HOMEBREW Digest #234 Tue 22 August 1989

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

Contents:
  Chlorine ("Allen J. Hainer")
  Specific Gravity Different (Doug Roberts)
  Follow-up on pilsner (florianb)
  Brewpub Listings (John DeCarlo)


---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 21 Aug 89 12:45:17 EDT From: "Allen J. Hainer" <ajhainer at violet.waterloo.edu> Subject: Chlorine Several months ago, I wrote in about a batch I had started only to wake up the next morning and hear on the radio that Waterloo water should be boiled before drinking because of a bacterial infection. Well, the good news is that that batch turned out great - one of my best. The bad news is that my next batch did not. Everything started out great, but after a day and a half of fermentation, everything stopped. I tried yeast energizer, and later repitching with fresh yeast. Nothing worked and I still had a SG of 18 on a light ginger beer that should end up somewhere around 5. I found it too difficult to through out the whole thing, so I primed and bottled hoping that fermentation would stop again at 18. Sure enough, two weeks later the beer was carbonated, but almost undrinkable because of the sweetness. The beer remained this way for about a month and a half, and then the fermentation took off again. This time it was some type of infection - the sediment formed in lumps along the neck of the bottles. My little time bombs are now in a cold empty fridge to help slow any further carbonation. They are now passing the "gusher" stage so I guess I'll open them all and throw them out sometime this week. The beer wasn't that good anyway. So what does this have to do with chlorine? It turns out that there was a rash of stuck fermentations in the K-W area. It also seems that in response to the bacterial infection, a large amount of chlorine was put in the water system. Some people complained of the smell, but I never noticed it (that may have had something to do with 10 years of competitive swimming ;^) My guess (although not very scientific since correlation does not necessarily imply causation) is that chlorine inhibits normal fermentation so that infections get a chance to take hold. If everything is not being rinsed after sanitizing with chlorine bleach, very dilute solutions should be used. According to previous discussions, it appears that ~1/2 tsp/5 gallons is sufficient. If you (like me ;-) don't like to wait for everything to soak for an hour or so, a much stronger solution can be used for a shorter time, but if this is done, everything should be rinsed. If you don't trust your tap water, a very dulute chlorine bleach solution can be used instead for rinsing. BTW, I have since discovered that Labatt's (a two minite walk from were I live) has a tap supplying dionized water (no chlorine) to the public. My first batch with this water is now in the secondary and seems okay even though the water tastes like there is a large amount of Na. If you live near a large brewery, you might check it out. -al (ajhainer at violet.waterloo.edu) Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 89 10:58:19 MDT From: roberts%studguppy at LANL.GOV (Doug Roberts at Los Alamos National Laboratory) Subject: Specific Gravity Different > The temperature correction issue should be approached with extreme caution. At > the suggestion of my friendly dealer-guru, I performed an experiment where the > same wort was checked with the hydrometer fresh out of the brewpot (~180), and > at various temperatures down to the recommended 60. It turned out that the > little correction chart badly OVERestimated the gravity at the higher > temperatures. My advice would be to check the gravity after the wort has > cooled, or, if the purpose of the check is to see if extracts need to be added > to a mash wort, to ladle a little hot wort into a canning jar, set it in a bowl > of cold water or icewater to cool down, then check the gravity. The relationship between wort SG & temperature should be linear, if ancient memories from my chemical engineering days serve. However, if the wort has stratified during cooling (mine always seems to) error in SG measurement will result if the wort isn't re-mixed prior to taking a sample for SG. I wrote a little program for my HP-45 that takes the SG & temperature readings, and spits out the SG corrected for 60 Fahrenheit. I've verified that the SG variation _is_ linear with temperature by taking subsequent readings as the wort cooled. --Doug ================================================================ Douglas Roberts | Los Alamos National Laboratory |When choosing between two evils, Box 1663, MS F-602 |I always like to try the one Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 |I've never tried before. (505)667-4569 | dzzr at lanl.gov | ================================================================ Return to table of contents
Date: 21 Aug 89 12:28:06 PDT (Mon) From: florianb at tekred.cna.tek.com Subject: Follow-up on pilsner A few weeks ago, I submitted an inquiry regarding the aging of lager in the carboy vs. in the bottle. At the time, the brew had finished bubbling in the carboy and had reached its terminal gravity (tg=1.009 and og=1.040). My question had been whether to leave it longer in the carboy or to bottle it right away. I received advice from both opinions. I left the brew in the carboy a total of three weeks after bubbling ceased. I then bottled and began lowering the temperature from the initial 48 degrees to 32 degrees in four stages. It has now been in the bottle about three weeks, and is progressing nicely, with a bodacious head like whipped egg white and superb clarity. It should improve to its peak in about a month more. I can strongly recommend the expense of obtaining a second refrigerator especially dedicated to brewing lager. In the past, I brewed only ales due to my impatience. I can now say that lager is definitely worth the wait. In addition, I can now do both in parallel. Where does it all end? Or does it? [Florian Bell, Boonesborough, Oregon] Return to table of contents
Date: Monday, 21 Aug 1989 16:12:06 EST From: m14051 at mwvm (John DeCarlo <m14051 at mwvm>) Subject: Brewpub Listings Re: Walt Thode's request for a complete list of brewpubs/microbreweries. I don't know what people have on-line, but I *do* know that the AHA (American Homebrewers Association) will mail you a paper list of "North American Microbreweries/Brewpubs by State/Province". I notice at the bottom that it is copyright 1989 Institute for Brewing Studies. I have seen a list in electronic form on the BREWNET bulletin board, (703) 739-2739, but don't know how recent that information is. John "I have a paper listing, but no time to try to type it in" DeCarlo John DeCarlo ARPANET: jdecarlo%mdf at mitre.org Usenet: at ... at !uunet!hadron!blkcat!109!131!John_Decarlo Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #234, 08/22/89
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