FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator


Contents:
  Yeasty/Sulphury (Phil Brushaber)
  Re: Fixed Kettle Thermometers (Dion Hollenbeck)
  Breweriana (MARK CASTLEMAN)
  Hops Storage and rate of deterioration (scott mclagan)


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Date: Fri, 24 Dec 93 08:39:49 CST
From: philb at pro-storm.metronet.com (Phil Brushaber)
Subject: Yeasty/Sulphury

        I've got a new angle on these off-tastes I have been getting when
kegging in stainless steel. I got another opinion. My wife is the head of
new products/recipes at Tony Roma's restuarants. She has been the head of
R&D of a number of national chains. I mention this not because I like to
brag on my wife (although I do) but because she has a much more "educated
pallet" than I do. (Advertising guys have no "taste" as we all know).
        Alison suggests that the taste I have been trying to get rid of is
not metallic or iodine-like, but yeasty/sulphury.
        You know she may be right. I stuck my head in the fermenting
refrigerator where I currently have a couple of batches perking away...
Discounting the CO2 smell ( I know CO2 has no smell), the smell generated
in the frige overnight is VERY much like the taste I have been getting.
        Because of space needs I have been secondarying in cornelius kegs
which I keep in the lagering refigerator. Is it possible that doing
secondary in closed kegs is not allowing the yeasty/sulphur componds to
escape, but in fact is disolving the taste in the beer? Does this sound
possible or am I heading down another blind alley on my Beer Detective
investigation?

- -----
Internet: philb at pro-storm.metronet.com
    UUCP: metronet.com!pro-storm!philb
  Bitnet: philb%pro-storm.metronet.com at nosc.mil


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Date: Fri, 24 Dec 93 08:22:57 PST
From: hollen at megatek.com (Dion Hollenbeck)
Subject: Re: Fixed Kettle Thermometers

>>>>> "Will" == Will B Blalock <willb at hp3.imed.com> writes:

Will>   I have seen pictures of SS kettles and hot liquid tanks that
Will>   have thermometers attached on the sides midway between bottom
Will>   and top. Is this easily done? Does it take a special thermometer
Will>   which has to be welded to the side or can it be attached in an
Will>   easier way? Where do you find these flat thermometers (or do you
Will>   cut the stem off a typical style thermometer? Is it worth it?
Will>   --
Will>   *-------------------------------*------------------------------*
Will>   | Will Blalock : willb at imed.com | No one ever called Picasso   |
Will>   | 409-798-0201   Angleton Texas | an assho.                    |
Will>   *-------------------------------*------------------------------*

I have two of these.  I used Sankey kegs.  It is *very* easily done if
you can weld stainless steel.  The thermometers come with 1/2" Male
NPT fittings.  Just weld a 3/4" x 1/2" SS bushing into the keg, put
lots of teflon pipe tape on the thermo threads and screw it in.

****Do Not Forget The Teflon Tape****

You can obtain these thermos from most any good industrial hardware
supply.  One is McMaster-Carr.   (310)695-2449.  They will ship to
anybody COD, but a catalog is nearly impossible for an individual to
obtain since they are HUGE and costly to produce.  Here is the thermo
I bought, there are several other styles available:

Part # 3946K176  3" Back Connection Dry BiMetal Thermometer
		6" stem, 20 to 240F in 2F increments.   $31.02 plus
		shipping.

dion

Dion Hollenbeck (619)455-5590x2814     Email: hollen at megatek.com
Staff Software Engineer                       megatek!hollen at uunet.uu.net
Megatek Corporation, San Diego, California    ucsd!megatek!hollen

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Date: Fri, 24 Dec 1993 17:56:18 -0700 (MST)
From: MARK CASTLEMAN <mwcastle at ouray.Denver.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: Breweriana

While this is tangentially related to homebrewing I thought I would share it
here at the holidays.  Anyone passing through eastern Colorado in the summer
should stop in Burlington to see the Kit Carson County Carousel.  Of
interest to brewers is the goat.  He looks like he stepped out of a bock
label and on the back of the saddle he is decorated with barley and hops.

Beery Christmas!  Hoppy New Year!  Visualize Whirled Peas!

                             Mark W Castleman
                     Big Dog Brewing Cooperative - West
Wouldn't it be terrible if I quoted some reliable statistics which prove that
more people are driven insane through religious hysteria than by drinking.
                                                     --W.C. Fields


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Date: Fri, 24 Dec 93 19:57:01 -0800
From: mclagan at sfu.ca (scott mclagan)
Subject: Hops Storage and rate of deterioration

In Homebrew Digest #1306 (December 24, 1993), Mark Garetz writes:

"Yes.  This will approximately double the storage life, or another way of
looking at it is this will cut the rate of deterioration in half."

Thanks for information Mark. I am interested in the 'rate of 
deterioration' versus bittering/aroma ability. The 
statement 'this will cut the rate of deterioration in half' 
makes me wonder if I should scrutinize how my local vendor
(and their suppliers) handle their hops . As I venture into 
the more exotic varieties of hops, (which are less commonly 
used), should I assume that I will need more quantity to 
achieve the same quality because of aging?

Has anyone developed a scale to indicate rate of deterioration
of aroma/alpha over time?

Thanks,

Scott McLagan <mclagan at fraser.sfu.ca>
Coordinator for Computers, School District #43 (Coquitlam), B. C., Canada




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End of HOMEBREW Digest #1307, 12/25/93