HOMEBREW Digest #4161 Mon 03 February 2003


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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  Re: Klingons Dead Ahead ("Doug Hurst")
  RE: Chest Freezer (Kent Fletcher)
  Setting the grain bed (Bill Tobler)
  RE: Best Vacuum Sealers and Digital Scales (Michael Hartsock)
  Foolish Phil's Foibles (Pat Babcock)
  HSA and batch sparging (Michael Grice)
  Vacuum sealers (widmayer)
  Speed of Sound in CO2 ("Darwin Airola")
  Temperature Variability in Mash (Ross Potter)
  MLK Brown Ale (darrell.leavitt)
  The Ethics of Homebrew Competition? (=?iso-8859-1?q?greg?=)
  March Pump Parts...6144MM (or 809HS) ("Stacy Groene")
  Yeast storage under sterilized water (Kevin McDonough)
  NEW: Plambic Brewers' Digest ("John Misrahi")
  Rice hulls and spice utilization (Tom Riddle)
  re: DCL, the MoB and the number 42 ("Steve Alexander")

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 22:25:23 -0600 From: "Doug Hurst" <DougH at theshowdept.com> Subject: Re: Klingons Dead Ahead John wrote: "Well, the Romulan Ale wouldn't be that difficult but it might be hard to find the 3 row and 9 row barley and the Romulan Yeast" I thought Romulan Ale was made with Quadrotriticale (or is it Quad Row Triticale?). Doug Hurst Chicago, IL Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 21:58:45 -0800 (PST) From: Kent Fletcher <fletcherhomebrew at yahoo.com> Subject: RE: Chest Freezer Christian needs a new lagering fridge/freezer in a hurry: "Does anyone know of a model freezer that can be drilled to allow tap lines to exit it. I have seen some with modified tops that incorporate the taps in the front of the freezer. But I need the tap lines to exit through the top then through the wall that leads to my bar. Any ideas or suggestions would be great. Thanks" If you mean a chest freezer, you can put holes through the tops of any of them. The only thing to avoid is the wire to the "Power" light on some of them. I imagine you could make up lines with enough slack on the inside to still be able to open the lid, and then use foam tubing insulation on the lines from the lid to your taps. Chest freezers are cheap, even new at a Lowes or H.D. Hope that helps, Kent Fletcher Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 01 Feb 2003 01:41:43 -0600 From: Bill Tobler <wctobler at sbcglobal.net> Subject: Setting the grain bed Hi everyone. I've been having a discussion offline with a friend on building a HERMS and how we brew in general. The question came up on whether it was wise to circulate the grain bed before the scarification rest was finished. In my HERMS, I start circulating from the beginning of the mash through the end of mashout. My efficiency has been up around 80% lately. Never thought much about it. My friend Greg says; "If you compact the grain bed early on, how does this allow for adequate water/grist ratio. I know the same amount of water is in the mash but I can't see where the enzymes have the freedom to do their job correctly. Be no different than not allowing for dead space in the bottom of your tun. Only difference would be the dead space would be above the grain bed instead of below. Hope I got my point across with that explanation. A good loose grain bed looks to me like would help matters a bit in that respect. What do you think? Guess you could always stir it up once you hit your target temp. tho'." Thinking about it, he has a point, but I never thought about it much. Ever sense I switched over to a HERMS, I have always circulated the mash. My first year of brewing with all grain, I used a Gott cooler as a mash tun like many people do, and never circulate or set the bed until the end of the mash. Thanks for your thoughts and have a great day. Having a hard time sleeping tonight, got sunburned at the golf course today. :>) Bill Tobler Lake Jackson, TX (1129.7, 219.9) Apparent Rennerian Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 1 Feb 2003 05:21:11 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Hartsock <xd_haze at yahoo.com> Subject: RE: Best Vacuum Sealers and Digital Scales I don't know anything about vacuum sealers, but here is my take on digital scales. I love mine. I have a pitney-bowes 5# digital scale with tare function that is acurate to 0.1 oz. Good enough for hops as far as I'm concerned. If you try to get a scale that goes up higher that 5#, your lower $$$! If I were you, I'd just get a postal scale, mine cost me $18 on ebay, and new ones sell at Sams or other office stores for $30. Good bargain I think. I like the convenience of being able to use any size bowl I want to weigh. I do have to weigh my base malt in two or three shifts, but its really not much extra trouble. To eliminate this difficulty, plan on getting two scales, or one rather expensive one. mike Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 1 Feb 2003 16:24:15 -0500 (EST) From: Pat Babcock <pbabcock at hbd.org> Subject: Foolish Phil's Foibles Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to your lager... Br'er Phil spake thusly: "You see....I broke my pump. or at least its my fault the SO broke my pump...She hit the brewery with her car when it was -3F" The solution, dear brother, for the initial problem, which I read as the car having access to the brewery, is simple: STUFF THAT GARAGE!!! Lessee, there's the commercial freezer, woodshop, basement remodelling materials, Harley, bikes, kids' toys - no car can get within 20 feet of my brewery - which, unfortunately, lay in pitiful disuse against the inside wall. Remember: a true man is measured by the ballet steps required to step over the stuff in the garage between the main and inside doors. Didn't your Dad teach you that? Per the wife being an INTENTIONAL assassin: get off that hunt. I've sat and judged beer in her presence. And Brother Phil makes quite a splendiferous brew, if I may say so myself. She'd never intentionally whack his ability to do so. Unless things have really, really changed in the Wilcox household... Per the pump part, did you see if Brother Mike can get replacement parts for it? (http://pico-brewing.com - and yes, I have a vested interest in pico-brewing.com. He's a friend. There're few better investments in another than friendship.) - -- God bless America! Pat Babcock in SE Michigan pbabcock at hbd.org Home Brew Digest Janitor janitor@hbd.org HBD Web Site http://hbd.org The Home Brew Page http://hbd.org/pbabcock [18, 92.1] Rennerian "I don't want a pickle. I just wanna ride on my motorsickle" - Arlo Guthrie Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 1 Feb 2003 21:25:36 -0600 From: Michael Grice <grice at binc.net> Subject: HSA and batch sparging Steve Alexander wrote: >Don't overextract the grist - late runnings have much more fatty acids >than early runnings. While obviously skipping sparging would reduce the number of fatty acids extracted, what effect do you suppose batch sparging would have on extraction of fatty acids? Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 01:01:45 -0500 From: widmayer at chartermi.net Subject: Vacuum sealers Paul Romanowsky asks about vacuum sealers. I can't speak to the best because I've only used one vacuum sealer, but I'm very happy with it. It's a FoodSaver Vac 200 I got at Target. There were several different models by the same company and this was the smallest and least expensive ( I paid $60 plus tax I think). I think it is as functional as the other models, but smaller and lacking some automatic features. It won't use their gallon size bags or rolls but that's OK for me, as i don't need it for anything that big. They sell the bag rolls there too. It's about $10 for 20-25 feet of bag roll. Warren Widmayer Chelsea, Michigan Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 03:58:38 -0600 From: "Darwin Airola" <darwin at museplay.com> Subject: Speed of Sound in CO2 Hello! I am trying to determine the speed of sound in the CO2 gas of a beer keg versus the pressure of the gas. Does anyone known how to go about this? The equation that I was going to use was square root of the adiabatic gas constant (gamma) times the gas constant (R) times the absolute temperature (T) divided the molecular mass of the gas. Thus, if the adiabatic constant of CO2 is 1.3, to calculate the speed of sound in the CO2 gas of a beer keg, I would use the following equation: v = sqrt( gamma * R * T / M ) = sqrt( 1.3 * 8.314 J/mol-K * T / 0.043999 kg/mol ) = 15.673 * sqrt(T) m/s Does this analysis seem correct? Is the only dependence of the speed of sound upon temperature (with no need to directly consider the pressure that the CO2 in the keg is under)? Take care, Darwin Airola - --- CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email and any attachments are for the exclusive and confidential use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient, please do not read, distribute or take action in reliance upon this message. If you have received this in error, please notify us immediately by return email and promptly delete this message and its attachments from your computer system. We do not waive work product privilege by the transmission of this message. Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 02 Feb 2003 10:48:40 -0800 From: Ross Potter <BurningBrite at charter.net> Subject: Temperature Variability in Mash I generally lurk and learn from the amazing wisdom and generosity of this group, so you rarely hear from me. Yesterday, though, I observed something that may be of interest to the collective here on the HB Digest, and the discussion of which might help others. I am very new at all-grain brewing (a whole 1 1/2 batches so far) so this observation may be common knowledge for those with more experience, but here goes... As I was mashing in this morning (enjoying Koko Taylor and Pine Top Perkins on the stereo, and looking forward to noon so I could crack a homebrew) and minding the temperature of my saccharification rest, I noticed that my thermometer reading fluctuated several degrees in the mash. I know that this has been discussed before on the HBD, so I thought it might be lack of homogeneity in the mash that was causing the shifts. I stirred the mash around a good bit and measured again. I then noticed the following "phenomenon": Whenever I had the thermometer in contact with the mash itself, I would read one temperature, but whenever I twirled and shook the thermometer (it is one of those Brewers Best glass floating kind) so that a pocket of water formed around it, the temperature would rise about 2 to 4 degrees. This was not an isolated event; I repeated it several times, in several different locations around the mash tun (a 40-qt Coleman plastic cooler), at several different levels within the mash. First it would read one temperature, then after getting a pocket of water to form it would read higher. So being a newbie, this raised several questions for me as I have not heard this phenomenon discussed in the HB Digest yet: 1) Is this a reasonably likely occurrence or was I simply hallucinating from blues in the morning and lack of beer? In other words, have others observed this to happen and if so, what would be the likely chemical/physical explanation? 2) If this isn't an error on my part, which temperature reading should I be relying on to determine temperatures in the mash? The "in-contact-with-the-grain" temp, the "water-pocket" temp, or some average of the two? 3) From a purely theoretical interest standpoint (and assuming this is a valid observation), what could this mean for the starch/sugar conversion processes as the desired ingredients migrate from the grain kernels into solution and then are degraded by the enzymes? Is there a thermodynamic gradient effect here that would be worthy of a Masters (maybe even a PhD) thesis in homebrewing, or is there essentially no benefit of this knowledge for purposes of making beer? ANY thoughts, including pointing out how my readings could be in error (so I can make corrections for my next mash), will be appreciated. Thanks in advance... Ross Potter Richland, Washington Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 02 Feb 2003 15:49:21 -0500 From: darrell.leavitt at plattsburgh.edu Subject: MLK Brown Ale I just transferred into secondary...a brown ale that I brewed on Martin Luther Kings Birthday...and it tasted so good that, even though it does not conform to any style...I just had to share it with someone... This was the third use of a Belgian Saison yeast (wlp 565) which I have really started to like.,.. I called it a brown ale, and while it is brown, I suppose that it could just as inappropriately be called a Belgian Dark Strong Ale,...well maybe.. Here is the recipe: 10.5 lb Canada Maltings 2 row .5 lb Special B 1.0 1b Fawcett's Dark Crystal 2.0 lb Maize 1.0 lb Munich .5 lb Peated Malt .5 lb Roasted Barley (I meant to use Chocolate, but grabbed the wrong bag, which was not marked...) 1 rest at 154 for 60 min, mashout,... first runnings were 1.082 boil gravity was 1.069 original gravity was 1.080 gravity into secondary was 1.015 This is strong (~8.45%), tastes wonderful (slightly smoked)...not really true to any style, but wonderful in flavor... oh,,,hops were 1.5 oz Tet at start of last 60 min (total 2 hour boil) 1.0 oz Czech Saaz at 30 same at 15 Happy Brewing! ..Darrell Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 00:13:23 +0000 (GMT) From: =?iso-8859-1?q?greg?= <invalid76 at yahoo.co.uk> Subject: The Ethics of Homebrew Competition? Ok, first off a little background information... I entered my first homebrew competition last July. I was only in my 4th month of homebrewing when I decided to give the competition a shot and I started brewing 2 months before the final entry date. Needless to say, I didn't have a lot of batches under my belt. When it came time to pick a recipe, it just seemed wrong to me to choose one that I got from a book, magazine, internet, etc. and I decided to make one up - probably not the best idea due to lack of experience. I did it anyway. The same competition will be rolling around before I know it and lately I've been thinking what I'm going to brew. Begging the question, is it unethical to make a beer from someone else's recipe, published or not? Does it matter anyway since beers turned out different due to all the variables (water chemistry for one) that can make the same recipe turned out different when brewed by different people? Am I in a minority when I think the entry should be original and not from, say, Clonebrews? Why or why not? Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 20:27:44 -0500 From: "Stacy Groene" <stacygroene at wideopenwest.com> Subject: March Pump Parts...6144MM (or 809HS) In HBD 4159 Philip Wilcox askes about parts for his 6144MM pump purchased from Moving Brews: Phil, As others have stated, try www.Marchpump.com. You will not find pump 6144MM on their site, but the actual March Part# on the 6144MM I ordered from Moving Brews is March # 809HS...See the link below to a PDF file with the parts list for this pump: http://www.marchpump.com/documents/Series%20809%20Parts%20Sheet.pdf BTW, the part number for the plastic housing is 809-079-10, and the Brass housing is 809-013-10. You can always contact a local dist., but at least this link will give you the March part number for the housing you need. If your pump is other than an 809HS...all of the parts lists can be found at http://www.marchpump.com/documents/pdf.htm Regards, Stacy Groene Pickerington, OH Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 02 Feb 2003 20:40:41 -0500 From: Kevin McDonough <kmcdonou at nmu.edu> Subject: Yeast storage under sterilized water I've read a ton on how to store yeast under sterilized, distilled water, in small vials kept at room temperature and it sounds like a great idea. However, almost all of the articles talk about transferring the initial yeast from a plate of agar. I would prefer to avoid doing the agar thing. It adds more steps to the process, requires me to get more supplies, and most importantly, increases the risk of contamination. Rather, I want to take my yeast directly from tubes of Wyeast or White Labs. However, the articles I have read say not to introduce nutrients into the storage solution. The idea is to get the yeast to go dormant by providing an environment absent of nutrients. However, the tubes have wort mixed with the yeast. As I understand it, the smack packs have the yeast in the inner liner. I guess I could open the packet, remove the inner liner, pierce it somehow, and then remove the yeast via a wire loop. Those of you more knowledgeable on this topic, how do you suggest I transfer yeast (via an innoculated wire loop) from a Wyeast/White Labs tube (or a smack pack)? As a point of clarification, do I stick the wire loop in the yeast and then immediately into a small vial of sterilized distilled water? Is this is plenty of yeast for a vial? I appreciate your help. Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 21:35:19 -0500 From: "John Misrahi" <lmoukhin at sprint.ca> Subject: NEW: Plambic Brewers' Digest Hi all, I just started a new list, the Plambic Brewers' Digest. I'm hoping it can fill the void where the old Lambic Digest used to be. Please visit: https://secure.neap.net/mailman/listinfo/plambic to subscribe. hope to see you there soon, John Misrahi Montreal, Canada [892, 63] Apparent Rennerian (km) "You're all wanking sissies if you even think about using a grain mill, teeth, or ball-peen hammer. A real brewer uses 17 vestal virgins stomping on the grain in a large wooden vat. And yeast is for losers. True brewers just dip one end of their dog into the wort to get things going." -- Drew Avis Seen on a tee shirt - "The internet is full. Go away!" Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 02 Feb 2003 22:23:48 -0500 From: Tom Riddle <ftr at oracom.com> Subject: Rice hulls and spice utilization Over the weekend I made my first pass at a Belgian Wit. I have two questions: 1) The recipe included flaked wheat and flaked rye along with some rice hulls to aid sparging. Should the rice hulls be included in calculating mash water volume ? Obviously, they provide no extract, but their presence does impact mash stiffness. 2) The recipe had spice additions (crushed Coriander and Cumin seeds) at 45min and 60min. I accidentially added what should have been the 45min addition at 0min with the bittering hops. What will be the result - more spice flavor or less ? Thanks, Tom Portsmouth, NH Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 22:10:47 -0500 From: "Steve Alexander" <steve-alexander at worldnet.att.net> Subject: re: DCL, the MoB and the number 42 Wow Alan, Thanks for the review. Thanks also to Mark Kellums and all the many others in between who've posted their experience w/ DCL dry yeasts. >I've done quite a few beers with S-189 and W-34/70 and >absolutely love them both! Very clean yeasts and both >seem to be able to easily handle regular (low) lager >temps. W34/70 is the same critter as Weihenstephan W-34/70. This one is reportedly a strong diacetyl reducer - this property went a long way toward kicking W-308 (WY2308) which was an erratic diacetyl reducer out of Germany in favor of W-34/70. To quote DCL ... DCL S-189 is Weihenstephan W-195, and originating from the Hurlimann brewery in Switzerland. "Selected for its fairly neutral flavour development, this yeast is recommended for a wide range of lager and pilsen beers". I'd expect good lagers from either,but the experience counts a lot more. DCL has several new dry yeasts in the works btw. -S Return to table of contents
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