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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  High terminal gravity blues (Stephen Johnson)
  re how did you start all grain (Ken Pendergrass)
  Whirlygigs are silly ("The Holders")
  Re: Hop tea / Ringwood yeast (Daniel Chisholm)
  All-Grain Equipment Issues ("gmc")
  Listerman's Mashing Instructions ("Doug Hurst")
  Stepping up 'pitchable' tubes (Dave Riedel)
  SSotS IPA ("Jason Henning")
   (Bill Frazier)
  re: How Did You Start All-Grain? ("Mercer, David")
  seed barley ("Steve Alexander")
  re: Keeping DME Dry ("Rogers, Mike")
  Re: First AG - 6% Beer in Ga. (Julio Canseco)
  Re: Keep Your Powder Dry (Martin_Brungard)
  RE: Keep your powder dry ("Steven Parfitt")
  Counter Pressure Bottle Filler (Erik Nelson)
  First All-grain (Nathan Kanous)
  Phil's sparge arms ("Christopher T. Ivey")
  Dry malt extract (Marc Sedam)
  March Mashness Homebrew Competition ("Erik A. Nelson")
  Boston Homebrew Competition, two weeks to the entry deadline! ("John B. Doherty")
  Re: Keep Your Powder Dry ("Pete Calinski")
  Re: How Did You Start All-Grain? ("Darren Gaylor")
  re: Keep Your Powder Dry (susan woodall)
  kegs (Phil Wilcox)
  water analysis (Himsbrew)
  Belgian Candi Sugar ("Mark E. Hogenmiller")
  Working for the weekend ("Dennis Lewis")
  Grain Mill Feedback Requested (Rod Tussing)


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Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 13:23:17 -0600
From: Stephen Johnson <Stephen.Johnson at vanderbilt.edu>
Subject: High terminal gravity blues

In HBD #3840, John Frazer of NWExternal at Nationwide.com provides us with
some information about his concerns about his fermentations. Our club often
gets asked this sort of question, and most of the time I have to ask a few
more of my own to get more information from the brewer to be able to help
them out. Maybe John can provide a few more details for us regarding his
brewing:

1) What is the temperature where you typically have your fermentor placed,
and is it sitting on a cold surface (e.g., a concrete floor in the basement)?

2) What yeast quantities are you pitching? You mentioned several types of
yeast, and some of them may be of different amounts and/or viability
depending on your yeast procedures. Nottingham is usually in dried form,
and are you pitching 1 packet, 2, or more? The others might be in liquid
form in various sized-containers.

3) Are you making any starters with any of the yeasts? This is related to
question #2

4) How long are you aerating your wort? Since you are relying on air rather
than pure O2 for your aeration, this can be a factor.

5) What is the temperature of the wort when pitching, and what is the
temperature of the yeast when pitching? If your wort is too cold and your
yeast starter is too warm, you may be shocking the yeast, and it takes a
while to get going. If your wort continues to stay too cold for the range
recommended for that particular yeast strain, they may not have a chance to
do their best at fermenting your wort. I've found that the Edinburg strain
is particularly sluggish at temps below 64F.

6) What kind of vessel are you fermenting in? There have been some
discussions here in the past about fermentor geometry (the conical thread
is well-documented in the archives) having some bearing on yeast performance.

>From my experience, some or all of these questions might provide some clues
as to why you might be having some problems with your fermentation terminal
gravities.

Finally, I often suggest to our club brewers who are having yeast problems
to try a large dose of yeast (1 pt. to 1 qt. of slurry) from one of our
local brewpubs (Boscos and Blackstone) here in Nashville, TN; 9 times out
of 10, this solves most, if not all of their yeast related concerns. Lag
times of less than an hour are not uncommon, and complaints in the other
direction of too low a terminal gravity are often heard!

And one final friendly reminder to John is to let us know where you are
from. Some times that information can help in answering questions or
clueing the collective in on recommending some additional resources. Who
knows, maybe you live in Nashville and I could get you introduced to the
brewpubs here in town and get you on the "Fresh Wyeast 1056 bandwagon" for
some of your beers!

Steve Johnson, President
Music City Brewers
Nashville, TN
(6980.2, 7.7) Apparent Rennerian




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Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 18:54:57 -0500
From: Ken Pendergrass <kenp794 at earthlink.net>
Subject: re how did you start all grain

Hi,
I think Millers instructions are the easiest to follow. I used his book
and made a couple of improvements on equipment. First for the lauter tun
I drilled a few hundred 1/8" holes in the bottom of a plastic bucket and
cut the bottom off the bucket. Put this part only of the bucket inside
the second bucket with the faucet on it. You can rig this so that it
sets right on top of the faucet. Which is better because it requires
less liquor in the tun as there is no dead space in between. Second for
the mash tun I made a box of a sheet of Celotex building foam. Just tape
it together with duct tape to fit your kettle. This will hold temp. for
around 90 min. Which is great as I never mash longer than an hour. This
really is more fun and it is really brewing the old fashioned  way.
Ken



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Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 15:15:10 -0800
From: "The Holders" <zymie at charter.net>
Subject: Whirlygigs are silly

Gene states:

"I have a three level brew tree and I am using a 8" Phil's sparge arm. My
problem is that my sparge arm stops turning when I'm trying to sparge. I
don't know if it defective or if I just don't have enough gravity drop from
my HLT to force it to turn. I have tried to use both a short, direct piece
of tubing and one with a loop to provide a siphon fall but neither have been
successful. Are there any mathematic geniuses that can calculate how much
"head pressure" in the HLT that I need to overcome the force of friction at
the rotating joint of the sparge arm? "


I would say just enough force to remove the thing from the tubing connected
to it and toss it into the trash.

Why do you need a silly whirlygig anyway?

I suspect its because you think you need one, not that you really do need
one.


Wayne Holder AKA Zymie
Long Beach CA
http://www.zymico.com



Return to table of contents


Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 21:35:25 -0400
From: Daniel Chisholm <dmc at nbnet.nb.ca>
Subject: Re: Hop tea / Ringwood yeast 

Picaroon's Traditional Ales is the local microbrewery here in
Fredericton, NB.  They are an Alan Pugsley/Peter Austin brewery, and
therefore use the Ringwood yeast.  Sean Dunbar is the brewer, and a
helluva nice guy to boot.  So nice in fact that he cheerfully tolerates
seemingly unlimited questions and visits from interested homebrewers
(read: me).

Apparently part of the Pugsley/Austin brewery business is a pledge to
not share the yeast with anyone. From watching it in action at
Picaroon's it sure does look to be an interesting strain.  It forms a 5"
or 6" thick persistent foamy head on the top of a 9HL fermenter (about
shoulder height, and perhaps 30" internal diameter), with a dense almost
dough-like consistency.  This is the first truly "top cropping" yeast I
have ever seen (i.e. it doesn't fall through the beer after krausen). 
During fermentation there are wonderful faint fruity esters filling the
room.

I have not had the chance to brew with it yet, but I have ordered the
Wyeast version and am looking forward to trying it.  Therefore please
take my secondhand information about Ringwood yeast with as many grains
of salt as seems appropriate.

> Posting 2: Extracted from file:  3836
> Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 14:42:48 -0500
> From: "Pannicke, Glen A." <glen_pannicke`at`merck.com>
> Subject: Re: Ringwood Yeast
> 
> Drew Avis asked about Ringwood yeast:
> 
> >I recently ordered the Ringwood yeast (Wyeast 1187) with the idea that it
> >may give me the touch of diacetyl I need in the ever elusive Sam Smith
> Taddy
> >Porter clone.  I did a search on the HBD but didn't find too many posts
> >about this yeast in the homebrewery - anyone use yeast & have tips on
> >managing it so that I don't end up w/ too much diacetyl?
> 
> I have used this yeast 3 times so far with excellent results.  Keep your
> fermentation temp below 70F and you should fare well.  I kept mine between
> 65-68F.  A diacetyl rest is also reccomended for this strain.  Drop the temp
> to 60F for a day or two just before fermentation is over.  I do this by
> racking to a seconday as soon as the head crashes and cool with blue ice
> packs in a styrofoam box or use a cooler room in the basement.  I used this
> strain for one porter and two browns.  The brown recipe got a repeat brewing
> since this beer was *FANTASTIC* after 3 mos. in the bottle.  But at that
> point I only had a six pack left <sniff>.  Sounds like time to brew it
> again!

Picaroon's ferments at much warmer temperatures, 25C I think.  FWIW they
use a single stage fermentation, in open fermenters, for about three
days (if I remember correctly).  Sean tells me that his beers are
missing diacetyl (vs. brewing at Picatoon's previous brewery).  When the
beer has three or four points left to go (this would be two or three
days after pitching), it is aggressively cooled.  The present setup does
not include a glycol chiller, so this cooling is not as fast as it was
at the previous brewery; presumably this is why the beer does not have
enough diacetyl.

I find it interesting that commercial brewers make excellent beer in ten
days or so, while all the homebrew I've ever had or made definitely
seemed to improve with a month or three of aging.

>  "Drew Avis" <andrew_avis`at`hotmail.com>
> Subject: Hop tea / Ringwood yeast / Cold water extraction
> 
> Randy Ricchi posts in HBD #3834:
> <quote>
> What I have done to get tremendous hop aroma (and you can't help but get
> a lot of hop flavor as well) in a finished beer is to heat 2 or 3 cups
> of the beer up to the boiling point in a sauce pan, then remove from
> heat and drop in a half ounce of hops and steep for two or three
> minutes.
> </quote>
> 
> Now this is exactly why I read the HBD - simple, effective techniques for
> improving my brewing that I would never have thought of myself.  My only
> concern w/ this technique would be wort oxidation - Randy, have you noticed
> any problems in this regard?  A while ago I purchased the World's Largest
> Teaball (TM) with the idea that I could use it to dryhop a keg to
> perfection.  The problem I realized was getting the teaball back out of the
> keg!  But with this boiling technique, I may be able to have my teaball and
> use it too.

FWIW Picaroon's makes a hop tea and adds it to the wort in the fermentor
just prior to pitching.  It is made from about 20-25 litres of treated
(gypsum'd, acidified) mash water plus about 800 grams of hops (this is
for about 825 litres of wort).  The "hop tea" is made up at mash-in
time, so it therefore steeps for about four hours.  Scaling to homebrew
quantities, this would suggest about 1.5 litres (or US quarts) of water
with about 20 grams (2/3 oz) of hops per five US gallon batch.  This is
for a 1052 OG Bitter, which tastes just marvelous BTW.

I did try to make up a hop tea myself (I steeped 2 ozs. of fresh East
Kent Goldings with about 50 ozs. water in my coffee maker pot
overnight), however I used untreated water (since I have not yet had my
well water analyzed), and I did not put it in the fermentor.  I planned
on using adding it in varying amount to my mug when I poured my most
recent dry IPA (which was not dryhopped).  The taste of the hop juice
came out quite harsh, perhaps it really needs some time in the
ferementor to turn into something smoother and more refined.



- -- 
 - Daniel
Fredericton, NB  Canada


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Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 21:52:47 -0600
From: "gmc" <gmc at setel.com>
Subject: All-Grain Equipment Issues

I have been slowly upgrading the old brewery and I have a few questions
about where to find parts.

First of all, where in the neck do find these threaded NPT nuts to secure
bulkhead fittings, or 1/2 threaded temperature gauges, or anything else for
that matter?

It's like some kind of mystery or classified information, unless of course
you pay $9.00 for a bulkhead fitting with the nut included.  And even these
are hard to find, although you can find them at a few select places.  So
where are they getting the nuts?

I called McMaster with no luck, which was a little surprising.  I thought
they had every gizmo in book. But yet they stock the temperature gauges that
are 1/2 inch threaded NPT, as well as thru wall fittings.  I know these NPT
nuts are out there, and wouldn't it be nice to install a temperature gauge
with 1/2 stainless nut instead of using the 1 inch bulkhead fitting?
Nevertheless, I ordered my temp. gauge with the 1 inch bulkhead fitting, but
I'd rather use the a stainless steel nut if I can find one, especially
before I go drilling another manhole in my tank again.

Also, I am searching for stainless steel hose cover.  That's probably not
the correct terminology, but it's very popular now for filtering and
mashing.  I don't think this is as much of mystery, but I'm still having
trouble locating it as well. This would make a nice addition to my up and
coming boiler to filter out the stuff I don't need floating around in the
primary when I'm done.

I figure there's probably someone out there right now with 10 or 15 of these
nuts in their pocket and a piece of leftover cover lying on their computer
desk as they're reading this post. Please pass on this classified
information. :)

I will add one thing that I have tried for the benefit of anyone thinking
about adding a sight tube to HLT tank.  I used a compression fitting (T),
and ran the tube straight out of the top. The ball value is then placed on
the end with the addition of short piece of pipe.  I haven't used it yet but
I did calibrate it by sliding O-rings pushed over the outside of the tube to
mark the fluid levels at two gallons increments.  This to me seems a lot
easier than drilling more holes in the tank. And opening the valve only
played with fluid level in the tube when wide open (1/2 valve).  At about 1
qt./min. it worked just fine.  Just a thought....

Thanks in advance for any help.  This is a great thing, I hope we can keep
it.

Brew long, brew hard, and most of all, keep brewing!

gmc,
Appalachian Mountains,
Eastern, Kentucky







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Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 22:08:53 -0600
From: "Doug Hurst" <DougH at theshowdept.com>
Subject: Listerman's Mashing Instructions

Brian Morgan pointed us to Dan Listerman's web site thusly:

"Check out "You Wanna Mash?"on Dan Listermann's store site -
http://www.listermann.com/Store/WannaMash.asp  - it does a good job of
making it [mashing] easy."

I followed the link to Dan's website and found the following tid-bit:

"Dark malts, such as black patent, chocolate, or roasted barley, don't
require mashing, so are best lightly cracked and added to the mash just
before sparging."

to which I reply:

What??  I have never heard of adding dark malts to the mash anytime
other than with the rest of the grist.  What's the point of adding them
late?  Also I was under the impression that I get some extraction out of
dark malts, provided I have enough enzymes from my primary malt. 

Could someone please enlighten me.

Thanks,

Doug Hurst
Chicago, IL



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Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 21:15:17 -0800 (PST)
From: Dave Riedel <RIEDEL at ios.bc.ca>
Subject: Stepping up 'pitchable' tubes

I have a tube of Wyeast 1728 (Scottish) that I plan to use, hopefully on the
weekend, in a 1.062 OG wort.  With the increased number of yeast cells in
this tube (100mL - apparently 40-60 billion cells), will a one stage starter 
to 1L be adequate?  I have no experience with these tubes.  Normally, 
with the regular smack packs, I'd step from 50mL to 500mL to probably 3L
for this wort.  Am I going to get a similar amount of yeast with the tube and
the method I outlined above?

Dave Riedel
Victoria, Can.


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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 00:46:38 -0500
From: "Jason Henning" <jason at thehennings.com>
Subject: SSotS IPA

Hello-

In HBD3840, Chris Dodge asks about David Brockington's Sister Star of the
Sun IPA recipe.

I used to live in the PNW and really fell in love with hops and big beers.
This of course showed up in my brewing. I've brewed many beers similar to
Sister Star as well as Sister Star. My beers and Sister Star are great
because they fit squarely in the classical style guidelines. High quality
malts like Maris Otter and traditional finishing hops like East Kent
Goldings and imported Fuggles really do the job. There's a reason IPA was an
excellent beer 200 years ago and survives today, the ratios and the
ingredients work so well together.

Ok, specifically about Sister Star: Yes, 3 ounces of Chinook in the boil is
a lot alpha. This is highly bittered beer. However, to me, East Kent
Goldings throw a bit of sweetness when used in the late kettle and at 2
ounces, really helps to mellow the true IBU count (this seems oxymoronic but
somehow isn't). The little bit of crystal helps in this department too.
Another thing that lends to balance is the size of the beer, at 1.065,
you're going to get quite a lot of alcohol. Alcohol has a sweetness that
cuts perceived bitterness as well.

The Maris Otter malt is a keystone ingredient. It's rich flavor goes to work
in this beer to set up the balance. Sister Star has a lot of bitterness that
can only be balanced with a bold malt flavor and Maris Otter delivers. Maris
Otter might not clear as well as other malts but that's not why I use it.

Anyway, it's a very drinkable beer for the IPA lover. I just happen to have
5g of it in the fridge, I think I'll get a pint!

Cheers,
Jason Henning
Senior Rennerian Coordinate Developer
[12,30] Rennerian
Whitmore Lake, MI



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Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2002 19:19:43 -0600
From: Bill Frazier <billfrazier at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: 

Chris Dodge asks " I am getting ready to brew an IPA and wanted to know if 
anyone has
brewed Dave Brockington's Sister Star of the Sun IPA. With the 3oz of 
Chinook and 2 oz of Golding during the boil, this beer calculates out to be 
undrinkable."

I brew this beer all the time but only use 1.5 ounces Chinook for the 
boil.  I add 1 ounce each Goldings and Fuggle at 15 minutes and the same 
combination at zero minutes.  One of the best beers I've ever 
made.  Disregard the IBU calculations, the malt can handle it.

Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas



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Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 23:40:30 -0800
From: "Mercer, David" <dmercer at path.org>
Subject: re: How Did You Start All-Grain?

Dan Wenger writes ... 

>What was your first setup? Did it work? What is your 
>advice for a super cheap, relatively simple, but somewhat effective AG 
>system? 

I agree with the others, this is an interesting thread. I haven't posted in
awhile - been too busy to brew - but I want to chime in on this.

My first AG was my third batch, brewed in 1995. I was lucky in that Dave
Brockington lived just a couple of blocks from me, so a few weekends before
I tried one myself, I invited myself over to Dave's house to watch an
all-grain session. I can't recommend this more strongly as a first step. For
one thing, it completely de-mystified the process for me. With the exception
of paying attention to temperatures and quantities of liquid, the whole
process of infusion mashing appeared to me to be about as difficult as
making mud.

The next week I went out and replicated the mashing setup that I saw at
David's: a 5 gallon Gott with the spigot replace by a ball valve, and stiff
copper tubing, which I cut in lengths to make a manifold that fit snug
against the bottom of the cooler. I used a hack saw to cut slots in the
tubing (actually done on a trip to Asia where a bunch of little kids were
watching me and ended up doing all the work for me). When I got back, I put
it all together and made my first batch, mashing in the cooler and boiling
in an 8 gallon canning kettle I had used for my two extract batches. My
first was an IPA, and it was incredibly good. In fact, it won a silver in a
local Seattle competition - the only one I've ever entered because I didn't
want to break my winning streak.

I tend to agree, from the time point of view, that it makes sense to start
with as large a system as you can afford. However, starting above 5 gallons
requires tiers and/or pumps to move hot liquor and wort (you really don't
want to try hoisting those things around) and that increases the complexity
of the process beyond 'making mud'. There's a bit of a learning curve with
large quantities (I now brew 12 gallon batches, although I still use a Gott
cooler to mash - just a bigger one) and it may be worth it to stay at
manageable volumes until you are comfortable with the procedures and can
ramp up without worrying about the basics.

Dave in Seattle
(although right now in Ukraine where I'm freezing my buns off)


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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 04:48:40 -0500
From: "Steve Alexander" <steve-alexander at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: seed barley


Anyone know where I can get some 2-row barley seed for this Spring ?  There
isn't much barley grown in this state so I can't seem to find it locally.
Preferably a malting variety. 50lb sack OK.


 -Steve





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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 08:27:44 -0500
From: "Rogers, Mike" <mike.rogers at eds.com>
Subject: re: Keeping DME Dry

My DME stays dry in the garage fridge without exception...just put the DME
inside a freezer grade ZipLock bag.  The only caking I've ever encountered
was when I did my first few batches and emptied the contents of the bag over
the top of the brewpot - doesn't take much steam to cake DME!

Mike Rogers
Cass River Homebrewers - Mid Michigan
www.hbd.org/cassriverhomebrewers
mailto:mike01_rogers at yahoo.com




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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 08:36:03 -0500
From: Julio Canseco <jcanseco at arches.uga.edu>
Subject: Re: First AG - 6% Beer in Ga.

Greetings.

At the time of my first AG, I was a member of a local HB club (Lilburn,
Ga) and we had our monthly meetings at the HB shop. The owner(s) had a
set up in the back room for AG brewing and I was able to tinker with it
before I had my own set up at home. Great way to start while exchanging
brews.

My first and only set up includes a cut off keg with a valve for brewing
or heating water, a couple of Gott coolers (10 and 5 gal) rigged with
copper manifolds and an outdoor cooker. An immersion chiller and lots of
elbow grease finish the set up. Good brews too.

On a separate note, it is that time of year for our legislature to
convene (hold on to your wallet). What's the word on the 6% max.
alcohol  in beers? Anybody out there?

        julio in athens, georgia



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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 08:48:38 -0500
From: Martin_Brungard at urscorp.com
Subject: Re: Keep Your Powder Dry

Mark asks about keeping DME dry in the package.  I have had no problem in
keeping my stock of DME dry between use.  Since I'm from the land of rain
and humidity, I figure my method must have some merit.

I also use DME for use in starter preparation.  I buy 1 lb bags of DME at
my local HBS.  Its packed in a thick plastic bag.  I clip off one corner
from the bag to pour the DME.  I seal the bag with one of those plastic
clips that are used to clamp and seal potato chip bags (chip clip).  I
press the DME bag to remove most of the air space in the bag before folding
over the bag opening and putting on the clip.  The exposed bag opening
always has DME on it.  The exposed DME eventually turns into a solid sticky
mass that I pick off and consume (yummy) when I open the bag again.   My
DME always pours.  I think that this solution will work for you.

Martin Brungard
Tallahassee, FL



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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 09:05:35 -0500
From: "Steven Parfitt" <the_gimp98 at hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: Keep your powder dry

Mark in KZ asks:
>Does anyone have any tips for keeping DME free of lumps and caking?  I 
> >like to use it to build starters, but hate having to break it up to >use 
>it. Geordie-brand DME claim to have a granulated form that doesn't >cake.  
>Can anyone verify that.  How fermentable is it?
>Thanks!
>Mark in Kalamazoo

Can't help on the Geordie-Brand DME.

As for keeping my DME dry, Tupperware!

Your basic snap lid plastic container works wonders. Just don't open it 
around steam, like near a kitchen sink with the water running. Diffusion 
will carry the moisture to the container in a hurry.

Steven, -75 XLCH- Ironhead Nano-Brewery  http://thegimp.8k.com
Johnson City, TN 5:47:38.9 S, 1:17:37.5 E Rennerian

"Fools you are... who say you like to learn from your mistakes.... I prefer 
to learn from the mistakes of others and avoid the cost of my own." Otto von 
Bismarck



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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 08:09:46 -0600
From: Erik Nelson <heimbrauer at mn.astound.net>
Subject: Counter Pressure Bottle Filler

I am trying to find a good Counter Pressure Bottle Filler to get.  If 
anyone has any suggestions of where to get one, that would be appreciated 
or if someone has a good one that they made, then the instructions and 
diagram would also be appreciated.  I don't like bottle conditioning some 
of the beer and kegging the rest, If you are someone that kegs, you know 
what I mean.

You can email me directly at heimbrauer at astound.net

Thanks

Erik Nelson



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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 08:24:12 -0600
From: Nathan Kanous <nlkanous at pharmacy.wisc.edu>
Subject: First All-grain

Mornin'
Seem's that things are a little lean these days.  How did I get started all 
grain?  I made a batch of "Bruce's Homebrew Dogbolter Ale."  That was a 
kit.  It was pretty good for a first try and dry yeast.  I went to a 
homebrew club meeting.  The best beers were brewed by all-grain 
brewers.  The real deal was that they had more experience brewing but on 
the outside it seemed that "all grain is better."  I made one other batch 
from a kit.

I managed to get a hold of 3 sanke kegs and had stainless nipples welded 
on.  Made copper manifolds, screwed on ball valves and bought myself a King 
Kooker.  The rest is history.

My first all-grain batch?  You really want to know?  Pumpkin beer from 
Papazian's NCJH.  Stuck sparge.  Cussing and moaning in my in-laws 
basement.  Yup, fired up that King Kooker on a number of occasions in the 
basement and brewed beer.  I'm a little wiser now.  The only times I've 
ever had trouble with my sparge were 2 pumpkin beers and a stout that I 
used a recirculating pump with.  It seems I thought that recirculation was 
like my wife drives....on or off.  Nothing in between.  Set the mash like 
cement.  I swore off recirculation until recently.  Works like a charm now.

Funny thing is that any "improvement" I've made on my system has not really 
improved it.  I do use 2 pizza screens with window screen between in my 
boil kettle simply because I built it and it's not worse than the copper 
manifold.  Otherwise I've always reverted back to my original "design" 
which, by the way, was conjured up as I drove back and forth from Swartz 
Creek  to Ann Arbor Michigan while a student.  A couple hours on the road 
every day was a nice respite from work and I got a lot of beer thinking done.

Have a great day!
nathan in madison, wi
PS I  recently smoked some malt and had an experience reminiscent of that 
first pumpkin beer.....in terms of unexpected difficulties.....haven't made 
a beer with the smoked malt....yet



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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 09:31:58 -0500 (EST)
From: "Christopher T. Ivey" <cti3c at unix.mail.virginia.edu>
Subject: Phil's sparge arms

>I have a three level brew tree and I am using a 8" Phil's sparge arm. My
>problem is that my sparge arm stops turning when I'm trying to sparge. I
>don't know if it defective or if I just don't have enough gravity drop from
>my HLT to force it to turn.

You're not alone.  I used my new 10" Phil's sparge arm for the first time
last weekend (with the little plugs, spins freely when dry, no solder ball
problems) in a similar setup, and it didn't rotate continuously.  The arm
would spin for about 2 turns max and then just poop out, even at the
beginning of sparging when water pressure from the siphon was highest.  I
assumed this problem wasn't unusual until I read the responses to your
post! Are Gene and I the only ones who have experienced this symptom?

Chris Ivey
Champaign, IL
(presumably southwest of Jeff, about a week by bicycle...)



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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 10:14:07 -0500
From: Marc Sedam <marc_sedam at unc.edu>
Subject: Dry malt extract

Try to find a small packet of silica gel and add it to your
container.  I just got a pair of golf shoes yesterday and
they each had a tiny pack of silica gel.  It sucks up
moisture pretty good and should prevent the caking.

Cheers!

- --
Marc Sedam
Chapel Hill, NC



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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 09:15:31 -0600
From: "Erik A. Nelson" <heimbrauer at mn.astound.net>
Subject: March Mashness Homebrew Competition

Attn:

The Cloudy town brewers are having the 2nd annual March Mashness Homebrew 
Competition, which is held in St. Cloud, MN.  Entries are due from February 
25th until March 8th with the best of show on the 23rd of March.  We have 
info on our website at http://www.cloudytownbrewers.org

Thanks

Erik Nelson



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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 07:57:55 -0800 (PST)
From: "John B. Doherty" <dohertybrewing at yahoo.com>
Subject: Boston Homebrew Competition, two weeks to the entry deadline!

Dear Fellow Beer Enthusiasts, 

     Just a reminder to you all, the Boston Wort Processors 8th Annual Boston
Homebrew Competition is fast approaching!  BHC8 is one of the first MCAB V
qualifying events of the year, and is also a 2002 New England Homebrewer of the
Year event!  Friday February 1st is the entry deadline - That's only two weeks
for you to ship your entries to our ship-to site:

        Modern Brewer
        c/o BHC8 Receiving
        2304 Mass. Ave
        Cambridge, MA 02140
        617-498-0400

If you are local to New England, we have 17 additional entry drop-off sites in
five states (sorry, Maine) which are listed on our website at
http://www.wort.org/bhc.html

The competition will be held on Saturday February 9th at the Watch City Brewing
Company in Waltham, MA, just west of Boston.  All BJCP Styles will be judged,
including Cider and Mead.  Best of Show and Brewmaster's Choice Awards will be
chosen from among the 24 beer category winners.  The lucky entrant who
wins the Brewmaster's Choice will get to assist in brewing a brewpub sized
batch of their beer at Watch City!!!

If you are interested in judging or stewarding at our event, please Email our
BHC8 Judge Coordinator, Francois Espourteille, at  francois53 at mediaone.net

Please email me at dohertybrewing at yahoo.com with any questions you might have. 
Spread the word and we look forward to judging your entries!!

Cheers and Happy Brewing!

John B. Doherty 
Head Organizer for the 2002 Boston Homebrew Competition (BHC8)
dohertybrewing at yahoo.com 
978-670-6987 (w)
508-923-6376 (h)
Surf to http://www.wort.org/bhc.html for all competition details!! 






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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 09:59:12 -0500
From: "Pete Calinski" <pjcalinski at adelphia.net>
Subject: Re: Keep Your Powder Dry

I haven't seemed to have a problem with DME caking.  I bought a 25 kg box
about 3 or 4 years ago when I was still extract brewing.  Soon after I
switched to AG so I haven't used it much.  Mostly for bottle conditioning
and occasionally to "up" the SG if it was lower than I expected.

Maybe it is the way the box was packed.  It is a cardboard box with the DME
inside double wrapped plastic "garbage" style bags.  When I scoop out some
DME, I take care to ensure the scoop is dry.  Then, I close the inner
plastic bag by twisting it many times, folding it over and binding with a
thick rubber band.  Then I do the same for the outer bag.  Even after 3 or 4
years, I still don't have any caking.


Pete Calinski
East Amherst NY
Near Buffalo NY


***********************************************************
*My goal:
*      Go through life and never drink the same beer twice.
*     (As long as it doesn't mean I have to skip a beer.)
***********************************************************


Note, my new email address is
        pjcalinski at adelphia.net
My old address  at iname.com is faulty.   iname processes some of the emails
correctly but not all.

iname.com is one of the many suffixes from mail.com.  If you use mail.com, I
strongly suggest you find another service.



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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 08:29:33 -0800
From: "Darren Gaylor" <Darren.Gaylor at pensionsnw.com>
Subject: Re: How Did You Start All-Grain?

As cheaply as possible.  Six years ago, having just purchased a new home
(making sure to have a sink put in the garage), there wasn't a lot of excess
cash floating around.  After much begging, the wife said go for it.  (She
liked my beers.)

First thing I had to do was find the proper kettle.  I was thinking Sanke
keg, cutting the top off with my Swiss army knife.  Fortunately, I found a
restaurant going out of business and was able to buy two 15 gallon Al pots
for $10.  Picked up a burner for $25.  Bought a couple of 10 gallon picnic
coolers for $10 each, for mashing and HLT.  Maybe $20 for copper tubing
(manifold and immersion chiller), hoses, clamps, etc. and I was brewing.

Funny thing is, I thought the pots were 10 gallons when I bought them.
After brewing my first 5 gallon batch and seeing how much room was left in
the pot, 10 gallon brews after that.  The beer was incredible.  A
McMinamen's Hammerhead clone.

I'm pretty much using the same system today.  I bought another burner and a
couple more coolers for mash tuns few years ago and now brew three different
beers on a brew day.  It only adds an additional two to three hours for
three times the beer.  Having a brewing partner (Dad) helps.

I've added a few other components over the years, chest freezer
(fermentation chamber), kegging system and beer refrigerator, self-priming
pump and counterflow chiller.  Each of these pieces cost more than my
initial setup.  I'll be turning 40 this year, maybe it's time to start
begging for the unitank.

Darren Gaylor
Vancouver, WA



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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 09:11:09 -0800
From: susan woodall <woodsusa at moscow.com>
Subject: re: Keep Your Powder Dry

Try using cold water when dissolving  it.  Store DME in a sealed
container


Does anyone have any tips for keeping DME free of lumps and caking?  I
like
to use it to build starters, but hate having to break it up to use it.
Geordie-brand DME claim to have a granulated form that doesn't cake.
Can
anyone verify that.  How fermentable is it?
Thanks!

Mark in Kalamazoo



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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 13:35:45 -0500
From: Phil Wilcox <pjwilcox at cmsenergy.com>
Subject: kegs

jeff,

Take the keg completely appart take all the o rings off, push the
poppets out and put them in the botom of the keg with half box of arm
and hammer baking soda in each keg. Fill with watter, wait a week or two
on the baking soda. Just let it sit,don't seal it. if its still bad
after 2 weeks, use that 6 pack of busch lite up by kegging it and turn
the keg over every day or rotate it...do that for a week... if the busch
take like rootbeer or it still smells like rootbeer go to the store and
buy the book on how to make home made sodas. Congratulations you have
soda keg, so go ahead and learn how to make them. Rust,  rootbeer and
pickles are the only thing i havent been able to get out using this
method.

Phil Wilcox
Poison Frog Home Brewer



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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 14:39:01 EST
From: Himsbrew at aol.com
Subject: water analysis

greetings collective!
I recently got a water analysis for my brew
 water. Now, I spent more time in wood working
than in chemstry class, so I don't know what to
make of it! can anyone look over these numbers
and tell me if there are any problems or
 pitfalls I need to avoid. Also are there any 
styles it would be especially well suited for?
here goes:
calcium 45 to 50
cloride 4.6 to 5.2
magnesium 28
sodium 9.7 to 10
ph 7.7 to 7.8
sulfate 13
alkalinity 212 to 240
hardness 220 to 240
mg/L

thaks for your help!
JIM CUNY   HIMSBREW at AOL.COM
just left of Jeff...in Green Bay Wi.


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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 13:58:53 -0800 (PST)
From: "Mark E. Hogenmiller" <hogenmiller at yahoo.com>
Subject: Belgian Candi Sugar

I have a recipe calling for 1 lb. White Belgian Candi
Sugar.  Can plain table sugar be substituted for the
same effect?

Mark Hogenmiller
hogenmiller at yahoo.com
Green Tiger Brewery
Burke,VA



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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 17:32:11 -0500
From: "Dennis Lewis" <dblewis at dblewis.com>
Subject: Working for the weekend

I've thrown out my PalmPilot. This is the only weekly planner that I need.

http://www.webtrickery.com/planner.htm 

TGIF,

Dennis Lewis
Warren, OH


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Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 19:50:54 -0800
From: Rod Tussing <RodT at pplant.UCDavis.edu>
Subject: Grain Mill Feedback Requested

A Question to the Collective:
I have been shopping for a Grain Mill and have narrowed my choices to the
Valley Mill or the Brewtek Mill.
(No commercial affiliations to either company, Etc. etc., yadda yadda...)

I'm looking for feedback/recommendations/warnings about these grain mills,
or others if you are particularly pleased with their operation.


Long Time Lurker, First Time Poster 

Rod Tussing
Sacramento, CA
(1980.2, 275.8 Rennerian)


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