Homebrew Digest Friday, 13 September 1996 Number 2187
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FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Shawn Steele, Digest Janitor
Thanks to Rob Gardner for making the digest happen!
Contents:
Longshot contest (The Holders)
re: Columbus Hops ("Robert Marshall")
Copper - RELAX! (Andy Walsh)
HELP w/ stuck fermentation ("Paul Kensler")
Scouring SS kegs-thread & old Yeast ("William D. Knudson")
Summary of infection taste cures ((Greg Douhan))
Bolwoff/6.5 gal. carboys (David Whitwell)
Re: 10 gallon Gotts (Scott Murman)
Re: Mash Volumes/Members Only (Don Trotter)
Northdown hops ("Nash,David")
Spruce Beer/Badger Beer (John Penn)
RE: CAMRA II (Bill Rust)
KROC World Brewers Forum (John Adams)
Re:Mash Volumes (Philip Hofstrand)
Re: Badger Beer ((Tim Wauters))
The Great Canadian Beer Robbery (Doug Mewhort)
Grain Volume / Keg OverCarbonation / Airstones / Scrub-a-dub Yer Beer (KennyEddy at aol.com)
Lagering in Corny's ("Gregory, Guy J.")
carbonation balance ((BAYEROSPACE))
Culturing multi-strain yeast (Jacques Bourdouxhe)
To RIMS or to not...? | RE: Who's robbing whom? (Daryl K Kalenchuk)
Raspberry gravity ((Bob Tisdale))
O2 Pressuring. ((Duff Hickman))
Mash thickness ((Bill Giffin))
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: The Holders <zymie at sprynet.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 20:01:09 -0700
Subject: Longshot contest
I was excited when I came home today and noticed a package from
Boston. I opened it and pulled out my T-shirt, bag of hops, and my
score sheets. Could this mean that I will have my recipe changed and
marketed as my own? No, I looked at the score: a 21.
WOW! What happened? I started to chuckle to myself. I got an 18
last year for my Oatmeal Stout, so I decided to enter this years version
to see how it would do. I had already taken it to a club meeting, where
it received good reviews. I started to read the notes: "serious
infections" "foul smelling" "not pleasant to drink" "not drinkable." I
thought maybe it could have gotten infected when I bottled it from the
keg, so I went to my garage and got one of the bottles I saved in case I
needed a "lab analysis." I poured the stout, and, to my dismay, it
tasted great!
I've decided that $5 is a good deal for 1/2 LB of hops and a T-shirt,
but I don't think it warrants wasting three bottles of my brew. Next
year, I'm sending either three bottle of urine, or three bottles of
Boston Lager (recapped of course). I'm not sure which would score
higher.
Wayne Holder
Long Beach CA
Return to table of contents
From: "Robert Marshall" <robertjm at hooked.net>
Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 20:10:49 +0000
Subject: re: Columbus Hops
I kept this info from a long time ago. Figured it would come in handy
some time!!
BTW: If you love the Columbus IPA, you'll go ga-ga over the Blue
Whale Ale!! (Personally I like the BW better, but that's me)
Later,
Robert Marshall
robertjm at hooked.net
- ---------------------------------------------------------
In rec.crafts.brewing, Don Hatlestad once wrote:
[snip].
>Information provided by Hopunion USA..
>Pedigree Undisclosed. Bred and selected by Hopunion USA breeding program.
> Maturity Mid-season to late
> Yield 2250 - 2800 kg/ha (2000 - 2500lb/ac)
> Growth Habit Excellent
> Disease Reaction Field reaction not fully established but similar sensitivity
to downy
>mildew as Galena or Cluster.
> Drying-Baling Dense cones result in some sloppiness.
> Cone-Structure Medium to large tight, rounded cone.
>Quality Characteristics: Lupulin Plentiful, pale to mid yellow
>Aroma Pleasant Alpha Acids 14 - 16% Beta Acids 45. - 5.5%
>Co-Humulone 30 - 35% of alpha acids Storageability Under evaluation
>Total Oil 1.5 - 2.0 mls/100 grams Myrcene 25- -45% of whole oil
>Humulene 15 - 25% of whole oil Caryophyllene 8 - 12% of whole oil
>Farnesene <1% of whole oil
Return to table of contents
From: Andy Walsh <awalsh at crl.com.au>
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 13:42:12 +1100
Subject: Copper - RELAX!
Dave Burley asks the following about copper:
>What kinds of concentration are we talking about? anybody?.
The data I have is that less than 100 ug/l of Cu++ can lead to
definite stale flavours in production lager force aged at
50 C for 4 days (or 5 months or so aging at 23C). This sounds
like quite a high concentration to me.
Note that copper acts on *molecular* dissolved oxygen, which
is not present in the wort boil, so does not relate to HSA.
I was being more than a little misleading in my previous post.
I'm sorry! (The HBD police are letting me get away with
murder these days!)
These experiments were on *filtered* lager, which did not
have the reductive power of yeast available. I suspect that
for all intents and purposes the oxidative effect of copper
on unfiltered homebrew can be safely ignored.
- --
Andrew Walsh CHAD Research Laboratories
Phone (61 2) 212 6333 5/57 Foveaux Street
Fax (61 2) 212 1336 Surry Hills. NSW. 2010
email awalsh at crl.com.au Australia.
Return to table of contents
From: "Paul Kensler" <Paul.Kensler at ix.netcom.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 23:02:40 +0000
Subject: HELP w/ stuck fermentation
I've been brewing for 2 years, and have my first stuck fermentation.
Any related experience or advice is welcome. First, the specifics:
Recipe:
7# pale dry malt extract
1# amber malt syrup
1# honey
1.5# specialty malts (crystal, black, chocolate)
24 IBU's
Wyeast 1056
OG=1.076
Ferm temp=70-74 F
I did a full volume wort boil, and chilled using an immersion wort
chiller. I then poured and stirred vigorously to aerate, and sealed
in a sanitized bucket with lid and airlock. The yeast was cultured
from a 4-month old bottle of homebrew (the dregs were added to a
1/2-pint sterile wort starter, which was later added to a 1-pint
starter). The starters fermented strongly and looked/smelled
healthy. After pitching, I had strong activity in the airlock within
8 hours. 24 hours later, I had more than 1 bubble per second. 48
hours later, it was 1 bubble per 1.5 MINUTES. I am now at day three,
there is no visible activity in the airlock, and the krausen has
fallen. A specific gravity reading shows the beer at 1.046.
Although it tastes OK (ie, no infection or off-flavors), it is
obviously very thick and sweet.
On day three, I moved the fermenter to a warmer location, and
stirred the yeast up off the bottom with a long handled spoon.
What else can I do to get the fermentation going again? My
aeration technique has never caused problems before, even when making
high-gravity recipes. I have never had a problem culturing yeast
from bottles of homebrew, especially after stepping it up in a
starter. I have another batch going, that is almost ready to rack to
a secondary... should I rack the stuck beer onto the OK batch's
yeast dregs?
Again, any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Paul
Return to table of contents
From: "William D. Knudson" <71764.203 at CompuServe.COM>
Date: 13 Sep 96 00:38:35 EDT
Subject: Scouring SS kegs-thread & old Yeast
The best combination for cleaning Stainless Steel is the Scotch brand green
cleaning pads and the yeast dregs from the carboy.
It'll make 'er sparkle like new.
Bill
Return to table of contents
From: gdouhan at mail.wsu.edu (Greg Douhan)
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 21:45:40 -0700
Subject: Summary of infection taste cures
Thanks to all who replied to my last post. The bottom line is that I am
probably screwed but I do have hopes as of yet. People sugested masking the
infected tastes by using the beer for cooking, mixing it with OJ or some
other juice, create a fruit beer out of it since extracts are not too
costly and it's worth a try, and to simply spice it up, call it a Christmas
brew, and hope for the best!
What I have done so far is add a pound of blueberries and steeped in a
couple pounds of dark malts. What was once supposed to be a nice German
wheat ( the other five gallons was beautiful) is now I really don't know,
but its tasting better......
Thanks,
Greg Douhan
Return to table of contents
From: David Whitwell <DWhitwell at wow.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 01:44:52 -0400
Subject: Bolwoff/6.5 gal. carboys
In response to Brian S Kuhl <Brian_S_Kuhl at ccm.fm.intel.com> who shared:
>I agree with bill. I say, why buy a four dollar hose and have to keep
>cleaning and replacing it, when you can buy a BIGGER carboy (ie: 6.5
>gal). Bill's key word is BIGGER. I have never needed a blow off tube
>with this setup, even with ~5.75 gallon batches. The foam rises to a
>thickness of ~5 inches. No problem.
I had to chuckle over this one, based on a near-disasterous mishap I had. I
also use a 6.5 gal. carboy, and retired my 1 1/4 inch blowoff hose in favor of
the extra headspace, until this happened: One night I put my carboy in it's
usual dark corner with!
a 5 gal batch, dry hopped with whole leaf hops, and Whitbread ale yeast (which
I have found since to be _quite_ active) and stoppered with a normal airlock.
My wife gets up in the AM about 1 1/2 hours earlier than I do, and that morning
she came in, wo!
ke me from my hop-filled slumber, and said "Should this thing be whistling like
this?" I arose to find that my airlock was full of foam and trub, and had been
almost completely plugged by hop cones!! When I removed the airlock, I was
rewarded with a ni!
ce "WHOOSH" as the pressure was relased all at once. Fortunately it had not
been under pressure long enougn for too much CO2 to be in suspension, and I did
not end up with a gyser!
I have since pulled my blowoff hose out of retirement, and usualy only need to
use it for the first 24 hours. And so far, the Whitbread yeast is the only one
that I have had foam out through the blowoff hose.
Brew On!
David
Return to table of contents
From: Scott Murman <smurman at best.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 23:30:17 -0700
Subject: Re: 10 gallon Gotts
On Thu, 12 Sep 1996 12:26:06 +0000 "Paul Kensler" wrote:
> I use a 10 gallon Gott, too, and I always (always, unless its just a
> simple 5-gallon single infusion recipe) do my mashing in my boil
> kettle, then transfer to the Gott for lautering and sparging. That
> way, you can measure your current temperatures exactly, and don't
> have to worry about calculating temperatures. Just be careful you
> don't overshoot your target temperatures... When it comes time to
> transfer, I just use one of those 1 gallon "malt buckets", and it
> goes fairly quickly without too much aeration.
This is coming from a malt extract brewer who is trying to figure out
how to move to all-grain. When you transfer from your boil kettle to
your Gott cooler, is HSA really a concern? Aren't you going to lauter
out your wort, and then re-boil and add hops? Or are hops added
already in your boil kettle?
SM
Return to table of contents
From: Don Trotter <dtrotter at imtn.tpd.dsccc.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 07:24:39 -0500
Subject: Re: Mash Volumes/Members Only
Here's the formula I posted a while ago. AGAIN, it is not *mine*, so
the credit goes to the person who reads this and calls me a
plagiarist. There were many other useful formulas in that brewers
original post. See the HBD archives.
Mash volume in gallons = Grain lbs * (0.08 + (Water qt/lb / 4 qt/gal))
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Well, FWIW (<$0.02), it's not a bad idea to limit posting to members
only. Others that wish to get information can rely on private e-mail.
I believe there is more private e-mail going on in this forum than
not. IMHO, there's no ear for the ranting from those who don't
subscribe, nor is there an ear for their stereotyping and namecalling.
If they don't wish to belong, then that's their choice. We need a way
to stop the spamming, solicitation, and other nuisance postings that
occur. Ostracization, on the other hand, will also be possible (that
would hurt).
don
Return to table of contents
From: "Nash,David" <DNASH at cerner.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 07:36:57 -0500
Subject: Northdown hops
>Bill Rust said:
>I just aquired a CAMRA recipe and was doing the conversions to U.S.
>measurements and I came across a requirement for Northdown hops.
>Anyone
>heard of them? I would appreciate any info you guys have including
>alpha
>acid % and a resonable substitute if the hop can't be obtained. TIA.
Well I just looked 'em up and it says 8% AA.
On a similar note, but in reverse, when converting recipes formulated
for US gallons
to our big chunky British ones, how should I convert hop, grain, and
malt extract weights?
I believe 1 US gallon = 4/5 Imperial gallon. Do I just multiply the
amounts of everything by 5/4
or is it more complicated than that?
Dave
- --
Dave Nash- dnash at cerner.com
Cerner Limited
Cresta House
Alma Street
Luton LU1 2PU
+44 (0)1582 20356
Fax +44 (0)1582 459581
http://www.cerner.com "To Automate the Process of Managing
Health"
>
Return to table of contents
From: John Penn <john_penn at jhuapl.edu>
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 10:21:14 +0000
Subject: Spruce Beer/Badger Beer
Just made B & K Black Honey Spruce Beer from Papazian's NJHB book.
Fortunately I cut the spruce essence back to 1/2 oz vs. the 1 oz. in the
recipe as I find the spruce flavor to be very strong. There's about
7HBUs of bittering in the extract recipe, presumably enough to balance
the malt without any real bittering flavor. I can't imagine spruce
being used to "bitter" those "Badger beers" but it is a strong flavor
and you wouldn't want too much bitterness anyway on top of the spruce. I
like the spruce beer but its not for everyone. Also thanks to (I forget
who now?) for pointing out that my 1 cup of honey to prime this spruce
beer was a little excessive. Maybe Papazian in CHB was thinking 8oz of
weight of honey not 8oz volume? I'll try less honey next time.
Return to table of contents
From: Bill Rust <wrust at csc.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 09:27:17 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: RE: CAMRA II
Greeting Brewmeisters,
I got great answers to my questions!
[Q. I came across a requirement for Northdown hops. Anyone heard of them?]
Gregory King wrote:
>Northdown hops are about 8% aa if I remember correctly. In "Brew Your Own
>Real Ale at Home" (Protz and Wheeler) Northern Brewer is listed as a substit-
>ute if you can't find the Northdown.
Tony Babinec wrote (I hope I quoted correctly, the format was a bit screwy
by the time I got it):
>Northdown, bred at Wye College from Northern Brewer crossed with a Downy
mildew-resistant male, is an "aunt" of Challenger and Target. It was
released for commercial production in the early 1970's. It is grown mainly
seeded in England, but on a small number of farms in England and Ireland it
is grown seedless (ie. without any pollinating males). It provides cheaper
alpha
>acid than many traditional varieties, while having excellent flavour
properties.
>
>Brewing Character:
>A hop with a very mild, clean, neutral English flavour, it can be used in
all types of beer, with no harshness of palate, although the quality of the
bitterness it imparts can be a little harder than Challenger. Particularly
with seedless Northdown, the high level of oil makes this a very distinctive
dry hop for full-bodied ales.
>
>Analytical Data: (typical)
> Alpha acid (range)
> 7.0-9.0%seeded
> 8.0-10.0%seedless
> Beta acid (range)
> 4.4-6.2%
> Ratio Alpha:Beta
> 1.6:1
> Cohumulone (% of alpha)
> 31%
> Total Oils,
> ml/100g (dry)
> 1.2.-1.5
>
>Growth Details:
> Area (1995) 360 hectares
> Yield (average) 34 zentner per hectare
> Time of ripening early/mid season
> Storage stability good
> Sensitive to Wilt: susceptible to Powdery mildew;
> some resistance to Downy mildew
>
>Brewing Uses:
> Extracts Yes
> Kettle Hop Yes
> Dry Hopping Yes
> Essential oil/Emulsion Sometimes
Apparently they are available from Brewers Resource, 1-800-827-3983 (NABBB)
and the Home Brewery 1-800-305-4677 (NABBB). Oh, that means No
Affiliation, Blah, Blah, Blah.
[Q. gravity of 1.042 for 11 lbs. of malt?]
Oops, on the advice of Kent Townlty, I rechecked my inputs and discovered
that I made an omission: it's a 23 litre recipe! I've fixed it here.
23 litres = 6.08 US gallons
The only malt listed was 5000g of pale malt
5000g = 5kg = 11.02 lbs
To convert to 5 US gallons: 5/6 of 11.02 = 9.18 lbs
If you get 35 pts/gallon optimal (100% efficiency) per lb. of grain, that
gives 1.064. If we can assume the more realistic 75% eff., that gives
1.048. Depending on the author's extract efficiency, that more or less
explains the SG question. (Be merciful on my figures, gurus, I'm doing this
part from memory...)
[Q. How about the red color? The only listed malt is pale malt.]
Jim Busch wrote:
>The pale malt must be pretty dark if its to be red at only 1.044.
>I would add a touch of caramel 40. A little flaked barley will also
>increase the head if thats desired.
One last issue...
Q. Will 9 lbs of grain mashed at 60 deg. C. (140 F) for 90 minutes produce
an SG of 1.048 (I must assume from the recipe that it was a single step
infusion)?
Skol.
------------------------------------------------
Bill Rust, Master Brewer | Jazz is not dead,
Jack Pine Savage Brewery | it just smells funny!
http://www.i1.net/~wrust | -FRANK ZAPPA
------------------------------------------------
Return to table of contents
From: John Adams <jadams at pipeline.cnd.hp.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 08:32:35 -0600
Subject: KROC World Brewers Forum
_________________________________________________________________
Second Annual
KROC World Brewers Forum(tm)
_________________________________________________________________
Colorado's foremost homebrew club, The Keg Ran Out Club (KROC), in
conjunction with The BIRKO Corporation, manufacturer of brewing
chemicals and sanitizers, and The Napa Valley Brewing Co., 1995 KROC
Barley Wine preference winner, are very excited to bring two world
re-known brew masters to the second annual KROC World Brewers Forum(tm)
Dave Miller
Brew master at Blackstone Restaurant & Brewery and Author of
"Continental Pilsener" and "The Complete Handbook of Home
Brewing."
Fred Eckhardt
Beer historian, homebrewer, beer enthusiast, and Author of
"The Essentials of Beer Style."
Last year's KROC World Brewers Forum(tm) with Pierre Celis and Greg
Noonan offered an excellent opportunity to enjoy beers with
international, national, and local brewers.
Continuing with the tradition this year's event is open to all
interested brewers and beer lovers. Admission will be free, door
prizes will be raffled, and beer will be provided! Seating is limited
to the first 100 individuals so please RSVP to reserve your seat.
______________________________________________________________________
When: 7pm Thursday, September 26, 1996
Where: The Broadway Brewing Co.,
2441 Broadway, Denver Colorado (near Coors Field)
RSVP: (303) 460-1776 (Homebrew Hut) or mailto:j_adams at fc.hp.com
WWW: http://beertown.org/kroc.html
______________________________________________________________________
Sponsored by:
The BIRKO Corporation
The Napa Valley Brewing Co.
The Homebrew Hut
The Broadway Brewing Co.
Return to table of contents
From: Philip Hofstrand <philiph at u.washington.edu>
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 07:38:03 -0700
Subject: Re:Mash Volumes
Greetings, John:
In HBD 2186, you wrote:
> When raising mash temps throught either infusions or
> decoctions, the volume of the mash must be known to
> properly calculate the volume to add/decoct to raise
> to a given temperature. This being said, can anyone
> tell me what the resulting volume of 1 quart of water
> mixed with one pound of grain??
> John Varady
> Boneyard Brewing Co.
> "Ale today, Gone tomorrow"
I have paid pretty close attention to volumes in my all-grain
batches, as I come near the volume limits of my lauter tun on a
regular basis. I've found through four batches that 1lb of grain
will add ~310ml, or 1 1/3 cups (1/3 qt) of volume in a mash, as
long as enough water is in the mash to saturate the grain. This
is constant for any amount of water added, e.g.
1lb + 1qt = 1 1/3 qt
1lb + 2qt = 2 1/3 qt
This number has varied surprisingly little between the batches, so
I'm pretty confident it should work in your system.
Hope this helps,
Phil
- --
Philip Hofstrand (philiph at u.washington.edu), Seattle, WA
In taberna quando sumus, non curamus quid sit humus
When we are in the tavern, we spare no thought for the grave
--Carl Orff, "Carmina Burana"
Return to table of contents
From: tfwmsi at mcs.com (Tim Wauters)
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 96 10:05 CDT
Subject: Re: Badger Beer
Just a minor geographic clarification but in HBD #2185 Rick Olivo states:
>Early in the 19th century, large discoveries
>of lead lying close to the surface of the ground in what
>would later become southeastern Wisconsin encouraged a mining boom that
>presaged the gold rush.
and then tells the interesting history of Badger beer. I'm quite certain
that the area he refers to now lies in present day Southwestern Wisconsin
near the vicinity of Mineral Point, Belmont etc..and not southeastern
Wisconsin. Just a minor point but one that may direct any researcher types
to the appropriate historical society when researching recipes.
Return to table of contents
From: Doug Mewhort <lmewhort at gpu.srv.ualberta.ca>
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 09:21:25 +0700
Subject: The Great Canadian Beer Robbery
Ken Schwartz wrote
> "A thirsty thief hijacked a transport truck loaded with $60,000 Canadian
> ($43,748 U.S.) worth of beer...The truck was loaded with 5,700 cases of
> beer.."
> Less than $8 a case? I don't think the truck driver's the only one being
> robbed!
In Canada a case is 12 bottles rather than 24. So a case of 24 (which we
call that a flat up here) costs about $15can to the brewery after taxes
which is about doubled before it gets to the consumer. The long and the
short of it is the one getting robbed up here is the consumer at about US$20
for a 'case' of 24.
Doug
Return to table of contents
From: KennyEddy at aol.com
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 11:59:57 -0400
Subject: Grain Volume / Keg OverCarbonation / Airstones / Scrub-a-dub Yer Beer
John Varady asks:
"can anyone tell me what the resulting volume of 1 quart of water
mixed with one pound of grain?? "
I don't have the exact figures handy on my work PC but check my web page for
an article containing volume and heat calculations and trivia. Remember that
there are two "volumes" you're dealing with. One is the "apparent" volume of
dry crushed grain; for example, you dump 10 pounds of crushed grain into a
beverage-cooler mash tun and you note that it fills to say 3 gallons. The
other is the "actual" volume which accounts for the air spaces between the
grits. Adding 3 gallons of strike water to this same "three gallons" of
grain results in maybe four gallons total volume. So the 10 pounds really
occupies only about 1 gallon (but check the document for a more accurate
figure -- I think it's more like 0.08 gal [0.32 qt] per pound).
*****
John adds, on a different topic:
"From the charts I have seen you pretty much want to set your pressure to
about 8.2 lbs to carbonate a keg thats at 32F to 2.5 volumes. If you
hook your keg up at 25-30 psi and put it in your coldest fridge (say 40F)
wouldn't you be overcarbonating???"
Left sitting quietly in a fridge, it will take quite a while for the beer to
reach equilibrium (many days). The trick is to "catch" it at the right point
and then relieve the excess pressure. And even if you do overcarbonate it,
you can vent any keg periodically to allow excess CO2 to come out of
solution. None of this happens instantly, although the keg-shaking ritual
and the airstone techniques can come close. I suppose you could
"de-carbonate" an overripe keg by shaking and venting, though this is likely
to result in a beer shower.
*****
Chuck Wettergreen describes a keg carbonation technique using an airstone,
using bubbles "the finer the better" to paraphrase him. What about using
cheap-ass aquarium stones -- boil'em to sanitize and maybe just toss'em after
the keg's done (the bulk stones are pretty cheap). They're made of glass
beads (don't know what the binder material is though). You could just leave
it in the keg. If you're inlcined to spend just a bit more, they also come
in a variety of shapes -- the long wand-like units should offer a beautiful
cascade of fine bubbles to do the trick. Comments anyone?
*****
A. J. deLange has often wondered:
"I have often wondered if the scrubbing of volatiles could be speeded up by
repeating cycles of over-pressurizing followed by venting."
I've heard of people doing this to tone down over-dryhopped beers, so I don't
see why it wouldn't work as you suggest.
A. J. -- would you translate your sig line for us Latin-challenged folks?
*****
Ken Schwartz
El Paso, TX
KennyEddy at aol.com
http://members.aol.com/kennyeddy
Return to table of contents
From: "Gregory, Guy J." <GGRE461 at ecy.wa.gov>
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 96 09:03:00 PDT
Subject: Lagering in Corny's
I've been unable to follow exactly how cornelius keg lagering is done, so
perhaps those knowledgable will critique my past efforts and planned
modifications.
I primary ferment lagers in a carboy in a small fridge for about 2 weeks. I
then transfer to an old, but serviceable corny. I remove the poppet from
the in fitting, and attach a plastic airlock, and lager for a month or so at
40 degrees (the lo temp limit of my fridge controller, the storied %*! at #
Airstat). I then reinstall the poppet in the in fitting, and transfer into
a clean keg for carbonation and, at last, blessed consumption of the
marvelous brew.
I gather that the airlock is not necessary, and if I bleed the keg every
couple of days, I'll be OK. I won't have to screw around with the poppet,
Last time, the %*! at Airstat malfunctioned, and froze my darn secondary.
So, next time, I won't have an airlock, I'll just bleed the pressure. Most
hassles seem to center on airlock maintenance. Will this work? Next time,
I won't freeze the beer, but my Airstat might, again. How will a sealed keg
handle freezing beer?
Your replies are appreciated.
Guy Gregory
GuyG4 at aol.com
Lightning Ck. Homebrewery
Home of the worlds best "vienna beersicle"
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From: M257876 at sl1001.mdc.com (BAYEROSPACE)
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 11:56 -0600
Subject: carbonation balance
collective homebrew conscience:
chris pertschi asked:
<snip> If the carbonating
>pressure and dispensing pressure are different, how do you keep the
>carbonation level constant?
dave miller talks a little about this in his newest book. the idea is to
figure out how much carbonation pressure you will apply (based on the
desired carbonation level at temp.). once you get this value in psi, you
need to balance the system so that the restriction imposed on the outflowing
beer is pretty close to your carbonation pressure. the restriction is
imposed by the dispense hose, the tap, and how far the beer has to "climb"
from the level of the beer to the tap. smaller diameter dispense
hoses impose more restriction than larger diameter hoses. there is also
restriction at the tap. apparently cobra type taps impose very little
restriction compared to other sorts of taps, like permanent ones in bars, etc.
if you don't balance the system, and have a lot less restriction than the
pressure you're putting on the keg, the beer will flow very quickly and you
will end up with excessively foamy beer.
so basically, the pressure that's pushing the beer is the carbonation
pressure you're applying minus all the restrictions. you'd like it to be
a positive value, but not too big.
all this should be considered with the fact that i have only recently
acquired a draft system and haven't used it more than twice. but it's
working fine, using the ideas presented above.
John V asked about carbonation in kegs:
>From the charts I have seen you pretty much want to set your pressure to
>about 8.2 lbs to carbonate a keg thats at 32F to 2.5 volumes. If you
>hook your keg up at 25-30 psi and put it in your coldest fridge (say 40F)
>wouldn't you be overcarbonating???
i think what jim (busch) is doing is setting the pressure intentionally high
and then cutting off the process before it goes to equilibrium. this way
he doesn't have to wait a longer period for the CO2 to dissolve using a lower
carbonation pressure from the table, which is based on equilibrium conditions.
jim, correct me if this is wrong.
brew hard,
mark bayer
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From: Jacques Bourdouxhe <bourdouj at ERE.UMontreal.CA>
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 13:08:48 -0400
Subject: Culturing multi-strain yeast
Hi everyone,
I started to culture yeast about 3 years ago and was quite successful
(not a single contaminated batch and 3 medals at sanctioned AHA
competitions).
I am presently culturing the following types (all from Wyeast):
Irish Ale (very stable )
London Ale
Czech Pils
I would like to culture the British Ale yeast . It is supposed to be
from Witbread ( a multi-strain yeast ).So this is the question:
When I transfer from one agar slant to another,will the ratio of
strain A/strain B change after a few propagations ?
Thank's for any help I could get.
Private E-mail is welcome
Jacques
from Montreal
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From: Daryl K Kalenchuk <dkk886 at mail.usask.ca>
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 11:04 -0600 (CST)
Subject: To RIMS or to not...? | RE: Who's robbing whom?
I'm finally going to move on up to full grain brews and am starting to
design my system. Being an inspiring design engineer(flaming not
appreciated here) I want to spend a little time to get the system done the
way I want the first time, reducing future costs. One decision is whether
or not to include a RIMS in my brewery? I have seen and read of the
advantages of the system (I don't have access to any Zymurgy issues) but
haven't run across the disadvantages (there must be a couple) other than
cost and building time. It seems to be a trade off between reducing brewing
effort and the nostelgia of manually transfering gallons of hot
wort/runnings and hitting correct temperatures.
If someone has a few data points on the subject could they please send them
to me privately, if it's worthwhile I can summarize. Also, is there any
benifit to using a RIMS for sparging?
********
Ken Schwartz writes:
>Less than $8 a case? I don't think the truck driver's the only one being
robbed!
Not sure who you think is getting it here but ya the price is more like
$10.00US a case which is what 12 beer (not beerS) are often reffered to here
in Canada. A US case(24) of cans is often a flat, since it comes on a
cardbord tray but this is changing since the invasion of Budmiller.
Daryl Kalenchuk
Saskatoon
Canada
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From: rtisdale at entomology.msstate.edu (Bob Tisdale)
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 12:50:27 -0500
Subject: Raspberry gravity
Can someone tell me how much 1 lb of raspberries contributes to original
gravity?
Thanks, Bob Tisdale
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From: duff at tam2000.tamu.edu (Duff Hickman)
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 14:35:40 +0200
Subject: O2 Pressuring.
Brewbunch,
With all the talk about CO2 pressurized 2nd fermentation/lagering, I
started thinking.....
I know it's possible (I hear) for yeast to run out of oxygen before running
out of fermentable sugars in high gravity brews (barleywine, scotch
heavies, tripplebocks, meads, etc.) even if the wort is saturated with O2
at the time of pitching (at fermentation temps). What would happen if one
waited until "primary" fermentation had slowed down to a crawl or apparent
end and then siphoned into a corney for further fermentation, then force
"oxygenated" the keg with an O2 tank instead of a CO2 tank? After an
appropriate time for O2 absorption, the pressure could be released and an
airlock (tube into water filled milk jug-type) affixed. Cold beer/wort
means no HSA. Would the resulting yeast activation percolate out any
oxygenation taste/staling effect, and yield a fully fermented and tasty
high alc. brew (assuming the strain of yeast can take high ABV)? Thoughts?
- -Duff
P.S. - I don't own a corney or I would've tried it and reported the outcome.
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From: bill-giffin at juno.com (Bill Giffin)
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 15:29:10 cst
Subject: Mash thickness
Top of the afternoon to ye all,
According to Principles of Brewing Science mash thickness varies between
67 kg/hl to 29 kg/hl or about 1.39 pounds per quart to 0.60 pounds per
quart. A. J. I would guess that your mash was about 0.50 pounds per
quart which is on the thin side.
For most German style beers I dough in with 24 oz of cold water (59F)
per pound of malt after a short rest I infuse with 12 oz of boiling water
to bring me to acid rest temperature of 95F which is held for about 25
min depending on the malt. I then pull a decoction of 35% of the mash,
taking mostly grain and step that through 122F with a short rest. Step
the decoction to 150F with about a 15 min. rest then slowly raise the
temperature to boiling then boil the decoction for 20 min. covered.
I then dough the decoction back into the main mash to raise the
temperature to 122F hold that for 15 min. then pull another decoction of
45% again taking mostly grain and step that to 150F hold for 15 min then
raise the temperature slowly to boiling and boil the decoction for about
15 min uncovered.
I dough this last decoction back into the main mash and raise the
temperature up to around 150F depending on style and allow the mash to
rest for about an hour to 90 min. I then directly heat the main mash to
168F for mash out and go to lautering.
Even starting with a fairly thick or based on PBS slightly more then
average thickness, the mash when it goes into the lauter tun is quite
liquid and I have no difficulty forming a filter bed.
To have an easy time of doing the decoction mashes you have to be able to
control the heat under the decoction as well as having a good decoction
kettle. It is very difficult to do a decoction in a cheap stock kettle
that doesn't have a flat bottom and is hardly thicker then aluminum foil.
Bill
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