Homebrew Digest Wednesday, 30 October 1996 Number 2255
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FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Mike Donald, Digest Janitor-in-training
Thanks to Rob Gardner for making the digest happen!
Contents:
Useful Info (hollen at vigra.com)
Stainless Steel Fittings ((John A. Carlson, Jr.))
SF bay area beer judge exam (Jeremy Bergsman)
Re: St. Louis Brews - Happy Holidays Homebrew Competition (Sullivan51 at aol.com)
Cracking grains question (Marshall Muller)
Re: How hard to boil and how hard is hard (Joe Rolfe)
Re: All these [none]'s (Paul Mansour)
Re: Experts and HBD (Paul Mansour)
Re: Dry Hopping with pellets (Paul Mansour)
Lowtech lagering and other current issues (michael j dix)
Fermentation chiller ((LaBorde, Ronald))
Re: Dry Hopping (Jeff Hewit)
[none] ()
[none] ()
[none] ()
[none] ()
[none] ()
[none] ()
[none] ()
2 yeast questions ("Mike Mitten")
War of the Worts Homebrew Competition ((Alan Folsom))
1996 Dixie Cup Competition has 982 Entries - Results at www.foam ("Sean Lamb")
The State Of The Digest (Jim Herter)
Collectibles (Cuchulain Libby)
Modifying Refrigerators ("Jeffrey M. Kenton")
re: Beer's Law (Dave Whitman)
Possible stuck fermentation (Vintage Cellar)
Not Again! ("Curt Speaker")
AOB ("Anton Verhulst")
Goodbye (Pierre Jelenc)
Immersion Chiller Study results (Dan Morley)
Re: Possible stuck fermentation (RUSt1d?)
using aquarium heaters for lagering ((Neal Parker))
no digest? ("Jeffrey M. Kenton")
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: hollen at vigra.com
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 96 14:27:11 PST
Subject: Useful Info
I have had to Email out about 20 copies of a document I mentioned on
the Homebrew Digest the other day. So I finally gave in and whacked
together a WEB page that points to a whole lot of useful brewing info
I have written or collected. Hope it is useful.
http://www.vigra.com/~hollen/brewdocs/index.html
dion
- ---
Dion Hollenbeck (619)597-7080x164 Email: hollen at vigra.com
http://www.vigra.com/~hollen
Sr. Software Engineer - Vigra Div. of Visicom Labs San Diego, California
Return to table of contents
From: jac at access.usa.net (John A. Carlson, Jr.)
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 16:34:56 -0700 (MST)
Subject: Stainless Steel Fittings
Does any one know of a good supplier for stainless steel fittings?
I am looking for small sizes (i.e. 1/2" male npt to 1/2" hose barb;
1/2" male npt to male GHT).
Although much more expensive than brass, I wanted to find out if small
ss fittings are even available.
TIA,
- --John
Return to table of contents
From: Jeremy Bergsman <jeremybb at leland.stanford.edu>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 15:59:09 -0800
Subject: SF bay area beer judge exam
One last reminder:
I am hosting a beer judge exam somewhere in Santa Clara county
California on January 18th. I am also putting on a study
session for the test, which starts next week.
If you are interested in the exam, the study group, or
both check out the information on the following web page
or email me directly.
http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~jeremybb/beerstuff/bjcp.html
Jeremy Bergsman
mailto:jeremybb at leland.stanford.edu
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From: Sullivan51 at aol.com
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 19:36:53 -0500
Subject: Re: St. Louis Brews - Happy Holidays Homebrew Competition
*** Competition Announcement ***
and
Call for Judges
1996 Happy Holidays Homebrew Competition
St. Louis Brews Homebrew Club
St. Louis, Missouri
The St. Louis Brews are pleased to announce that our 1996 Happy Holidays
Homebrew Competition will be held on Saturday, December 7.
Our competition has been growing over the years. Last year we had close to
300 entries. Following our competition is our awards dinner featuring some of
the best beer and food that can be found at a homebrew gathering. Not only
do we brew our own beer, but we do our own cooking. After the dinner, we
will retire to Growler's Pub which is just a hop and a skip from the dinner
site. Growler's features a selection of over 130 beers.
If you are competing for Midwest Homebrewer of the Year honors, our
competition closes out the 1996 race. If you think you have a chance to
win, enter a lot of beers. Tom Fitzpatrick and Al Korzonas alone accounted
for more than 150 of our entries last year. Well, actually it was somewhat
less than that but these guys were both on a mission! You too can take part.
We are trying some new approaches this year, one of which is electronic
registration for competition entries and judges. Electronic entry forms,
general competition information and maps are available at:
http://www.biostat.wustl.edu/~jack/hhhc96
Registering your entries electonically provides an advantage for competitors
because:
Registering electronically gets you a price break ($4 per entry instead of
$5)
Registering electronically is easier than manually filling out entry forms
The entry deadline for the competition is November 30th. If you will be
attending our
competition, you are welcome to bring your entries with you, but you must be
registered via the electronic entry form (or manually via the mail) by
November 30. There will be no exceptions. Just remember, if we have your
paperwork, electronically or otherwise, you are entered.
We are also accepting judge registration electonically. While the obvious
advantage to our club is that we have enough judges, there is an advantage
for you also. Registering electronically allows us to ensure that you have
overnight accomodations (Beds for Judges..not the Ritz-Carlton) and that we
have a spot for you at our Awards Banquet which follows the competition.
All entrants and judges are invited and encouraged to attend our competition
and festivities. As mentioned earlier, all the information you need is
available on the website listed above. If anyone has questions or would like
a complete announcement E-Mailed directly to them, please respond to my
E-Mail address.
Thanks and Good Brewing to You All!
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From: Marshall Muller <Marshall.Muller at dsto.defence.gov.au>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 11:38:19 +1030
Subject: Cracking grains question
When cracking grains, what sized particles should I aim for?
e.g. Should each grain be cracked into say 4 pieces, 8 pieces, 32 .....
or maybe someone could point me to a grain cracking FAQ.
TIA
Marshall
Oz
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From: Joe Rolfe <onbc at shore.net>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 20:18:08 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: How hard to boil and how hard is hard
from what i have read about boiling is 10% evap per hour is good.
although you can get by with less say as low as 5% per hour.
but all in all whatever works for you in yours....
as long as it is a rolling boil, in a kettle with no dead spots
you should be fine. i have some calcs from various brewhouses
about the power required to boil but they are not on this computer....
but i think it was relatively low in btu like 30K to 40k btu/bbl
or so depending on the kettle design.
i once spent an afternoon at the local A/B plant, now that kettle
rocks, the upwelling from the steam fired calandria blows wort
up several feet above the surface.
i want one of these.....:0
great brewing
joe
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From: Paul Mansour <pmansour at mansours.com.au>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 10:40:55 -0800
Subject: Re: All these [none]'s
G'day All,
I don't know about you guys but I'm getting a bit jack of all these
[none]'s being posted.
Is it a computer problem or is there some poor, twisted soul out there
sending them in to annoy the crap out of us?!
Cheers,
Paul
- --
Paul Mansour
EMAIL: pmansour at mansours.com.au
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From: Paul Mansour <pmansour at mansours.com.au>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 11:33:34 -0800
Subject: Re: Experts and HBD
G'day all
Re: Experts
It has been said that people contribute to this forum without knowing
"exactly" what they're talking about - I'm glad they do. I'm no expert
but if I know a little bit about a topic I'll continue to contribute
because I have no idea if someone who knows more than I is going to
answer the questions asked. I think this is a great forum because we
can help other home brewers (the salt of the earth!) and learn things
ourselves so I would hate to see a question go unanswered. I'm happy to
read responses from "newbies" because "I'm a big boy now" and can make
up my own mind as to whether I will use the info' or not. If I hear
another response from someone who seems to know more then I can use that
info' instead. The "newbie" responses are usually from personal
experience so I reckon they're as worthwhile as any other.
Am I off the track here? If I am whip me, whip me (and give me salt)!
I'm not trying to "flame" anybody here but really just want to encourage
everybody to get in there and contribute. Isn't that what "forum"
means?
Cheers,
Paul
- --
Paul Mansour MAIL: Lawrence J. Mansour Pty Ltd,
PO Box 109, Burwood, NSW, 2134, Australia
PHONE: 61 2 9747-1777 FAX: 61 2 9747-1177
EMAIL: pmansour at mansours.com.au
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From: Paul Mansour <pmansour at mansours.com.au>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 11:33:57 -0800
Subject: Re: Dry Hopping with pellets
Michael Demers in HBD 2254 asked about dry hopping with pellets.
I only use pellets and always dry hop and have never used a hop bag.
The pellets basically disintegrate and fall to the bottom of the
fermenter. I get good aroma and flavour and don't get much crap in the
bottle if left to settle for a week after hopping.
Cheers
Paul
- --
Paul Mansour MAIL: Lawrence J. Mansour Pty Ltd,
PO Box 109, Burwood, NSW, 2134, Australia
PHONE: 61 2 9747-1777 FAX: 61 2 9747-1177
EMAIL: pmansour at mansours.com.au
Return to table of contents
From: michael j dix <mdix at dcssc.sj.hp.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 96 18:06:19 PST
Subject: Lowtech lagering and other current issues
Living in a small house (no basement), and being essentially frugal
(but not _weirdly_ so), for years I have practiced low tech brewing.
I like lagers, but had no mechanical refrigeration (but _soon_ I will
move to the ranks of chest freezer owners!) So I would brew in January
and February in cool, rainy San Jose. My guiding principle was an
article in an old Zymurgy called "Quick beer". At the time, spoiled
beer was rampant, so the suggestion was to minimize handling by
single-stage fermentation, followed by lagering in the bottle.
Here is a rough outline (please forgive the brand names):
Batch size: 5 gallons
Grinding - in a Glatt mill on the patio
Mashing - step infusion in an SS pot on the stove
Lautering - in a food-grade bucket (ex-Dunkin Donuts) with a Phil's
Phalse Bottom
Boiling - in a 33qt enamel pot on two stove burners (remember to cover
the stove top to prevent stains!)
Wort Chilling - with an immersion chiller, which I slosh around in
the pot for mixing (hopefully without aeration). One hand
holds a darkroom thermometer.
Racking - with a choreboy on the end to strain out the hops, into
a carboy.
Settling and more racking - the "off the trub" thang
Fermenting - with a smack pack of California Common grown in 500ml of
dry ME wort.
Poor man's cold fermentation - (NorCal) winter, in the corner of the spare
room, no heat, a carboy wearing a T-shirt, sits in a Roughneck
tub with 6 inches of water, with a fan blowing gently on it,
with blue ice (changed twice a day) in the tub water.
Not for the forgetful!
Prime, bottle, and fill the fridge up. Remaining bottles have to take
their chances in the spare room. Wait four weeks (the fridge
sits at 38-40F, the room at 50-55F)
A couple of points: I have several ex-Dunkin Donuts (Ropak) buckets around
the home winery/brewery, and even after years of use and TSP cleaning,
they still smell like donut goo (frosting, filling, etc.) The moral
for me is that plastics absorb odors. So be careful where you store
or ferment in plastic. This is one reason I use glass.
Other current topics: I like the HBD on AOB; they do not charge me
a cent to receive it, and servers/e-mail are not free (probably
cost drove the HBD from HP.) I like not having to wait three days
for my message to appear (I think the wait was why the cancel feature
was implemented.) And I like Al K, a pillar of the HBD from the beginning
till now. So many others have left (e.g. Daryl Richman, Kinney Baughman).
Don't drive him away.
Mike Dix
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From: rlabor at lsumc.edu (LaBorde, Ronald)
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 20:47:39 -0600
Subject: Fermentation chiller
Daaaah!
I sent this before and it should have been in HBD # 2253 but that one seems
to have gone to la la land, so I will try again. Please have patience if
this turns out to be a duplicate post.
- --------------------------------------
Hi, brewers
I am in the proccess of developing a new concept in chilling my fermenters.
First, a little reasoning as to why:
I own a 13 cubic foot chest freezer which I have purchased for my
homebrewing and I am very happy with it. I have built an electronic
temperature controller that uses the Radio Shack module. So far this is
similar to many other setups. The problem is that I need more than one
temperature. Need a low laggering temperature, another to ferment ales. So
I was always rationing my temperatures - not a happy affair.
There are plans already to build temp controllers and chambers made
of styrofoam insulation, ice bottles, etc, but I thought I would try a
different approach. It seems in life that there is more than one way to
accomplish something (Mac..PC, SSB..AM, plastic..glass, get the idea!).
Anyhow, what I am doing is to use a 10 gallon picnic cooler that I put the
Corny pin-lock keg into (this is my SS fermenter). Fits real nice, with
room to add water. So now I place my homemade immersion chiller over the
top of the keg and into the water in the cooler. Get it, insulated cooler,
SS keg, and chiller. Now I have a little inexpensive ($20.00) immersible
pump from the fish store. I place this into a smaller picnic cooler filled
with water and ice, (blocks, cubes, whatever). The pump now feeds the
immersion chiller and the outlet hose from the chiller returns to the ice
water. I use a temp controller just as I do for my freezer and it starts
and stops the pump to keep the desired temperature.
I have just thrown this together, and it amazed me that I already had
everything needed. I haven't worked with it long enough to get an idea as
to how much ice will be needed to get me through a 24 hour period. I am
afraid to drill holes into my freezer, but if you had such an arrangement, I
think you could just place a bucket of water into the freezer and use this
instead of the ice cooler.
Have fun brewers.
Still playing,
Ron
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From: Jeff Hewit <jhewit at erols.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 22:28:41 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: Dry Hopping
Mike D. wrote:
"I have dry hopped quite a few american pale
ales with whole hops and seem to get ok results.
Does anybody out there use pellet hops for dry
hopping?? I think I've seen it written that the
pellet hops sink. Is that true?? I'm thinking
of trying an experiment where I dry hop two
identical batches, one with whole hops, one with
pellets and see if there's any noticable difference.
Has anyone already tried such an experiment?? "
I've never tried such an experiment, but have used pellets for dry hopping
and been very pleased with the results. I add the pellets after I have
transferred my beer to the secondary. I usually wait 2-3 weeks before I
bottle. By this time the hops have settled to the bottom along with the
yeast. Works fine.
- ----------------------------------
Jeff Hewit - Midlothian, Virginia
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From: "Mike Mitten" <gnome at PD.Org>
Date: 30 Oct 1996 12:20:10 -0000
Subject: 2 yeast questions
From researching mead in the last few months I'd come to the
conclusion that as long as one uses Champagne yeast, the dryness or
sweetness of the mead depends mostly on how much honey one puts in;
more honey will lead to more sweetness when the yeast finally conks
out. Now I have learned that Wyeast offers, in addition to Champagne
yeast, both "dry" and "sweet" mead yeasts. Does anyone here have any
experience with these? Should I just go with my original numbers (3
lbs. honey per gallon of finished mead == relatively sweet finish) and
use the Champagne yeast? My girlfriend wants a sweet, Tej-like mead,
but I don't know what Wyeast thinks is sweet or dry.
Also, I've been planning on doing a nice Amber Ale followed by a
coffee Porter, both with yeast I'd intended to start from a couple
bottles of Wild Goose (Cambridge, Maryland, USA), but they've recently
stopped bottle conditioning! ;-( Does anyone know what kind of yeast
they were using? I'm contemplating a road trip down there to beg them
for a mason jar full, or something; maybe I should just use Sierra
Nevada instead.
- --
Mike Mitten - gnome at pd.org - Collingswood, NJ, USA Straight but not narrow.
DoD #522 - DoDHS #2 - AMA - ACLU - AHA - NRA Irony is the spice of life.
Bianchi Sika 1995 BMW R100PDC http://www.dorje.com:8080/~gnome
"The revolution will not be televised."
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From: folsom at ix.netcom.com (Alan Folsom)
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 05:42:52 -0800
Subject: War of the Worts Homebrew Competition
This is to announce the second annual "War of the Worts" homebrew
competition, to be held January 18th at the Buckingham Mountain Brewpub
and Restaurant in Lahaska, PA.
"The War of the Worts" is sponsored jointly by Buckingham Mountain,
Keystone Homebrew Supply in Montgomeryville, PA, and the Keystone Hops
homebrew club.
For details contact the competition organizer, Al Folsom, at (215)
343-6851, (or folsom at ix.netcom.com), or Jason at Keystone Homebrew
Supply, (215) 855-0100. If you are interested in Judging or
Stewarding, contact the judge coordinator, Rich Rosowski, at (215)
674-1278 (or richroso at msn.com).
A lovely printed flyer will be available soon with details, but in
short enter two bottles (clean, unmarked), $6 for the first entry, $5
for all subsequent entries accompanying the first. AHA categories will
be used, and all bottles must be accompanied by standard entry forms
and bottle labels.
And we thank you for your support.
Al Folsom
- ------------------------------
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From: "Sean Lamb" <slamb at ghgcorp.com>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 07:45:01 -0600
Subject: 1996 Dixie Cup Competition has 982 Entries - Results at www.foam
TheHouston Foam Rangers Homebrew club survived the deluge of 982 entries
received for the 1996 Dixie Cup Hoembrew Competition. We believe
this number of entries makes this year's Dixie Cup the largest
singl-site competition held in the known Universe. (You might
remember that the Dixie Cup claimed Galactic status in 1992)
The results of the 1996 Dixie Cup Homebrew Competition are now
available on the Foam Rangers Web Site
http://www.foamrangers.com/
Stop by and check us out.
Sean Lamb One of the Happy Humanoids in Friendswood, TX
http://www.ghgcorp.com/slamb
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From: Jim Herter <james.m.herter.1 at nd.edu>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 09:02:00 -0500
Subject: The State Of The Digest
Three years ago, as a new homebrewer, I became acquainted with a very
valuable source of brewing information - the Homebrew Digest!
I can say, without pause, that "It" saved me from the fate of many of my
newly-ordained brewing peers. That fate would be a bad batch of beer.
Because of the timely advice that I could receive, either via a posted
response to the HBD, or direct email, I could make adjustments at various
points of the brewing cycle. These adjustments allowed me to avoid ruining a
batch of beer. I felt comfortable asking questions without fear of
admonishment. I felt assured that the information would be helpful. I cannot
honestly say, in my opinion, that the Digest is that kind of a resource
anymore.
That is not to say that there are not as many knowledgeable brewers posting,
it is simply too difficult anymore to wade through the mire of opinions and
unrelated topics. Some of the best writers and valuable resources of amateur
brewing information are conspicuously absent. The likes of George Fix,
Martin Lodahl, et al, are rarely seen in this forum anymore. To me that's a
damn shame.There are news groups for the express purpose of discussion of
opinion. I don't believe that the HBD is that forum.
I realize that I am guilty here of precisely that which I am complaining
about, but it is only with the hope that it will somehow help the cause of
restoring the Digest to a state of valuable brewing information. It will be
my first and last such post! I will not respond to rebuttals via the digest,
but will respond with personal email.
Hopefully I will look back someday as the successful owner of my own brew
pub and say without hesitation "I owe a great deal of gratitude to those
contributors to the HBD who helped and inspired me as new brewer."
Jim Herter - Business Manager
Notre Dame Food Services
219.631.0113
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From: Cuchulain Libby <hogan at connecti.com>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 08:28:42 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Collectibles
Hello All,
While this isn't exactly a brewing question, it is near and dear to our
hearts. A bottle of Yellow Rose 'Wildcatter's Crude Stout' recently came
into my possession. As I think it's a collector's item, ( They were forced
to drop the 'Crude' and rename it 'Refined' after Texas Brewing Co.- a
contract brewer no less- challenged their use of the word.) is the value in
the label sans contents or does it need to be remain capped?
Thanks,
Cuchulain
Collectible inventory as of 10/30: 1
"eat animals, don't love them"
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From: "Jeffrey M. Kenton" <jkenton at iastate.edu>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 08:35:20 -0600
Subject: Modifying Refrigerators
Hello Gang. I was wondering if anybody out there has plans/ideas for
modifying a refrigerator so it can cool a larger area. I have seen
drawings of plywood extensions which increase the chilled area 100%. I
don't remember anything else about them, however.
Point me to an FAQ if one exists. Otherwise, please email me with your
ideas. I have a seven cubic foot fridge which just barely holds a carboy,
but wanted to hae maybe two in there, if possible.
Thanks in advance
Jeff
Jeffrey M. Kenton finger for PGP public key
ElEd/SecEd 301 Teaching Assistant
N013 Lagomarcino Hall "Information comes, knowledge lingers"
jkenton at iastate.edu - Alfred Lord Tennyson
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From: Dave Whitman <dwhitman at rohmhaas.com>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 09:57:06 -0800
Subject: re: Beer's Law
In HBD#2254, Peter Ensminger gives a nice discussion about Beer's law,
then observes:
> Interestingly, it has been claimed by George Fix, Ray Daniels and
> others that beer (the beverage) does not obey Beer-Lambert (the law).
> Countering this claim, several contributors to Brewing Techniques have
> claimed that Beer does indeed obey the Beer-Lambert Law.
The claims of non-Beer's law behavior I've noticed are for darker beers
like stouts. I suspect the deviation is an artifact of the measurement
technique. Amazingly enough, the human eye has more dynamic range in
sensing light intensity variation than even research grade
spectrophotometers.
SRM is absorbance at a certain wavelength, multiplied by 10. An
undiluted pale ale at SRM 12 (absorbance = 1.2) is already pushing the
limits of *accurate* measurement on most spectrophotometers. Stouts and
porters can have SRM ratings of 35 or more, where no spectrometer can
give accurate results, even though our eyes can tell such samples apart.
A general rule of thumb for good UV/VIS spectrometry is to keep
absorbance above 0.1 and below 1 (SRM 1 to 10). The error of
measurement is minimized in the range 0.2-0.7 absorbance units
(Instrumental Methods of Analysis, 5th edition, Willard, Merrit & Dean;
D van Nostrand; p93).
I'm a chemist, and have done a lot of uv/vis spectroscopy. In my
experience, I see GROSS distortions of spectra obtained on good quality
instruments if the absorbance exceeds 2. Spectra measured in dilute
solution with max absorbance of about 1 show nice bands; more
concentrated spectra have the top of the bands chopped off at around 2
absorbance units into noisy plateaus as the detector gallantly struggles
to get a signal out of very little light.
My conclusion? When using a spectrophotometer to quantify the color of
very dark beers, the best way to do it is to dilute or use a short path
length cell to bring the sample into the 0.2-0.7 absorbance range (2-7
SRM). Estimate color, then use Beer's law to back-calculate the
absorbance before dilution or at normal path length. This should give
more reproducable results, and should quantify differences between very
dark beers that the eye can tell apart, but are too dark to be
accurately measured on a spectrophotometer.
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From: Vintage Cellar <vcellar at nrv.net>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 10:29:46 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Possible stuck fermentation
Hello all,
I brewed 15 gallons of all-grain Triple on 10/22/96. The OG was 1.082. I
pitched 1/2 gallon of Westmalle yeast immediately on cooling and acheived
high kraussen approximately 12 hours later. I racked to secondary on
Tuesday and the gravity was 1.048. It appears that the fermentation has
stopped or has slowed to the point of pain. I have started another culture
of the same strain. Does anyone have any experience with this strain. I
read the The Great Beers of Belgian by M, Jackson that the brewery performs
a 5 week secondary at 46 - 50 F. Should I repitch or wait?
TIA,
Kenny L.
ps. I did a multi step infusion 122 F for 30 min, then raised temp to 153
F for 90 minutes, mashed out at 167 F. Everything went about as well as it
could have.
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From: "Curt Speaker" <speaker at safety-1.univsfty.psu.edu>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 10:36:42 EST
Subject: Not Again!
Is the Miller beer can story becoming the next "Good Times Virus" or
"Neaman Marcus Cookie Recipe" of the HBD???.
It was funny the first 5 times I read it, which was several months
ago :-)
Can't we just talk about brewing?
Perplexed...
Curt
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From: "Anton Verhulst" <verhulst at zk3.dec.com>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 96 10:43:45 -0500
Subject: AOB
Cathy Ewing, Vice President Association of Brewers saiz:
>Upon reading recent postings, I feel it is important to comment that as
>with all corporations our personnel issues are confidential.
I would like to hear Ms. Ewing explain the difference between "members"
and "customers". If people who send dues (note the term) to the AHA are
really members, then personnel issues should not be confidential, IMHO.
If these "members" are really just corporate customers, Ms. Ewing may have
a point.
- --Tony V.
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From: Pierre Jelenc <pcj1 at columbia.edu>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 96 11:00:03 EST
Subject: Goodbye
Time for me to bow out as well. The HBD has become too ridiculous in too
many areas; I just don't have the time to waste.
See you on r.c.b. (where I'll be rcpj at panix.com).
Pierre
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From: Dan Morley <morleyd at cadvision.com>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 09:01:56 -0700
Subject: Immersion Chiller Study results
I just read my post from the Monday HBD (2251) and realized that I stated
"Counter Flow Chiller test" where it should have been "Immersion Chiller Test
Results"
Sorry for any confusion that this may have caused.
The post should be as follows:
Here are the results from cooling my wort with 1) the cold water entering
the top coil first and 2) the cold water entering the bottom coil first.
A few details first:
- - -My wort chiller is 25 ft 3/8" copper coil
- - -The coils are spaced about 1" apart
- - -Volume of both worts at time of cooling was 24 liters
- - -My water supply temp was 44 deg. F
- - -The cold water supply was turned on full for the duration of both coolings.
(this was the only way to keep the flow rate constant)
- - -No other water in the house was running.
- - -The lid was on during cooling. (except where chiller input/output is)
- - -I used 2 floating thermometers. The temperatures were taken from where the
tip of thermometers rest. (This was approximately in the middle of the wort)
- - -I used the stop watch on my wrist watch for the timing.
TOP BOTTOM
Batch 1 Batch 2
Time Temp. Temp.
0:00 206 206 (no stirring)
5:00 138 138 (no stirring)
10:00 100 102 (no stirring)
15:00 88 84 (no stirring)
15:00-15:30 stirred
18:00 84 84
20:00 80 80
20:00-20:30 srirred
23:00 74 74
23:00-23:30 stirred
26:00 68 68
26:00-26:30 stirred
28:00 64 64
Conclusion: This is the normal way that I cool my wort. I do not stir for
the first 15 minutes, then I stir every few minutes. Using this method it
doesn't seem to make any difference on where the cold water flows into the
wort chiller. I would appear that with no stirring at all, that the cold
water entering on the bottom would have a slight advantage, (as indicated
after 15 minutes) I have no idea how a slower flow rate (ie: less water
usage) might effect these findings.
These are just my findings, in my home brewery, under my own test conditions.
Dan Morley
morleyd at cadvision.com
Brewing in the Great White North (Calgary, AB. Canada)
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From: RUSt1d? <rust1d at li.com>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 11:23:09 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: Possible stuck fermentation
>I brewed 15 gallons of all-grain Triple on 10/22/96. The OG was 1.082. I
>pitched 1/2 gallon of Westmalle yeast immediately on cooling and acheived
>high kraussen approximately 12 hours later. I racked to secondary on
>Tuesday and the gravity was 1.048. It appears that the fermentation has
>stopped or has slowed to the point of pain. I have started another culture
>of the same strain. Does anyone have any experience with this strain. I
>read the The Great Beers of Belgian by M, Jackson that the brewery performs
>a 5 week secondary at 46 - 50 F. Should I repitch or wait?
I had this problem with an ale brewed with 1056. The problem seemed to be
caused by racking. I had two 6.75 gallon carboys fermenting at high krausen
when I racked one to use the yeast on another batch. The unsecondaryed one
finished in normal time, but the secondaried one stuck like a pig. My solution
was to open ferment another batch, skim the initial krausen off and discard.
When it rose again, I skimmed it and added it to the stuck batch. The ferment
unstuck and finished within days. This worked well since I use 1056 for most
of my ales and I don't mind open fermenting. Sorry this doesn't answer you
question directly.
The posts that aren't making it into the digest are making it to the undigested
readers (at least me anyway) and we are not seeing any (none) posts. I've seen
several people re-post there non-brewing related material several times. Ack.
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From: NParker at Lockheed.on.ca (Neal Parker)
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 96 11:38:46 EST
Subject: using aquarium heaters for lagering
Has any one used an aquarium heater for controlling lagering temperature?
Specifically I want to use my cold room this winter (that hovers at around or
below freezing) to lager. I'm getting more concerned these days about
the importance of steady temperatures for fermenting
so I really don't want to leave the carboy in there for a month or so and
have to take what I get with temperature.
I'd use the carboy in water in garbage pail technique. I suspect the
thermostat on the heater only goes to 50 F or so.
Neal Parker, M.Sc., P.Eng.
Mechanical Engineer
Lockheed Martin Canada
3001 Solandt Road, Kanata, Ontario, Canada, K2K 2M8
voice: (613) 599-3270 ext. 269
fax: (613) 599-3282
nparker at lockheed.on.ca
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From: "Jeffrey M. Kenton" <jkenton at iastate.edu>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 11:30:45 -0600
Subject: no digest?
I haven't received any digests for two days. Is there a problem?
Jeffrey M. Kenton finger for PGP public key
ElEd/SecEd 301 Teaching Assistant
N013 Lagomarcino Hall "Information comes, knowledge lingers"
jkenton at iastate.edu - Alfred Lord Tennyson
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