HOMEBREW Digest #5138 Mon 29 January 2007


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


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Contents:
  Michelob Celebrate Vanilla Oak ("Peter A. Ensminger")
  RA, SRM ("A.J deLange")
  Sankey use (John Mitchell)
  Lagering (Leo Vitt)
  Frozen dry Yeast (Richard Lynch)
  What do malt color values really mean? (Fred L Johnson)
  Re: Lagering ("Gus Iverson")
  Diacetyl??can I get rid of it?? ("Doug Lasanen")

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 00:56:27 -0500 From: "Peter A. Ensminger" <ensmingr at twcny.rr.com> Subject: Michelob Celebrate Vanilla Oak Just the other day, a beer-loving neighbor gave me a bottle of "Michelob Celebrate Vanilla Oak" ale (Anheuser-Busch, 10% ABV, ~$10 per 24-oz bottle). Yikes! This stuff tastes like a vanilla alcopop. What were they thinking? Peter A. Ensminger Syracuse, NY Apparent Rennerian: [394, 79.9] Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 14:15:30 +0000 From: "A.J deLange" <ajdel at cox.net> Subject: RA, SRM Yesterday I posted that Joe's water calculated to residual alklainity of 80 and Martin posted a value of 68. A check of my calculation shows that Martin is right. Joe also caught this. So 68 really isn't so bad though it is over 50 which is generally considered to be the RA above which pH tweaking is required. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I now have an Excel spreadsheet which will calculate Lab color (i.e. color in the L, a, b color space) for 1 cm and 5 cm beer thicknesses for illuminants A(tungsten), C(daylight), D50(the mix graphic artists use in looking at proofs - represents a mix of daylight and tungsten), D65 (similar to D50 but bluer - matches the phosphors of most modern TV sets), F2, F7 and F11 (different types of fluorescents). All you do is put in the SRM value and out come 14 (2 path lengths, 7 illuminants) sets of L, a and b values. Plug the L, a, and b values into Photoshop or a similar program to see the actual color. Note that these values represent the average values for a beer of a particular SRM but it is amazing how little the beers vary in this regard i.e. how little difference there is between the average and actual beers. Anyone who wants a copy of this need only drop me an email at the address above. A.J. Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2007 18:19:38 -0500 From: John Mitchell <johnlmitchell at earthlink.net> Subject: Sankey use I recently decided to switch to using Sankey kegs after continuous problems with sealing soda kegs. I thought I would share what I learned to hopefully save someone some trouble. I decided to use soda kegs that had been converted to Sankey that I purchased from Sabco. Since the retaining ring can be a bit of a problem to deal with, I decided to use 2" internal snap rings and snap ring pliers purchased from McMaster-Carr (a very good supplier of almost everthing with next-day delivery for ground rates and no handling charge). I learned that the snap rings are about 0.016" thicker than the retaining rings that come with the keg. This makes it more difficult to install the snap rings, so I ended up changing out the o-ring on the spear for some that I have on hand that are slightly smaller in diameter than the ones that come with the keg. Still, I had problems compressing the o-ring enough to install the snap ring. I ended up purchasing a 1 1/4" NPT pipe plug and using a right-angle grinder to grind off some of the threads so it would fit down into the tap recess and clear the ears of the snap ring and the spear. I also drilled a small indention into the top of the plug. I then used a three-leg gear puller seated on the plug in the indention to compress the o-ring. This allowed the snap ring to spring into position without much effort. Now I've got a pretty easy-to-use system that I don't have to worry about fiddling with to stop gas leaks. Brewing in Suffolk, VA John Mitchell Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 11:55:38 -0800 (PST) From: Leo Vitt <leo_vitt at yahoo.com> Subject: Lagering Gus asked about lagering. My first response is about the use of the term lagering. To me, that means storing you fermented beer at a cold temp. I also think of it meaning a secondary fermentation in the 30's F. Gus, is the question is about primary fermentation or lagering? Primary: You want to have a consistant temp. It should not go up and down over the day or over the days of fermentation. That is true for ales to. The difference is the temp. I have fermented as low as 45F to about 52. I prefer 48-50. If the idea is about storing outside, why not use the kegerator in the 30s? The challenge for Gus' idea is making it consistent outside. If you can accomplish that and keep animals and sunlight out, it can work. Leo Vitt Sidney, NE Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 14:20:56 -0800 (PST) From: Richard Lynch <rlny7575 at yahoo.com> Subject: Frozen dry Yeast Hello everybody. I accidentally froze 5 or 6 sachets of dry yeast for a few days - got them mixed up with my hops, woops. Are these still worth trying to use? Or can I assume that ice crystals formed and rendered them useless? Thanks, Rich Btw, my Onion-shallot smelling Abbey ale is in the secondary, prognosis: to early to tell. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 18:27:04 -0500 From: Fred L Johnson <FLJohnson52 at nc.rr.com> Subject: What do malt color values really mean? I am a little confused about SRM and EBC units for describing the color of beer that will be produced from malt. I have always read that when malts are described in SRM units (degrees Lovibond), the value assigned to the malt indicates the color that one pound of malt will produce in one gallon of wort. Accordingly, something like the following is often stated, "One pound of grain with a rating of 20 degrees Lovibond will yield five gallons of wort with a color of 4 degrees Lovibond." However, I really don't understand how this can be true unless the standard laboratory mash is one pound of grain in one gallon of wort or the equivalent grist:wort ratio. I believe the standard mash is something like 50 g grain in 500 mL. Correct? If so, then the wort in the example above would have a color closer to 3.34 Lovibond, not 4.0. Shouldn't we be calculating the color of our wort/beer with reference to the standard mash, which is not one pound per one gallon? And considering European malts, Europeans and much of the rest of the world typically use liters and kilograms, not US gallons and US pounds, as their standard units. So what is the relationship between the color assigned to a malt by the EBC method and the color of the wort produced from that malt? I would expect it, too, to be relative to the ratio of grist-to-wort used in the standard mash. Correct? Would someone please fill me in if I'm missing something here. Fred L Johnson Apex, North Carolina, USA Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 15:45:07 -0800 From: "Gus Iverson" <gus.iverson at gmail.com> Subject: Re: Lagering On 1/29/07, Leo Vitt <leo_vitt at yahoo.com> wrote: > > Gus asked about lagering. > > My first response is about the use of the term lagering. To me, that > means storing you fermented beer at a cold temp. I also think of it > meaning a secondary fermentation in the 30's F. That's what I meant, secondary or long cold storage in the 30's. I simply don't have capacity at this point to keep another beer in my kegerator at this point, but I suppose I could drink more... Is "lagering" possible in the 40's if I'm patient? > The challenge for Gus' idea is making it consistent outside. If you > can accomplish that and keep animals and sunlight out, it can work. I've got a neoprene jacket and heater applied to the fermenter controlled with a temperature controller and probe in a thermowell. Temperatures are holding constant at 50-51. I've got a new concern, however, I am using dry yeast on this batch, and this is my first experience with both lagers and dry yeast. I rehydrated two packs of s23 yeast and pitched it into the wort at 62-64*F, then placed the fermenter outside in it's jacket with the heater applied where it chilled down to 50 in a couple hours. My concern is that before I left this morning and checked the fermenter, there was zero activity. Not a bubble on the surface of the wort. The stout I made Sunday was already at high krausen with 2.5 inches or so of foam on top. It, of course, got a 2L starter and is comfortably resting around 67*F. So, should I be concerned or RDWHAHB? Thanks, Gus Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 20:20:07 -0500 From: "Doug Lasanen" <Dlasanen at fuse.net> Subject: Diacetyl??can I get rid of it?? Hello All! I recently brewed a German Dunkle. (Well, Last spring) 10 gallon batch. First keg was very tasty for the first 2/3 of the keg. Then "Diacetyl" seemed to be noticed. It started faint and got worse as the keg was emptied. I ended up dumping about a growler. Well, the second keg is "Diacetylly" from the git go! Is there a cure for the "Buttery/Butterscotch defect" or do I dump the second keg?? My guess, is no cure, but, looking for hope! Cheers! Doug Lasanen Bloatarian Brewing League Cincinnati, Ohio Return to table of contents
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