HOMEBREW Digest #1526 Wed 14 September 1994

Digest #1525 Digest #1527

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


Contents:
  Re: Yeast popsicles (John McCaskill)
  IBU vs HBU (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583)
  Trub removal. (Jay Lonner)
  Temperature Controllers ("Anderso_A")
  ciders (uswlsrap)
  Dryhopping w/pellets --> CO2 ? (Joe McCarthy)
  Zappap underletting / Airlock leaking in wort ("Lee A. Menegoni")
  St. Louis BrewPubs (Dwight Wolfe)
  Levity, anecdotes, thank-yous (CLAY)
  An interesting source for pumps (Richard A Childers)
  worthless posts from lazy brewers (Art Steinmetz)
  Autumn/Weather/Cleveland (Bill Rust)
  Re: efficient loitering (Kelvin Kapteyn)
  Big Batches, internet access, & goodbyes (Al Folsom)
  Benefits of Blow off Hose (Terry Terfinko)
  Carboy Carriers (Guy Mason)
  Kegging gases summary (Matt_K)
  carboy breaks (Spencer.W.Thomas)
  Final Word on Sierra Nevada Yeast! (Patrick Casey)
  Brew kettles (Matt_K)
  Re: Geometry (Jim Busch)
  Braukunst Home Brewing???? (Tim Murray)
  Carbouy Stories (Schwab_Bryan)
  Light bulb as heat source (Hal Laurent)
  Re:  wheat beer follies ("Glen A. Wagnecz, X6616")
  Brewery Tour, etc. (npyle)
   (LKAMPF)
  Drying hops in the sun? (Glenn Anderson)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Sep 94 12:54:25 CDT From: jhm at texmemsys.com (John McCaskill) Subject: Re: Yeast popsicles In regards to frozen yeast. One of my friends just started homebrewing, and he froze his package of Wyeast for a day. I told him to thaw it out and see if it would start. It did, and the beer came out fine. However, I don't know what sort of long term effect that would have on yeast you are going to propogate. John McCaskill Home mccask at mccaskill.com Work jhm at texmemsys.com Return to table of contents
Date: 12 Sep 94 18:58:00 GMT From: korz at iepubj.att.com (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583) Subject: IBU vs HBU A couple of weeks ago (sorry), Paul wrote: >Isn't HBU's and IBU's the same measurement? > >In Paps book it seems the same. If I have a recipe that calls for 5 HBU's of >a particular hop type, isn't it the same as 5 IBU's > >Example: 1oz Fuggles 5 HBU = 1oz Fuggles 5% alpha IBU No, they are not the same. Papazian's HBU is the same as Line's AAU, which has also been used by Miller. Your example is right, except for the "IBU" at the end. There are two disadvantages to using HBUs or AAUs in a recipe: 1. you must state the batch size and 2. it does not account for different brewers' hop utilization (one brewer might get 27% utilization from a 60 minute boil, another might get only 20%) -- it depends on your system and process. IBUs are a measure of the isomerized alpha acids in the finished beer. They are independent of the batch size. 1 IBU is approximately 1 mg/liter of isomerized alpha acids. There are also two snags to using IBUs in recipes: 1. the recipe writer had better be using an accurate formula (or measuring) the IBUs he/she is getting and 2. the recipe user had better be using an accurate formula for estimating IBUs in their beer based upon hop additions. For example, in my system, with my process, 1.5 ounces of 4%AA hops boiled 60 minutes gives approximately 25 IBUs in the finished beer after all the fermentation losses. There is an article by Jackie Rager in the Hops Special Issue of Zymurgy in which he gives some formulas for estimating the IBUs you get in the finished beer hased upon boil time, boil gravity, etc. I have used these formulas with great success with two modifications. I use 10% more hops than the formulas recommend if I use a hop bag (which is always) and I use 10% more again if I use whole hops in stead of pellets. [Please note that there is an error (sheesh!) in one of the formulas. GA, the gravity adjustment, should have been: (BG - 1.050) GA = -------------- where BG is the boil gravity.] 0.2 There is a device called a Hop-Go-Round, developed by Randy Mosher, which is basically a circular slide rule, calibrated for calculating IBUs. In my experience, the front side of the device works great and I use it all the time, but the percent utilizations on the back, I feel, are overly optimistic. Therefore, I have superimposed Rager's percent utlizations onto the charts on the back of the Hop-Go-Round and use them in place of the original ones. I've read Mark Garetz's book on hops and have run some numbers through his formulas. I have found them to be off by a large amount, sometimes suggesting nearly *double* the rate of *proven* recipes. Al. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 12:52:10 -0800 (PST) From: Jay Lonner <8635660 at NESSIE.CC.WWU.EDU> Subject: Trub removal. Hi, I need trub help. Nothing I do seems to get rid of it, short of racking to another vessel. Yesterday's brew was the worst yet -- a barleywine (partial-mash, full boil) that is probably 40% trub! This was a very expensive beer to make, and it annoys me to no end that I'll end up tossing such a large quantity of it. I use an immersion chiller, whole hops, and the copper scrubby/nylon mesh combo on the bottom of my racking cane. This does a fine job of filtering hops, but not trub. My books say that commercial breweries use whirlpool action to separate the wort from the trub, but this is beyond my capabilities. These are the alternatives that I am considering: 1. Let the beer sit in the boiler for a solid hour prior to racking to a fermenter. This might let more trub settle out. But since I use an uncovered boiler I am concerned about exposing my cooled wort to the open air for such a long time -- sounds like inviting an infection. Plus there's still the problem of getting that last drop of sweet wort from the sludge at the bottom of the boiler. 2. Buy a filter and filter the stuff while racking to the fermenter. I don't like this idea because it's expensive and may filter out more stuff than is desirable. 3. Start using a hop-back. This might work OK. But it's my understanding that one usually uses a hop-back with hot wort, and what I envision is running my cooled wort through the hop-back while siphoning it to the fermenter. Might my beer pick up a hop aroma, or does that only work with hot wort? I'm not particularly excited about any of these options, but I really feel like I need to do something to address this problem. Any comments on the above options, or alternative suggestions, would be greatly appreciated. Jay. Return to table of contents
Date: 12 Sep 94 13:25:00 EST From: "Anderso_A" <Anderso_A at hq.navsea.navy.mil> Subject: Temperature Controllers Message Creation Date was at 12-SEP-1994 13:25:00 Greetings, I'm not a lazy brewer, but I'm an extremely lazy engineer - not to mention one step from incompetent when it comes to EE. With that preamble out of the way, on to my question. I'll be moving on to England within the month and Uncle Sam will pay for all my moving expenses. I plan on sending a brewing fridge over since I've been assured it will work on the big, hefty transformer. I have not procurred a temperature controller at this time, so I'm hurriedly looking for one. Will the power frequency shift from 60 Hz (US) to 50 Hz (UK) cause screw-ups on a temperature controller? i.e. a clock won't keep correct time, will a temp. controller function correctly? Is this a situation where I'm supposed to pay attention to "analog" vs. "digital"? If there is a difference, will it be linear so that I can recalibrate the system? Do any UK brewers know of a readily available UK temperature controller? Thank-you, and now back to your regularly scheduled program debating the merits of lazy, incompetent brewers. Cheers, Andy A Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 94 16:17:35 EDT From: uswlsrap at ibmmail.com Subject: ciders - ----------------------- Mail item text follows --------------- To: I1010141--IBMMAIL From: Bob Paolino Research Analyst Subject: ciders I've answered (by email) a couple of the questions from new cider-makers and offered some basic information, but I'm no expert and have a question of my own. I've been pleased with most of the ciders I've done, but I never end up with a well-packed sediment. Let's just say that I won't be shipping any to competitions because it would never arrive in the beautiful sparkling clear condition in which I enjoy it when I consume it at home. I've used different yeasts and they all end up that way. In all other respects, I've had the best results with Edme dry ale yeast (I like 'em very dry--is FG=.990 dry enough for you?) used Champagne yeast and even slurry from the primary if I do the cider shortly after racking a beer. Any informed suggestions? Might it be not so much a yeast problem but that it needs to be racked still another time before bottling to reduce the sediment from the apples?? Email is fine unless you think it's of general interest. I'll summarise and pass on anything interesting. TIA Bob Paolino Disoriented in Badgerspace Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 16:35:08 -0400 From: Joe McCarthy <jmccarth at stimpy.cs.umass.edu> Subject: Dryhopping w/pellets --> CO2 ? I have dryhopped two recent batches of beer: 1 ounce of East Kent Goldings added to a bitter, and 3 ounces of Cascades added to a barleywine. In the first case, I waited for about a week after racking, and when the fermentation seemed pretty near done (one bubble in the S-lock every several minutes), I added the hops. This started a reaction in which the dissolved hops started to expand up into the neck of my carboy. In a rather messy operation, I sanitized my turkey baster and suctioned out about 12 ounces of liquid so that there would be enough room. I also tried to "brush" some of the hop residue from the lip of the carboy back into the wort with a sanitized toothbrush. I resanitized the stopper & airlock and put them back on. The activity in the airlock increased to several bubbles per minute, and stayed at that level for a week. I thought that maybe I had a wild yeast infection, but the SG reading showed no change. My local brewing supply store person suggested that maybe the yeast had gone into autolysis, so I reracked into another carboy, and the activity in the airlock subsided. I bottled this beer, and I can't taste any infection, and am not sure that I would know that autolysis effects taste like -- it tastes fine to me. Last month, I added 3 ounces of Cascade pellets to a barleywine that had fermented from 1.090 down to 1.032 after five days in primary, and had been sitting in secondary for about 3 weeks. To reduce the potential for autolysis, I placed the pellets at the bottom of a second carboy, and reracked into that carboy (SG was still 1.032). Once again, the activity picked up from one bubble every several minutes to several bubbles per minute, and stayed there for a week. Since I had seen a post by Al Korzonas recommending a dryhop period of one week, I decided to rerack after a week (SG was now 1.031), and the activity after reracking slowed down to about one bubble every one to two minutes. I don't know how it will eventually taste, but the sample I drew for a gravity reading tasted quite good. Can anyone tell me what has been happening? Do pelletized hops emit CO2 when they are added to wort? Is it odd for this to continue at a rather constant rate (~ 4 bubbles per second in a 5-gallon carboy) for a week? Thanks, in advance, for any insights. Joe. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 94 16:40:58 EDT From: "Lee A. Menegoni" <lmenegoni at nectech.com> Subject: Zappap underletting / Airlock leaking in wort RE: Airlocks leaking back in to the wort. I always use liquor like gin, rum or vodka in my sanitized air locks. If some does drip into the wort in the 24 hours or so after pitching I don't have to worry about contamination. I used to use a bucket in bucket system for sparging, I have since modified it twice. Now it is an insulated mash/lauter tun with false bottom and manifold. My extraction hasn't improved much but I have reduced the brewing time by mashing and sparging in a single tun. Modification 1, reduce height of false bottom above outlet spigot so it is about 1 inch, increase the capacity and insulate : The primary benefits of this was less wort recirculation to get it to run clear and I didn't have to heat up an additional 2 gallons of water to float the grain bed, the increase in capacity allowed me to handle 14 lbs of grain and the insulation maintained the grain bed temperature. Basically what I did here was to cut the bottom of the inner bucket off and put it in the bucket upside down. I removed enough material from the side to avoid contact with the spigot and slotted the sides so the unit was flexible. Measure the height from the bottom of the bucket to the top of the outlet spigot. Cut off the false bottom of the inner bucket the measured height from the bottom. Measure the width of the spigot inside the bucket, remove this much material from the side of the just cut off false bottom. Slot the sides every couple inches. You may want to attach a piece of copper wire so you can remove the bottom for cleaning. Insert the piece bottom side up with the cut out side section over the spigot. Increase tun capacity: All I did here was to apply some food grade sealant to the outside of the inner bucket, that had its perforated bottom cut off above, and slide this into the bucket with spigot. Insulate tun: I wrapped the buckets with bubble wrap and duct tape, This helps maintain the grain bed temperature while sparging. Modification 2: Remove replace perforated bottom with a manifold. The primary benefits here were an even furter reduction in amount of liquid needed to recirculate. This also proved to be a good tun for mashing. I had about 8 feet of 3/8"OD soft copper tubing left over from making a wort chiller. I hammered one end shut and shaped the rest into a coil and drilled 1/16" holes in the bottom. I fed the output end into a rubber stopper which I inserted into the inlet of the spigot. I then cut along the inside diameter of the perforated bottom and removed enough material to get around the stopper. I use this not so much as a false bottom but more as a protection device for the manifold since I use this vessel as a mash and lauter tun. To do an Iodine test I just draw off some liquid from the spigot, after stirring up the mash. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 94 16:29:47 PDT From: Dwight Wolfe <dwolfe at wev.twc.com> Subject: St. Louis BrewPubs Does anyone have names of any brewpubs in St. Louis. If you will e-mail me, I will compile a list and after a visit to each, publish the results. - ------------------------------------- Name: Dwight Wolfe E-mail: dwolfe at wev.twc.com (Dwight Wolfe) - ------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 18:29:44 -0500 (EST) From: CLAY at prism.clemson.edu Subject: Levity, anecdotes, thank-yous 1) Thanks to all who responded to my earlier question about mead. I bottled it yesterday. Tasted like a rather flinty Chablis with floral rather than earthy overtones. Several folks have said that this is normal and that aging will refine the flavor. 2) Thanks to all who posted regarding thermostats, etc. I installed a "Cool Jack" in the fridge and it works fine. I ran the power cords in through the drain hole and so did not have to drill through the walls. based on one batch, this is gonna be great! Cost was <$30.00 including the parts for the cords. 3) The quality of the HBD does not suffer from leavening with humor, anecdotes, witticisms, and tales of exploding bottles, broken carboys, or questions from newbies like me. 4) "...don't let the cyberdoor catch you in the [sanctimonious] cyberbutt." 5) It's cholera you get from dirty ice cubes, John. You get typhus from louse feces (epidemic typhus, caused by Rickettsia prowazeki) or from the bites of rat fleas (R. typhi). You just burned up your free opinion outside of your area of expertise. Perhaps you should have looked up a local entomologist before posting. Perhaps you see my point... Regards to all, C.C. Lay just a possum on the information superhighway... Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 17:27:01 -0700 From: pascal at netcom.com (Richard A Childers) Subject: An interesting source for pumps I was messing around with my windshield wipers this weekend, and I just happened to notice that the little 12 VDC pump used to pump spray onto the windshield looks like a pretty good way to pump liquid around. I don't know if it would be suitable for pumping food-grade materials about ( I have to buy a few from a scrap yard and take one apart before I can say more ), but maybe looking at it might give me an idea for how to retrofit it to pump food-grade liquids safely. For instance, it seems to pump in spurts, rather than steadily, so it might well be what is called a "peristaltic" pump, and therefore retrofittable to food-grade purposes. Even if not suitable for pumping alcoholic beverages directly, it might still be suitable for pumping cooled water through cooling coils after brewing up a batch of ale ... or making a pretty cool solar-powered ditch pump, a la Doc Atomic ... (-: - -- richard Law : The science of assigning responsibility. Politics : The art of _distributing_ responsibility. richard childers san francisco, california pascal at netcom.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 21:11:57 -0400 From: Art Steinmetz <asteinm at pipeline.com> Subject: worthless posts from lazy brewers BREWS at delphi.com sez rookies should stop >wasting our time here with boorish questions over and >over again Bruce is being overly harsh. The HBD is a great source for more technical information but it is also virtual club for a good many brewers. I wouldn't want to discourage people from asking questions. Most folks observe the local customs and provide a synopsis of the private replies they've received. The situation isn't perfect; in most cases people don't need to give chapter and verse of their brewing day - a shorter post would do. Also rec.crafts.brewing (which I don't read) might be a better place for newbie questions but I recognize that internet access for many might be limited to e-mail. So to the rookies: don't be intimidated by the august personnages herein. To Bruce: RWDWHAHB. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 94 18:11:00 -0640 From: bill.rust at travel.com (Bill Rust) Subject: Autumn/Weather/Cleveland Greetings Brewers, Ah, the fall is nearly upon us, and the serious volume brewing can commence. Is it just me, or does everyone have at least two batches put down for Octoberfest? I have a couple of friends who are starting brewing. They want try to get theirs done by then too. Looks like I'll have plenty of sampling to do. What happened while I was gone to Cleveland?? I leave for one stinking week and all heck breaks loose! BTW, Bruce P. Stevens, the HBD is a forum, which according to the Oxford American Dictionary is "...a place or meeting where PUBLIC discussion is held." If you're not hip to people practicing their First amendment rights, consider this... "IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE WEATHER, MOVE!" On to bigger and better things. On the advice of several kind people with regards to pubs in the Cleveland area, I thought it would be cool to include a trip to the Great Lakes Brewing Co. in my itinerary. Now that I have returned (Lance, a brewer of fine fruit beers, and Kelly, a brewer of fine fruit meads, are now happily wed. They are a cute, albeit fruity, couple), I can revise my earlier assessment; it was very cool! Good beer (I recommend the Dortmunder and Wit) and good food. I even saw the bullet holes that Elliot Ness left in their bar! On the subject of partial mashing. I just kegged my first batch of Dortmunder made with a converted Igloo 5 gallon mash/lauter tun (fitted with a 9 inch Phil's Phalse bottom). I couldn't resist an early sample. Phantastic! I would love to go on, but I have some brown ale to brew (I'm not afraid of the dark). P.S. Can brewing beer really help you score with the Babes?? +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Busy, curious, thirsty fly, | BILL RUST | | Drink with me, and drink as I. | Systems Analyst | | | | | WILLIAM OLDYS 1696-1761 | Shiloh, IL | | On a Fly Drinking Out of a Cup of Ale, St. | bill.rust at travel.com | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ - --- ~ SPEED 1.40 #1651 ~ Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny. - FRANK ZAPPA -------------------------------------------------------------- This message originated at.... -> Internet Address: Bill Rust at travel.com -------------------------------------------------------------- TRAVEL ONLINE / ST. LOUIS ONLINE .... 81,000+ files, 2,500+ conferences, 110 online game doors, 9 node (256 channel) live chat, Weathercom (tm) national weather forecasts/data, direct satellite linked network. St. Louis: (314) 561-4956 / St. Charles/GTE: (314) 625-4045 -------------------------------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 94 22:35:17 EDT From: Kelvin Kapteyn <kelvink at mtu.edu> Subject: Re: efficient loitering OK, since Spencer caught it, I couldn't resist: :-) >Spencer writes: >Ulick writes >> rice hulls are just creating channels and preventing efficient loitering. >Usually when I want to loiter efficiently, I use cappuccino. For one >thing, it tastes better than rice hulls :-) My thought was that rice hulls might make a good laxative (lots of bran, you know!) Should make for very INefficient loitering I would think, even if they create channels! :-) Now, back to our regularily scheduled broadcast! I hope the humor is worth the bandwidth. I think we could use some to cool the flames lately. One additional comment about the suggestion to consult with locals and HB shop owners. We have seen a number of HBD people getting some pretty silly advice from HB shops. My recommendation is to check the books, and try to figure out if your local shop or homebrew club has people with ACCURATE knowledge. Also, read the FAQ (described in the header of every HBD.) An awful lot of the questions posted to the HBD are already answered there. Proost! (no, it's not German!) -Kelvin Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 94 09:02:28 -0400 From: Al Folsom <folsom at fp.com> Subject: Big Batches, internet access, & goodbyes Hello fellow brewers: Friday will be my last day at this job, and my internet access turns into a pumpkin. Maybe I can sneak in a few questions before then. First, does anyone have any experience with either delphi or interramp, or any other company providing personnal internet access? I can't face the morning without either Homebrew or HBD ;-( Next, this past Sunday I brewed up the Slumgullian Amber Ale from a couple of issues of Zymurgy ago. No problem, and the sweet wort tasted pretty good. The only concern was the recipe was for 6 1/2 gallons, and although I do have a 6 1/2 gal carboy, I do my primary fermenting in plastic, and have no way to handle the blowoff when using it as a primary. Casting around for something to ferment in, I happened upon one of those squat plastic fermenters usually used for wine, which seemed to hold about 7 1/2 gals. This morning when I went down to the basement to commune with my yeast, I discovered the top had blown completely off, and was sitting on the floor next to the fermenter, which had a lovely kreusen on the fermenting wort ;-) Well, I panicked. I quickly cleaned the lid, and scooped off a little bit of the top of the kreusen, and put the lid back on. My plan is to rack to a secondary before the kreusen falls back down, hoping that it will protect the beer a bit. Any chance I can salvage this brew? What DO people use to ferment these batches listed as 6 1/2 gallons? Yeah, I know I can go build some monstrosity out of steel kegs or whatnot, but I'd like to find something as simple as plastic, with enough room for all the activity. Thanks in advance, helpful homebrewers. If you can't respond by Friday, thanks anyway, and I shall return as soon I purchase a decent modem and fork money over to someone or another for internet access. +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Al Folsom | Object Oriented Programming? We've | | Fischer & Porter Co. | been doing that for years... | | folsom at fp.com | | | also uunet!bigmax!folsom | When the customer objects to the way | | KY3T at WA3TSW (Ham) | it works, we go program some more! | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 94 9:14:15 EDT From: terfintt at ttown.apci.com (Terry Terfinko) Subject: Benefits of Blow off Hose I have been using a 7.5 gallon glass carboy for fermenting and since there is adequate headroom, I do not use a blow off hose. I simply place an air lock on. Some recent articles on HBD have made me reconsider. In particular, the value of blowing off unwanted residue. I have recently switched to a counter flow chiller and was a bit concerned about the cold break remaining in the fermenter, although this has not created any problems, a recent article hinted that the blow off may remove some of this. Does the blow off hose really remove enough unwanted residue to be of value? Certainly CO2 removal can be done via the airlock if the fermenter is large enough. Terry Terfinko - terfintt at ttown.apci.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 1994 09:15:02 +22305931 (EDT) From: gam at beluga.must.com (Guy Mason) Subject: Carboy Carriers Greetings Fellow Brewers, Lotsa bandwidth has been dedicated to crashing carboys of late and I would like to hear from people who use carboy carriers. The carrier fits around the neck of the carboy and has a handle attached. Everything is coated the rubber, so it's non-slip. I've read every book, magazine, and HBD that I could find and none of my brew buddies could think of a reason not to use it. I guess my concern is about stress on the carboy neck when carrying it. _ _ O O /---------------------------uuu--U--uuu---------------------------\ | Guy Mason | | MUST Software International | | E-mail : gam at must.com | | The beer I had for breakfast was good, so I had another for | | dessert. | \-----------------------------------------------------------------/ Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 94 09:48:00 edt From: Matt_K at ceo.sts-systems.ca Subject: Kegging gases summary Message: I would like to thank those who replied to my inquiry about CO2 vs. other "Beer mix" gases several days ago. The bottom line from the replies was to stick to CO2 unless you are pushing pre-carbonated beer through long lines. Also, regular grade CO2 is fine. No need to use scientific grade. Re. filling cylinders: Buy cheap ones (make sure they don't need a hydro) because most places just exchange them instead of refilling. Good places to try are any place that fills CO2 fire extinguishers, welding supply houses, etc. Hope this helps someone else. Matt Koch Matt_k at ceo.sts.systems.ca Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 94 09:54:09 EDT From: Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu Subject: carboy breaks My "solution" to the breaking carboy problem is this: each carboy lives in a plastic "milk crate". Thus, I've got handles to lift it by, it's padded by the crate when I set it down, the crate is much less likely to slip out of my hands when it's wet, and so on. I do still remove the carboy from the crate when I'm washing it in the laundry tub, but it's never full of liquid at that point, reducing the likelihood of dropping it. =Spencer in Ann Arbor, MI Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 94 16:33:36 EDT From: pacasey at lexmark.com (Patrick Casey) Subject: Final Word on Sierra Nevada Yeast! Well, not really -- just wanted to get your attention. About Wyeast 1056 (not) being the real Sierra Nevada yeast: I made it to the brewery last Wednesday, and took the tour. I didn't ask the guide directly "Is your yeast the same as Wyeast 1056?" mainly because I doubted she'd know (she kept talking about CO2 "excaping" and "sweet wart"). She mentioned that they re-use yeast for about 3 months (I think), and then get fresh slants from "the yeast bank out east". When I asked who, specifically, this yeast bank was, she said she didn't know -- just that they always called it "the yeast bank". So any ideas who "the yeast bank out east" is? Siebel? Maybe it boils down to Wyeast culturing the yeast several years ago, and there being differences from that. Although if both "the yeast bank" and Wyeast took care of the yeast, they should be the same. Or it could be that sitting in the bottle for ~a month changes the yeasts character enough... I'm not sure if I'm convinced that homebrewers (myself included) without access to a lab and precision equipment could say one way or the other whether it's the exact same yeast... People say "X is a completely different yeast from Y" but I wonder if the difference they notice could be due to fermentation temp., water variation, yeast health, particular malts used, varying aeration, etc. (you get the picture -- there are just too many variables). Any ideas? - Patrick Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 94 10:12:56 edt From: Matt_K at ceo.sts-systems.ca Subject: Brew kettles Message: I just did my first all grain brew and the need for a decent brew kettle has become crystal clear. Waiting for a 20l kettle to boil on an electric stove is like watching the grass grow. I have a 50l keg sitting in my basement waiting to have it's top chopped off so I can use it to boil my wort in. The only problem is that in the great white north (Montreal) it's not too much fun boiling stuff outside when it's -20 degrees and snowing and, from what I can tell, using billion BTU propane burners in the basement is not recommended (besides this is one of those kegs with the plastic covered top and bottom). So, the sensible solution is to heat this baby electrically using water heater elements. Is this a viable solution? There is some stuff about electrifying a keg in the all grain FAQ but there was no info re the actual installation of the elements etc. Am I on the right track here? Should I worry about scorching the wort? Would it be better to use one monster element or two smaller ones? TIA for any help. Matt Koch Matt_k at ceo.sts.systems.ca Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 1994 10:28:05 -0400 (EDT) From: Jim Busch <busch at daacdev1.stx.com> Subject: Re: Geometry Anton writes: > It sure got me to thinking about replacing my glass carboys with Polycarbonate > or HDPE (High Density Poly Ethylene). I know the difficulties of sanitizing > plastics but that much glass is too dangerous. Does anyone have a good > source? You can buy HDPE food grade trash cans in various HW stores and other outlets. If you use a "quaternary" based sanitizer, it is easier to be sure of sanitizing hard to get to places. Our local German brew pub uses Vigiquat. THe drawback of this stuff is it requires a lot of rinsing to remove the intense sanitizer aroma. RE: geometry of kettles and fermenters. One can fabricate a box SS vessal for a tun or kettle. IT wont be as good as a restaurant grade SS pot, but it could work fine. Using this as fermenter could pose problems. The welds would need to be highly polished so that they can be properly cleaned and sanitized. This is a very important consideration. When having something like this made, it is better to use a rounded bottom, so the weld is on the side of the kettle, leaving a smooth rounded interface between the bottom and sides. Good brewing, Jim Busch Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 94 07:24:14 PDT From: Tim Murray <MURRAYT at WSUVM1.CSC.WSU.EDU> Subject: Braukunst Home Brewing???? Almost three weeks ago I faxed an order for miscellaneous keg parts to Braukunst Home Brewing (Carlton, MN). After a couple of weeks I called to check on my order only to find their 800 number had been disconnected. So I called the other number, the one with the imitation of Jack Nicholson answering, and left a message (that was Saturday). So far no reply. I have tried again to call the 800 number with the same result. Can anybody confirm whether this place is still in business or not? Tim Murray "I can't sleep at night worrying everything might be all right" - Joe Walsh Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 94 10:11:00 CST From: Schwab_Bryan at lanmail.ncsc.navy.mil Subject: Carbouy Stories In response to Jerry Cunningham's request in HBD #1525, I submit this for all of your entertainment needs. This past July 15th will never be forgotten, while in the process of bottling and Pigging it, the worst of worst happened to me. Well it possibly would not have happened, had my thoughts and concentration been on what I was doing, instaed of of on my ex-wife and picking up the kiddies from their visitation with her. Anyway, I positioned the glass carbouy on the kitchen counter, carefully proped up the side and sat down cross legged on the floor beneath the counter, with siphon tube in hand. No problem here. Filled one, two bottles, and all is going great! **** ex wife, she has done it again, filled the kiddies with thoughts of why they would be better off with her, etc. etc. etc., gotta get those thoughts out of my mind!!, when all of a sudden, crash, bam, boom, Pain, Pain, ah ****! my eyes open to red. Red blood everywhere. where is it comming from. My leggs are covered in it. My arms and hands are covered in, it is even dripping from the ceiling!! Blood everywhere, glass everywhere, glass between my leggs. How am I going to get up, surely my leggs are cut up? Ah **** Bryan now you went and did it. No problem about future brother and sisters for the kiddies now!! Ok, Ok lets not panic here, lets try and get to the phone and call for some help, right, wrong! Each time we put pressure on the old hands to either grab something or push off from, pain like none ever experienced before. Well I finally struggle and get to the phone, call my seventy- five yr. old father who luckily lives just the road from me, and let him know that I need help, real fast like! Then I call my son at his mothers to let him know that I wont be picking him up for some time ( Quote- get off the phone Dad, ang get your silly butt to the hospital, don't worry about mom, she'll have to just get over it. unquote) So, I do not know how much time has elasped here,but I am getting real cold and tired of slipping on broken glass and blood. Hell, wrestling with the phone was enough to put me in the funny farm for life. You see throughout this point I found out it wasn't my leggs or my manhood I was to worry about, it was both hands. Specifically, my thumbs! Well Dad finally arrives to see his son lying on the floor in histerical laughter over the fact that he cannot light a cigarette! ( Otta give the damn things up) blood everywhere, gotta replace a carpet now! Anyway, to speed this up, once at the hospital, we have to explain to everyone, that I was not, nor am I currently drunk when this occurred. The doctor had to go into my right arm, eight inches to retrieve the tendon, and the left thumb was just cut deeply to the tune of nine stiches, the right took eighteen externally, seven internally. All is as well as can be two months later, and for those who are wondering, the Ex brought the kiddies over anyway, even though I had no use either hand, her visitation was over and that was that. Kiddie food for one week is great, being baby sat by your own kiddies, is something that I do not wish on anyone, Paybacks can be a Bitch!! A whole batch of Raseberry Framboise was wasted, and the house smelled for three weeks even after proffesional cleanup, glass was found even in the living room as well as the dining room even last week. Keep your thoughts on what you are doing, not EX's or what-not..... Bryan {SCHWAB at LANMAIL.NCSC.NAVY.MIL}:DDN:NAVY Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 1994 11:13:44 -0400 (EDT) From: Hal Laurent <laurent at clark.net> Subject: Light bulb as heat source Even if light *is* bad when drying hops, that doesn't preclude using a lightbulb as the heat source. Just mount a sufficiently large tin can over the light bulb to block the light. +===================================+ | Hal Laurent | | Baltimore Maryland USA | | Home: laurent at clark.net | | Work: laurent at tamrc.enet.dec.com | +===================================+ Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 94 11:33:13 EDT From: "Glen A. Wagnecz, X6616" <wagnecz at PICA.ARMY.MIL> Subject: Re: wheat beer follies Brian- I've brewed three batches with the 3068 and I can tell you that this yeast initially ferments quite vigororously. A decent diamter (1/2") blowoff tube is _required_ for the first 48 hours of fermentation. Don't worry if crud is blown over into and through the tube - this is actually beneficial. This crudy, oily material contributes to a beer's astringency, so loss of it will make your beer smoother. Extract bill sounds OK, but your quantity of hops seems a bit heavy. I currently use 1/8 oz. of cascade in the boil and 1/4 of tettnang (both in hop bags) steeped after the boil for 15 minutes. The wyeast 3068 is definitely the yeast to use for that true weizzen flavor. Beware of bottling too soon, though. You may want to keep your batch in the secondary such that you get a total fermentation time of 2 1/2 to 3 weeks. Mit Heffe! Glen Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 94 10:10:37 MDT From: npyle at hp7013.ecae.StorTek.COM Subject: Brewery Tour, etc. I took a tour (finally) of my local micro last weekend. Named after a famous nearby creek, Left Hand Brewery is a pretty basic ale brewery in a small old building in an industrial part of town (Longmont, Colorado). It was originally a 2-man operation, but I think they've hired a couple of guys to help with the grunge work. I have to admit, I'm not a very good brewery tourist since I always forget to ask good questions. Before the start of the brewing day, a timer is used to heat water in the brewing kettle, so it is hot at 8am when they come to brew. The grain is milled the day before brewing. Their mill is a 2-roller mill with a grain auger at the bottom which pulls the grist up to a hopper above the mash tun. They do single step infusion mashes in an insulated tun, mixing hot and cold water and the grain to hit strike temperatures. He says it holds temperature to about 1F during the mash. I forgot to ask about lautering (i.e. manifold, false-bottom, etc.) The wort is pumped to the kettle (a steam jacket type) which has a whirlpool to separate hops, etc. From the side of the kettle, the wort is pumped to through a CF heat exchanger into the fermenters. The cooling water is put into the kettle, where it is used for the next day's brew (it is about 150F the next day, so relatively little heat is needed to get it to the proper temperature for the next day's mash). After cooling, the wort goes into glycol-jacketed fermenters and then to conditioning tanks. It is filtered, then bottled and kegged from a pressure vessel used to carbonate it (I assume artificially carb'ed). He said that he would tell me everything about their recipes except the yeast, as he considers the yeast a very distinguishing factor in his brews. His big seller is called Sawtooth Ale, which is a very nice (award winning) copper-amber bitter. He also has a golden ale which is heavy with diacetyl and pretty sweet; different from the refreshing goldens I've had elsewhere. This is by design though, as he didn't want to "follow the crowd". He also offers a Ginger Ale which is unique and very well done. A porter is being brewed this week and I can't wait to taste it. ** Regarding the recent flame-war, isn't it ironic that the flamebait dished out by the MALT Prez was the bulk of his HBD contributions? Isn't it also ironic that it has been turned around into a lesson in netiquette? BTW, I agree that simple netiquette asks you to do your own basic research instead of asking others to do it, I just think it is funny that this lesson must be taught via major-league flameage. Riddance is good. Cheers, Norm npyle at hp7013.ecae.stortek.com Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 1994 12:36:11 -0400 (EDT) From: LKAMPF at DESIRE.WRIGHT.EDU Subject: Brewers and like troublemakers, The recent cider questions posted to this glorious institution made me go "hmmm" and dig through the stacks of books and printouts in my office and, having just put my own batch in the primary, I thought I'd spread the cheer. My favorite wine book is kinda old (1970) but rather good, the title is _The Art of Making Wine_ by Stanley F. Anderson and Raymond Hull. Hawthorne Books, sorry no ISBN. it says... 1 gallon fresh apple juice sugar to 1.060 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme powder 1/2 level tsp acid blend 1/4 tsp grape tannin 1/4 tsp yeast energizer 1 campden tablet wine yeast If'n youse have fresh fruit, it takes 14-16 lbs for a gallon of juice. my $.02, try to use a blend of sweet and tart apples for the best flavor, however if it is difficult to communicate this to the little old deaf guy running the press at Ye Olde Apple Holler, don't sweat it and use what is handy. Make a yeast starter a couple of days in advance as per the yeast faq. If you don't dig the fancy chemicals, just use juice, suger to sg 1.060 or so ( I went to 1.073), yeast and maybe the juice of 1 lemon to add acidity ( this is reletively important in wine making and the lemon juice wont effect the flavor). A few days in the primary, a week or so in the secondary, prime and bottle as beer and zowie, cider. best if aged six months or so, but it'll be good b the holiday season. also, try spicing it, I added cinnamon and cardomon to mine... Thanks to all the hbd'ers who have answered literally ALL my questions at one time or another( and to think I never even needed to post them! helluva effecient use of bandwidth, eh?) This is an excellent forum with a wonderful sense of humor(mostly) and I'm all for the new exploding carboy catagory at the next brew judging. Keep 'em coming, the flames are just gettin good... Larry Kampf lkampf at desire.wright.edu just another brew geek vax/vms cutting edge technology for the 60's Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 94 12:42 EDT From: sunlife at uunorth.north.net (Glenn Anderson) Subject: Drying hops in the sun? It seems kind of strange to me that sun-drying hops would contribute to light-struck (skunky) aromas in the finished beer. I'm under the impression that the componants within hops that become skunky are produced during boiling (isomerization). These substances are not available to become light-struck in unboiled hops. My hops sat comfortably, 10-12 hours a day in blazing sunshine, I can't see how 2 or 3 more days would make a difference. Or, does something really funky occur when the hops are picked? (Please note, I'm talking about drying here, not storage) ...Glenn Glenn Anderson Manager, Telecommunications Facilities, BCS Sun Life Of Canada GANDE at SLIMS.ATTMAIL.COM Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1526, 09/14/94