HOMEBREW Digest #4919 Sun 25 December 2005


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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  Adjusting Mineral Content (Fred Johnson)
  email reply (zukoskyrobert)
  Buwy cials-tabs Online For Less ("Sandy Archer")
  OS X software (Mark Garthwaite)
  re: brewing software (Bob Tower)
  VERY  URGENT ("Danie Cole")

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 24 Dec 2005 08:29:20 -0500 From: Fred Johnson <FLJohnson at portbridge.com> Subject: Adjusting Mineral Content I have only played around with adjusting mineral content of my beers a little because I've seen such divergent recommendations for doing this. I'd like to ask a few questions of those of you in the community who feel you have a good bit of experience with different styles and adjusting your water accordingly. Let's say that I'd like to brew typical London-style pub special bitter, so I look up the mineral content of London water. There are several sources for typical mineral profiles--some differ considerably from others, but I don't want to get into that discussion, so I find the following: London My Water Ion ppm ppm - --- --- ------- Calcium 52 26 Magnesium 32 2 Bicarbonate 104 30 (carbonate) Sulfate 32 28 Sodium 86 17 Chloride 34 12 So to get the magnesium level up to the target level, I'm going to boost the sulfate level a lot if I use Epson salts (Magnesium sulfate). To get the magnesium up to 32 ppm, I would use 11.5 g of Epson salts for a 10 gallon volume which would boost the sulfate up to a whopping 146 ppm. But this isn't necessarily so bad, considering Burton-on-Trent has a whopping 820 ppm! Now to get the sodium up to 86 ppm, I would add 5.4 g sodium chloride. And to bring up the carbonate, I'd add 4.7 g of calcium carbonate. Now my 10 gallons will have 76 ppm calcium (high), 98 ppm chloride (high), and I don't need to mention again the high sulfate level. And another question I have is, "How important is it to account for the concentration of minerals that occurs during the boil?" The calculations above are actually assuming these final concentrations in 10 gallons AFTER the boil, so one would need to add even more salts to achieve the final salt concentration of the beer in London. In addition, I heard the head brewer at one microbrewery say that it isn't good enough to put the salts into the boil kettle: "One must put the additions into the mash liquor to get the same effect." i question the necessity of this. Of course, some of the salts we use aren't really very soluble in pure water, but will dissolve in wort. Anyone care to comment on that? Perhaps I can get closer to the targets using an essentially mineral free water like RO water that I can get at my local grocery store. I guess what I'm asking for is for someone who has a good bit of experience with mineral additions and various styles to confirm that I'm going about this generally correctly. I'm a little nervous about adding so much salt to the kettle, especially since I suspect many/most commercial breweries/brewpubs do little or nothing to their water in brewing the various styles they do. Please correct me if I am wrong on this. Fred L Johnson Apex, North Carolina, USA Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 24 Dec 2005 14:23:04 -0500 From: <zukoskyrobert at sbcglobal.net> Subject: email reply This is a reply that came by email and I thought it would stimulate the discussion about ph meters. Just saw your home-brew digest post about ph meters. I've worked in a homebrewshop for 6 years, and on a hydroponic farm before that. In hydroponics, the Ph of the nutrient solution is critical for the plants' health- the wrong Ph can kill a plant in an hour or so. We burned thru a $100 Ph meter every 6 months- every Ph meter I sold at the homebrew shop had troubles, and only my hydroponics experience allowed me to fix some of them- most had to be returned to the manufacturer- all of them are made in indonesia, and the quality has gone straight down for the last 10 years- don't bother. Here's the lowdown on Ph meters; They cost about $100- the electrodes are laser- drilled glass- leave it wet overnight and mold grows on it- ruins it. touch it to dry it off, and fluff from the towel, or oil from your skin will clog the pores, and that will ruin it. Stick it into liquid that is only 2 degrees above it's max temp.- it's fried. Plus, it's poorly made delicate electronics in a non-liquid-proof container, that you will be working with around lots of liquids. Stick to the Ph papers, or go to a hydroponics store, and they will have some stuff like you use for a pool- but a lot more accurate, and just as cheap- little vials you half-fill with liquid, and a developer chemical- usually $7 and usable at least 50 times- stick with those, and avoid Ph meters at all cost. -bobz Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 25 Dec 2005 04:55:52 +0100 From: "Sandy Archer" <archerlw at stangl.de> Subject: Buwy cials-tabs Online For Less Be ERECT in under 15 mins PRlCE: $ 2 / use check our megasite --> onlineclear.com Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 25 Dec 2005 00:15:47 -0600 From: Mark Garthwaite <mgarth at primate.wisc.edu> Subject: OS X software Ken Pendergrass asks about brewing software for OS X : You're in luck as very recently an OS X program called BeerAlchemy was released. http://www.kentplacesoftware.com/products/BeerAlchemy.html I've been playing with the demo and so far it seems pretty promising. Unfortunately, it doesn't allow entering % values for grain bills as you seek and it's disappointing for me in that regard as well. I plan to encourage the author to make this change if possible and then I'll be happy to buy the software. Until then, I'll stick with scratching it all out on paper. Cheers, Mark Garthwaite Madison, WI Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 25 Dec 2005 00:56:14 -0800 From: Bob Tower <bob at constructotower.com> Subject: re: brewing software Ken Pendergrass asks about brewing software, specifically for Mac. Well, I am a Mac-person, and I haven't found anything better than ProMash. Unfortunately, it is not ported for Mac. However, if you get the Windows emulater Virtual PC, ProMash will run flawlessly on your Mac (I've heard other apps don't work quite so well, but all I use the Virtual PC for is to run ProMash so I don't mind). It's worth the trouble. Bob Tower / Los Angeles, CA Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 25 Dec 2005 12:10:33 +0000 From: "Danie Cole" <danie_cole at msn.com> Subject: VERY URGENT Dear friend Greetings to you in the name of our heavenly God.This mail might come to you as a surprise and the temptation to ignore it as unserious could come into your mind; but please, consider it a divine wish and accept it with a deep sense of humility. My name is Daniel Cole.I'm a 65 years old man. I am american living in Dubai (UnitedArab Emirate). I was a merchant and owned two businesses in Dubai. I was also married with two children. My wife and two children died in a september 11 ,plane bomb blast that happen in america four years ago. Before this happened my business and concern for making money was all I lived for. I never really cared about other values in life. But since the loss of my family, I have found a new desire to assist helpless families. I have been helping orphans in orphanage/ motherless homes. I have donated some money to orphans in Sudan, South Africa, Cameroon, Brazil,Spain,Austria,Germany and some Asian countries. Before I became ill, I kept $15 Million in a long-term deposit account in a finance company.Presently, I'm in a hospital where I have been undergoing treatment for oesophageal cancer. I have since lost my ability to talk and my Doctors have told me that I have only a few months to live. It is my last wish to see this money distributed to charity organizations.Because relatives and friends have plundered so much of my wealth since my illness, I cannot live with the agony of entrusting this huge responsibility to any of them. Please, I beg you in the name of God to help me collect the deposit and the interest accrued from the company and distributes it amongst Hurricane Katrina victims. Use your judgement to distribute the money and feel free to reimburse yourself when you have the money for any cost you incure during the process of collecting and distributing the money to Hurricane Katrina victims in america.I'm willing to offer you a reward If you are willing to help; please reply as soon as you can to my alternate email. mmr_daniel at k.ro May the good Lord bless you and your family Regards, Daniel Cole. Return to table of contents
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