HOMEBREW Digest #1767 Wed 28 June 1995

Digest #1766 Digest #1768


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


Contents:
  hops and kegs? (Scott E. Bratlie)
  Fridge vs Freezer/hard water/cactus fruit additions (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583)
  Gordon Biersch, Diacetyl, etc. ("BARRON, GRAHAM LARS")
  A weeks of beers -- Part I (John Adams)
  A weeks of beers -- Part II (John Adams)
  Dortmund 2x (A. J. deLange)
  hop plugs (Farnsworth)
  salvaging gushers (Lenny Garfinkel)
  Re: Filling a Sankey (Aidan "Krazy Krausen Kropping Kiwi" Heerdegen)
  BOWTIE /KIRK/MAGNETIC/"X"Files-HBD  #1757 (CHARLIE SCANDRETT)
  RE: carboy cooler (ESLINGER)
  Vinegar/more Bowtie info (DCB2)
  Grain bag sparging (" Robert Bloodworth                            ZFBTO    - MT0054")
  Welding Seattle Wise (Kathy Trost)
  summmer heat (Evan_Still)

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 17:48:56 -0600 From: bratlie at selway.umt.edu (Scott E. Bratlie) Subject: hops and kegs? >From: bratlie at selway.umt.edu (Scott E. Bratlie) >Subject: hops and kegs? > >>To: homebrew at hpfcmi.fc.hp.com >>From: bratlie at selway.umt.edu (Scott E. Bratlie) >>Subject: hops and kegs? >>Cc: >>Bcc: >>X-Attachments: >> >>>To: homebrew at hpfcmi.fc.hp.com ( >>>From: bratlie at selway.umt.edu (Scott E. Bratlie) >>>Subject: hops and kegs? >>>Cc: >>>Bcc: >>>X-Attachments: >>> >>> Can anyone help me with a hops growing problem? The problem (not really much of one) is that I bought a hops plant at the local farmers market. The people that sold it to me could not identify the varity, its the only one I could find and wanted to get it established for next year. They did tell me that it was hybridized about five years ago at washington state university. What variety could I possibly have. I could not identify by taste as I am a relitively newbie at brewing. Second set of questions. I've been reading all the posts on kegging. And have seen five litter mini kegs, pigs, and of course kegs of various types. What is the best setup for a beginer, cost is a factor? I would eventially like to force carbonate (maybe). What would be a resonable price for any of these setups? What are there advantages and disadvantages? I brew one or two five gallon batches a month. And these last me until the next is finished. Thats all I can think of if you need more info ask. >>> >> Scott Bratlie "Know one is free if someone is oppressed." Author unkown Return to table of contents
Date: 26 Jun 95 17:21:00 -0500 From: korz at iepubj.att.com (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583) Subject: Fridge vs Freezer/hard water/cactus fruit additions Pat writes: >I'm a fairly new brewer still, and am looking at a kegging system. My >question is about fridges and freezers. I have access to an upright >freezer, a 1-door type, which needs a new motor. Is there any reason to >choose a fridge over a freezer for a garage-kept brewcooler, except that >it's nice to have a separate fridge/freezer section so that you can store >your hops in the freezer part? A freezer with a new thermostat would work just fine, but my concern is with the fact that it is an upright. You see, all of the upright freezers that I have seen had cooling coils build right into the shelves and they were not adjustable. If the shelves are far enough apart and strong enough for your application, go ahead. There was a fellow on the HBD a few years ago who was planning on bending the shelves of an upright freezer. I don't recall if he ever posted on his results or if he went ahead with the plan at all. You might check the archives for this thread. I have a chest freezer and I'm really happy with it. It can fit an awful lot of cornelius kegs as well as a lot of cases and/or commercial kegs. You cannot conveniently add a faucet to the door (which looks cool) but I chose to not do this since I was concerned about mould in the faucet between uses. **** Art writes: >Next I-gotta-learn-the-hard-way experiment: Dark grains will lower the pH of >the mash and can be used in hard water situtions to ensure good extraction >rates. So they say. I plan to use untreated water and compare extraction >rates of recipes that differ only in the pct. of dark grains. Advice please: >Will swapping light crystal for dark crystal be a good way to do this? Thanks. The answer to your question is: yes. Swapping light for dark crystal will reduce the amount of acidity you add via the grain. I once did some small-scale experiments with pH and grains and even the light crystals lowered the pH considerably. MORE IMPORTANTLY, I'd like comment on your statement: "in hard water situations." Please, let us not equate "hard" water with "carbonate" water or even worse "bad for brewing" water. Hardness (for the most part) is a measure of Calcium and/or Magnesium in the water. There are two types of hardness: permanent and temporary. Permanent hardness depends (mostly) on how much Sulphate is in the water because both Calcium Sulphate and Magnesium Sulphate are quite soluble. Temporary hardness is primarily a measure of how much Carbonate/Bicarbonate you have in your water. When you boil your water, if you have enough Calcium in the water and not too much Magnesium, you will precipitate a significant portion of the Calcium and Carbonate/Bicarbonate as Calcium Carbonate. "Hard water," if not very high in carbonate, is quite *good* for brewing, actually, if you are trying to brew Pale Ales and not Pilsners. So, to make a short story long, I think what Art was trying to say was "in high-carbonate water situations..." *** Russell writes (quoting Dominic): >> B) once again how do I figure how much fruit to add? > >Get a recipe for any beer using fruit off the net. One you think you >can trust. Maybe a couple different recipes. Take a bit of that fruit. >Taste it. Taste the cactus fruit. How much "stronger" or "weaker" is >the flavor of the cactus fruit? Twice as strong? Use half as much. <snip> An integral part of fruit "flavour" is sugar. Many people who try to brew fruit beers are disappointed initially since they expect a fruit flavour when they actually get mostly fruit aroma. I hadn't thought about this until Russ posted his suggestion. Consider this: fresh raspberries and fresh black cherries both have quite intense flavours, but when you add them to beer, 8 pounds of black cherries in a beer can be not enough, but 8 pounds of raspberries (in a subtile beer) can be too much. Why? Because raspberries have so much more *aroma* than black cherries. I think that you should not be *tasting* the raspberries (for example) versus the cactus fruit but rather smelling purees. If the cactus fruit is quite aromatic, you might not need very much at all. Al. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 95 23:36:49 EDT From: "BARRON, GRAHAM LARS" <GBARRON at MUSIC.CC.UGA.EDU> Subject: Gordon Biersch, Diacetyl, etc. Fellow homebrewers, For those of you going to the Bay Area anytime soon, I thought I would post a brief review of the Gordon Biersch brewpub in San Jose (very brief, seeing this is not the Brewpub Review Digest). The place is very nice, clean, open, but expensive in regards to food. The food is good to very good, but overpriced. The beer is good and inexpensive. I tried all four on tap, and here's a short review: Export: A light, not all that flavorful interpretation of a German pilsner. Not something to seek out. Marzen: Better, but not rich enough or malty enough for my taste. Too many hops in my view for the Oktoberfest/Marzen style, but a good beer. Dunkles: Very good, rich, malty, more hoppy than most other dunkles I've had. Hefeweizen: This was my favorite; very fruity, lots of phenolics and fruity esters. Great, unfiltered beer. Worth travelling miles for. Anyway, enough of that. One thing I thought about while I was there, though, was why all of their beers are German lagers, excluding the weizen. Most brewpubs, micros, and homebrewers brew ales, and I was just curious as to this discrepancy. This might be topic for further discussion on the Digest if people are interested. Finally, I'd like to solicit opinions from everyone about a good ale yeast that will give me a firm but not overpowering diacetyl flavor. I'm brewing up a big ESB or maybe its an IPA, but I'd like to produce that great diacetyl one finds in a Fuller's or some such british ale. Any good extract recipes or suggestions would be greatly appreciated also. TIA, ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Graham L. Barron | "If you drink beer, you die. If you + + University of Georgia | don't drink beer, you die anyway. So + + Athens, Georgia, USA | you might as well drink it." + + gbarron at music.cc.uga.edu | -- Roger Briess + ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 21:58:33 -0600 From: John Adams <j_adams at hpfcjca.sde.hp.com> Subject: A weeks of beers -- Part I The past week I vacationed in the Philadelphia area and attended 4 brew pubs, Dock Street Brewing Company and Samual Adams Brew House in Philadelphia, Valley Forge Brewery, and Lancaster Malt Brewing Company. While all four were very good, two stood out as having excellent beer and food. These being Dock Street Brewing Company and my favorite Lancaster Malt Brewing Company. Dock Street Brewing Company 2 Logan Square, Philadelphia, PA 19103 This brewery in downtown and offers both some very tasty food and equally great beers. Their list included 10 beers 4 of which there were not serving (Cream Ale, Schwartzbier, Brown Ale, and a Belgian White) which was really unfortunate since the Schwartz and Belgian are something you rarely find in a brewpub. **Bohemian Pils This beer has a slight fruitiness and a nice hop bitterness that quickly mingles with a pleasant hop flavor. This beer was my favorite of Dock Street's selection. Dortmunder Malty and bitter. This is somewhat higher in alcohol and not as hoppy in flavor as the pils. but is more bitter. Irish Red Ale A nice roasted and toasted grain flavor. Low to medium bitterness that finishes dry but not hoppy and slightly fruity. *Porter A nice roasted grain flavor. I detected some black patent which gives it the nice coffee flavor and aroma. Very dark in color. This beer was my second favorite. Dunkelweizen Not quite as dark and malty as I expected but it does have the malt smoothness of a wheat. Not very bitter, which is good, and not as alcoholic as I would expect from a Dunkel. *Tripel A very nice caramel taste and has the light maltiness of a Belgian. High in alcohol content but not as carbonated as it should be. I also picked up a slight sulphur taste. It also is a bit on the bitter side for a Tripel but a very enjoyable beer. Lancaster Malt Brewing Company Plum and Walnut Streets, Lancaster PA, 17602 This place was a pearl, literally. I found a pearl in my seafood linguini!! Excellent food only surpassed by their fantastic beers. I had the chance to talk with the brewmaster as he was racking off the Red Rose Amber to the fermenter. He has had 12 years of homebrewing experience and for a brewery only been open for 3 months, he's making some great beers. A *must* visit whenever you're in Amish country. Golden Lager Slightly malty sweet and not as hoppy as a pils. Finishes a little dry with a subtle malty taste. Clean and crisp, very enjoyable. Wheat Served with a lemon so it was somewhat tart. Not a hoppy as an American but also not with the clove spiciness. Seems to be more of a light American or possibly a Weise. A nice bread-like smoothness characteristic of a wheat. Brown Ale Nice malt character with a hoppy bitterness. Very smooth but not quite enough chocolate malt. Finishes a bit dry but sweet and balanced. **Red Rose Amber Nice toasted grain bitterness. Smooth and slightly dry but balanced with the hop. A little on the bitter side but the hop flavor is well emphasized. *Porter A nice roasted grain taste, smooth and almost a sweet stout character. Excellent head retention and mouth feel. Finishes a bit dry but doesn't lose the malt flavor. Valley Forge Brewing Company Gateway Shopping Center, Valley Forge, PA This place only opened 4 weeks prior to my visit and was packed well after the dinner hour. Seemed to more of yuppy hangout which needs to work out some kinks in both their service and brews. Kings Gold Somewhat sweet but more from honey than malted grains. Finishes a bit dry bit, not bitter or hoppy. Red Coat Ale Light red/orange in color from toasted grains. Low to medium bitterness which finishes dry. Has a nice hop aroma and flavor. Regiment Pale Finishes slightly dry and clean. Not a lot of malt character. A slight roasted grain taste which is what gives it a redish hue. A slight caramel malt sweetness is also apparent. George's Porter A roasted coffee-like flavor. Also a caramelized sweetness probably from crystal malts. Finishes dry with a lingering sweetness and has a complex malt character. Wheat More of an American wheat except not quite hoppy enough. Probably 40% wheat malt, low hop bitterness and doesn't use a wheat yeast. Finishes with a bready taste and a tad bit sweet. *Raspberry Wheat Raspberries and Strawberries are abundant in this part of the country and are in prime condition right now as apparent from this beer. A strong raspberry presence and slight reddish hue which seems to otherwise be the same recipe as their regular wheat. Samual Adams Brew House 1516 Samson St., Philadelphia, PA 19102 Interesting Samual Adams Brew House had Boston Brewery's Sam Adams logo on there front door. I don't know if there are in any way affiliated but if there are not I'm sure Jim Koch has something to say about it. Ben Franklin's Gold A hint of hop up front but more malty than bitter (both are subdued). Fruity but almost has a lager crispness. Very enjoyable. Poor Richard's Amber Malty and caramelized sweetness. Low hop bitterness but it has a hoppy flavor that finishes a bit dry. Has a lingering hoppy aftertaste. George Washinton's Porter This has a nice sweetness up front. A touch of roasted grain and honey. Complex character which reminds me of a true English-style ale in the sweetness. *Samsom Street Stout This is hand-pulled and unfiltered. A very nice mouth feel with a coffee/roasted character. Low bitterness and complex malt flavors makes this an enjoyable beer. Triple Bock Mmmm nice heavy caramel sweetness (I'm guessing a finishing gravity in the .025-.030 range) and alcoholic. Somewhat English-ale like in the use of complex sugars but does have a hint of sulphur in the finish. This beer is claimed to be 1 year old and will definitely improve with age. John Adams Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 21:58:52 -0600 From: John Adams <j_adams at hpfcjca.sde.hp.com> Subject: A weeks of beers -- Part II To top of a great vacation in Phideldia (see part 1), the weekend I returned the 6th annual Colorado Brewer's Festival was held in Fort Collins. This festival is one of the oldest in the state, second only to the GABF. This year 47 Colorado brewers brought out their finest for a weekend in the sun, good food, and live bands. I focused my attention on Colorado's newest micro's (it seems we get a new one about once a month) and new beers of old favorite breweries. Bristol Brewing Company 4740 Forge Road, Suite 108, Colorado Springs, CO 80907 Laughing Lab Scottish Ale Malty and somewhat bitter. Finishes dry and has a slight peated malt taste. Slightly roasty and a little sweet up front but quickly turns bitter. Coophouse Brewery 2400 Industrial Lane #350, Broomfield, CO 80020 Bent Lager Lightly hopped and low bitterness. Has a nice crystal malt sweetness up front and finishes malty/bitter. Very refreshing for a heavier lager (not a pils). Dimmer's Brew Pub 742 No. College Ave., Fort Collins, CO 80524 Ali-Rae's Ale Nice malt sweetness up front followed by a low bitterness. Feels light in body. Finishes dry with no aftertaste. Eldorado Canyon Brewing Company 6901 W. 117th Ave. Suite #6, Broomfield, CO 80020 Garth's Tail Waggin' Wheat Has a nice clove sweetness but it's a bit too malty for a German-style wheat. Possibly a bit too bitter in the flavor. This beer tastes very much like some of my own wheat recipes that use less 50% wheat malt. Estes Park Brewery 470 Prospect Village Dr., Estes Park, CO 80517 Long's Peak Raspberry Wheat A low to medium raspberry fruitiness in an gently American wheat. A nice fruit foretaste that leaves a gentle raspberry aftertaste. After having the Raspberry Wheat from Valley Forge Brewing Company this just doesn't compare. Il Vicino 136 E. 2nd St., Salida, CO 81201 Wet Mountain India Pale Ale Bitter but malty. Finishes dry/bitter and leaves a nice hoppy aftertaste. Not quite alcoholic enough for the style but a nice IPA. Mark's Brewing Company 225 Bunyan Ave. #B, Berthoud, CO 80513 *Amber Waves Ale Malty sweet and finishes clean. The honey adds to the overall sweet flavor. This is a very nice, quaffable ale. Namaqua Brewing Company LLC 128 E. 4th St., Loveland, CO 80537 Darn Thirsty Cowboy Ale Malty sweet up front and a low to medium bitterness. Finishes a bit dry and clean. The gentleness of noble hops is evident. Sharkey's Brewing Company 3231 Chelton Circle, Colorado Springs, CO 80909 *Dark Wheat Bock A nice peated malt sweetness. The malt hits you first in the nose. A very complex finish, a little dry and linger with the malt. My personal favorite. Steamboat Brewery and Tavern 435 Lincoln Ave., Steamboat Springs, CO 80477 Alpenglow Strong Ale Malty and a medium bitterness. Finishes bitter/dry with a mildly sweet peatiness. Tends to linger with hop flavors in the aftertaste. Tommyknocker Brewery & Pub 1401 Miner St., Idaho Springs, CO 80452 Red Eye Lager Nice toasted malt sweetness and ruby red color. Finishes a tad dry and clean. Very nice! Union Colony Brewery 1412 8th Ave., Greeley, CO 80611 Old 8444 Alt Complex malt character. Finishes a tad dry but very clean. Very well balanced and a very nice Alt. John Adams Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 21:58:58 -0500 From: ajdel at interramp.com (A. J. deLange) Subject: Dortmund 2x Dortmund 2X You were expecting Dortmund 1 here but Dortmund 1 has problems (one of which is I left the disk with the writeup at the office). Before tackling them I'd like to clarify something Al Korzonis pointed out. In the phrase "water which is ion free (distilled, ion exchanged, or treated by reverse osmosis)" ion exchange does not refer to the typical home softener installation but to the more elaborate systems which produce ion free water. Home ion exchangers swap out cations and replace them with sodium. Anions are not usually touched. In the lab systems cations are replaced with hydronium and cations with hydroxyl. Let's start by listing four profiles for Dortmund, two of which are in our reference list. Dortmund 1 Dortmund 2 Noonan Papazian Hardwick DeClerk Ca 225 250 237 262 Mg 40 25 26 36 Na 60 70 65 - CO3 180 550 174 - SO4 120 280 120 280 Cl 60 100 53 107 All the calcium levels specified are within 8% of 243.5 ppm. The magnesium varies a little more (i.e +26%, -21%) about its mean value of 31.7 ppm. Sodium is not given by DeClerk but has an average value of 65 ppm with the other two values being within 8% of that. Carbonate is the worst with the largest specified value being a little over three times the smallest! The two largest values for sulfate are the same and are more than twice the smallest (which are also the same. The average for chlorine is 80 ppm and the range of values is from +/- 34% relative to that value. Thus we have great disparity in what constitutes Dortmund water with the big discrepancy being in the carbonate. If I'm going to do a Dortmunder should I go for the modest or monstrous carbonate level? Ordinarily we would simply give formulations for Dortmund 1 and Dortmund 2 and let you chose. But Dortmund 1 cannot be synthesized with the salts and acids that we are using. This is demonstrated by adding up the total milliequivalents of anions (Ca,Mg,Na) and comparing to the total of the mEq of the cations (CO3, SO4, Cl). For cations the spec calls for 17.1 mEq/L and for only 10.2 mEq/L of anions. For the water to be electrically neutral anion and cation mEq must be equal. This is, if you like, an additional constraint on our formulations. It is equally well a constraint on actual Dortmund water and what this means is that either the anions in the profile are unrealistically low or there is another anion (or anions) which don't appear in the profile. We can only approximate the profile as it is given by augmenting it with additional anions and this is the approach we take in dealing with Dortmund 1 (which I'll post tomorrow). In Dortmund 2 just the reverse is the case. There are more anions specified, 26.97, (dominated by the carbonate) than cations, 20.62, but the ratio is smaller (1.3 as opposed to 1.7 for Dortmund 1) and we can synthesize a reasonable approximation at pH 6.38 with external acid and we will post the formulation in a day or so. We are not very happy with either Dortmund 1 or Dortmund 2. The ion imbalances mean that we don't have good or sufficient information. The carbonate in Dortmund 1 seems unrealistically low and that for Dortmund 2 unreasonably high.The goal of this series is to try to give you something you can use for each city so we suggest the comprimise Dortmund synthesis of Formulation I. Formulation I n: 1037148 Temp: 0.000920 Energy (rms %): 22.632042 Dortmund 2X Desired Cations: 20.621 Anions: 26.974 mEq/L Ratio: 1.308 ION DESIRED REALIZED ERR, % SALTS AMOUNT Ca 250.000 231.450 -7.42 NaCl 168.571 Mg 25.000 24.641 -1.44 Na2CO3.10H2O 0.000 Na 70.000 68.556 -2.06 CaCL2 0.000 K 0.000 0.000 0.00 CaSO4.2H2O 338.954 CO3 550.000 234.362 -57.39 CaCO3 380.952 SO4 280.000 286.491 2.32 MgCL2 0.000 Cl 100.000 102.239 2.24 MgCO3 0.000 H 4.560 0.000 -100.00 KCl 0.000 Na2SO4 0.000 MgSO4.7H2O 249.754 H2SO4 0.000 NaHCO3 8.232 HCl 0.000 Carbonic: 0.7550 Bicarbonate: 3.1475 Carbonate: 0.001507 mM Total Required Hydronium: 4.5596 Sulfuric Hydronium: 0.0000 mEq Hydrochloric Hydronium: 0.0000 mEq 4.5596 mEq additional hydronium required to maintain pH 7.00 Solubility Products - CaCO3: 8.70E-09 MgCO3: 2.60E-05 Ion Products - CaCO3: 8.70E-09 MgCO3: 1.53E-09 Alkalinity: 3.11 mEq; 155.50 ppm as CaCO3. Temporary hardness: 7.81 mEq; 390.41 ppm as CaCO3 Permanent hardness: 5.77 mEq; 288.38 ppm as CaCO3 Formulation I is based on the Dortmund 2 profile but what we have done is weighted the error in calcium at 5 times the error in each of the other ions. What this means is that the salt selection is largely dominated by the need to get the calcium correct. Fortuitously the cost of this is all born in the carbonate which comes in at 234 ppm which is about twice the Dortmund 1 level and a bit less than half the Dortmund 2 level i.e. at a level which seems reasonable. We suggest that this formulation be used for Dortmunder style beers. Note that it is quite accurate for all ions except carbonate and it is implemented with common salts. Exteranl acid is required. A.J. deLange Numquam in dubio, saepe in errore! ajdel at interramp.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 23:22:01 -0700 From: Farnsworth at eworld.com Subject: hop plugs I have a little more data on this There are at least 2 plug manufacturers in the UK.(and none in the US)They are made for dry-hopping cask- conditioned ales.In my training in a Burton- on Trent - brewery in the 1970's ,leaf Goldings were added to each cask, by hand after racking , just before the bung was put in.This took 3 people!One to carry the hops,one to carry the funnel, and one to carry the stick to poke the hops through the funnel(5 ozs per barrel).When pelleted hops arrived the good ale brewers swore the aroma of the pellets was not good enough, but the accountants wanted the reduced cost of pellets.A compromise was the hop" plug", less crushed so better aroma than pellets ,but not loose like leaf hops ,so storage and handling were easier.Now the man who bangs the bung into the cask also can add 10 plugs for dry hop.Hence the plugs are very good English aroma hops,good enough to be used by UK real ale brewers !The US- type hops in plug form are a new generation of pellet types, taken from US to UK, turned into plugs and shipped back to US .The quality varies!In the US ,unless you buy your hops in at least 5 kilo bales, sealed under vacuum, and keep them frozen, plugs are better than anything else you can buy. They are not as good as the best fresh East Kent Golding s leaf hops you get in Kent,but what is! Paul Farnsworth Univ. of Texas,San Antonio. Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 1995 12:28:04 +0300 (IDT) From: Lenny Garfinkel <lenny at zeus.datasrv.co.il> Subject: salvaging gushers Nicholas asked about salvaging gushers. I had one batch which I must have bottled too soon. Gushed like Vesuvius. Well, I opened each bottle, let it sit 40' on the counter, and recapped. They are still very carbonated, but don't gush. Hope this helps. Lenny _________________________________________________________________ Dr. Leonard Garfinkel | Internet: lenny at zeus.datasrv.co.il Bio-Technology General | Office Phone: 972-8-381256 Kiryat Weizmann | Home Phone: 972-8-451505 Rehovot, Israel | FAX: 972-8-409041 - ----------------------------------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 95 19:35:59 EST From: Aidan "Krazy Krausen Kropping Kiwi" Heerdegen <aidan at rschp2.anu.edu.au> Subject: Re: Filling a Sankey Full-Name: Aidan "Krazy Krausen Kropping Kiwi" Heerdegen Fleming, Kirk, R. wrote: | If anyone has been able to succesfully re-plumb a coupler to allow the | filling of an assembled Sankey keg, or if anyone knows how it is done, | or if anyone knows why it can't be done, I'd be most appreciative. If they are the same as the Sankeys here (which I am sure they are as Wayde Nie told me this info and it worked on my sankeys and he is in the US) then the tapping mechanism has a small pea valve. I'll let Wayde explain: "Removing the valve is trivial. On my system you push the back end of a pen through the center beer out port in the same direction as the beer would normally flow. The rubber ball valve and the piece of plastic that keeps it from flowing out the facet pops right out. Your tapper is probably very similar" In fact mine has a hard plastic ball and a small piece of wire that stops it coming out, but they are easily removed. You'll have to replace the ball again when you want to dispense unless you get two tapping thingamies, and have one dedicated to filling. Thanks to Wayde for the original info. I took a 50L keg of what could be best described as a British Mild to a party on the weekend. Went down like a house-on-fire .. had a lovely caramel nose and flavour .. and that was all! (bit unbalanced) No-one seemed to mind to too much, and we drank the whole thing .. It had been sitting in my garage for a couple of months (made for another bash but we didn't drink it), and I was a bit worried about it but it was fine. Cheers Aidan P.S. Love the water chem series AJ .. would it be possible for you to make the programme available, so that we could plug in our local water chem? - -- e-mail: aidan at rschp2.anu.edu.au, WWW: http://rschp2.anu.edu.au:8080/aidan (includes AOB mirror site) Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 95 21:06:46 +1000 From: CHARLIE SCANDRETT <merino at ozemail.com.au> Subject: BOWTIE /KIRK/MAGNETIC/"X"Files-HBD #1757 I pray to the god Bacchus that there are some scientists out there! How can the "Bowtie Effect" be magnetic?! I hope your brews are non-ferrous? Imagine the earth cut in half along the equator, I call this the "equatorial plane of rotation". As an air mass moves away from the equator parrallel to the horizon it is skewed by a slightly slower plane of rotation. This is because the adjacent circumference is smaller than the equator and the effect is like stepping from one moving walkway to another moving at a different speed. Thus Cyclones(southern hemisphere) and Tornados (northern hemisphere) rotate in different directions, as do bathtub whirlpools. The effect is always at right angles to the "equatorial plane of rotation", but as you move to say, the Tropic of Cancer, you horizon is at 45 degrees to this plane. Thus as your CO2 bubbles move up, they move away from the equator and are skewed parallel to the equator. The convection then settles into a cylinder on a North- South axis, or near it as the velocity of the bubbles is part of the vector. The more vigousous the fermentation, the further from true geographic North would be the axis of the Bowtie. True North varies from magnetic North by up to +or - 10 degrees in different parts of the world. But you are fermenting with a horizontal axis of rotation in a vertically circular fermenter. Our computor model (Bernouli's Theorem) suggests that for a fairly flat fermenter, (side=diameter) the convection is fastest and tightest at the centre, and slowest and broardest near the curved surface touching your cylinder of convection. This then becomes two cones, joined at the apex. On a two dimensional surface this looks like a Bowtie! I enclose my original posting on the subject. "The truth is out there somewhere", (Apologies to agent Mulder) From HBD # 1759 I think Capt Kirk Fleming with the "bowtie effect fermenter" lives a long way from the equator. The Coriolis forces that govern the direction of tornados in the northern hemisphere and cyclones in our hemisphere, and also affect bathtub whirlpools, are caused by the spining of the earth at its different circumfrences of rotation and are greatest farthest from the equator. Forget the math, it works vetically as well as horizontally, thus affecting the convection currents started by rising CO2 bubbles. That is why I think the stone crock behaved as it did, always convecting in one direction. The flat bottom vessel's geometry seems to have set up two conical convection shapes which you see as triangles on two dimensional surfaces(The bottom and the top) . The convection travels at different speeds and as it slows down at the bottom, deposits trub like a commercial whirlpool tank, thus the different composition of your residue. The convection is always the same direction relative to the equator,(It would be a North- South bowtie axis, I think) which explains the compass like movement of the bowtie when the vessel was moved. I promise you it won't affect the beer, if it really bothers you move your fermenter to Ecuador, South America, no Coriolis there! Charlie (Brisbane, Australia) Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 1995 4:16:28 -0600 (MDT) From: ESLINGER at els232.ateng.az.honeywell.com Subject: RE: carboy cooler In HBD #1766 Mike Sinelli discussed how he created a carboy cooler. Here in Phoenix the temperature in my house average about 80 degrees F, so eventually the water in the Totelocker would equalize into the 80 degree range. I was successful in keeping a lower temperature on my brew by: 1) Filling a Deep Tote with water 2) Setting up a fan to blow on the carboy and the water. 3) Cycling 2L bottles of Ice in the water until primary fermentation was complete. Once the vigorous primary fermentation was complete I found that I did not have to cycle the 2L bottles. The average temperature seemed to be about 10 degrees less than the room temperature. Greg Eslinger Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 95 4:59:13 PDT From: DCB2%OPS%DCPP at bangate.pge.com Subject: Vinegar/more Bowtie info In HBD #1766 Domenick Venezia says of Acid washing yeast: >HBD. Yeast is acid washed in a pH 2.5 solution. Many acids could be used, >like, phosphoric, hydrochloric, sulphuric, or nitric, just about any >non-toxic acid. Generally these are mineral acids, but then I thought of >acetic acid, i.e., vinegar. So I went to the cupboard and grabbed the >ubiquitous bottle of white vinegar (Heinz) and stuck a pH test strip in it >and guess what? pH damn close to 2.5. >Also if someone knows why you shouldn't use vinegar to wash yeast please >let me know that too. I can only think of one reason. As you know, yeast is a fungus that converts sugar to alcohol. Well, there's another bacteria (can't remember it's name) that converts alcohol to acetic acid (vinegar). Some of that bacteria may be present in *your* vinegar. It's possible that the vinegar has been pasturized and the process, I believe, is an aerobic process but just the same, why tempt fate? BTW, Wine has a low pH too. Kirk Flemming says: >2) In #1765 David Boe asked if the Bowtie Effect was magnetically >influenced. The first batch done in twin fermenters had patterns >aligned in parallel along a line about 10 deg clockwise from the local >meridian, bit a subsequent 2-fermenter batch had non-parallel axes of >symmetry. Very interesting. More data. Perhaps your fermenter needs to be degaussed<g>. David Boe | A Wink's as good as a nod to a blind Pacific Gas and Electric Co. | man, eh? I'd rather have a bottle in DCB2 at pge.com | front of me than a frontal lobotomy! Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 1995 09:42:11 EDT From: " Robert Bloodworth ZFBTO - MT0054" <debaydr9 at ibmmail.com> Subject: Grain bag sparging Troy asked about using a grain bag in a lauter tun: >I currently use a "Zapap" lauter tun (one bucket with lots of small holes >drilled in the bottom placed inside another bucket). I am concerned with >the volume contained beneath the false bottom. It is close to a gallon! >Consequently, I am considering modifying my lauter tun to elimate this free >space. The easiest mod would be to replace the inner bucket with a grain >bag. I have heard reports of problems with channeling using this method. >Does anyone have any direct experience ? I've been using a grain bag in a bucket with a spigot for about 6 batches now. I have tried both slow sparging and batch sparging methods with mixed results. I now use the following procedure: Pour the mash carefully into the grain bag. Drain as much of the first runnings as possible, recirculating when necessary. Add 80? sparge water to cover the grain and stir carefully. Allow to stand about 10 min. Drain slowly while adding 80? water to the top of the grain bed. I sparge in about 40 min using this method and get about 30-35 pt/lb gal depending on how patient I am. The grain bag must fit snugly in the bucket when full to avoid channeling between the bag and the wall of the bucket. I like this method. It's easy, and I never have stuck sparges or clogged manifods. Extraction efficiency is not my primary concern. I'm limited to about 18 lb of grain, but that's enough for a 25 liter batch of trappist ale :-) On another note, I have a question about beer oxidation. >From what I can get out of HBD discussions, HSA leads to carboard flavors. What about oxidation of the finished beer? Is this a problem in homebrewing and what are the effects? I read a review article recently from an American Chemical Society Symposium on the science of brewing and winemaking. According to this reference and others cited in the article, yeast is an excellent oxygen scavenger. According to the paper, certain types of oxygen scavenging caps even use yeast cells embedded in a polymer. Since bottle conditioned beers contain more than a little yeast, I suspect that a little aeration of the beer won't be that much of a problem for most homebrewers. Perhaps someone with more experience could comment. A l0ml of air space in a 1/2 liter bottle translates into about 2.5ppm of O2. What kind of capacity does the conditioning yeast have to remove O2? Bob Bloodworth Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 1995 07:22:46 -0700 (PDT) From: Kathy Trost <trostk at belnet.bellevue.k12.wa.us> Subject: Welding Seattle Wise I had my kegs converted at the "Brewers Warehouse" in the U District. The do the best work in the Seattle area that I have SEEN. They are however Brewers, and I don't think a six pack will cover the cost. They have done kegs for many years and are able to do the sanitary welding that one should desire for brewing. No connection just a VERY SATISFIED customer.. Dave Lilly Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 95 9:27 EDT From: Evan_Still at vos.stratus.com Subject: summmer heat hi and thanks to everyone for all their insights in to homebrew. Now that summer is here along with the heat i need more beer than ever. I'v been brewing in the basement with my carboys on the cement floor, but my thermometer reads 78f which sits on the shelf next to the carboy. During the few days that it got to 95f the basement temp got to be approx. 84. Could someone tell me what the effects are to my beer. I just brewed an ale and it seems much more hazier now than when i pitched the wort. PLEASE HELP A CONCERNED HOMEBREWER. THANKS E.S. Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1767, 06/28/95