HOMEBREW Digest #1096 Fri 12 March 1993

Digest #1095 Digest #1097


	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator


Contents:
  Filtration, pt 2 of 2 (Jim Busch)
  Wort chiller using dryice (Scott Knowles                       )
  APOLOGY (Jack Schmidling)
  Re: Sanitizing Chemicals (Sherman Gregory)
  Cleaning plastic buckets (Rich Lenihan)
  Re: Celis White Recipe ("Tom Childers")
  cooker summary available soon... (Todd M. Williams)
  Wet Dream (Garrett Hildebrand)
  re: Older, but not sweeter (Peter Maxwell)
  Yeast Slant ?? / Mashed stout / Kegs (Lee Menegoni)
  Yeast strain ?? (Lee Menegoni)
  Re: Celis Substitute? (Jeff Benjamin)
  Re:  Powdered Sugur (Eric M. Mrozek)
  Weat beers (Jeff Frane)
  All-Grain Process ("Joe Stone")
  Supplies in Memphis, YN (William James Harrison)
  beer & food fest (GC-HSI) <rnapholz at PICA.ARMY.MIL>
  cider (KLIGERMAN)
  How do I build & use a slotted copperpipe manifold? (ESF01)
  Slotted Copper ("Rad Equipment")
  Sanitizer Utilization ("John DeCarlo")
  Re: Sanitizer ("John DeCarlo")
  Ninkasi - Brewing an Ancient Beer (Don Sharp  11-Mar-1993 1401)
  irish moss/lager starters/sanitizers/non-alc beers/non-stop ferment/rests/zests (korz)
  Hallertauer porters (Rob Bradley)
  A few observations regarding cleaners and sterilizing agents. (kurka)
  Two Seperate Questions on: Kegging and Bitterness (Richard Saunders)
  RIMS Summary (David Klein)
  Cleaning plastic pails (WESTEMEIER)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 10 Mar 93 12:12:38 EST From: Jim Busch <busch at daacdev1.stx.com> Subject: Filtration, pt 2 of 2 Filter post, pt 2...... So, armed with this information, I called The Filter Store and asked about coarse yeast filters. They informed me of a 5 micron and a 1 polypro 99.9% efficient filter. I ask about adaptability to my whole house filter and they agree that it is compatable. I order the 5 micron filter. I need to build the connectors. The filter connects are 3/4" female NPT. So, I buy 2 3/4" male to 1/2" sweat copper connectors, and two 1/2" sweat to 1/4" thread bushings and two 1/4" threaded hose barbs. Soldering these together, and screwing in the hose barbs results in a solid 3/16" id hose to 3/4" filter union. I buy a $13 cheapo whole house filter from Hechingers, and my cartridge arrives. I filter the still beer through the 5 micron filter after sanitizing the kegs with Iodophor and the filter with Vigilquat. I push lots of hot water through the filter to rinse prior to use. The beer is noticably clear, with some haze remaining but no real detectable yeast cloudiness. The beer vastly improved in flavor. The cartridge was quite discolored, due to lots of yeast captured. I back flush with hot water and soak overnight in a caustic solution. The filter is stored in a ziploc bag containing water and a sanitizer of your choice. For my first filtering, I only filtered 10 gallons, so I do not know the volume limitations of this filter. It is claimed to filter 150 -250 gallons of beer, but I suspect that with good cleaning it will last longer. Conclusion: I am quite satisfied with my 5 micron filter. It did what I wanted, removed the yeast, resulting in a polished product. I am quite sure that it would have been crystal clear with a .5 micron unit, but I suspect that flavor and head retention would have suffered. Note that a 5 micron filter is not a sterile filter and as such the brewer needs to have a good grasp on on proper sanitation techniques, but I suspect those of us using kegs and filters already have a good feel for sanitation. Good brewing, Jim Busch PS: my Altbier was made using all Liberty hop pellets. The IBU was calculated to be around 40, but the bitterness perceptions to me are much less. This hop has an alpha of 4.0 and is the latest american attempt to produce domestically a hop with characteritics of Hallertau. I detect a grassy aroma from this hop, but at times it does appear to remind me of a hallertau essence. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 93 12:43 EST From: Scott Knowles <NECHO%NCSUMVS.BITNET at ncsuvm.cc.ncsu.edu> Subject: Wort chiller using dryice BREWERS, The fellas and I were bottling a batch of winter Lager the other evening, and talk turned (as it will) to the Next Batch. We hit apon an idea that is simple, straightforward, amd seemingly foolproof; why not cool a hot wort with dry ice? Think about it: No wort-chiller hardware, no sink full of icecubes, no floating the wort kettle in the cold swimmimg pool out in the back yard. Just cold wort, fast. Has anyone tried this? Does it make sense? Seems to to me, but then we were relaxing and having a homebrew at the time. In my lab at work, dry ice is available and free. (It can't be recycled...) I'm sure I could add enuf to the kettle to drop the wort temperature 75 degrees C in maybe two minutes. Follow this with vigorous stirring to re-oxygenate the wort, then pitch. I invite comments and criticisms on this idea. Tell me now, before we burn $20 worth of grain and yeast trying it. If this works out, we plan to go to extremes and cool the _next batch_ with liquid nitrogen... Scott Knowles * I love beer. Is that such a crime? * <nEcho at NCSUMVS> Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 93 11:46 CST From: arf at genesis.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling) Subject: APOLOGY >From: Sandy Cockerham <COCKERHAM_SANDRA_L at LILLY.COM> >Subject: WOMEN,BEER,AND THE HBD >WHILE I AM ON MY SOAPBOX...I AM INSULTED BY JACK (AND OTHERS) USE OF THE TERM 'WET DREAM' IN THIS DIGEST. IT IS UNCALLED FOR AND IS TASTELESS IN THIS FORUM. I have already apologized both publicly and privately for that but you aparently missed it and I hereby extend the apology personally to you. Having said that, it reminds me a bit of the time I flamed someone for using the term "anal" and got flamed back en masse for my ignorance of classical psychoanalysis and Freud. I don't claim Freud as the source for this one but I do think you'al are being a bit harsh. "Tasteless and uncalled for" are a far cry from "insulting". I may be tasteless but I would never intentionally insult a stranger. >From: joseph at joebloe.maple-shade.nj.us (Joseph Nathan Hall) >Subject: Peracetic acid; sodium hydroxide >In a similar vein, I just tried using sodium hydroxide (lye; caustic soda) to clean some hoses. All I can say is, WOW. It is a powerful saponifier, i.e. it turns grease into soap and is used by lots of commercial brewers for cleaning kegs. I do not know to what extent it is bacteriacidal but it cleans very well. >I added about 1 oz of a saturated, filtered solution of sodium hydroxide (about 1 part NaOH to 2 parts water) to 3-4 inches of warm water in my sink...... For us unwashed masses.... it is also known as Draino. A teaspoon in a cup of water will do the trick. >From: dipalma at banshee.sw.stratus.com (James Dipalma) >This suggests to me that you may have scratched the primary while cleaning it after your first batch. Once a plastic fermenter is scratched, it becomes very difficult to sanitize properly. Check your primary carefully for scratches, and if there are some, replace it. Far be it for me to question the wisdom of the ages but I have (had) used the same plastic primary since the early 70s and have not had an infected beer since a few months after I started to read the Digest. I attribute the record to one or both of two procedure changes. Number one on the hit list was Red Star Yeast, contamination is built in at no extra cost. You also need to find out who actually produced the yeast you use to make sure it is not one of the many brands of re-packaged Red Star. Number two was to ignore the usual instructions for making a sanitizing solution from bleach, i.e. 1 oz bleach to the gal or even 5 gallons of water. After cleaning the fermenter with a sponge and Ivory, I rinse it and put in about a cup of bleach. I then put on the lid with a stopper in the hole for the air lock and slosh it around thoroughy and set it aside till the next use. Next time I need it, I slosh it around again, dump out the bleach and rinse it carefully. I guarantee, there is no scratch deep enough to evade this treatment. If you use iodine, I would suggest the same procedure with maybe an oz of juice to a cup of water. I now use my 10 gal mash kettle for primary and much prefer this because I can avoid all chemicals by simply boiling some water in it to sterilize it. js Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1993 10:05:04 -0800 From: sherman at qualcomm.com (Sherman Gregory) Subject: Re: Sanitizing Chemicals I tried sending this directly to u4imdmre at cpc41.cpc.usace.army.mil, but I got a "Host unknown" bounce. So I post. I have always used unsented Clorox bleach at 2 fl.oz./5gal to sanatize HDPE buckets. Contact times anywhere from 15min to 1 week. Then rinse with tap water. I often throw all of the equipment I need in the bucket for a while, then empty everything out and rinse. Then use th bucket for priming or fermenting. Never had any infections (knock on wood) or any damage to the plastic. The only problems I have had with bleach is leaving stainless steel (or most any other metal) in it for more than a half hour is can cause oxydation. I don't know about using Tide though. I use Tide for a lot of things (including laundry, of all things), but not for my brew equipment. For that I use Cascade automatic dishwashing detergent. I have heard that that will not kill the head retention. Sherman Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 93 13:08:18 EST From: rich at bedford.progress.COM (Rich Lenihan) Subject: Cleaning plastic buckets One thing that will work for getting critters that are hiding in the cracks of plastic buckets is boiling water. I have an old plastic primary that has since been retired to bottling bucket. Before brewing I preboil 7+ gallons of water and transfer it to the plastic bucket. This makes the bucket very hot. Try this before you attack it with chemicals. I then use a dilute bleach (1 tbsp/gal) for 15 minutes to sanitize before bottling. I do not recommend storing high concentrations of bleach in plastic for any length of time. The plastic will absorb the chlorine and even give off an odor of chlorine. Trust me. I *know*. -Rich Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 93 11:05:06 PST From: "Tom Childers" <TCHILDER at us.oracle.com> Subject: Re: Celis White Recipe In HBD 1086, Alan Derr asked about a recipe for Celis White... I've made three extract-based batches of Belgian ale over the last few months, refining the recipe towards my personal preferences. A few weeks ago, I finally got to taste Celis White, and (surprise!) my latest batch is very similar to Celis. Basically, just use Papazian's "Who's In The Garden Grand Cru" recipe, reduce the malt and honey a bit, and slightly bump up the hops. "Tamalpais Wit" ("tam-ul-PIE-us vit", or "der schlafen dame weiss" for you who don't speak coastal Miwok and Belgian) 4-3/4 lbs light dried malt extract (or 5-1/2 lbs light malt syrup) 2-1/4 lbs orange blossom (or other light) honey 1 oz Hallertauer (boiling), 6 HBU 1/2 oz Hallertauer (flavor) 1/2 oz Hallertauer (aroma 1-1/2 oz freshly crushed coriander seeds 1/2 oz dried orange peel Wyeast #1214 Belgian ale yeast Papazian suggests a 1-1/2 gallon boil, but I've been doing full 5-gallon boils with great success. After 45 minutes, add the flavoring hops and half of the coriander; after 55 minutes add aroma hops, remaining coriander and orange peel for the last 5 minutes. Ferment at 72 degrees F. I pitch the yeast (in a 1-qt starter) at about 78 degrees F to get the primary fermentation going quickly. This beer is ready to prime and bottle after about 10 days. The classic Belgian ale characteristics really come through when you ferment this ale at a slightly warm temperature, as others have pointed out in earlier digests. Since Celis White is made with wheat malt, I'm going to start experimenting with replacing some of the malt extract with wheat extract... -tdc Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 93 14:41:15 CST From: todd at gold.rtsg.mot.com (Todd M. Williams) Subject: cooker summary available soon... Greetings All, In HBD 1090 I spouted off and offered the following...... >Last month I groveled in the following manner... >SNIP< >>What I want to do is convert my cajun cooker from a propane >>unit into a natural gas unit. Can I do this?? If so, does anyone >>know what is involved? How much it might cost?? Where to get parts??? >I am in the process of preparing a summary and will send it to whoever >wants it. I guess this thread was covered over the summer (before I >started reading HBD) so I won't waste any more bandwidth posting the whole >summary. So if you want it, send email to the address below, with a subject >of "cooker summary", and I will forward it to you. Well, guess what...I received over 40 requests. I guess that means I should just go ahead and post it. However I am still compiling data. I want to include info from a couple of vendors. The reason for speaking with vendors is that the King Kooker company does _not_ sell any burners that they recommend for indoor use. (thanks Mike O'Brian at pico-Brewing Systems in Ypsilanti,MI). I guess the two major concerns are generation of heat and exhaust gasses, and depletion of oxygen. I guess 100K+ BTU might be a bit much for indoor use. Anyway the _complete_ summary will be posted next week. Sorry it's taking so long. (10 days were spent visiting 18 of CA's finest brewpubs :-D hey gak, did you get that mug yet?) I will post the cooker summary ASAP.... Todd Williams Downers Grove, IL. Moderation sir, aye, moderation is my rule. 9 or 10 is reasonable refreshment, but after that it's apt to degenerate into drinking /--------------------------------------------------------------------------\ / -rwxr-xr-x 1 todd employer 69 Feb 10 1958 OPINIONS \ \ lrwxrwxrwx 1 employer other 9 Jan 01 1970 OPINIONS -> /dev/null / \--------------------------------------------------------------------------/ Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 93 11:10:54 PST From: mdcsc!gdh at uunet.UU.NET (Garrett Hildebrand) Subject: Wet Dream In HBD 1094 Sandy C. makes the comment, >WHILE I AM ON MY SOAPBOX...I AM INSULTED BY JACK (AND OTHERS) USE OF THE TERM >'WET DREAM' IN THIS DIGEST. IT IS UNCALLED FOR AND IS TASTELESS IN THIS FORUM. >THIS DIGEST IS TO HELP US BREW BETTER BEERS, AND TO ENHANCE BEER APPRECIATION. > ...NOT TO BE INSULTING..... >FLAME AWAY, I DON'T CARE!! I seriously doubt that Jack (or others) are trying to insult you or anybody else with this term. I certainly am not bothered by it. This is not foul language, nor does it demean the female readers, as would commenting that they sometimes get "on the rag," which no one, of course, has done. gdh Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1993 13:46:48 -0800 (PST) From: Peter Maxwell <peterm at aoraki.dtc.hp.com> Subject: re: Older, but not sweeter Jim Dipalma writes: > What strain of yeast are you using? Also, if you are reusing yeast across > several batches, the strain will become noticeably more attenuative after > a few batches. Doesn't this depend on the yeast? I seem to remember reading that 1056 is subject to "attenuative mutation" but that 1098 doesn't change much at all. Can anybody expand on this? Peter Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 93 16:49:28 EST From: Lee Menegoni <necis!lmenegon at transfer.stratus.com> Subject: Yeast Slant ?? / Mashed stout / Kegs I have just been given a slant of I have been given a slant of Weinstephan 3407 yeast. What information do people have on this variety. What temp should I ferment / lager, what are its flavor charecteristics, is it stable for reculturing? Please post responses to HBD or send to lmenegon at necis.ma.nec.com Re infusion mashed stout: I do not mash the dark grains with pale malt, it makes the iodine test nearly impossible to read and the acidity of the highly kilned malts may over acidify the mash. I steep the grains and add them to the mash kettle at mash out. Re keg sanitation: I fill my keg with water and add acouple Tbs of Bead Brite . I use a golf tee or nail to depress the spring loaded valves of the liquid out and tilt the keg until a little of the sanitizer solution drips out. i repeat this for the gas in connection too. I then top off the keg close it shake it ing water. Drain rinse with some more boiling water. Drain. Finally I add 1 quart of boilning water apply CO2 and blow the water out thru your tap. Your keg should now be sanitized , its liquid out tube clean and be filled with CO2 so oxidation should be minimized when you rack in the brew. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 93 17:05:39 EST From: Lee Menegoni <necis!lmenegon at transfer.stratus.com> Subject: Yeast strain ?? requeI I I requested information on a slant i recently recieved the yeast type is Weinstphan 3470 not 3407. What do people know about it. The slant was cultured from a large amount of slurry out of the secondary from a west coast breew pub. Please post responses to the HBD or to lmenegon at necis.ma.nec.com - -- Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 93 15:41:48 MST From: Jeff Benjamin <benji at hpfcbug.fc.hp.com> Subject: Re: Celis Substitute? Norm Pyle writes: > Try Sunshine Wheat by the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins. > This is the first wheat beer I've ever truthfully enjoyed. It is spiced in > the Belgian tradition with coriander and orange peel Just so someone isn't disappointed -- not all Sunshine Wheat is done in the White beer style. In fact, most is just an American pale ale-style wheat similar to that done by other micros. The White-spiced bottles of Sunshine Wheat were from a special batch that was one-time only, as far as I know. (Apologies to you non-Colorado folks who don't have access to either version. I guess you'll just have to come for a visit :-). - -- Jeff Benjamin benji at hpfcla.fc.hp.com Hewlett Packard Co. Fort Collins, Colorado "Midnight shakes the memory as a madman shakes a dead geranium." - T.S. Eliot Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 93 14:58:18 PST From: mrozek at gandalf.etdesg.TRW.COM (Eric M. Mrozek) Subject: Re: Powdered Sugur Dear Mr. Powdered Sugur, (sorry I don't remember your name; I deleted the HBD from last week with your response in it. 8^o Yes, the powdered sugur with the cornstarch is often called confectioner's sugur, but not always (I checked at the grocery store last night). I originally pointed out the cornstarch issue so that people wouldn't blindly buy powdered sugur and end up with the cornstarch version. By the way, I mis-quoted the sugur/cornstarch ratio. It's not 70%/30%, but rather 97%/3%. Eric Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1993 16:57:37 -0800 (PST) From: gummitch at techbook.com (Jeff Frane) Subject: Weat beers Having read Eric Warner's book (good beginning), Chuck had some questions about weizen yeasThe Yeast Culture Kit Co. (I think that name is right) has an authentic weizenbier yeast strain you might want to track down; unfortunately, they are no longer selling retail so it will take some sniffing. But I believe you will have better results with that than with the Other wheat beer strain, for the time being. I don't believe any of the wheat beers currently imported fm Germany use the fermentaion strain in bottling, and in any case most have been pasteurized. The strain Warner used was brought back from Germany. (By the way, I was on the panel in Milwaukee that awarded his blue ribbon and I vouch for the fact that the man knows _exactly_ what he's talking about in regard to weizens.) In the fall, Admiralty Distributing, here in Portland, will be imported Schneiderbrau, which Warner mentionsand the importer assures me the fermentation strain and bottling strain are the same (he just got back from a visit). You certainly can't ask for a more authentic yeast than that! Although I view some claims about decoction mashes with considerable skepticism, I would certainly take Warner at his word! - --Jeff Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 93 19:15:26 PST From: "Joe Stone" <JSTONE at SJEVM5.VNET.IBM.COM> Subject: All-Grain Process Let me try it this way. If anyone out there feels that they have a "process" for use with a mash-lauter/boiling vessel from the Brewer's Warehouse in Seattle or from Precision Brewing Systems in Staten Island would you please email it to me. Thanks. Joe Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1993 08:58:16 -0500 From: William James Harrison <harriw3 at rpi.edu> Subject: Supplies in Memphis, YN That is Memphis TN, USA. I am moving sonn and would like to know if there are any homebrew shops in that area or if I will have to go through mail order distributors. Any help with this and/or names of brew pubs in that neck of the woods is greatly appriciated. On another note, I recently started a batch of Wyeast (American) for reculturing and I am curious on how many recultures can be achieved before mutation/contanmination. (BTW - I used a reculturing technique recently posted on the HBD, maybe 2 weeks ago) Jim Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 93 11:16:01 EST From: "Robert J. Napholz" (GC-HSI) <rnapholz at PICA.ARMY.MIL> Subject: beer & food fest Hello all I'm looking for extra tickets for the beer & food fest. at South Street Sea Port (New York) on March 15. If you have any extra tickets please call me. Thanks Rob N. work 201 724 7583 home 908 850 4204 Return to table of contents
Date: 11 Mar 1993 09:27:26 -0400 (EDT) From: KLIGERMAN at herlvx.rtpnc.epa.gov Subject: cider In October I made an apple cider and thanks to the advice on the HBD, I added sugar water after a few months and it cleared very well with a gravity of about 0.992 down from 1.054. I would like to bottle it as a sparkling cider. Should I wait longer or bottle it with about 3/4 cup of sugar now and let it age in the bottle? Should I continue to let it age in the carboy, or will I endanger killing the yeast. I used Whitbread dry ale yeast. Thanks. Return to table of contents
Date: 11 Mar 93 11:54:11 EST From: ESF01%ALBNYDH2.bitnet at UACSC2.ALBANY.EDU Subject: How do I build & use a slotted copperpipe manifold? Hello HBD'ers, I have a 4.50 gallon Gott Picnic Cooler that I'd like to use as a mash / lauter-tun for partial mashes. My question concerns the different false bottoms one uses in the bottom of the cooler. How do you build a Phil's Phalse bottom, a screen type false bottom and a slotted copperpipe manifold? How do you use each type? Can I use two 4 gallon stock pots for boiling the extract instead of one 8 gallon stock pot? *************************************************************** ** Ed Frommer - BPSM Vital Records Networking Systems ** ** 733 Broadway Albany, NY 12237 Phone:(518)474-5245 ** *************************************************************** Return to table of contents
Date: 11 Mar 1993 10:08:30 U From: "Rad Equipment" <rad_equipment at rad-mac1.ucsf.edu> Subject: Slotted Copper Subject: Slotted Copper Time:8:39 AM Date:3/11/93 According to Mr. Bliss on slotted copper manifolds: >If you try to slow it down, you're only draining wort through the >slots nearest the outlet. My manifold has about 10' of 1/2" pipe overall with slots every 1/4", everywhere. It exits the tun and connects to a 5/8" hose which has a tubing clamp across it which controls the flow. I sparge by running the water onto the top of the grain bed allowing an inch or more of standing water to cover the bed. I then drain at a rate which gets me about 10 gallons of wort in an hour, keeping the inch of water on the grain bed until I'm within a gallon or so of my desired total. Then I shut off the sparge water and drain the bed dry. I typically get a yield of 31 or 32. On my last batch, 14 gallons of mild, I got 35! I don't see how I could be getting these numbers if I wasn't getting good coverage of the sparge flow through the grain bed. Nor do I see why restricting the flow out of the manifold would have the effect described by Brian. RW... Russ Wigglesworth (INTERNET: Rad_Equipment at radmac1.ucsf.edu - CI$: 72300,61) UCSF Dept. of Radiology, San Francisco, CA (415) 476-3668 / 474-8126 Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 93 13:38:06 EST From: "John DeCarlo" <jad at pegasus.mitre.org> Subject: Sanitizer Utilization >From: arf at genesis.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling) >>From: Jay Hersh <hersh at expo.lcs.mit.edu> >>is this right, 1 oz to 1 gal.?? That is 10 times the amount recommended >>for usage. If this is indeed correct does this test really tell us >>anything since the concentrations are an order of magnitude above what >>people normally use?? >>hoping that was a typo.... >No typo. I also used bleach neat or at least 2:1 when I used it. It is >all relative and I find the long contact times discomforting. For example, >unless one uses 5 gallons of sanitizer in a 5 gallon keg, how can one ever >be sure of a one minute contact time? If used at higher concentrations, >one can simply slosh a small amount around for a minute and get a more >effective sanitization than doing the same with a small amount at the >recommended concentration. I didn't see any definitive comment on this while I tried to find some quotes from microbiologist acquaintances. But, I didn't want to leave it alone. My information is that sloshing "a small amount around for a minute", no matter how high the concentration, is generally ineffective for sanitization. That is why people use 5 gallons of sanitizer in a 5 gallon container, because "sloshing" doesn't work well. Of course, those of us who use bleach use the 1-3 tablespoons of chlorine bleach in 5 gallons of water as our 5 gallons of sanitizer. It may take 15 minutes to effectively sanitize, but at least it does a good job of that. >As rinse water is not a problem around here, I don't mind more thorough >rinsing and it is still far less than I had to do with bleach. Of course, rinsing is only a problem with bleach if you use so much that it doesn't quickly evaporate. When you use the amount mentioned above and then empty all 5 gallons of sanitizer out, you are left with a few drops of water that have at most 200 ppm of bleach in them. The little bleach left in those few drops evaporates very quickly and doesn't require any rinsing of any sort. It clouds the issue because some people are able to "sanitize" with tap water and not get infections, so even if you use a not-very-effective method like sloshing pure bleach around for a minute, you might not get bit by an infection. Fidonet: 1:109/131 Internet: jdecarlo at mitre.org Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 93 13:41:55 EST From: "John DeCarlo" <jad at pegasus.mitre.org> Subject: Re: Sanitizer >From: Richard Stueven <gak at wrs.com> >>From: korz at iepubj.att.com >> >>Personally, I'm trying to move away from Chlorine as a sanitizer from a >>environmental point of view. >I'm no biologist either, but how's this: if you have the means to >generate and manage it, wouldn't live steam make a reasonable and >"green" sanitizing agent? Of course, it's just as nasty to, say, human >skin as it is to nasty-bugs, but like I said, you'd need some way to >manage it. As others have mentioned, many commercial breweries use steam to sanitize. I remember that the Old Dominion Brewery here in VA didn't get that in the plans or something, and it cost them something like an extra $60,000 or more to get the steam piped ten or twenty feet to the vessels to be cleaned. OTOH, I have seen ads for used steam cleaning apparatus for under $3,000 in my local newspaper. I say go for it! Fidonet: 1:109/131 Internet: jdecarlo at mitre.org Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 93 14:00:34 EST From: Don Sharp 11-Mar-1993 1401 <sharp at rumor.enet.dec.com> Subject: Ninkasi - Brewing an Ancient Beer Not TOO long ago someone posted a note here about having scanned images of a magazine article about an archaeologocal study of brewing methods in ancient Mesopotamia. Well, I contacted that person (although I've lost your name/address, sorry!), and after some amount of laborious tedium with image format conversions, spell checking and such, I converted those scanned images into a text file. It's about 450 lines long, so I hesitate to post it to this digest unless I have some reason to think it would be valued. Here's the lead paragraph of the article: Did beer come before bread? To answer the question scholars helped concoct a Mesopotamian brew from a 3,800-year-old recipe etched in clay. By Solomon H. Katz and Fritz Maytag. If this sounds interesting why not send me mail - if I get too many responses to satisfy I'll just post to the digest - if not so many I won't waste space. Don sharp at rumor.enet.dec.com Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 93 13:56 CST From: korz at iepubj.att.com Subject: irish moss/lager starters/sanitizers/non-alc beers/non-stop ferment/rests/zests Jeff writes: >2. Try adding Irish moss about 10-15 minutes before the end of the > boil. This is supposed to provide nucleation sites for the protein > strands so they settle out. I believe that the attraction is electrostatic and not simply nucleation sites. ****************** Lee writes: >When producing a starter I plan to pop the bag at cellar temp 65F. >What temp should the starter I pitch to be? Should I pitch it at 65 and >cool it to 60 let it reach full krausen, pitch this to a 2nd larger >starter solution at 60 and cool to 55F and pitch this to the 55F wort? >I plan to deal with the long lag time of cool initial wort temp by >having a large amount (2-3oz) of starter slurry. Am I corect in my >assumption that pitching at to high a temp while reducing lag time >can produce flavors and ester inappropriate for a pilsner? Sounds like a good plan to me. I feel you are correct about the high start temp creating unwanted esters and your plan will minimize this. ***************** Tim writes: >With all of this talk about using peracetic acid, let me just >give people a brief warning. Mixing peroxides and acids is not >to be taken lightly. I agree -- I'm glad you mentioned this. One thing I had *NOT* planned to do is make my own! >We use a 3:1 mixture of a mineral acid (I will not name it) to 50 percent >hydrogen peroxide as a method of removing photoresist from wafers. >This mixture is called 'piranha etch' as it is very powerful. >It will very strongly attack any organics, skin included. Ick. Not my idea of fun or "not worrying." >I have found that plain old unscented chlorine bleach is a very >effective cleaner. Stuborn 'gunk' from a vigorous primary can easily be >removed by just filling the carboy with water and adding a little >bleach and letting it sit for a week. >It is also safer than many of the more concentrated cleaners. I've found this too, but my intention was to minimize the amount of un-natural chemicals I was dumping down the drain. Acetic acid and H2O2 seemed much more "green" than Chlorine Bleach or Iodine. Am I right? Perhaps in the concentrations we are using them (and given the concentration of the Acetic Acid needed for it to be useful), perhaps 200ppm Chlorine bleach solution or 25ppm Iodophor is more "green?" Can someone who really knows confirm or correct this assumption, please? ****************************** Frank writes: >prepared by the Copley News Service. > >Basically brewers employ either of two methods to achieve a non-alcoholic >product: > >1. The older technique takes beer that has been made in the usual way and >evaporates the alcohol by heating the brew in a vacuum chamber, which allows >a low boiling point. Kingsbury and Kaliber are made this way. The principal >2. A more modern method, used by most of the German brewers, uses intense >cold and rapid extraction of the yeast to arrest the brewing process >before too much alcohol forms. This technique seems to leave a lot of the >sugar in the brew and therefore gives it a sweet taste. Remind me not to trust the Copley News Service. You see, there is a third method, which is used by at least one mega-brewer, in which a semi-permiable membrane is used to extract the alcohol by osmosis and a fourth method in which a special yeast is used that does not produce much alcohol. - ------------------------------ Kirk writes: Subject: help! nonstop fermentation >1 can (4lbs.) Ironmaster "Special Lager" malt extract >packet of Isohop extract (included with above) >2 lbs. corn sugar >1/2 lb. maple syrup >2 oz. apricot wine flavoring ("Wines Inc.") >11.5 g sachet Edme dry yeast > >It was a 50-minute boil with apricot extract only going in the last five. >I rehydrated the yeast in warm water shortly before pitching. O.G. was >1.050 and when I racked to secondary three days later it was 1.018! Now >here's the problem: *that was exactly four weeks ago and fermentation has >not stopped.* Bubbles still rising, a cute layer of foam still on the >surface. I've never encountered this before. I've always been a careful >sanitizer, but should I assume something got by me this time? Temperature >has been 58-62F for the duration. Don't pick on me for using corn sugar Several possibilities: 1. 58-62F is pretty cool for some yeasts, although I was under the impression that Edme was a voracious fermenter. 2. Could the apricot wine flavoring have some preservatives in it? Did its instructions say to use it in the ferment or at botting? 3. You may have a wild yeast in there that's eating the more complex sugars. It may not be your sanitation -- the Edme may have had a small amount of wild yeast along with the primary yeast. I have a yeast that takes six or more weeks to ferment out even at 68F! ***************** Chris writes: > > -what is a protein (enzyme) rest and at what temperature? A protein rest is a time period in your mash schedule in which proteolytic enzymes break large proteins into smaller proteins and amino acids. The larger proteins will give you chill haze so you want them out of your beer. The smaller proteins that are created from the big ones will give you head retention and bigger mouthfeel. The amino acids are needed by the yeast for nutrition. Most malted barleys currently available are fully-modified, so a protein rest is not really necessary. Historically, only undermodified (which is rare these days) pilsner malt *required* a protein rest, but many brewers still incorporate one in their mash schedules. The temperatures for a protein rest are between 122F and 131F according to Charlie, if my memory serves correctly. > > -what is a good temperature to keep your mash so that the enzymes don't >break down the complex sugars? I am more concerned about a heavy >malty taste (not caramelly taste) than the alcohol content. You would want to do the saccharification rest at the higher end of the saccharification range which is roughly 148F to 158F. Therefore, mashing at 158F will give you the most dextrinous wort, which appears to be what you are seeking. Along with this high mash temperature, you may also want to increase the malt in the recipe to achieve this "heavy malty taste." > > -what temperature converts starches over to sugars? That's the saccharification range, above. > > -what "normal" order or succession should each of temperature >categories be in? does it matter? (Optional) protein rest, followed by the saccharification rest, followed by mashout at 168to170F. You *must* work from the cooler rests up to the warmer rests or, for example, you will denature the proteolytic enzymes if you do the saccharification rest first. There is also an acid rest, which I believe is at 95F, used to lower the pH of the mash (this is if you want to strickly follow Reinheitsgebot and avoid chemical acidification of your mash). > >David (Chris) Mackensen ^^^^^^^^^ If you brew a sweet stout, I've got a suggestion for its name. ****************** Tony writes that he would avoid dried orange peel in his next Witbier recipe. Yesterday, I was reading Pierre Rajotte's _Belgain Ale_ in which he mentions that the brewers there use *dried* orange peel. Well, this makes sense, because I don't think there are many Curacao Oranges growing in Belgium. I used fresh orange zest (4 oranges) in the last 5 minutes of the boil in a semi-recent batch and it was not very noticable -- I'm just saying that switching to fresh zest doesn't automatically mean you will get more out of it. I will be trying dried next time, primarily because making fresh zest is a pain and also because commercially-made dried zest is more consistent, making the recipe more reproducable. Al. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 93 15:29:35 -0500 From: bradley at adx.adelphi.edu (Rob Bradley) Subject: Hallertauer porters Anybody out there have experience using Hallertauer/Mt. Hood in top fermented porters? Please share with the HBD or at least e-mail me. Thanks, Rob (bradley at adx.adelphi.edu) Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 93 14:38:23 ??? From: kurka at bmcw.com Subject: A few observations regarding cleaners and sterilizing agents. Experiences I have had with chlorine as a sterilizing agent is that it has the possibility of giving an "off" flavor to the brew. Whether or not this was a case of not rinsing the equipment well enough after the chlorine soak is not known. Soon after an experience like this, I switched to Sodium Bisulfate as my primary sterilizing agent and have had fine success with it. If the equipment is not rinsed well, a white residue can be easily seen and delt with. (I find it to be a fair check on if the equipment has been cleaned well enough). A boiling water dip for bottles and caps is also recommended. Sterilizing glass jars and lids during any food canning process is done in this manner. (Since we are "Canning" liquid food, we can look to the food canning process for a few tips). This step also will crack bottles that may be weak and might crack when actually put under pressure. Does anyone have a list of any Homebrew mail order catalogs? Also, If any of you have used them, Your comments would be appreciated. Thanks for all the postings to HBD. We in Boise Idaho need contact with the "real" beer drinkers of the world. SPK (kurka at bmcw.com) Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 93 14:14:16 PST From: Richard Saunders <richsa at microsoft.com> Subject: Two Seperate Questions on: Kegging and Bitterness 1. My friends and I have twice attempted the Fraternity House Ale (a 5 gallon version) from the AHA Winner's Circle recipe book. Both times the beer has come out alright except for a kick-you-in-the-zipper bitter after taste which, as you can imagine, is very unpleasant. While this recipe is kind of heavy on the hops I have a hard time thinking that this is the problem. I have boiled lots of hops for more than an hour before and had it turn out fine. Also, for the second batch instead of adding the finishing hops to the boil we just strained the wort through them at the end. I did read something recently (can't recall where) that said boiling crystal malt can result in bitterness. It is possible that we let the one step mash heat up too high. There were several times when we had to reduce the heat. Any other ideas or suggestions, or has anyone else seen this with crystal malt before? 2. I have just started kegging my beer (xmas present resulting from heavy-handed hinting) and love it. There are basically two recommended ways of carbonating that I have come to know. One is to prime with 1/3 cup corn sugar when transfering into the keg - essentially treating the keg as a big bottle. The other (recommended by the local brew supply where the kegging system is from) is to simply let the beer ferment out, shoot it with 25 - 30 lbs of CO2, shake well, and let sit in a cold area for 3 days. The second method is the one that I just used (unfortunately it was on the problem batch mentioned above). This turned out great. Wonderful, full creamy head and just enough carbonation in the beer. My question is - there must be merrits to both but I can't seem to find them spelled out anywhere. Could people please edjamacate me? Hasta, Rich Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 93 15:55:13 PST From: klein at physics.Berkeley.EDU (David Klein) Subject: RIMS Summary I have been following the recent RIMS discussion with interest, and hope to build a system in the near future. Thus I have gone back through the digest and collected all RIMS posts that I could find (I looked back to Jan 91) I edited the collection of posts down so as to ommit repeats (One design was given if full twice) and comments by people who have not actually built a system Since I have gone to the effort, I am more than happy to share the results with all those who are interested in designing a system, or improving their own. Simply write me, and I'll send it out to you (It is too long to post). Also I would much appreciate a copy of the original Maltose Falcons RIMS aricle I have no idea of how to get it, and would love a copy from someone. Finally Questions: 1) what pumps have people sucessfully used? 2) ditto for thermisters and vessels (does everyone use a keg?) 3) has anyone checked for thermal gradients? 4) channeling is always an issue for sparging, but I've not seen it for RIMS, has anyone checked? 5) mention has been made about automated mash systems of different design what are they? (What is Milspaw's design?) 6) if anyone around the bay area has set up a system, or simply wants to share plans, I'd see them (a bay area RIMS conference??) Dave Return to table of contents
Date: 11 Mar 1993 19:45:02 -0500 (EST) From: WESTEMEIER at delphi.com Subject: Cleaning plastic pails A recent posting lamented the difficulty of getting strong food smells and odors out of plastic pails and the like: >I cleaned them with everything I could think of in every >concentration to no avail. Some cleansers would seem to do >the job, but in a few days the pickle smell would reappear. I >concluded that the plastic had absorbed the taste/smell and >was exuding it over time. I threw them out We have had very good luck locally in removing the stains AND the smells from pickle containers by simply leaving them out in bright sunshine for two or three days. So simple it just doesn't occur to people, but try it! - -- Ed Westemeier, Cincinnati, OH Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1096, 03/12/93