HOMEBREW Digest #4475 Sat 14 February 2004


[Prev HBD] [Index] [Next HBD] [Back]


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


***************************************************************
       THIS YEAR'S HOME BREW DIGEST BROUGHT TO YOU BY: 

                  Beer, Beer, and More Beer
      Visit http://morebeer.com to show your appreciation!

    Support those who support you! Visit our sponsor's site!
********** Also visit http://hbd.org/hbdsponsors.html *********


Contents:
  Re: Heating Element for HLT (Kent Fletcher)
  Cidery beers ("Dave Burley")
  impressive compact home brewery (Jeff Renner)
  Steep vs Mash - ppg ("National Midnight Star Brewery")
  Clintest (HOMEBRE973)
  Mold in my Easy Masher, mold in my Berliner Weiss (Michael Grice)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The HBD Logo Store is now open! * * http://www.hbd.org/store.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Suppport this service: http://hbd.org/donate.shtml * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Send articles for __publication_only__ to post@hbd.org If your e-mail account is being deleted, please unsubscribe first!! To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE send an e-mail message with the word "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to request@hbd.org FROM THE E-MAIL ACCOUNT YOU WISH TO HAVE SUBSCRIBED OR UNSUBSCRIBED!!!** IF YOU HAVE SPAM-PROOFED your e-mail address, you cannot subscribe to the digest as we cannot reach you. We will not correct your address for the automation - that's your job. HAVING TROUBLE posting, subscribing or unsusubscribing? See the HBD FAQ at http://hbd.org. The HBD is a copyrighted document. The compilation is copyright HBD.ORG. Individual postings are copyright by their authors. ASK before reproducing and you'll rarely have trouble. Digest content cannot be reproduced by any means for sale or profit. More information is available by sending the word "info" to req@hbd.org or read the HBD FAQ at http://hbd.org. JANITOR on duty: Pat Babcock and Spencer Thomas (janitor@hbd.org)
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 22:11:18 -0800 (PST) From: Kent Fletcher <fletcherhomebrew at yahoo.com> Subject: Re: Heating Element for HLT Bruce apparently put a standard element (the only kind sold by his source) in his HLT and is now getting a rusty looking accumulation. Bruce, you want to use an element with lower watt-density than a standard element. The longer the element at the same wattage, the lower the watt-density. Even better is to get one with an Incaloy or Nickaloy sheath. They're made for use in areas with extrememly hard water and/or problematic water chemistry. They go by various names such as "Water Wizard" and are also very low watt-density. Grainger carries them, but so do HD, Lowes, etc. Also, do you know what's in your water? You might have an iron problem. Kent Fletcher Brewing in So Cal Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004 09:59:46 -0500 From: "Dave Burley" <Dave_Burley at charter.net> Subject: Cidery beers Brewsters, Fredrik does some experiments and speculation on the origin of cidery taste in high sugar beers. My first brew back in 1969 was a can of Blue Ribbon Malt Extract and several pounds of sugar made up according to a surreptitious recipe I got in a plain blue envelope with no return address. My log book says "cidery taste". So my observation even in those early days of no books and no yeast and etc. agrees with all those later authors. Lacking the experimental details, I have to ask Fredrik was the sugar in your experiment dissolved in boiling water first? Sugar has various bacterial cultures no doubt. I always boil a sugar syrup before I use it in a fermentation. I do suspect your speculation of alternate pathways is a more likely explanation than contamination, as it is such a universal observation that excess sugar gives beer a cidery taste. I wonder how Corona avoids that problem? Keep on Brewin' Dave Burley Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004 10:44:58 -0500 From: Jeff Renner <jeffrenner at comcast.net> Subject: impressive compact home brewery Graham L Sanders <craftbrewer at bigpond.com> posted this on the Oz Craftbrewing Digest: > A german craftbrewer Axel Eifert has made what is probably what is the most > compact all grain brewing system you are ever likely to see. He calls it a > brew tower, and the whole unit is a stand alone system. It is very > impressive. This is indeed remarkable. Take a look at http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Gear/Axel/PerfectBrewTower.shtml Jeff - -- Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, JeffRenner at comcast.net "One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943 Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004 18:02:13 -0500 From: "National Midnight Star Brewery" <nationalmidnightstarbrewery at hotmail.com> Subject: Steep vs Mash - ppg Since the bandwidth is low lately, I have got a question that has been at the back of my mind. I have a few buddies that do steeping while I do all grain. If you look at most, if not all, recipes in books and magazines that have both types of recipes, you will note that the specialty grains amount does not change if you steep or mash. Looking in John Palmers book (http://www.howtobrew.com) you get different amounts of sugars from the same amount of specialty grains if you steep or mash. For example: Medium crystal mashed is 29 ppg (at 85% efficiency) while it is 18 ppg if you steep. (http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12-4-1.html). Am I missing something? Why don't the recipes call for more specialty grains when you steep to account for the lower yield? I have been thinking it is just one more reason to use to convince my buddies that all grain is the way to go (Mash = more flavor from the specialty grains) but I still don't know. Any help will be appreciated! William Menzl Midland, Michigan [99.8, 344.8] Apparent Rennerian National Midnight Star Brewery Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2004 16:27:55 -0500 From: HOMEBRE973 at aol.com Subject: Clintest I used to use CLintest by Ames to measure reducing sugars in my beer before bottling, but it has disappeared from the stores around here. Since it was only about $9 per 36 tablets it was cheap! Anybody have any suggestions for a replacement that isn't too expensive. Even a high tech alternative woould be ok if it was cost effective. Thanks Andy from Hillsborough Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2004 19:04:44 -0600 From: Michael Grice <grice at binc.net> Subject: Mold in my Easy Masher, mold in my Berliner Weiss Ordinarily when I clean up after brewing, I take apart my Easy Masher, or at least leave the valve open and the kettle on its side. The last time I brewed, I didn't take the Easy Masher apart and I left the valve closes. Mold grew inside. So I gave it a pretty thorough cleaning. Since I was going to make a Berliner Weiss (and hence not going to take the wort to full boil), I boiled the Easy Masher components to stay on the safe side. So I pitched the lactobacillus culture after mashing on Tuesday and I've been checking it every day to see if it's tart enough to pitch the yeast. Today I saw what were obviously colonies of mold floating on the surface of the wort, which tastes fine (albeit not quite as tart as I would like--it's been more of a pain than I thought keeping it warm enough). The wort tastes fine, by the way. I'm going to do a quick boil (15-30 minutes) and then pitch the yeast; I expect the batch to turn out to be drinkable. But I'm concerned about my kettle and Easy Masher. Is it likely that I've gotten the mold from my Easy Masher, or from my kettle (which hasn't gotten any hotter than 185 degrees Fahrenheit in a few weeks)? Would anybody recommend doing anything else to further sanitize either? Or is this just a consequence of the fact that the lactobacillus wasn't acting too quickly and I hadn't pitched the yeast yet? Thanks, Michael Middleton WI Return to table of contents
[Prev HBD] [Index] [Next HBD] [Back]
HTML-ized on 02/14/04, by HBD2HTML v1.2 by KFL
webmaster@hbd.org, KFL, 10/9/96
/n