HOMEBREW Digest #5068 Fri 29 September 2006


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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  Interrupted brewing (Fred L Johnson)
  Re: CO2 pressure question ("Pete Calinski")
  CO2 pressure question (rodpr)
  CO2 & microwave sanitation (Mark Nesdoly)
  re: what happened to my fusels/harshness? (Matt)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 07:23:22 -0400 From: Fred L Johnson <FLJohnson52 at nc.rr.com> Subject: Interrupted brewing Ben had to store his freshly made wort in the boiling kettle in a refrigerator before pitching while waiting on his yeast to arrive in the mail and is wondering if this brew has a chance of being drinkable when he finally does pitch. Ben, in my opinion, the wort should be OK if you were able to cover up the kettle well while it was still hot. If you cooled the wort with the kettle in an open state, it is likely that some airborne yeast, bacteria, or mold got into it, and these will have opportunity to start working on the brew before you pitch. However, if you were able to get the wort chilled quickly to a very cold temperature, any unwanted organisms will have had minimal time under favorable conditions--favorable to their growth--to do much damage. Refrigerators are notorious for harboring mold and other unwanted microorganisms, so the barrier on your kettle must be an appropriate one. Short of actually sealing the kettle up, a foil cap hanging down a couple of inches over the side would likely be better than a standard kettle lid. Think Petri dish. Fred L Johnson Apex, North Carolina, USA Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 09:29:29 -0400 From: "Pete Calinski" <pjcalinski at adelphia.net> Subject: Re: CO2 pressure question Well, I'm not the expert on this subject but I know that the pressure reading on my gauge varies widely depending on what the temperature is. It is because the pressure in the tank is at what is called "vapor pressure". The vapor pressure of CO2 is 830 psi at 20 degrees C. That is, as long as there is liquid in the tank, some of it will turn to vapor until the pressure equals 830 psi (at 20C). At that point the tank is in equilibrium. If you draw off some CO2 gas, more liquid vaporizes to get back to 830 psi. If the temperature drops, some of the gas in the tank will condense back to liquid and the vapor pressure (and what your gauge reads) will be lower. I think I have seen mine as low as 500 psi when my garage is really freezing. If the temperature goes up, more liquid vaporizes and the pressure goes up. I don't recall the highest temperature I have noticed. Maybe over 900 psi. You could try a google on CO2 phase diagram. Hope this helps Pete Calinski East Amherst NY Near Buffalo NY http://hbd.org/pcalinsk Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 09:52:31 -0400 From: <rodpr at comcast.net> Subject: CO2 pressure question Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 16:11:01 -0600 From: Mark Nesdoly <m-nesdoly at shaw.ca> Subject: CO2 pressure question Yes Mark, they can. The guage is really nothing but a flattened tube, bent in a C shape an connected to a small rack gear that turns the needle. Having the pressure at a given point for many years would stress the tube causing it to respond differently to pressures. The fact that it is a mechanical device, gear driven, can also cause problems. Especially if the gear skips a tooth. Guages aren't that expensive, buy one and replace it. >Stupid question. I've kegged my beer for about 9 years, and have only >recently obtained a proper fridge so that I can leave my CO2 always hooked >up. Recently meaning about 8 months. A roughly half-full tank lasted >about >7 months. Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 10:28:51 -0600 From: Mark Nesdoly <m-nesdoly at shaw.ca> Subject: CO2 & microwave sanitation To clarify one thing: the tank is at the same temperature as all the others I've ever had: room temperature, 20C. And today the pressure is reading 375 psi yet the tank is still heavy. I think my gauge is hooped. Someone inquired about microwave sanitation (fly in a starter).....Here's a link for you: http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/2811.html#2811-9 It's an old post (from Aug '98) of mine regarding microwave ovens and what they do/don't do. Cheers. - -- Mark Return to table of contents
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 10:20:36 -0700 (PDT) From: Matt <baumssl27 at yahoo.com> Subject: re: what happened to my fusels/harshness? Replying to the question of why some rocket fuel eventually became delicious, Glyn writes "Most of the high alcohols/fusels break down or combine." Whether or not this is really true was a question I asked here a couple weeks ago. From my experience I believe it is not true, and that "fusels are forever," but don't have anything definitive to back it up. Steve Alexander's reply to my question indicated fusels are not significantly reduced with time, but if I recall correctly he didn't cite specific studies, etc. So unless someone can chime in with something definitive, we are left with opposing views both based on experience. One possibility is that the rocket-fuelly thing that has been aging out of people's otherwise delicious beers is an excess of ethyl acetate, a harsh/solventy ester (in high enough concentrations) that IS known to break down over time. When combined with other esters, phenolics, fusels, and other esters, it might be easy to misdiagnose high levels of ethyl acetate for a major fusel problem. I think I can tell the difference (partially because I get an almost instant headache from a high-fusel sip of beer) but I could be fooling myself. Anyway, I think it *is* worth knowing whether fusels or esters are your problem, because one potential means of avoiding excess ethyl acetate in the future (yeast nutrient) in my opinion has the potential to make the fusel problem worse. Matt Return to table of contents
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