HOMEBREW Digest #2296 Friday, December 27 1996

Digest #2295 Digest #2297
		(formerly Volume 02 : Number 016)



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Contents:
  Christoffel
  Mills
  Wyeast 1021 (Nottingham Ale)
  Re: My Answers to 2 Questions from Al. K (Jim Bentson)
  My error in previous post (Jim Bentson)
  Iodophor residue issues (Alex Santic)
  Re: Partial mash efficiency (Alex Santic)
  keeping hop pellets out of fermentor
  Re: Iodophor residue issues (Alex Santic)
  Wheeler Questions/Hydrometers and Trub
  Club
  beginner mead - wild mead
  re: Corona vs. Roller
  Beginner's Mash
  Wit Beer / Lactic acid
  Expansive Pots, Cornie mystery, (Ronald J La Borde) 
  weight/volume
  email list
  Al's chemistry questions
  re: Corona vs. Roller
  Hi, all...Current listserver status
  Acronyms
  No-Sparge Data
  beginner mead, lambic comment
  Re-using Yeast


---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 24 Dec 1996 10:56:12 -0600 From: Mike Urseth <beernote at realbeer.com> Subject: Christoffel >i bought some Christoffel Robertus, mainly becuase it was in a cool 1/2 >gallon growler with an aluminum handle. the style claims to be >"dubbelgemout bier". the card on the bottle neck explains it comes from >holland (st. christopher brewery), and the brewer calls it a "dubble malt >beer" brewed in the "munich tradition". the freshness date claims sept97 >(go figgure). it is dark amber, with no esters present. it is very malty >and dry, and maybe a little sour. Does anyone know how to brew something >like it, or what flavor components are in it that i haven't identified? > >bob: brewing in the heart of the bible belt >bob rogers bob at carol.net Drop a message to: stale19 at mail.idt.net Lanny Hoff is with All Saints Brands, importers of Christoffel and other tasty brews. He might be able to help you. Mike Urseth Editor & Publisher Midwest Beer Notes 339 Sixth Avenue Clayton, WI 54004 715-948-2990 ph. 715-948-2981 fax e-mail: beernote at realbeer.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Dec 1996 11:57:06 -0600 From: Algis R Korzonas <korzonas at lucent.com> Subject: Mills Olin writes: >Please Bill, I think Al has probably had more exposure to mills than >yourself, and his opinions probably represent what any shop owner will >tell you. Selling all three mill myself, I know I feel the same way. Bill may have had more experience with the Corona (believe he has been brewing more years than I), but I certainly have more experience with the PhilMill and MaltMill since they were invented after I started brewing. I'd like to add two more things: 1. A shopowner interested only in profit will push the Corona since it is a fraction of the cost (less money tied up in capital) and it's usual retail price includes a much bigger markup than either the PhilMill or the MaltMill (more profit per capital dollar invested). 2. I don't sell any of the three although I have in the past (I don't even own a store anymore). I have no interest in convincing homebrewers to get rollermills other than wanting them to be happy and to brew better beer more easily. Finally, I'd like to point out that I didn't start this discussion. Bill, out of the blue, decided to post that he feels the Corona is better than the PhilMill or MaltMill. I happen to disagree. I just wanted to present the other side of the story and I gave my reasoning. Hoppy Halidays! Al. Al Korzonas, Palos Hills, IL korzonas at lucent.com korz at pubs.ih.lucent.com korz at xnet.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Dec 1996 13:41:24 -0800 (PST) From: Greg Douhan <gdouhan at mail.wsu.edu> Subject: Wyeast 1021 (Nottingham Ale) Does anybody know anything about this yeast? I think it is new and I could not find any info on it. Greg Douhan Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Dec 1996 17:06:37 -0500 From: Jim Bentson <jbentson at htp.net> Subject: Re: My Answers to 2 Questions from Al. K (Jim Bentson) In HBD v2 #14 Al wrote: >Subject: Here's another one for the chemists... > >I've got another question for the chemists, although any >person who has taken any classes that require analytical >lab work would probably know. > >Okay... > >Percent by weight (% w/w) is easy: grams/100 grams or pounds/100 pounds >(okay, pounds are technically a force, not a weight, but on earth...) > >Percent by volume (% v/v) is also easy: ml/100ml or gal/100 gal, etc. > >Now, what's with % w/v? What the heck is this? Is this some sort of >agreed-upon convention (like w is always in grams and v always in liters) >or is it just a mistake? How can something be a percent weight of a >volume? > >Is this really a measurement convention or are a lot of people using >the wrong symbols when they mean w/w and v/v? Al: w/v is a ratio not a percentage. Any percentage must be based on a ratio of two numbers with the same units. People often use the term 'percentage' when they really mean 'ratio' . w/v is often used in 'recipes' for mixtures involving powdered or granulated solids being added to liquids. The reason is that by packing the solids differently, one can get different volumes for a fixed weight of solid material ( see the disclaimers on any bag of potato chips about the volume change in shipping). Notice that our grain bill or extract bill is always quoted as a given WEIGHT for a given VOLUME of water. An interesting side note is that when I started brewing I bought individually packaged bags of priming sugar in 5 oz. bags. Only later did I notice that most people quote 3/4 cups as the correct amount to prime. By experimenting I found I could get almost a 3/4 ounce difference depending on how well packed the sugar was. I only use weight to measure my priming sugar and have never had a bottle explode or undercarbonate due to sugar. With regard to your previous question about specific gravity (S.G.) of suspensions, the suspended particles DO affect the reading. The physics of why is quite involved and would bore most people, so I will omit it but it definitely happens as has been verified by a number of recent posts. Some of the comments sent in expressed the opposite opinion based on the argument that a rock in water raises the weight of the "mixture" and the S.G. goes up. They miss the point that S.G. is the ratio of the weight DENSITY of the material being tested to the weight density of water at 'standard' conditions. Density is a 'local' property (at a point) not a 'global' property (applicable over the whole volume) thus in the analogy they gave they only calculated the ' volume averaged' S.G. of an inhomogeous mixture ( sorry for all the jargon). In fact, the rock is not 'mixed' in the water and thus does not affect the S.G. reading The point of all this is that a hydrometer is calibrated ASSUMING a homogeneous mixture (the density is the same everywhere). IF you had any significant stratification or gradients in the test sample the measured values would be incorrect. Happy Holidays to All Jim Bentson <jbentson at htp.net> - -- Registered ICC User check out http://www.usefulware.com/~jfoltz Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 24 Dec 1996 23:39:07 -0500 From: Jim Bentson <jbentson at htp.net> Subject: My error in previous post (Jim Bentson) Dave Burley (and also Kelly Jones) is (are) correct in his assertion that I should go back and relearn basic physics. I really blew that one when I used the analogy of thermal stresses on a clamped bar (which was OK) and then carried it over to the cylindrical wall of the pot. The pot is totally unconstrained. My mistake was to forget that the bottom has to expand and thus the outer circumference of the bottem as well as the sides all expand equally with no constraint or stress buildup. I originally was thinking of the bottom as a constraint and forgot it's expansion. The end result is, as Dave said, that the pot expands the same as if it were a solid block. The correct change in volume (to first order) is 3 x exp. coeff. x temp. change x original volume. For the 50 liter 304 steel pot under a 95 deg change this turns out to be .00273 times the original volume which is about and still insignificant. Sorry for such bad info in a first post. My apologies to all. Next time I will wear my asbestos underwear. Happy Holidays Jim Bentson - -- Registered ICC User check out http://www.usefulware.com/~jfoltz Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 25 Dec 1996 01:13:20 -0500 (EST) From: Alex Santic <alex at salley.com> Subject: Iodophor residue issues (Alex Santic) In #15, Bob Bessette described the careful sanitation methods he employed in his last brew session. It reminded me of something that I occasionally wonder about. When using Iodophor at the correct concentration, it is said to be safe to air-dry equipment without rinsing. Is this based on the very low concentration of iodine compound in the solution, or is it based on the volatility of the iodine compound? If the latter is the case, then air drying would seem to be necessary. If the former, then you could use well-drained equipment that was still wet from an iodophor soak, as Bob did. Anybody know? - -- Alex Santic - alex at salley.com Silicon Alley Connections, LLC 527 Third Avenue #419 - NYC 10016 - 212-213-2666 - Fax 212-447-9107 http://www.salley.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 25 Dec 1996 01:36:52 -0500 (EST) From: Alex Santic <alex at salley.com> Subject: Re: Partial mash efficiency (Alex Santic) Chris Cooper wrote: >I have been following the no-sparge thread for a while and would like to >calculate the mash efficiency of my last brew (a partial mash). > [snip] > >Original Gravity: 1.044 >wort volume (in primary): 5.5 gallons >potential points per lbs. of pale male: 32 ??? >DME contribution (points/pound/gallon): 40 >total points in brew: 44 X 5.5 = 242 >DME Contribution: 3# X 40 = 120 >total from mash: 242 - 120 = 122 >points per pound of grain: 122/6 = 20.33 >effective yield of no-sparge partial mash = 63.5% > >I would like your feedback on any of the values that I have used. I changed a few of your assumptions and took account of the crystal malt, as follows: Original Gravity: 1.044 wort volume (in primary): 5.5 gallons potential points per lbs. of pale male: 37 potential points per lbs. of 60L crystal: 34 DME contribution (points/pound/gallon): 45 total points in brew: 44 X 5.5 = 242 DME Contribution: 3 X 45 = 135 total from mash: 242 - 135 = 107 extract potential of grain: 5 X 37 + 34 = 219 effective yield of no-sparge partial mash = 49% - -- Alex Santic - alex at salley.com Silicon Alley Connections, LLC 527 Third Avenue #419 - NYC 10016 - 212-213-2666 - Fax 212-447-9107 http://www.salley.com Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 25 Dec 1996 22:59:48 +0200 From: Lenny Garfinkel <lenny at inter.net.il> Subject: keeping hop pellets out of fermentor I recently switched from whole to pellet hops. In my last batch, I whirlpooled the wort after cooling and before transfer to fermentor. However, it was impossible to not have the hops go along without losing half of the wort, so I transferred the whole lot and racked to secondary after a couple days, leaving behind the settled hops. How does one leave the pellet hops behind without losing lots of wort? Lenny Garfinkel Leonard Garfinkel, Ph.D. Bio-Technology General Kiryat Weizmann Rehovot, Israel lenny at inter.net.il Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 25 Dec 1996 15:21:37 -0600 (CST) From: Michael Pfeuffer <pfeuffer at eden.com> Subject: Re: Iodophor residue issues (Alex Santic) At 01:13 AM 12/25/96 -0500, you wrote: >In #15, Bob Bessette described the careful sanitation methods he employed >in his last brew session. It reminded me of something that I occasionally >wonder about. > >When using Iodophor at the correct concentration, it is said to be safe to >air-dry equipment without rinsing. Is this based on the very low >concentration of iodine compound in the solution, or is it based on the >volatility of the iodine compound? If the latter is the case, then air >drying would seem to be necessary. If the former, then you could use >well-drained equipment that was still wet from an iodophor soak, as Bob >did. > >Anybody know? > I'd like to submit a tangent to this question: I've been suffering from chronic infections during 2nd stage fermentation. I've eliminated all possible sources except one: I too, have been in too much of a hurry to allow my equipment to air dry after soaking in Iodophor. Can anyone confirm my suspicions that this is a likely source of my infections? TIA, Mike Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 25 Dec 1996 21:29:40 -0500 From: "A. J. deLange" <ajdel at mindspring.com> Subject: Wheeler Questions/Hydrometers and Trub I'll take a whack at the inorganic chemistry stuff RE Al's questions on Wheeler's book: "The presence of calcium sulphate reduces the solubility of undesirable carbonates." Solubility is determined by solubility product thus for calcium carbonate [Ca++][CO3--] < 3.3E-9 i.e. if the concentration of calcium ions multiplied by the concentration of carbonate ions (moles/liter) excedes 3.3E-9 (value for calcite at 25C) calcium carbonate will precipitate. Thus if a solution is saturated with respect to calcium carbonate and a calcium salt or a carbonate salt is added precipitation will occur. There is a tie-in to pH and that is through its effect on the concetration of carbonate ion relative to the amount of bicarbonate ion. Thus, given a solution saturated with respect to calcium carbonate, increasing the pH will result in precipitation because bicarbonate will convert to carbonate and the solubility product will be exceded. Similarly, if a "solution" contains undissolved calcium carbonate, lowering the pH will cause some of the dissolved carbonate ion to pick up a proton becoming bicarbonate with the result that the carbonate concentration goes down so that more can dissolve. "The addition of acids to the water, such as citric acid or lactic acid, will also cause the precipitation of carbonates." The addition of acids will lower the pH causing carbonate to convert to bicarbonate and bicarbonate to convert to carbonic. If the carbonic concentration excedes the partial pressure of CO2 in the space over the solution (as it is bound to do since it was in equilibrium to start) some will escape until the equilibrium is restored. There is, therefore, loss of carbonate but it is not by precipitation but rather conversion first to bicarb and then carbonic gas. "Calcium sulphate is difficult to get into solution in the boiler, whereas the problem doesn't exist if it is mixed into the mash." This probably refers to the fact that gypsum is more souluble in cold water than hot (but not dramatically so). "Calcium sulphate is alkaline and actually increases the pH of the water to which it is added, but... reduces the pH of the resulting mash..." It is slightly alkaline (pKb = 1.2 for calcium hydroxide; pKa2 = 1.9 for the second proton of sulfuric acid) but the effect is not likely to be noticeable in waters with any appreciable buffering capacity. Certainly its use for pH reduction in the mash is well accepted. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * On the question of how a hydrometer responds to trub I think the answer must depend on whether the additional material is in suspension above the bottom of the hydrometer. Consider a hydrometer shaped like a cylinder. This cylinder will sink into a test sample to the depth at which the pressure multiplied by the area of the bottom face equals the weight of the cylinder. If there are particles such as trub particles above the bottom face they will have an effect on the pressure at this level. If they are, like trub particles, heavier than the liquid they will move downward at some terminal velocity with that velocity having the value which results in an increased pressure on the bottom surface of the particle which balances the difference between the buoyant force (mass of liquid displaced) and the weight of the particle. Thus, if the particles are dispersed vertically throughout the column of liquid, as they are at the outset, the vertical pressure gradient is higher than it would be if they were not present and the hydrometer will ride higher. Conversely, as the particles settle below the bottom of the hydrometer, their additional weight has no effect on the hydrometer. If some trub-laden wort were placed in a test jar and the test jar weighed, the weight would include that of trub particles in uniform vertical motion (note that lying on the bottom is uniform vertical motion at constant speed of 0). The reasons for discussion of uniform vertical motion is that it is established quickly on average (we're ignoring Brownian motion because it averages to 0) for particles as small as those of trub and for uniform vertical motion the total weight of the trub is added to the total weight of the liquid. If we assume that the particles are accelerating then the weight measurement would indicate less than the total weight of trub plus liquid. Returning to uniform motion, the weight (minus the tare) of the test jar divided by the area is the pressure at its bottom. The same is true at any other height in the jar: the pressure indicates the weight of the total mass above it if the mass includes only liquid and particles in uniform motion. Thus a hydrometer should indicate the presence of suspended trub particles above the bottom of the hydrometer. "OK", you say, "I just went out into the yard and put a hydrometer into the swimming pool and then threw a handful of buckshot into the other end. The hydrometer reading didn't change. Why not?" The answer to this is that the suspended particles (the shot pellets) are not uniformly distributed throughout the fluid in the vicinity of the hydrometer i.e. the fluid is not even close to being isotropic so that the pressure changes to the column under the shot result in local fluid flow which is not seen in the vicinity of the hydrometer. In the case of trub, however the particles are much more numerous and are uniformly distrubuted in the fluid volumn surrounding the instrument. Holliday greetings to all. A. J. deLange - - Numquam in dubio, saepe in errore. Please Note New e-mail Address Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 25 Dec 1996 20:32:55 -0600 (CST) From: Aaron Sepanski <sepanska at it.uwp.edu> Subject: Club I just wanted to "publicly" thank all of you that wrote me back with your ideas for a homebrew club. All of your ideas were great and there were many that I didn't think of myself. You guys were a real big help! Thanks again! Aaron Sepanski Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 25 Dec 1996 20:42:28 -0800 From: "Kevin R. Kane" <deviator at aracnet.com> Subject: beginner mead - wild mead I have to agree with an earlier post on mead. 10 pounds of honey for a 5 gallon batch of mead seems light, especially w/ champagne yeast. I have had my best results with 3 to 4 pounds per gallon for an adtipodal (sp?) mead. Has anyone done a mead w/ a self collected "dark and wild" honey? How did it come out? Hope you all had a nice Christmas. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 1996 06:59:26 +0700 From: "C.D. Pritchard" <cdp at mail.chattanooga.net> Subject: re: Corona vs. Roller A.J. posted in #15: >I contend that the method by which the Corona crushes the malt (a radially >striated plate, rubbing up against another plate at a small angle) is >fundamentally flawed.... This only contributes to the splintering of the >husks.... It's a pretty big factor in tannin and silicate extraction, >that's what. A.J.'s right. I've used malt ground by a fellow with a Corona who has used it extensively for years. The finished ale, when compared with almost the same brew (a bit more hops in the later) made from grain crushed on my roller mill had more harshness. FWIW, plans for my mill are on the URL in the sig. line. c.d. pritchard Email: cdp at chattanooga.net Web Page: http://caladan.chattanooga.net/~cdp/index.html Return to table of contents
Date: 26 Dec 1996 08:26:55 -0400 From: "Penn, Thomas" <penn#m#_thomas at msgw.vf.lmco.com> Subject: Beginner's Mash Here's an idea for those who want to start mashing but are reluctant to take the plunge: Make an all-grain yeast starter. Use about a pound of pale malt and mash it in a thermos bottle or other insulated container and experience the joys of converting starch to wort in your own home! If you blow it (which you won't), then use dry malt extract to make that starter. This exercise was enough to convert me to all-grain. Tom Penn Bordentown, NJ Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 1996 10:05:59 +0000 From: "Nathan L. Kanous II" <nkanous at tir.com> Subject: Wit Beer / Lactic acid Greetings! Just looking for info regarding lactic acid in Belgian Wits. I would like to brew one this weekend and am looking for some input. My thoughts: 1) add lactic acid after fermentation - may take longer for flavors to "marry" 2) add lactic acid during boil - shouldn't boil off, ? same time as #1 3) lactic mash - adding handful of grains before boil, ? predictability of ferment and target for this mash (what pH or time for mash?) 4) lactic mash - buy a pure lactobacillus culture for pre-boil or secondary fermentation - - ? different profiles of pre-boil vs. secondary fermentation with culture Any input from brewers experienced with any techniques would be helpful. I would like to be able to drink this as quickly as possible (I'm thirsty!). Private e-mail would be fine and I could post responses later. TIA. Nathan Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 1996 09:41:20 -0600 From: "LaBorde, Ronald" <rlabor at lsumc.edu> Subject: Expansive Pots, Cornie mystery, (Ronald J La Borde) Dave says this about stainless steel pots: ...The pot is make from an isotropic material. It gets wider and higher along all dimensions according to the expansion coefficients' value... All theory aside, I am using a plastic boiler and I can SEE the expansion, it does indeed expand along all dimensions. I can roughly tell the liquid level by looking at the pot straight on. The bulge is very visible when boiling. - ------------------------------------------------------ And this about his CO2 supply hose: ...when I pressed the carbonator onto the fitting before the CO2 was turned on in the hose, I got a substantial vacuum! I have repeated it a number times and each time as I press this fitting on, my palm gets sucked in tight and has to be forcefully pulled off... Hmmm, most interesting, I usually use my finger to push the center pin in for a few seconds after I turn on the CO2 pressure. I assumed the hiss was from pressure. Will have to pay more attention next time. I wonder if any infection would occur from the above procedure. I haven't had any infection problems, but then again the number one problem at my brewery is running out of product. The beer is not arround long enough to develop any infection. If you could rig up a gauge onto the end of your fitting, maybee you could monitor the readings and be better able to see whats happening. Please keep us posted on this. Happy Hollidays Ron Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 1996 12:04:00 -0500 (EST) From: djt2 at po.cwru.edu (Dennis J. Templeton) Subject: weight/volume Al K asks: >Now, what's with % w/v? What the heck is this? Al's comments re: units before this were right on the money. w/v is in fact the most common unit in a biological lab, because it is so easy. The confusion between w/v and w/w arises because we don't often *weigh* our final solutions, we check their volume more easily. Therefore grams of sugar dissolved per liter of wort seems more natural than grams per kilogram of wort. For an 10 % w/v solution, dissolve 10 grams solute in water or other solvent, then adjust the volume to 100 ml. This is how most folks naturally think of percent solutions. To get a 10 % w/w solution, you'd take 10 grams of stuff and dissolve it in 90 gram of water, and get a solution that is somewhat greater volume than 90 ml. If you want to add 100 mg of sugar from a 10% w/v solution, we know that will require 1 ml of solution. It is impossible to predict precisely how much volume of a 10% w/w solution to use, since the final volume is unpredictable, and varies for one solute or another. Note that since 1 ml of water weighs 1g, w/v and w/w measurements are *almost* the same at low concentrations of dissolved substance. It is when you start talking about 20% or 50% solutions that big differences occur. Dennis Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 96 11:26:01 From: jnovak <jnovak at kreis.com> Subject: email list Please put me on your email list. Thx JNovak at Kreis.com Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 1996 14:30:00 -0400 From: Dave Whitman <dwhitman at ot.com> Subject: Al's chemistry questions In HBD #15, Al K asks many questions about stuff from the CAMRA guide: > "The addition of acids to the water, such as citric acid or lactic > acid, will also cause the precipitation of carbonates." > >Whoa! I was under the impression that it was the acidity of CO2-saturated >rainwater that actually caused the dissolution of chalk and the introduction >of carbonates/bicarbonates into ground water. Isn't it exactly the opposite >of what Wheeler writes? Doesn't the addition of acid *increase* CO3 >solubility? I think Wheeler is rather confused. Addition of acid will help DISSOLVE carbonates, NOT precipitate them. However, it WILL reduce the CO3 level. If you acidify CO3-- to the acid form, it bubbles out of solution. This helps drive the equilibrium to dissolve more of the carbonate. > "Dextrins are mostly non-fermentable, but also contain some very > slowly fermentable sugars." and "Yeast continues to attack dextrins > for many months, even years, and are therefore regarded as slowly > fermenting sugars." > >Is this right? I was under the impression that "dextrins" were unfermentable >by our cultured brewers' yeasts. S. diastaticus, perhaps, but this is not >a desirable yeast in the average brewery. Could this just be a question of >nomenclature? Could Wheeler have meant "oligosaccarides" when he wrote >"dextrins?" I have noticed that after initial carbonation, the carbonation level continues to slowly climb for many months in my more chewy beers. I have long speculated that either the yeast could slowly metabolize the dextrins, OR that the dextrins were slowly hydrolyzing to simpler sugars that the yeast could work on. You don't need to get much hydrolysis to explain enough fermentation to mess up carbonation levels. > > "High mash temperatures favour the extraction of high molecular > weight nitrogenous compounds..." > >Are polyphenols nitrogenous? It sounds like proteins to me... I don't think >that's right. I believe that either the proteins will be soluble or it won't >and that increasing the mash temperature will only increase polyphenol and >silicate (and, of course, unconverted starch) extraction, no? I agree that it sounds like proteins; polyphenols contain oxygen, but no nitrogen. Protein solubility is a complicated thing - increased temperature could either increase or decrease protein solubility. Since during sparging you have a constant flow of fresh water, I think the real issue isn't so much solubility level (assuming *some* solubility) but rather kinetics of dissolution. That will be faster at higher temperatures. - -- Dave Whitman dwhitman at ot.com Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 1996 14:39:24 cst From: Bill Giffin <bill-giffin at juno.com> Subject: re: Corona vs. Roller Top of the afternoon to ye all, >>Al K says: Hope that breeze is at your back because otherwise you'll be covered head-to-toe in grain dust. << Wrong. >>Al K again: I contend that the method by which the Corona crushes the malt (a radially striated plate, rubbing up against another plate at a small angle) is fundamentally flawed. << As is the small diameter of the rolls of the available homebrew roller mills. the knurling is at an angle to the path of the grain and it too causes the husk to fracture and be cut. >>Al K from the Mount: Screen tests are great if and *only* if you are sure that what's going through the screens is milled endosperm and not pulverised husk. Since you can't, I would say your evaluation lacks good procedure. >> All you have to do is to look at the husk under a small magnification and you can tell if the hush has been fractured. By the by I wasn't thinking of you evaluation procedure but you brewing procedure. Remember Al when you said that if the pH of the mash were correct then husk fractions were not a problem as tannins would not be extracted.. The roller mills that are available to the homebrewer are not adequate for the job. The rolls are all too small; the manner in which they have been knurled also cuts the husk of the malt creating a greater area for the husk to release tannins and silicates. Part of the flavor profile for beer comes from the husk. 15% or so of husk material is in the final product. Beers that have been made by screening away all the husk material do not have the correct flavor profile. Hysteria such as Al K presents as Gospel is not always correct. Al would like you to believe he is correct, frequently he is not. >>: Steven Lichtenberg My main complaint with the Corona(which I still use but am thinking of = buying a Valley Mill) is that it is too slow. << Corona, Maltmill, or Phil's Mill when driven with an half inch drill all crush 10 pounds of malt in about the same time 3-4 min. Big deal. My Corona has not had to be adjusted for over 15 batches, and then only because I wanted to crush some wheat malt finer. Bill Giffin Richmond, Maine P. S. There are a bunch of other folks in my homebrew club that have had the same results with the Corona so I guess you can make good beer with it to have with your tortillas. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 1996 14:10:20 -0700 (MST) From: Adrian Goins <monachus at softsolut.com> Subject: Hi, all...Current listserver status Hello again.... I went through the bouncing mail files and deleted all of the outdated entries from the list, as well as a number whose mailboxes have been full for over a week. Our mailserver tries to resend mail every 30 minutes, so when a person's mail is refused for 5 days, that's a lot of load on our system. If anyone finds themselves deleted because of this, please resubscribe and try to keep space in your box for the digest. I've set up another piece of software called Procmail which is now sorting messages as they arrive in the digest-owner's mailbox. This allows us to approve things faster, as well as more readily identify the status of the digest to avoid problems. Procmail went up this morning, and it seems to be working well (it let me burn through 300 messages in under an hour!). As other things come up where I feel that the operation can be streamlined, I'll add them in. I want to thank all of the people who have come forward in support of the AOB and our efforts to rebuild the HBD and have it run smoothly. Your comments are very appreciated. If any of you have any other simple ideas on how the HBD could be administered more smoothly (without extensive code revisions), please feel free to send me mail at <admin at softsolut.com>. I'll try to incorporate them as best I can. Thanks! Adrian Goins System Administrator - Internaut 100% Software Solutions, Inc. http://www.softsolut.com 303-689-0100 voice http://uls.softsolut.com 303-891-4507 pager **Please use the PGP key available from "finger admin at softsolut.com"** Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 1996 14:51:01 -0800 From: smurman at best.com Subject: Acronyms HBD - Homebrew Digest r.c.b - rec.crafts.brewing HSA - Hot-Side Aeration RIMS - Recirculating Infusion Mash System FWH - First Wort Hopping EKG - East Kent Goldings (hop variety) NSB - No Sparge Brewing (still awaiting public acceptance) APA - American Pale Ale IPA - India Pale Ale ESB - Extra Special Bitter SNPA - Sierra Nevada Pale Ale PU - Pilsener Urquell DO - Dissolved Oxygen RO - Reverse Osmosis (water processing technique) MWP - Molecular Weight Protein LME - Liquid Malt Extract DME - Dry Malt Extract HBU - Homebrew Bitterness Units IBU - International Bitterness Units AA - Alpha Acids or Alpha Amylase - depends on context SRM - (color quantification) SG - Specific Gravity (density measure) LDPE - Low-Density PolyEthylene (plastic) HDPE - High-Density PolyEthylene PET - PolyEthylene Terephthalate (aka polyester) SMM - S-Methyl Methionine (precursor to DMS, found in malt) DMS - Di-Methyl Sulfide ETOH - ethyl alcohol AB or A-B - Anheiser-Busch SA - Sam Adams AHA - American Homebrewers Association AOB - Association of Brewers GABF - Great American Beer Festival BJCP - Beer Judge Certification Process ATF - U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (party store) BT - Brewing Techniques, Magazine NCJOHB - New Complete Joy Of HomeBrewing BLB - Brewing Lager Beer NBLB - New Brewing Lager Beer M&BS - Malting & Brewing Science RDWHAH = Relax. Don't Worry. Have a Homebrew. IMBR - Is My Beer Ruined? SS - Stainless Steel Cu - Copper Al - Aluminum SM - Scott Murman Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 1996 18:03:45 -0500 From: KennyEddy at aol.com Subject: No-Sparge Data On Monday Last I brewed two batches of no-sparge beers to attempt to quantify the process. Bruce DeBolt writes in #14 about his experience, which seemed to track with my results, so I'll use his data as well. >From where I sit, the two pieces of information one needs to design a no-sparge brew sesion is (A) the amount of sugar transferred to the boiler versus that retained and (B) the conversion efficiency. So for item (A), I have the following (including Bruce's data, batch "3"): Batch 1: 12 lb malt + 4 gal water (1.33 qt/lb). Obtained 2.4 gal runoff at 1.080. Retained = 0.53 qt/lb = 0.13 gal/lb. After draining this, I decided that too much sugar was being left behind compared to my initial assumptions, so I added more water to Batch 2 about halfway though its mash: Batch 2: 16 lb malt + 6.8 gal water (1.7 qt/lb). Obtained 5 gal runoff at 1.054. Retained 0.6 qt/lb = 0.15 gal/lb. Batch 3: 12 lb malt + 4 gal water (1.33 qt/lb). Obtained 2.5 gal runoff at 1.075. Retained 0.5 qt/lb = 0.125 gal/lb (jives well with my Batch #1). I found that the wort flow slowed toward the end, compared to full-sparge, which makes sense. This would be a worthwhile point to ponder while draining - -- making sure as much wort is drained as possible, which may take some time. In Batch #2, there was still a bit of outflow leftover after I stopped draining, though it was very slow, so the liquid withheld is probably closer to #1's and #3's result. As far as efficiency goes (item B), this is where I had varying results. I'll start by saying that I first recalibrated my system with a marked gallon jug & water carefully wighed to correctly graduate the jug. I found that my previous marks were off somewhat, which affects my efficiency assumptions. I had been using 77% but accounting for previous volume errors, my updated efficiency is more like 73%. Batch 1: Potential Points = 449 -- In 4 gal would be 1.112 -- Runoff was 1.080 -- Eff = 80/112 = 71% 5-gal Gott w/copper-pipe manifold 71% matches OK with 73% predicted. Batch 2: Potential Points = 557 -- In 6.8 gal would be 1.082 -- Runoff was 1.054 -- Eff = 54/82 = 66% 10-gal Gott w/Phil's Phalse Bottom Much lower than expected. Batch 3: Potential Points = 436 -- In 4 gal would be 109 -- Runoff was 1.075 - -- Eff = 75/109 = 69% System Unknown (Bruce?) Don't know why Batch #2 was so much lower in efficiency. I might be using "wrong" potential extract figures for the actual grain/crush I have. #2's recipe is mostly Munich & Vienna whereas I usually use pale ale malt, so the extract of these grains may be lower than I assumed compared with the pale ale malt. The disheartening thing about this is that you lose 0.5+ qt/lb of wort. This is much higher than Dr. Fix's figure of 0.32 qt/lb in his experiment. This has enormous impact on the amount of extra grain to use. In Dr. Fix' case, at 1.28 qt/lb mash thickness and 0.32 qt/lb lost, he uses 1.28 / (1.28 - 0.32) = 1.33 times (33% more) as much grain. If I mash with 1.28 qt/lb but leave 0.53 qt/lb behind, I must use 1.28 / (1.28 - 0.53) = 1.71 times (71% more) as much!! As Bruce DeBolt sais, YMMV. I suppose three are potentially some equipment issues here, or perhaps crush quality makes a big difference, but in any case, be prepared to use a lot of extra grain to achieve the results. A thinner mash will also improve extraction -- go as high as 2 qt/lb (at this thickness you'll need only 36% more grain). ***** Ken Schwartz El Paso, TX kennyeddy at aol.com http://members.aol.com/kennyeddy Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 28 Dec 96 01:51 +0100 From: Eckard Witte <EWitte at t-online.de> Subject: beginner mead, lambic comment Hello, is there a certain reason, why you use champagne yeast? This is the way, I make mead (for about 10 liters): I dissolve 3 kg honey in 8 liters of black tea, add 1 spoon of flour and potwine-yeast. It takes half a year at least for fermentation and clearing. After that I take half mead, half wine of hips, put it in an oak barrel and let it rest for a year or two. After that its like port-wine. I take champagne-yeast only for making a sparkling-wine, especially from apples and rhubarb (fermentation in bottles) Eckard Witte Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 09:43:11 +0500 (EST) From: macher at telerama.lm.com Subject: Re-using Yeast I am new to home brewing, having done only 8 batches of extract over the last two months. Tomorrow (saturday) I plan to rack an ale to the secondary, and to use the sediment in the primary in my next batch of ale. This sediment is the result of my first use of Wyeast liquid yeast, London ale #1028. I read in the HBD that some have had success with racking the cooled wort on top of sediment that remained in a freshly emptied primary fermenter. I use a glass carboy as my primary. If this is too risky, or a big mistake, if anyone can let me know, I would greatly appreciate it. I will either just put the wort in the freshly emptied primary carboy, as it sits with the trub(?) and everything in the bottom, or perhaps pour the sediment/yeast stuff into a clean and sanitized carboy... Just sounds like this could be an easy first step in the learning process of re-using yeast. I eventually hope to cultivate yeast using slants, but am not ready to start that yet. Thanks for any advice/help given... Bill Bill Macher macher at telerama.lm.com Pittsburgh Pa. USA Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #2296