HOMEBREW Digest #3591 Tue 27 March 2001

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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  RE: don't do this - cracked carboys ("Mr. Shane A. Saylor")
  RE: 240 volt GFI ("Mr. Shane A. Saylor")
  Re: re: More Wide Ranging Questions (VQuante)
  Re: OK, you Oz Brewers (March 24, 2001) (Rob B)
  Franklin, NC ("Jim Hagey")
  Teletimer International control unit (Demonick)
  Adjuncts - KISS is the key... ("dr smith")
  water logged evaporator... ("dr smith")
  Separatory funnel for yeast harvest (stencil)
  Turning Garages Into Breweries ("Mr. Shane A. Saylor")
  Euro Beer ("Braam Greyling")
  Re: American Ale (Jacob Jacobsen)
  Re: Fermentation Temp Blues (Alex Hazlett)
  The Missing Crowd From Down Under ("Phil & Jill Yates")
  Re: Fermentation And Cellar Temp Blues (Steven)
  re: flatulence & pitching yeast ("Mark Tumarkin")
  Thoughts of kegging (Steven)
  RE: Oxygen supply ("Steven Parfitt")
  Maximum rye malt in grist (steven thomas)
  Keg Lube (JGORMAN)
  Aluminum Fermenter ("MacNeil, Sandy G.")
  typing hops (Marc Sedam)
  For Spanish and Portuguese HB ("Info")
  Re: What/If to Plant (Joel Plutchak)
  Re: Fermentation And Cellar Temp Blues (Mike Mckinney)
  pH (Marc Sedam)
  Re: Graham's Disapearance (Jeff Renner)
  1/2 barrel brew kettle & Trub removal (Craig Agnor)
  Brewing Faux Pas ("Hedglin, Nils A")
  misc beer thoughts ("Tom Logan")
  Re: Flamethrowers ("Rob Compton")
  HOMEBREWERS IN UK ("Rob Compton")
  Lychee fruit in a lambic (Socinian)
  Secondary "Fermentation" ("Charley Burns")
  Re: Many Q's (Martin_Brungard)
  oak barrels (EdgeAle)
  trademarked homebrew? ("Larry Maxwell")

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2001 20:50:28 -0500 From: "Mr. Shane A. Saylor" <shane.saylor at verizon.net> Subject: RE: don't do this - cracked carboys > getting one of those spiffy stainless steel cylindroconical (or > whatever) fermenters Um, wouldn't this do the same thing during brewing what happens to beer after being canned? I am, of course, referring to the metalic taste of the drink. Granted, it may not be too prevelant, but its there... Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2001 20:50:26 -0500 From: "Mr. Shane A. Saylor" <shane.saylor at verizon.net> Subject: RE: 240 volt GFI What does one look for in a breaker? What is one supposed to look for in a breaker? Are we (newbies) supposed to look at product quality? Or are we supposed to look at voltage output? Any help here appreciated. :-) Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2001 23:36:35 EST From: VQuante at aol.com Subject: Re: re: More Wide Ranging Questions In einer eMail vom 24.03.01 06:22:57 (MEZ) Mitteleuropaeische Zeit schreibt 'Rob B' <rbyrnes at ozemail.com.au>: > In Australia and the UK, this is called a 'Shandy'. Once commonly a ladies > drink, back from when men occupied the main bar and the Ladies had their own > lounge. (Up until about 35 or 40 years ago this was the way it was in > Australia :) And situation since then has changed, hasn't it? I guess, now the men are occupying the main bar, and the Ladies stay at home, whereto they belong... ;-) Cheers / Zum Wohl / Na zdrowie, Volker Volker R. Quante Brunnenbraeu Homebrewery brunnenbraeu at aol.com Brewing and working in Warsaw / Poland, but definitely a German Homebrewer Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 17:16:38 +1000 From: Rob B <rbyrnes at ozemail.com.au> Subject: Re: OK, you Oz Brewers (March 24, 2001) At 15:15 24/03/2001, you wrote: >Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 00:48:20 -0500 >From: Bob Sheck <bsheck at skantech.net> >Subject: OK, you Oz Brewers: > >What's this? > >http://www.pi55.com/Frame-html.html > >Bob Sheck/ DEA / Greenville, NC As you may have guessed p*ss, is the slang name for beer. Actually, any alcoholic substance gets treated with the title of p*ss. I suppose that this is the typical Australian economy with words. Never tried the "brand name" p*ss though :) Cheers, Rob Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 11:09:03 -0500 From: "Jim Hagey" <hagey at attglobal.net> Subject: Franklin, NC Greetings Collective, I have a friend who just moved to Franklin, NC (actually the remote hinterlands there surrounding). We trying to get him set up as a home brewer as he finds there to be a dirth of drinkables in the land of PBR (as he calls it). He has never brewed on his own before. He has brewed with me on a few occaisions when he lived here but I am an all grain brewer and he wants to start out using extract only (maybe some steeped adjuncts). I have supplied him with all the equipment that he will need (cajun cooker, brewpot, fermenter, transfer buckets, bottles, capper, tubing) with the exception of a chiller. My question to the collective is this. Are there any home brew supply shops within hailing distance of this far flung outpost? Must he go all the way to Atlanta or Charlotte (either is about two hundred miles)? Is there a shop in Ashville? He would like to support a semi local distributor. Any alternatives to mail order? TIA Jim Hagey Beer and Loafing in Kalamazoo Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 08:47:44 -0800 From: Demonick <demonick at zgi.com> Subject: Teletimer International control unit I have a box of perhaps a dozen Teletimer International, Inc., model PM-190-15, Power Modules. I bought them years ago for some brewing application, as suggested by someone, on some online forum. It would nice to know what the heck these things are :-) ? They are about 4" square and 2" deep (4x4x2) with a standard 3-prong plug out the back, and a standard 2 outlet (3-prong) on the front. The whole unit plugs into the wall and then you use the unit's outlets. The unit also has a phone jack on the bottom. The outlets are marked "Uncontrolled" (top) and "Controlled" (bottom). On the back it says, "Use with SM-PW and SM-PW-T Selector". The manufacturer is Teletimer International, Inc., Boca Raton, FL 33487. If anyone knows what these are, I'd appreciate the information. 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 FREE PrimeTab SAMPLES! Enough for three 5 gallon batches. Fax, phone, or email: name, shipping address (no P.O.B.) and phone number. (I won't call. It's for UPS in case of delivery problems). Sorry, lower 48 only. Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 19:35:06 -0000 From: "dr smith" <drsmithhm at hotmail.com> Subject: Adjuncts - KISS is the key... In a previous digest, Nils Hedglin, ponders: >6) To my uneducated brewing eye, it seems like this might recipe >might be a bit bland, only 1 lb of specialy grains & optional aroma hops. >I'm used to using 2-3 lbs of specialty grains instead. I'd like to get >more flavor out of the recipe. Any >suggestions on what grains I might add & what I'd have to remove to balance >it? What would the affect of the different types of >bittering hops be (fuggles vs williamette vs styrain goldings)? First, you've got 3.3lbs of amber malt in there, which is pretty flavorful all on it's own plus the adjuncts. Also chocolate and dark malts have a pretty strong flavor so it don't take much to make a difference. Try putting 1/2lb of roast barley in a pale recipe sometime and you'll see what I mean(took 4 additional weeks of aging to make that one drinkable to my palette). I've actually come around to the simpler is better idea of brewing. Take for example an IPA I just did: 13.3 lbs Muntons Pale 2 row 0.7 lbs 150L Crystal 3 oz 5.5% EKG pellets in the mash 1 oz 11.8% UK Target pellets - 60min 1 oz 5.1% EKG plugs - 60min Notice there's very little adjunct, but I can tell you it's probably too dark to be called a pale and the flavor is anything but bland. Also, if you look at the CACA recipe, it only has 2lbs of (lightly) flavored adjunct. I brewed that recipe last fall and it was one of the best I've done - definately to be one of the recipes this spring, and even then I might try and do my first 10gal batch with that one. I'm sure there are other examples, but I tend to think some of the best recipes are the simplest, and that doesn't just apply to brewing. I'd brew it as is -- leave the adjustments for later if you still think they're needed. Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 19:48:06 -0000 From: "dr smith" <drsmithhm at hotmail.com> Subject: water logged evaporator... Gene Collins posts: >Tuesday, I noticed it seemed warmer than usual and a lot of water in the >lower compartment. I thought it seemed like a lot of >condensate. It turned out that the supply valve to the icemaker >finally decided to flow, dumped water across the evaporator, and >freeze it and the fan solid. Advice: if the icemaker doesn't work, >turn off the water to it. Took me nearly an hour to defrost it all with a >hairdryer. Gratefully, no lost beer! I had this exact same thing happen to a food 'fridge 2 years ago, and that one didn't even have an ice maker installed. The defrost heater had a loose electrical connection and failed. The moisture just built up until the ice prevented the fan from running. I came home from a 2 day trip so I could throw out $100 worth of food :( It's just a datapoint and not all that related, but at least I didn't have to throw out any beer. Finally a big thanks to Forrest for all of his contributions here in the forum -- tearing apart the 'fridge isn't so intimidating after having read all of the in depth explanations he's provided here in the past. Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 16:46:46 -0500 From: stencil <stencil at bcn.net> Subject: Separatory funnel for yeast harvest I just finished capping two bottles of thick tan yeast sludge, with only a few flecks of grist and none of the darker brown break material. The gadget that let me do this is a separatory funnel, American Science & Surplus p/n 91703, seen at <http://www.sciplus.com> (NoAff&YMMVYaddaYadda). The exact procedure I used to get the fermenter sludge into the funnel and thence into the bottles still wants a lot of development, but I'm pretty confident that there's enough healthy yeast in those longnecks to survive anything short of boiling for several months to come. Those who are attracted by the yeast-harvesting benefits of cylindro-conical fermenters but repelled by the price may want to consider one of these $19 marvels. stencil sends RKBA! Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 00:57:09 -0500 From: "Mr. Shane A. Saylor" <shane.saylor at verizon.net> Subject: Turning Garages Into Breweries http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010323/od/beer_dc_1.html Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 09:43:46 +0200 From: "Braam Greyling" <braam.greyling at azoteq.com> Subject: Euro Beer Aaron Make sure they go to Czech Republic. They can go to Prague which is a nice city as well. Also let them do the Brewery Tour in Plzn - the home of Pilsener Urquell. Regards Braam Greyling Snr. Design Engineer Azoteq(Pty)Ltd Tel +27 21 8711730 Fax +27 21 8729973 braam.greyling at azoteq.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 02:44:20 -0500 (EST) From: Jacob Jacobsen <brewer at cotse.com> Subject: Re: American Ale The recipe contains rainwater. I've read that today's rainwater contains lots of pollutants and is not suitable for brewing use. I guess it depends on where you live. I wouldn't use it in my area. YMMV. Jake Return to table of contents
Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 22:41:09 -1000 From: Alex Hazlett <arexu at hawaii.rr.com> Subject: Re: Fermentation Temp Blues Todd, Speaking as a single-digit brewer myself, brewing in balmy Honolulu (where my brew bucket sits is usually high 70s to high 80s), I'd say don't sweat the temp if you're doing the rest of it right. Cooler is better, but the temps in your closet won't ruin an ale or porter (I don't do lagers, 'cause it never gets down to the 50s here) Eventually, you should get more temperature control, because it will make it better, but honestly, just let it go, bottle it, and try it. I was sort of surprised, actually--my first batch survived the temps, as well as a very slow cooldown (hate the icebath-love my new immersion cooler) and no secondary (so it sat on the yeast cake for nearly a month). Alex Hazlett P.S. Some questions for the collective: I'm moving to Texas, to go to Texas A&M- Any Aggie brewers out there? Any big or particularly special suppliers there? (I kmow about St. Pats) For that matter, what are some good Texas beers? > > Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2001 06:03:13 GMT > From: Todd Bissell <bis9170 at home.com> > Subject: Fermentation And Cellar Temp Blues > > I'm the consummate Beginner Homebrewer, with my very first batch > fermenting steadily as I type this. While I was at first agonizing over > the first 24-36 hours of seemingly little activity, I now have bubbles > aplenty. Sounds like good news, right? Well, here's the catch. > > My "cellar" is my dark closet, with the air-temperature consistently > between 72-76 degrees -- which, if I understand it correctly, means the > batch itself is even warmer than that. I've read that with such warm > temp's, I can probably expect to get a rather nasty batch of fusel > alcohol-laced beer in the long run. That probably being the case, would > you recommend still letting the batch run it's course and see if it's > salvageable, or should I be thinking about tossing it? Of course, I > didn't > expect to make the perfect Mild Ale the first time, but I do want to > learn from this newbie mistake. > > Any thoughts on what I can do to cool down my closet, or any other > reasonable location in a small one-bedroom apartment? Running freon > pipes out the back of my `fridge is not an option, but I'd appreciate any > other suggestions...! > > Cheers! > > T.S. Bissell Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 21:27:13 +1000 From: "Phil & Jill Yates" <yates at acenet.com.au> Subject: The Missing Crowd From Down Under Fat Cat and Road Frog recently pondered the strange disappearance of Ozzie input on the HBD. Did Graham's relationship with salties and genital sucking frogs all turn rather nasty? Is he floating around in the swamps of NQ as nothing more than a forgotten piece of salty excrement? Or an over sucked frog sav? Or did SWMBO finally blow the whistle on him and pull the plug on his computer? Those of us in Oz with any brains would have been happy with any of the above. But sadly I have to report that none of the above has occurred. Graham continues on with his ranting and raving but these days seems to prefer an Ozzie audience. It has been suggested that perhaps I gave him such a battering he could no longer face his keyboard. If this was my sole achievement on the HBD I could go to rest knowing I had done you all a wonderful favour. But the truth is that Graham, of his own volition, decided to bail out of here and start an Aussie HBD known as "CraftBrewer". And in so doing he dragged a number of Down Unders along with him. I didn't disagree with the creation of an Aussie HBD, but I predicted it would fragment our electronic Homebrewing community. Sadly it has done just that! It seems odd to me that we have the ability to communicate right around the world, yet we feel the need to form ourselves into little nationalistic groups. Well here in Burradoo, where race nor creed mean nothing (unless you are a Croatian neighbour - but that really is another story) the sound practise of good homebrewing continues, along with reading the HBD. Cheers Phil Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 07:37:25 -0500 (EST) From: Steven <stevensl at mindspring.net> Subject: Re: Fermentation And Cellar Temp Blues I brew in my kitchen and have a interior closet which stays between 70-72 all the year round. While people say its almost too warm i have yet to have any problems with my batches. Steven St.Laurent ::: stevensl at mindspring.net ::: 403forbidden.net /"\ \ / ASCII Ribbon Campaign - Say NO to HTML in email and news X / \ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 07:39:59 -0500 From: "Mark Tumarkin" <mark_t at ix.netcom.com> Subject: re: flatulence & pitching yeast Bill writes on the flatulence issue: >This thread is interesting, but what I want to know is; if I fart while pitching my yeast will I infect my beer? not with fresh farts, but if you reuse them you have to be more concerned with your sanitation practices Mark Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 07:52:02 -0500 (EST) From: Steven <stevensl at mindspring.net> Subject: Thoughts of kegging Hi gang.. As the duldrums of winter are behind and thoughts turn to spring I have begun whimsical dreams of kegging. Never tried it nor seen it done so other than that standing in my way. Corny's seem the best bang for the buck so i'm wondering what a good corny keg setup "should" cost? Several places online have a good spread of pricing, most falling in the $150-$180 range for the most basic (keg, co2 & regulator) to $275-$300. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Steven St.Laurent ::: stevensl at mindspring.net ::: 403forbidden.net /"\ \ / ASCII Ribbon Campaign - Say NO to HTML in email and news X / \ Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 08:02:26 -0500 From: "Steven Parfitt" <the_gimp98 at hotmail.com> Subject: RE: Oxygen supply Ralph Ponders the use of )2 Cylinders >Hello Collective. >Here in Canada we have a chain of Canadian Tire stores. This chain >sells >everything under the sun including tires. In their most current >flyer they >advertise a propane, oxygen cutting welding torch. It is a small unit and >is being sold for about $55.00 Canadian (plus 14%). Can >anyone tell me if >the oxygen bottle would be useable to aerate wort in >the fermenter. Is the >oxygen a food grade? If there is such a >thing.Thanks in advance for your >input. I don't know about "food grade" O2, but you an't have any oil present in oxigen tanks or regulators (nasty exothermic reaction may result). So... I suspectthe tank could be used for wort areation. Seems that BB&MB sells a system based on just this. Use a good in-line filter with it to be safe, and go for it. Steven -Ironhead Nano-brewery Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 08:04:51 -0500 (EST) From: steven thomas <drstrangebrew at mail.com> Subject: Maximum rye malt in grist Greetings-- .Darryl inquired the maximum rye in a mash. I probably came close to attaining the maximum with 60%, in a belgian style wheat where I replaced the wheat with rye. My intent was to see make a fairly dry beer with massive body, using the beta glucans from the rye instead of short-chain starch fragments. The experiment was successful with respect to the design goals, but problematic in that the type of viscosity was a bit off. Beta glucans behave as thixotropic additives, increasing viscosity all out of proportion to the specific gravity they add. The problem is that the beer produced is a non-Newtonian fluid: the apparent viscosity is dependant on how agitated the fluid has been and how recently, and whether the fluid is in mass or in a thin film. I was surprised that people can distinguish between Newtonian and non-Newtonian fliuds in drinking. So, rather than a lush fullness, the beer was full, but with a slippery quality. Entered in competition as a standard belgian wheat the judges knew something odd was going on, but not what. One suspected a bacterial problem of causing the slipperiness despite the absence of off flavors. At 60% rye, the first runnings are the viscosity of pea soup. As the beta glucans are flushed out the sparge rate improves. - --Steve Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 08:10:00 -0500 From: JGORMAN at steelcase.com Subject: Keg Lube I was having trouble keeping the large "O" ring on my corney keg from leaking when at low pressures (pouring beer for consumption). I forgot to turn my CO2 off one night and lost almost a full tank's worth of gas. I was talking with an owner of a home brew supply shop about keg lube to help seal up my kegs. She said that I must be using incorrect "O" rings because if the correct ones are being used there won't be any leaking. Also, I should never use keg lube. I'd like the collective input on keg lube. Where can I get it? Does it have other names? Jason Gorman RiverDog Brewery Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 09:45:53 -0400 From: "MacNeil, Sandy G." <gmacneil at mtt.ca> Subject: Aluminum Fermenter I have a 50l aluminum pot I would like to use as a fermenter. With out opening the Alzheimer debate I would like to hear from others who have or do ferment in aluminum. My main concern is flavor transfer to the wort. Thank you, Sandy Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 09:41:49 -0500 From: Marc Sedam <marc_sedam at unc.edu> Subject: typing hops In principle, typing hops is very easy. Using "standard" genetic tools like microarrays you should be able to type "known" Hallertauer varieties and compare them with your plants. The bad news is that this stuff is very expensive and I don't know where you can find the help. Two suggestions: there's a woman at UC-Davis (Caroel Meredith) who types grape vines. She's done some really interesting work determining the genetic history of famous grapes. Visit this link to the Economist http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=511286 to see what she does. Or try the program in Brewing Science at Oregon State University http://www.orst.edu/dept/foodsci/ Both are good shots at it. - -- Marc Sedam Chapel Hill, NC Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 11:51:15 -0300 From: "Info" <info at alean.com.ar> Subject: For Spanish and Portuguese HB We would like to invite all the Spanish and Portuguese speaking Home brewers to Join a new mailing list called "Cerveza Casera". To join, send a blank e-mail to cervezacasera-subscribe at listbot.com You will receive an e-mail with instructions to confirm your susbscription. The list was started a week ago and now we are 55 Homebrewers. Thanks Mauricio Wagner Buenos Aires Argentina Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 08:48:00 -0600 (CST) From: Joel Plutchak <plutchak at ncsa.uiuc.edu> Subject: Re: What/If to Plant Bob Hall asked: >2) What about insects and disease control/resistance? I fought the good >fight but finally turned over the grapes and raspberries to Japanese >beetles. Won't even bother with the hops if JBs are a big problem. People have reported problems with JBs and hops. However, I've had the varmints on my rose bushes about 25 feet away from my hops, but have never seen one of the bugs on the bines. Incidentally, I can confirm that Cascades seem like particularly strong growers. I also have some Chinook and galena, which also do well but the Cascade outpaces them in growth and production. On another topic altogether, I've merely been scanning subject lines of the digest lately, so it was with some trepidation that I dove back in. I was quite relieved to find that the flamethrower thread was not an offshoot of the flatulence thread. == Joel Plutchak [plutchak at NOuiuc.SPAMedu] Enjoying the barnyard aroma of east-central Illinois Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 09:28:39 -0600 From: Mike Mckinney <mikemck at austin.rr.com> Subject: Re: Fermentation And Cellar Temp Blues Todd Bissell writes: > >I'm the consummate Beginner Homebrewer, with my very first batch >fermenting steadily as I type this. While I was at first agonizing over >the first 24-36 hours of seemingly little activity, I now have bubbles >aplenty. Sounds like good news, right? Well, here's the catch. > >My "cellar" is my dark closet, with the air-temperature consistently >between 72-76 degrees -- which, if I understand it correctly, means the >batch itself is even warmer than that. I've read that with such warm >temp's, I can probably expect to get a rather nasty batch of fusel >alcohol-laced beer in the long run. That probably being the case, would >you recommend still letting the batch run it's course and see if it's >salvageable, or should I be thinking about tossing it? Of course, I >didn't >expect to make the perfect Mild Ale the first time, but I do want to >learn from this newbie mistake. > >Any thoughts on what I can do to cool down my closet, or any other >reasonable location in a small one-bedroom apartment? Running freon >pipes out the back of my `fridge is not an option, but I'd appreciate any >other suggestions...! I also live in a one bedroom apt., and my fermentation temps are about the same as yours. I was also worried about the temp being a bit too high, but my first batch was a mild ale, and it came out excellent. I had no problems with higher alcohols at all, and both my primary and secondary temps were at approx 75 degrees the entire time. However, an easy way to bring down the temp anywhere between 5-10 degrees is to put your carboy in a basin of water, drape a T-shirt over your carboy and make sure the bottom of the T-shirt is in the water. The T-Shirt will wick water up over the carboy and evaporation will provide cooling. If just the basin & T-shirt does not provide enough cooling, use a fan blowing over the T-shirt to get even more cooling. I would go ahead and let your mild ferment out, bottle it up, and give it a taste before you make any changes. If it has some off flavors, then cool down the next batch. - -- mikemck at austin.rr.com Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 10:51:47 -0500 From: Marc Sedam <marc_sedam at unc.edu> Subject: pH I'll take a stab at this, Brian 1. What is the desired pH range for the mash? What I currently believe: 5.2-5.5 **You are correct.** 2. Is that pH measured at room temperature or at mash temperature? What I currently believe: at mash temperature **I used to think you were right, but have just convinced myself that the reading is at room temp. See below. ** 3. If I have a temperature compensating pH meter, and it reads a sample at mash temperature to be pH 5.2, is it saying: a) This sample is 5.2 at mash temperature b) This sample would read 5.2 if you had allowed it to cool to room temperature What I currently believe: Clueless! **If your temp controlled pH meter reads 5.2 in the mash, then it's compensating for the temperature of the mash and giving you the equivalent reading at room temp. Realizing this is what convinced me that my previous thinking about when to measure pH was wrong.** Bottom line: When my temperature compensating pH meter is plunged into that hot mash sample, what numbers do I want to see come up on the display? **None. Let me speak from a little experience and tell you not to ever plunge your pH meter into a hot mash. I've lost two pH electrodes to some thermal abuse. Both fried after about five uses because (I think) I was constantly subjecting them to temps at the top of their acceptable range. Do yourself a favor and create an ice-bath for samples. Take a small sample, crash cool it, and take the reading closer to room temps. Your probes will last much longer. Trust me. Also, be sure to buy some probe-cleaning solution. The wort is an awful environment for a pH meter since it's filled with all sorts of sticky proteins and gums. Your probe will likely last much longer if you clean it of proteins after each reading. A blast with dH2O, a soak in cleaner, then another blast with dH2O will do you well.** **But to answer your question, if it's a temperature correcting meter you want to see 5.2-5.5. If not, I think the temp correction is about 0.2 units at mashing temps.** Cheers! Marc Sedam Chapel Hill, NC Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 10:49:32 -0500 From: Jeff Renner <nerenner at umich.edu> Subject: Re: Graham's Disapearance > >2) A salty, head hunting cod, or genital sucking frog. >If one of these, at least it was fairly quick. Well, not necessarily if it was the latter. J - -- Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, c/o nerenner at umich.edu "One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 10:07:28 -0700 (MST) From: Craig Agnor <Craig.Agnor at Colorado.EDU> Subject: 1/2 barrel brew kettle & Trub removal I'm in the process of constructing a 1/2 Barrel 2-tier setup and have a few questions regarding brew kettle design and methods used for trub removal. One of my goals with constructing this new system is to make trub removal easier and less time consuming than the procedure I currently use. Presently, I pour the chilled wort into a 6.6 gal fermentor, wait an hour or two and rack off the trub once it settles. Generally it takes a while and adds a considerable amount of extra time to the brew day. The design concept I'm toying with is to recirculate the wort while chilling the beer with an immersion chiller (of course, I'll be careful not to aerate the hot wort :) ). At the same time I hope to filter the trub from the wort through the spent hops in the brew kettle. I hope this can be accomplished by using a false bottom/slotted manifold in the brew kettle and pumping the beer from an intake attached to the FB/manifold and returning to the top of the brew kettle. When the wort is cool enough I'll then pump the wort into the fermenter splashing it like mad to aerate it. I'm hoping this will be an improvement over my current method by chilling the wort faster as well as combining the steps of trub removal and aeration. Would the brewers out there who have setups similar to the recirulating- chilling-trub removing brew kettle described here offer some advice regarding how they designed it and how well it functions? Pictures would be great if they're already on the web. Any suggestions for design features that make this work better (e.g. slotted manifold vs. false bottom, pump speed,...etc.) or pitfalls that must be avoided (e.g. with this setup you won't be able to use more than 1/2 pellets or it will clog) would be greatly appreciated. TIA Cheers, Craig Agnor Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 10:53:21 -0800 From: "Hedglin, Nils A" <nils.a.hedglin at intel.com> Subject: Brewing Faux Pas Bottled my Honey Porter & made my Newcastle batch over the weekend. Thanks for all the incredible help & answers. A few things I think I did wrong that I wanted to check on: 1) To prepare the bottling sugar, I dissolved it in some boiling water, then put the water in the carboy I was going to bottle out of. I then racked from my secondary fermentation carboy to bottling carboy. It wasn't until I was about half done racking when I realized I had just siphoned the room temperature beer into almost boiling water. Any idea about how badly I've messed up my beer? At best, I'd guess this would kill the yeast in the 1st part of the beer that got siphoned in. At worst, I'd guess it would make some horrible flavors or aromas. 2) Since I completely forgot about filtering the hops out of my beer with the Honey Porter, I made sure to buy a funnel with a filter screen. But the wort was so thick, it almost immediately clogged the filer & nothing was draining through. I finally gave up on the filer & just racked straight into the carboy. Since I left the hops in, will this in affect be dry hopping? Will it affect the end flavor or aroma of the beer? Also, am I doing something wrong that is leaving the particulate matter still in suspension, making it too thick to filter out? I built a 25' 3/8" immersion wort chiller that worked pretty well. I didn't time the cooling time, but I thought the rapid cooling of the wort (?cold break?) was supposed to precipitate this stuff out. 3) I know I may have asked this before, but I'm kind of concerned about it. In both batches I've made, I've filled the airlock with vodka. But after a few hours, the vodka gets sucked down to the level of the airholes in the floating airlock cap. I keep filling the lock back up, but within a few seconds, most of the vodka will be sucked back down again. I'd assume this is because the wort has cooled down a bit more in my basement, creating lower pressure inside the carboy. Should I leave the carboy upstairs until it starts fermenting so it's expelling CO2 before I take downstairs to avoid this vodka suckage? 4) How removable are the standard office Avery labels from beer bottles? Having struggled with removing the metallic & Samuel Adams labels from the bottles I used, I don't want to use labels that I'll have to struggle with to remove again. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 13:35:58 -0600 From: "Tom Logan" <tdlogan at ksu.edu> Subject: misc beer thoughts Time for my annual post. I brewed an extract stout last Thursday, and have to add Logan's corollary to the old saying "watched pots never boil". Logan's unwatched--unwatched pots boil over. The wort was merrily boiling along so I thought it was safe to go in the house to grab the traditional brewing day cigar. Came back out, barely 2 minutes later and find spooge all over the pot and burner. Just enough to muck things up. Any other good brewing knockoffs of Murphy's Law?? i.e.-"helpful pets at bottling time are not", or "pressure fit hoses attached to bottling bucket will slip off". Don't know if it comes under the heading of Murphy's brewing laws or stupid brewer tricks. I used Al K's recipe from his book. I have been all graining for a couple years but just haven't had time to get a full batch going. (SWMBO priorities, work priorities, grad school, etc, etc, blah blah blah). Used a big starter of Wyeast Irish yeast, 3rd use and it really took off. Had to put a blow off tube on it before I left for the weekend. Looked at it last night and it looked like it had worked itself out, have to check SG tonight. I'm currently drinking a batch of Jeff Renner's Irish American ale brewed over the Holiday break. I had planned to brew it over a year ago but change of job and state delayed it. It was my first step mash attempt, what a circus for me. The next time I brew it, I will use a single infusion mash, and use the CORRECT hops. Looked at the recipe, walked right over to the freezer and pulled out cascade and dumped it in. Don't know why. But it tastes good. Probably shoots the style all to heck but ...it tastes good. Moved back to Manhattan after about 5 years. Miss Jethro's beer at the local brew pub. Those that know him-know the details here, those that don't-check the archives under LABCO. May have to take a road trip to Des Moines to sample the beer. When I lived in Minnesota, I drove by there on a monthly basis, but that was before he had gone back to full time brewing. I too have noticed the turn over of posters since I first subscribed 6 or 7 years ago. Are you still out there, or are you in semi-lurk mode as I? Drop us a note and let us know where your are. Good to see Dave Burley back on line. Going back to lurk mode. Tom Logan Long time lurker, seldom poster. Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science & Management Kansas State University Manhattan, KS 66506 785-532-5964 Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 20:39:36 +0100 From: "Rob Compton" <compton at btinternet.com> Subject: Re: Flamethrowers This is an interesting subject as I have just had a thought of how to get my brew to the boil a bit quicker. I popped into my local army surplus depot and picked up a McDonnel-Douglas F5 Phantom and have routed the exhausts to the base of my kettle. I'm going to give it a try with my next brew on April 1st. My calculations are that it should bring the wort to the boil in a few seconds when the afterburner is applied. I hope the neighbours don't get too upset. Rob. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 20:40:34 +0100 From: "Rob Compton" <compton at btinternet.com> Subject: HOMEBREWERS IN UK Wilf, you don't hear much from us UK brewers because we just get on with the brewing, make a few mistakes, drink them, and try something else. Our colonial cousins however, like to look at the scientific processes and go to the n'th degree of planning, and processing in their hobby. I got lost when someone started mentioning all sorts of chemistry, and passed beyond, water, malt and hops, plus some nice friendly yeast. In my few years brewing my own ales, stouts, and lagers, I have always stood in front of the kit/tackle/brewery(!) like Wile - E - Coyote adding and stirring and making it up as I go along ("Sodium Sodium, Potassium Potassium.....!!!") and followed the basic rules of brewing, and that's it, nothing more, nothing less, maybe I've used some Iodine to see if the mash has finished, but generally I'm patient and give it time to do it's stuff, in the age old fashion of brewing, not the high tech impatient chemical ridden gotta be in the barrel by yesterday world of modern nasty commercial breweries. I supposed the highest tech things I have are my basic thermometer, and my hydrometer. That'll do. KISS as you say in the U.S.of A. Thankee very much lad. Mud in yer eye! Rob. (Oy! You townies, get of moy laaaand!) Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 14:47:03 EST From: Socinian at aol.com Subject: Lychee fruit in a lambic So I've got my heart set on brewing a lambic with lychee fruit. For those who won't know it's an asian fruit with a really flowery nice flavor. Now, I've checked the asian markets and they all tell me that it's only in season for a couple of weeks in june. There's also available canned lychee, but it's in heavy syrup. Now I don't like the sound of "heavy syrup", but I thought I'd see if anyone has any personal experience before I wait three long months to actualize my conception. Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 14:36:28 -0800 From: "Charley Burns" <CharleyBurns at home.com> Subject: Secondary "Fermentation" I just dropped my freshly fermented porter into a keg and popped it into the kegerator at 40F. This instead of the typical transfer to "secondary" for settling and whatever might happen between the yeasts and maltose still in the beer. Is this going to have a detrimental effect on the beer or will the yeast just drop out that much more quickly? Fermentation is done. Started at 1.080 (robust) and stopped at 1.025 (a little high, but it tastes really good). Charley Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 18:07:31 -0500 From: Martin_Brungard at urscorp.com Subject: Re: Many Q's Jay asked several interesting questions: One of the questions dealt with Hop ID for his hops. I don't think that a lab is needed for the ID. You should be able to view the cones and leaves to verify the lineage of a particular hop plant. I just looked at the hop links at www.brewery.org and I saw that there was at least one site with pictures of hop cones and leaves for various varieties. I'm sure I saw some other sites on the web that provide pictures of cones and leaves. Maybe someone else can point Jay in the right direction. Jay mentions trouble with stuck sparges when using a 1 qt per pound mash ratio. He had success when he bumped it up to 3 liters per KG (1.4 qts per pound) I have not used a mash ratio of less than 1.2 qts per lb with my RIMS, but there is only one reason that the mash ratio will matter when it comes to stuck sparges. The reason is that it is important that the liquid surface be above the grain bed. As soon as the grain becomes exposed, the effective stress placed on the grain bed starts to increase and the probability of bed compaction increases. At 1.2 qts per lb, my bed is about an inch below the liquid surface. Your results may vary, but the bottom line is to keep the liquid surface above the grain bed. Looking at the physics of the flow system, the MOST important factor to watch with RIMS is to limit the head (pump drawdown) in the lauter system to a minor amount. I use a sight glass in my lauter tun to monitor the amount of drawdown my pump is placing on the bottom of the grain bed. I find that if I keep the drawdown limited to 2 or 3 inches with a high wheat grain bill or 6 to 8 inches with an all barley grain bill, I can avoid stuck grain beds. The thing to remember is that the point of RIMS is not to recirculate at breakneck flow, but to have enough flowrate so that the wort isn't scorched in the heating chamber. Don't dilute your mash ratio any more than necessary if you are looking to improve the body of your beers. I think that RIMS users can use the info above to see how low a ratio their system can operate at. Don't be afraid to thicken the mash! The problem Jay is having with grain carry through is curious. It is obvious that the perforations in the lauter system are too large, but that is usually resolved by continued circulation. The coarser grain husk and particles set up the filter and the finer particles end up trapped at the top of the grain bed. Hopefully Jay is not stirring the bed. I've seen a lot of systems out there that stir the bed constantly. I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of carry through in these systems. Its OK during recirculation, but the stirring needs to stop during runoff in order to trap the grain fines. Martin Brungard Tallahassee, FL Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 19:53:37 -0500 From: EdgeAle at cs.com Subject: oak barrels HBD, Dave Burley, reminds everyone that in the last century (IPA time) barrels were lined with pitch to avoid flavors and he doubts raw barrels were ever used for long periods of time. In "The London and Country Brewer" (1736) it is mentioned that flavors are derived from the wood barrels and no mention is made of pitch so I assume that the barrels of this time were unpitched. The strong ales of the time were aged for up to a year (I seem to recall I don't have my copy in front of me). However, the discussion of barrel treatment is mostly on how to remove the flavor of the wood because the beer would be ruined by too strong a flavor (so they were probably looking for a solution like pitch at the time to eliminate the wood flavor). Then John Campbell suggests using a gallon of water in a burbon barrel to extract whisky flavor. I would suggest using cheap vodka or grain spirits. I heard of that being done with barrels from the old Seagrams brewery in Waterloo, Ont. during my college days there. Dana Edgell Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 20:03:58 -0500 From: "Larry Maxwell" <larrymax at bellsouth.net> Subject: trademarked homebrew? Finally, a topic on which I can contribute actual knowledge! I feel right up there in the ranks of Fridgeguy, John Palmer and all those biochemists who have managed to apply knowledge from their day jobs. I sent some private e-mail to Jim Bermingham in response to his recent post about someone asking Jim to "cease and desist" from calling his home brewery by a certain name on his web site. You see, when I'm not brewing, I'm a patent and trademark lawyer. You can call your home brewery and your beer any name you want, but that doesn't mean you have trademark rights in it. As a general rule, a name only becomes trademark when one uses it in some commercial way, such as by selling beer under that name or operating a brewery or brewpub under that name. If all you do is brew at home for fun, then whatever you may name your brewery, and whatever you may name the gadgets you build and the beer you brew are not trademarks--they're just names. Because they do not serve as trademarks, anybody else is free to use the same names you do. As with all things legal, there is, alas, far more to trademark law than the general rule that trademark rights arise only from use of the name in a commercial context. But it's the best rule for us as homebrewers to keep in mind. Feel free to private e-mail me if you have a specific question. DISCLAIMER: This is not legal advice, just general information, and discussing it further with me will not make me your attorney (or make you my client, fortunately for you). Larry Maxwell Atlanta, GA Return to table of contents
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