HOMEBREW Digest #4616 Thu 30 September 2004


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Contents:
  Re: Hot Side Aeration with March 809 and Barbed Brass NPT Fitings ("Craig S. Cottingham")
  Separating Trub ("William Erskine")
  Storing a Co2 tank in the refrigerator ("William Erskine")
  Re: Hot Side Aeration with March 809 and Barbed Brass NPT Fitings (Christopher Farley)
  Re:sweetening dry cider ("Grant")
  co2 Tanks in the fridge ("Lau, William T")
  Re: HSA with March pump (Mike_Andrews)
  re: HSA and March pump (Ted Hull)
  RE:  Hot Side Aeration with March 809 and Barbed Brass NPT Fitings (Steven Parfitt)
  RE: Long mash Time (Steven Parfitt)
  co2 tank inside the fridge (Jim Bermingham)
  10 Hour Mash ("Eric R. Theiner")
  HSA and a pump ("Jay Spies")
  RE: sweetening dry cider ("Dave Thompson")
  Cider apples, chiller,SG/RI,holeless beer fridge ("Dave Burley")
  throttle valve for march pump / lengthy mash time ("Janie Curry")
  RE: Hot Side Aeration with March 809; Electronic SG measurement; co2 tank inside the fridge ("Ronald La Borde")
  HSA and throttling a pump ("Mike Sharp")
  Re: HSA with a pump (Joe Gibbens)
  Re: Hot Side Aeration with March 809 and Barbed Brass NPT Fitings (Daniel Chisholm)
  Re: co2 tank inside the fridge ("Randy Scott")
  RE: Hot Side Aeration with March 809 (homebrewdigest)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 21:51:09 -0500 From: "Craig S. Cottingham" <craig at cottingham.net> Subject: Re: Hot Side Aeration with March 809 and Barbed Brass NPT Fitings On Sep 28, 2004, at 23:44, <homebrewdigest at myxware.com> wrote: > I have been having problems with hot side aeration with my March 809 > pump. My kettle has a very short 3/8" male NPT pipe welded into it. > I have > a 3/8" brass ball valve on this pipe, sealed with Teflon tape (which I > have > brewed 4 or 5 times with, the Teflon tape that is). To the valve I > have a > 3/8" NPT to 3/8" barb fitting. I seal the threads with Teflon tape > before > each use. I have a hose clamp on the tubing connected to the barbed > fitting. When I run the pump and attempt to restrict the flow of the > liquid > (wort) by adjusting the valve it begins to bubble (HST) at a certain > point. I'm going to take a wild guess that your pump is cavitating. I'm going to take an even wilder guess that back pressure will solve your problem. Your arrangement looks something like this, yes? kettle --> valve --> pump --> chiller --> fermenter Try restricting the flow on the outlet side of the pump instead of the inlet side. Instead of pulling a slight vacuum on the inlet side (which can cause cavitation), the pump will produce excess pressure on the outlet side, and the back pressure should keep the pump from cavitating. Install a valve between the pump and the chiller or (better in my opinion) on the outlet side of the chiller. If you have any flexible tubing in either of those two places, you can use a clamp or a pair of pliers as a quickie fix (and proof-of-concept). Note: I don't have a pump anywhere in my brewery, so I can't say for certain that this will work. I've got a good feeling about it, though. - -- Craig S. Cottingham craig at cottingham.net OpenPGP key available from: http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x7977F79C Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 23:26:30 -0400 From: "William Erskine" <werskin at sympatico.ca> Subject: Separating Trub Hello all, Over the next few weeks, I'll be writing to the digest for your opinions several homebrew topics. Over the past year, I've switched to all-grain brewing, I now brew with liquid yeast and a starter, and I recently purchased a mill to crush the malt fresh, right before brewing. As you may have guessed, my beer has improved leaps and bounds. It is fresh- tasting, it has no aftertastes or major faults. I'm very satisfied with my recent results. I'm looking to sharpen up my techniques even more over the next few months, so I'll be writing in with a series of questions on a variety of techniques and procedures. As with anything, opinions vary, but I regard the Digest as an excellent place to learn. My first question deals with separating the trub from the wort after the boil is complete. My current setup is a 9.5 gallon stainless pot in which I make 5-6 gallon batches. I use an immersion chiller, and for right now, that will not be changing. I am able to bring the temp of the wort down to 75 F in 15 minutes or so. I am always amazed at how dramatic the cold break is when I begin the chilling process. The only problem with this is that to increase the efficiency of the chilling process, I move the chiller around in the kettle. This greatly reduces the time required to chill the wort. I imagine that the process would take forever if I were to leave the copper coils motionless. The result of the increased efficiency in chilling leaves me with a 75 degree wort with the hop particulate (I use pellets right now) and cold break all mixed together. My current method of separation is to let the wort settle. On Sundays this method is fairly efficient. I have plenty of time after the boil to let it sit and settle. My first two batches I let sit for 3-4 hours. I racked it into the carboy leaving about 2 quarts of wort behind, and having transferred only a little bit of trub along with it. When I brew during the weekdays, I begin much later in the day, often around 7:00. So by the time I've boiled and chilled the wort and begun to let it settle, it's around 11:00 or later. Three to four hours settling time isn't very appealing at that time. My last two brews had settling times of about 1 hour or so, and the wort had settled significantly less. After transferring to the carboy, I had left behind a good 6 quarts of wort. This left me short, and I had to top up with water. Question #1: Just how important is separating the trub from the wort after boiling? For my first few batches, I had transferred very clear wort to the carboy. Note: I use an auto-siphon and carefully hold it while it transfers. For the next two batches I had included a bit more trub and still wasted much more wort than I had wanted to. Approximately how much wort is an average amount to leave behind. A gallon and a half seems like a lot. What happens if you transfer a good chunk of it into the fermenter, not all but let's say at least half? Is the only downside that it makes yeast reuse more difficult? I can tell you I'm pretty tempted to make my last batch as close to the same as possible and chuck it all in just to see for myself, but what are your thoughts on the subject? Question #2 Is there a better way to separate the trub than the "let it settle method"? I've heard whirl-pooling is less effective when using hop pellets. One person recommended that I use a women's nylon as a filter. Is a nylon fine enough to filter the majority of the particulate? I'm really looking forward to your thoughts on this issue. Sincerely, William Erskine London, Ontario Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 00:04:38 -0400 From: "William Erskine" <werskin at sympatico.ca> Subject: Storing a Co2 tank in the refrigerator CRESENZI writes asking if keeping your co2 tank in the fridge is okay. As far as I know, this is perfectly fine. I've been doing this for a while. If you are using a dual gauge reg., (one with a gauge for the pressure inside the co2 tank as well as the beer keg,) it will read much lower even though there is plenty of co2. At room temp my co2 gauge reads about 800 PSI, at 4 C it reads about 500-525 psi. This is a well known phenomenon. If your reg. is a single gauge, (only showing keg psi) you won't notice any difference. Otherwise, there is no problem. Cheers, William Erskine London, Ontario Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 23:44:07 -0500 From: Christopher Farley <chris at northernbrewer.com> Subject: Re: Hot Side Aeration with March 809 and Barbed Brass NPT Fitings Michael describes his aeration problems with his March 809 pump. I think the problem is that you are restricting the input side of the pump, which is a bad idea. This forms cavities in the wort ("cavitation"), and you will get nasty, turbulent flow. I'm not sure if this is really aerating your wort or not, but it's ultimately not very good for the pump. Try putting a 1/2" ball valve on the outlet of the pump. This will allow you to control flow rates without cavitation, etc. - -- Christopher Farley www.northernbrewer.com Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 19:00:19 +1000 From: "Grant" <gstott at primus.com.au> Subject: Re:sweetening dry cider Randy Ricchi asked: How would Splenda be for sweetening cider? The short answer is quite good. I say this because I did this to a Perry 31/2 years ago after getting some bad advice from someone who was supposed to be experienced in making country wines etc. I was told what I had done would make for an extremely dry Perry so I made a fundamental mistake. I decided to sweeten it before tasting. The end result was pretty good as confirmed much later by an experienced wine judge. Though he did not approve of my methods. The other important thing to note is that even when the last bottles were opened at around 18 months in the bottle it had not overcarbonated. My wife still asks when I am going to make another sweet batch. Maybe next year I should earn some beer bullets. Grant Stott [9906, 260] AR (statute miles) or [15942.2, 260] AR [Km] Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 06:48:05 -0400 From: "Lau, William T" <william.lau at astrazeneca.com> Subject: co2 Tanks in the fridge I have had two fridges set up with taps for about 3 years. One has the co2 tank inside and the other has the co2 tank on the outside. I have not seen any differences in performance or associated any problems with the tank on the inside. Regards, Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 07:53:14 -0400 From: Mike_Andrews at vfc.com Subject: Re: HSA with March pump Michael, if the ball valve is on the inlet side of the pump, move it to the outlet side. Sounds like your pulling air into the connection between the ball valve and pump. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 05:35:24 -0700 (PDT) From: Ted Hull <theartfuldudger at yahoo.com> Subject: re: HSA and March pump Michael- what you're seeing in your setup is likely not air, especially since a trial with cold water didn't yield the same result. When you close the valve down on the suction side of the pump, you're likely dropping the pressure in the line low enough to create steam/vapor from your hot wort. FWIW, you typically shouldn't operate a centrifugal pump by throttling the suction side. The same action, on the trailing edge of the impeller and at a microscopic scale, is called cavitation. When this happens, tiny bubbles form and then collapse back on themselves. The very high localized pressure actually eats away (erodes) the impeller. And it'll sound like you're pumping marbles. Throttle the pump discharge instead. And let the finished beer be your guide as to whether you have HSA. Ted Hull Atlanta, GA Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 05:36:58 -0700 (PDT) From: Steven Parfitt <thegimp98 at yahoo.com> Subject: RE: Hot Side Aeration with March 809 and Barbed Brass NPT Fitings Michael has two questions, or three: (1) Place a ball valve on the output of the pump. You are forcing cavitation by restricting the input rather than the output. This is a common problem with these pumps when pumping hot wort. (2) Water is thinner than sticky hot wort, thus it pumps easier. Also, you probably used cold water. Hot water would be more likely to do the same thing. (3) Do not use a lamp dimmer with the march pump. The dimmer is the wrong type of control for these pumps. There are variable frequency motor controllers ($$$)that are designed to be used with them, but it is cheaper and easier just to restrict the flow at the output. Good luck Steven >Hello, >I have been having problems with hot side aeration > with my March 809 pump. My kettle has a very short > 3/8" male NPT pipe welded into it. I have a 3/8" > brass ball valve on this pipe, sealed with Teflon > tape (which I have brewed 4 or 5 times with, the > Teflon tape that is). ...snip... > When I > run the pump and attempt to restrict the flow of the > liquid (wort) by adjusting the valve it begins to > bubble (HST) at a certain point. >The problem is that I need there to be less flow > since my chiller can't cool it rapidly enough. ...snip... >I was able no move the water with no aeration. ...snip... > I am thinking I may use a light dimmer (rheostat) > with my pump the next time I brew (this weekend). >Any ideas, suggesting, and help is much appreciated. >Thanks. >Best regards, >Michael Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 05:42:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Steven Parfitt <thegimp98 at yahoo.com> Subject: RE: Long mash Time I routienly do over night mashes. I've posted about it previously, but in a nutshell: I set a mash in a 5 gallon Gott cooler on Friday night. I also weigh my grain for the main mash, clean and sanitize my brewery, and get everything ready. On Saturday morning, I roll the brewery out in the driveway, set the Gott cooler on top and start sparging into the boiler. While sparging that, I grind my main grist, I add my hot water to my main (half barrel) mash tun, and stir in the grain. While the main mash is mashing, I boil the first beer. I was concerned about the mash in the Gott cooler dropping too low over night (mine gets down to 122F in the winter when the garage is cool). But, I have not seen any degradation in head retention, body, etc.I suspect that the long rest at 152 denertures the lower temp enzymes and prevents them from damaging the beer. YMMV. Steven Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 07:44:26 -0500 From: Jim Bermingham <JBHAM6843 at netscape.net> Subject: co2 tank inside the fridge CRESENZI ask about keeping the co2 tank inside the fridge. If you have room for the tank, there is no problem. I have kept mine inside since I started kegging about 10 years ago. Jim Bermingham Millsap, TX Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 8:55:44 -0500 From: "Eric R. Theiner" <rickdude at tds.net> Subject: 10 Hour Mash Steve Arnold brings up the subject topic and asks if anyone else has done it. I have, with good results. There was a brief period of time when I had my, ah, stuff together and could quickly hammer out a mash on Friday night. I'd start around 154 - 156 F(reason for high-ish temp below) and let it go 'till Saturday morning. I'd start the runoff around 7 while feeding the baby and have a boil going by 10 - 11 at the latest. I generally had good results, although this is too long ago to remember what styles I was into at the time. I had heard from some other folks that longer mashes can result in excess thinning of the wort, which is why I was more firmly in alpha-amylase range than beta. It seems to me that the betas would be denatured before the temp dropped more heavily into their range and out of reasonable activity for the alphas.... Do you guys get what I'm saying? I'm thinking that the thinning of the wort/body of the beer is because of extended time in the 140 - 150 range, if it is indeed an effect. Maybe I was worried about nothing. But my point is that I had good results, and if I can ever get my life organized again, I use the overnight mash to shorten my brewday. Rick Theiner P.S. Comments on enzyme activity welcome. (Like you needed that extra nudge to write a page or two.<g>) Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 10:52:56 -0400 From: "Jay Spies" <jayspies at citywidehomeloans.com> Subject: HSA and a pump Michael asks if there's a way to get the barb connection on the kettle to stop sucking air into the lines when he restricts the flow... Sounds to me like you're throttling the kettle valve. Not the best idea. Always throttle the outflow of the pump, not the inflow. Do yourself a favor and attach a ball valve on the out side of the pump and use that to throttle the flow. That way, there'll be positive pressure on the kettle valve instead of negative pressure. Throttling the inflow can also cause the pump to cavitate, which will stop the flow, and may damage the pump. Plus, it sounds screechy and annoying. By throttling the outflow and keeping the kettle valve full open, you can slow the flow to a trickle with no worries. Brew on! Jay Spies Head Mashtun Scraper Asinine Aleworks Baltimore, MD Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 11:28:55 -0400 From: "Dave Thompson" <thompsdc at mcmaster.ca> Subject: RE: sweetening dry cider On Wed Sept 28th, Randy asked: "How would Splenda be for sweetening cider?" While I've never sweetened a cider before, it seems like a waste to me to work so hard to make a great cider only to poison it with artificial sweetener. I'd recommend a product called Stevia. It's a natural sweetener produced by the stevia plant, and tastes much more like sugar (with 0 calories of course) than aspartame or sucralose (both artificial). It can be found at most health food stores, although it's only labeled as a "daily supplement" (due to a lawsuit brought on by Nutrasweet giant Monsanto). Perhaps other homebrewers out there have tried this product for sweetening? If you have your feedback would be greatly appreciated! - --Dave Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 11:47:55 -0400 From: "Dave Burley" <Dave_Burley at charter.net> Subject: Cider apples, chiller,SG/RI,holeless beer fridge Brewsters, On the subject of adding sweetness to cider, keeving and stopping the fermentation with sulfites and the kinds of apples in cider. Keeving is primitive and is difficult to implement reliably . Don't waste your time. It is true that the kinds of apples are the key to making good drinking hard cider ( In the US, "cider" often means fresh pressed apple juice) . Most eating and cooking apples are not in the high acid or bitterness cartegory. Getting a bitttersweet apple is important in making hard cider as this bitterness fills up the holes in most apples taste and provides a better mouth feel. Of course, the kinds of apples you use also affect the taste. Apples related to the Cox pippin provide most of the juice for British ciders as I recall ( been a long time) but having a mix of sweet, acidic ( "sharp") and bittersweet apples is the key to making good hard cider. If you are interested in growing your own, check out apple nurseries which specifically sell these British and French old timey cider apples. As far a stopping a fermentation with sulfite reliably, don't do it, as it will take so much you will taste the sulfite. You can chill the cider and stop the fermentation, clarify it and rack it to give you some natural sweetness, but if you choose to bottle it or add fermentable sweetener and bottle it, use about 30-50 ppm of sulfite and potassium sorbate per mfg directions to prevent refermentation. If you do this, you must artificially carbonate it if you do want a carbonated cider. - ---------------------- Michael, I wonder if you are restricting the flow to your chiller on the downside of the pump ( you should be) if you are getting bubbles. Never starve your pump. Use a longer chiller and pre-cool the water through another chiller in an ice bath. Reduce your water needs by recircualting this chilling water. - -------------------- Jeff, I really don't have time to get involved in this discussion at the moment, but a quick reading of Louis' comments doesn't really address my point. I suggest a little study with alcohol, water and sugar like I commented on will point this out. Basic point is there are too many variables for the number of measurements being made, so many mixtures of these three can give the same answer. This is confounded by the changing RI due to the sugar/alcohol changes and by the fact that the density of the solution is changing due to more than the loss of sugar. Both sugar and alcohol hydrogen bond to the water in different manners. The existence of a fixed component of unfermentables in beer further confuses the picture. - --------------------- Cresenzi, You can do as I do to prevent drilling holes in your fridge and that is to carbonate the keg, put it in the fridge, open the fridge door to sample the keg repeatedly as needed, until you have to recharge the keg by attaching the gas line. I usually give the keg a shot of CO2 after each session. No holes are required. Do this until you feel comfortable with the keg idea and then decide how you want to proceed with a more permanent setup. If you are a regular visitor you can leave the cobrahead faucet attached to the keg and in the fridge always at the ready. At the end of a session I usually use a Carbonater (R)? attachment backwards to its intended use, fastened to a small bottle of water to push out any beer in the detached cobrahead line, rinse with water and then blow the water out of the line with the bottle partially filled with air. Return the cobrahead to the fridge. - --------------------- Dave Burley Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 15:51:53 +0000 From: "Janie Curry" <houndandcalico at hotmail.com> Subject: throttle valve for march pump / lengthy mash time Michael asks about slowing the flow from his March pump. This past winter, I found myself with a lot of time on my hands while deployed in Qatar and away from home, so I designed a new brewing system for myself with the help of several HBD lurkers. I'm not an engineer, so I really appreciated all the help. It's hard to sit in front of a computer screen and order valves and such. I need to be able to pick these sorts of things up and fondle them. Over the years, I've made excellent beer from a very simple system using a 7 gallon pot and a cylindrical gott cooler and easymasher screen. I got tired of all the lifting and scooping, so I decided to upgrade and incorporate a pump. Anyway, to throttle the pump output from my pump, I ordered a bronze butterfly valve from McMaster-Carr, part number 9798 K81. It's designed to throtle (unlike a ball valve). One word of caution. I stripped the plastic threads on my pump housing while trying to thread this thing on using teflon tape. I was able to order another plastic pump housing for $18 through a local dealer here in Boise that sells dairy equipment. I never had to use the new plastic housing because I managed to recover the threads on the stripped one by carefull threading a ball valve onto the damaged threads. After "repairing" the threads, I then successfully threaded the butterfly valve (using less teflon tape) onto the original pump housing. Instead of using barbed fittings for hose attachments, I went with aluminum cam and groove hose couplings (#51415 K308, K508, K408) along with Norprene tubing #52035 K32. The tubing is not transparent, so I can't evaluate the bubbling problem that Michael is concerned about possibly resulting in HSA. Perhaps it would be less with a throttle valve designed to throttle? I've only had the chance to brew with my new setup (which also includes 2 kegs from SABCO) once, and it was one of those hurried Saturdays that Steve Arnold mentions. I definitely pikced the wrong day to set up a brand new system , use a pump for the first time, and brew a recipe for a honeymoon couple who were due to visit in less than a month. The cam and groove couplings work great, but are very stiff and will require a break in period. I also managed to get a stuck mash on the SABCO false bottom. That was quite a delima, especially when faced with SWMBO and a strict time schedule for Saturday evening....very uggly scene. I resulted in putting my lips on the ball valve, opening it and blowing back through the siphon tube....dangerous...but it worked like a charm except I thing I got some channeling through the grain bed. Hard to tell because I batch sparged and couldn't see through 8 gallons of sparged wort. The beer, a belgin white, is not the best I've brewed by any means. Much drier than commercial versions such as Blue Moon. I also forgott to put the orange zest into the boil (after carefully grating it from 2 fresh oranges), and had to make an orange zest tea after returning home that evening. So Steve, how does your beer taste after a 10 hour mash? How is the body? I suspect very dry. Guess you could overcome that delima by adding dextrin malt. Todd in Idaho Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 11:30:25 -0500 From: "Ronald La Borde" <pivoron at cox.net> Subject: RE: Hot Side Aeration with March 809; Electronic SG measurement; co2 tank inside the fridge >From: <homebrewdigest at myxware.com> > >I have been having problems with hot side aeration with my March 809 >pump.Ron Recently I have been using pumps of the Peristaltic type. I plan to soon have up some pictures of the setup and methods. Once you go this route, you will never look back! - -------------------------- >From: "A.J deLange" <ajdel at cox.net> >Subject: Electronic SG measurement > >The only means of electronic SG measurement in common use (that I am >aware of anyway) is the vibrating U tube.===== Hey, I just received the new Cole Palmer catalog, and I was reading about a new type of liquid level sensor using a led and prism with a detector. The principle of operation is that the refractive index changes when a liquid covers the prism instead of air. The change is detected to trigger the level sensor output. I am thinking that something similar could be constructed that could measure the actual refractive index and allow the measurement and conversion to SG. It might be worth a try. - ------------------------------ >From: CRESENZI <cresenzi at sbcglobal.net> > >....Any feedback would be nice It's OK to put it in the fridge, but you really do not need to. I top up the keg with CO2 after 5 or 6 pints are drawn off. If you leave the pressure on at all times, you may find that you are wasting a lot of CO2 because of a small leak. If you want to use the tank on the outside of the fridge, you can drill a very small hole to pass the smallest tubing you can find (like the copper tubing on thermostat bulbs), then you can connect this to the regulator and inside the fridge connect to the keg quick connector. Ron Ronald J. La Borde -- Metairie, LA New Orleans is the suburb of Metairie, LA www.hbd.org/rlaborde Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 09:52:53 -0700 From: "Mike Sharp" <rdcpro at hotmail.com> Subject: HSA and throttling a pump Michael posts about throttling his pump: You should throttle the discharge of the pump, not the inlet. However, you can get fan speed controls that will work on permanant split capacitor motors and shaded pole motors. Your march is probably a PSC. Don't use a light dimmer--use a fan speed control, and make sure the motor is PSC or shaded pole. Regards, Mike Sharp Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 16:38:51 -0500 From: Joe Gibbens <jgibbens at gmail.com> Subject: Re: HSA with a pump Michael asks about HSA with his March pump.. First a question. It sounds like you are restricting your flow before the pump inlet. Is this correct? This is just a guess, but its possible that you are seeing steam bubbles, and not air bubbles. If your pump is being restricted before the inlet, there will be a relatively low pressure between the valve and pump when the pump is running. The lower pressure will in turn lower the boiling temperature of the wort, and could cause steam bubble formation. Your indication that this is not happening with cold water is another indicator that its not really air. I would add another valve on the outlet side of the pump and control the flow there. Putting a dimmer on a motor sounds like a great way to.....make you need to buy a new pump :( I don't know what a dimmer would do to an induction motor, but with a regular ac motor, undervoltage can overheat it. Can an EE please jump in here to explain back voltage, ect? Hope this helps more than it confuses. Joe Gibbens Hopedale, IL Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 20:44:41 -0300 From: Daniel Chisholm <dmc at nbnet.nb.ca> Subject: Re: Hot Side Aeration with March 809 and Barbed Brass NPT Fitings Michael, It sounds to me like you are restricting your pump's flow by restricting the flow of hot wort into the pump (the pump's "suction side"). What is happening to you is that the nearly-boiling-hot wort is boiling when it enters the lower pressure area downstream of your partially-closed kettle valve. Those bubbles you are seeing are steam, not air. The good news is you are not damaging your wort by oxidizing it. The bad news is that steam bubbles forming in your pump (called "cavitation") can damage your pump (the collapsing bubbles create such intense local pressure spikes that it can erode a pit in the material - e.g. boat propellers can be worn out in this manner). That's probably not happening to you right now, you probably have so many steam bubbles in the wort that the pump is barely able to move anything. The solution is simple - the pump's flow rate should be controlled by a valve on the pump's _outlet_ side, and the flow to the pump's inlet should be unrestricted (open your kettle valve fully). FWIW when pumping near-boiling-hot liquids, your pump should be as low as possible to the ground (and your kettle as high as is reasonably possible), so that the additional pressure due to the height of the kettle over the pump will forestall the onset of cavitation (which can damage the impeller). If your pump sounds like it is sucking in some air, or if it sounds like there's sand in it, then it may be cavitating. You should reduce the flow rate (throttle the output) until the pump sounds the same as it does when pumping cold water. - -- - Daniel Fredericton, NB Canada Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 18:51:53 -0500 From: "Randy Scott" <lists at rscott.us> Subject: Re: co2 tank inside the fridge > Now I heard > both you can and cannot keep the co2 tank in with the > keg. I am force carbonating the beer so I had to put > it in the fridge now so I did and so far I don't see > any problems. Is there any good reason why I can not > leave the co2 tank in the fridge that is not apparent > to me yet? Any feedback would be nice. I kept my CO2 tank in the fridge for a month or so, but I got concerned about the amount of condensation that was building up on the tank/regulator every time I opened the door, so I took it out. I haven't gotten around to drilling the appropriate holes, so for the time being I'm just keeping the CO2 disconnected, and charging the kegs whenever the need it by momentarily reconnecting the CO2. I think my concerns were justified, because now one of my gauges is "sticky" (a little surface rust somewhere I assume), and my regulator makes a funny noise that it didn't use to make (although it seems to still work fine). I think long-term storage in the fridge would be life-shortening for the regulator. YMMV; note that my fridge is in the un-airconditioned garage, in Central Texas where the humidity tends to stay fairly high. I don't think I would be near as concerned about condensation if I still lived in New Mexico. ras Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 20:27:30 -0400 From: <homebrewdigest at myxware.com> Subject: RE: Hot Side Aeration with March 809 Hello everyone, First off I would like to thank everyone who helped me out by responding to my post (there were 14 of you thus far). I truly would have been puzzled by this problem for a while. Although it is simple to resolve I could not have done it without everyone. Thanks. The general consensus for solving the problem was to add a valve on the outflow of the pump, therefore restricting the flow of the wort into the CF chiller. I should NOT use a light dimmer since it is not the proper device to use for this application as I once thought. Also what I thought were air bubbles were actually caused by steam, thus no HST occurred (great!). The negative pressure caused by the pump, because the flow was being restricted before the liquid entered the pump, caused cavitation, which significantly reduces the life span of the pump due to extreme pressure changes in the pump. I picked up the proper valve today and will test everything out next time I brew (this Saturday). Thanks again everyone for the useful information. Michael Return to table of contents
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