HOMEBREW Digest #3568 Wed 28 February 2001

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Contents:
  re: Zinc in your Wort ("Stephen Alexander")
  Air lock on conical ("Bruce Garner")
  re: Oxygen in the mash and starch conversion ("Stephen Alexander")
  Direct-Fired RIMS ("Gustave Rappold")
  re: cylindroconical advantages ("Stephen Alexander")
  King Kooker Burner Assemblies (Tony Barnsley)
  Wheats? (cmmundt)
  Cleaning CF Chiller ("Bridges, Scott")
  Re: Stone Beer (The Brews Traveler)
  Copper in chillers, melting hoses, and cleaning ("Michael G. Zentner")
  Re: Stein bier - Stone beer ("S. SNYDER")
  Think you had a bad brew day? ("Eric Fouch")
  zinc supplementation ("Alan Meeker")
  starch degradation ("Alan Meeker")
  Calibrating Thermometers (JDPils)
  conical draining (The Freemans)
  counterflow sanitizing (The Freemans)
  A Double Brew Warning!!! (Brad Miller)
  Stones for Steinbier (Richard Foote)
  Food Grade Hose (Wayne Aldrich)
  Hydrolysis/NIST (AJ)
  Another defective conical... ("Daniel C Stedman")
  RE: Another defective conical... ("Daniel C Stedman")
  RE:cleaning chillers ("Joseph Marsh")
  Re: North Tampa area Beer (Joel Eledge)
  RE: Hops:  Pellets vs. Cakes... (The Man From Plaid)
  Maximum usage of hops ("Mike Pensinger")
  Cleaning CF Chiller ("Bridges, Scott")
  Aeration ("Axle Maker")
  Indianapolis ("Marc Hawley")
  FW: Chest freezer conversion advice. ("Steve Guernsey")

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1999 02:43:22 -0500 From: "Stephen Alexander" <steve-alexander at worldnet.att.net> Subject: re: Zinc in your Wort patrick finerty jr asks ... >can someone please tell me what an acceptable final conc of Zn is in >wort? Actually no - no one can tell ...dependent on strain. Lack of Zn prevents budding and reduces certain enzyme activities. High Zn levels can inhibit growth and speed autolysis. Manganese above 0.4ppm will permit high levels of Zn (65ppm) w/o any inhibition of growth (Jones & Greenfield, Process Biochem 19(2):48-60, 1984). Otherwise 2ppm of Zn is the level at which growth inhibition begins when Mn is below 0.4ppm. M&BS suggests an *addition* of 0.2ppm zinc chloride (~0.1ppm Zn) accelerates many fermentations, which isn't to say that more might not cause further acceleration (or not). If we assume 0.2ppm Zn is typical of wort (as per AJ deLange's measurements in the archives) then we're at 0.3ppm of zinc. Several sources provide figures of 4 to 8 microMol(0.26ppm to 0.52ppm) of Zn as sufficient for growth reqs. My original practice & experiments added 0.3ppm Zn, and somehow (without recording why) I've slipped that to about 0.5ppm. Still 0.3ppm Zn addition (+~0.2ppm in wort) sounds closer to the upper end of the text range. >my current plan is to simply add the Zn to the primary so that i avoid >any ppt that may occur during the boil. Excellent idea. I think an addition between 0.1ppm to 0.4ppm of zinc (0.2 to 0.8ppm of ZnCl2) is the right range for experimentation, and nothing in that range is likely to be inhibitory. Zinc chloride is fairly soluble in water - makes for an easy way to measure these tiny doses (0.2ppm of ZnCL2 is only 3.8mg per 5gal fermenter). -Steve Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 03:08:33 -0600 From: "Bruce Garner" <bpgarner at mailbag.com> Subject: Air lock on conical Lou King writes: I am using my new conical fermenter for the first time. I realize if I open the bottom port to let the trub out, it will pull the solution out of my fermentation lock. I write: Why not use a long hose of adequate diameter. Run the hose down the side of the fermenter to a jar of water like the pros do. That way the negative pressure will pull some liquid up the hose, to be pushed back down again. If you don't want to do that you may want to switch to an s curve two bubble chamber style fermentation lock that can bubble both directions. The small amount of air shouldn't be a big deal. I ferment in an open container with plastic wrap draped over the top to keep the dust out. Bruce Garner in Madison, WI Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1999 04:15:48 -0500 From: "Stephen Alexander" <steve-alexander at worldnet.att.net> Subject: re: Oxygen in the mash and starch conversion Dave Says ... >Can anyone please tell me where the oxygen atoms come from which are >needed to fill up the empty valences every time a (1-4) glucose-glucose >bond is broken? Oxygen ? We don't need no steenking oxygen ! When a 1-4 bond is broken by 'hydrolysis' [hint hint 'hydro' (water) 'lysis' (degradation)] a water molecule is dissociated into an -H and a -OH. The hydrogen goes to one side of the split and the -OH (hydroxyl) to the other, filling the missing valence charges. Glucose is a 6 sided ring structure where one of the ring molecules is an oxygen, the other 5 are carbons. There is also a single carbon hanging off to the side and enough -H and -OH attached (not shown) to make everyone electrically happy. Horrid ascii art: C O \ / \ C C | | C C \ / C The carbons in the ring are labeled 1 thru 5 going clockwise from the 1 o'clock position. The out-hanger carbon 'tail of the kite' is #6. In a 1-4 bonded situation like maltose, carbon #1 of one glucose and carbon #4 (7 o'clock position, opposite #1) of another glucose are linked with an oxygen molecule in between - it's called an O-glycosyl bond. xxxC-O-Cyyy Add an H2O molecule and we can split both & get xxxC-OH HO-Cyyy - ---- Actually there is a little scam in the description above. The glucose will twitch between a couple conformations faster than blazes, but diagrammatically it holds water. To produce 5 gallons of well attenuated 12P wort from malt causes about 2.5 fluid ounces of water to disappear by hydrolysis. The yeast use a somewhat smaller amount of water while hydrolyzing the maltose and maltotriose. Explains why you're always half a bottle short when bottling ;^) Go to http://ull.chemistry.uakron.edu/biochem/08/ and click on disaccharides for a nice diagram of maltose's 1-4 bond. -Steve Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 4:24:48 -0500 From: "Gustave Rappold" <grappold at earthlink.net> Subject: Direct-Fired RIMS Hi Everyone, I'm back (on Earthlink) and AOL sucks. Once I get a picture of my setup on my free little webpage, I'll post the address for y'all to criticize ;) Marc's observation of his direct-fired RIMS is right on the money. I've been cranking out some pretty good beers on mine and NEVER scorched a mash. Having a burner for each 1/2 keg helps enormously!! It's amazing how SWMBO will practically push you out the door while pressing cash into your hand to go buy equipment that will get you out of her kitchen for good. Hell, she'll probably drive you to the store, too!! Gus - --- Gustave Rappold - --- grappold at earthlink.net - --- EarthLink: It's your Internet. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 06:11:58 -0500 From: "Stephen Alexander" <steve-alexander at worldnet.att.net> Subject: re: cylindroconical advantages Steve Claussen says of CC fermenters ... >In addition to making yeast harvesting WAY easier, >efficient and less messy, I can think of at least the >following advantages: Efficient but you'll never re-pitch more than half the yeast. Less messy but you have to clean up the exposed valve etc on a full fermenter afterward. Harvest is way easier but pointless since most could only afford one such fermenter. Just where are you going to pitch that freshly harvested yeast anyway ? ... >1) trub removal with the flick of a valve And constant attention looking for end-of-trub. >5) side port makes sediment free transfers easy The sideport design brings up questions of either how clean is the resulting beer vs how much good beer is left behind. Always a tradeoff that requires adjustment and the levels are behind opaque stainless. Still I'll grant you 1) and 5) as advantages. Item 4) and 7) just repeat items 1) & 5). Items 2), 3) and 6) are just advantages of a stainless fermenter with a decent size aperture. Corny's would have the same advantages at 1/10th the cost. Assuming CCs still run $400 - would you really tie up your only fermenter for many weeks w/ 3.5 gallons of barleywine ? Have you never had three brews bubbling at once ? The conical bottom slope should permit trub and flocculent yeast removal cleanly, given constant attention. The saving of the transfer labor and sanitizing steps is offset somewhat by the infection potential around the valve and the necessity to clean this (w/ a full fermenter attached) after removing trub or yeast. It's still just a racking cane alternative to me. If you had 2 or three it would make a lot more sense. -S Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 12:38:08 -0000 From: Tony Barnsley <tony.barnsley at blackpool.gov.uk> Subject: King Kooker Burner Assemblies Hi Oh Great And knowledgeable Collective, Having finally found a supply of 22 (UK) gallon stainless kegs for brewing vessel conversion, I am now looking forward to the next evolution of the Schwarzbad brewery. The next evolution will be 22 gallon HLT and boiler and an 11 gallon Mash Tun. Even with 240 Volt Supply I have an inkling that the 50 Amp supply that I am putting in to the outbuilding will still not provide a rapid enough heating capacity to enable a shortish brew day. So I have to move to High Pressure propane. Now in the UK we are not fortunate in having a wide supply of Propane burner assemblies. (A 43K BTU Propane 'furnace' costing over 100ukp sans regulator! Is just one example). A brewing colleague has a very nice burner that he got from the US which is the cast burner body from a King Cooker. The burner isn't a ring Cajun cooker type and neither is it a single jet, I guess its a hybrid. His was trans shipped with some other bits and pieces indirectly from Metal Fusion, now the reason for Trans Shipping is that MF are not that happy dealing outside of the US. I want a couple of these Burners (Model PK84), but before I try and get some, does anyone know if there is a more powerful version? I'm not all that interested in a Jet type burner. I know that the 84K BTU will probably be more BTU's than I require, but a little / lot more spare capacity is always a nice thing. I'm not interested in complete burners, I only want the burner body, and I brew outside so CO / Explosive gas build up is not an issue / is an issue I am already aware of. I can get Hi pressure adjustable regulators fairly easily and sort of cheaply along with needle valves for flame control. Anybody got an online source for such burner bodies? TIA - -- Wassail! The Scurrilous Aleman (ICQ 46254361) Schwarzbad Lager Brauerei, Blackpool, Lancs, UK ( Ok Dr Pivo I could call it the Schwarzteiche, Black pond as opposed to Black bath, but I like the original :> ) UK HOMEBREW - A Forum on Home Brewing in the UK Managed by home brewers for home brewers To Subscribe send blank email to uk-homebrew-subscribe at smartgroups.com ########################################### This message has been scanned by F-Secure Anti-Virus for Microsoft Exchange. For more information, connect to http://www.F-Secure.com/ Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 08:07:29 -0500 From: cmmundt at AircraftBraking.com Subject: Wheats? Hi All, I plan on brewing my first all-grain wheat beer this weekend and I had some questions about wheat types. The recipe I was basing my batch on called for using raw wheat. I do not have raw wheat easily accessible, I can get it but it will require a little effort, while I can get torrified wheat and flaked wheat with no effort. I was wondering what is the difference(s) between these three types of wheat and their contributions to the finished beer. Also, how long of a protein rest should I do with torrified or flaked wheat. I plan on using 50-55% of the grist wheat. Thanks, Chad Mundt cmmundt at aircraftbraking.com Wadsworth, OH Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 08:31:05 -0500 From: "Bridges, Scott" <ScottBridges at sc.slr.com> Subject: Cleaning CF Chiller Bob asks: >Subject: How to clean counterflow chiller? Here is my routine. Possibly overkill, but since you can't see in there, I tend to err on the side of too much rather than too little. 1. Flush with boiling water 2. Run Bbrite (or your favorite cleaning agent) through 3. Flush with boiling water 4. Sanitize with iodophor I do this both before and after use, except that I skip the last step after use. BTW, I just bought pump #2 for my system, and the next time will employ the CIF routine you mentioned. Hope this helps. Scott Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 06:48:39 -0700 From: The Brews Traveler <BrewsTraveler at adamsco-inc.com> Subject: Re: Stone Beer > Need a source of Graywacke for making some stone beer. Any > help will be greatly appreciated? Anyone in the Northwest or > Pacific coast brewing stone beer? I cannot help you find graywacke in the Great Northwest but you can also use pink granite (which may also be hard to find up there) which you might be able to purchase at a landscaping yard. If you are interested I put together a article on my experiences with the 'style': http://www.adamsco-inc.com/BrewsTraveler/Main/howto/steinbier/ - -- John Adams The Brews Traveler http://www.adamsco-inc.com/BrewsTraveler Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 08:51:25 -0500 From: "Michael G. Zentner" <zentner at laf.cioe.com> Subject: Copper in chillers, melting hoses, and cleaning "Jones, Steve (I/T)" <stjones at eastman.com> writes: > Then I turn on > the chilling water and divert the output of the pump into my fermenter. With > the boiling wort running thru it during the sanitation cycle, any place the > inner line touched the outer line would have gotten a vinyl hose very hot, > maybe hot enough to weaken it or even melt a hole in it. > The hose does get hot, but it does not melt, and it doesn't seem to be permanently damaged by running boiling water through the chiller. I would have been more worried about the effect of heat on the pump (unless it's built for such temperatures), but it sounds like you have not had any problems with that. and "R.M. Opalko" <opalko at ebicom.net> writes: > My question is, what is the best way to clean/sanitize the inside of the > copper tubing? I know Dave Miller recommends a CIP system that includes a > recirculating pump, but I don't have and don't forsee one in the future. So > far what I have been doing is, after I'm done brewing, reusing the warm > water runoff back into one of the kettles. I boil that water and run it > back through the counterflow chiller. It clears out any gunk, but do I need > to do more? I mean, it seems like boiling water should kill anything living > in there? But do I need to re-sanitize before the next session? How? > Try to devise a cleaning method that fits in with your brewing process. For example, in mine, I always seem to have a 5 gallon batch of heavy bleach water making its way around the system. It starts in my feeder bucket (for the chiller), and ends up sanitizing my carboy (in fact, it's usually from another carboy that has recently been bottled). I run the bleach solution through the chiller. Then I boil a few gallons of water to run through the chiller afterwards to get rid of the bleach solution. I save some of the cooling water outflow to run through the chiller after the wort has made its way through, so I don't sanitize "after" the process, I just rinse. I have not had any contaminations doing it this way, but YES, I think you ought to sanitize before you brew even if you have done so after your last brew. If it's had any exposure to air in between, who knows what could be in there? Most importantly, anyone building one of these things ought to take to heart the following advice. Copper tubing has been machined, and often will have machine oils on the inside. If you intend for your hot wort to contact the inside of the tubing, make sure you try to clean it. I did not initially do this, and I noticed little oily flecs on top of whatever came out of it. Whether they are significant or not, they bothered me enough to uncoil the thing and go through some serious cleaning. I tried running household solvents through it, but that did not work. Finally, I squirted a lot of dishwasher fluid into it, and snaked stiff wire through it (had to go at it from both sides and hook up in the middle), then attached wet paper towels/rags on the ends and repeatedly dragged them through until they stopped coming out brown/black. If you want to know whether your tubing is dirty, cut off a few inches and try wiping around in there with a soapy cotton swab. Last of all, if you haven't built one of these, but want to, I will send you the directions I used for mine (just drop me an email asking for it). It's not the only way to build one and may not even be the best, but use them as you will. Also, just another note, all of my friends use immersion chillers, and their beers are just fine. All told, the immersion chiller seems like a lot less of a hassle to use (it just doesn't give me the same satisfaction of knowing that all my wort is being chilled). Mike Zentner Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 08:53:17 -0500 From: "S. SNYDER" <SSNYDER at LBGHQ.com> Subject: Re: Stein bier - Stone beer Steve spouted: >>Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2001 15:52:14 -0500 >>From: "Hill, Steve" <SHill at advanta.com> >>Subject: Stone Beer >>Need a source of Graywacke for making some stone beer. Any help will be >>greatly appreciated? Anyone in the Northwest or Pacific coast brewing stone >>beer? >>Steve Steve, Any particular reason you would want a Graywacke? Seeing as though it is "now generally applied to a dark gray firmly indurated coarse-grained sandstone that consists of poorly sorted angular to subangular grains of quartz and feldspar, with a variety of dark rock and mineral fragments, embedded in a compact clayey matrix having the general composition of slate, and containing and abundance of very fine-grained illite, sericite, and chloritic minerals," (Dictionary of Geological Terms, Bates and Jackson) (I know how everyone here likes references) why would you necessarily want a graywacke? Seriously though, is there any particular reason you have to have a greywacke? I would think that the igneous rocks (granite, trap rock (basalt), etc.) would give you a much longer heat retention time and make your life easier for a stone beer. I would think that the graywacke, which is a low temperature rock would heat up and cool off far quicker than an igneous or even metamorphic (schist, gneiss, slate) rock. Being in the area of the northwest you have quite a bit of basalt (the Columbia River Basalt flows). Even the volcanics would be of use and would hold their temps longer than a greywacke. If you are making a Stein bier, I would be surprised if the "rock of the day" for making stone beer in Germany was a graywacke. Check the local quarry. If they can't help you with finding a greywacke, they could certainly set you up with some basalt. Scott Snyder Senior Geologist Leggette, Brashears & Graham, Inc. Trumbull, CT 06611 ssnyder at lbghq.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 08:58:40 -0500 From: "Eric Fouch" <airrick147 at hotmail.com> Subject: Think you had a bad brew day? Lets see what f%ck#ng went wrong with Saturday's Belgian White session! -I used 4# instead of 3# of wheat. -The immersion heater contacted the CPVC drain manifold, causing a nasty smelling smoke to rise up out of the mashtun. -The control thermocouple was too close to the heater, causing a 20 degree discrepancy. (mashed at 135- no REAL biggie) -The Stepson's car blew the alternator belt, so I had to go pick him up. -The mash didn't stick, but I had to sparge 7 gallons to get the sugars out, necessitating a 3 hour boil (bad conversion, had to boil down to 4 gallons for 1.045 wort) -The aforementioned bad conversion -Fight with wife (pretty much a continuation from last night) -Stormed out for leisurely lunch at Wendy's (during the three hour donkey d#ck-s%ck#ng boil) and was laughed at by high school hotties because I was wearing red sweat pants, white socks and loafers. -The m$th at rscr!tch#ng tension system on the alternator would not work, so I had to use an hydraulic jack and a 5" long 3/8" rachet extension to jack the d!mn alternator in place. -The stopper on the starter flask popped into the starter. The 4 gallons of too-dark, scorched, greasy Monkey-Wrench White is happily churning in the fermenter. Who wants a bottle? Eric Fouch Monkey Wrench YocotBrewery Kentwood, MI Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 09:18:45 -0500 From: "Alan Meeker" <ameeker at mail.jhmi.edu> Subject: zinc supplementation Patrick Finerty is thinking about performing some zinc experiments - "can someone please tell me what an acceptable final conc of Zn is in wort? I'll do the expt with two 5 gal carboys (+Zn and no Zn added) with a couple of strains and report the results. my current plan is to simply add the Zn to the primary so that I avoid any ppt that may occur during the boil." Glad to hear that you're interested in checking into this! Values I have seen for desired /final/ zinc concentrations in wort fermentations are between 0.2 - 0.5 ppm. Though it obviously will vary, a typical 12P wort supposedly has 0.10 - 0.15 mg/L to start out with. I think you are right in adding it to the primary so as to minimize losses from precipitation. Just a thought but it sounds like you grow your yeast starters the same way I do and given that you're pitching a lot of very healthy yeast it may be that you won't see any dramatic effects for the various additions. -Alan Meeker Baltimore, MD Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 09:29:55 -0500 From: "Alan Meeker" <ameeker at mail.jhmi.edu> Subject: starch degradation David asks: "Can anyone please tell me where the oxygen atoms come from which are needed to fill up the empty valences every time a (1-4) glucose-glucose bond is broken? I've looked in my sources and could not find the subject addressed anywhere." The amylase reactions are typical hydrolytic reactions which means that the glycosidic bond is broken with addition of a water so this is the source of your oxygen (water). -Alan Meeker Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 10:04:07 EST From: JDPils at aol.com Subject: Calibrating Thermometers Pete brings up the most important point about temperature control, which is the fact that we all have significant variation in our mash tuns. This is certainly true of mine. The main focus of hitting the correct temperature for me is to initially limit my high temp. I have always pondered adding a mixer to my mash tun for this reason and hence why I am a frequent mash stirrer. Cheers, Jim Dunlap Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 09:52:03 -0600 From: The Freemans <potsus at Bellsouth.net> Subject: conical draining Morning Lou, I have a B3 conical that I now do not know how I lived without. Congrats on your purchase. When draining trub or taking samples, I simply remove the ferm lock. The small amount of O2 you draw in is pushed back out fairly quickly once the process is completed. The CO2 blanket is thick enough to resist any intrusion by the incoming air. Another alternative is to use vodka or some such in the lock so that if any is ingested it won't make any difference in the first place. It is not necessary to run the lock completely full either. Hope this helps. Bill Freeman aka Elder Rat K P Brewery - home of "the perfesser" Birmingham, AL Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 09:57:55 -0600 From: The Freemans <potsus at Bellsouth.net> Subject: counterflow sanitizing I have always had good results in sanitizing my counterflow by essentially doing what you have outlined. A thorough rinse after using plus I take an additional step by running StarSan or iodophor through the chiller and storing it with the liquid inside. When comes time to use it again, I boil up 4-5 gallons of water and flush it out again. An occasional treatment of PBW will thoroughly clean it out. Bill Freeman aka Elder Rat K P Brewery - home of "the perfesser" Birmingham, AL Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 08:30:24 -0800 From: Brad Miller <millerb at targen.com> Subject: A Double Brew Warning!!! Well last week I decided that as long as I was brewing and going through all the trouble to clean everything up that I'd brew twice in one day. The plan was to make a BoHo pils and then an Octoberfest. Things went well, I had a great use of time. When I got the first batch boiling I started to heat up the strike water for the second batch. The nice part was that I didn't have to clean out all of the grains from the tun or flush the lines. That's the nice part about a dullie, you only have to clean things totally out once! (or so I thought) So after the first batch was in the primaries, I scooped out all the hops I could grab and started to ruin off the next batch. When all was said and done it only took about 10 hours to make 24 gallons of beer. Now come the warning. When I started to clean up the kettle after the second batch I found something really bad. When I removed my hop screen I found some charcoal! What had happened was that since I didn't clean out the kettle between batches a lot of break material had gotten trapped under the screen and gotten burnt on the next batch. A week has past and the gravity has dropped about 20 points and the burnt taste is starting to come out. I'm not sure how bad it will be when it is done fermenting but it can't get better. So the moral of the story is, doing a double brew day is an efficient use of time but make sure you clean out the kettle or you'll loose the second batch. Brad Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 12:31:40 -0500 From: Richard Foote <rfoote at mindspring.com> Subject: Stones for Steinbier Steve Hill wrote: >Need a source of Graywacke for making some stone beer. Any help will be >greatly appreciated? Anyone in the Northwest or Pacific coast brewing stone >beer? I'm not sure about sources for the Graywacke used by Rauchenfels in Germany. This age old style was recently revived by Rauchenfels in the 80's. Is Graywacke necessary or traditional, given the short history following it's revival? What kinds of stones were used before the advent of kettles that could take direct heat? While we'd all like to adhere to the methods and materials used by brewers we admire, sometimes it isn't possible or practical. http://www.nobleunion.com/sailer/rauchenfels.html I've been using granite with good results. I got a bunch from a mason. They were "scrap" stones to him. It holds up well to the stresses of heating. It may not "bloom" like Graywacke, but it's serviceable. Boscos in Nashville uses pink granite gathered on annual trips to the Rockies. http://boscos.citysearch.com/4.html Atlanta Brewing Co. brews Kelly's Light using heated stones. http://www.atlantabrewing.com/core.html I wash my granite rocks with water and a scrub brush to remove dirt, lichens, moss, whatever and then dry them in my home oven by heating them up to 350 or so and then turning off the oven and leaving them in there overnight. You don't want them popping like popcorn in your fire. SWMBO: "What's in the oven dear?" WP: "Ummmm...rocks?" SWMBO: "Should have known it had something to do with beer." Build a good hot fire with hardwoods only. Beech is traditional. Again, use what you have. I use oak mainly. You need a good hot fire with a lot of coals. Screw any kind of grate to place them on. Throw them right in. Some may use and/or melt a fan to blow on the fire. I don't. When they're hot, (I go for 2 hours) get them out using a shovel, long tongs, a rake or any means necessary. I use an old commercial french fry type basket, which is nice. Most of the ashes will fall off the rocks when you take them out. I like to dunk the rocks, using long-handled tongs, in my hot wort one at a time, concentrating on each stone. Another method that I've not tried is to place them in the mash for a type of mash out. There are a lot of variations possible here. I've dunked them in full volume wort, I've dunked them in first runnings too. You could also dunk them after the boil. After they have transferred most of their heat, put them in a corny. I place the rocks under a CO2 blanket in my brewing fridge to await the secondary fermentation. Transfer from primary onto the rocks. I'd go a couple weeks and not too cold at first, since an ale yeast is used "traditionally". Recipe formulation: Steinbier as brewed by Rauchenfels uses a good percentage of wheat malt and ale yeast. Michael Jackson offers descriptions in his books. Wheat and pale malts are used. To approximate Rauchenfels, I'd go with 30 to 40% wheat malt, the balance pale 2 row, with some some munich for a bit of malt backbone/color and perhaps a little light crystal for color and body. You want a nice amber color. My frist effort (based on Jackson's descriptions) was good but way too light. Bittering should be moderate at 24 ibu's or so. Hop aroma and flavor should be subdued. Let the toffee malt and slight smoke come through. Choose an ale yeast that can tolerate cold and accents malt, such as an alt yeast or maybe an Edinburgh strain. Steinbier is also a manner of brewing as much as it is a style. For my next effort, I'm going with a lager yeast. Hope this helps. Rick Foote Whistle Pig Brewing Murrayville, GA Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 18:40:20 +0100 From: Aldrich4 at t-online.de (Wayne Aldrich) Subject: Food Grade Hose Someone posted a link for food grade high temperature hoses. I know I bookmarked it but I cannot find it. The HBD search cannot find it either. I recently purchased a counterflow chiller (all copper) and I would like to set up flexible hoses to connect it between my brewpot and my fermenter. Could someone please post this link again? Thank you! Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 14:12:09 -0400 From: AJ <ajdel at mindspring.com> Subject: Hydrolysis/NIST For David: It's called hydrolysis because water does the job: H H H H =C-O-C= + H2O --> =COH + HOC= "=" symbolizes the two bonds to respecitively carbon and oxygen at the left and two carbons on the right For Pete: I got a good, long chuckle out of "is it NITS or something" but, comeon folks, be nice. It's NIST. A.J. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 12:18:32 -0600 From: "Daniel C Stedman" <"daniel_c_stedman" at uhc.com> Subject: Another defective conical... Lou King writes: >I am using my new conical fermenter for the first time. >I realize if I open the bottom port to let the trub out, it will pull the >solution out of my fermentation lock. I'm thinking of pulling out the >little upsidedown cup from the fermentation lock and proceeding. Hmmm... Looks like another defective conical fermenter. Go ahead and send it to me & I should be able to fix it for you by November. You should probably send me a couple of cases of the beer that you have made using this fermentor, too - this often helps me determine the cause of the problem. Dan in Minnetonka (who is still trying to "acquire" a conical fermentor for the upcoming brewing season) Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 12:23:47 -0600 From: "Daniel C Stedman" <"daniel_c_stedman" at uhc.com> Subject: RE: Another defective conical... Well, I decided I might as well post something helpful instead of trying to get everyone to send me their conical fermenters. I say take the airlock off when you are going to drop yeast/trub out of the bottom. Someone more anal might even tell you to stuff a piece of cotton in the airlock port while you are dropping the stuff, since this would potentially filter out nasties that might otherwise get sucked into your fermenter. But since your beer is already fermented, this is probably unnecessary. Easy, though, so what the heck... Dan in Minnetonka Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 14:44:08 -0500 From: "Joseph Marsh" <josephmarsh62 at hotmail.com> Subject: RE:cleaning chillers R.M.Opalko asks about chiller sanitation. I just run about 3 gals of boiling water thru mine and drain it out well then blow a bit of CO2 thru it and cap all openings. Aluminium foil works for pipe caps. After several brewing sessions I run some PBW ,Power brew wash thru it. While were on chillers, I'd just add that most work well and do what they say they will. So I've heard. I just objected to someone saying a friend of mines product was no good. Good brewing, Joe Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 11:41:43 -0800 From: Joel Eledge <joele at sequence.stanford.edu> Subject: Re: North Tampa area Beer - -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: North Tampa area Beer Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 11:24:35 -0800 From: Joel Eledge <joele at sequence.stanford.edu> Organization: Stanford Genome Technology Center To: post@ hdb.org > Can anyone help me with good beer stores in the north Tampa area. I recently > relocated and can't find much better than Becks and the like from Walgreens. > ABC liquors has some goodies, but its all in the $7 range. > I grew up in North Tampa before moving to San Francisco in 1997. I used to get imports and micros from a store called World of Beer on Waters Avenue, just west of Dale Mabry Highway. They had an excellent selection. The store was right next to the Brew Shack, the homebrew store that got me started homebrewing. I would highly recommend both stores, but I haven't checked in on either establishment since moving in late 1997. I used to think paying $7 was a lot for a six-pack (until I moved to the Bay Area). Hope this helps. -Joel - -- Joel Eledge Production Engineering Technician Stanford Genome Technology Center 855 California Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94304 Tel:(650) 812-2009 Fax: (650) 812-1975 joele at sequence.stanford.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 14:54:14 -0500 (EST) From: The Man From Plaid <pbabcock at hbd.org> Subject: RE: Hops: Pellets vs. Cakes... Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to your lager... "Mr. Shane A. Saylor" <shane.saylor at verizon.net> writes of Hops: Pellets vs. Cakes... > Greetings. I have question of great interest. Most > homebrewers get hop pellets (I assume) because they are the most > common for of the various hops available. But on The Food Network, I > was watching Emril Live! with Chef Emril Lagasse. He maid a ale. And > he had a gent from a NY Brewery on and they were discussing the > various hops, grains & malts. In his ale, Emril used not hop pellets, > but HOP CAKES. I assume that the cakes are fresher and therefore add a > more "hoppy" flavor to the brew. Thoughts??? > > P.S. What exactly are the PROS & CONS of using pellets vs. cakes? First, let me say that Emeril Lagasse is a wonder, exquisite, exemplary chef! Second, let me say that, when looking to emulate someone's brewing skills and depth, Emeril is a rank novice brewer :-) The "cakes" that Emeril was using were, from my recollection, what we refer to as plugs. The order of "desirability" in terms of freshness and fresh flavors are generatlly whole hops first, followed by plugs and, finally, pellets. In terms of accessibility of hop oils to the brew, the rank is pellets, plugs, then fresh hops. If you want hop FLAVORS, arguably, you'd want to use the whole hops. If your goal is hop BITTERNESS, you'd likely want the pellets. Plugs are in the middle. (I prefer whole hops for everything - particularly for their filtering capabilities in the boil kettle - plugs have this same feature. Pellets are broken into tiny, siphon plugging fibers. I find less stem and leaf material in whole hops as well - not that I'd be able to recognize it in a pellet...) All hops are harvested and dried in the same manner. Pellets are created by putting hops through a medieval torture device re-employed to crush the hops (or whatever else you choose to subject to its evil influence...) into unrecognizable pellets of crushed stuff. This device is called a "hammer mill". Plugs are compressed into tubes, nott quite as roughly as the pellets are, but enough to rupture some of the lupulin glands. (I don't believe there is any one left importing plugs to the US, let alone making them...). Finally, fresh hops are humanely packaged and shipped out to your local homebrew store for sale. - -- - See ya! Pat Babcock in SE Michigan pbabcock at hbd.org Home Brew Digest Janitor janitor@hbd.org HBD Web Site http://hbd.org The Home Brew Page http://hbd.org/pbabcock "The monster's back, isn't it?" - Kim Babcock after I emerged from my yeast lab Saturday Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 15:03:52 -0600 From: "Mike Pensinger" <beermkr at bellatlantic.net> Subject: Maximum usage of hops Hello all, Bieng displaced from my brewing setup (it is Norfolk and I am in Chicago) I have had an overly large amount of time to think about brewing :) Not a bad thing but now i have a question for the collective: I want to know if there is a maximum amount of bitterness that can be extracted from a given amount of hops. For example, if I use 1 oz of cascades is the a number of minutes I can boil it to where no more bitterness will be imparted into the wort? Just curious Mike Pensinger beermkr at bellatlantic.net http://members.bellatlantic.net/~beermkr over 900 miles from my brewery :) Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 08:31:05 -0500 From: "Bridges, Scott" <ScottBridges at sc.slr.com> Subject: Cleaning CF Chiller Bob asks: >Subject: How to clean counterflow chiller? Here is my routine. Possibly overkill, but since you can't see in there, I tend to err on the side of too much rather than too little. 1. Flush with boiling water 2. Run Bbrite (or your favorite cleaning agent) through 3. Flush with boiling water 4. Sanitize with iodophor I do this both before and after use, except that I skip the last step after use. BTW, I just bought pump #2 for my system, and the next time will employ the CIF routine you mentioned. Hope this helps. Scott Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 17:38:17 -0500 From: "Axle Maker" <axlemaker at mindspring.com> Subject: Aeration Hello All ! I used to be a carboy shaker, but through the years that got old, as well as I myself am getting old : - ) Anyway I bought a aeration stone from Williams Brewing, it uses a HEPA filter and a fish pump, they say 5 mins is all you need to properly aerate the wort, I didn't think this was enough so I was gonna go at least 15 mins, but within seconds ( maybe 10 ) it foamed up and was gonna pour out the top of the carboy if I didn't stop ( I use a 5 gal. glass water bottle for a carboy ). So if anyone would be kind enough to help, what i'm trying to figure out is what to do about the foaming and once that is solved, how long should I aerate the wort ? TIA ! Axle... Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 18:31:32 -0600 From: "Marc Hawley" <Marc_Hawley at email.msn.com> Subject: Indianapolis Relax. Don't worry about finding beer in Indianapolis. If you run out of home brew, you can buy Bell's imported from Kalamazoo. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 18:51:58 -0800 From: "Steve Guernsey" <flight8341 at home.com> Subject: FW: Chest freezer conversion advice. I just had a real heartbreaker happen to me last night. Before I get to the meat of this post I must explain my loss in the hope that, however remote, I might find some catharsis. The story begins 3 months ago when the Garage Brewing boys and I brewed up our "bread 'n butter", the ever evolving Industrial Pale Ale (har, har), a very big and bold NW style pale. The beer is always a hit with the aficionados and the ignorant alike....5 gallons is never really enough. It had been a while since we had brewed it and where quite anxious. After patiently fermenting my 5 gallons (of the 20) for the usual month, I kegged it and placed it into my chest freezer that I inherited with the house. All was well.....for 1 week. Well, the 15 year old freezer decided to give up on me. I tried finding a cheap replacement. I even paid a fine individual to make a housecall and tell me my freezer was broke and not worth fixing. Meanwhile my beer is sitting at garage temperature. Finally after a month of shopping around, I decide to take the plunge and buy a 22 cft chest freezer. The aged IPA's flavor had changed to something very different from the usual. More complex hop and malt flavor. Tasty for sure but it had yet to capture my heart...until last week. Something "clicked" in my palette and I began to fall head over heels in love with this beer. I would eagerly await nightfall everyday for my chance to rendezvous with her. When we met it was always fast and then slow. The first half of the glass would be speedily spent in greedy tiny gulps, hardly allowing time for air. The last half was spent staring intently into the glass and deeply inhaling all of the aroma that she would give me. Then when the temptation was too much, I would gulp loudly from her until she could give no more. Then we would depart. This went on until last night. Maybe it was destiny or maybe it was the fitful wrangling of the tap line by a lusty parched man but the unthinkable happened. I came home last night particularly eager to quench a thirst that only 12.5 hours at work can create in a man. I rushed in the door and shakily grabbed my glass. I ran to the garage and opened my chest freezer and ....AAAAiiiiiieeeeee. All 2.5 gallons of her were pooled into the bottom of my chest freezer. At first I thought sabotage. SWMBO has been feeling a little left out lately....yes, jealousy perhaps. I began to look for evidence of this sacrilege. No, the cobra tap wasn't locked open. Maybe she just held it open with her hand as she laughed and laughed at the slowly growing pool of my IPA. I then looked to the ball lock fitting on the keg. Doh! the tap line had come loose from the ball lock. It appears that in my eagerness every night for the last week, I had not been careful with the tap line, nor had I ensured that the line was tightened to begin with. Needless to say, I went to bed a sad and lonely man that ight. -sigh- OK, now that you have felt my pain, here's the meat. I swung by Steinbart's today and talked to the God of all that is kegs behind the counter about modifying my chest freezer so I wouldn't have to cry over spilt beer ever again. He suggested using some 2x4s between the chest and the lid so I didn't have to drill into my new freezer. It sounded good at the time so I bought some parts, but then as I drove home I began to wonder about the effectiveness of using 2X4's as an insulator. Yeah, I could rig up something and make it semi-airtight, but how much heat would come in through the wood? Could some kind souls relate their experience converting chest freezers to me? Steve Aloha, OR (some distance west of Renner, I'm sure) Maltboy Garage Brewing (gearing up for the 50 gallon brew day!) Return to table of contents
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