HOMEBREW Digest #3537 Tue 23 January 2001

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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  CO2 and headspace size ("Benjy Edwards")
  Re: Cold steeping (Christopher Farley)
  Skunky Beer (Wayne Aldrich)
  Hops affect on oxidation ("David B. Peterson")
  re: Draft Beer = Headache?/Reading is Still Fundamental ("Stephen Alexander")
  RE: CFC ("J. Doug Brown")
  Foam Control ("Mark Tumarkin")
  Immersion Chilling Time ("Tom Williams")
  Pivoxygenation ("Alan Meeker")
  Rabbits and Physics (Vachom)
  Sh*tty Wyeast "Pitchable" Tubes ("S. SNYDER")
  Draft Beer & chillers ("Pannicke, Glen A.")
  mash hopping and ProMash (Marc Sedam)
  Where in the world is Dave Burley? ("Donald D. Lake")
  FreezeShield (Marc Sedam)
  Extract Brewers Needed ("Ray Daniels")
  Fla beer? ("Spencer W. Thomas")
  acronym page ("S. SNYDER")
  ok to purchase warm beer? ("Richard Sieben")
  Hop bags, Tap beer headaches (Beaverplt)
  Drilling Enamel ("Marty Milewski")
  counter flow chillers (JDPils)
  Blank holders (Epic8383)
  Cloudy Issue (Markzak11)
  yeast harvest warning (Rama Roberts)
  co2 regulator backdraft (joe)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 00:30:43 -0500 From: "Benjy Edwards" <rdbedwards at hotmail.com> Subject: CO2 and headspace size First off - sorry for the length of this post! I guess I'm having trouble putting my thoughts into words... Has anyone noticed the phenomenon of varying carbonation level due to headspace size? There's not much in the literature about it. I'm talking about how the level of carbonation will vary depending on the size of the headspace above the beer. This is most often thought of when bottling - you're supposed to only leave a small headspace in the neck of the bottle because if you don't, the bottle is likely to overcarbonate. If you fill a bottle halfway with primed beer it will either explode or blow the cap off into your eye when you try to open it. This phenomenon also carries over to kegs - I've been having trouble getting my corny kegged beer to carbonate fully, and I think it's because I fill the keg right up to the bottom of the short (gas in) dip tube. I have only seen this discussed in one of my 30+ homebrewing books - Papazian in NCJHB says: "My own observations have indicated that a bottle that is filled right to the top, with no air space whatsoever, will not develop enough carbonation. An air space of 1/2 inch will develop the same carbonation as a bottle of beer with 2 inches of air space. A bottle that is half filled with beer may become excessively carbonated and very dangerous if it explodes. My educated explanation is that insufficient or excessive carbonation, due to over- or underfill is related to the fact that yeast activity is inhibited by pressure. A small air space (overfill) will quickly develop high pressure while a large air space (underfill) will not develop enough pressure to inhibit yeast activity." While I agree with his observations of this concept, I don't agree with his rationale. Why would yeast be affected by headspace pressure? However, I have yet to come up with a satisfactory alternative hypothesis. Anyone have any ideas? Does all this mean I should just not fill my kegs so much? What are your practices in filling corny kegs vs. carbonation levels? Thanks for any and all information! regards, Benjamin Edwards rdbedwards at hotmail.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 00:10:45 -0600 From: Christopher Farley <chris at northernbrewer.com> Subject: Re: Cold steeping Bob Wilcox wrote: > I have tried cold steeping twice. First with chocolate malt for a > Schwartzbier , that a friend brewed. That turned out very nice. No > harshness from the dark grains, color came out very dark. Its something > I would use again. A little goes a long way though. > > The second go at it was for a Vienna. I steeped 1/2lb of Aromatic in a > 1/2 gal water. This is still in the fermentor. It had a nice flavor and > color(light orange). I added the whole amount to the boil. > > We found that you do get some extract from steeping at least with the > chocolate. I didn't take a gravity reading with the aromatic. I recently read an article by George Fix who suggested you ought to steep *three times* the normal amount of grain in a cold steep. If that is true, your 1/2 lb. of Aromatic would have a fairly minimal effect. I'll see if I can dig up the Fix reference and post it. - -- Christopher Farley www.northernbrewer.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 09:17:41 +0100 From: Aldrich4 at t-online.de (Wayne Aldrich) Subject: Skunky Beer Skunky beer is caused by exposure to bright light. All beer should be stored in a cool (50 deg. f) dark location. Most beer is sold in dark brown glass bottles or cans. This is to guard against light damage. If your beer is delivered from green or clear glass bottles and it has not been stored properly there is a very good chance it will be skunky. Draft Headaches: I agree that the likely culprit is mold or at the least dirty draft lines. I think those of us that have been "educated" (OK obsessed) about beer and how it should taste no longer drink megabrewed draft beer so we do not experience the punishing after effects. Prost! Wayne Aldrich Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 01:15:33 -0800 From: "David B. Peterson" <dave at toppledwagon.com> Subject: Hops affect on oxidation Do hoppier beers get skunky faster? Or does it slow the oxidation process? -Dave Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 06:14:53 -0500 From: "Stephen Alexander" <steve-alexander at worldnet.att.net> Subject: re: Draft Beer = Headache?/Reading is Still Fundamental >Anyway, my secretary insists that draft beer gives her a slamming headache >after one or two beers, but beer in bottles and cans doesn't. To her "beer" >is bud, miller, coors, or corona for when she is being festive. There have been several reports here *suggesting* that bottled beer may be better filtered than kegged products, and I've cleaned a few crufty kegs that seemed to have significant yeast deposits. Some posts have also associated yeast in beer with headaches. === re: what's up must come down DocP writes ... >They ogengenated at various levels >starting at 8ppm and going upwards. [...] >And what did they come up with. > >The lowest level (8ppm) was shown to have the lowest measured oxidative >destruction, and was by blind tasting judged as the least stale tasting. Least stale - but was it the best tasting ? >Does that sound like a good study? > >NOOOOOOOOOOO. > >Now, where else have you ever heard of a study where the maximum value lies >at one extreme of the variables, and THEY DON'T BOTHER TO PERSUE THAT >VARIABLE ANY FURTHER! Happens all the time. Not every experiment report covers the range of a variable that you would like to see - that's the norm in most branches of science (tho not math) as far as I can tell. You're complaint seems to be that since the range of SOME experiment's variables does not extend beyond that practical to a commercial industry, therefore the results are meaningless and can make nothing but velveta. First, a lot of the lit is unfunded and from Universities which revel in extending some variables to absurd lengths. Even so, if you have paper that demonstrates an improvement as one drops initial O2 from 24 to 12 to 8ppm then it is not correct to OVERRREAD the results as saying 8ppm is optimal, nor that 4ppm would be better, nor that 30ppm is necessarily worse. Papers typically only report a confined experimental result - extrapolations belong to the reader. >The literature that is produced by, and for, the industry is REPLEAT with >this sort of "reasoning within a protected limit", and I can't see why the >article quoting crowd here can't see that. I for one recognize this fully. I also recognize that this doesn't mean that the results are in error or inapplicable if I produce sufficiently similar conditions in my basement brewery. One must be careful to NOT read more into ANY result than is supported. I really don't find the lit to be so commercial practice bound either. Is Kirin really interested in 51 hop variants for their beers ? Would Bass really feed massive amounts of malt lipids to their yeast, or would Allied brewers really try to grow commercial starters in mannitol ? Would the BRF have the industry hold their fermenters at 3 atmospheres of CO2 head pressure ? Does Coors intend to follow up the 90 liter CO2 level measurements with a bunch of 90L production batches ? Of course not. They want to understand too. Many papers are indirectly about making commercial beers, (including Spaten and Ayinger and Bass, Guinness). It you think that somehow invalidates the result or turns your beer into Bud - you are just looking for excuses. Just how does a paper that demonstrates a stochiometric relationship between trehalose use and sterol production help make Bud but not great HB anyway ? How is a review of the flavor active compounds in malt good only good for making Bud ? You may choose to not read or not apply lit results to your own brewery - let's not start with the silly claims that lit results are irrelevant to HB and that only the Great and Powerful Pivo can perform *real* experiments unlike that junk science in the peer reviewed journals. I've found many of the results in the lit can be applied to HB scale brewing to good effect (I just kegged an experimental pils using a method suggested by Bamforth). Everything from adjunct mashing, mashing temps & thicknesses, yeast & fermentation handling have shown improvement when applying techniques adapted from 'the lit'. Your skepticism of results is a good thing but your belief that all of the brewing literature is out to turn your beer into Bud is paranoid babble. -S Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 08:35:59 -0500 From: "J. Doug Brown" <dougbrown at citynet.net> Subject: RE: CFC Hi Dan, My normal CFC practice is to fill the wort line with iodophor then steam sanitize the chiller prior to use. After the boil, I'll whirlpool the hot wort carefully (avoiding HSA) then allow the hot break to settle out (10 minutes). Next I draw off the wort from near the bottom being carefull to avoid drawing off the hot break. For this step use a metal racking cane as the plastic one will melt. allow the wort to siphon through the chiller and drain into your primary. I normally only leave the fermenting wort in the primary for about 3 days then I transfer to the secondary. My thoughts on the cold break is that because it is sediment on the bottom and the flocculating yeast cells will quickly form a thin layer over it. I don't worry about it during the 3 day primary ferment. On racking to the secondary, I do avoid transferring the coldbreak/trub. I have not compared this to a primary ferment w/o any break material, but I do like my beer. My chiller (plans usage and description) is viewable at http://members.citynet.net/kbrown/Doug/Brew/index.htm. My current chiller is a 25 foot all copper chiller and is able to bring the wort to within a degree of tap temperature. Currently I use the chiller in conjunction with my inline wort areator. I have made some improvements on my chilling system as well that I will be adding to my pages (hopefully by wednesday). These include a venturi type system that takes the hot flow of water from the CFC and uses it to drive the venturi which is used to help draw wort through the chiller. I have also added an activated carbon filter to my brewing system to remove chloramines. My final addition as of late is a heat shroud around my boiling vessle to conserve heat and increase effeciency of propane usage. Finally I color coded the ends of my chiller so I don't have to think about which end to hook the hot/cold lines to. - -- J. Doug Brown - Fairmont, WV Software Engineer at ProLogic, Inc. mailto:dougbrown at citynet.net mailto:dbrown at prologic-inc.com http://members.citynet.net/kbrown/Doug http://www.prologic-inc.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 09:17:21 -0500 From: "Mark Tumarkin" <mark_t at ix.netcom.com> Subject: Foam Control CD Pritchard writes: "With previous brews, I've had to either watch the boiler for boilovers like a hawk in the boiler or add FoamControl." and also mentions using it in yeast starters. From your post, it sounds like your pretty satisfied with it (though maybe will use corn instead). I talked to someone at a competition this past weekend who has been using it in his fermenters - filling them quite full without needing a blow-off tube. I knew about using it in the fermenter, but hadn't been aware that it could be used in the boil (though I don't need that as boilovers aren't a real problem with my system). It sounds like an interesting product. What experiences have others had with it? Any negative effects on heading or retention? Mark Tumarkin Gainesville, Fl Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 09:42:15 -0500 From: "Tom Williams" <williams2353 at hotmail.com> Subject: Immersion Chilling Time Greetings to the list, after a 3.5 year absence! Andy Buhl and Dan Diana write about less than favorable performance from immersion chillers: Andy: with my graduation to full 5 gallon all grain batches, I have faced 1 hour chilling times only reducing temperatures to the mid 90's. Dan: I am beginning to get frustrated with the amount of time it takes to cool, the poor control of the final wort temperature, and the waste of good water. I must be missing something here. I believe that neither of these gentlemen agitates their immersion chillers. Yesterday I used my immersion chiller to cool a full 5 gal extract batch. With 49F cooling water and gentle back and forth agitation of the coils, The wort reached 140F in 2 minutes and 80F in 5 min. I have had similar experiences every time I have used this chiller. Is there some reason not to move the chiller around? This makes a HUGE difference in the chilling time. I have noticed a reluctance to agitate in many past postings. Also, is there some difference in experience related to extract vs. all grain brewing? My batches are all extract + steeped specialty grains, mostly crystal and carapils. Cheers, Tom Williams in Dunwoody, GA Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 09:34:30 -0500 From: "Alan Meeker" <ameeker at mail.jhmi.edu> Subject: Pivoxygenation Doc Pivo wrote: >The fact that I have also tried to test the relevance of many oft' repeated >ideas, within the framework of trying to produce a nice fresh beer, has lead >me to believe that much of the information is indeed correct, if your aim in >cheese making is "Velveeta", bread making is "wonder bread", and beer is >"Budweiser". I too have experimented with some of the variables identified in the research literature as having significant impacts on beer quality. In some cases I got better beer, in others not. Not all research stems from the large mega-breweries and not all research coming from or sponsored by these sources is limited strictly to optimizing the production of their mostly insipid beers. >The article I mentioned was in fact a very good example of just how >useful/useless these things can be..... They ogengenated at various levels >starting at 8ppm and going upwards. Analysis was done both by spin >resonance, and trained tasting panels. Other studies were cited showing >that spin resonance has been shown to correlate well with oxidative states, >and subsequent judgement of "staling" by panels. >And what did they come up with. >The lowest level (8ppm) was shown to have the lowest measured oxidative >destruction, and was by blind tasting judged as the least stale tasting. >Does that sound like a good study? >NOOOOOOOOOOO. Just because the results of a study come out the way one would have expected does not make it a poor study. What exactly was the goal of this study anyway? Your original post was concerned with the /timing/ of oxygenation, now you are criticizing another part of the study (?) dealing with the /level/ of oxygenation. What was the goal of the study?? I'd like to see a copy if possible... >Now, where else have you ever heard of a study where the maximum value lies >at one extreme of the variables, and THEY DON'T BOTHER TO PERSUE THAT >VARIABLE ANY FURTHER! >I'll tell you where.... in industrial literature. >If some researcher persues that further and finds that at even less levels >of oxygenation, the beer becomes even better, but takes the company longer >to produce it (and thus costs the company more,) that is one researcher who >won't be heading up the next project, if he is still retained at all. >The literature that is produced by, and for, the industry is REPLEAT with >this sort of "reasoning within a protected limit", and I can't see why the >article quoting crowd here can't see that. Oh, I think most people here understand the limitations of industry-sponsored research and even studies in which the variable(s) under consideration are kept within "protected limits" can produce useful results or provide food for thought. You are of course correct in pointing out that such ideas must be tested out on one's own system as the final quality will obviously depend on all the myriad details of one's own brewing set-up. -Alan Meeker Baltimore "The Purple City' Maryland Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 08:45:31 -0600 From: Vachom <MVachow at newman.k12.la.us> Subject: Rabbits and Physics Dave Persenaire's description of the local rabbit population chowing down his spent grains and leaving the yard scattered with rabbit pellets is, of course, a perfect example of the conservation of mash. Mike New Orleans, LA Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 10:06:32 -0500 From: "S. SNYDER" <SSNYDER at LBGHQ.com> Subject: Sh*tty Wyeast "Pitchable" Tubes Greetings to the collective, Just a data point (actually two) on the Wyeast pitchable tubes. I have used two pitchables and will not use them again. The first was for a Pilsner Urquell #2278 and the next for Ceasaurus (sp?) Imperator Heller Bock (either 2308 or 2206 I can't remember right now). Both had dates within a month of when I bought them. I brought them up to room temp and pitched them into well aerated worts. I have never had such a delay in fermentation with the smack packs, regular or XL. The Pilsner was pitched on a Wednesday around 7pm and did not start by 1pm Saturday when I got two smack packs and pitched them. By the next morning the brew was happily fermenting, still lagering the secondary now so I am keeping my fingers crossed. The Imperator was brewed on a Wednesday and I pitched at about 5pm. It just started fermenting yesterday (Sunday around 5 pm) and it is a pathetic ferment. This delay is way too long, as far as I'm concerned, that is not "ready to pitch". After so many days I wonder if my well aerated wort is no longer as well aerated I'm done with the tubes, but I still love the smack packs. Any thoughts? Scott Trumbull, CT ssnyder at lbghq.com Rotten Rotti Brewing Company Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 10:12:45 -0500 From: "Pannicke, Glen A." <glen_pannicke at merck.com> Subject: Draft Beer & chillers Mike B makes an intersting observation: >From: "Timmons, Frank" <frank.timmons at honeywell.com> >Subject: Draft Beer = Headache? >It is more likely the headaches are an environmental issue. YOU ARE SITTING >IN A TOBACCO SMOKE FILLED POORLY VENTILATED ROOM. Alcohol will dialate your blood vessels while cigarettes will cause them to constrict. Now what do you think will happen when you keep confusing the blood vessels in your head like that? This is, of course, going on Mike's assumption that bottled beer is drunk at home in a smoke-free environment and draft is drunk at the pub while either smoking socially or inhaling secondary smoke. Regarding chillers: A few have also posted on immersion chillers and experiencing either long chill times or high end temps. CF or Immersion? Hrmmmm... Well, neither will chill your wort below the temperature of the tap and both take just about as long to do their magic when optimized. Now I'm no thermodynamic guru, but I'm sure we have a few of them out there. One of the factors effecting your cilling rate is the difference between the chilling medium and your wort. The bigger the difference, the faster the rate. So for both styles of chillers you can make a pre-chiller for your tap water. Have your tapwater flow through the pre-chiller in a bucket of ice-water to drop the temperature of the tap water even lower. Crushed ice works best and add just enough water to make a slush which fills the gaps between ice and coil. Just set it up and go for a CF chiller since you chill small amounts of wort at a time in a continuous process. For an immersion chiller you chill the entire mass. Since you'll be starting at near boiling temps you'll have a big difference between your wort and your groundwater. The rate will be fast at first but will decrease as the difference in temps decreases. So drop your temperature without the use of the pre-chiller and save some ice. You'll sacrifice a few minutes of chilling time though. Once you hit somewhere around 100F, stick the pre-chiller in the bucket of icewater and continue chilling to your target temp. I have used this method with much success in the hot summer months when the tapwater is warm. I can chill a 5 gallon kettle from boil to 70F in 20 minutes using a 25' immersion coil (1/4" ID copper) and a 25' pre-chiller. Great for summer brewing. During winter, I place my pre-chiller in a bucket of water and let it freeze into a solid block on the back porch or use snow. Carpe cerevisiae! Glen A. Pannicke glen at pannicke.net http://www.pannicke.net 75CE 0DED 59E1 55AB 830F 214D 17D7 192D 8384 00DD "Designs which work well on paper rarely do so in actual practice" Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 10:13:55 -0500 From: Marc Sedam <marc_sedam at unc.edu> Subject: mash hopping and ProMash Steve sez... "I am contemplating the last. When mash hopping, do I change the bittering hops at all? Do I change the amount of finishing hops? Does mash hopping affect bitterness or just flavor and aroma? Finally, and most importantly, how do I handle mash hopping when using Promash? I just think this program is great! Thanks in advance for the advice." After some more experimentation you may want to bump up the bittering hops by a few percent to make up for the small amount of lost bitterness from the traditional flavor and aroma additions. You do change the amount of finishing hops--by removing them! Replace all flavor and finishing hops with 1.5x that amount in mash hops (e.g. 1oz flavor + 1oz aroma = 3oz mash hops). It adds a small amount of bitterness. Plug it in to ProMash as an addition 5 mins prior to knockout. Cheers! Marc, the Alechemist Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 10:20:21 -0500 From: "Donald D. Lake" <dlake at gdi.net> Subject: Where in the world is Dave Burley? Now that things have quieted down, I've noticed that perennial poster Dave Burley is missing. It's like when someone shaves off their mustache. You know something is different, you're just not sure what it is. Is he still alive? Could he be in the federal witness protection program or maybe the Aussies devoured him? Don Lake Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 10:19:01 -0500 From: Marc Sedam <marc_sedam at unc.edu> Subject: FreezeShield What is FreezeShield and is it commercially available? -M - -- Marc Sedam Associate Director Office of Technology Development The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 308 Bynum Hall; CB# 4105 Chapel Hill, NC 27599-4105 919.966.3929 (phone) 919.962.0646 (fax) OTD site : http://www.research.unc.edu/otd eMTA site: http://mta.unc.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 09:55:19 -0600 From: "Ray Daniels" <raydan at ameritech.net> Subject: Extract Brewers Needed Hello all: During the last few issues of Zymurgy, we introduced a new column on extract/kit brewing. The basic idea is for several brewers to get together and all brew some beers from the same base extract or kit. The general idea is to make several interesting and tasting beers that are also easy to make. Of course you are allowed to add things to the kit/can such as grains, hops and your choice of yeast. When the beers have been tasted, we run the recipes in Zymurgy and then the brewers get their names and faces in Zymurgy. Of course they also get some free brewing ingredients (and therefore free beer!) along the way. I am now looking for some volunteers to participate in this program. Could be a formal club or just some guys who hang out together and brew. Proven brewing ability is the only requirement. Drop me a line privately at ray at aob.org if you are interested and we'll get things rolling. Regards, Ray Daniels Editor-in-Chief Zymurgy & The New Brewer Phone: 773-665-1300 Fax: 773-665-0699 E-mail: ray at aob.org Call Customer Service at 888-822-6273 to subscribe or order individual magazines. Don't Miss: Real Ale Festival, Chicago - March 1-3 Craft Brewers Conference, Portland, OR - April 4-7 National Homebrewers Conference, Los Angeles - June 21-23 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 11:26:47 -0500 From: "Spencer W. Thomas" <spencer at umich.edu> Subject: Fla beer? I'm going to be on vacation in the Florida Keys next week (between Islamorada and Marathon). My question is: what Florida beers can I expect to find in a "package store?" And which of them are actually worth seeking out? If anyone has comments on the Key West brewpubs, I'm interested in those, too. Pubcrawler shows no other brewpubs in the Keys -- are there any others? Thanks. =Spencer Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 11:50:43 -0500 From: "S. SNYDER" <SSNYDER at LBGHQ.com> Subject: acronym page Just a thought, On the revamped web page, where the FAQ section is, why not start a list of acronym descriptions? I don't know how big it would be, but I know sometimes get frustrated when I can't figure them out. I can't be the only one. BTW, what the hell is RIMS? Scott Trumbull, CT ssnyder at lbghq.com Rotten Rotti Brewing Company Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 10:54:50 -0600 From: "Richard Sieben" <sier1 at email.msn.com> Subject: ok to purchase warm beer? Mr. J.M., beer sitting on the shelf does not get skunky due to the temperature, but rather to the blue/green spectrum of light. Some beers, like Miller Lite, use special hop oils (tetrahops) which don't react with light and therefore don't get skunked. Brown bottles slow down the reaction of hop compounds with light which is the lightstruck character you call skunky. Green and clear glass bottles are the worst as the color of light that is the most damaging gets right through. Unfortunately no one makes a reasonably priced dark red glass bottle, as that color would provide the most protection outside of a keg or can through which no light gets to the beer. I would expect most craft beers are not using the special hop compounds and are easily lightstruck, so try to buy them in a sealed case if possible or at least from the darkest corner of the cooler or shelf. As to the warmth, the repeated warming and chilling of a beer may produce a permanent haze in the beer, which may not look nice but has no flavor impact at all. Abusing the beer with longer periods of high temperatures may lead to an overpasturized flavor that is like honey on white bread. I drank a Bud light that was intentionally abused this way, and I actually liked it, but I really like honey on white bread. The industrial beers, Bud,Miller,Coors etc. are all pasturized and are more resistant to flavor changes due to being unrefrigerated for up to 2 years on the grocery store shelves. Craft brews are generally not pasturized and will have much better flavor stability if they are kept cold, but like homebrewers know, unrefigerated homebrew can still be good for a long time unrefrigerated if it lasts that long without being consumed. In summary, if the beer you got is skunky or otherwise tastes bad, buy it someplace else that seems to treat the beer properly. Rich Sieben Island Lake, IL Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 12:49:15 -0800 (PST) From: Beaverplt <beaverplt at yahoo.com> Subject: Hop bags, Tap beer headaches Hi all, I'm sure this has been brought up before but I have a question about hops in the boil. I started wrapping my hop pellets in some cheesecloth and immersing my "hops bag' in the boil wherever the recipe called for it. By doing this instead of just dumping the pellets in the wort I've made straining the wort much easier. The question I have is by concentrating the hops in a bag like that, do I lose any of the effectiveness? Does anyone else do this? I have had a problem with tap beer headaches also. I have noticed that it happens when I go into a bar that never seems too busy. It also happens often when I order a specialty beer if they have it. It's happened often enough that I've been able to tell by the taste whether I should dump it and order a bottle. I've also asked some bartenders in these places how often the bar owner cleans the tap lines. The answer is usually a blank look. My theory after all this time is the headaches are caused by dirt or mold in the tap lines. Jerry "Beaver" Pelt That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 15:42:10 -0600 From: "Marty Milewski" <mmilewski at mlpusa.com> Subject: Drilling Enamel Hi all... My local home brew supply shop went out of business and I was able to pick up two brand new 8.25 gal enamel pots (1-boiling kettle/1-HLT) for a very cheap price. My dilema is that I want to drill the pots in order to fit them with a spigot and I'm afraid of chipping the baked enamel coating. My only thought was to put duct tape on either side of the pot, and start with a small sharp drill bit and progressively use larger bits. Thoughts on this process? Does anyone have any experience or any ideas on drilling enamel? Prost, Marty Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 17:18:27 EST From: JDPils at aol.com Subject: counter flow chillers Dan writes, << do I need to worry about having the extra trub in my primary? >> That depends. I have a false bottom in my boiler and use only loose leaf hops. This filters out most of the hot break. As for cold break, I do not worry about. It can be benificial for the ferment. Another option is to whirlpool the hot wort and syphon thru the chiller(I would use hop bags for this method) Any suggestions on how to best sterilize it before and after use? I run a sanitizer (idophor)thru my chiller for 5 minutes and let it sit for another 5, then run 5 gallons of boiling water, After chilling I run tap water in the reverse direction, then repeat the above. So far so good. One note idophor can corrode copper, so do not let it sit longer than I mentioned or choose a diffierent sanitizer. I hope this helps. Cheers, Jim Dunlap Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 18:31:26 EST From: Epic8383 at aol.com Subject: Blank holders Thanks to everyone who responded about blank 6-pack holders. I got www.grapeandgranery.com and www.morebeer.com. Gus Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 18:36:42 EST From: Markzak11 at aol.com Subject: Cloudy Issue I am iterested in using finings (gelatin, isinglass, etc.). Any thoughts along with results would be greatly appreciated. Hope this helps to clear things up a bit. Thanks, Mark Zak Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 16:17:25 -0800 (PST) From: Rama Roberts <Rama.Roberts at eng.sun.com> Subject: yeast harvest warning A couple of batches ago, I thought I'd try my hand at repitching yeast (Wyeast 1084) from the bottom of the primary fermentor. Seeing as I wasn't ready to start my next batch (an oatmeal stout), I thought I'd *bottle* the trub with a bit of beer remaining in the carboy and just cap it, something I haven't seen suggested before, but sounded like an ideal solution. So I topped off a 12 ounce bottle and threw it in the fridge. About 3 weeks past, and I was ready to start the next batch. The night before brew day, I got everything all set to make a starter from about 4 ounces of the saved trub, noticing that it now settled even more to about 6 ounces of solids and 6 ounces of beer. I took the bottle out of the fridge and begin to remove the cap. About 1/2 the way off, the thing started foaming up and shooting out fairly quickly, so quickly in fact that I thought it'd be better to completely remove the cap before I lose all of my starter. So as I pry the cap the rest of the way off, it shoots straight up (luckily!) and I hear it hit the ceiling, as the beer continues to erupt out of the bottle as pure foam. Thinking quickly, I pour the remainder of the bottle into my starter, which ended up being about 2-3 ounces. Happy that I was able to save enough of the starter, I put the bottle down and take a step back to evaluate the damage. There was brown "mud" all over the kitchen counter, my shirt and arms, and even a bit on the walls. I immediately start wiping the counters when I get splattered with an ounce of mud. What?! I look up to see a 24" circular splat on the ceiling right above where I opened the bottle! Just a warning to the rest of you... I was lucky the bottle didn't shatter in my fridge, or worse. (although its really funny in retrospect). There must have been some unfermented sugars left in the trub that the yeast ate up in the 3 weeks. Next time, I'll use a mason jar or something that won't let pressure build up like that again. Cleanup wasn't as hard as it sounds, and the starter (my first try at starters too) went without incident. The oatmeal stout I pitched it in took off and finished at a respectable gravity with no noticable off flavors- but I don't think I'll be *bottling* trub again! - --rama Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 16:18:53 -0900 From: joe <andor at alaska.net> Subject: co2 regulator backdraft so i didn't have a one way valve on the gas line from the gas regulator to the keg. can you guess where this is going?? after force carbonating the keg at 35psi, i backed off the regulator to 10psi. though i didn't get a line full of beer going the wrong way, i did get enough that about a half a teaspoon of beer to dribble out the relief vent on the regulator. so, before i put the screw drivers to the regulator to clean up the insides, what do i need to know? springs shooting everywhere, speciality tools required? it's a cornelius 857-A style PL-60 gas regulator. thanks, joe Return to table of contents
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