HOMEBREW Digest #2005 Mon 08 April 1996

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


Contents:
  Re: ANYONE (Schneider)
  Alkalinity/Aeration/Electrons/Water Analysis (A. J. deLange)
  Sake (Douglas Kerfoot)
  (Fwd) Re: Homebrew Digest #2004 (April 06, 1996) ("Pat Babcock")
  Thermometers (KennyEddy)
  Mucor (A. J. deLange)
  Auto Sparge (Bob Jones)
  BJCP Study Guide; Temp Control Plans (WALZENBREW)
  re: keeping my cool (C.D. Pritchard)
  Hey! How 'bout this?!? ("Pat Babcock")
  HBU-MCC is dead. Long live the net... ("Pat Babcock")
  dishwasher for sterilization (Dutch)

****************************************************************** * POLICY NOTE: Due to the incredible volume of bouncing mail, * I am going to have to start removing addresses from the list * that cause ongoing problems. In particular, if your mailbox * is full or your account over quota, and this results in bounced * mail, your address will be removed from the list after a few days. * * If you use a 'vacation' program, please be sure that it only * sends a automated reply to homebrew-request *once*. If I get * more than one, then I'll delete your address from the list. ****************************************************************** ################################################################# # # YET ANOTHER NEW FEDERAL REGULATION: if you are UNSUBSCRIBING from the # digest, please make sure you send your request to the same service # provider that you sent your subscription request!!! I am now receiving # many unsubscribe requests that do not match any address on my mailing # list, and effective immediately I will be silently deleting such # requests. # ################################################################# NOTE NEW HOMEBREW ADDRESS hpfcmgw! Send articles for __publication_only__ to homebrew at hpfcmgw.fc.hp.com (Articles are published in the order they are received.) Send UNSUBSCRIBE and all other requests, ie, address change, etc., to homebrew-request@ hpfcmgw.fc.hp.com, BUT PLEASE NOTE that if you subscribed via the BITNET listserver (BEER-L at UA1VM.UA.EDU), then you MUST unsubscribe the same way! If your account is being deleted, please be courteous and unsubscribe first. Please don't send me requests for back issues - you will be silently ignored. For "Cat's Meow" information, send mail to lutzen at alpha.rollanet.org ARCHIVES: An archive of previous issues of this digest, as well as other beer related information can be accessed via anonymous ftp at ftp.stanford.edu. Use ftp to log in as anonymous and give your full e-mail address as the password, look under the directory /pub/clubs/homebrew/beer directory. AFS users can find it under /afs/ir.stanford.edu/ftp/pub/clubs/homebrew/beer. If you do not have ftp capability you may access the files via e-mail using the ftpmail service at gatekeeper.dec.com. For information about this service, send an e-mail message to ftpmail at gatekeeper.dec.com with the word "help" (without the quotes) in the body of the message.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 01 Apr 1996 21:35:09 -0800 From: Schneider <djs at micron.net> Subject: Re: ANYONE Dean wrote: > > Does anyone ever read this news group. If you do, leave a message. Yea, when while I'm waiting for my wort to chill down. Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 6 Apr 1996 12:35:04 -0500 From: ajdel at interramp.com (A. J. deLange) Subject: Alkalinity/Aeration/Electrons/Water Analysis In # 2004 Greg King gave a method for calculating alkalinity from the other entries in a water report. There's nothing wrong with his method but the same answer can usually be gotten much more quickly. If the pH of the water is below 8.3, then the alkalinity, expressed in milliequivalents per litre, (DeClerk calls them "millivals" but they are the same thing) IS the bicarbonate concentration (to within a % or so) in the same units. To continue with the Louvier water (which is becoming as well known as Perrier water) as an example the alkalinity was 196 ppm as CaCO3. To convert to mEq/L divide by 50 giving 3.92 mEq/L. This is the mEq/L for bicarbonate. Multiply by 61, the equivalent weight of bicarbonate, to get the ppm bicarbonate: 239 which is the number in the report. Combining the two steps, compute alkalinity from bicarbonate by multipling by 61/50 = 1.22. It is probable that the bicarbonate number in Ray's report was obtained by the reverse of this procedure. It is the usual practice to measure alkalinity (the method is in my post on Lime in #2004) in milliequivalents per litre and then convert that number to bicarbonate by multiplying by 61. This is fine in the case where the water pH is less than 8.3 and where other ions which can effect alkalinity, such as reactive phosphate, are not present or present only in small quantity. Otherwise, the procedures are a little more complicated but not terribly so. In these cases, Greg's method might be preferrable. Doing an electrical neutrality computation is an important quality control step for the analyst. If the magnitude of the sum of all the anion and cation equivalences is more than, say, a tenth of a milliequivalent per litre (Louvier's report comes in just at this level) there is reason to suspect either that a measurement was appreciably in error or that there is an unaccounted for ion. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Mark Elliot asked about how long to aerate with an airstone. I have done some experiments with a sintered stainless airstone and found that about 9 minutes of bubbling compressed air at a rate which gave reasonably sized bubbles brought 2.5 gallons of deoxygenated water in a carboy to 99% of saturation. By contrast, 8 minutes of vigorous shaking acheived 87% of saturation and 1 and a half minutes with bottled oxygen produced 121%. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Dan Gerth wonders about "mollified electrons". Well, all these science books tell you that electrons have a spin of plus or minus a half. But they never tell you half of what! I'll bet that the people who make this scale device have figured out how to get these electrons to spin at half of something that is less than half of the ordinary thing and thus, they are not in such a tizzy as ordinary electrons and are so mollified. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Pat bemoans the difficulty in getting a reasonable water analysis reporting that his "Sanitary District" wants $10/ion for a determination. If you are on a well, I can understand this. If the "Sanitary District" supplies you with water then you are being given the runaround. A supplier MUST do analyses to insure that his water meets mandated federal, state, and possibly local, standards in other words, they have the data and should supply it. If the supply entity is public or quasi public they are probably required by law to furnish the data. All that aside, after some thought I have decided that I would be willing to do brewing-specific analyses for anyone who wants them on a trial basis (in other words, I don't want to make a career of this). Water would have to be shipped to me and I'd have to charge something for my time and the reagents. I don't want to get "commercial" here so send me private e-mail if anyone is interested and I'll see what might be worked out. A.J. deLange Numquam in dubio, saepe in errore! ajdel at interramp.com Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 06 Apr 1996 13:04:11 -0500 From: Douglas Kerfoot <dkerfoot at macatawa.org> Subject: Sake Does anyone know of any web resources for sake making? I thought there was a Sake Digest, but I can't find any info on it. I am also looking for sources for rice Koji (the moldy rice, not the liquid enzyme). Private responses will be summarized. Thanks Doug Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 6 Apr 1996 16:23:19 +0500 From: "Pat Babcock" <pbabcock at oeonline.com> Subject: (Fwd) Re: Homebrew Digest #2004 (April 06, 1996) In HOMEBREW Digest #2004, John 'Cisco' Francisco sez: > I just got back from UPS shipping two entries to the AHA > nationals and was very surprised by a new policy at UPS. > ALL PACKAGES WILL BE OPENED AND INSPECTED. <SNIP> > Everyone should call UPS and file a formal complaint about > this 'police state' tactic. Don't bother complaining to the > customer service representative that answers the phone, > ask to speak to their supervisor to file a formal compliant. {"Captain: Short sighted scanners show a subject of a political nature spotted off the starboard bow!"} {"Scotty: Engage left-brain political rant engines! Rant 6! Prepare the Blowhard torpedoes! Charge up the phrasers! Blinders up!"} {"Aye, Coptin!"} {"Phrasers charged. Torpedoes ready in all forward and aft tubes. Blinders at 100%"} {"Fire phrasers!"} I'm not corroborating what Cisco has said - I haven't sent a brew package through the UPS since January - but I would like to think he has no reason to lead us astray with a fictitious report. That said: {"Phrasers fired. Direct hit. Damage minimal."} {"Fire Blowhard torpedoes. All tubes."} {"Torpedoes away."} ANAL (Am Not A Lawyer), but this "policy" sounds like an invasion of privacy. You know - unconstitutional? They can't even look in your GARBAGE CAN without having a warrant. What gives the UPS the right to search through something that you _haven't_ discarded? {"Torpedoes hit. Enemy blinders at 60%. They are turning to engage us.} {"Scotty! Rant 9!"} I know, I know: There may be transportation/safety laws, "while in possession" concerns, and such that they can fall back on (like metal detectors at the airport, customs, etc...) but doesn't the fact that no new law has been enacted requiring this tactic coupled with the fact that they never did the inspection gig before set any kind of legal precedent? {"Enemy coherent-thought disruptors powering up. We cannot withstand an attack from these weapons at this time, Captain."} {"Scotty! I need MORE POWER!!!!"} {"But, Coptin! I'm givin yer all she's got!} {"Fire forward phrasers. Lay in a course away from the enemy and fire as we go."} This sounds like something the ACLU or some other legal wolf-pack is gonna jump on mighty hard and fast. (Probably not, though. They're too busy with important social engineering tasks - like getting the Christ out of Christmas and other such important things - to worry about an action that might even be USEFUL.) {"Scotty! I need those rant engines NOW!"} {"Coptin! I've redirected life support to the rant engines! Make the jump in logic quickly!"} Anyway, maybe those phone calls would be better placed to your local ACLU rather than to the UPS. After all - just by having the policy, they have demonstrated how near and dear they hold your (our) rights. What difference is a phone call going to make? Just my $0.02. Brew on, comrades, brew on! Nostrovnia! {"Warning! Hull breach on the command deck. Rant plasma core detonation imminent..."} Man, I Gotta lay off the coffee... - --- - Pat Babcock pbabcock at oeonline.com http://oeonline.com/~pbabcock/ (C) Copyright 1996 Mussell Rats See ya! Pat Babcock in Canton, Michigan (Western Suburb of Detroit) pbabcock at oeonline.com URL: http://oeonline.com/~pbabcock/ Let a good beer be the exclamation point at the end of your day as every sentence requires proper punctuation. -- PGB Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 6 Apr 1996 18:17:33 -0500 From: KennyEddy at aol.com Subject: Thermometers John Mrazek commented on my Cheap-Ass thermometer article. His point was basically that other devices do the same trick with less wiring. This is true to a point but at the risk of sounding agumentive I'd like to bring it into perspective. There are certainly many ways to skin the old kitty-kat, and the "Really Cheap-Ass Digital Thermometer" wasn't necessarily intended to be the best and final solution to the problem. I'll address John's points one-by-one: > On the other hand in Brewing Techniques (March - April 1994) Mr. Robert > McIlvaine has published a article on temperature measuring using sensors > made for such use. They are: > 1. Very inexpensive The "D" grade LM34 can be mail-ordered for about $3 (assuming you're also meeting the typical $25.00 minimum charge or $5.00 surcharge). Its accuracy according to the National data sheet is +/-4F. The "C" and "A" grades are available (3F and 2F accuracy respectively) at prices ranging up to $30 depending on grade and package style. These are "guaranteed" accuracies. "Typical" accuracies at elevated temperatures are 0.8F for the "A" and "C" and 1.6F for the "D" grade (but about twice as good at room temp). Chances are that any given sensor will be as good or better than this but these are the published performance specs. Improving accuracy over these specs is possible but requires added calibration circuitry. > 2. Laser trimmed for accuracy True, but see (1). > 3. Accuracy of .1 Degree Fahrenheit A *controller* built using this or any other semiconductor sensor (like a diode) properly calibrated could conceivably *hold* a temperature to this accuracy, but right out of the box, the *sensor's* accuracy is only as good as described in (1). In the above-referenced article, McIlvaine writes: "[it] indicates temperatures from 0F to 250F within 0.1 degrees of *accuracy*"...I would venture to say he really means "resolution", which would then make it a correct statement. > 4. Your choice of either Celsius or Fahrenheit > sensor Great feature. But no particular advantage over other circuits topologies. > 5. It will direct read to your Voltmeter I built a direct-reading (10 mV/deg F) enhancement of the simple thermometer I presented, which can be built for about $10 (mo' less). > 6. To do that you only need a 9 Volt Battery and a > 2K resistor. The resistor actually isn't necessary with the '34 or '35, and can actually degrade accuracy if your meter's input impedence is fairly low. Most DVMs' input impedences are very high but an analog meter is likely to be a problem in this respect. >In other subsequent articles he also gets to computer controlled brewing >etc. It was the best info i got to be able to make a fully computerized >mashing process. I've seen these other articles and I think he's doing a great job with them. For those so inclined (and possessing the required programming skills to create the necessary interfaces), it's the ultimate. But having to dedicate even a $200 surplus 286 and monitor to the garage brewery or (gasp) having to haul my brand-new $2000 P166 downstairs every brewday makes a much-less-expensive and more-compact RIMS controller box fairly attractive for that aspect of the job. Toss in level controls and valve operators, and yes, a PC starts llooking mighty slick, but I suspect that's beyond most homebrewers' needs. > It seems like a lot of work just to have a thermometer.But having a nice > chart so you can convert measured voltage into a temperature reading must > be cool. C'mon now. I DID say this circuit was for "demonstration purposes" and that it did not read directly. The idea was to introduce and demonstrate the basic idea and allow an interested reader to see for him/herself the accurate response of a very simple circuit. Ken Schwartz KennyEddy at aol.com Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 7 Apr 1996 09:28:17 -0500 From: ajdel at interramp.com (A. J. deLange) Subject: Mucor With everything else in my last post I forgor Mucor ("How could he forget Mucor?" you are probably asking yourself.") which John Thompson asked about in #2002. Mucor is a genus of mould in the order Mucorales of the class Zygomycota (sometimes referred to a Phycomycetes). It reproduces sexually by the formation of zygospores and assexually by the production of sporangia (which are sort of like the seeded head of a daisy) which release sproangiospores (the "seeds"). It is found in soil and water (i.e. the members of the class typically are) and can therefore be presumed to be a possible source of infection for beer if good sanitation procedures are not followed. In man, Mucorales are "opportunistic systemic pathogens" which means that they do not ordinarily bother us but may use us as lunch if our immune systems are weakened by disease (such as diabetes) or by other means. Apparently some current wholesale dispensation of antibiotics, corticosteroids etc. has increased the incidence of infections by these fungi appreciably. Mucormycosis is still, however, very rare. I would assum that a homebrew which is not infected would be as free of Mucor as any other wild yeast/fungus. Certainly micro-filtered or Pasteurized beer would be. A.J. deLange Numquam in dubio, saepe in errore! ajdel at interramp.com Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 07 Apr 1996 08:43:29 -0800 From: Bob Jones <bjones at bdt.com> Subject: Auto Sparge >Does anyone have a clever way to automatically control the level of >sparge water above the mash/lauter tun grain bed ? Yep been doing it for years!!! Look in the HBD archives for hits on "Uncle Bob's auto sparge" or some such nonsense. Bob Jones in Alamo, Calif. bjones at bdt.com http://www.bdt.com:80/home/bjones/ Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 7 Apr 1996 14:33:46 -0400 From: WALZENBREW at aol.com Subject: BJCP Study Guide; Temp Control Plans Just another update for those interested: I have my 100+ page BJCP exam study guide (with sample questions) as both a text file and a WordPerfect 5.1 document on the TRASH home page: http://members.gnn.com/rcolaizzi/trash.htm Additionally, the Study Guide now has its own home page at http://oeonline.com/~pbabcock/bjcp.html where you can browse through it online. My plans for a complete refrigerator/freezer temperature control using a Radio Shack module, including a GIF of the schematic, parts list, and assembly and use instructions, is also located on the TRASH home page. Cheers, Greg Walz MA Rep, BJCP Board of Directors Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 7 Apr 96 21:01 EDT From: cdp at chattanooga.net (C.D. Pritchard) Subject: re: keeping my cool ccrenshaw at mail.utexas.edu (Clay Crenshaw) in #1998: >My apartment hovers aroud 76-80 F, and I want to ferment at 65 F or so. >Besides investing in a THIRD refrigerator, does anyone have any creative, >or even obvious, solutions? Cheap is preferred, but not absolutely >necessary. Here's what I want to try: Use a freezer as as a heat sink: Put the fermenter and a cooling coil in an insulated box and another coil in a freezer. Put tubing and a pump between them and use an antifreeze solution as a heat transfer fluid. Control the pump based on temperature of the fermenter. A fan blowing across both coils will probably be needed. Add-on automotive transmission coolers would make better heat exchangers than the coils. I plan on making the fermenting box from rigid foam insulation- basically a bottomless box that can be slipped off the fermenter and cooling equipment so I can watch the yeast: +-----------+ X : fan- maybe 2 or 3 muffin fans | || | # : cooling coil or heat exchanger | - - | | / \ |<--- 2" or so thick foam box w/o attached bottom | X#| | | | X#| |<-|----- Fermenter | X#+----+ | |===========<----- Bottom- foam w/ plywood top I'm hoping it'll maintain lagering as well as fermenting temperatures. Adding a heating element would allow boosting the temp. for dicetyl rests. If anyone's been down this road before, I'd like to hear about it. What doesn't work: I tried something similar to the above for a lagering chamber. Instead of the "cold" coil, I used a bucket of glycerine/water antifreeze in a freezer. The "warm" coil was submerged in a water bath in an insulated garbage can. The non-frostfree freezer frosted up pretty badly and the experiment was terminated. I think not precooling the water bath and the pumping running all the time was a major factor in the failure... >Also, has anyone had much success with a "prechiller" (additional coil >immersed in ice bath) in an immersion-type chiller? I've tried putting a in-line prechiller coil upstream of the immersion chiller. About 15' of coiled 1/4" copper tubing and a flow rate of 2 GPM or so didn't work too well. Maybe a more tubing or agitating the prechiller coil more would have helped... In summer, I cool the wort to within 10degF or so of the tap water temperature then pump ice water through the immersion chiller. I make a ice water bath in a cooler and use a bilge pump in the cooler to push it through the chiller. I return the water back to the cooler and add more ice if necessary. >Also, when using an immersion chiller, what kind of water pressure would be >most efficient? Is fast-running water significantly more effective than >slow-running water? As long as you have turbulent flow (not much for 1/4" tubing- about 1 GPM or less I'd guess), the flow doesn't matter much. Assumming turbulent flow, the limiting factor for an immersion chiller is the velocity of the wort over the coils (e.g. from moving the coil, stirring the wort or rocking the kettle), not the velocity of water flow through the chiller. C.D. Pritchard cdp at chattanooga.net Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 8 Apr 1996 09:32:07 +0500 From: "Pat Babcock" <pbabcock at oeonline.com> Subject: Hey! How 'bout this?!? Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to your lager! Or, mebbe SEND me some in the mail! The Drinkur Purdee Department Of Thoughts That Usually Cause Me A Hell Of A Lot More Work Than I Thought They Would has thought of something to get me in a WHOLE lot more trouble! How about a Homebrew Digest Brew-Buddy Program?!? Kind of like an extension of the Homebrew Flea Market! Here's how I see it working: You send a note to pbabcock at oeonline.com with "Brewbuddy Wanted" in the subject. In the note, you include your name, e-mail address, country of residence, styles you brew and styles you're interested in. I post your info on a web page (also planned to be echoed on the Drinkur Purdee Document Echo for you Web-challenged individuals). People can browse the page, and send e-mail to those they'd like to "Buddy Up" with. Then, y'all can mail beer back and forth and REALLY PISS OFF THE UPS, er, um , no - I mean experience each others brews, and, perhaps, experience styles you'd otherwise not have dabbled in (or get some really nasty infected swill from someone needing troubleshooting. Hey! It could happen...). Well? Whattaya think? Worth a shot?!? (This glass of Duvel is doing STRANGE things to my head, eh?!? I _LIKE_ it!) If interested, send your "Brew Buddy Wanted" notes along, and I'll get on it ASAP. Otherwise, you know where to send the flames. That's right: to the automated operators at 1-800-swill-bud.... The Drinkur Purdee How Do I Get Myself Into THese Things Department is standing by.... (Now: on to my last remaining bottle of Australian Dogbolter Dark Lager. Dave? Wanna send me a case?!? Didn't think so...) Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 8 Apr 1996 09:43:58 +0500 From: "Pat Babcock" <pbabcock at oeonline.com> Subject: HBU-MCC is dead. Long live the net... Hmm. Rejected. TWICE!!! Notes out of sequence now. References to Duvel backwards. Must adjust time. M-u-s-t ..... A-d-j-u-s-t-..... T-i -m -e - ---------------------------------- Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to your lager... As I sit sipping my Easter glass of Duvel (Yummy! But I _still_ like Orval better!), I must make a somewhat saddening announcement (excuse me whilst I choke back my tears): A year to the date of its inception, The Homebrew University - Motor City Campus bulletin board is officially pronounced... ...DEAD! Unfortunately, the concept never caught on here. The only posts in any message bases were my own; the only file uploaded by anyone other than myself was a virus. (Didn't REALLY think I'd allow it to infect one of my machines, did you?) 90 member out of which maybe ten are regulars. I like to blame the popularity and availability of the Net in this area (See? We in Michigan _ARE_ more evolved than the rest of you =) Besides: my dad needs a new machine... Anyway, though it is still up at the moment, I'll be pulling the plug sometime between now and May 1st. Just thought y'all would like to know... See ya! Pat Babcock pbabcock at oeonline.com ex-sysop of the HBU-MCC BBS (C) Copyright 1996 Lemuss Star See ya! Pat Babcock in Canton, Michigan (Western Suburb of Detroit) pbabcock at oeonline.com URL: http://oeonline.com/~pbabcock/ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 8 Apr 1996 00:26:30 -0400 From: leake.5 at osu.edu (Dutch) Subject: dishwasher for sterilization Hi all, I read the recent posting about sterilizing bottles in a dishwasher with bleach add to (help?) sterilize. I use my dishwasher but never add bleach. I was reluctant to advise anyone to do this becaus I didn't know what temperature the bottles reached during the heated dry cycle. (I assume people have a heated dry cycle if they use their dishwashers for sterilization.) Well today I bottled two batches, an Astrailian lager style ale (I had to make this for work to test "new" malt) and a Kolsh ale, and took temperature readings during sterilization. I took a reading with no bottles in during the middle of the dry cycle, 200 F was the temp. When the bottles were in, the reading was 170 F so I ran the dry dycle again and achieved a temp of 183 F. From now on I will run the heat dry cycle twice to make shure my bottles are sterilized. 183 F steam should sterilize my bottles well. Watch out those bottles will burn your hands!!!! Walter Leake.5 at osu.edu Oh, Wyeast comes to my local homebrew store marked Return to table of contents