HOMEBREW Digest #1802 Tue 08 August 1995

Digest #1801 Digest #1803


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


Contents:
  revisiting SG (Sergio Escorza)
  Re: Computers (Fredrik Stahl)
  Dumplings (DONBREW)
  Planispiral Chiller (Domenick Venezia)
  2112: A Yeast Oddity` (Jeff Stampes)
  Re: Wyeast 2112 (Jeff Frane)
  B-Brite and bottles (Ray Gaffield)
  Cancel Subscription (Greg Stoner )
  Seattle brewpub update? ("mike spinelli")
  Wheeler / Overnight (Jay Weissler)
  off flavors (Benjamin T Drucker)
  Prickle Pear Beer (Robin Hanson)
  an observation : Acid and Protein (Rich Larsen)
  CPBF (Jim Busch)
  CP Fillers (George J Fix)
  Re: California Lager Yeast (Jay Reeves)
  Re: Sanitization (gravels)
  NYC Trip (Heather M. Godsey)
  Heat Exchanging (Tom_Williams_at_RAY__REC__ATLANTA)
  Brewery History in Denver (Norman C. Pyle)
  HB software for the Mac (Brian Pickerill)
  Re: Computers (Wim Hielkema)
  Maltose Syrup (Hmbrewbob)
  Mac guys, fruit errors. (Russell Mast)
  Wheat. (Russell Mast)
  Things that smell and things that don't (CDP000)
  Jack Schmidling Corn Beer (Roger Kohles)
  Mystery of the low exraction solved!! ("Rick Gontarek, Ph.D." )

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 02:09:13 -0700 From: sescorza at sdcc3.ucsd.edu (Sergio Escorza) Subject: revisiting SG While reading the part on specific gravity in de Clerck's "A Textbook of Brewing", I ran across some things I think (how do I dare?) are wrong. In several places in the book, he seems to equate specific gravity and density. In my mind, this would only be true at 4 C, when water density is exactly 1. Otherwise, SG is not density, but rather a ratio of this divided by the density of water. He goes on to present (in page 16 of volume 2) a table of SG of water at different temperatures (in the text he says "densities," then the table title reads "specific gravities"). The values correspond in fact to the densities of water at those temperatures. So, Am I missing something here? Water SG must be 1 at any temp, unless the reference temp is different of the "sample" water. And, if this is the case, then the value of SG 1 should be for the case when both are the same (usually 15.5 C, but not 4 C as shown in the table). The most troubling fact is that in the same page, he says "From the figures given above, the difference in weight of 100 g. of water at 19 C and 20 C is 20 mg. In a pycnometer containing 50 g. of water this gives a difference of 1 mg. for a tenth of a degree rise in temperature." I'm assuming this must be a typo (actually, 2 typos in a row), since it should be 100 ml and 50 ml, but it is right below the mentioned table, which also doesn't make any sense to me.Any comments will be greatly appreciated. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sergio Escorza Trevi~o | Scripps Institution of Oceanography | Dormir de dia es a University of California at San Diego | lo que mas aspira e-mail: sescorza at sdcc3.ucsd.edu | un tipo como yo www (bilingue): http://sdcc3.ucsd.edu/~sescorza ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 12:15:12 +0200 From: Fredrik.Stahl at mathdept.umu.se (Fredrik Stahl) Subject: Re: Computers In HBD #1801, Stephen Brown wrote: >Am I the only homebrewer who uses a Mac? I have seen a number of software >products available for brewers, but I have never seen anything available for >Macintosh. > >Is there anyone out there who either knows of some Mac software, or who >commiserates (sp?)? Have a look at ftp.stanford.edu. There are a few spreadsheets for MS Excel which works on the mac. The only stand-alone applications I have seen were in ads in Zymurgy, but since they are commercial they will cost somewhere around 30-40$. Excel is quite expensive so if you don't have access to it already I wouldn't recommend it (unless you are going to use it for some other purpose). I have Excel at work on my mac and use a homemade spreadsheet to do all calculations needed in my brewing, including easy conversion of units and recipe design. It's not really finished yet, but when (if) it is I'll probably upload it to ftp.stanford.edu. Hope this helps, Fredrik.Stahl at mathdept.umu.se Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 08:45:35 -0400 From: DONBREW at aol.com Subject: Dumplings Did we ever get a serious answer to the "dumpling" looking formations in the fermenter? I suddenly noticed the same phenomenon, it started in the very early stage, like an hour or so after pitching. I am slightly paranoid about this because I tried something new and suspect that I may have ruined 10 gallons of brew. So I guess I have to explain what I did. After I racked one batch to secondary I used my sanitized baster to remove some of the slurry on the bottom, then placed the slurry in a couple of sanitized miniature whiskey bottles (50 ML), loosely capped the bottles and placed them in the coolest part of the refridge. The slurry settled to about half of the volume and was pitched 3-4 hours later. After only a couple of hours the "dumplings" formed, a couple of hours later a nice head had formed. The "dumplings" seem to have broken up into "micro-dumplings" and are merrily cavorting up and down and around in the carboy. Smells rather like wet earth, I never noticed this smell from other yeast I have used, I don't remember ever using 1056 before, the previous batch had a pronounced "bannana" smell even at 68F. IMBR? Oh yeah, pitched at 80F then immediately placed in temp controlled box at 67F. IMBR, Don Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 07:37:57 -0700 (PDT) From: Domenick Venezia <venezia at zgi.com> Subject: Planispiral Chiller The recent discussion of "to stir or not to stir" during immersion chilling brings to mind Ed Hitchcock's planispiral immersion chiller described by Ed here years ago and in BT (?) as well. This chiller design obviates the need to stir. To refresh memories: - ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Nov 1993 08:07:22 -0400 From: Ed Hitchcock <ECH at ac.dal.ca> Subject: Re: Another immersion chiller Steven Smith mentioned his 'hang from the edge of the pot' chiller, which sounds pretty cool. I would like to toot my horn once more and promote the joys of the planispiral chiller. It's a flat coil (like an electric stove burner) of 25' of 1/4" OD copper tubing, the last (outer) coil descends to the bottom of the pot as a support, and the in/out tubes hang over the side also for support. The disc/coil is suspended an inch or two below the surface. The cooled wort drops to the bottom, warm wort rises up the sides. I've never had to stir my wort to get it to chill properly, the convection currents are sufficient. ____________ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 09:01:21 -0600 From: Jeff Stampes <jeff.stampes at Xilinx.COM> Subject: 2112: A Yeast Oddity` Scott Gruber opened up the 2112 can of worms by asking: >2112 is supposed to work best at 58-68 degrees. Is the usual room >temperature of my place (about 75 or so) going to ruin my beer? Steve Dragon's experience: >I made an 11 gal. batch on Memorial Day and fermented it in high 60s-low 70s >using Wyeast California Lager. >but at bottling a week after that where temps were consistently in >the low 70s, I tasted a slight smokiness. A month later still there, but >stronger. I have determined that it is not my RIM system burning the wort, >but actually phenols from the yeast (probably due to autolization)! It takes >a half bottle of thinking about rauche bier before the taste buds get used to >this one! >I would say it will ruin your beer. Stick to ales in this heat! And Jim Dipalma agrees heartily! Of course, i read all this the day AFTER we brewed a Steam beer that will be fermenting in the 65-75F range. I know I used this yeast last time on the exact same recipe, and fermentation ran anywhere from 65-72F, so I was not anticipating a lot of problems this time around. Last batch was one of my favorite brews I've made! So I'll report back when this finishes up in a couple of weeks...so those considering a warm-temp 2112, hang in there and I'll let you know how it works on this recipe. - -- Jeff Stampes -- Xilinx, Inc. -- Boulder, CO -- jeff.stampes at xilinx.com -- - -- Any fool can make bread out of grain...God intended it for beer! -- - -- "Keep your mind open and your mouth shut" - D. Emmitt -- Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 07 Aug 1995 08:30:27 -0700 From: gummitch at teleport.com (Jeff Frane) Subject: Re: Wyeast 2112 Jim Dipalma wrote: > > Here's the info I have from the Wyeast spec sheet: > >WYeast 2112 California Lager Yeast >Warm fermenting bottom cropping strain, ferments well to >62 deg. F >^^^^^^^^^ > > The way I interpret this is that the yeast works well *up to* 62F, i.e., >62F is the *maximum* temperature at which this yeast should be used. > This isn't necessarily the case, and there is a lot of slop in Wyeast's figures. In my own experience, this particular strain is more flexible. I did a steam beer a couple of years ago, at 65F, and got *no* "steam" character, just a very clean lager. Go figure. - --Jeff Frane Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 95 10:57:15 -0500 From: ray_gaffield at il.us.swissbank.com (Ray Gaffield) Subject: B-Brite and bottles Hi, I recently received a case of dirty returnable bottles. I decided to soak them for a while in a powder cleaner I got from my local supplier which I assume is similiar to B-Brite. Anyway, it appears that the bottles have been etched by the cleaner - they have a rough feel on the outside. Should I disgard these bottles ? Is this a known problem with these types of cleaners ? Private e-mail is fine. Thanx, RAY Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 07 Aug 1995 02:09:56 -0400 From: Greg Stoner <GSTONER at WPO.HCC.COM> Subject: Cancel Subscription CANCEL Subscription Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 12:20:14 -0400 (EDT) From: "mike spinelli" <paa3983 at dpsc.dla.mil> Subject: Seattle brewpub update? Brew dudes, I'll be on business in Seattle for the 1st time on the 14th thru 16th of Aug. I've already downloaded the publist outta FTP.Stanford so if ya'll know of any updates or personal "must sees" I'd appreciate it. I'll be staying downtown (wherever that is). Thanks, Mike Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 95 11:27:17 -0500 From: jay_weissler at il.us.swissbank.com (Jay Weissler) Subject: Wheeler / Overnight Thanks to all who responded to my query about the Wheeler books. In summary, Brew Your Own Real Ale at Home (BYORAH) appears to be mostly recipes with some (sounds like enough) process. The other book is more process and fewer recipes. BYORAH is the newer book. Both received great praise. I haven't been following the overnight brewing thread too closely, so of course I feel qualified to comment. A buddy of mine has put several beers in the national using Dave Line's overnight mashing technique. Just raise your mash to strike temperature, let it mash overnight, sparge in the am. Seems to work just fine for single step infusions if your tun holds temperature. Gotts, etc. should. Mash temperatures are near pasteurization so that's less of a worry. jayw Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 07 Aug 1995 10:10:40 PDT From: Benjamin T Drucker <benjamid at pogo.WV.TEK.COM> Subject: off flavors I have heard many terms bandied about concerning various undesirable byproducts of yeast metabolic processes. I would like to find a list of off flavors, the substance that causes them, and the enviromnet that creates the substance. Does ftp.stanford.edu have something like this? ben Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 11:19:48 -0600 From: rhanson at nmsu.edu (Robin Hanson) Subject: Prickle Pear Beer In my garden I have several cactii covered with Prickle Pear fruit. When is the best time to pick the fruit? They are currently red/green and about 1 1/2 inch tall and 1 inch wide. Charlie Papizan has a recipe for Prickle Pear melomel in one of his books, but does anyone have a recipe for a beer? How about a Prickle Pear Weiss beer? thanks, Robin Hanson Rhanson at nmsu.edu Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 12:22:55 -0500 From: rlarsen at squeaky.free.org (Rich Larsen) Subject: an observation : Acid and Protein I was wondering about the chemistry of the ph and protein precipitation. This came from watching a cooking show on poaching eggs. The addition of some vinegar or lemon juice to the poaching liquid to make it acidic (lower the ph) helps to keep the egg together during the cooking process. Without the acid in the liquid, the egg will spread out rather than stay together in a nice lump. Considering that egg albumin (white) is mainly protein and we have an acidic bath here, I wonder if this would be some sort of indication about the formation of break material. I have seen ealier posts about dark beers giving a good break amd lighter one remaining cloudy. It is well known that darker beer's usually have a low ph and require little adjustment. What think you all? => Rich <rlarsen at squeaky.free.org> ________________________________________________________________________ Rich Larsen, Midlothian, IL. Also on HomeBrew University (708) 705-7263 Spice is the varity of life. ________________________________________________________________________ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 13:31:10 -0400 (EDT) From: Jim Busch <busch at eosdev2.gsfc.nasa.gov> Subject: CPBF Micah writes: <I have the same testing equipment for air and CO2 levels as G. Fix <who did the tests for the reveiw. I have consistantly tested bottles with air <levels below 0.5 ml. I feel that an operator who is familiar with <a CPBF can do a much better job than the reveiwers. Since the target for air levels in beer is below 1 ml/12 oz bottle, this shows that Micah's filler is every bit as good as a professionally tuned bottling line, provided its used correctly. Micah makes a fine filler, as do many of the other manufactuers cited in Zymurgy. I can only guess as to the response this will garner in the next Letters to the Editor. Jim Busch Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 95 13:04:20 -0500 From: gjfix at utamat.uta.edu (George J Fix) Subject: CP Fillers Hi! I want to second the comments by Micah and Jim Busch concerning the results in the Zymurgy article on CP fillers. I too believe that operator efficiency is the key. Before Micah went into commercial brewing he sent me samples that he filled with his CP filler (Benjamin Products) for air measurement, and not a one came in over 1.0 ml/(1/3 liter). Moreover, the average was ~factor of two lower. I personally bought a Zahm and Nagel CP filler in the early eighties (when they were a good deal cheaper than they are now!), and I know for certain that air levels in the range .25-.5 ml/(1/3 liter) can be achieved with this filler if it is properly used. The bottles Zymurgy sent to me were coded, and thus I was not aware of which filler was used when doing the measurements for them. I was as surprised as everyone else when the results were matched with the equipment. My shock abated when I looked back over my own brewing logs of the early 1980s, and found that during the first year I used the Z+N filler my air levels were no better than what reported in Zymurgy. Thus I feel the results in the article are typical of what first time users of the CP fillers could expect. The four main areas that I found to be the most useful in lowering air levels are the following: (i) Hands on experience with the filler in question! (ii) Pre-evacuation with CO2 - Kenny's comments about this are spot on. This is also very much of an art. In fill sessions I still get a few outliers (i.e., air levels above 1.0), and in the majority cases the culprit is the failure to get a proper CO2 purge of the bottle. In modern commercial fillers this is done automatically with a special pre-evacuation step that precedes injection of CO2 and filling against the CO2 counterpressure. (iii) Proper CO2 counterpressure - I have found that this is very much dependent on the equipment used. Commercial fillers operate around 12 psi, however with the Z+N filler (which has a release value for CO2) I get the best results around 15 psi. The key is to get a steady and smooth laminar fill. (iv) Foaming - Once the counterpressure is released there should be a steady (but not wild) increase in the foam level. The ideal capping time is when the foam just reaches the top of the bottle. Big foam overs will greatly reduce the bottle air levels, but this should be done with care. For example, the bottles associated with lowest air levels in the Zymurgy article had very low fill levels (half were only half full and the others were only marginally better). The CO2 levels in two of these samples were so low that Zymurgy deleted them as data points when computing averages. The fill in these cases appeared to remove most of the gas present, CO2 as well as air! Cold filling is also a good way to avoid these sort of problems. One point that I felt should have received greater emphasis in the article is crucial role played by bottle storage temperature. Indeed I have found that thermal abuse after filling is far more destructive than actual air levels. To cite but just one case, a beer with .3 ml/ (1/3 liter) of air stored at 30C (85F) stales faster than a beer at 3.0 ml/(1/3 liter) which is stored at 10C (50F). For everyday homebrew, getting the air down to 2.0 appears to be sufficient assuming the beer is properly stored. However, I have found that as the bottle air levels increase the effects of high temperatures become more severe. This is why in commercial work .25 ml/(1/3 liter) is often cited as the upper limit for shipping beer. In any case, I must say that the main thing I got out of this project was a reinforcement of my belief that there is something fundamentally unnatural about putting beer in tiny 12 oz. bottles! George Fix Return to table of contents
Date: 07 Aug 95 14:17:45 EDT From: Jay Reeves <73362.600 at compuserve.com> Subject: Re: California Lager Yeast Jim Dipalma responds to Scott Gruber: >Here's the info I have from the Wyeast spec sheet: >WYeast 2112 California Lager Yeast >Warm fermenting bottom cropping strain, ferments well to >62 deg. F The sheet I have sez: "Retains lager characteristics at temperatures up to 65F. (58-68F range)" It doesn't contain the linet "Warm fermenting bottom cropping strain" - obviously a different sheet. I realize that's probably not enough to make a rats-ass, but could they have changed or modified the yeast since the time between the printing of Jim's sheet and the one I have? Or was it likely that they just revised the data? I just got these spec sheets about a month ago. The reason I ask this is: I used their Witbier yeast (3944) and when I took it down to 66F, it hung. Bring it back to room temp (72-74) and it would start again. The specs say 60-68F. Has anyone used this yeast between those temps successfully lately? I wonder if the printed specs on this yeast are correct? Or could it be another factor; Would under-aeration change the optimum operating temp of yeast? I may be guilty of that on this batch. I asked this question about a week or 2 ago but got no response. On another note: Can someone tell me the difference between upward infusion and downward infusion? -Jay Reeves Huntsville, Alabama, USA Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 07 Aug 95 09:40:17 EST From: gravels at TRISMTP.npt.nuwc.navy.mil Subject: Re: Sanitization The following is an attached File item from cc:Mail. It contains information that had to be encoded to ensure successful transmission through various mail systems. To decode the file use the UUDECODE program. - --------------------------------- Cut Here --------------------------------- begin 644 H M2&D at 06QL+`T*#0I)(&IU<W0 at =V%N=&5D('1O(')E<W!O;F0 at =&\ at =&AE(&-O M;F-E<FX at =F]I8V5D(&)Y($)R:6%N(%!I8VME<FEL;"!I; at T*(S$X,#` at 86)O M=70 at ;7D at <V%N:71I>F%T:6]N('!R;V-E<W,N#0H-"DD at <&]S=&5D(&EN(",Q M-SDY.B`-" at T*/CXH8V]L;&5C=&EV92!G87-P(2D at 22!K;F]W+"!)(&MN;W<L M(&)U="!I="!W;W)K<R!F;W( at ;64 at =VET:"!N;PT*/CYA9'9E<G-E(&5F9F5C M=',N("!)('1H96X at 861D(&-O;&0 at =V%T97( at =&\ at =&AE(#4 at 9V%L+B!M87)K M("AC86X at >6]U#0H^/G-A>2`B;F5W8FEE(&-H:6QL97(B+"!C86XG="!W86ET M('1O(&=E="!M>2`X(&=A;"X at 8G)E=W!O="$I(&%N9"!T:&5N#0H^/F-O;VP at M=7-I;F< at ;7D at 96UE<G-I;VX at 8VAI;&QE<BX-" at T*>W-N:7!]#0H-"D)R:6%N M('!O<W1E9#H-" at T*/GEO=2!W;W5L9"!C:&EL;"!I;B!T:&4 at 8G)E=R!K971T M;&4N("!!9&1I;F< at >6]U<B!I;6UE<G-I;VX at 8VAI;&QE<B!I;B!T:&4-"CYL M=6ME=V%R;2!W;W)T(&ES(&$ at 8FEG(&EN9F5C=&EO;B!R:7-K+B` at 66]U('-H M;W5L9"!P=70 at :70 at =&\ at =&AE(&)O:6QI;F<-"CYW;W)T('1O('-A;FET:7IE M(&ET+"!C:&EL;"!T:&5R92`H;F]T('1O;R!M=6-H('-I;F-E('EO=2!A<F4 at M861D:6YG(&-O;VP-"CYW871E<B!A;GEW87DI(&%N9"!42$5.('!O=7( at :70 at M:6YT;R!T:&4 at 9F5R;65N=&5R+ at T*#0I[<VYI<'T-" at T*22!$3R!S86YI=&EZ M92P at 22!P;&%C92!T:&4 at :6UM97)S:6]N(&-H:6QL97( at 86YD(&%L;"!O9B!M M>2!B<F5W:6YG#0II;G-T<G5M96YT<R!I;G1O(&$ at 8FQE86-H('-O;'5T:6]N M(&EN('1H92!P<FEM87)Y(&)U8VME="!A<'!R;W at N(#$O,B!H<BX-"F)E9F]R M92!)('-T87)T(&)R97=I;F<L('-O(&)Y('1H92!T:6UE($D at 86T at <F5A9'D at M=&\ at =')A;G-F97( at =&AE('=O<G0 at 86YD#0IC:&EL;"P at =&AE(&-H:6QL97( at M:&%S(&)E96X at <VET=&EN9R!I;B!A(&)L96%C:"!S;VQU=&EO;B!F;W( at ,2`Q M+S( at :')S+B!O< at T*;6]R92X at ($D at 86TL(&AO=V5V97(L(&=O:6YG('1O('-W M:71C:"!T;R!I9&]P:&]R("AS<#\I+"!A9G1E<B!A(&9E;&QO=R`-"FAO;65B M<F5W97( at 870 at 82!B<F5W8VQU8B!M965T:6YG('-A:60 at =&AA="!B;&5A8V at at M8V%N(&)E(&-O<G)O<VEV92!T;R!C;W!P97(L#0IH92!L969T(&AI<R!C:&EL M;&5R(&EN(&$ at 8FQE86-H('-O;'5T:6]N(&%N9"!T:&4 at =V%T97( at ='5R;F5D M(&)L86-K(&%N9"!T:&4-"F-O<'!E<B!C;VEL<R!W97)E('!I='1E9"X at ($AA M<R!A;GEO;F4 at 96QS92!H860 at =&AI<R!P<F]B;&5M/R` at 06YY(&-O;6UE;G1S M/R` at ("` at #0H-"B` at ("` at ("` at ("` at ("` at ("` at ("` at (%-T979E#0H-"B)(;VUE M8G)E=RP at 270G<R!N;W0 at :G5S="!A(&AO8F)Y+"!)="=S(&%N(&%D=F5N='5R $92$I& at `` end Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 14:54:07 -0400 From: heather at netaxs.com (Heather M. Godsey) Subject: NYC Trip For Philly area folks- On Saturday September 16, 1995 HOPS (Homebrewers of Philly & Suburbs) is doing a bus trip to visit Brooklyn, Zip City & Heartland brewpubs. Cost is $65 for non HOPS members ($55 members) & includes roundtrip bus transportation from Philly, lunch & snacks on the bus, one hour of tasting at Zip City, dinner & tastings at Heartland. Vegetarian and non drinking options are available. Payment due by 9/8/95 Info/reservations- call Ted at 215-441-5304 or ljbtmb at aol.com *************************************************************************** Heather M. Godsey College of Information Studies What did the Dalai Lama say Drexel University to the hot dog vendor? Philadelphia, PA 19104 (215) 895-2493 "Make me one with everything." or (215) 885-3897 heather at netaxs.com *************************************************************************** Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 07 Aug 95 14:50:56 EST From: Tom_Williams_at_RAY__REC__ATLANTA at ccmail.eo.ray.com Subject: Heat Exchanging In HBD #1799 Richard Stueven describes a clever method of hanging his immersion chiller from the kettle lid. In HBD #1800 Doc comments on the "thermochemistry" of immersion chillers. Wiggling, stirring, or any other type of agitation of an immersion chiller in hot wort will most definitely improve the heat transfer rate. If there is no forced flow of wort over the tubes, then the heat will be transferred by "free convection", which depends on the change in density of the fluid as it cools to move the cool wort away from the tubing and let more hot fluid take it's turn. If the heat exchange surface is near the bottom of a pool of hot fluid being *cooled* (as opposed to heated), then the problem is worse because the cooled fluid, being more dense, won't readily move out of the way of the hot fluid. Richard Stueven's technique of placing the chiller coils near the *top* of the kettle addresses this problem. Forced convection is always a more efficient mechanism of heat transfer than free convection, GIVEN THE SAME SET OF FLUIDS, TEMPERATURES, MATERIALS, AND DIMENSIONS. Moving the coils around in the wort induces flow of wort over the tubes, resulting in forced convection. Several people have observed here that if you put your hand in the cooling water flow with the chiller at rest, and then move the chiller around, you will detect an increase in cooling water outlet temperature, proving that more heat is transferred from the wort to the water when the chiller is in motion. Try this experiment yourself. Also, increasing the velocity of either fluid increases the heat transfer rate. In the case of wort cooling, however, the advantages of increasing velocity are limited by the need to avoid splashing. We must take care in comparing wort chilling experiences and performances to remember that fluid velocity is not the only variable between chillers (or brewers), and may not even be the most significant. Other variables which affect the relative performance of chillers are tube material, tube diameter, tube wall thickness, geometry of the coils, length of tubing in the coils, water temperature, water velocity, kettle dimensions, and wort volume. I am sure that there are others that I have overlooked. So, as usual, YMMV. Tom Williams Raytheon Engineers & Constructors twilliams at ccgate.ueci.com Norcross, Georgia, USA Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 95 15:30:25 MDT From: Norman C. Pyle <npyle at hp7013.ecae.StorTek.COM> Subject: Brewery History in Denver I'm interested in some recent history (last 100-200 years) of brewing, especially the local stuff. Can anyone point me to a good reference or two on historical breweries in and around Denver, Colorado? Any breweriania (can't pronounce it, how could I spell it?) folks out there? Private email is probably best. Thanks, Norm npyle at hp7013.ecae.stortek.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 07 Aug 1995 16:40:37 -0600 From: 00bkpickeril at bsuvc.bsu.edu (Brian Pickerill) Subject: HB software for the Mac >Am I the only homebrewer who uses a Mac? I have seen a number of software >products available for brewers, but I have never seen anything available for >Macintosh. No, there are several of us. Most of us probably have computers, and probably about 10 percent of those have Macs. >Is there anyone out there who either knows of some Mac software, or who >commiserates (sp?)? I recently wrote to Rob Haiber after seeing his .sig on the HBD. He runs the beer forum on eWorld (Mostly Macintosh online service which is a lot like AOL). I wrote him about the software he uses and here is his reply. (Thanks Rob.) (You can probably get a free sign on kit for eWorld that would have plenty of download time to get a copy of this software.) RobHaiber at eworld.com >I use Homebrewer Helper, which a friend of mine wrote in FMPro. There is a >disabled runtime v of it in our software library, along with just the FMPro >file for those whom already have FMPro. I've been using a hypercard stack to keep my brew notes. Unfortunately, it's geared more toward wine making. It's called "Wine Maker's notebook" and it's on the huge Mac shareware site, sumex-aim, and it's mirror sites. I want to start using something better, but I haven't done it yet. It's OK for recordkeeping, but it lacks almost alll of the conversions etc... that SUDs and other software has. Also, Wine Maker's is really slow--I think the stack isn't that well written, and, well, it's in HC. :-( What should be the best Mac software is a package that is frequently advertised in Zymurgy, and probably in some other publications. It's $50 though, and I really would rather have a case of extract. ;-) Sorry, I forget the name of this. It's by the crafty fox or something like that--I could be way off on the name--look for a smallish ad that is bordered by a Macintosh style window with a fox in it. I wouild really like to hear from anyone who uses this, whatever it's called. If you have SoftPC/SoftWindows you can run SUDS on the Mac. SUDs doesn't exactly strain your machine, and it runs plently fast enough in emulation. Especially if you have a Power PC machine--Quadra level machines are good enough to run SUDs, too, but it would be only about as fast as a slow 386. I've been playing around with SUDs on my PowerMac and on a 486 notebook. It has crashed a number of times on the 486, usually refusing to open it's recipe file--but it's better than Wine Maker's notebook. Also, it's worked fine so far on the PowerMac, and it runs almost as fast there as it is on the 486 notebook. I'd really like something for my powerbook though. - --Brian K. Pickerill <00bkpickeril at bsuvc.bsu.edu> Muncie, IN - --24 beers in a case, 24 hours in a day. Ever wonder why? Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 23:43:38 +0100 From: betonh at xs4all.nl (Wim Hielkema) Subject: Re: Computers Hello All, In HBD #1801 Stephen Brown wrote: >I just have to ask this: > >Am I the only homebrewer who uses a Mac? I have seen a number of software >products available for brewers, but I have never seen anything available for >Macintosh. >Is there anyone out there who either knows of some Mac software, or who >commiserates (sp?)? >Stephen Brown Fortunately, your not entirely alone :-). I am also a Mac user and there is indeed a great lack of software for the Mac brewer. The only software I've seen around is a recipy editor written for Excel and a Hypercard stack (Beerstax) with information on U.S. Breweries. Both are on ftp.stanford.edu. I've been writing a recipy editor/database for Filemaker Pro but the arithmetic in FM Pro is very limited. It works reasonable but I'm not at all satisfied with it. It *will* calculate O.G. EBC and IBU's. In all cases you need a commercial program to run these things which may be a problem. I've been playing with the idea to write a true recipe editor for the Mac as a stand alone application but this will be a very time (and homebrew) consuming task, as I'm not an experienced C-programmer. So is there anybody out there who knows of more Mac brewing software (especially a recipe editor) or who is currently working on such a project. Greetings from Holland, Wim. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Wim Hielkema, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Organic Chemist & Homebrewer. betonh at xs4all.nl, http://www.xs4all.nl/~betonh/ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ P.S. I do not commiserate with you because you are one of the few lucky owners of a computer that actually works!!! :-) (... now putting on my asbestos suit.) Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 17:50:10 -0400 From: Hmbrewbob at aol.com Subject: Maltose Syrup Hello Everyone, After reading Brian Gowlands posting on Real Ale books I picked up a copy of "Brew your own Real Ale at home" by Wheeler and Protz. I've not had a chance to read it thoughly but the recipe section looks great. There is one problem that I can see with alot of the beers and that is that they use maltose syrup. Does anyone know if maltose syrup is available in the US? I've checked 4or 5 suppliers with no luck. TIA, Bob Ledden Caln, Pa HmbrewBob at aol.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 16:49:20 -0500 From: Russell Mast <rmast at fnbc.com> Subject: Mac guys, fruit errors. > From: Stephbrown at aol.com > Subject: Computers > > Am I the only homebrewer who uses a Mac? I have seen a number of software > products available for brewers, but I have never seen anything available for > Macintosh. I have a Macintosh. I've always just assumed that people sensible enough to buy a Mac were sensible enough to realize that homebrewing software is a silly thing to fuss with. I'm mostly kidding, but I guess I've never wanted homebrewing software and I'm not sure what I'd do with it if I had it. Does anyone who uses homebrewing software want to comment on its utility and/or entertainment value? Is it primarily for recipe formulation? > From: faye at plainfield.bypass.com (Drea ) > Subject: Guys/Exotic Fruit Beer > Why so few gal-brewers? Hmmm? I'm interested to know what folks think. Honestly - I think it's a rock-boring thread. My other two hobbies are also mostly male, and it comes up there from time to time. As far as I'm concerned we should make sure that "homebrewers aren't to women" is never one of the reasons, and leave it at that. Maybe there's something to be learned from discussing the topic at great length, but I'm not so sure. > Anybody know of any recipes for beer made with exotic/unusual fruits? I've used tangerines, mixed citrus, and pineapple with spices. I'll try to bring the recipes in some time this week. I made a lime mead that is GREAT. > and I'd love any recipes/leads/suggestions/anecdotes that y'all have to offer. Suggestion : double the amount of fruit you were planning to add. > From: MicahM1269 at aol.com > Subject: CPBF > > As many HBDers have read the Zymury review of the CPBFs. I would > like to have my say. I am a partial owner in one companies that make CPBFs. > The article was not as well done as I had expected. The inconsistancies in > the air level and CO2 level are most likely the result of user error. I don't mean to be rude, but often "user error" says to me that the device was not as easy to use as it should be. (Part of the customer-always-right philosophy.) -R Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 16:59:25 -0500 From: Russell Mast <rmast at fnbc.com> Subject: Wheat. > From: jdickins at baste.magibox.net (Jim Dickinson) > Subject: Wheat beer questions > I have several questions concerning wheat beer mainly concerning Eric > Warner's book. Never read it, but I've brewed some good wheat beers and I imagine myself to be an expert in almost everything. > 1) When he says to pitch 3.5 oz of weissbeer yeast and .33 oz of lager yeast > why are the volumes so low? No clue. If your yeast is pure more == better. > Especially the lager yeast volumes. I've never used anything but Wyeast's Weihenstephan alone. I wouldn't use any lager yeast, until someone reports excellent results with it. Anyone? > 2) What will the bottle conditioning/lagering do to the final taste? I am > going to do just this on my next batch. Condition affects the flavor of any beer, including ales. I had some of my most recent batch Saturday night, the first bottle in 3 weeks. It was pitched probably 3 months ago or more. It has noticably improved in the last 3 weeks. Maybe it's peaking, and it won't be very good in another three weeks. > 3) In his book Warner mentions dark munich malt, but in all my hb catalogs I > see no mention of a *dark* munich malt. Any ideas? Maybe it's 20L vs. 10L. I've seen many ways of dividing "munich" malt into two categories. 20 v. 10, hi v. lo enzyme, and "munich" vs. "aromatic munich." Maybe that's what he means. > 4) I have read that open primary fermentation will yield better results with > the Weihenstephan yeast. Can I use a regular carboy without the stopper and > in a sink? I'm not sure what difference the sink makes. I've always done a closed fermentation, but I will say that I used oversized carboys for primaries on all of my batches. They had massive rocky heads and no blow-off, so maybe that makes a difference. (My last two wheat beers have been really yummy.) > 5) I had a wheat beer brought back from germany and the ones I make are close > but they do not have the slightly sour aftertaste that the german one did. Do > I need to use the lactic acid forming yeast? I think they might use a little lactic bacteria. I'm not aware of any yeasts that make lacto, but they might exist. You could try to sour your mash. It might be related to the strain or handling of the wheat, too. Or the proportion; I think wheat gives a little sourness, so maybe use more. ? > 6) I am wondering if the hallertau mittelfrueh hops I received from jim koch > are appropriate for this style? Used in the proper amounts, of course. Yes, yes, yes. (As long as pronounce his name in some vulgar way.) I've used hallertau hersbrucker for both of mine. Use much less than you would for your regular beer. (I assume this book talks about hops...) -R Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 18:53:29 -0400 From: CDP000 at aol.com Subject: Things that smell and things that don't > Does anyone have numbers (in ppm) for danger levels of carbon > monoxide and propane? I've come into a gas alarm that will alarm for both... The OSHA limit for CO is 25 ppm- timed-wieghted-averaged over 8 hours, e.g. 50 ppm for 4 hours. Propane is hazardous due to it's flammability. It's lower explosive limit (LEL) is around 3.5-4%. Normal practice is to limit explosive gas concentrations to 25% of the LEL. Make sure you have your life and home insurance paid up... Some one else asked about setting the air/fuel mixture on his propane cooker after blackening the bottoms of his pot. Close the air inlet down until the flame tip gets a bit yellow then back off a bit. - ---c.d. cdp000 at aol.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 20:52:49 -0500 From: Roger Kohles <rkohles at ltec.com> Subject: Jack Schmidling Corn Beer About 6 weeks ago Jack posted: >Living in corn country where a bushel costs not much more than a pound of >good malt has driven me to develop an easy and reliable method of making >beer with it. Actually it's generally free - if you know anyone at all in corn country they will give it away for a friendly hello. Certainly a home brew would be the only cost. (A six pack if you're generous and you want the farmer to get a really good deal.) At 56 lbs per bushel, it should last a long time at 5 lbs/batch. >1. Bring 5 gals of water to a boil in mash tun, turn off the heat and >then add 5 lbs of crushed corn. I used a Corona mill. Worked great - if a bit hard to crank. >2. Dough this in carefully to eliminate starch balls and let it rest (with >an occassional stir) until the temperature drops down to 170F. During >this period, the corn starch is being gelatainized and by heating the >water by itself and letting the mash rest, all scorching problems are >totally eliminated. It adds about an hour to the brewing schedule but >requires little or no attention. >3. When the temp is 170F, dough in 9 lbs of your favorite pils type malt >(I use D-K) and the temp should end up around 155F. Maintain this temp >for 60 minutes and check for conversion. Mashout or proceed from here as >in any other beer. I tried this with 8 lbs of Shirer's 2-row and 1/2 lb of wheat flakes. This for a 7 gallon batch. I let the temperature drop to 165 before adding the corn/water mixture (using ice to speed the process). Mash was at 155 dropping to 147 after an hour. I used 1 1/2 oz perle for boiling and 1 oz of tetnanger for finishing. I also use Superbrau dried yeast (without rehydration - 50 cents). As Jack sez: >It has a corn taste if you look for it and I like it a lot. Actually I can't taste the corn even when I look for it. It has a very light pale color and a nice white (with legs) head. I artificially carbonated it in corny kegs (if that matters). $10 for 7 gal of beer is a pretty good deal, and when it turns out as good as this - it's even better. I'm going to serve this at a family gathering this weekend - and I'm sure I'll convert a few more "lite" drinkers to the wonders of really good beer. ++--------------------------------------------------------++ Roger Kohles, P.E. | "Never let your sense of morality Voice 402-436-5796 | prevent you from doing what's right" rkohles at ltec.com | I. Asimov ++--------------------------------------------------------++ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 20:21:03 -0600 From: "Rick Gontarek, Ph.D." <gontarek at fcrfv1.ncifcrf.gov> Subject: Mystery of the low exraction solved!! Hello fellow brewers (men and women alike). For a while now, I have posted to the digest to whine about my low extraction rates (avg 23-24 pts/lb/gallon). I am an all-grain brewer using a PhillMill to crush the grain, and a gott cooler fitted with a Phalse bottom to function as a mash/lauter tun. Using a variety of different mash regimes, I have been able to get only around 23 pts/lb/gallon.I am grateful to many of you who have taken the time out to give me some ideas as to why my extraction rates are low. I recently moved to a new place, and my last batch had the worst extraction ever, so I immediately suspected the water. After getting a water analysis, I found out that my water was a bit hard, but not too bad for brewing (as others in my area claim). I checked my thermometers. It turns out that the scientific-grade stainless steel thermometer I was using was about one degree C off. Because I was mashing at the high end (69 degC), some of you thought it likely that I was hitting too high of a temperature and trashing my enzymes. Local hot spots in the mash would do that, too. I also did a mini experiment that suggested that I was not crushing my grain enough (too coarse of a crush). So, armed with an accurate thermometer and more finely crushed grain, I set out to brew a Cherry Wheat this past weekend (I know, I know, this beer is becoming pase rapidly). Instead of mashing at the high end, I did a protein rest at 50 degC, and then I boosted to 65 degC for 60 minutes. I also added one gallon of boiling water to the mash to effect a mashout prior to sparging. I sparged nice and slowly (around one hour). Ta-da, I ended up getting 33 pts/lb/ gallon!!! Happy me! Now I can brew like Dave Miller :) In my mind, the quality of the crush was most likely to blame, although better temperature regulation may have also played a role. I thought that I finer crush would result in more draff washing through during the sparge, but after recirculating several quarts of wort, it remained crystal clear for the remainder of the sparge. For those of you who emailed me asking me to forward any advice I received, I recommend that you a)check the reliability of your thermometer, b) check the quality of your crush (don't be afraid to crush!), and c) closely monitor the temp of the mash in several different locations. My water is probably fine, because I did not treat it this time and I still wound up with an excellent extraction. Once again, my sincere thanks to many of you who struggled with me these last months by providing me with excellent advice. I'd buy you all a brew if I ever met you! Rick Gontarek Owner/Brewmaster of the Major Groove Picobrewery Frederick, MD gontarek at fcrfv1.ncifcrf.gov Return to table of contents
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1802, 08/08/95