HOMEBREW Digest #3624 Fri 04 May 2001

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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  Barley Wine Yeast Selection/Watney's Cream Stout/California ("Greenly, Jeff")
  Chillen in St. Louis... Hook me up!!! ("John")
  Yeast evaluation (BrwyFoam)
  Beer in Moscow, Russia ("Brangan")
  Air lock in RIMS (MAB)
  Aeration (Nathan Kanous)
  Have a great/safe summer ("Hill, Steve")
  Re: Building your own Oxygenator (Bill_Rehm)
  grain mill roller speed ("Micah Millspaw")
  Hop Utilization ("Hudson, Carl E")
  Glouster - any recommendations ("Jay Wirsig")
  Hop Utilization ("Hudson, Carl E")
  yeast viability/vitality confusion ("Alan Meeker")
  Off Colored Copper (Brad Miller)
  Norcal beers (You Bastards)
  yeast liveliness (Spencer W Thomas)
  Easy Celsius <--> Fahrenheit ("Rich, Charles")
  Thanx ("Axle Maker")
  Question: how much lactose makes a Stout...sweet? (Darrell.Leavitt)
  Re:  RIMS pump running ("Dion Hollenbeck")
  Siebel Scholarship ("Richard Sieben")

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 02:17:16 -0400 From: "Greenly, Jeff" <greenlyj at rcbhsc.wvu.edu> Subject: Barley Wine Yeast Selection/Watney's Cream Stout/California Hello, Friends.. I am laying down a small (1 gal) batch of a barley wine recipe that I am tweaking. I am not sure what yeast to use. I have Pasteur Dry Champagne yeast, Montrachet dry wine yeast, a variety of dry ale yeasts (Edme, Danstar, Muntons, etc.), Wy 1052 (Chico), Wy 1098, and I have what my home brew store owner recommended, a Wy 3787, which seems way out of profile to me, but hey, maybe I can use it for something else. My research into other recipes hasn't been too helpful. I am leaning towards either the chico or the champagne yeast. What do you think? On another note: Watney's Cream Stout was always one of my favorites, and I haven't been able to find it anywhere, either online or in the world. Anyone know what happened to this great beer? Anyone know where I can get it? Lastly: I am going to Southern California (Whittier) towards the end of May for a few days. Any recommendations? Thanks! Jeff Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 02:23:40 -0400 From: "John" <john at ruthsx.com> Subject: Chillen in St. Louis... Hook me up!!! Howdy, Well here I am in a hotel in anytown USA (which happens to be St. Louis this month) and I'm pheenin for a good brewpub/restaurant to wind down in. I've heard a lot about the area near the arch, but I wanted to consult with my kind first. Anybody from St. louis? Where's the best place to go? It'll have to be somewhere where I can entertain clients and enjoy a good pint at the same time. Private email is fine, send to john at ruthsx.com Thanks brewers!!!!!!!! Dr. John Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 04:43:44 EDT From: BrwyFoam at aol.com Subject: Yeast evaluation Nathan asks: > So as of yet not clearly answered is: which would be a more suitable >pitching culture; A)a culture that is 97% alive with 6% glycogen levels >or B) a culture that is 93% alive with 50% glycogen levels? In my brewe4ry and with my beers it is going to be both. In fact my propagation scheme is based on achieving exactly this result. It has been my practical experience that if one collects the "right yeast" from a previous fermentation and repitches it in a timely manner, then the two attribes are consistent; i.e., one will be satisfied if and only if the other is. This IMHO is one of the reasons why people find that yeast make better beer in the second or third generation than in the first. One of course needs to also check for bacterial loading with LMDA (especially the anaerobic version) or HLP. Cheers, George Fix Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 07:21:01 -0400 From: "Brangan" <brangan at msn.com> Subject: Beer in Moscow, Russia I will be traveling to Moscow, Russia in two weeks. Does anyone have any recommendations for local breweries, brewpubs, or good beer bars in the city? Thanks, Jim Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 03 May 2001 08:39:32 -0400 From: MAB <mabrooks12 at yahoo.com> Subject: Air lock in RIMS >>David N Boice <daveboice at juno.com> >>Subject: Air lock in RIMS >You might be reducing the pressure of the liquid enough to reach it's vapor >pressure. Could be a local effect where the static pressure in the vicinity >of a fitting is causing localized boiling at the elevated temperatures. Just >a thought. >Dave Ludwig >Flat Iron Brewery I do believe you have hit the nail on the head. In order to prevent this one would need to insure the flow rate of the pump is in check with the supply rate of the wort i.e. the NPSH (net positive suction head) is enough to prevent cavitation. If the mash is compacted it will reduce the NPSH available and will cause cavitation. Try lowering the pump further below the the mash. Try lowering the pump flow rate(should be able to purchase a rheostat from home depot for this). Try increasing the pipe (tubing) size from the mash tun to the pump inlet & decrease the discharge size. Keep the mash tun thoroughly stirred to prevent compaction. Matt B. Northern VA. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 03 May 2001 07:48:19 -0500 From: Nathan Kanous <nlkanous at pharmacy.wisc.edu> Subject: Aeration Brian Gros asks about the differences between 2 micron and 0.5 micron oxygenating stones and comments "The difference there, I believe, is the smaller bubbles from the half micron stone, but then you have to worry about foaming." Yes, the 0.5 micron will give smaller bubbles. Smaller bubbles mean larger surface area for oxygen to be absorbed into the wort. This is, in my opinion, a good thing. More foaming? I'll bet that both would foam A LOT. I don't see that much foaming with my stone (it came from Liquid Bread with the Oxynator kit). I get some foaming, but it's not going to overflow a 6.5 gallon carboy. I'd bet that if I used a coarser stone I'd get much more foam than with the smaller, but I'm guessing. Hope this helps. Nathan in Madison, WI Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 09:02:45 -0400 From: "Hill, Steve" <Steve.Hill at apfs.com> Subject: Have a great/safe summer Hello all! As the summer is approaching here in the USA and the brewing season is almost wrapped up for about 90% of us, I would like to say to everyone to have a great summer and talk to you this fall. I would also recommend going over all of your brewing equipment, and evaluating those recipes. I know that when I am sitting on the beach this summer drinking a CAP or two or four, I will be reading my heart out. I will also be trying to simplify everything. Like not having to sanitize the bottle caps! Take care, Steve PS. Hey Aussies, hope your brewing season is a great one. Brew it up! Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 08:08:42 -0500 From: Bill_Rehm at eFunds.Com Subject: Re: Building your own Oxygenator Don Lake rants about spending more on building your own oxygenator and not spending less to by the Liquid Bread model. If I buy a torch for $45 and a stone and tubing for about $25 I have invested $70 and I have a great torch and an oxygenation unit. If I buy liquid bread and the torch I will spend $85 (although Liquid Bread is $60 at my local homebrew shop). I don't know about all of you, but I'd rather get 2 tools and save $15 than to get just one if that makes me nuts point me toward the Royal Canadian Mental Hospital (I love drinking beer and playing hockey, even if the organ player sucks!). Or maybe we should all stop building our own all-grain setups and buy systems from Sabco or B3. Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 02 May 2001 16:42:40 -0500 From: "Micah Millspaw" <MMillspa at silganmfg.com> Subject: grain mill roller speed It has been my experience with 'in running nip' systems, which a roller mill is a good example of, that roller surface speed should be be main consideration and them back into the motor rpms from there. That is looking at the speed the circumference of the roller is at, rather than how fast it is turning. With the diameters and surface finish range of most homemade rollers a generally acceptable surface speed range would be 8 to 13 surface feet per minute. As diameters change surface speeds change even though rpm stays the same. Micah Millspaw - brewer at large Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 09:27:11 -0400 From: "Hudson, Carl E" <CEHudson at upslogistics.com> Subject: Hop Utilization I plan on brewing with some hop pellets this weekend. In the past I have always added the pellets free and not in a muslim bag. I have never used muslim bags but it seems like it would ease the filtration process after the boil. My concern is how does this affect the hop utilization? Does anyone know if the hop utilization is affected by using a muslim bag vs. free addition? I am thinking that I might not get the bitterness or flavor I would normally get if I use a muslim bag this time. Personal emails are ok. Thanks, Carl Hudson Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 09:38:30 -0400 From: "Jay Wirsig" <Jay.Wirsig at can.dupont.com> Subject: Glouster - any recommendations I will be visitng Glouster UK area in late May on business. Can anyone provide recommendations on where to eat, drink and stay? I would like to try barley wine, mead and sample some great ales. Private E-mails welcome. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 09:45:37 -0400 From: "Hudson, Carl E" <CEHudson at upslogistics.com> Subject: Hop Utilization I plan on brewing with some hop pellets this weekend. In the past I have always added the pellets free and not in a muslin bag. I have never used muslin bags but it seems like it would ease the filtration process after the boil. My concern is how does this affect the hop utilization? Does anyone know if the hop utilization is affected by using a muslin bag vs. free addition? I am thinking that I might not get the bitterness or flavor I would normally get if I use a muslin bag this time. Personal emails are ok. Thanks, Carl Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 09:54:09 -0400 From: "Alan Meeker" <ameeker at mail.jhmi.edu> Subject: yeast viability/vitality confusion Yeast viability and vitality are important parameters which can profoundly affect fermentation performance and thus the resulting character and quality of the beer produced. Unfortunately, they are often confused, and with good reason as there are no accepted standard means of measuring them and there is overlap in the measurement techniques used to assess the two. The term viability deals with whether or not the yeast is alive while vitality refers to the "vigor," health, or metabolic state/performance of the yeast. Viability is often defined in terms of whether or not a yeast cell is capable of reproducing leading to measurements based on such observations as colony counting on agar plates however, as is the case for my grandmother, you can certainly be alive but also be incapable of reproduction, so others choose to measure viability based on some type of performance criteria measurement such as dye exclusion or due metabolism (methylene blue, crystal violet, fluorescent dye staining) or by other measures of metabolic activity (ATP, NADH, intracellular pH) which indicate that the cell is alive. Vitality is a bit fuzzier concept, although clearly a cell must first be viable in order to possess vitality. Yeast vitality is essentially a measure of the health of the yeast and is assessed with an eye towards predicting its behavior during fermentation. Usually measurements are made to assure that a given parameter is at or above some empirically pre-determined cutoff value, above which good fermentation performance is likely to occur (though this is by no means guaranteed). Many measurements have been suggested and tried including: cell size/morphology, measurement of respiratory quotient (oxygen uptake), fermentation capacity (CO2 production), cellular pH, and cellular glycogen, sterol, ATP and NADH levels to name just a few. Note that some of these are also used as measures of viability in the literature which obviously leads to confusion. - ------------------------------------------------------ Alan Meeker Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Biochemistry,Cellular and Molecular Biology Baltimore, MD - ------------------------------------------------------ Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 08:17:33 -0700 From: Brad Miller <millerb at targen.com> Subject: Off Colored Copper While I was breaking down my system for the "Big Move" I noticed that the copper HERMS coil was pretty discolored on the outside. Not just dull but almost rainbow colored if that makes sense. There was no crust on it or anything but the metal had just become colored beyond what I thought it should be. Normally I wouldn't care since it doesn't touch the wort but it does touch the sparge water. Is this the kind of effect that happens to copper in a still or is the heat just discoloring the metal? Is there anything that I should do to it? Is it safe? Thanks for the help. Brad Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 09:17:01 -0700 (PDT) From: You Bastards <dude_kennysdead at yahoo.com> Subject: Norcal beers Bear Republic is who makes Racer X, as well as some other VERY good beers, it's in Healdsburg, right off the 101. There is an EXCELLENT german style brewery in Davis, Sudwerk. Excellent beer garden type patio, one of my favorite places to drink. Don't miss Anderson Valley, in Booneville. Mad River is another excellent choice (clear lake? can't remember) North Coast (!!), Mendocino brewing company (hopland?), Steelhead (burlingame), Triple Rock (Berkeley), Tied-House (san jose?) are all great spots to hit... There are also great spots that stock many, many local brews on tap, the depot in concord is one of my personal favorites.. If you do happen to be in Davis, check out the cantina, they've got somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 or so on tap at once. Hope that helps! You will not find northern ca lacking in high quality micros, my large beer belly can attest to that! enjoy, brent Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 03 May 2001 15:03:53 -0400 From: Spencer W Thomas <spencer at engin.umich.edu> Subject: yeast liveliness No, this is not about viability or vitality! :-) A bit over a week ago I brewed an Alt-style beer, and pitched a happy culture of White Labs Duesseldorf Alt yeast. It fermented violently for a while. When I checked on it after being away for the weekend, I found it had settled down, but upon racking, it had only attenuated about 50%. I thought that this might be because the cellar was at about 60F, so I brought it upstairs to the kitchen for a few days. I'm happy to report that the yeast revived (as evidenced by a nice layer of foam on top of the beer), and the beer is now attenuated a full 80%. I've moved it back downstairs to let the yeast settle before racking to the serving vessel. So, at least in this one case, incomplete fermentation appears to be attributable to cold yeast. Once it got through the "high krauesen" stage of fermentation, it pretty much stopped. =Spencer Thomas in Ann Arbor, MI (spencer at umich.edu) Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 12:21:03 -0700 From: "Rich, Charles" <CRich at filenet.com> Subject: Easy Celsius <--> Fahrenheit Greetings Brewers, I'm just now catching up on last week's HBD's and had to pipe up about the Celsius --> Fahrenheit schemes. I'm surprised that my favorite way wasn't mentioned so I'd like to offer an easy alternate form that gives the *exact* conversion in either direction. For Celsius to Fahrenheit: Add 40 Multiply by 1.8 Subtract 40 For Fahrenheit to Celsius: Add 40 Divide by 1.8 Subtract 40 Example: 25C --> ??F 25 + 40 = 65 65 * 1.8 = 117 117 - 40 = 77F Example: 158F --> ??C 158 + 40 = 198 198 / 1.8 = 110 110 - 40 = 70C The pattern is simple, add 40, multiply/divide by 1.8, subtract 40. Presto Bang! you get the exact conversion. Since the number of fahrenheit degrees is almost always a larger number than Celsius degrees (above -40F) it's easy to remember whether to multiply or divide for the direction of the conversion. Cheers to Beers, Charles Rich Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 17:12:42 -0400 From: "Axle Maker" <axlemaker at mindspring.com> Subject: Thanx I would like to thank everyone who helped me out with my question about determing Final Gravity. What a great service HBD is. Thanx again, Axle... Axle's Alewerk's Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 18:22:16 -0400 From: Darrell.Leavitt at esc.edu Subject: Question: how much lactose makes a Stout...sweet? Dudes; I recently attempted to brew a sweet stout (I will share the all-grain recipe if anyone would like to see it), and , in looking over the various references that I have ,...I see that Miller (p 227, The Complete Handbook...) suggests (beyond using unattenuative yeast, and 'as high a mash temperature as we dare') that one can use lactose. He says as much as 1/2 pound....Has anyone experience with using lactose ...how much and when? I did put about 2 heaping tablespoons in the boil...and plan on puting more into the secondary (boiled of course)...but am basically not certain either : how much to use and when to use it? ok...I guess that the recipe IS important...if I want to get accurate advice. Here it is: Single stage all grain infusion, 1 rest at 158F for 90 minutes. grain bill was: 5 lb pilsner (weissheimer) 2.5 lb Vienna .5 lb Chocolate pinch of Black malt .75 lb Crystal (Fawcett's) .5 Roasted Barley (in sparge) .25 special B 1 lb Torrified Barley I know .... to many different types of grain...but I got carried away... First runnings were 1.08 boil gravity was 1.048 original gravity was 1.05 any ideas from all you brewers...as to how much lactose...and when to use it...to make a sweet/cream/milk stout? ..Darrell <Terminally Intermediate Home-brewer> Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 17:27:16 -0700 From: "Dion Hollenbeck" <hollen at woodsprite.com> Subject: Re: RIMS pump running My pump runs continuously (well almost). I run it at full bore while doughing in. I pour my grain into the returning wort stream, not using my return manifold, but just a bent piece of copper tubing. Then when done doughing in, I stop the pump, stir the mash to break up compaction, then put on the return manifold and turn on the pump very low. My pump is a 17GPH variety and without this step, the first full bore recirc has really set the grain bed tightly. dion - -- Dion Hollenbeck Email: hollen at woodsprite.com Home Page: http://www.woodsprite.com Brewing Page: http://hbd.org/hollen Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 23:01:46 -0500 From: "Richard Sieben" <sier1 at email.msn.com> Subject: Siebel Scholarship Many of you already know that last year I was the lucky winner of the Siebel scholarship sponsored by the AHA and Lallemand. There will be another scholarship given away this year so be sure to sign up at http://www.beertown.org Last year, there were less than 1,000 applicants, so my chances were a lot better than what you could get with $33 worth of lottery tickets. The deadline approaches for entry, so get it done now! It is really worth the effort. I was brewing pretty good beer before Siebel, now I brew far better beer. Not only does the AHA and Lallemand pay for the two week short course, they also give you $1,000 for living expenses....pretty darn cool if you ask me! Rich Sieben Island Lake, IL Return to table of contents
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