HOMEBREW Digest #5359 Tue 01 July 2008


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


	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org


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

                     Your Business Name Here
    Visit http://hbd.org "Sponsor the HBD"  to find out how!
			 
    Support those who support you! Visit our sponsor's site!
********** Also visit http://hbd.org/hbdsponsors.html *********

DONATE to the Home Brew Digest. Home Brew Digest, Inc. is a 
501(c)3 not-for-profit organization under IRS rules (see the
FAQ at http://hbd.org for details of this status). Donations
can be made by check to Home Brew Digest mailed to:

HBD Server Fund
PO Box 871309
Canton Township, MI 48187-6309

or by paypal to address serverfund@hbd.org. DONATIONS of $250 
or more will be provided with receipts. SPONSORSHIPS of any 
amount are considered paid advertisement, and may be deductible
under IRS rules as a bsuiness expense. Please consult with your 
tax professional, then see http://hbd.org for available 
sponsorship opportunities.
***************************************************************


Contents:
  Re: Water Chemistry ("Dennis Lewis")
  Beer in San Jose / SF Bay area (Thomas Rohner)
  Re: Yeast Performance Versus Pressure (Kai Troester)
  Re: Hops bitterness ("Dave Larsen")
  limit of attenuation (Fred M. Scheer)
  Re: Yeast Performance Versus Pressure ("Dave Larsen")

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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. LOOKING TO BUY OR SELL USED EQUIPMENT? Please do not post about it here. Go instead to http://homebrewfleamarket.com and post a free ad there. 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. JANITORs on duty: Pat Babcock (pbabcock at hbd dot org), Jason Henning, and Spencer Thomas
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:19:12 -0400 From: "Dennis Lewis" <dblewis at dblewis.com> Subject: Re: Water Chemistry Well, since we're tossing out confounding water profiles, I noticed the hard way that my water changed. After making a black ale 1554 clone, I discovered that my efficiency had dropped like 15%. Testing on the next batch revealed that the mash pH was below 5, like 4.7--no wonder the starch conversion was struggling. I hadn't brewed in over 18 months and in that time, our local water system changed sources. Here's the facts: pH = 10.67 <<< not a typo! Ca = 82 mg/L Mg = 4.7 mg/L Na = 50 mg/L Cl = 82 mg/L SO4 = 52 mg/L Hardness-Total = 91 mg/L as CaCO3 Hardness-Non-carbonate = 49 mg/L as CaCO3 Alkalinity-total = 41 mg/L as CaCO3 Alkalinity-Carbonate = 26 mg/L as CaCO3 I called the water dept and they said the high pH was right. The tech didn't sound happy about it and said they were trying to bring it down into the 8's. As chemistry was one of my favorite subjects, I feel like a dunce when I'm trying to understand how to "normalize" this water. I've tried to do some research on water chem to bone up on and I've used Pro-mash and trial/error to adjust the mash. It's crazy--I'm adding CaCO3 and NaHCO3 a couple grams at a time (in a 42L batch with a 25L mash). I acidified my sparge water - a few mL's of 10% phosphoric acid brings 40L of water down just below 7 pH. One thing Pro-mash mentions is to split the water salts between the mash water and the sparge water. I haven't tried that yet. I always assumed that all the salt adjustments went in the mash and that the sparge water would just dilute them out. Can anyone shoot a couple educational links my way? I'm at the point of buying some local spring water, but this reasonably soft water should be "fixable" in my opinion. Dennis Lewis Warren OH Loyal reader since 1993. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:46:24 +0200 From: Thomas Rohner <t.rohner at domodul.ch> Subject: Beer in San Jose / SF Bay area Hi all i'll be in San Jose on business in 3 weeks. Are there any places i shouldn't miss? I will have a rental car, so Sonoma and Napa is within reach as well. I have been in the Bay area a couple of times before i jumped on the beer train. (I drank beer then, but i wasn't the real stuff.) Interesting post on fermentability Kai. Cheers Thomas Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:04:19 -0400 From: Kai Troester <kai at braukaiser.com> Subject: Re: Yeast Performance Versus Pressure > I'm fermenting 5 gallons of IPA in a 10 gallon keg and would like to > naturally carbonate the beer. I'm at 1.021 now and expect to finish > around 1.016 - 1.018. I'm curious if anyone can comment on the impacts > of pressure on yeast. I understand that increased pressure can kill > the yeast and increase ester production. You will be fine. I naturally carbonate all my lagers before starting lagering by transfering them to a keg when they still have residual extract (or even add Kraeusen) and let the pressure build up until the desired carbonation level is reached. After that I blow off excess pressure until the secondary fermentation is complete. Pressure does affect the yeast, in particular its growth. Like alcohol, CO2 is toxic for the yeast and they rather not be in a CO2 environment. But at the tail end of the fermentation that doesn't matter as much. Pressure primary fermentation can actually be used to suppress ester and fusel alcohol production, which is of interest for many commercial brewers who want to shorten their fermentation times by fermenting at higer temperatures. So don't worry about any increased ester production. If there is an affect, you can expect it to be the other way around. Kai Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2008 08:57:36 -0700 From: "Dave Larsen" <hunahpu at gmail.com> Subject: Re: Hops bitterness > > I thought I was the only one who felt this way. Nice to know that I'm > not alone! Even so life with Saaz at $3 an ounce - if you can get it - > is tough. I've found that Sterling works pretty well for bittering being > closer to the smooth side between rough and smooth. Bittered with Sterling > and finished with what Saaz I can get the Pils is pretty good. > > A.J. I've fallen in love with Sterling. I used it in my witbier and I'm pretty happy with it. It is also a hop that is easy to find, and it's low in cohumulone. This is one of the new hops that was profiled in the March/April BYO magazine, where they regard it as blend of Saaz and Mt. Hood. Good stuff. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:27:01 +0000 From: fredscheer07 at comcast.net (Fred M. Scheer) Subject: limit of attenuation HI Kai: I saw your article in the last HBD about attenuation limits. Also, I saw you mentioned Horst Dornbusch about his remarks in one magazine that authentic Pilsner needs to be pH " 4.8 to 5 " in the mash. I have brewed lot's of authentic Pilsners and other lagers in my brewing life time, but never heard of such a recommendation. To all Homebrewers, don't believe such a nonsense, stay with your mash pH between 5.4 and 5.6 and you will have no attenuation problems. I hope nobody brewed commercially a Pilsner with a mash pH below 5. Fred Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2008 15:50:50 -0700 From: "Dave Larsen" <hunahpu at gmail.com> Subject: Re: Yeast Performance Versus Pressure > I'm fermenting 5 gallons of IPA in a 10 gallon keg and would like to > naturally carbonate the beer. I'm at 1.021 now and expect to finish > around 1.016 - 1.018. I'm curious if anyone can comment on the impacts > of pressure on yeast. I understand that increased pressure can kill > the yeast and increase ester production. I'm using WLP51 - White Labs > California V yeast. I don't recall at what PSI these effects occur. > Does anyone know? Are there any other effects that I should be > concerned with? Note: I have a variable pressure relief valve connect > to this keg right now. It is set to release the pressure at 16 PSI, > for the moment. This is from memory, since I do not have the book in front of me, but I remember Noonan had something to say about this in New Brewing Lager Beer. If I recall correctly, he said that lagering should not be done over 5 lbs of pressure. He did not say why, however. I remember this because I was lagering a Marzen in a corny keg at the time, and was worried about the pressure. As far as how this applies to you, you are not lagering; you are carbonating. Wouldn't it be easier to finish fermentation normally, and then add some corn sugar to the keg to prime, like you would if you were bottling? That way you could control the amount of CO2 easier, and would not have to have a pressure relief valve. Isn't there a formula for corn sugar to volumes of CO2? A quick search around the web and I found this BYO article on the subject: http://www.byo.com/feature/1542.html Dave Tucson, AZ http://hunahpu.blogspot.com/ Return to table of contents
[Prev HBD] [Index] [Next HBD] [Back]
HTML-ized on 07/02/08, by HBD2HTML v1.2 by KFL
webmaster@hbd.org, KFL, 10/9/96