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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: janitor@hbd.org


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Contents:
  Re: Using a Camp Chef Indoors (Thanks for the suggestions) ("Gary Smith")
  Stuck pumpkin gunk ("Abby, Davey, Ellen and Alan")
  Conditioning/aging questions (misaacs)
  BJCP Approves Commercial Competitions ("Houseman, David L")
  HBD Red Cross Match Fund Final Status (Pat Babcock)
  [0,0] Rennerian (Jeff Renner)
  re:Beta Testers Required (Walt Lewis)
  discolored immersion chiller ("Tom Williams")
  Amazing Beer Math ("Mark Tumarkin")
  Covering exposed wires on heater elements (Kevin McDonough)


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Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 01:24:14 -0500
From: "Gary Smith" <mandolinist at interlync.com>
Subject: Re: Using a Camp Chef Indoors (Thanks for the suggestions)

Hi all,

It's a tough decision as to what to do re: 
winter brewing. 

I've appreciated the off & on line replies 
to my original question about using my 
camp chef indoors during the winter. 
Some people seem to have had good luck 
with brewing indoors during the nasty 
time of year. Some of the responses were 
cautioning me against using gas indoors 
and some of the responses recommended 
I have great ventilation & with common 
sense precautions & observance, things 
would likely go well. 

There are 3 windows with vents in this 
basement and an exhaust fan for the
rabbit's room. Since there are windows I 
can open for ventilation (& install a fan 
against to blow out) and there's a concern 
for CO build-up. I'm thinking a hybrid 
electric/propane setup might be the best 
way to go.

This would allow me to use electricity and 
a far smaller amount of gas on the 
boilkettle which would still do the required 
job of rolling boil.


As I mentioned in my first post, I do have 
a rims setup. This one generates 1,600 
watts with 110V into a huge ultra-low-
watt-density element which is in a special 
order stainless chamber from Moving 
Brews (What a great resource). The 
element is 22" long but is folded & U 
shaped. If one were to straighten the 
element into one single rod it would be 
over 80" long so even if there were no 
thermostat it wouldn't caramelize the 
sugars given there's a large magnetic 
pump in line.

I have a peristaltic pump as well & high 
temp Noprene hose for my connections. I 
can disconnect at nearly every junction 
via quick disconnects so what I'm thinking 
is to re-route my output from the boil
kettle back to the boil kettle via the rims 
chamber and rest the sparge arm on the 
bottom. I can turn the temp in the 
chamber up to full which should bring it to 
near boiling and then use the propane to 
tip it over to full boil. 

It will probably take a bit longer to brew 
but I think this will be a good answer. I will 
do this near a vent in the basement and 
hook up a large muffin fan to exhaust the 
moisture and air. 

I'll bring the CO monitor down to be 
positive all is well and I'll purchase two 
propane tanks to last the winter & bring 
them downstairs so there won't be any 
expansion problems by them warming up 
too fast were I to bring them in from the 
freezing outdoors.

I'm almost thinking it would be a good 
idea cost wise (Heat source expense) to 
convert the whole thing to electricity but I 
really like brewing outside & the actual 
cost of the two extra elements, fixtures &
heliarcing to the boil kettle will add up 
pretty fast. Not to mention the cost of an 
electrician to come over and rewire the 
circuit.

I'll give a try to the hybrid idea when I 
bring the rims beast in from the garage to 
the basement. I'll check first to see how 
hot I can get the water using rims alone & 
I'll go from there (understanding that 
sugar water will take more energy to heat 
than straight water).

Cheers,

Gary




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Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 08:51:08 -0300
From: "Abby, Davey, Ellen and Alan" <elal at pei.sympatico.ca>
Subject: Stuck pumpkin gunk

I make a Ringwood Honey Pumpkin Porter on an extract base and have a
suggestion.   It might not be the pumpkin so much as the puree.   I grow
my own pumpkins, roast them and scoop the roasty mash into freezer bags
for later use.  I do not puree the gunk so it is very fiberous.  When I
brew, I use a pound or two and when I am rinsing the grain/pumpkin
mini-mash into the boil it flows fine.   Best of all for the porter the
roasting brings out some caramelly flavours that really make it work
nicely with the good ol' tang o' the Ringwood yeast.   Probably also a
fraction of the price of canned stuff even if you buy the pumpkin.

Alan McLeod
Brewin' in PEI, Canada


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Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 08:15:44 -0400
From: misaacs <misaacs at bigfoot.com>
Subject: Conditioning/aging questions

Hello all,

I brewed a belgian ale a month ago and the ferment just finished. Similar
Belgian recipes I have studied suggested aging the beer. I need some advice
on my next step. A little about the recipe, fermented a little warmer and
longer than I anticipated:

St. Somewhere Abbey
Strong Belgian Ale, Dubbel
Batch (GAL): 10.00
Actual OG: 1.060 
Actual FG: 1.009   
Pitched: WYeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale
Primary: 6 days  at  68 degrees F
Secondary: 21 days  at  65 degrees F

I would finish any other ale by tossing the kegs in the fridge and crash
cooling for 2 days, transfer to clean serving kegs and force
carbonate, serving two days later.

Would this beer benifit from aging a bit? If so, for how long, at cellar or
serving temps, before or after carbonation?

Thanks in advance,
Mike in CT
- -- 
misaacs at bigfoot.com
Son of a Son of a Aler
Nothing scares me like, "Vampires, Mummies and the Holy Klosh"
Jolly Mon Brewery









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Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 10:11:43 -0400
From: "Houseman, David L" <David.Houseman at unisys.com>
Subject: BJCP Approves Commercial Competitions

For those BJCP Judges who may not receive JudgeNet:

From: Bill Slack  Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 14:41:33 -0400
Subject: BJCP judges at commercial competitions


The Board of Directors has approved the awarding of experience points to
BJCP judges who judge in commercially sponsored beer competitions
provided that the competition is registered  with the BJCP in the usual
manner, that the contest is fair (blind tasting) and that the category
definitions and evaluation procedures are reasonably consistent with the
BJCP rules. This way we can allow the commercial organizers some leeway
in organizing their events while still rewarding BJCP judges for
exercising their basic judging skills.  We feel that this increased
contact between the BJCP and the commercial brewing community will be
beneficial to both.

If you know of a commercial beer competition that could use some BJCP
expertise in their event please refer them to our website
http://www.bjcp.org for info/instructions on registering their
competition with us.

Cheers.

Bill Slack
President and Representative for the Northeast Region
Board of Directors
Beer Judge Certification Program, Inc.

David Houseman
Chester Springs, PA



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Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 14:24:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: Pat Babcock <pbabcock at hbd.org>
Subject: HBD Red Cross Match Fund Final Status

Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to your lager...

Wow! Took a trip out to the PO Box before submitting our
donation to the Red Cross and, lo and behold: another $220.00!
That makes for a total of $1320.00 donated through the Ford
Motor Company Employee Matching Gift Program (I donated $100.00
through it 9/13 as well as the $1220.00 we're sending in today).
That's $2640.00 added to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund
through our fund raising effort.

Kim summed it up best: "The HBD is amazing. Whenever there's a
need, they come through." She is, of course, also referring to
the many, many times you've come quickly to the need of the HBD
itself, and how quickly, each time we've been stricken, funds
spent to rebuild our systems were replaced, then doubled and 
tripled (trippel'ed?).

You folks _ARE_ amazing. Thank you. I'm proud - truly proud - to
serve as your janitor.

PS: The donors named on the HBD Red Cross Donation Ledger are
entitled to dedicate a memorial plaque on the HBD memorial page
(http://hbd.org/memorial.html). Please email me with your
dedication text and, if applicable, URL. Thanks again. You are
all the greatest.

-- 
-
God bless America!

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




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Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 15:24:45 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <JeffRenner at mediaone.net>
Subject: [0,0] Rennerian

It's slow these days, so I will take the liberty of being silly and off topic.

On Friday, Brian Levetzow (Delta) <levetzowbt at home.com> wrote:

>Rennerian coord = [428.204618,118.63256183]
>WGS84 Ellipsoidal distance / true bearing
>~
>For this calculation, the Center of the Homebrewing Universe
>[0,0] was fixed at the intersection of Huron River Dr. and Zeeb Rd.
>(is that close, Jeff?)

Then today, he wrote:

>On my last post (first with Rennerian coords, Henning method), I thought
>I got smart, and used an estimated [0,0] origin somewhere in Jeff's
>neighborhood.  Well duh... there's this thing called the HBD arvhive,
>and I found his [0,0] GPS coords in #3515.
>
>This threw my calcs off by 1.56 miles and 11' 4.2" in bearing.  I knew I
>felt lost for a day or so.... now I know why!  ( B^)

and this time he included the even more useable information:

>Laurel, MD

Glad to see you've tightened up your Rennerian coordinates.  Your 
original guess of Huron River Drive and Zeeb is 2.07 miles north 
(bearing 342^) of me.  Still, a pretty good guess from 426.644102 
miles away.

Did you use some web site for your calculations?

In HBD 3515 last December, which you referred to, I wrote:

>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.

Well, it isn't cold or snowy here now, so here are my refined coordinates:

0,0 Rennerian is now:

N 42^17'47.0"
W 83^49'34.2"

Now you'll have to revise your Rennerian coordinates again!

The good result from all this silliness is that in today's HBD, 7 out 
of 10 posters gave their locations (although Drew Avis didn't tell us 
where Merrickville is [eastern Ontario?]), and an 8th, Curt Speaker, 
tells us he's at Penn State University, so we can figure he's 
somewhere near Unhappy Valley, PA (go Blue!).

Now if only we can get Janitor Babcock to get with the program.  (For 
those not in the know, he's in Canton, Michigan.)

So here you are, Patrick, your coordinates are:

[18.1, 092] Rennerian.  Just "Canton, MI" works for me.

Too bad you weren't at [0,0] Rennerian last night for the AABG 
meeting.  You missed being interviewed by the reporter from the local 
newspaper (she stayed for the whole meeting and sampled just about 
every beer - tough job!).  (There - I mentioned beer to make it an 
on-topic post).

Jeff
Official HBD Geography Enforcer




- -- 
Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, JeffRenner at mediaone.net
"One never knows, do one?"  Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943


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Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2001 07:52:06 -0400
From: Walt Lewis <wlewis at alliedlogistics.com>
Subject: re:Beta Testers Required

I've been using StrangeBrew for about a year now and find it to be ther
perfect blend of thorough and simple. I'd Love to pitch in Drew, count
me in.

Walt Lewis

walt_lnospam at hotmail.com

REmove nospam to reply



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Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2001 10:22:30 -0400
From: "Tom Williams" <williams2353 at hotmail.com>
Subject: discolored immersion chiller

Tidmarsh Major has trouble with his immersion chiller:

"Recently I've noticed some black discoloration on my copper immersion
chiller. The discoloration is uneven and spotty <snip>  I noticed verdegris
forming on parts of the coils after soaking in PBW. <snip>  I soak the
kettle & chiller in a hot PBW solution (1/2 c. to 9 gal) for up to an hour
before draining and cleaning."

Perhaps one of the HBD metallurgists could comment on the process forming
these deposits on Tidmarsh's copper chiller.  I don't know what PBW is
(iodine? bleach?), but it sounds like the source of the corrosion deposits.

My contribution to the discussion is this:  Why do you do this to your
immersion chiller?  One of the benefits of an immersion chiller over a
counterflow chiller is that this type of sanitizing is not necessary.  I
suggest that you simply rinse the chiller thoroughly after brewing, removing
any solid particles stuck to it, and then on the next brew day, boil it in
the wort kettle for a few minutes prior to starting the cooling water flow.
I suspect that boiling is more effective than the chemical sanitizers
anyway.

Tom Williams
Dunwoody, Georgia


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Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2001 17:12:50 -0400
From: "Mark Tumarkin" <mark_t at ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Amazing Beer Math




   BEER MATHEMATICS (Don't cheat, work it through)

   This is pretty neat how it works out.
   This is amazing beer math!!!!!!!

   DON'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST!

   It only takes about a minute.......
   Work this out as you read.

   Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!

   This is not one of those waste of time things, it's fun (& it's about
   beer).


   1. First of all, pick the number of times a week
       that you would like to have a beer (try for more than once but less
       than 10, girls can substitute their favorite drink)


   2. Multiply this number by 2 (Just to be bold)


   3. Add 5. (for Friday Night)


   4. Multiply it by 50. I'll wait while you get the
calculator................


    5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1751....
        If you haven't, add 1750 ..........


    6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born. (if you remember)

   You should have a three digit number

    Now here's the kicker!!!!!!!!!!!      Are you Ready???????????????


    The first digit of this was your original number!
    (i.e., how many times you want to have a beer each week).

    The next two numbers are your age.

    IMPRESSIVE ISN'T IT?

    THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2001) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT
     AROUND AND AMAZE YOUR FRIENDS





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Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2001 18:16:17 -0400
From: Kevin McDonough <kmcdonou at nmu.edu>
Subject: Covering exposed wires on heater elements

I have just installed two hot water heater elements in my HLT and boiling 
kettle.  I am trying to find an effective way of covering the exposed 
element wires.  I could always cover them with electrical tape, but I would 
like better water resistance when I clean the kegs.  Any suggestions?



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