:46 -0500 From: mohrstrom at humphreypc.com Subject: Iron Precipitatin', Cold WX Brewing, That (Un)Certain Something, Let's Mike Utes relates: >>>You can remove iron from your well water by putting an aerator on your faucet and filling two five gallon buckets (for a five gallon batch) about five days before brewing.<<< Now, Dave Hinrichs and I are about in the same boat. I filled my Sankey HLT and kettle with my well water in order to drop the carbonates along with some iron. That was some time ago when it was in the upper 30degF's (it's been some time now since it's been that warm). Rather than burning up a bunch of propane to thaw it out, I've been waiting for a warmer day to set my system free (it won't be tonight, since we'll see 10 below). Besides, I can only *assume* that my system is still under that snow pile. I began pondering the other night, as the thermometer read -8degF, what was the induced hoop stress due to the expansion of water. Does anyone have a Mark's or CRC Handbook with that information? Drew Avis faces his defecating freezer: > I realized it was some sort of brownish liquid goo that's seeping > through a seam. What is this stuff? With all due respect to FridgeDude's vast knowledge of refrigerator construction, *I* suspect that it may be "BROWN-25". Is Dave B. still with us? He has been oddly under the radar of late. I *know* why AlK is offline (jeez, first cognizant winter holidays for the trips ...) As to humor(-less) (non)brewing content, bring it *all* on, with sensitivity to the length of the queue. I count ~8 editions in the past month where we have approached the 50K limit (and how much of that is discussion of OT content?) I am much more sensitive to the vaguely on-topic (or blatantly off-topic - which BTW, seem to have decreased in direct proportion to the number of posts from Austin) commercial posts from brew vendors. At the point where point where two (or more) mavens are abusing the deceased equine, the good ones will take it offline until the issue is settled, and then post the summary. But then, let's not forget the ***HBD SLAMDOWN*** at the NHC in LA. We were forced to cancel last year's event in Detroit for lack of participants. This is an important fund-raising event for the HBD, and we really need the revenue. Let's channel that rancor! Mark in Kalamazoo Return to table of contents
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