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FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Digest Janitor: janitor@hbd.org
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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")
*
* Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy!
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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
/"\
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X
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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
/"\
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X
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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!)
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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