HOMEBREW Digest #1986 Sat 16 March 1996
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FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Summary of EasyMasher Responses ("Kenneth D. Joseph")
Re: Calories Revisited (shelby & gary)
Electric Boilers -- Please Read This (KennyEddy)
Genetic Drift (Alan Folsom)
Macintosh beer-related software (Robert Bush)
The BeerStack link (Robert Bush)
yeast mutations/polypropylene and hop storage (Algis R Korzonas)
phenolic beer (Brian Gardner)
cleanliness and yeast use (Rob Lauriston)
Re: He is serious, Mr. Electrophobe, moralist, censor. ("Richard Okambawa")
U.S Open (yes, another competition announcement) ("Keith Royster")
Why build up starters? (Regan Pallandi)
Pressure Gauges (usbscrhc)
Bad to be a glad plaid clad lad... (pbabcock)
CO2/Triple Strain (A. J. deLange)
electric boilers (DONBREW)
Distillation: Don't do the crime if you can't do the time (Mitch Hogg)
To "B" or not to "B"... (PatrickM50)
Brewing in Fishtanks (J. Matthew Saunders)
extract brewing (I am kidding please no emails) (Scott Abene)
Pennies as (PLACK)
CO2 in what form? (David C. Harsh)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 13 Mar 96 12:17:42 EST
From: "Kenneth D. Joseph" <74651.305 at compuserve.com>
Subject: Summary of EasyMasher Responses
Thanks to all for the very helpful responses! A special thank you to Dan
Listermann ( the manufacturer of my Phalse Bottom and Sparge Arm) for taking the
time to evaluate my use of his products unsolicited. Here are some tips I
received on the EasyMasher (which I have not decided whether or not to
purchase):
Mark Hogenmiller writes:
>1. After hitting Mash-in temp on the stove. Slowly dough-in your grains a
cup to 2 cups at a time and stir well. This will ensure all grains are wet.
>My first couple of batches I just dumped in all the grains, stirred once or
twice and walked away.
>2. Unless you plan to insulate the kettle with foil insulation or a similiar
product, you will have to keep a sharp eye on Mash temperature and keep >adding
small amounts of heat, since the thermal efficiency of the kettle is not all
that good. Now I set my oven on warm (approx 150F) and stick >the kettle in
there to maintain temperature. About every 20 minutes I give it a stir and
check for starch conversion. This has helped maintaining >mash temp and making
it easier to walk away from the mash and attend to my three year old running
around the house.
>3. I read where Jack Schmidling advocated that the water in your Sparge vessel
be in the range of 180F plus. I am using an uninsulated Bottling >bucket for my
hot water tank and took some temps of the outgoing water. In the bucket I would
put 170F water and by the time it came out it was >in the <160F range. Since
that time I have put my water in at 180F+ and it comes out at a more consistent
168-170F for sparging.
>4. To get a better boil on the kitchen stove, put the kettle on two burners.
The 8.5 gallon kettle is big enough that it will fit over two burners (front
>and back). This has helped in speeding up boil times and getting a better hot
break. The kettle on one burner did not keep a good rolling boil >going and I
had notes of DMS in my beer.
Don Hatlestad writes:
>An EasyMasher won't raise your extract rate on it's own. I use one, by the
>way. You will get greater extract by using a multiple step mash schedule.
SSLOFL at ccmail.m (name unknown) writes
>Bad move! The hops plugged the easymasher, and I ended up having to
>siphon it out as usual. From now on, I am only going to use leaf hops
>during the boil. The leaves will make a nice filter bed, and should not
>plug the masher. After chilling with my immersion chiller, simply allow
>the easymasher to filter the cooled wort off of the spent hops and the
>trub. This should make a much cleaner primary fermentation.
>In other words, no need to buy another kettle for the boil! You
>can save yourself the cash and have a smoother beer by using the same
>pot. This is a common setup, and many people use it with good success.
"R. Smith" writes:
>Saw the HBD post. Here's my suggestion. Keep the enamel pot to (1)
>heat sparge wtaer and (2) boil your wort. Buy a 5 gal ss stock pot for
>about 25 bucks and install your EM in that. You can hold 10 lbs of
>grain comfortably and stretch it to 12 lbs if you have to. You will be
>able to brew 5 gal of beer up to about 65 SG. This is my set up and it
>works very well for me.
My conclusion (I'm still looking forward to Mr. Listermann's opinion) is that my
problem may lie in the temp of the sparge water. I've been boiling all water
prior to mashing, then putting in a heavily insulated plastic bucket until
sparging. Bucket temp is 170 to 168 at the start, but exit temp may be lower,
and may fall substantially during the sparge. I will also try Mr. Fix's
schedule rather than my 122 (20min)/152-156 (60 min)/170 (10 min) schedule.
I am very happy with the mechanics of the Phalse Bottom -- I get clear runoff in
5-10 minutes, and have only gotten a stuck sparge twice when I wasn't paying
attention and let the water level fall too much. By the way, I have absolutely
no afilliation with Listermann manufacturing or Mr. Listermann. I am, however,
very interested in the effect of hot side aeration since I have simply been
dumping my grains into the lauter tun after filling the tun w/ water 1" over the
bottom. I am also interested the process of whirlpooling the wort after
chilling to drop hops and trub. E-mail responses would be appreciated.
Thanks for the info!
Ken Joseph
74651.305 at compuserve.com
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 10:54:45 -0500
From: shelby & gary <gjgibson at ioa.com>
Subject: Re: Calories Revisited
This probably will not help solve any questions on this matter but I =
thought I would ramble on about the subject a little. First of all, it =
seems logical that the lower the final gravity, the fewer the calories. =
I come to this conclusion by looking at what a gravity reading really =
measures. This would be sugar content, right? Sugar is a primary =
source of energy for many animals. The brain and nervous system must =
use glucose for energy, and without sugars we could not completely =
metabolise fat (just for starters). I will not get into the trace =
elements and vitamins and all that mess but we get approximately 60% of =
our calories from carbohydrates, which are starches and sugars. Sugars =
have about 4 kcals per gram whether it comes from corn, wheat, barley, =
honey, whatever.
As far as alcohol is concerned, your muscles, etc. cannot use it as an =
energy source, but alcohol does have about 7 kcals per gram. It is =
treated as a drug which is to be distroyed. About 20% is absorbed from =
the stomach, the remainder in the small intestine. Having food in the =
stomach, less alcohol will be able to reach the stomach lining (decrease =
rate of absorption), you will get a delay in stomach emptying (decrease =
rate of absorption in small intestine), and you will stimulate enzymes =
that can begin to break down the alcohol. Drinking on an empty stomach =
will make the alcohol go to your head more rapidly. About three percent =
passes out the body unchanged through breath , persperation and urine. =
The remainder goes to the liver where liver enzymes act to detoxify it. =
If consumed faster than the liver can handle it, alcohol builds up in =
the bloodstream and will begin to have effects on the brain (Surprise). =
I'm only guessing here, but I would think that the calories taken in by =
beer can be negated by a fraction because of the calories burned in =
order to detoxify the alcohol and possibly some extra heat given off as =
well as other factors ( I use negated because I want to only consider =
beer and not the ten slices of pizza you had for dinner). Of course, if =
you use this philosophy, you will probably just consume alot of hard =
liquer in stead of going on a diet. I'll end with a nice bit of trivia. =
A six pack of beer has the caloric equivalent of about ten slices of =
bread (this would be a typical US beer like budweiser or something). =
The average number of alcoholic drinks that college students with "A" =
averages cunsume is 3.5 per week. The average number of alcoholic =
drinks that college students with "D" or "F" averages is 11 per week. I =
got this info in a nutrition class I had while at N.C. State.
Shelby,
Asheville, NC
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 12:44:12 -0500
From: KennyEddy at aol.com
Subject: Electric Boilers -- Please Read This
I feel I must pause in my development and reporting of the Electric Brewery
for a moment and regroup. The attractiveness of electric boilers is
definitely offset by the safety issues at hand, and a couple hastily-made
comments of mine haven't helped. Safety is and must be of PRIME concern; as
Jeff Hewitt pointed out in HBD1983, none of this brewing stuff is worth dying
for, or having a fire or other damage ensue.
It's easy for someone like me who has played with electrons nearly all his
life to easily and successfully rig up a safe working system, and it's just
as easy for me to overlook the fact that someone with less knowledge in the
field may put their enthusiasm ahead of safety and prudence. The Electric
Brewery is not difficult to safely create, but if you lack the knowledge or
experience, or are new to dealing with house-current wiring projects, please
DON'T DO IT!! I know that many readers who have been interested in creating
such a system do possess the required skills and safety-mindedness, but many
more don't. There is help available. If you build the vessels mechanically
(mount but do not hook up the elements, for example), you can hire an
electrician to wire it up neatly and safely for you, and to inspect your
house wiring for comapatibility. Sure, it'll cost money, but it's a
worthwhile investment in peace of mind.
We homebrewers are by definition "do-it-yourselfers". How much talent we
have for different aspects of the job varies. That's why the Digest is what
it is -- a repository of idea exchange to help bolster our individual weak
spots and to help round out our mastery of this hobby. Any of you who have
corresponded privately with me know me to be naturally inquisitive and eager
to share my experiences. While the Electric Brewery is certainly not my
original idea, I felt that my brewery was a success and that I could offer
some helpful tips based on things I learned while building mine. However, in
my enthusiasm I spoke out of turn, but fortunately people were paying
attention and raised a flag. I am happy to provide information about how I
built my system, but not at the risk of encouraging someone with inadequate
skills to rig up a death machine.
BTW the "Pail Ale" that I brewed in the Electric Brewery last week is shaping
up very nicely, with no plastic character whatsoever. The water treatment I
used definitely lent a dry, crisp character to the hops. As the beer
finishes and matures I'll post an update.
Please brew safely!
Ken Schwartz
Comments welcome at KennyEddy at aol.com
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 09:48:19 -0800
From: folsom at ix.netcom.com (Alan Folsom)
Subject: Genetic Drift
In today's HBD Domenick Venezia wrote:
>Perhap's Tam's use of the term "mutate" is unfortunate. A true
>genetic mutation is probably rare. What Tam is referring to is more
>appropriately termed "genetic drift". This is a darwinian selection
>process by which the characteristics of the yeast will slowly change
>due to selection pressures determined by a particular brewing process.
>The yeast in the pitching population represent a certain amount of
>variability; they are not all genetically identical.
I'm curious. Since most yeast strains claim to be cultured from a
single cell (and we are taught to do that when propogating yeast), and
since yeast reproduction is via budding rather than sexual
reproduction, how do we get yeast which are not genetically identical
without mutation? I'm not trying to be a smart-aleck, just hoping that
someone with more understanding of genetics than my 20 year old college
memories can shed some light.
Thanks,
Al F.
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 20:08:52 +0100
From: bush at shbf.se (Robert Bush)
Subject: Macintosh beer-related software
Hallo all,
there have been discussions in the HBD about beer/brewing software for the
Macintosh. So far I have kept my mouth shut because I was working on an
update of a HyperCard stack that I wrote a while back. However, now it's
"finished" and version 1.1 is available (see below). For those of you who
can obtain MacFormat (a UK mag) you can check out version 1.0 on the March
issue cover disc / CD-ROM. The BeerStack 1.1 (the name of the program) can
be downloaded from most Info-Mac sites. It's called The BeerStack but it's
archived as /info-mac/art/beer-11-hc.hqx; 145K. If you use some kind of
search-engine you'll find it if you search for "beer-11-hc.hqx". I hope
someone on the digest finds it interesting.
If you have any questions just E-mail me:
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% WASSAIL! %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% Robert Bush Computer: Macintosh %
% Eskilstuna,SWEDEN E-mail: bush at shbf.se %
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 20:48:22 +0100
From: bush at shbf.se (Robert Bush)
Subject: The BeerStack link
Sorry, but I forgot to mention in my previous posting on Mac software that
The BeerStack also can be downloaded via Netscape or similar via the
following link:
http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive/Archive/art/beer-11-hc.hqx
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% WASSAIL! %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% Robert Bush Computer: Macintosh %
% Eskilstuna,SWEDEN E-mail: bush at shbf.se %
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 96 14:12:47 CST
From: korz at pubs.ih.att.com (Algis R Korzonas)
Subject: yeast mutations/polypropylene and hop storage
>Bob writes:
>Tam Thompson writes, ". . . You can usually re-use that slurry about three
>times before it starts to mutate too far into the unusable range. . . ."
>
>L o r n e F r a n k l i n writes,"I've read this assertion in many places
>and
>am wondering if anyone can profile the flavor, bahvior, or appearance of
>"mutated" brewers yeast. I've never used yeast beyond the third generation,
>but am curious of the potential problems involved with "inbred" yeast.
>
>Many micros and brewpubs reuse their yeast for many generations and some use
>the yeast forever. There are several reasons for this, to replace the yeast
>is expensive, it usually performs better after a few generations, and there
>is no reason to replace it very often. I talked to one brewer who said that
>he wanted his
>yeast to mutate. That way he had a yeast that no one else had. It was his
>own
>strain of yeast.
This may be true, but that brewer doesn't know that the odds are against
him. Most mutations are undesirable. Natural selection was covered very
nicely in Domenic's post (that's a keeper).
>All brewers have their own methods of monitering their yeast. Some go by the
>number of generations, others watch the performance of the yeast carefully
>(such as how it flocculates and how the attenuation is ) and can tell
>when things are different and then dump the yeast.
Good point, but I feel you could elaborate on it. It is my understanding
(I'm no microbiologist) that the most common mutations are (in no particular
order):
* losing the ability to reabsorb diacetyl,
* losing the ability to ferment some sugars,
* losing the ability to flocculate, and
* respiratory deficient (RD) mutants -- aka "Petit Mutants" (this mutation
exhibits itself as some combination of the first three... I don't recall
which).
As you can see, none of these are particularly appealing mutations. This is
why Bob points out that you need to watch the yeast's performance and if
something starts to increase or decrease suddenly, you should toss the yeast
and start from stratch (or a master, if you've got it).
>As a rule 3 generations are probably enough for homebrewers. We can't
>possibly be as clean as a commercial setup, where they have heavy duty
>caustics and acid sanitisers and boiling water to run through all of their
>equipment, so we are risking passing an infected yeast on to another batch.
Actually, we are probably cleaner than most commercial setups (we have far
less to sanitize and we can see into or even through all of our equipment...
except for maybe our counterflow chillers, which is partly why I use an
immersion chiller), it's just that they pitch far more yeast than us and a
small infection will take quite a few batches to become noticable. There are
a couple of brewpubs that I've visited, at which they were serving severely
infected beer (lactic acid bacteria). Every beer had the problem. One had a
darn good Berliner Weiss, though... What I'm trying to point out here is
that many brewpubs reuse yeast more than they should.
As for us homebrewers and how many generations are safe, it depends a lot on
your system and how well you keep to good sanitation procedures. Some
homebrewers I know could probably go 20 or 30 generations without a problem.
Others, should probably start with a new package of Wyeast each time. I'm
somewhere in the middle, but my problem is that I use so many different yeasts
and brew such a variety of styles that I rarely use the same yeast twice in
one month. I just build up 2 liter starters from slants or liquid yeast
packages as I need them. Lately, I've been brewing less than I want to and
I've got three yeasts that I should either use or dump soon! I've been
feeding them weekly, but that's an invitation for infection too. Every
time I open the flasks, I'm risking contamination.
>As far as mutations, it depends on the strain of yeast and how much you
>stress
>the yeast. High gravity beers stress the yeast and should not be repitched,
>some say dark beers also. Lager yeasts are more prone than ale yeasts. Some
>Weissen yeasts change rapidly and lose that clove-like flavor.
I had not heard that about lager yeasts or Weizen yeasts. Could you point
to a reference? I think that the Weizen yeast problem may be due to
rumours started about the Wyeast #3056 Bavarian Weizen (which is a blend of
two yeasts -- I think that with age, the clove-producing yeast pooped-out).
It has been posted to HBD many times that Chico Brewing Company has said
that they reuse the yeast from all their beers except the Sierra Nevada
Celebration Ale and Bigfoot Barleywine-style Ale because the high alcohol
content tends to increase the risk of mutation.
***
Stan writes:
>Are polypropylene containers suitable for whole hop storage: oxygen
>permeability, etc? Thanks
Well... polypropylene is 2.5 times *more* oxygen-permeable than high density
polyethylene, which is notorious for being oxygen-permeable. However, you
need to consider thickness and surface area too. If you are debating between
3 mil polyethylene bags (Freezer bags) and 1/8" polypropylene containers,
you can clearly see that the thick PP would be better than the PE film. Can't
you use the packages in which the hops came? Virtually all suppliers now
are selling their hops in oxygen-barrier bags. You can buy a heat sealer
these days for less than $20. Or what about glass? Glass would be far
better than either PP or PE.
Al.
Al Korzonas, Palos Hills, IL
korz at pubs.att.com
Copyright 1996 Al Korzonas
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 15:39:53 -0500
From: Brian Gardner <bgardner at hublink.com>
Subject: phenolic beer
I have been brewing for a few years now, and mostly do a partial
mash. Most of my beers have been pretty good, but all of them seem
to have varying levels of phenols in the taste. Is there something
I can isolate that is the cause of this? If I could eradicate this
off-flavor, I would be very close to getting the results I am seeking.
- --
Brian W. Gardner "Captain, I protest; I am not a
Hublink Inc. merry man!" - Lt. Worf
bgardner at hublink.com (office) bgardner at infinet.com (home)
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 96 13:15 PST
From: robtrish at mindlink.bc.ca (Rob Lauriston)
Subject: cleanliness and yeast use
Bob Morris <BOBKATPOND at aol.com> writes about re-using yeast and sanitation.
>As a rule 3 generations are probably enough for homebrewers. We can't
>possibly be as clean as a commercial setup, where they have heavy duty
>caustics and acid sanitisers and boiling water to run through all of their
>equipment, so we are risking passing an infected yeast on to another batch.
Homebrewers needn't be humble about their sanitation -- they can often be
*cleaner* than a commercial setup. First, a homebrewery is staffed with far
more conscientious and motivated personnel than the average mid- to large
size brewery <g>. I use caustic, an acid sanitizer and boiling water on all
my equipment at home and I know of others who do too. (Well, I don't put
acid on the copper equipment or boiling water on the glass, but you get the
idea.)
I agree with the 3 generations rule of thumb for most situations, so this is
not a flame, criticism or correction, it's just part of the Homebrew Pride
Manifesto. We're not called ARB's for nothin'
My method / experience: When I pitch the yeast from a mason jar into the
carboy, I leave a half inch or so of slurry in the jar. Then I put cool
wort back into the mason jar as well as in the main fermenters, so that I
propagate more yeast in the mason jar for the next batch. I've been doing
this for the last dozen batches over the past six months. Just like most
other breweries, pico- to mega-, there must be some contamination, but it
hasn't appeared in the flavour yet. (I did have a problem on one batch from
another source.) I'll start a new yeast soon, before the bugs _do_ catch up
with me.
- Rob Lauriston in Vernon, British Columbia
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 17:29:05 +0000
From: "Richard Okambawa" <okambawa at UQTR.UQuebec.ca>
Subject: Re: He is serious, Mr. Electrophobe, moralist, censor.
Jeff Hewit, Midlothian, Virginia wrote in HBD 1983
>To the guy who plans to somehow make a plug that will fit where
>his electric stove burner does, I have some suggestions.
>
> - Make sure you have plenty of life insurance, and make sure
> you're current on the premiums.
>
> - Make sure your family has another place to live, and that
> it's paid for - your homeowner's insurance may not pay in
> full if they think you intentionally burned your own house
> down.
>
> - Look for other ways to save a buck on this hobby.
>
>Seriously, one sure way to
.......and so on.....
Jeff, this Forum is a place where we share experiences.
You are not obligeto apply everything you get in the HBD.
That's one of thescientific sides of our hobby. You are lucky
to have plenty money to buy expensives stuffs an pay an
electrician. Seriously, don't try to change your fuses yourself
because electricity can be very dangerous. Also, take care with
the kitchen knife, it can be very dangerous.
Sans rancune,
Sante!
*********************
* Richard Okambawa *
* 860 Ste Ursule *
*Trois-Rivieres, Quebec *
* Canada G9A 1P1 *
* President, brewmaster and chief drinker *
*Home: (819) 693 6445 *
*Zymopolis Nanobrewery *
*Work: Institut de recherche sur l'hydrogene *
* (819) 3765170 ext 3591 *
* http://para.uqtr.uquebec.ca/hydrogene2.html *
* e-mail: richard_okambawa at uqtr.uquebec.ca *
****************************************
Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 18:49:04 -0500
From: "Keith Royster" <keith.royster at ponyexpress.com>
Subject: U.S Open (yes, another competition announcement)
The Carolina BrewMasters are once again sponsoring the very
successful U.S. Open, which is a BJCP recongnized competition. We
had over 250 entries last year, and we expect this year's
competition to be just as successful. If you are interested in
entering, judging, or stewarding, simply point your web browser to:
http://www.wp.com/ at your.service/cbm/brewmast.html
(or email me if you don't have web access). There you will find all
of the necessary info, including an online entry form (thanks
Spencer!). The deadline for entries is not too far away (April 15),
so don't delay!
Keith Royster - Keith.Royster at ponyexpress.com
at your.service - http://www.wp.com/ at your.service/
Web Services - Starting at just $60 per YEAR!
Voice & Fax - (704) 663-1098
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 14:32:33 +1200 (EST)
From: Regan Pallandi <reganp at iris.bio.uts.EDU.AU>
Subject: Why build up starters?
Hello all - I am wondering about the practice of building up yeast
starters into ever increasing volumes of wort (ie 500ml->1000ml->2000ml).
Why not just pitch the few cells into the large volume to begin with, and
do away with the steps in the middle? I would have thought, aside from
maybe a longer lag time, the yeast will multiply up to the limit of the
available nutrient, and it would be easier to just make up the desired
volume of starter and leave it at that. None of the books I've read make
any mention of the reason for "steps". Any ideas?
Cheers, Regan in Sydney
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 07:41:56 EST
From: usbscrhc at ibmmail.com
Subject: Pressure Gauges
I read some confusing things in recent articles...Several people have said
that a second gauge on a regulated tap system is useless until the CO2
tank is almost empty. I don't understand why the gauge is not continuously
dropping as the contents of the tank are depleted. How can the pressure
exiting the tank remain constant until it's almost empty, then suddenly drop?
It seems to me that since the tank volume is constant, and the number of
CO2 molecules is decreasing, the pressure must also decrease. PV=nRT.
Welding tanks (oxy-acetelene) use a second gauge to monitor tank contents....
Someone please let me know what I may be missing. I currently don't use
a second gauge on my regulator, but I plan to add one, so I'm very interested
in a response....Thanks to anyone who helps me straighten out my confusion!
Howard Smith
Balt., MD
e-mail: usbscrhc at ibmmail.com
phone:410 388 6490
Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 08:18:40 -0500
From: pbabcock at ford.com
Subject: Bad to be a glad plaid clad lad...
In HBD 1983, Domenick Venezia aptly warns brewers not to wear plaid due to
detrimental effects observed in yeast culturing.
As a matter of fact, recent government studies has shown this to be true. Worts
fermented by all except for the hardiest Scottish Ale strains demonstrated
signs of disfunctional yeast when exposed to various plaid patterns. Even
Scottish strains could only tolerate the best tartans.
Studies indicate that the plaid need not be in line-of-sight to the fermenter
for the abherrations to manifest themselves. It was discovered that the
reaction to concealed plaid boxer shorts was equal to that of exposure to plaid
table cloths; though less that the effects observed from exposure to plaid
pants.
Studies also indicate that the detrimental effects of plaid are mitigated if
the pattern is printed on good, heavy flannel shirts of sensible colors, worn
by beard bearing brewers.
Microscopic investigation has revealed myriad yeast having ruptured cell walls
following even the shortest exposure to bright green and red plaid pants.
Exposure to the same pattern on double knit materials has been shown to reduce
the yeast to a viscous goo having no resemblance to the yeast from whence it
came. Surviving yeast appears to be unable for process even the simplest
sugars, and immediately flocculates upon pitching; some continuously rising and
falling, seeming to bump off the bottom of the fermenter only to rise back to
the top and repeat.
Electron microscoice scans have revealed pained, laughing expressions on the
faces of the deceased yeast. Surviving yeast, not surprisingly, bear
expressions similar to those seen in human beings afflicted by catatonia.
The American Civil Liberties Union has a suit pending against the yeast for
insensitivity to the chromatically challenged. However, until yeast learns to
be more politically correct in their reactive patterns, it is advised that the
chromatically challenged restrict themselves to monochromatic outfits (colors
selected from the gray scale are recommended to assure no inadvertent clashes)
to avoid problems with fermentation.
We now return you to your normally scheduled reading...
- ---
Pat Babcock
pbabcock at oeonline.com
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Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 09:59:20 -0500
From: ajdel at interramp.com (A. J. deLange)
Subject: CO2/Triple Strain
While I'm sure this is in a FAQ somewhere Dave Harsh's post on CO2 makes it
look as if a review of this subject is timely. CO2 is delivered and stored
as a liquid as long as it is below the critical tempature (31C/89F). The
delivery trucks often are marked "liquid carbonic" and they have
arrangements which ensure that the temperature is kept below the critical
temperature. The fact that the critical temperature (the temperature above
which the gas cannot exist as a liquid) is exceded on a warm summer's day
may be responsible for some of the confusion over this.
The pressure read on the tank guage attached to a CO2 bottle is the
saturated varpor pressure of liquid CO2 at the temperature of the liquid.
At 70F this is 853 psi and that is why the guage reads somewhere around
that level at room temperature. There is a simple test which can be used to
determine whether the a bottle contains liquid. Draw some gas off gradually
and see if the pressure drops. If the bottle contains liquid it will not
(unless the gas is drawn off so fast that the liquid cools to a temperature
with a lower vapor pressure). The liquid will simple boil as its vapor is
drawn off. If the bottle contains gas the pressure will drop linearly with
the amount of gas drawn off. When the pressure guage on your bottle begins
to drop, therefore, it is indicative that the liquid is all gone and you
are "running on fumes" as the aviators used to say. Time for a refil. On
the hot summers day, conversely, the pressure read by the guage will be
over 1000 psig (if there was liquid in the bottle at room temperature) and
will gradually decline over the course of the afternoon as the liquid level
in your kegs declines and/or as the day cools. As the temperature drops
below 89F the gas will recondense to a liquid.
Refill is done from a "siphon" bottle. This is a bottle with a tube running
from the valve stem to the bottom of the cylinder. The target bottle should
be colder than the source bottle. When the target bottle is connected to
the source bottle gas in the source bottle pushes liquid CO2 into the
target bottle through the connectic hose. At first this liquid condenses
cooling the target bottle somewhat. Now you have liquid in both bottles but
the target bottle is colder so the vapor pressure is lower and liquid from
the warm source bottle will continue to flow until the pressure in the head
space is higher than the vapor pressure in the source bottle. Bottles are
(or should be) filled to weight. In most cases the operator goes through
the process described above and shuts off when the flow stops. You get 2-4
pounds of CO2 is a 5 pound bottle depending on how warm your bottle was
when you brought it in and how much liquid is left in the siphon bottle. To
get the maximum fill bring in a cold bottle. This is hard to do if you have
to travel any distance. Leave it in the bed of your pickup in winter. In
the summer dont leave it in a closed car all morning and then go to the
fill station at lunch. I put the empty cylinder in the freezer overnight.
In the morning I take it out, let it cover with frost and immediately fill
it. A couple of seconds after the flow stops the warm liquid from the
siphon will melt the frost up to the fill level and you can see how much is
in the bottle. With a little experience you learn the 5 pound level. One of
the neatest bits I picked up from the internet was the suggestion that you
can tell how much liquid is left in your CO2 bottle using this same idea.
Put it in the freezer overnight and bring it out in the AM. It will frost
over. In this case the frost will melt above the liquid level first as the
CO2 in this case is colder than room temperature.
A fill station operator determined to give 5 pounds will weigh your bottle
before and after filling. If you didn't get 5 pounds he would chill the
bottle and repeat the process until there are 5 pounds of liquid in there.
I have yet to hear of such an individual. It is, of course, possible to get
5.5# into a 5# bottle (I've never done this but I did get > 2.5 # into a
2.5 # bottle). As soon as the bottle warms up the pressure relief valve
blows making enough noise to frighten wives, dogs and small children.
Perhaps gas supply houses are more likely to give a complete fill than the
bar owner or bar supply shop. This could be verified by weighing cylinders
empty and full (i.e. when you get a new one and after it is empty: most of
the gas houses swap you a full bottle for your empty rather than refilling
your bottle). They may be using more elaborate filling apparatus with
automatic shutoff at target weight.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Victor Farren asked about use of a purloined triple strain culture. The
fact that the "strength" of the individual strains peaks at different times
in the course of the fermentation does not mean that their flocculation
properties are different. Nor does it imply that they are the same. As
Domenick Venizia pointed out in his excellent posting in #1983 (thank you!)
each strain will have members with short, middle and long flocculation
times. I would think that the best thing to do would be to top crop in the
middel of the cropping period so as to be sure of having some cells from
each of each of the three strains. Now the tough part which is going to be
a lot of work. Dilute way down to single cell level and make multiple
plates. Harvest lots of single cell colonies, grow them up on slants and
make mini brews watching, measuring and tasting very carefully. You should
get "beers" in three distinct groups distinguishable by taste, aroma, pH,
time to form kraeusen, time to flocculate, degreee of flocculation, color
etc. If you are really, really lucky you may be able to distinguish the
yeasts by morphology. I expect that only an expert could do that though.
Anyway, at this point you have separated the three strains, can maintain
them separately and blend starters made from them when you brew. Doubtless
more trouble than it is worth.
A.J. deLange Numquam in dubio, saepe in errore!
ajdel at interramp.com
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Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 09:05:21 -0500
From: DONBREW at aol.com
Subject: electric boilers
Uh... Re: the 15 vs 20 amp thread. I just did some quick math vis 13A X
110V = 1430W. Anecdotally speaking I have used _one_ 1500W 110V element on
a 15 A circuit with great success (altho not to boil). Since all of my
brewery/basement has exposed wiring I do touch the cabling to check for undue
heat, however the cable run is quite short (about 4 feet from the branch
box).
Don
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Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 09:21:52 -0500 (EST)
From: Mitch Hogg <bu182 at freenet.toronto.on.ca>
Subject: Distillation: Don't do the crime if you can't do the time
On Thu, 14 Mar 1996 Michael Aesoph wrote:
> A friend of mine has an old still that his grandfather made during
> prohibition. He states that it is not illegal to distill your own
> beverages. Is there any truth to this? If so, is distilling safe? I've
> thought about distilling some of my wine or pseudo-brandy into Brandy.
> Anyone know any good recipes for distilled beverages?
Don't even think about it. Or if you do, for your own sake don't tell anyone
you're doing it. Distillation is quite illegal (at least in the US and
Canada), the primary reason for which is that it is potentially harmful.
The stakes are much higher for distillation than fermentation. To wit, if
you screw up your beer, it tastes bad; if you screw up a distilled beverage,
it could kill you (or at least make you good and sick). In fact, a friend of
mine who runs a wine supply shop was once visited by the police, who
told her that if anyone ever came in even asking about distillation she
was to notify the authorities immediately. She hasn't, of course (I
don't think merely thinking about distilling is illegal yet), but this
shows how seriously this law is being taken. I've even heard horror
stories about police raids on private houses where distillation was
taking place.
In short, leave that still alone. During prohibition, people were far
more interested in booze at any cost than safety, and I doubt your
friend's grandfather's still has aged well. However, if you really want
distilled/fortified beverages, do not despair; there are other, safer
ways to do it. The first option is freeze distillation. According to
Dennis Davison's eisbock article in Zymurgy (winter 1995), freezing beer or
wine and removing the non-alcoholic ice crystals that form is not legally
distillation but "fractional crystallisation", and is perfectly
above-board. The other option is fortification. I have made brandy,
port, and sherry by adding a bottle of grain alcohol or vodka to the
appropriate type of wine.
I hope this advice is helpful, even if it is not what you wanted to hear.
Trust me, I can sympathise. A friend and I were all gung-ho on the idea
of distillation and building a still a few months back (he's a soil
scientist and has access to all the parts we would have needed), but
after a little research we realized it just wasn't worth the risk. We
homebrewers love to play with new gadgets, but I don't think a still
should be one of them.
Mitch.
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Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 09:37:36 -0500
From: PatrickM50 at aol.com
Subject: To "B" or not to "B"...
Congrats to Keith Royster for putting an intro to the HBD on his homebrew
club's web page. Unfortunately, tho it will be helpful to many, it will
still not solve the problem that haunts posters of messages like the
following:
> Please Suscribe me to your list.
The same problem exists for those trying to "Unsuscribe" - both are missing a
key ingredient in their signup/off messages: a properly placed "b". (Or as
in the case of today's edition, an "r" as in "subscibe".)
So Keith, maybe you could add a suggestion to have folks spellcheck their one
sentence signup requests?? ;-)
Now back to brewing,
Pat Maloney
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Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 09:53:12 -0500
From: saunderm at vt.edu (J. Matthew Saunders)
Subject: Brewing in Fishtanks
John writes:
>What are the thoughts of using a 15+ gallon fish tank as a primary
>open fermenter. Or can anyone tell me where to find carboys in the
>10+ gallon range?
John, a few things to consider first.
1) Use a brand new one (this seems self evident but I thought I'd mention it)
2) Do NOT pour any hot liquid at all into the tank. Make sure your wort
is down to pitching temperature. I can think of two reasons.
o The glass is very very likely to crack.
o The glass panes in a tank are held together with a kind of non-toxic
caulking. Heating it could weaken it. It could, perhaps, cause it to
leech into your beer. Yuck!
3) Once its full of liquid, you can't move it. Moving a full fish tank
will weaken the joins and cause it to leak.
4) Make sure that the caulking inside *IS* rated safe for food. Make sure
that the acidic wort won't break down the caulking.
On the other hand, I purchased a 20 gallon food grade Rubbermaid bucket
from a restaurant supply store quite in-expensively a few years ago. Its
sturdy, crack resistant, great for soaking bottles in, moveable (though you
have to be careful when its full....20 gallons of water or wort is VERY
heavy). It makes a fantastic primary for large batches. It was certainly
less expensive than a 20 gallon fish tank and no worries of
breakage/melting caulking/leeching.
Cheers!
Matthew
http://fbox.vt.edu:10021/S/saunderm/index.html/page_1.html
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Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 09:17:51 -0600
From: Scott Abene <skotrat at wwa.com>
Subject: extract brewing (I am kidding please no emails)
So everyone knows how hard it is to brew your first all-grain batch after
brewing with extract. But what about your first extract batch after brewing
strictly all-grain???
How do you lauter an extract brew? I had problems with the sparge going too
fast and the mash seemed... let's just say a little thin.
Where is the actual grain??? I couldn't find it in the lauter-tun. Did it
simply "go to Vegas" or something?
Also, packet yeast (5 gram packet of High quality English Ale)... I couldn't
break the inner seal and it never swelled up like wyeast does. Is this a
problem???
**********On a serious note I was showing someone how to brew their first
beer with an extract kit and I found that after brewing with an all-grain
regiment for many many years I really have no idea how to brew with an
extract (I know it seems easy, but I'm a creature of habit). I just kept
feeling that I was missing something with all those grain procedures missing
from the brewing process***********
Thankyou for the waste of band-width
-Scott "who has new respect for extract brewers" Abene
****************************************************
* Scott Abene *
* skotrat at wwa.com *
* http://miso.wwa.com/~skotrat *
* (Skotrats Official Homebrew "Beer Slut" Webpage) *
* "Get off your dead ass and brew" *
****************************************************
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Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 13:41:50 -0700 (MST)
From: PLACK at elc300.ateng.az.honeywell.com
Subject: Pennies as
Using pennies as weights.
I've been trying to catch up on my digests but I'm still more than a week
behind. Sorry if this is a bit off the subject of beer and a bit late for
the topic.
Here is an interesting way to determine what material your pennies are made
of...
Flip the penny in the air (spinning them end-over-end as fast as possible).
If you hear a ringing sound it is a pre'82 penny therefore weighs 3 grams.
If you don't hear anything than it is a post'82 penny weighing 2.5 grams.
Or I suppose you could just look at the dates (not nearly as much fun).
Matt.
MPlack at Primenet.Com
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Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 11:14:47 -0500
From: dharsh at alpha.che.uc.edu (David C. Harsh)
Subject: CO2 in what form?
Yesterday, I said (based on what my gas cylinder supplier told me) that CO2
wasn't shipped in liquid form. Tracy Aquilla informed me that he sees a
frost line if he takes his CO2 tank out of the fridge and lets it warm up.
Since I couldn't think of anything besides a liquid level that could cause
it, I asked our supplier to fax me a spec sheet. The description starts
off as follows:
"A colorless, liquified, high pressure gas shipped at its vapor
pressure...some research grades are shipped at reduced pressures"
Al K. was right on target. If you do decide to weigh your cylinders
remember that only about 25% of the total weight is the gas so you need to
be accurate.
Dave
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