HOMEBREW Digest #4980 Thu 23 March 2006


[Prev HBD] [Index] [Next HBD] [Back]


	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org


***************************************************************
       THIS YEAR'S HOME BREW DIGEST BROUGHT TO YOU BY: 

          Northern  Brewer, Ltd. Home Brew Supplies
Visit http://www.northernbrewer.com  to show your appreciation!
               Or call them at 1-800-681-2739

    Support those who support you! Visit our sponsor's site!
********** Also visit http://hbd.org/hbdsponsors.html *********


Contents:
  Subject: Re: Did I re-invent Real Ale? ("Mike Racette")
  Re: Oxygen scavenging caps ("Wine, Barley & Hops Homebrew Supply")
  Thermometers ("Dave Burley")
  RE: Thermometers (Steven Parfitt)
  Dry Ice ("Doug Renfrew")
  Growth: culture vs individual ("Fredrik")

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The HBD Logo Store is now open! * * http://www.hbd.org/store.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Suppport this service: http://hbd.org/donate.shtml * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Send articles for __publication_only__ to post@hbd.org If your e-mail account is being deleted, please unsubscribe first!! To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE send an e-mail message with the word "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to request@hbd.org FROM THE E-MAIL ACCOUNT YOU WISH TO HAVE SUBSCRIBED OR UNSUBSCRIBED!!!** IF YOU HAVE SPAM-PROOFED your e-mail address, you cannot subscribe to the digest as we cannot reach you. We will not correct your address for the automation - that's your job. HAVING TROUBLE posting, subscribing or unsusubscribing? See the HBD FAQ at http://hbd.org. LOOKING TO BUY OR SELL USED EQUIPMENT? Please do not post about it here. Go instead to http://homebrewfleamarket.com and post a free ad there. The HBD is a copyrighted document. The compilation is copyright HBD.ORG. Individual postings are copyright by their authors. ASK before reproducing and you'll rarely have trouble. Digest content cannot be reproduced by any means for sale or profit. More information is available by sending the word "info" to req@hbd.org or read the HBD FAQ at http://hbd.org. JANITORs on duty: Pat Babcock (pbabcock at hbd dot org), Jason Henning, and Spencer Thomas
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 09:18:16 -0700 From: "Mike Racette" <mike.racette at hydro-gardens.com> Subject: Subject: Re: Did I re-invent Real Ale? In a word, No. Most Real Ale people (CAMRA, etc) will say that real ale has no forced carbonation. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 12:29:10 -0500 From: "Wine, Barley & Hops Homebrew Supply" <winebarleyandhops at worldlynx.net> Subject: Re: Oxygen scavenging caps We don't post often but we do lurk a lot on HBD and seeing all the posts about Oxygen Barrier and Scavenging crown caps, we decided to contact one of our suppliers, LD Carlson and get their take on the subject. They faxed us some literature about the Oxygen Barrier Caps. Here is the info: These caps, to the naked eye, look just like the plain gold crown caps except their color is silver. However, the lining of the oxygen barrier crowns is coated with a special oxygen-scavenging agent. Activated by moisture, this agent begins seeking all freely floating O2 molecules and adheres to them. One question that has arisen with this information in mind..... If the caps are moisture activated, how do you sanitize them without using up all of the oxygen scavenging agent on the sanitizing solution? In reserching this question, here are a few answers: 1. The singel best way to sanitize thes caps is the use of Ultra Violet (UV) lamp. Now we understand that the vast majority users are not going to go out and buy a UV lamp just for your caps. But that is the only way to avoid sanitizing with moisture. 2. Use a mixture of Sodium Metabisulphite Solution (2 oz. per gal of water). This is a non-oxygen based cleanser that will sanitize safely. However...the trick is to have the solution made up and quickly dip the cap in immediately before capping. It is not necessary and certainly not recommended to soak the caps as this solution works on contact. The less exposure to this solution, the more oxygen scavenging agent left of the beer. 3. Use an iodine based solution (such as BTF Iodophor). It is not recommended to use a cleaner/sanitizer that has an extremely high ratio of water to additive because water contains a high amount of oxygen and can be detrimental to the effectiveness of the caps once on the bottle. Again, dip quickly and then cap immediately. Do not soak. Although very effective for zillions of applications, we do not recommend using One-Step No-Rinse Cleanser on the oxygen barrier crowns. One-Step is a hydrogen peroxide based cleanser. The oxygen in this chemical is easliy separated from its molecules and will result in lots of freely floating O2. If the caps are exposed to this, the scavenging agent will spend all of it's energies adhering to the O2 in the One-Step and have little left for the head space in your bottles. Therefore, we feel the best and most reasonable method is the Sodium Metabisulphite solution, which has also been recommended by the manufacturer of the oxygen barrier crowns. The oxy crowns we get from LD Carlson are manufactured in the USA by Crwon Cork & Seal. We hope that gives everyone a little more info on these caps. We use them on our homemade Belgiums and Barley Wines and have been very happy with the results. Paul & Liz Wine, Barley & Hops Homebrew Supply 248 Bustleton Pike Feasterville, PA 19053-7820 Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 09:37:07 -0500 From: "Dave Burley" <Dave_Burley at charter.net> Subject: Thermometers Brewsters: Dave Houseman and others are pondering how to know if his thermometer is accurate. The solution is to calibrate the thermometer using known temperatures. How to do this? Ice water - crushed ice in contact with the water is by definition 32F or 0 C. Boiling water is 212F or 100C at sea level and most places in the US close enouigh. In the mountains or death valley?, there are corrections for the boiling point. How about the temperatures in between? Since the heat capacity of <water> is essentially constant across this temperature range mixtures of ice water (without the ice) and boiling water are proportional to the final temperature of the mixture, so you can have as many in-betweens as you wish. Use a thermos jug which has been conditioned with water close to the desired temperature and then put in new water blends. A plot of the temperature read from the thermometer vs the actual calculated temperature will allow you to use any thermometer at any temperature. Keep on Brewin' Dave Burley Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 06:01:39 -0800 (PST) From: Steven Parfitt <thegimp98 at yahoo.com> Subject: RE: Thermometers Tim is having thermometer problems Tue, 21 Mar 2006 16:24:20 -0800 (PST) I've used exactly the same thermometer for five years without problems. The only two issues I have are (1) the SS braid must never be immersed in liquid, (2) The piont where the wires enter the SS probe are a stress poing. Mine finally got flakey (Im'm sending it back for a free replacement as they have a lifetime warranty). The wires are fraying at the stress point (1). I went ahead and bought a new one at Bed Bath and Beyond ($18) yesterday. If you did get water in the probe, put it in an oven set at 2350F for a couple of hours to dry it out. You want to dry it slowly so as not to dammage the thermocouple by heating it too hot. Don't put the plastic phono plug end in the oven though. Steven >Hello all, >I've recently started doing partial mashes and I need >a dependable thermometer. I unfortunately bought a >crappy thermometer and I'd like to hear if anyone has >recommendations for non-crappy thermometers. The one >I bought is digital, which I figure is what I'm >looking for, but after using it twice it is telling >me my tap water is 175 F and there's no way to >recalibrate it. It's a 'probe' variety thermometer >which is supposed to be able to stand up to 400 F in \ >the oven, which made me think it would be ok for >brewing. Apparently not. Any suggestions would be >greatly appreciated! >The model I bought is made by Pyrex... a picture can >be found at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/ B00004RC4R/103-5279994-0654200?v=glance&n=284507. >(URL on two lines because it was making HBD reject my >post) >I wouldn't recommend it, if anyone else is looking >for a thermometer. >Thanks, >Tim McMahon Steven, -75 XLCH- Ironhead Nano-Brewery http://thegimp.8k.com Johnson City, TN [422.7, 169.2] Rennerian "There is no such thing as gravity, the earth sucks." Wings Whiplash - 1968 Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 14:06:14 -0500 From: "Doug Renfrew" <renfrew at email.unc.edu> Subject: Dry Ice I one of my labmates received some samples today from another lab that were shipped on dry ice. Got me thinking, has anyone here ever force carbonated with dry ice? I am thinking that with the right amount of dry ice, you could both cool and carbonate your beer simultaneously. For those who don't know dry ice is solid carbon dioxide. It is very cold (-109.3 degrees Fahrenheit) and at room temperature it sublimes (sublimation is when a solid transitions directly into gas). Doug - -- - --------------------------------------------- P. Douglas Renfrew Graduate Student Molecular and Cellular Biophysics Program Dept. Biochemistry and Biophysics Unv. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - --------------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 21:54:12 +0100 From: "Fredrik" <carlsbergerensis at hotmail.com> Subject: Growth: culture vs individual Hello, some ideas on Nathaniels comments on Tue, 21 Mar 2006 08:44:34 -0500: > >>barrels) is a ~3X. A yeast cell in ideal condition hits the fermenter > with 1% > >>sterols, each division reduces this by half. > > Does the sterol share differently than other cell components? I don't know for sure, but at least not as far as I know? I'm not sure what the point would be either. Maybe someone else can confirm or dismiss. > > Just trying to resolve the dissonance. NPL Still, if you look at it from the culture perspective the things make sense in the sense of the sterol level per population unit no matter what. Perhaps a more avoiding language would be to say that on each population doubling in the culture, the sterol density per population unit reduces by half. But the collecton of "population units" is not homogenous. In any real normal population I think individuals are bound to typically be a little different anyway. Different sizes, different ages and so on. If the population in a culture increases by a factor 8, this does not imply that every single cell contributes equally, or that each branch in the division tree live *exactly* 3 generatons. The *population* OTOH doubles exactly 3 times. While the overall culture dynamics is fairly well defined, as far as I understnad it is a completely different story to try to predict the the dynamics of the distributions of various properties within a population. I made a simple simulation of the division tree of a 1:5 assymmetric division, and ingore differences in cycle times between mother and daugther. I evaluated the dilution treshold to corresponding some ~5 generations and then the tree becomes assymmetric as it stalls, due to the assymmetric divison. Some cells on the right side reached only 3 generations [because (1/5)^3 < 1/(2^5)] while the left hand side reached about 13 divisions. Still, this doesn't change the overall population averages. http://hem.bredband.net/frerad/beer/modelling/pictures /div.tree.sim_1to5ass_6.jpg (had to cut the link due to the 80chl) I think when you put on top of this then real conditions of stress factors vs cell age etc, and things can get even more complex. I have lately had some considerations about the population dynamics in response to changes vs the internal distributions. It seems to me that knowledge of the internal distributions may help find the culture dynamics, such as the characteristics of stalled growth during nutrution population. The variaton withing the population seem to make the culture dynamics smoother even from a pure mathematical point of view, and there has to be a kind of relation between internal variation and the "smoothness factor". This can be hinted above. In the simple simulation the degree of assymmetric budding seem to clearly impact the power of the population growth deacceleration (due to sterol depletion) In a beer fermentation the dynamics of the culture dynamics is most interesting. My only worries is that we can loose the information particularly when it comes to the dynamic of transitions if we completely ignore the internal variations? /Fredrik Return to table of contents
[Prev HBD] [Index] [Next HBD] [Back]
HTML-ized on 03/24/06, by HBD2HTML v1.2 by KFL
webmaster@hbd.org, KFL, 10/9/96