HOMEBREW Digest #4727 Sun 27 February 2005


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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  Irish kegging equipment (Calvin Perilloux)
  Regulator mishap (Lou King)
  Approximating British Pale in Germany (Fred Johnson)
  Re: Help with Electric Systems (Bill Tobler)
  Quick Connects ("Paul Niebergall")
  RE:  Help with Electric System (Scott McAfee)
  Conical dump valve size ("Craig Wheeler")
  Re: "No Hose Barb" ("Pete Calinski")
  Yeast Food Packs (Pete Limosani)
  Re: Pale malt in Germany ("Greg 'groggy' Lehey")
  Last call for entries (John Larsen)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 22:06:31 -0800 (PST) From: Calvin Perilloux <calvinperilloux at yahoo.com> Subject: Irish kegging equipment Peter Cox asks about his kegging equipment: > I'll be moving back to Ireland soon, and am not sure > if the standards are the same there. > If I take my kegs and cylinder/regulator back with me, > will I be able to get refills/replacement parts? Or am I better > off leaving the gear here and getting new stuff in Ireland? Much better to just leave it at my house in the USA, where I'll dispose of it for you. But seriously... I'll take a guess that the Irish standards are probably the same (or nearly) to the English standards. Bring most of your kit. I'm assuming you're talking about the usual 5-gal keg system that homebrewers use, and not the commercial Sankey/etc. stuff. Here's the details, based on my UK experience, which I think would *probably* apply for Ireland/EU: (1) Corny kegs. Great! You can maybe get parts in the UK, ir possibly Ireland, but for small things like poppets, etc. just order them from the USA. They're light and cheap to ship. Corny kegs are in use in the UK by homebrewers but are a premium item, rather expensive. So bring yours. (2) Regulator. I've used my British regulator in the UK, Australia, and in the USA as well. No problem, but your US regulator probably has that unfathomable psi stuff instead of kPa and Bar. It might confuse people who use those things over there. Hee hee. But you'll manage OK, and it ought to work just as usual. Make sure you have washers, not the "washerless" fittings I've seen on a few US regulator/tank sets. (3) CO2 tank. This might be the only problem. First off, you'll almost certainly have to ship it empty. Then to get it filled, I'm not sure the test stamp from the US is recognised over there. Not only that, some places require that you lease/rent/borrow THEIR tanks, and they won't even touch yours. I think Air Liquide was bad about that. BOC and distributors were better. So I'd sell the tank here, barring any disputing evidence from someone else on HBD. And if you're lucky enough to live three doors down from a welding supply shop like I did (nice neighbour- hood -- note that only a homebrewer might call that "lucky"!) then they'll fix you up one way or another. Calvin Perilloux Middletown, Maryland, USA Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 06:54:08 -0500 From: Lou King <lking at pobox.com> Subject: Regulator mishap Embarrassing, but this morning I let beer flow into my regulator when I was force carbonating a batch. I have blown it out with CO2, taken off the outflow barb, sprayed star san into it and blew it out again. I hesitate to just drop it into BLC then star san because I don't know what is inside. I could try to take it apart, but don't really have the right tools and worry about getting it back together without leaks, but will do this if it's the only way to be assured of clean CO2. (Of course I'd take off the guages before dropping it into any solution). Any suggestions? Is there anyone else out there willing to admit they're fool enough to let this happen? Or perhaps someone who knows something about the insides of regulators... (Sorry for the crosspost, but HBD has been a little slow lately.) Lou King Ijamsville, MD http://www.lousbrews.info Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 07:06:06 -0500 From: Fred Johnson <FLJohnson at portbridge.com> Subject: Approximating British Pale in Germany Some have suggested that British Pale malt could be approximated using German Pilsner malt and about 5% light crystal. I'm not sure how light the crystal is that is available in Germany, but even 5% of American crystal 20L gives a considerably darker beer than straight British Pale. My calculations are closer to 1% of a 20L crystal will come closer to the color of British Pale malt, and if the lightest Belgian CaraMunich is used, it would be closer to 0.5%. I have no idea how close in flavor these beers would be with these substitutions. Might be a nice experiment. Fred L Johnson Apex, North Carolina, USA Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 08:54:29 -0600 From: Bill Tobler <brewbetter at houston.rr.com> Subject: Re: Help with Electric Systems Hey Eric. Good choice on going electric. I've been brewing with electric for 3 or 4 years now and love it. If you go about it proper like, (Use 240 volt only) you will have no power problems at all like Baruch Mettler said he had. Below you will find a link to my electric brewery. It's just some pictures on nikonnet.com in the form of a picture album. I don't have a web site yet, so I use them. Like kent Fletcher said, the elements are 1" straight thread. In my opinion, the best way to mount these are to use SS 1" full couplings welded into your kettle. Picture attached. Use the rubber washer that came with the element. (You have to use what's called a "Low Density Element". This is the one that is folded back on itself. The theory is that the longer element does not have to get as hot as the short ones to put out the same amount of heat. In the HLT, you can use a high wattage high element if you want, cause you can't scorch water. (I have a 7000 watt element in the HLT) In the kettle, you want the low density element so you don't scorch the wort. You can go as high as 5500 watts, if you have a way to control the element. I'll get to control later. ) I took the couplings to a machine shop and had them run a 1" straight pipe tap into one side of the coupling. (The tap is called a NPS, or National Pipe Straight) If you do that, you can screw the element in by hand every brew session and remove them by hand. No leaks and no tools. If you choose not to tap out the threads, the element will still screw into the coupling, but it will get hard to screw in before the washer seals, and you will have to use a wrench. It's because the straight part of the thread is getting into the tapered part of the coupling. But it works. The elements need to be cleaned after every session so you don't get a build-up of crud on them. If that happens, they loose some heat transfer ability, draw more amps, the wires get hot, things burn up....you get the idea. A couple of tips on getting the couplings welded on the kettle. Use full couplings, not the half coupling. Have the coupling welded on so most of the coupling is on the outside. This gives you an extra 1"-2" of space in case your element is too long and wants to hit the other side of the kettle before it is seated. If using a sanke keg, note where the weep holes are on top, and avoid putting the elements below one of them. When you have a boilover, it would be nice not to drench the elements in sticky wort... Controlling the vigor of the boil is the next trick. I played around with stove top controllers with no luck. To get around using a controller, I used two elements in the kettle, one 4500 watt and one 3500 watt. I brought the wort up to a boil using the 4500 watt element, then switched to the 3500 watt to maintain the boil. It worked very good. I used double pole/single throw 240 vac switches. The 4500 watt element at full power is just a little bit too much heat once the wort gets up to a boil. You have to keep a close eye on the boil, it's very vigorous, and you have a high boil-off rate. Another electric brewer friend found a electronics guy to build him a PWM controller using the 555 timer like the one Ron uses. I had one built for myself and I call it my SSR driver. It works great. I use just one element now, the 4500 watt and just turn it down a little when the boil starts. Electric brewing indoors is great. In my opinion, you must use 220 volts so you don't spend half your time waiting for things to get hot. This takes some serious power requirements, but it is worth the extra trouble. Feel free to email me if you have any questions or problems. Below is the link to NikonNet. You may have to cut and paste the lines to get it to work. The password gives guest privileges only. You will not need to use it, it's in the url. http://home2.nikonnet.com/servlet/com.arcsoft.LoginNew? com=arcsoftBanner&awp=index3.html&DIRECT=&USERNAME=wctobler&PASSWORD=nik oneditor_-42477439&WHO=memberguest Bill Tobler Lake Jackson, TX (1129.2, 219.9) Apparent Rennerian Brewing Great Beer in South Texas Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 10:38:10 -0600 From: "Paul Niebergall" <pnieb at burnsmcd.com> Subject: Quick Connects US Plastics has quick connect fittings for just about any application you can think of: http://www.usplastic.com Also take a look at their fermentation tanks, tubing (great source for Tygon, Silicon, food grade plastic), pumps (Little Giant). Have Fun, Paul Niebergall Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 12:48:11 -0500 From: Scott McAfee <scmcafee at cox.net> Subject: RE: Help with Electric System Rick was asking about hot water heater element installation. I picked up a 2000W 110v element at Home Depot and was wondering the same thing. On a return trip to Home Depot, I noticed they had an adapter to go from a screw in type element to a four bolt bulkhead/seal type hot water heater fitting. I haven't installed it yet, but it was only six bucks so I figured it was worth the try. I'm putting it on the flat spot on the bottom of a Sankey keg I'm not currently using. My element has an OD at the threads of 1 and 9/32, by the way. Some questions I'm wondering: 1) can you heat up and bend those elements without damaging them? 2) How long does it take 2000W to heat up 15 gallons of water? From Rick: I'm going to use water heater elements of the "screw-in" variety to provide heat, but I'm not sure how to put them into the boiler and HLT. I was thinking I would put together bulkheads, but I can't find anything that matches the 1 3/8" thread of the elements. Am I not looking hard enough? Or is there a better method that someone can think of? Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 19:50:13 +0000 From: "Craig Wheeler" <craigwh69 at hotmail.com> Subject: Conical dump valve size Hi all, I'm planning on purchasing a conical hopper from Toledo Metal Spinning and I'm going to have them weld in a ferrule to the bottom for a clover clamp dump valve. My question for the Beer Collective is this: What size should the dump valve be? I can go with 1/2", which would be less expensive, but I don't know how well yeast goo will flow through it. My other thought was going all the way up to 1", but that costs about twice as much, but flow will definately be better. For those out there who have the 1/2" dump valve, do you have problems with clogging? Is the move to a 1" dump valve worth the extra cost? Thanks much! - --Craig Woodinville, WA Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 21:07:11 -0500 From: "Pete Calinski" <pjcalinski at adelphia.net> Subject: Re: "No Hose Barb" The Home Depot stores in my area carry a line of plastic hose/tubing fittings they claim they work on plastic and soft metals. They fit various sizes of hose and adapt between sizes. You just push in on a tab around the hose to make it release. I have had a lot of good results with the fittings in my draft beer system.. They claim they work up to 70 psi. Cost may be twice what a barb fitting costs. They also have valves but I found they don't shut off completely. I couldn't find them on the HD website, they are in the store near the plastic tubing. Hope this helps. Pete Calinski East Amherst NY Near Buffalo NY Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 18:49:07 -0500 From: Pete Limosani <peteLimo at comcast.net> Subject: Yeast Food Packs Fellow Brewers, I've been using the stirring aeration technique to make yeast starters for several years. (http://www.primetab.com/yeaststarter.html) I generally use Wyeast smack packs. The technique, however, does not require that the packs be smacked. Are the little food packs that are left unsmacked good for anything? Are they basically just a mini-wort? Is there any reason not to throw them out? Any thoughts appreciated! Pete Wallingford, CT Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 10:14:52 +1030 From: "Greg 'groggy' Lehey" <grog at lemis.com> Subject: Re: Pale malt in Germany Steve, out of courtesy I normally reply to the sender. In your case, though, I can't: your mail address is invalid. It always has been, but now mail agents are getting pickier, and mine refuses to even try to deliver to you. You'll run into this problem more often. I believe that s- would be valid. On Friday, 25 February 2005 at 15:08:46 -0500, -S wrote: > Florian Hirschmann wrote ... >> As I cannot get my hands on (British) pale ale malt here in Germany, > > In past decades lager malts were made from higher protein barley, and > were less modified as compared to PA malts. Is this not still the case in Germany? > Groggy Greg says ..., >> why can't you get them via mail order? > > The cheapest UPS rate for a sack from London to Munich is about > 115Eur($152usd) which is pretty steep for a sack that would cost around > $20usd at wholesale. I said "mail", not "courier". I know that UPS and friends are very popular in the USA, but in my experience they don't work at all well elsewhere. This very definitely includes UPS, who on occasion have taken 6 weeks to deliver overnight packages. Having said that, I don't know what mail would cost. But I'd expect it to be much cheaper. > You can ship the same sack from LA to NewYork(4 times farther) for > under 40Eur. Now you know why mail_order/web_commerce is not the > same in EUland. This is obviously one of the reasons why couriers are not popular outside the USA. Greg - -- Finger grog at lemis.com for PGP public key. See complete headers for address and phone numbers. Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 21:16:32 -0500 From: John Larsen <jlarsen at nettally.com> Subject: Last call for entries I just wanted to remind everyone of the Big Bend Brew Off 2005. There's still time to get your entries in - if you act now. The competition is run by The North Florida Brewers League of Tallahassee and is registered with both the AHA and the BJCP. We will accept entries in all categories in the 2004 BJCP guidelines (see www.bjcp.org ) . Judging will be held on Saturday, March 12 and entries will be accepted until March 4. An entry cost $6 and consists of three bottles. Complete rules and entry forms may be downloaded from our website at www.nfbl.org. Send all entries to: Big Bend Brew Off, c/o The Homebrew Den, 1350 E. Tennessee ST, #B-3, Tallahassee, FL 32308 If you have any questions, please contact the competition organizers, Joel Tedder and Wendy Gregory , jandw1112 at aol.com Of course, we can always use judges. Please contact the Judge Director, John Larsen, if you are interested jlarsen at nettally.com Return to table of contents
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