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Contents:
  Sparge and vorlauf distribution & a day at the brewpub (Karen & Troy Hager)
  Re: Food Network Special Today! "Follow That Beer" ("Nick Number")
  Beer in Hawaii ("Charlie Walker")
  re: Copper toxicity ("C.D. Pritchard")
  Re; Subject: Poperinge hop pageant ("Charlie Walker")
  OT : fob ("Alan McKay")
  Oktoberfest food question ("Alan McKay")


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Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2001 09:44:33 -0700
From: Karen & Troy Hager <thager at smcoe.k12.ca.us>
Subject: Sparge and vorlauf distribution & a day at the brewpub



Well, yesterday I got to brew at the local brewpub and since in my last
post, I  mentioned the need for the "big boys" to evenly distribute their
liquor over the grain bed I thought you might like to hear what I saw at the
brewpub yesterday.

It was a fairly standard system to my knowledge as far as brewpubs go - a
full volume brew was 14 barrels (434 gallons). The mash tun was an unheated
vessel about 8 feet in diameter.

For the vorlauf (recirculation) the wort was drained to a float valve
activate grant (about a 1/2 bbl pot) and then pumped up to the top of the
mash tun and entered through a pipe on the top that was located near the
side of the tun. Inside the tun, this pipe (about 1 in. diameter) was bent
so that the stream of recirculating wort would be aimed down the side. There
was NO distribution of the recirculated wort *at all*. In fact, I believe
that it must have created a big channel down the side and through the bottom
screen. Interestingly, the wort cleared up nicely after about 15 minutes of
recirculation - during which they ran, I believe, about 2 bbls through to
set the filter bed and clarify the wort. The wort was not crystal clear at
this point, but it was free of the large chunks of grain seen at the
beginning of the vorlauf.

At this point the sparging started. Here, they pumped water from the liquor
back (HLT) at about 170F through the CIP spray ball located inside the top
of the tun. The ball was about 2 in. in diameter and had perhaps twenty five
1/4 in. holes on the bottom half. These emitted streams of water that
dropped 3-4 feet to the grain bed and did distribute the sparge liquor over
the grain bed evenly. Since the entire tun is closed, I don't believe much
heat was lost with this spray method.

A couple other points of interest that surprised me yesterday... at dough in
 - single infusion, unheated mash tun - the grain and water comes in from the
top at one point and falls about 5 feet to the bottom. You mix the mash BY
HAND with a long paddle as it builds up on the bottom, paddling like a MFer
to prevent doughballs from forming which you can see floating on top. Your
doing this through the 2 ft wide man-hole at the top with cloth and rubber
gloves on and your sweating like a pig, nose runnings and sweat all dripping
down into the mash!!! All this paddling creates quite a bit of splashing
around in what seemed to be a very thin mash. They did not seem to be
concerned about handling the mash so roughly. G. Fix would surely cringe at
all that hot mash flying all over the place.

Another interesting thing I noticed is the small opening for the kettle. The
kettle evaporation is piped up through the ceiling with about a 1 foot
diameter duct which has two 90 deg. elbows with a funnel to collect and
drain the condensation. The duct has a fan in it to pull off more
evaporation. The kettle is heated with steam and doesn't get a very good
roll to it - a low roll would best describe it. At the end of the boil, we
had boiled off 1.5  of 18 bbls giving us just over an 8% evaporation rate.

This is very different from my and other HB setups that I know of. This is
like doing an almost covered boil! With my converted keg kettle and the
propane burners on full I can evaporate up to 1 gal every 30 minutes -
needless to say with a boil that is like a high powered jacuzzi! That
equates to an evaporation rate of about 30%! I might also think that with
such a high evaporation rate much of the hop aromatics and flavors of late
addition hops might be lost in the evaporation...? It seems like there would
surely be a difference between blowing off all those volatiles  with a high
evaporation rate and having them condense on the top and sides of the kettle
and drain back into the boil.

Anyway, there are a million ways to skin a cat and this is just one set up
in one brewpub. I found it interesting though and thought I would pass it
on.

Troy



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Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2001 14:33:27 -0500
From: "Nick Number" <shift3 at alltel.net>
Subject: Re: Food Network Special Today! "Follow That Beer"

Donald D. Lake <dlake at gdi.net> wrote:

> The food network is having a special Saturday at 4:00 pm called "Follow
> that Beer."

This aired last Friday as well.
It's quite good...even the constant presence of Gordon Elliott can't mar it
completely.  They evaluate several Belgian beers, including Rodenbach,
Orval, Leffe, Duvel, and Corsendonk.  The dishes they cook up with them are
impressive.  Don't watch it on an empty stomach.

There were a few gaffes.  Nobody showed Gordon how to pour
bottle-conditioned beer properly.  At one point he dumps one into someone's
glass and shakes it to get all the dregs out.  It wasn't a hefe-weizen
either.

They also did a supposedly blind taste test with an "average guy" on the
streets of New York.  Not only was he able to identify Stella Artois by
name, but he claimed to be able to taste the beechwood in Budweiser.
Talented...


Nick Number.




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Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2001 20:32:51 -0500
From: "Charlie Walker" <charlybill at prodigy.net>
Subject: Beer in Hawaii

I will be in Kona, Hawaii next week. Anyone with some tips on brew places,
beer that I must try while I'm there? We are meeting some family there, so
not sure what the agenda is but will definitely make time for some good
beer. Any tips will be most appreciated.
Many thanks,
Charlie Walker
Lancaster, Texas
NTHB



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Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2001 10:45:14
From: "C.D. Pritchard" <cdp at chattanooga.net>
Subject: re: Copper toxicity

Tony Barnsley asked if 20 feet coil of 3/8" copper in a primary fermenter
as a heat exchanger would cause too high of a copper level and damage the
yeast.  
To assess toxicity, maybe make two starters and put some copper into one of
them and see what happens.

I tried a ~5' coil of 1/4" copper tubing in a 5 gal. Cornie keg fermenter.
The yeast didn't seem affected by the copper.  The problem  was the beer
stone which was deposited on the copper- at least I think it was beer stone
due to the tenacity with which it stuck to the copper and it's color.
Copper inside a SS keg with a good electrolyte isn't too good of an idea
either.   I settled on a heat exchanger made from corrugated SS tubing
liberated from a gas appliance connector.  It's thinner wall and
corrugations make it a better heat exchanger than SS tubing for not much
more money.  Details at http://hbd.org/cdp/kegferm.htm.


c.d. pritchard  cdp at chattanooga.net
http://hbd.org/cdp/   http://chattanooga.net/~cdp/



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Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2001 09:20:03 -0500
From: "Charlie Walker" <charlybill at prodigy.net>
Subject: Re; Subject: Poperinge hop pageant

<From: "matt dinges" <matt_dinges at hotmail.com>
<Subject: Poperinge hop pageant>
<HOMEBREW Digest #3700              Sat 04 August 2001>
    Last week on the travel channel on Travelers, they went to the Poperinge
hop pageant. Unfortunately I missed the first part of the show where they
went to a family owned hop farm. All in all looks like it would be a great
trip.
    On another note, on our way to Hawaii next week we will be stopping in
Oakland,Ca overnite Saturday. It would be great to make it to Anchor but
probably won't have time for that. How about breer, pubs on the Oakland side
of the bay?
Charlie
Lancaster, Tx



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Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2001 16:55:03 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Alan McKay" <amckay at ottawa.com>
Subject: OT : fob

I've always used the word "key fob" to refer to the thing on the
key ring besides the keys and the ring.  Often made of leather but
not always.  You know, you get a free keyring at a trade show and
it consists of the ring, which is just a plain metal ring, and the
fob, which has the logo on it of the company who was giving them out.

cheers,
 -Alan

- -- 
    "Brewers make wort.  Yeast makes beer."
               - Dave Miller
http://www.bodensatz.com/
What's a Bodensatz? http://www.bodensatz.com/bodensatz.html



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Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2001 18:19:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Alan McKay" <amckay at ottawa.com>
Subject: Oktoberfest food question

Hey folks,

My wife and I are going to have an Oktoberfest party this year to celebrate
our 5th anniversary along with our first pregnancy (12 weeks and counting!).
This would be appropriate considering our first date was brewing beer 
together, and our wedding reception was held at the Oktoberfest of the
local (back in NS) brewpub.

Since I've never been to the real Oktoberfest I'm hoping the collective
will be able to give me a list of some tradition foods that are served
there.  And of course I'm only really interested in the real thing -
not the annual replica held in Kitchener-Waterloo or anywhere else on
this side of the pond.  Just really interested in the original in Munich.

So who has been to Oktoberfest and can tell me what types of foods we
should look at serving at our party?

So far I know :
 - beer (duh!)

Thanks all,
 -Alan


- -- 
    "Brewers make wort.  Yeast makes beer."
               - Dave Miller
http://www.bodensatz.com/
What's a Bodensatz? http://www.bodensatz.com/bodensatz.html



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