HOMEBREW Digest #3679 Sat 07 July 2001

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Contents:
  Re: All Grain (Mike Uchima)
  strain (leavitdg)
  rusty couplings ("Steve Haun")
  Re: Ya know? Ya gotta love 'em... ("Curt Abert")
  Re: All Grain (Jeff Renner)
  Clone recipe, was: Re: What do YOU have? Cheer 'em on! (Jeff Renner)
  Re: calories, methane, etc. (Jeff Renner)
  UPS shipping woes - followup (LJ Vitt)
  Some all-grain Q's (Frank Tutzauer)
  Re: Oxygenating/timing (smurman)
  Re: All Grain (Marcie5295)
  Re: Temperature unevenness in mash (stencil)
  Robots  Re: Link, what link? ("bsmnt")
  American beer month? (Spencer W Thomas)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2001 01:33:54 -0500 From: Mike Uchima <uchima at pobox.com> Subject: Re: All Grain "Colby Fry" <colbyfry at pa.net> sez: > Getting ready to brew my first all grain recipe and have to ask a few > questions. Should be a rather exciting time at the Fry household on > Saturday. Whoo-hoo! Welcome to the next level. :-) > 1. Should I strain the liquor from the mash/tun before I start the boil? What kind of lautering setup do you plan to use? In general, you should simply recirculate the first gallon or so of runoff back through the grain bed... this will do a very good job of filtering out particulates. Better than any strainer. > 2. Whats up with the "Cold Break" and do I strain that? Cold break is proteins and other stuff that precipitates out when the wort is cooled. No need to be concerned... it actually contains nutrients that will help your yeast. > 3. Should I use more grain than necessary on my first couple runs until I > get my efficiency up to par? Probably. The only negative is that you may end up overshooting your OG, if your efficiency is better than expected. But you can always water it down at bottling time, or leave it as-is and have stronger beer! > 4. last but not least- When I sparge, is it kosher to press the grain bed to > gain the excess juice in the boiler? I'd recommend against doing this. By the end of the sparge, there should be relatively little sugar remaining anyway; and you'll probably flush a fair amount of particulates into your boil by doing this. > Thanks for any response; personal or public. > P.S. any good starter grain recopies? What would you like to brew? - -- == Mike Uchima == uchima at pobox.com == http://www.pobox.com/~uchima == Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2001 06:19:31 -0400 (EDT) From: leavitdg at plattsburgh.edu Subject: strain Colby; You DON'T want to strain...what happens is that as you get to the last of your hot liquor (sparge water..I use about 6 gal at 175F) the gravity drops...and as this happens you get more chances of extracting tannins, and harsh flavors from the grain..most believe that as the specific gravity approaches 1.01 you should stop and leave the watery stuff behind...I usually stop the sparge at around 1.02 and just use more grain if I am concerned that I'd not extracting enough... Yes, you could use a bit more grain...a pound or 2 just for the heck of it.. And, no, please don't press the grain bed...this will cause you to get the draff/ crap pieces of grain that you'd rather leave behind...after all, this is one of the purposes of the sparge... I'll let others speak to the cold break... Happy Brewing! ...Darrell Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2001 07:52:42 -0500 From: "Steve Haun" <haunbag at home.com> Subject: rusty couplings Several months ago I had stainless couplings welded into two sankey kegs. Last week I noted what appears to be rust inside the coupling, between the 2 sets of threads. I tried removing with a toothbrush and Bar Keepers Friend but was unsuccessful. Any thoughts as to how I can remove this? Should I even try to remove it? Steve Haun Sioux Falls, SD Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2001 08:28:19 -0500 From: "Curt Abert" <abert at jokulhlaup.isgs.uiuc.edu> Subject: Re: Ya know? Ya gotta love 'em... Hi All, Pat asks what we have in our fridges. Since I'm down to my last 2.5 kegs of homebrew for the summer, I've been supporting my favorite regional breweries. Currently I have: Bell's Oberon Ale (Kalamazoo, MI) Goose Island Honker's Ale (Chicago, IL), New Glarus Edel Pils and Uf Da Bock (New Glarus, WI), Gray's Pale Ale (Janesville, WI) Boulevard Pale Ale and Bully! porter (Kansas City, MO) I'm with Pat... Let's hear if for regional breweries! If they didn't exist, there would only be megaswill (and homebrew)! Curt Abert Champaign, IL Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2001 09:48:31 -0400 From: Jeff Renner <JeffRenner at mediaone.net> Subject: Re: All Grain "Colby Fry" <colbyfry at pa.net> asks for advice on his first all grain First, Colby, unasked-for advice (always the most dangerous to give) - find someone who has done it and ask him (or perhaps her) if you can brew with him some time. However, since you want to brew Saturday, then see if that brewer can come by to brew with you. It would have helped, of course, if you had let us know where you are (is pa.net in Pennsylvania, or the Pacific?). There might be a brewer nearby who would help out if only he knew. And read all you can. For starters, check out John Palmer's online book http://www.howtobrew.com/, especially Section 3 - Brewing Your First All-Grain Beer. >1. Should I strain the liquor from the mash/tun before I start the boil? I think you're asking if you should complete the runoff before starting the boil. Not necessary - you can keep a running boil throughout the runoff (also called lauter). That way, when you finish the runoff, you have a boil going. Saves some time. >2. Whats up with the "Cold Break" and do I strain that? Cold break is the haziness that forms when you chill your wort. It will settle out, but don't worry about it now. Hot break forms when you boil the wort, and if you can leave that behind, it's a good idea. How you do this depends on how you chill your wort. >3. Should I use more grain than necessary on my first couple runs until I >get my efficiency up to par? Probably not a bad idea. >4. last but not least- When I sparge, is it kosher to press the grain bed to >gain the excess juice in the boiler? NO! It will be cloudy and probably have a higher level of harsh tasting stuff (sorry to use scientific terms on a beginner). You should keep sparging as you runoff, although there's nothing wrong with stopping the sparge a little before you collect all your sweet wort. But I don't like to let the grain bed run dry very much. I've tasted the last runnings when I drain the mash kettle/lauter tun and it's always harsh. BTW, at the beginning of the runoff, before you even start sparging, you should recirculate your wort until it tuns fairly clear. >Thanks for any response; personal or public. >P.S. any good starter grain recopies? See John's Section 4 - Formulating Recipes and Solutions. How about a nice American brown ale? 10% medium (40-60L) crystal, 3% chocolate, balance pale malt, hop 25-30 IBU (see Glen Tinseth's bitterness calculator http://realbeer.com/hops/bcalc_js.html) with your favorite hops, maybe Cascade. Good luck. On - and did I suggest, read all you can and find an experienced brewer if you can. Jeff - -- Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, JeffRenner at mediaone.net "One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943 Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2001 10:14:07 -0400 From: Jeff Renner <JeffRenner at mediaone.net> Subject: Clone recipe, was: Re: What do YOU have? Cheer 'em on! Jerry "Beaver" Pelt <beaverplt at yahoo.com>, who we can deduce lives in or near Madison, WI, writes of local breweries >New Glarus Brewery in it's >namesake town and Capitol brewery in Madison WI. The >New Glarus Uf Da Bock and Capitol's Amber are tops on >my hit parade. <snip> >I also want to second the comment about buying micros >along with making your own. A lot of my homebrews have >been made because I liked a specific micro and looked >for a recipe to copy it. I agree, and to tie your two comments together, I tried New Glarus' Spotted Cow Farmhouse Ale several years ago when visiting my sister in WI and was really pleased with this unassuming bottle conditioned cream ale (at least, that's what I would categorize it as). There are some hints as to its makeup on the label, including corn and flaked barley. I brewed up a pretty successful clone then, and just this week I brewed another for my niece's wedding up in Mosinee, WI. Here are the basics: For 7.75 gallons (30 liters, 1/4 bbl) at 1.046 (2/3's for 5 gallons): Low alkalinity, low sulfate water (as for Pilsner) 6 lbs. Briess 6-row (2-row would work fine) 1.75 lbs Durst Vienna 6 oz. DWC Caravienne (any 20L crystal would work fine) 2.25 lbs flaked maize 1 lbs. flaked barley Mash at 151F (66C), mashout at 170F (76C). All Crystal hops at 4.5% (very arbitrary choice, I had some that smelled nice): First Wort Hops - 0.8 oz ~8 IBU (but how to figure FWH?) Bittering hops - 1.6 oz. ~16 IBU - 1 hr. Flavor hops 0.4 oz, ~1 IBU 10 minutes No finish hops - musta forgot Irish moss - 15 minutes. White Labs American Ale Yeast WPL001 (equivalent to Wyeast 1056) I haven't tasted this year's version - it's still in the primary, but the wort was a pretty gold (~4L?), softly malty with mild bitterness. And, despite the single step infusion and flaked barley, perfectly clear, probably thanks to the Irish moss. I'll be kegging this, but the original is a cloudy, bottle conditioned brew. Hope some of you brewers will try this nice, easy drinking but not bland ale. Jeff - -- Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, JeffRenner at mediaone.net "One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943 Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2001 11:34:54 -0400 From: Jeff Renner <JeffRenner at mediaone.net> Subject: Re: calories, methane, etc. "Dr. Pivo" <dp at pivo.w.se> writes >1/100th of the basic unit of length (a centimeter)... make a lilttle box >that size and you get one "cc". That is the same as 1/100th of the basic >unit for volume (a millilitre) Now we "Mer'cans are notably metrically challenged, but isn't a ml a 1/1000 of the basic unit of volume, the liter (or litre), not 1/100th? >Indeed, how nice it is to say: "Let's make one cc (or ml., or gm.) of >water, get heated one degree, and we will define that as out basic unit >of energy (a calorie)". > >I suppose if you are measuring motors in "dynes" then a "joule" is a >handy unit to have.... but in "life processes" I'd sure hate to loose >the "calorie". Just to clarify, when we refer to calories in food, or beer, we are referring to kilocalories, or kcal, right? Now for the extra credit take home question: How many kcals in a fart? Do an energy balance for the caloric differences between a beer fart and a sauerkraut fart. Show your calculations on the back of a beer label. Show the Krebs cycle of a gut bacterium. Enough of this silliness. Doc was at least writing in the evening, with the possible excuse of having consumed some beer calories. I don't even have that excuse at this hour of the morning. Jeff - -- Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, JeffRenner at mediaone.net "One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943 Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2001 08:43:28 -0700 (PDT) From: LJ Vitt <lvitt4 at yahoo.com> Subject: UPS shipping woes - followup In HBD#3678 Dean Fikar <dfikar at swbell.net> told us his solution to UPS refusing to ship his entries. I ran into the same problem when I was sending to 2nd round AHA in 1999. Since I declared I had glass, they needed to inspect the packaging. Finding beer bottles, they went on to say they can't ship it. I found a hardware store that takes UPS packages. Their hours a more convenient than UPS, open 7 days a week and charge $1 above the UPS charge. They don't even ask for the contents. Since then, they get all of my UPS shipments. - Leo Vitt Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2001 11:58:11 -0400 (EDT) From: Frank Tutzauer <comfrank at acsu.buffalo.edu> Subject: Some all-grain Q's Colby's getting ready to start his first all-grain. Colby, you'll get lots of good replies on this, but since traffic's down on the digest, here's my take: >1. Should I strain the liquor from the mash/tun before I start the boil? The liquor will be "strained" by the grain bed; you do not need to add an extra straining step. Just recirculate the first coupla quarts until it runs fairly clear, and then sparge away. You can either direct the runoff straight into your kettle, or into an intermediate vessel -- e.g., when I brew in the kitchen I can't get my lauter tun up high enough, so I direct the runoff into a pitcher which I then transfer to the kettle. >2. Whats up with the "Cold Break" and do I strain that? The cold break forms upon chilling. Immersion chiller users typically leave most of the cold break in the kettle, counterflow users often transfer the cold break into the fermenter along with the wort. Don't sweat it either way. Whether counterflow or immersion, I recommend a short settling period to let the break and hop crud fall to the bottom, and then syphon off the top. But if you don't want to wait, that's ok too. >3. Should I use more grain than necessary on my first couple runs until I >get my efficiency up to par? My advice is to choose a style of beer where over- or under-shooting your gravities is not a problem. E.g., brew a special bitter. If your gravity's too high call it an extra special bitter, and if it's too low call it an ordinary bitter. Check the gravity at the beginning of the boil so you can adjust your hopping if necessary. >4. last but not least- When I sparge, is it kosher to press the grain bed >to gain the excess juice in the boiler? Don't bother. Most people sparge to a certain gravity or pH. A lot of other folks sparge to a specific volume, which is what I recommend to new all-grainers (and is what I do myself). Just keep sparging til you've got six gallons of wort (for a five gallon batch). When I do this, my final runnings are around 1.012. Am I getting all the sugars? No. Do I care? No. Have fun! --frank Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2001 09:26:44 -0700 (PDT) From: smurman at shell5.ba.best.com Subject: Re: Oxygenating/timing Well, I'm sure there are many variables, especially how you treat your starters, but for myself I found that waiting 6-12 hrs before oxygenating didn't work out too well. My reasoning for the poor results was that the delayed O2 dosing is recommended for pro set-ups - they inline oxygenate the second batch added to the fermenter about 12 hours after the first. However, they are pitching a much larger and healthier "starter" to begin with, while we at home usually can't get close to what they pitch. I'm probably on the high end of starter volume - usually 1 gal. starters or re-pitching, but I still don't think I keep my starter yeast in the condition the continuous cycle pro brewers do. Giving it a dosage of O2 initially, even if it doesn't use it all, at least gets it healthy right out of the box. Basically, I'd rather waste some O2 than have a poor batch. In my case, maybe hitting it with 2 doses would be ideal, but it isn't really broken now, so... -SM- Redwood City, CA I was promised blackouts and suffering dammit! > I made a generic batch of wheat ale on Sunday in which I oxygenated > at about 6 hrs after pitching. (Recall recent discussions of when is the > optimal time to add O2) This ferment appears to be the most healthy > of any beer I have ever made. The rate (as judged be the airlock activity) > was nearly peaking by about 6 hrs after the O2 addition. > > So, FWIW, seems like a little delay in oxygenation may be helpful. Of > course I haven't tasted the results yet... > > cheers, > Dave Riedel > Victoria, Can. Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2001 15:30:14 EDT From: Marcie5295 at aol.com Subject: Re: All Grain Responding to Colby Fry's Questions: >1. Should I strain the liquor from the mash/tun before I start the boil? >2. Whats up with the "Cold Break" and do I strain that? >3. Should I use more grain than necessary on my first couple runs until I >get my efficiency up to par? >4. last but not least- When I sparge, is it kosher to press the grain bed to >gain the excess juice in the boiler? 1. Doesn't matter. Wait until there is at least an inch in your kettle before firing it up, to avoid additional caramelizing (unless that is a desired result). 2. Doesn't really matter. If you are making efforts to separate trub before transferring to the fermenter after cooling the wort, this will take care of itself. If not, no biggie. 3. No. You will likely overshoot your OG. Your efficiency will be fine. 4. No!!!!! This will extract tannins (and other bad stuff, as well as negate the recirculation you are hopefully doing in order to clear the runoff before sparging) and result in an over-astringent, hangover-causing beer. Be gentle! Finally, >P.S. any good starter grain recopies? Brew a Special Bitter. Use 10% carapils and/or light crystal. Shoot for 40 to 45 OG's, 25-35 IBU's, and moderate to moderately high English hop flavor & aroma. Can't go wrong, and it's one of the best libations this planet has to offer. -AK Huntington Beach, CA Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2001 16:31:17 -0400 From: stencil <stencil at bcn.net> Subject: Re: Temperature unevenness in mash In Homebrew Digest #3674 (July 02, 2001) Stuart Strand said > >about a 8-10 deg F temperature gradient in the mash that I cannot get rid of >by running the recirc pump. The top is always hot, the bottom always cool. >Manual mixing helps for a while, but the gradient always returns. The >manifold makes mixing problematic. Any suggestions? > I agitate continuously and get +/- 1F consistency, top to bottom except when directly heating during steps; then the delta-F is about 10F max. Measurements are made right along the axis and also within 1/2-in of the tun wall. Mash kettle is a 5-gal SS variety store stockpot with a WeldBGone bulkhead penetration at the side and a slotted pvc manifold that's wrapped with aluminum flyscreen. The impeller is a 3-in dia maple propellor bandsawed out of solid stock, running 75-100 rpm. The shaft is a 3/8-in dowel chucked up in a bracketed hand drill. The shaft extends 3-in beyond the propellor face to keep it off the bottom, away from the manifold. The kettle is insulated with inch-thick 'ductboard' slotted on its inner (fiberglas) face and strapped on with bungee cords. The sucker looks like a prototype thermonuclear device but it gets me a consistent 30 pt-gal/lb with most low-adjunct recipes. YMMV. stencil sends RKBA! Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2001 16:59:01 -0400 From: "bsmnt" <bsmntbrewr at home.com> Subject: Robots Re: Link, what link? Brewers, It has been brought to my attention that the link to the Home brew robots in the Smithsonian Magazine may not have worked for everyone. I believe that the link may have been to long and had a line break thrown in for some of you. If that is the case you should be able to copy and paste the entire link into the address bar of your browser from the two lines that it is on in the HBD. Here it is again: http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues01/jul01/ phenom_jul01.html If anyone is really all that interested and still has problems email me and I can send you the directions on how to get there from their main site. Brew On! Bob Bratcher Roanoke, VA Star City Brewers Guild http://hbd.org/starcity Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2001 18:27:40 -0400 From: Spencer W Thomas <spencer at engin.umich.edu> Subject: American beer month? I have this stupid "365 Bottles of Beer for the Year" calendar. Is July full of American beers? Nope! Out of the first 6 days, only 2 are American beers. And there's no mention of American Beer Month! Hey, you ABM guys! Here's an opportunity to reach a larger audience! The calendar is published by Workman Publishing. =Spencer Return to table of contents
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