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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  flogging a long dead horse and bulkhead ("Alan McKay")
  volume ("Alan McKay")
  Cleaning CF Chillers (Demonick)
  Trip to Scotland- Report (RobertS735)
  cutting kegs (Mjbrewit)
  Frozen Lager? (Hop_Head)
  thicker ginger beer ("Stephen Taylor")
  Homebrew shop in Endicott NY ("Peter J. Calinski")
  smarter than the average sysop? ("Sean Richens")
  umlauts and keyboards ("Sean Richens")
  Doh! Units foible. (Kraeusening) ("Pat Babcock")
  open fermentation   (the deets) (Clifton Moore)
  really bad batch ("John Herman")


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Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 08:36:30 -0400
From: "Alan McKay" <amckay at ottawa.com>
Subject: flogging a long dead horse and bulkhead


So, anyone still wan't to claim we don't need real pictures?

Mark, your idea sounds great and your description is fine,
but one can't make a silk's purse out of a sow's ear, and
I admire your effort at ASCII text, but I sure as hell would
like to see a picture of this thing :

                ||+
       /------[]||+-}----|
      /       []||+ }    |
 - -----/        []||+ }    |
              []||+ }    |
              []||+ }    |
 - -----\        []||+ }    |
      \       []||+ }    |
       \------[]||+-}----|
            | | ||+   |
Female CPVC-| | | |   |
O-Ring -------| | |   |
Gott Bulkhead --| |   |
Washer -----------|   |
Male CPVC ------------|


Try viewing that in a TrueType font!  Even in Courier I
still don't quite get it since I'm not familiar with most of
the pieces you are talking about.

Mark, if you send me a picture I'll put it up on
the web somewhere.

cheers,
 -Alan



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Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 08:38:19 -0400
From: "Alan McKay" <amckay at ottawa.com>
Subject: volume

> V=L(Pi * R^2) 
>
> Where L is the length of the tube in inches.  

Actually, L is the length of the tube in whatever
units you want to use : inches, centimeters or
Andryllian tarflaks.

cheers,
 -Alan




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Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 08:03:22 -0700
From: Demonick <demonick at zgi.com>
Subject: Cleaning CF Chillers

The post by Brad Miller <millerb at targen.com> about using caustics made
me want to share.  Bleach is a great caustic.

After I am done with a carboy, I rinse well with water, throw in 1.5 cups
of household bleach (7 gal carboys), fill with cold water and cap.  The
carboys sit full of bleach solution until I am ready to use them again.  
It could be 3 weeks.  It could be 3 months.  On brew day, I rinse the CFC
with tap water.  As well as a rinse it fills the system with water as a
siphon prime.  I then siphon out the bleach solution from the carboy
through the CFC.  I join the CFC wort-in and wort-out tubes to create a
closed system full of bleach solution and let it sit.  Then I rinse the
carboy, fill with iodophor, and let it sit.

Sometime during the boil, I siphon the iodophor out of the carboy through
the CFC.  I may collect the solution for later use.  After about 5 gallons
I join the CFC wort-in and wort-out tubing again, and let it sit full of
iodophor solution.  The rest of the iodophor solution in the carboy is
dumped out, the carboy allowed to drip dry upside down for a minute, then
sealed.

Sometime earlier or at this time I boil 1.5 gallons of water for a few 
minutes, then siphon it out of the pan through the CFC as a final rinse.
Again, join the ends of the CFC wort-in and wort-out tubes to preserve
the prime.  The water will cool immedidately upon turning on the CFC
cooling water.  

It sounds like a lot of BS, but all the time is in-between time.  You can
do part of it or all of it the night before, or during the mash, or during
the sparge, or during the boil.  The final rinse water can be boiled at any
time and allowed to sit covered until needed.  Siphoning can run mostly
unattended.  One of the GREAT advantages is that you always preserve the
siphon prime by joing the CFC wort-in and wort-out tubes.  "Joining" them
can be as simple as dropping the open ends of both full tubes into a bucket
of iodophor.  When you need to start the next siphon, just raise both tube
siphon source, lower the wort-out tube, and the siphon starts.  Works the
same when starting the kettle siphon.  You can let the final CFC rinse
water drain into the fermenter or wait for the water to clear the tube
before collecting wort.

You can initially fill the system from the tap.  This means you never
need to suck or blow to start a siphon. 

Domenick Venezia
Venezia & Company, LLC
Maker of PrimeTab
(206) 782-1152  phone
(206) 782-6766  fax orders
demonick at zgi dot com
http://www.primetab.com



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Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 15:34:59 EDT
From: RobertS735 at aol.com
Subject: Trip to Scotland- Report

Friends of the Brew.
I just returned from 10 days in Scotland, and want to make a brief report on 
the beer related things I found.
This may be a heresy, but I can honestly say that found the examples I drank 
to be uninspiring, and generally not very impressive. But then I may have had 
higher expectations than reasonable.
Here is what I tasted: in no particular order. Tennant's Lager, Bellhaven's 
Best Ale, Tomantoul's Loch Nessie, Caffrey's Ale, Guiness, Theakson's Old 
Peculiar, Murfey's Stout, Boddington's Ale, Courage Director's Bitter, London 
Pride Best Bitter, and Bellhaven St.Andrews.

In summary I thought they all had a lighter character, and mouth feel than I 
supposed they would have. The gravity was lighter, and by and large there was 
little hop character at all. The bitters I tasted were bitter only in 
comparison to the other ales. In other words not that dry or bitter. There 
was no significant hop nose.
I suppose "balanced" could be applied to them all, but another way of saying 
balanced is to say they were undifferentiated in nature, bordering on bland.
By far the most enjoyable beer of all was the Guiness. It was as good as we 
have come to think of it as. The next best was the Boddington's- in the 
airport at London Gatwick on the return trip.
As for Scotland- it is a beautiful and wonderful place, but for drinking- 
stick to the whisky. Haggis is as unappetizing as advertised- stay away from 
it too.
Bob the beer man.


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Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 17:35:49 EDT
From: Mjbrewit at aol.com
Subject: cutting kegs

If you are taking the entire top off of the keg (to fit on a stove perhaps) a 
circular saw with a metal cutting blade ($6) is effective.  Wear glasses, 
though and do it in a well ventilated area, there will be lots of sparks.  
Debur with a regular file.  Then simply use coarse sandpaper to finish it 
smooth.  Unfortunately, this does not work if cutting a hole in the top in an 
effort maintain the handles of a sanke keg.  For that use a sawsall, or a 
dremel, or a drill with a cutting mandrel.  You will go through a boatload of 
cutting disks with a dremel or drill,  Walmart sells them fairly cheap.    
Mike Brennan, Chicago
> 
> 


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Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 22:32:53 -0400 (EDT)
From: Hop_Head at webtv.net
Subject: Frozen Lager?

I just checked my lager and would you believe it? It was partially
frozen! Will this hurt it? Do I need to do anything to fix it (Besides
raise the temp.)? Well, I guess my new lager fridge work good!
 Hoppy Brewing 
Jim



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Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2000 19:34:47 +1100
From: "Stephen Taylor" <stephentaylor at one.net.au>
Subject: thicker ginger beer

Hi, 
    I  make a kit ginger beer  this time every year for xmas,
    18 lts, kegged,  agood summer drink but it allways seems
      just a tad too thin when compared to our local brew pubs
      Has any one an idea to thicken it besides reducing water 
      or adding more kit.I was thinking of scooping  some wort 
 out of my boiler next brewup or just doing amini mash of a little 
     pale, has anyone tried this, what about some hops added 
      and alittle ginger powder, iam not keen to go the whole hog
 and grow a ginger beer plant just yet, thanks  in advance
      Steve Taylor, newcastle in oz



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Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 22:13:18 -0400
From: "Peter J. Calinski" <PCalinski at iname.com>
Subject: Homebrew shop in Endicott NY

A few months ago I found a homebrew shop that had some unusual items I was
interested in.   I didn't have the time to look into it then.  Now, I just
tried their URL and it 404ed.  I also tried the phone number (607-785-4233)
and found it was disconnected.

I believe the name was 'West Creek Home Brew" in or near Endicott NY.  Does
anyone know how to contact the owner/operator?

Thanks in Advance.

Pete Calinski
East Amherst NY
Near Buffalo NY



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Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2000 12:44:50 -0600
From: "Sean Richens" <srichens at sprint.ca>
Subject: smarter than the average sysop?

I wonder how many on this discussion group have their access limited by
screening software at work?  I usually do all this from home unless I come
across a great brewing resource by accident (I work in fungal-based
pharmaceuticals so this happens quite frequently).

Of course, we could all come to an understanding to always spell beer "beir"
and brewing "brawing", similarly for heps, yeest, molt, etc.  That should
work for about a year or so, no?

Sean Richens
srichens.spamsucks at sprint.ca



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Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2000 12:57:02 -0600
From: "Sean Richens" <srichens at sprint.ca>
Subject: umlauts and keyboards

FYI, if you don't have a simple way of coding an umlaut for an email, you
don't have to resort to things like adding ":" as if it were a "compose"
character.

The correct way to deal with an umlaut is to add the letter "e" after the
"a", "o" or "u" that wants an umlaut.  At least the Germans will understand
what you mean.

Sean Richens
srichens.spamsucks at sprint.ca



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Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2000 15:10:34 -0500
From: "Pat Babcock" <pbabcock at hbd.org>
Subject: Doh! Units foible. (Kraeusening)

Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to your lager....

I said:

> If that 1/2 cup was dissolved in a pint of water,
> the gravity of the priming solution is 45*.5/.125
> or 180 pp/g. Its contribution to a 5 gallon batch
> would have been 45*.5/(5+1/8)=4.4 pp/g (rounded).
> This can be also be written as 180*1/8/(5-1/8)=4.4.

Doh! The units should not have been pp/g on those two. The gravity of the
priming solution should have read 1.180 or 180 points, and the contribution
to the full batch should have been 1.0044 or 4.4 points. My apologies for
any confusion over my fubar. BTW: PLEASE check the math...

- --
 -
See ya!

Pat Babcock in SE Michigan         pbabcock at hbd.org
Home Brew Digest Janitor           janitor@hbd.org
HBD Web Site                       http://hbd.org
The Home Brew Page                 http://hbd.org/pbabcock

"The monster's back, isn't it?" - Kim Babcock after I emerged
                                  from my yeast lab Saturday




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Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2000 12:31:06 -0900
From: Clifton Moore <cmoore at gci.net>
Subject: open fermentation   (the deets)

I made a comment on HBD about open fermentation that has 
stimulated some interest so I thought I would make a stab at 
providing details.

My boiling keg has the top cut out and a valved tap in the bottom.

As my boiling schedule nears the end I make sure that all the 
tools that will need to be clean are hanging in the boiling wort.  
This includes a long utility spoon, wort chilling coil, thermometer, 
and a strainer.  I also have a sanitized surface to allow for a place 
to put anything that I need to remove from the boil and put down.  
This could be a cookie sheet with an iodoform wash.

I sanitize the valve by running enough wort into a pan that the 
valve is fully submerged.  Cycle the wort back into the kettle a 
few times to assure that the valve is clean and then place a wrap 
of aluminum foil over the valve to keep it clean.  I use a ball 
valve, so there is a captured bit of wort in the ball that will 
sit there until end of primary.  (I am thinking of purging this 
valve early in ferment so that I will at least have some yeast 
in there.  Will the valve stand the CO2 pressure?)

At end of boil I immediately start water flow in the immersion 
chiller.  As the temp falls off I agitate the wort by stirring with 
my strainer collecting as much of the hops as I can.  This prevents 
the vegetable matter from clogging my valve later during run off.

When the temperature goes below 80 deg F. I start O2 injection 
with welding gas pushed through a sanitized fish tank air stone.   
I run the chiller until the wort is down below 65 deg. F. then 
remove from the kettle any other tools that will no longer be used.  

Big yeast pitch time.  I harvest yeast from previous brews, so 
I like to have a big slug of yeast paste to shovel into the wort.  
I have never concerned myself with overpitching yeast.

Give it a good stir and cover the kettle with a pan lid or clean 
rag to keep dust and insects out.

I give it a good stir now and then until a good yeast head forms 
then just let it sit for a few days.

Secondary fermentation is done in unconverted Corny kegs.  
I tend to transfer to secondary early in the ferment so that there 
is still strong turbulence driven by active fermentation.  I know 
that there is a good bed of trub on the keg bottom, and the yeast 
in suspension are active and suitable for future harvest, so off 
they go into Cornys.  I close the Corny but loosen the pressure 
vent to prevent pressure build up.  The kegs are set at an angle 
of about 30 deg off vertical so that the sick up tube is not sitting 
in the middle of the soon to be accumulating yeast bed.  If your 
pickup tube is not centered take note of this and orient the keg 
such that the tube end will escape yeast bed immersion.  This 
is important in as much as this bed is thick enough that it will 
not pass through the tube when it comes to transferring to a 
serving keg.

Let the ferment finish then transfer the product under CO2 
pressure to a clean keg via a hose fitted with an out fitting at 
each end.  After transfer I purge the head space within the 
serving keg and then crank up the pressure to force carbonate.

The source keg / secondary fermenter is now ready for yeast 
harvest and preparation for being a serving keg from the next 
fermenter.  The yeast bed is suspended as well as possible by 
swishing the remains in the keg and dumping into a sanitized 
gallon jug.  I then dispense a bit of the previously transferred 
beer into this keg to finish the yeast purge, swish it about, and 
dump it into the yeast collection jug making an effort to include 
yeast debris at the top of the fluid level left from the ferment 
phase.  This keg is now ready to receive beer from another 
Corny fermenter.

The harvested yeast is stirred up and debris allowed to settle.  
A few cycles back and forth to a second yeast jug yields a good 
clean yeast harvest ready for the refrigerator.

This process requires one extra Corny and a transfer tube.  
Never again will I clean or carry a glass fermenter.

One additional point I should mention is that I use two converted 
kegs to brew with.  One is fitted as a mash tun and both have 
valves at the bottom.  I collect about 20 gallons of wort and 
use both kegs as boiling kettles.  After boil I have about 18 gallons 
between the two kegs.  This goes nicely into four Corny 
fermenters with a little head space.  So with one extra Corny 
for transfer I need a total of five Cornys which at the end yields 
four Cornys with over four gallons in each.

This procedure may sound tedious, but the work savings is substantial 
over the entire life of the brewing process.




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Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2000 22:10:07 -0500
From: "John Herman" <johnvic at earthlink.net>
Subject: really bad batch

I have not had a really bad batch in a while, but I just dumped one.  So why
am I crying over spilled beer?  Because I don't want to repeat the mistake!

I made a brown ale and it had 2 problems.  One was it wasn't brown enough.
That was simple, I didn't crush my chocolate malt enough.  The other problem
was that it smelled like a weizen!  I noticed when I went to pitch my
starter that it smelled like a weizen yeast ( I used Wyeast 1335 British
II ).  I am very good about sanitation, but perhaps I messed up.  Is it
possible that an infection could smell like weizen.  When I tasted my
sample, it tasted like weizen.  Also, the gravity was a bit high, 1.023.
The starting gravity was 1.050 after fermenting for 7 days.  I oxygenated
and the fermentation started within 12 hours.

Any ideas?

John Herman
johnvic at earthlink.net



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