HOMEBREW Digest #5045 Thu 17 August 2006


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


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Contents:
  Re: beer preservatives ("Bob Devine")
  fusel beer: distill it? ("Peter A. Ensminger")
  Sorghum (Delano DuGarm)
  Pumps (Fred L Johnson)
  Pump Recomendations (wilkreed)
  Re: Efficiency of Color Extraction ("JONES,AARON K")
  A question for you promash masters... (Joe Katchever)
  pumps, bourbon barrels (Joe Katchever)
  Re: sorghum (Ed Westemeier)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 21:55:37 -0600 From: "Bob Devine" <devinebob at gmail.com> Subject: Re: beer preservatives "Ian Watson" <hophead at sympatico.ca> > > I keep hearing ads from breweries that say their beer has no preservatives > in it. To my knowledge, NO beer has or needs preservatives except of course > the hops. Are there any beers that contain artificial preservatives or is > this a marketing devise? Mainly it's a marketeer's slogan. (By the way, the lack of preservatives in bread probably hurts more people. BHA/BHT reduces mold so there is more food poisoning now that a few decades ago.) Little known fact: besides hops and alcohol as preservatives, smoke is also a natural way of preserving! Industrial brewers have, in the past, used a wide pharmacopia of preservatives -- benzoic acid and derivatives; random sulfur compounds; and various propionic compounds were all used. Because the above are scary names, one new preservative that is being used more commonly is 'nisin' which is sometimes claimed to be a 'natural preservative' so the marketeers can claim "no artificial preservatives". It is pretty effective at inhibiting certain classes of bacteria that can spoil wort or beer but still I'd rather have a beer without it, thank you very much. All good reasons to brew the beer you drink. Bob Devine Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 01:42:57 -0400 From: "Peter A. Ensminger" <ensmingr at twcny.rr.com> Subject: fusel beer: distill it? Regarding what to do with my beer (actually a braggot, see: www.hbd.org/hbd/archive/5042.html#5042-5 ) that has lots of fusels ... Chad suggests that I distill it and discard the "heads" and "tails". This seems like a good (albeit illegal) way to get rid of the fusels. I've only distilled things in the laboratory, never for consumption. Even if I was accomplished enough to know how to distill a consumable beverage, I seem to recall (from previous HBD posts?) that distilling a beer that has significant IBUs can lead to something very strange/nasty. My plan: as soon as SWMBO is out of town, I will pass a small bit of my fusel beer through our counter-top Brita filter (which has activated charcoal). My next step will depend on my results. Will keep the HBD posted! Cheers! Peter A. Ensminger Syracuse, NY Apparent Rennerian: [394, 79.9] - ---------- Surprised I haven't seen this recomendation yet.... Distill it! Throw out the heads and tails (fusels) and keep the good stuff. Carry out this operation in a country where it's legal, of course.... Chad Stevens QUAFF San Diego Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 04:15:10 -0700 (PDT) From: Delano DuGarm <ddugarm at yahoo.com> Subject: Sorghum >However, couldn't I also do a cereal mash with the raw >grain? Is the flavor an issue, which is why it should be >malted first? What percentage of the grist should be >raw sorghum? How do I grind/crush the little suckers? >My maltmill definitely won't handle those little guys. >As you can see, I've got no clue what I'm doing, so any >and all input is greatly appreciated. I tried to get >him to plant triticale, but he couldn't find the seed. I brewed sorghum beer many years ago. I ground up the grain in a Corona mill (see, there is some use for them), and did a cereal mash. I got reasonable extraction. My recipe was thus for 5 gallons: Batch #137 10/19/1997 Grain bill 7 lbs. 6-row malt 3 lbs. sorghum Hops 1 oz Spelt (6.6%) 60 minutes .8 oz Spelt 30 minutes .8 oz Spelt 15 minutes .8 oz Spelt 0 minutes Mash in 6.25 lbs. of 6-row at 130. Make a thick mash of 3/4 lb. of 6-row and the ground sorghum. Hold at the thick mash at 150 F., then raise to boiling, boil for 20 minutes. Add to main mash (it should raise the main mash temperature to 150 F.). Hold at 150 F for 60 minutes, sparge. OG 1047 FG ? My tasting notes give thumbs down to this, but I used old sorghum, and the sorghum germ might have gone bad. Delano "Adjunct Boy" DuGarm Delano DuGarm St. Paul, Minn. ddugarm at yahoo.com Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 07:30:14 -0400 From: Fred L Johnson <FLJohnson52 at nc.rr.com> Subject: Pumps Nathan asks about pumps for his brewing purposes. I know little about March (centrifugal) pumps, which are used by many homebrewers, but I have a good deal of experience with peristaltic pumps. I like the latter because the wort only comes into contact with tubing, not the pump head. There are no nooks and crannies to catch particles, so cleaning, even sanitizing, is a breeze, and you can simply change the tubing if you wish. Check out the Masterflex pumps (lots of varieties of pumps, pump heads, and tubing) at coleparmer.com. You'll probably be interested in those that can use the larger diameter tubing to speed up transfers when you need to move wort fast. You can even use the pump heads that accept different size tubing. You can often find Masterflex pumps on eBay or at used scientific warehouse places like labx.com Fred L Johnson Apex, North Carolina, USA Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:46:17 -0400 From: wilkreed at netscape.net Subject: Pump Recomendations In response to Nathan's inquiry, I strongly recommend a Peristaltic Pump (Masterflex, etc) I bought one with a head that accepts 3/8" tube off e-bay for about $50.00 (after searching for a few months). This thing is great! I have nothing to clean, as only the tube is in contact with the beer. If you go this route, you will want to upgrade to silicone tube, but that also has distinct benefits in that you can sterilize (not just sanitize) it by boiling in your hot liquor tank at the beginning of your brewing session! An easy load head also makes it very easy to switch circuits and applications. If I recall, there was a great article about using peristaltic pumps in either Zymurgy or Brew Your Own in the last couple of years. Good luck with your freedom from gravity! William Reed Hendersonville, NC Nathan wrote: Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 10:38:31 -0500 From: "Nathan Baldwin" <nbaldwin at gmail.com> Subject: Pump Recommendations I am tired of having three tiers in my brewing setup, so I am looking for a good pump that can handle typical wort acidity and temperature ranges. >From looking at HDB and web pages about home built RIMS and HERMS systems, it seems like the March 809-HS is the standard pump to use. So my question is: is there any better alternative to the March 809-HS that people have been pleased with? Or is anything more than the March just overkill? Thanks, Nathan Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 11:13:23 -0400 (EDT) From: "JONES,AARON K" <kjones1 at ufl.edu> Subject: Re: Efficiency of Color Extraction Disclaimer: This is only my thought process and may be complete B.S. Please seek an expert opinion. My guess: It would seem to me that a lot of the variables for color extraction are the same ones we deal with for "extract extraction" (temperature, time, pH, crush, etc.), however, we have a new player, namely, the husk of the grain. We are no longer dealing with only the kernel, but the husk as well, which provides tannins, among other things, that can add color to beer. So I would hypothesize that color extraction efficiency is not exactly equal to conversion efficiency. Kyle Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 10:33:09 -0500 From: Joe Katchever <joe at pearlstreetbrewery.com> Subject: A question for you promash masters... When brewing a batch of beer, I tend to always over sparge, usually by a lot. This is aggavating, to say the least. However, I have recipes that are written for different batch sizes, yet promash doesn't adjust the sparge water needed based on recipe size. I've found I can solve this by adjusting the "water needed" in a brewing session (from default to a smaller or larger batch size.) If I'm brewing a half batch, anbd save as default on this screen, it changes sparge water needed for all future brews. What I would like it to do for me is to base the "water needed" on how many pounds of grain are in the recipe, I think. Any body? - -- Joe Katchever Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 10:44:11 -0500 From: Joe Katchever <joe at pearlstreetbrewery.com> Subject: pumps, bourbon barrels Nathan, here is a pump that would work: http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/itemDetailsRender.shtml?ItemId=1613542980 Bev, email this guy. His name is Tom Griffin ---> bourbonbarrel at yahoo.com - -- Joe Katchever Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 16:59:11 -0400 From: Ed Westemeier <hopfen at malz.com> Subject: Re: sorghum Jason wrote: > > A friend was "resting" his garden this year and planted sorghum, > which he > wants me to concoct some kind of brew. Can't help with procedure, but a word of caution: If your beer comes out like Dragon's Gold from Bard's Tale (all sorghum), it will taste like Cracker Jack. Not unpleasant, but a bit unexpected. Ed Return to table of contents
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