HOMEBREW Digest #3181 Mon 29 November 1999

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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: janitor@hbd.org
		Many thanks to the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers of 
		Livonia, Michigan for sponsoring the Homebrew Digest.
				URL: http://www.oeonline.com


Contents:
  Benzene and Acrylonitrile (Tom Clark)
  Ferric water, Sentence construction, diatribe from Bob Sutton (Dave Burley)
  Fe&Mn/Blue?/Benzene/Reducing beer (AJ)
  growing yeast starters (you want details?) (cmoore)
  Mills ("Les Stoddard")
  Adjuncts-Rutabagas (Bob Sheck)
  ortho-phosphoric acid ("Thomas D. Hamann")
  Hop Pocket or Hop Devil Clone (David Boyd)
  Malted Barley in Bread makeing (David Boyd)
  steam blows away HERMS ("Robert Zukosky")
  Re BT ("Rick Wood")
  "The Carbonator" (Randy Ricchi)
  growing yeast and the George report ("gdepiro")

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 09:24:56 -0500 From: Tom Clark <rtclark at eurekanet.com> Subject: Benzene and Acrylonitrile I worked for several years in the safety department of a large chemical plant and one of my tasks was to perform safety inspections of the various parts of the plant. We too used acrylonitrile or vinyl cyanide but not to wash parts. We also used sodium hydroxide, sulfuric acid, butadiene, chlorine and styrene, as well as hundreds of other chemicals. One of the scariest responses I heard from some people was "I've been doing it that way for years and never had a problem." This is comparable to someone saying "I've always smoked while pumping gas into my car and never had a problem." Does that mean it is safe to do so? I personally saw two guys loose their car and everything in it as a result of this practice. Or, "I've smoked ever since I was 12 years old and it never hurt me (cough, cough)." Just because the effects have not yet been noticed does not mean there have not been, and will not be, any bad effects from careless practices. There is a safe way to do just about anything if you will only take the time and effort to do so. Don't confuse simple luck for safe practices. Tom Clark Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 10:32:48 -0500 From: Dave Burley <Dave_Burley at compuserve.com> Subject: Ferric water, Sentence construction, diatribe from Bob Sutton Brewsters: John T recommends correcting the iron content in water by treating it with Potassium Permanganate And letting the "slight pink coloration" be an indicator of when the iron has been all complexed. I can't recommend this procedure as the permanganate is not harmless and males, in particular, are variously color blind to red and will often find "slight pink" difficult to detect. I would think that oxidisable compounds in the water would react with the permanganate and release manganese, potentially exascerbating the problem. For sure, this would happen in the wort as the excess permanganate from the "slight pink" came in contact with the wort. John didn't say if he actually used this procedure and what his results are. There are procedures for titration of iron. These could be used to determine the level. Other metals like manganese can also be a problem which would not be cured by his procedure. It's easier to ask your water supplier or have a test run to determine the typical metals content in your water. If you want to use chemicals for iron a perhaps better method ( I've never done it) is to raise the pH with lye ( sodium hydroxide ) CAREFULLY! to precipitate the various transition metal hydroxides, allow to settle overnight, decant and bring the pH back to the desired level with muriatic ( HCl) CAREFULLY! or lactic acid. I have never done this, but this seems a better general procedure with less potential harm. You will have salt or sodium lactate in your water at the end, but likely not much if you do this carefully and don't have a lot of carbonates. I believe there is a commercial procedure that uses lime to raise the pH, but you may get more calcium in your water, which may not be desirable. To remove iron and other transtion metals like iron and manganese, I suggest you try a Brita or other ion exchange column method as an easier and better, more general method. A much superior method is to use a reverse osmosis RO water conditioner to remove any iron as well as other minerals like manganese, calcium and the like. - -------------------------------------------------- I doubt Domenick Venezia's suggestion ("Rip the plastic liners out of 5 or 6 used bottle caps and use them as boiling stones") to use the plastic liners from bottle caps as boiling chips would do much good. But the caps after you remove the liners might. {8^) - ------------------------------------------------- I can only suggest that Bob Sutton read my dissertation carefully to find out that I do not recommend reckless behavior, but am upset that the *legal* definitions of "carcinogenic" and "radioactive" bear no relationship to reality and can lead us as a nation down a path that is based on politics and not reason, with potentially terrible consequences. Benzene is not a toxin, as was suggested by the original author. I also suggest that Bob and others try Clinitest and "open" fermentations before commenting carelessly and displaying his/their ignorance. I doubt that Bob used acrylonitrile to wash his carburetor, either, but if he did that may explain why he should have said carbon tetrachloride, but didn't. Keep on Brewin' Dave Burley Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 17:43:32 +0000 From: AJ <ajdel at mindspring.com> Subject: Fe&Mn/Blue?/Benzene/Reducing beer Iron problems seem to be popular lately and Mike has them (plus manganese). These elements share (as Mike notes) a poor reputation in brewing though both are required by yeast in trace amounts. Both occur in relatively less oxidized (II) and relatively more oxidized (III for iron - it's more complex with manganese) forms. The the more oxidized form insoluble gels (hydroxides in the case of iron, oxides in the case of manganese) at higer pH's and removal is thus effected by oxidizing permitting the gel to form and catching the gel on some type of filter medium. In some cases iron may be present in only the oxidized state in which case the water is usually an ugly grayish, yellowish or yellowish brown color. In these cases all that is needed is filtration. Pouring the water through a sand bed may be all that is required. Ugly brown gloop will collect on top of the sand and can be washed away so that the sand can be reused. Where "clearwater" (i.e. Fe(II)) iron and/or manganese are present oxidation is required. The easiest way to acheive this is by simple aeration followed by processing through a filter. Water treatment companies sell aeration based filters which operate on this principle. They do not require any chemicals except where water pH is too low for good gel formation. Low pH from well water is, of course, quite common. In these cases pH must be raised either by "neutralizing" the water prior to oxidation and filtration or by adding chemicals to the filter tank to do the same thing. Other commercial iron removal units acheive the oxidation by the use of an oxidizing agent such as potassium permanganate as indicated in the post from JohnT. In these units the filter medium is often "greensand", a mineral found only in Delaware (at least that's the only place it's mined in the US) in this country. The greensand is periodically backwashed and then dosed with permanganate in fashion very similar to the way in which conventional home water softeners are backwashed and dosed with brine. I'm not a water treatment professional but assume that the permanganate/greensand setup would be required where manganese is heavy and that the aeration type should suffice where iron is the major concern. Water softeners will exchange sodium (or potassium) for iron and manganese but we have repeated here often enough that these softeners are disastrous for brewing that we need not mention it again. As a first attempt, try pouring the water back and forth many, many times. This raises the pH by allowing dissolved CO2 to escape and also supplies the oxygen necessary to effect the oxidation of both Fe(II) and Mn(II). Now filter through a sand bed or other filter. If the water no longer tastes tinny you are probably OK. Inexpensive test kit for Iron (total and clearwater) can be had from Hach and other suppliers if you want to test the efficacy of your treatment. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * On the neutralizing with ammonia thread: ammonia may be a strong base but equivalent for equivalent ammonia and bicarb do the same job as long as you are happy with neutralization to pH 5 or 6. With chalk, you get more bang for your buck because two hydrogens are absorbed by each molecule (but it still fizzes) and you can go to higher pH as well. The point here is that a half liter, for example, of hardware store acid contains about 4 equivalents of H+ and would require about 320 grams of bicarbonate or about 140 grams of NH4OHto neutralize. As I'm guessing that household ammonia is about 5% (ACS grade is about 30%) almost 3 liters of the household stuff would be required. Don't know how much a gallon of household ammonia costs (leave that sort of thing to Mrs.) but it can't be much so maybe it's even cheaper than the bicarb. Now I certainly don't get a blue color when I neutralize hydrochloric acid with ammonia but then I don't get one when I neutralize nitric with ammonia either unless there is some trace copper present. If there is when the ammonia becomes excess it forms the classic blue complex with the copper. This works equally well with hydrochloric though there are better indicators for detecting neutralization. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * No editorializing on benzene - just a comment. I've always quietly suspected that Kekule was sniffing the stuff when he had his vision. But in a hansom cab? Who knows? * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Kevin Riutort asks about reducing aldehydes and acids back to alcohols to fix bad beer. Indeed much thought has been given to keeping beer "in the reduced state" in order to prevent going down oxidative pathways. The usual approach is to avoid exposure to oxygen whenever the mash/wort is hot thus making sure that it is rich in "reductones" (reduced melanoidins). In the days of DeClerk it was apparently fairly commonplace to measure the rH (i.e. 2*F*ORP/R*T) of wort and beer using indicators and the "Indicator Time Test" which is, I believe, still used in Europe seeks to determine the reducing power of wort "in the cold" and thus predict packaged beer stability. Though there is much discussion of HSA, at least in the homebrewing community, I have seen very little written on this subject (but I have access to only JASBC). One occasionally sees references to the use of Ascorbic Acid as a reducing agent to be added to beer but the oxidized form of this compound evidently isn't too neat a thing to have in your beer either so that where it is used metabite is evidently also added and now you have the vintners sulfite allergy problems to worry about. A most interesting subject! - -- A. J. deLange Numquam in dubio, saepe in errore. Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 12:19:29 -0900 From: cmoore at gi.alaska.edu Subject: growing yeast starters (you want details?) Japan Man (AKA Aaron) asked about details of stepping up yeast. My offerings are an agglomeration of methods I have read and techniques learned in bio lab in school. I will attempt to include some specifics that I found difficult to derive and consider useful and enough detail to drive most of you nuts. It all starts with a good sized pressure cooker and a collection of culture tubes. The importance of a culture tube is that it has a screw cap which is able to maintain a sterile rim far more easily than a stoppered test tube. If you must use test tubes you might be advised to close them with an aluminum foil cover rather than a stopper. The rim is a great place for dusty debris to collect and it is very difficult to swab and flame this area reliably. A tight seal on a culture tube is not so important as the fact that the cap covers the thread area and thus protects the rim from contamination. When forced to transfer from test tubes I use a disposable pipette and avoid touching the rim of the tube. When low on sterile culturing supplies I run my pressure cooker at 15 psi for 20 minutes with a load of culturing items inside. Yeast culture tubes: (slants) Dissolve in standard wort food grade agar (2% by weight). Put enough in the tube that when placed on its side (slanted), the surface of the gel will extend nearly to the lip of the tube thus providing a large surface for yeast growth. 1st starter tubes: small test tubes with about 4 ml for wort in them. 2nd step tubes: medium sized tubes with about 50 ml wort in them. starter jars: I use quart canning jars. I prefer to fill a number of jars half full thus allowing me to use them as growth jars of feeder jars for building up yeast volumes. sterile water: the remainder of the space in the pressure cooker is filled with bottles of water that may be used as utility water in any number of future steps including washing yeast harvested from primary fermentation. Having a ready and abundant supply of sterile water is very useful. I try to re-culture my slants every six months but have ignored them for as long as a year. I do not advise this as it was a struggle to revive some strains after such neglect. Set out before you in an organized array: source yeast culture tube, 1st starter tube, inoculation wire, and a torch. Loosen the caps on the source and destination tubes. Hold the source tube at a steep angle to vertical away from your breath. In the other hand hold the wire into your flame over a large portion of its length being sure that the tip gets very hot. While holding the wire well away from any object use the same hand to remove the lid or stopper of the yeast culture tube. Insert the wire into the tube and touch it against some clear medium so as to cool the wire, and then proceed to capture your inoculate. You may at this time choose to select a single colony or select a long scraping from a healthy looking region of the culture. Remove the wire from the supply tube, replace the cap, set down the supply tube and take up the destination tube. Using the same handling technique as before, remove the cap and insert the wire into the 1st starter tube. Stir the wire to dislodge a majority of the inoculate. Replace the cap on the 1st starter. To aerate growth tubes I like to remove the cap, hold the tube at arms length, and swing the tube horizontally a few times to exchange fresh air into the tube. Replace the cap and hold the top of the tube firmly in one hand. Run the fingers of your other hand over the base of the tube causing the contents to be turbulently disturbed. The tube may also be simply shaken, but it should be remembered that the upper lip of the tube is a likely source of contamination and should be avoided. After fermentation gets going, shaking the tube generates enough gas that there is a net exhaustion of gas from the tube along with a bit of spillage. This tends to push any rim contaminates away from the culture. A few times per day repeat the aeration step. After three days you may not yet see any activity but you are reads to step up to the next level. If you have a disposable pipette, simply follow the same methods used in the original inoculation only this time take and distribute your sample by pipette rather than wire. Continue to aerate the 2nd step tube in the same way as the first. Another three days of growth may be needed prior to going to the quart level. At the quart lever you may pour starter back and forth between jars. Be sure to flame the rim of each jar over the area you intend to pour from and watch that drips that make it outside of the sterile area are not allowed to fall into the starter during transfer. The optimum time of pitching into your brew and the volume of starter is fertile ground for debate, but optimum rarity aligns with the time the wort is ready. I have found the quickest starts result from pitching the entire contents of a rapidly frothing starter. On the other hand I have also gotten good results from letting the starter ferment out, settle and then just pitching the yeast which removes a small quantity of starter beer that was generated under good yeast growth conditions, but less than ideal brewing Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 17:26:27 -0500 From: "Les Stoddard" <wailstail at email.msn.com> Subject: Mills Jambo, Bwanas! I have been using a Phil-mill for about 5 years now...in my last few batches I have noticed a lot of flour in my mash (the adjusting screw on my mill fell out long ago so I know it isn't an adjustment) and until very recently I was very happy about the crush. Now in addition to the flour, I am seeing a reduction of extraction efficiency. Is my mill headed to the happy crushing ground? If so, I have noticed that no one seems to say bad things about the Schmidling. Is that a good replacement? Private e-mails ok Happy Holidays to the collective! Les Stoddard Long Island, NY Is Brian Rezac still around at 5-star chemicals?? Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 18:51:58 -0500 From: Bob Sheck <bsheck at skantech.net> Subject: Adjuncts-Rutabagas While enjoying a great T-day meal at a friend's (and enjoying my pumpkin ale) the subject came up of brewing a rutabagas ale- using rutabagas as an adjunct. The rutabagas we were enjoying had a nice nutty flavor, and I wonder if anyone has experience with this under-priveleged vegetable? Bob Sheck bsheck, me-sheck, abednigo! Greenville, NC email:bsheck at skantech.net or see us at: http://www.skantech.net/bsheck/ (252)830-1833 - ------------- "Madness takes its toll -- Please have exact change!" Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 00:01:45 +1000 From: "Thomas D. Hamann" <tdhamann at senet.com.au> Subject: ortho-phosphoric acid My local brew shop, Grumpys, insists I use their latest and greatest sanitiser instead of bleach. On the label it says - "TERMINATOR" 'One Shot' Acid Detergent/Sanitiser, contains ortho-phosphoric acid. Use 1 teaspoon per 2 litres. Is this gear better than bleach? Minimum contact time? Can I let it sit in a fermenter indefinitely? Is 2 litres in the bottom of a fermenter capable of killing them beasties? Is it no-rinse? Is it environmentally friendly? Is it equally effective on glass, plastic and s/steel? By what name(s) does it go by in North America? many thanks in advance, Thomas. Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 12:42:32 -0500 From: David Boyd <dave_boyd at sterling.com> Subject: Hop Pocket or Hop Devil Clone Greetings and solicitations: After a year plus hiatus I am trying to find the time to brew again. During this dry period I became hooked on two commercial brews that are highly hopped. Tuppers Hop Pocket Ale and another called Hop Devil. I would love to brew a clone of these. Does anyone out there have an extract+grain recipe for something this hoppy? I have been following the thread about first wort hopping and plan to try that on my next attempt. Any recommendations for hop amounts or types? Since I will be steeping my specialty grains I suppose I can just add my hops at the same time. - -- David W. Boyd, Director Voice: (703) 506-0800, ext 7048 Network and Information Operations Dept. Cell: (703) 577-5824 Sterling Software, Applied Systems Division Fax: (703) 506-0154 1650 Tysons Blvd, Mclean, Va 22102-3915 E-Fax: (360) 838-1106 Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 12:47:50 -0500 From: David Boyd <dave_boyd at sterling.com> Subject: Malted Barley in Bread makeing Keith writes: > New topic: > Has anyone tried malted barley flour in bread making? I have never actually used barley flour. However as an extract with specialty grains brewer I often use the spent specialty grains for some bread. I also often use the wort from my specific gravity readings in place of water. This creates a somewhat sweat and nutty bread that the kids even like. The following is the basic recipe I use in my bread machine: 9 ounce water and/or wort (use the wort from you hydrometer reading) 1.5 Tbls Canola oil 1.5 Tbls honey or malt extract 1 Tbls unsulfured molasses or malt extract 3 cups flour (whole wheat is best but regular works very well) 3/4 cups spent grain 2 tablespoons gluten flour (not required really) 3 tablespoons powdered whey or dry milk 1.5 teaspoons salt 2.5 teaspoons bread yeast. I often substitute malt extract (someone gave me a bunch of those little cans for a cheapo HB kit that are only good for this or yeast starters) for one or both the honey or molasses. Lately I have also been adding a couple of table spoons of soy flour as it seems to help the texture of the bread. I would like to see other recipes for this grain. I generally make two loaves of bread after each batch of beer but that still leaves lots of grain that doesn't keep that well. - -- David W. Boyd, Director Voice: (703) 506-0800, ext 7048 Network and Information Operations Dept. Cell: (703) 577-5824 Sterling Software, Applied Systems Division Fax: (703) 506-0154 1650 Tysons Blvd, Mclean, Va 22102-3915 E-Fax: (360) 838-1106 Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 14:43:01 -0500 From: "Robert Zukosky" <mrzar at ic.net> Subject: steam blows away HERMS Using a RIMS for about two years, I find my system to be problematic. I have a typical electrical heater element and March pump doing about 5+ gpm with 1/2" hard plumbing. Mash tun is a picnic cooler (56qt). Pump is controlled to approx. 2 1/2 gpm as grist bed will not take too much more. I am using an Omega 9000A PID with a solid state relay. I have ruined too many brews by barbecuing the wort. The selection of electrical heater (low density 5000w/220 or 1250w/110) appears to be marginal for no scorch brewing. This element is fine for maintaining temp but to do a ramp from 105F to 135-145F full out can create problems. Of course there other variables in the system or process (composition of grist, grind, flow rate, cavitation of pump, etc)but, it is my opinion that reduced flow rate through the heating chamber (1/2" ID expands to 1 1/2" ID)gpm drops and the wort is not moving fast enough to cool heater. Process requirements -> ramp up the temperature in the shortest possible time without scorching. Solution ----- STEAM. Had I known how easy implementation of steam to my system was I would have designed it in originally. Inexpensive - 25 to 30 bucks. Too simple, too easy, fellow brewers. I now get a temp speed of 2.5F/min without and 4.0+F/min with the heater for 7.0 gal H2O. Also, I program the PID for 70% of power since I do not need it for temp increase only for maintaining. I inject the steam using 1/4" tubing directly into the electrical heater chamber. No special injector just an open 1/4" tube held in place with a compression fitting. 1 1/4 qt H2O converted to steam took 7 gal H2O from 105F to 150F in 13 min with 1250 watt heater held to 70%. This addition of H20 to the mash is negligible. Kohl's department store has a 5 quart pressure on sale for 19.95 and with $5 worth of fittings and tubing you are in business. E-mail replies welcome ----------- bobz About 45 min from A2 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 06:45:03 +1000 From: "Rick Wood" <thewoods at netpci.com> Subject: Re BT Hello All, All this talk regarding BT, I just had to respond. I received my mailing from BT regarding the three options and it took virtually no thought regarding which option to accept. I accepted the forgive the debt option. I did this not as an act of charity, but as an act of forgiveness and thanks for a job well done. The letter explaining the situation seemed sincere to me. I have no doubt that the people at BT did the absolute best they could have done, under the circumstances. If they were not doing the best that they could, how else could they have produced such a respected magazine? I am sad to see them gone. I hope BT is reincarnated in some way. I must say that if AHA does not do this, they are missing an opportunity! Regards, Rick Wood Brewing on Guam Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 17:21:38 -0500 From: Randy Ricchi <rricchi at ccisd.k12.mi.us> Subject: "The Carbonator" I've been waiting for the maker of "the Carbonator" to come out with a pin-lock version, but it probably won't happen. Then I realized that the gas line doesn't have to be hooked up long, just long enough to force 30# or so into the soda bottle. I could hold the gas line quick disconnect in place with my hand, then disconnect. Does anyone know if the ball-lock fittings are the same diameter as pin-lock? Would my idea work? TIA. Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 23:47:15 -0500 From: "gdepiro" <gdepiro at mindspring.com> Subject: growing yeast and the George report Howdy hots, all, Yes, it's me again. I have a new (used) computer and a few moments to use it, so I figured I'd say "hi" to all of you folks out in the cyber-brewing world. Those of you who have only been reading the digest a short time should be told that I was once a very frequent poster here, before becoming a professional brewer. Anyhow, the George report first. Brewing commercially is still fun, believe it or not. I am thoroughly enjoying learning about the restaurant business while making beer. This Tuesday I plan on brewing our 50th batch (we've been open 6 months), which seems somewhat momentous, but I'm not sure why. I've actually reached the double digits when counting the number of brews that have gone smoothly, which is good (except that I just jinxed myself; damn!). Amongst the best moments of terror in the brew house were spraying my face with boiling water while cleaning a cornie keg (you can do this at home, so be very careful!) and having the electronically-actuated runoff valve fail during a runoff so I could not stop the flow of wort from the mash/lauter tun to the kettle. The valve could not be removed and fixed with the kettle full because it was lower than the level of the wort in the kettle. As the liquid level in the kettle rose menacingly close to the manway, I decided that I could pump the wort into the hot liquor tank (which I first emptied). Once the wort level was below that of the misbehaving valve I took it off and fixed it. Scrubbing the hot liquor tank was a lot of fun (I must admit my assistant volunteered to do this; my bout of Terret's syndrome during the affair made him feel that I was pretty stressed out). A number of HBD readers have come to the brewpub over the past few months, which has been lots of fun. I always enjoy meeting homebrewers, and especially HBD types. If you ever find yourself in Albany, NY, be sure to stop in. I'm there almost all of the time. On to brewing: Aaron writes, regarding yeast propagation: "I am interested in starter wort recipes, sterility procedures, wort amounts, and length of time between step ups and so on. Thank you very for time and efforts." The yeast propagation I practice at the brewpub is exactly the same as I did at home, except that the final step up at work is into a 30 gallon (11 hL) starter rather than a half gallon (2L). Aaron reports getting short lag times with his current procedure, so there really is no need for him to change (unless he is looking for more convenience or some such). To answer his questions directly: Starter wort recipes: I simply save some wort whenever I am brewing a light-colored, moderately hopped wort. The reason for light color and moderate hopping is so that the starter does not alter the flavor or appearance of your batch too much. All malt worts are most nutritious for your yeast. Some people have reported good results using store-bought Malta, but they contain much corn sugar and should probably have yeast nutrient added to them to ensure enough amino acids for maximum yeast growth (which is what you want). Wort amounts: I advocate 10X increases in wort volume at each step. In practice, I have found that this yields a pitching rate about 7 times lower than that considered ideal by megalager brewers, but the lag times are always short (6-12 hours) and the results good. If you want to make a lager (or more neutral tasting ale) I would try to increase the pitching rate. It is important to remember to oxygenate the culture at each step up. If you are really into the hobby, you can go as far as providing constant aeration with a stir bar or aquarium stone or some such, but it is not necessary (it will increase your pitching rate, though, so I recommend it in certain situations). As far as sanitation is concerned, I have always had good results with my normal homebrew methods. This means boiling or pressure cooking anything that can tolerate it, and using iodophor on everything else. I never use glove boxes for my yeast cultures and have not had a contaminated slant yet (I check them occasionally). In fact, a fellow homebrew (Pete Garofalo) took some of my Weizen yeast from the brewpub (given to me by Austrian HBD reader Hubert Hangoffer) and found it to be quite pure. For more detailed info about things like WHY oxygen is so important, etc., either search the HBD archives or see my Jan. 1999 Brewing Techniques articles about yeast propagation. I believe that good yeast management is the key to making great beer, so it is something that is definitely worth learning about. Have fun! George de Piro (Nyack, NY) C.H.Evans Brewing Company at the Albany Pump Station (518) 447-9000 Malted Barley Appreciation Society Homebrew Club http://hbd.org/mbas Return to table of contents
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