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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  Re: Candi Sugar ("Don Van Valkenburg")
  Re: Efficiency problems ("Kent Fletcher")
  Barleywine Fermentation ("Scott & Lisa")
  Re: Efficiency problems (Ray Daniels)
  Re:RE: controlling Alpha-amylase activity (JohanNico)" <JohanNico.Aikema at akzonobel.com>
  Aquarium Fermenter (R.A.)" <rbarrett at ford.com>
  Disolved Oxygen Research ("Philip J Wilcox")
  How long for primary? ("Gary Smith")
  RE:  Straffe Hendrik and Candi sugar ("Houseman, David L")
  Efficiency Problems (Richard Foote)
  Re: Fermenting in a SS Pot (Jeff Renner)
  Efficiency Problems ("Dan Listermann")
  Lager Starter Question (HQ BIC)" <dmiller at hq.dcma.mil>
  5th Annual Hoppy Halloween Challenge ("Susan Ruud")
  RE: Efficiency Problems ("Doug Hurst")
  Homebrew Competition Planning ("Mark Tumarkin")
  drum heater (Paul Mahoney)
  new beer tower (Bryan Gros)
  Re: Straffe Hendrik ("Thomas D. Hamann")
  RE: Efficiency Problems ("Dan Gross")


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Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 00:03:22 -0700
From: "Don Van Valkenburg" <dvanv at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: Candi Sugar

Braam Greyling asks:
What should I use for a replacement of the candi sugar that they use
in Belgium Beer ?

In a recent trip to Belgian, I saw bags simply labeled dextrose in some
breweries and several said they were converting to liquid sugar.  Orval was
one of those that used liquid.  I know this doesn't help as you won't find
liquid sugar at your local homebrew shop.  But, as far as the clear candi
sugar is concerned, it doesn't have to be in candi form.  Granulated will do
quite nicely.  The only difference between your table sugar and the clear
candi sugar is that most table sugar is cane sugar.  Belgian candi sugar is
made from beets.   Thus if you can find beet sugar, you are set.

BTW, Stein Fillers brewing supply in Long Beach sells granulated beet sugar
at a much lower cost than rock candi.  --- Yes, I am affiliated with Stein
Fillers...
Don



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Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 00:44:17 -0700
From: "Kent Fletcher" <kfletcher at socal.rr.com>
Subject: Re: Efficiency problems

Andrew E Hipkiss asked about low eficiency with his recent forays into
all-grain brewing:
(snip)
>My set up is a as follows:  2 five gallon Rubbermaid coolers - 1 for mash
tun >with false bottom and one for sparge water tank utilizing a sparge arm.
(snip)
>I mash for 90 minutes at a rate of 1.2 quarts of water per pound of
>grain.  I use 5.25 gallons of sparge water, also modified with salt at 168
F.  >My sparge last around 70 minutes, 2 quarts per 5 min.  I keep the flow
>consistent between the tun and sparge. > My final runnings are usually high
> around 1.016 - 1.018, and my overall efficiency is around 60% according to
> Promash.  Any ideas?  Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated.

Andrew,
I assume you're brewing 5 gallon batches?  YOur 5 gallon coolers are really
small for this purpose.  You could probably improve your yield if you could
achieve a mash-out.  Unfortunately, you won't be able to do a mash-out with
a 5 gallon tun, as it would require infusing more water than you can hold,
you would need a 10 gallon tun, adn a 10 gallon hlt would be better, as
well.  Barring upsizing your equipment, your only other real option is to
make the most of what you've gott [sorry ;)]  You want to sparge until your
runoff is 1.010, maybe 1.008.  You might try experimenting with batch
sparging, but then again, you can only get so much water on top of your mash
in that tun of yours.  Bottom line is, you're gonna make good brew with what
you've got for now, so who cares about a little low efficiency?  You're at
60% for a recipe base on 75%?  Just modify the recipe accordingly, multiply
all of the malts/adjuncts by 1.2, and enjoy!  What's 20% more malt in a 5
gallon batch?  Wait until you get into RIMS or  HERMS before you get that
anal!

Kent Fletcher
brewing in So Cal
1951, 265 Apparent Rennerian



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Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 05:42:14 -0500
From: "Scott & Lisa" <scottandlisa at mindspring.com>
Subject: Barleywine Fermentation

I brewed my first barleywine on 7/28.  Everything went fine, with my OG
coming in a little high at 1.114.  I racked to secondary on 08/07, but lost
the siphon, and didn't want to pump too much air into the secondary, so I

The s.g. on 8/24 was 1.028, which is close to target (1.024).  The brew is
still pretty cloudy, and I am unsure of leaving it in the carboy too much
longer b/c of headspace issues.  I suppose another two or three weeks in the
secondary would clear it up, but I'm worried about oxidation.  Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Scott Williams
Greenbrier, TN



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Date: Thu, 05 Sep 2002 06:21:23 -0500
From: Ray Daniels <raydan at ameritech.net>
Subject: Re: Efficiency problems

Andrew:

Do you drain your first wort from the lauter tun before beginning the 
sparge?  That could be the key.  If you begin the flow of sparge water 
before draining, you just dilute your wort and make it harder to collect.

Now when I say "drain" I don't mean run it dry or untill the outlet is 
sputtering, but do run it down well below the top of the grain bed.  I 
judge this by looking at the grain bed and if I can't see ANY liquid down 
in the bed, it is time to start sparging.  With experience you'll get a 
feel for how far you can let it go.

If that doesn't do it, I'd start looking at chemistry, namely with that 
water.  I'm never a big fan of distilled water as a brewing base regardless 
of what you put back into it. If you aren't getting enough calcium in every 
mash, that could be a problem too.


Ray Daniels
Editor, Zymurgy & The New Brewer
Director, Brewers Publications
ray at aob.org
773-665-1300

Call Customer Service at 888-822-6273 to subscribe or order individual 
magazines.

For more information, see www.beertown.org



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Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 13:52:17 +0200 
From: "Aikema, J.N. (JohanNico)" <JohanNico.Aikema at akzonobel.com>
Subject: Re:RE: controlling Alpha-amylase activity

Steve,

The experiment is almost done. But I didn't understand the results. That's
why these questions. I will try to summarize the results in HBD (will take a
few weeks, because I do 2 or 3 experiments in a weekend).

Greetings from Holland (Europe), Hans Aikema



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Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 08:07:19 -0400 
From: "Barrett, Bob (R.A.)" <rbarrett at ford.com>
Subject: Aquarium Fermenter

I know there has been lots of talk lately about different kinds of
fermenters.  Carboys, buckets, cornies, pots, sanke kegs, 
plastic bags, etc, etc.  A friend of mine a while back told me he
uses 10 gal aquariums as fermenters.  He uses it as an open 
fermenter and scrapes the yeast off the top every day or so.
He said you can see the activity during fermentation because 
of the glass sides and it may be a good way to replicate the 
shallow trough type fermenters used by Anchor Brewing for their 
steam beer.  I know I can find them for sale cheap ($10-$15)every 
weekend in the local paper.  Has anyone else had experience 
with this kind of fermenter?

We make the beer we drink!!
Bob Barrett
Ann Arbor, MI
(2.8, 103.6 Rennerian)
I know I must be close to the center of the brewing universe
because I can feel the heat!!!!


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Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 08:38:11 -0400
From: "Philip J Wilcox" <pjwilcox at cmsenergy.com>
Subject: Disolved Oxygen Research

Hi all,

Since the HBD has been a bit anemic while we are getting used to our new
fall schedules, I thought I would pass along some research my uncle (Phil
DeVore) the winemaker has been working on. Phil is not a regular HBD reader
so if you could CC: him at ped at qtm.net with any commetary, we would be much
abliged.

Phil Wilcox
Poison Frog Home Brewer
Warden-Prison City Brewers
In Jackson, MI 32 Mi. West of Jeff Renner
AABG, AHA, BJCP, HBD, MCAB, ETC., ad nausium...
See our languishing and outdated website at http://hbd.org/prisoner

Dear Friends:


I want to bring you up to date on my research on dissolved oxygen in water,
as a proxy for dissolved oxygen in musts.  First, I must admit that what I
have done is very primitive.  But it is a start.


This research required two things.  First, a good dissolved oxygen meter is
required.  I recently purchased an YSI 550. This was apparently a
fortuitous purchase, as my account representative with Fisher Scientific
told me after the fact that this is one of their best selling items.  The
second is a way to oxygenate water.  I purchased a 30 gallon/hour aquarium
pump, used with a dispersion stone that Phil was kind enough to provide.


As a starter, what is the dissolved oxygen of water?  The meter showed that
tap water has 10.06 mg/L of oxygen (10 ppm).  This is essentially the
saturation level of water. The next step was to deplete the water of oxygen
so its addition into the water could be monitored.  I ran 6 volumes of
nitrogen through the water, reducing the oxygen level to 0.08 ppm.  This is
close enough to 0 so I saw no need to sparge more nitrogen.


The next question is how much air the pump and dispersion stone really add,
considering my stone and the 9' of plastic tubing.  I filled a 3 gallon
carboy with water and placed it is a tub partially fill of water.  It took
12 minutes 50 seconds to displace all the water, so the rate was 4 minutes
15 seconds to displace a gallon.  This is just under half what the pump was
rated at, but so what, at least I know what my unit does.


The next step was to use the pump and stone to aerate the water and measure
the results.  I used a 5 gallon carboy for best accuracy but for
convenience have adjusted everything to a 1 gallon basis. Remember that for
my situation 1 gallon of air (0.21 gallon of oxygen) is sparged is 4
minutes 15 seconds.  My results are shown below:


Volumes of Air/Volume of Water      Dissolved Oxygen (ppm)


0.00                                                0.14


0.063                                              0.89


0.125                                              1.66


0.25                                                3.00


0.50                                                4.90


1.00                                                7.25


2.00                                                8.64


4.00                                                9.00


8.00                                                8.80


These results show several things.  First, the rate at which oxygen is
absorbed into the water rapidly decreases.  This is no doubt due to the
fact that the more oxygen in the water, the more that is scrubbed out by
the nitrogen.  One gas displaces another, and since nitrogen is
volumetrically superior, this limits the oxygen that may be absorbed.  It
is also shown that the concentration of oxygen is never as great as occurs
in nature, but it is a very stout 90%.  As air (and oxygen) is absorbed
under normal conditions, there is no violent nitrogen scrubbing as we have
here, so oxygen ends up at somewhat greater levels.


The real question is what this all means, and what practical guidance may
be gleamed.  My inclination is to turn over 1 volume of air, which will
result in about 7.2 pm of oxygen addition.  This does not include any
oxygen the yeast might metabolize during the time of sparging.  I am
guessing that this is relatively small.  If one wants more oxygen addition,
I think the best bet is to wait till the oxygen drops to below 1 ppm and
then go through the same process all over again.


For my setup, this would call for sparging about 4 minutes for every gallon
of must.


It should be noted that a very small percentage of the oxygen sparged into
the water is absorbed.  This is due to the slow rate of oxygen absorption
and increasingly the sparging action of nitrogen as the oxygen level
builds.  Prior calculations have shown that one turn of air contains enough
oxygen to add 251 ppm to a gallon of must.  Clearly only a small amount of
the potential oxygen is absorbed.  Perhaps this is due to the grace of the
wine gods.  If must/wine absorbed oxygen at a more rapid rate, we would be
making vinegar, not wine!


Any thoughts you might have would be well appreciated.


Best regards,


Phil  DeVore


ped at qtm.net




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Date: Thu, 05 Sep 2002 07:49:23 -0500
From: "Gary Smith" <mandolinist at ameritech.net>
Subject: How long for primary?

Hi,

What's considered a safe time to leave a beer in 
the primary without negatively affecting the flavor? 
Is two weeks excessive?

I've usually transferred to the secondary within 3-4 
days but leaving it in longer would be more flexible 
for me.

Thanks,

Gary 



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Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 08:57:08 -0400 
From: "Houseman, David L" <David.Houseman at unisys.com>
Subject: RE:  Straffe Hendrik and Candi sugar

Braam: "What should I use for a replacement of the candi sugar that they use
in Belgium Beer?"

So why use a replacement and not use candi sugar?  No available where you
are?  Well, I would, and have used sucrose; table sugar.  Either in it's
granulated form or you can grow up your own crystals.  I've done that on a
small scale.  Growing up a pound or more may take a little more work and
time.  You can caramelize sugar to give some additional color and flavor but
be careful not to burn it of course. 

Dave Houseman   




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Date: Thu, 05 Sep 2002 15:28:31 -0400
From: Richard Foote <rfoote at mindspring.com>
Subject: Efficiency Problems

Andrew writes regarding efficiency problems with all grain brews.

His methods don't look terribly far from the norm.  

However, there has been some concern in the past expressed in this forum
regarding temperature losses to sparge water as a result of the whirling
sparge arms, which spray water in narrow steams on top of the grain bed.
Such an arrangement, it has been reasoned, could offer considerable cooling
of the sparge water going to the lauter tun.  Such cooling might result in
increased viscosity and loss of run-off efficiency.

As well, one purported benefit of conducting a mash-out at elevated
temperatures, is the resultant lessening of viscosity and greater
extraction of sugars to the run-off. 

I have noticed considerable influences on efficiency due to different grain
lots even within the same brand.  Malt is produced from a living
agricultural product that is subject to the forces of nature.  Each growing
season is different--amount of precipitation, duration between
precipitation events, temperatures, etc.  In short, there are lots of
differences from one growing season to the next, which influences the malt
produced.  Also, each growing area is influenced by differing soils and
climate therein.  For example, I know from personal experience from living
in Pennsylvania, Vermont and now in Georgia that the sweet corn and
potatoes down here SUCK (sorry) compared to what I remember from my 30+
years as a Yankee.  This may be a more extreme example, geographically, but
there are differences from one geographic area to another.  There are many
variables in our natural world still beyond man's control.

There are also many variables in the highly mechanized, or not, production
of malt that need to be controlled from one lot to the next.  We know this
all too well from trying to control all the brewing variables in recreating
another batch of that awesome, awarding-winning beer that was brewed three
months ago.  

What is done during the mash has large influences on efficiency.  I have
found that stirring of the mash greatly increases efficiency.  I have taken
to the use of a motorized mashmixer of my own creation.  [Strom, how's
yours working?]  When I use it for mash-in and periodically during a rest
and then continuously during temp. ramps, I get 90+% efficiency as
calculated with ProMash.  On a pale ale brewed last weekend, I calculated
94%!  On brews where the mashmixer is not used, efficiencies drop to the
mid to lower 80's.  How much are you stirring?

I am not overly concerned that the rather high final runnings are having
that big an influence.  IMO, it is the gravity of the early runnings that
will have the far greater impact.  I usually aim for 1.015 to 1.013 minimum
for final runnings.

Well that's my 2.5 cents.  Hope some of this might be helpful.


Rick Foote
Whistle Pig Brewing
Murrayville, GA



 








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Date: Thu, 05 Sep 2002 15:27:12 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <JeffRenner at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Fermenting in a SS Pot

Bill Tobler <wctobler at sbcglobal.net> writes from Lake Jackson, TX:

>I would like to hear from some others who ferment in a pot with a lid, and
>how you rack and wether or not you skim the yeast/crud off the top, and when
>you do that.

As I've posted here before, this is SOP for me with ales (lagers I 
generally do in a Sankey or split between two carboys).  I ferment 8 
gallon batches in a 10 gallon pot.

Ale fermentation is vigorous enough that the pressure of escaping CO2 
around the edges of the lid should keep out any airborne 
contaminants.  The lid will keep them out before fermentation starts, 
too.  After all, they can't crawl.  (Well, insects can - but the lid 
should keep them out).

I often use plastic wrap over the top, and sometimes, with a really 
vigorous fermentation, I will make foil "sideboards" about 4" high 
(10 cm) and lay the plastic wrap on top of them.  No tight seal 
possible here, but it works.

I skim the crud off the first few days, then harvest yeast (if it's a 
top cropper) on the fourth day typically.  This is beautifully clean 
yeast that always seems to be in really good shape.

I have a tap at the bottom of the pot that allows me to transfer 
virtually all the beer.  Perhaps you could ad an extended pickup so 
you don't have to leave a quart behind.

Jeff
- --
Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, JeffRenner at comcast.net
"One never knows, do one?"  Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943


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Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 09:38:39 -0400
From: "Dan Listermann" <dan at listermann.com>
Subject: Efficiency Problems

 "Andrew E Hipkiss" <ctn73053 at centurytel.net> asks about efficiency
problems.  I have found that at least 9 times out of 10 efficiency problems
experienced by new all-grain brewers can be traced to milling.  They try to
follow the "just barely crack it" advice they read in a lot of books.  This
may have been good advice for Corona burr mills because they are very
difficult to control, but if followed with modern roller mills, you will
invariably produce poor extractions.  I crush the malt until It is difficult
to find intact corns and those that I do fine are underdeveloped.  This is
not a hard skill to master and it is rather forgiving.  Adjusting the gap is
the best way to change the composition of the grist, but is your mill is
difficult to adjust or not adjustable, a second pass will usually give good
results.

Stuck mashes are usually not caused by over crushed grist, but rather
excessive vorlauf speed.  Take your time setting up the grain bed.

Dan Listermann

Check out www.listermann.com




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Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 16:14:12 -0400 
From: "Miller, Donald (HQ BIC)" <dmiller at hq.dcma.mil>
Subject: Lager Starter Question

I have not had much success in brewing lagers but I'm not letting that stop
me.  I would like to ask a quick questions regarding starters.  I am
building a starter with 2 cups of water and one pint of DME.  I let the wort
starter coll to 74 degrees and then poured the Czech Pils yeast into the
bottle.  I let the starter go for about 48 hours at room temperature.
Yesterday I moved the starter to my chest freezer which is set at 50 degrees
(Yes a chest freezer is a little overkill for a starter but it is all I have
available to control temperature).  My questions are:  1) Should I have this
starter at the 50 degrees right now or did I jump the gun?  2) Will the 48
hours at room temperature screw up (technical term) the starter?, and 3) How
long before the starter is ready when fermenting at the lower termperature
of 50 degrees?

Thanks in advance.  Personal replies as well as postings are welcome.
Don




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Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 15:19:45 -0700
From: "Susan Ruud" <susan.ruud at ndsu.nodak.edu>
Subject: 5th Annual Hoppy Halloween Challenge

                      Call for Entries
                              
         5th Annual Hoppy Halloween Challenge - 2002
          BJCP/AHA Sanctioned Homebrew Competition

The Prairie Homebrewing Companions are hosting the Hoppy
Halloween Challenge Homebrew Competition for its 5th year.
We accept beers in all 26 BJCP/AHA styles including mead and
cider.  We've grouped them into 15 competition categories
and added a special category for a Halloween Theme beer with
a worthy prize.  See the description of this special
category at the end of this message.

Only two 10 to 16 oz bottles are required!  Any style of
glass or plastic will be accepted.  Just think 6 bottles of
your precious brew gets you 3 entries instead of 2.  Cheaper
shipping, less bottling, more beer for you so you may as
well double your entries and double your chances of winning
one our great prizes.

Use a standard entry form (ProMash is fine) or use ours:

     http://www.linkup.net/users/dtrautmann/entry.html

Put a bottle label of your choice on each bottle of beer or
use ours:

     http://www.linkup.net/users/dtrautmann/BottleID.html

Send your beer so it gets to our Registrar between Sept 21
and Oct 4 at this address:

     The PHC % Dave Trautmann
     1914 10th St N
     Fargo, ND 58102
     701-237-0756

Oh, we must ask you to include a little money to cover our
costs.  The first four beers you enter are $7.50/each and
all entries after that are $5.00/each.

For additional questions and all the details, visit:

     http://www.linkup.net/users/dtrautmann/phc2002.html

If you're in Fargo, ND on Oct 26 be sure to join us for the
Best-of-Show ceremonies, always a great time!

Competition Coordinator,
Karl Gunderson
E-mail: kgunders at microsoft.com
Home: 701-282-4966
Work: 701-281-6550


Halloween Theme Beer
- --------------------
27a - WIDE OPEN STYLES (NOTHING THAT COULD BE CONSIDERED A
HEALTH HAZARD PLEASE) Any beer with characteristics that
would identify it as being made for, and in the spirit of,
Halloween.  Individual qualities such as aroma, appearance,
and flavor should be part of the "Halloweeness" of the
entry. Brewers should specify the style (if any) and any
unique ingredients as appropriate.

NOTE: This category will be judged with the theme in mind.
The beer will receive points for overall quality AND for its
"Halloweeness" (i.e. how well it fits the Halloween theme).
The name of the beer will be considered in the judging
process. To insure anonymity, brewers are encouraged to name
their beer accordingly (i.e. please don't incorporate your
name, initials or any other wording that would identify the
beer as yours). Have fun!

Due to the "unique" nature of this category, the Gold medal
winner will not be eligible to compete for Best of Show.
Also, medalists in this category will not accumulate points
toward the Great Pumpkin Award. Brewers are allowed to enter
more than one beer in this category.

Original Gravity (Plato): 1.030-110 (7.5-27.5)
Final Gravity (Plato):    1.006-30 (2-8)
% Alc/Wt (Alc/Vol):       2.0-9.5 (2.5-12.1)
IBUs:                     0-100
SRM (EBC):                1-100 (2-197)






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Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 17:07:46 -0500
From: "Doug Hurst" <DougH at theshowdept.com>
Subject: RE: Efficiency Problems

Andrew states that according to Promash, he's getting a low efficiency.

>From your description I don't think your process is the problem.  Make
sure you have the Promash settings correct and that you are entering the
information properly in *all* the required fields.  I discovered it's
easy to miss a field or two.  The Promash Help menus are actually quite
helpful (imagine that).  
 -Your batch size and wort size on the ingredients page should both be
set the same.  
 -On the efficiency page make sure you have input the actual volume of
wort.  Promash suggests that you take your SG reading after sparging and
before boiling begins.  I follow this advice and I usually end up with
just over 6 gallons of wort before the boil begins.  If I didn't change
the volume field it would seem that my efficiency was very low.  
 -I have a system similar to yours and usually get 75-80% efficiency.
This translates to 8-9 lbs of 2-row to get a SG of around 1.050.  How
much grain are you using in comparison for the same SG?  If it's close
to that I would guess your efficiency isn't as bad as you think.
 -Finally, don't forget to temperature correct you hydrometer reading.
My readings are often at about 120F which makes them appear nearly 10
points low.

Hope this helps,

Doug Hurst
Chicago, IL
[215, 264.5] Apparent Rennerian


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Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 19:08:29 -0400
From: "Mark Tumarkin" <mark_t at ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Homebrew Competition Planning

Hey y'all,

Hogtown Brewers has decided to host a homebrew competition. Dave Perez, our
current Primary Fermenter, has decided that this will be the legacy of his
'administration.' This decision may come back to haunt us, but what the hell,
it should be fun. We are a small-med sized club, approx 40 members. We have a
pretty high percentage of BJCP judges (12, including our newest test takers)
but haven't yet ventured into putting on a competition. We get great member
participation in club events so that shouldn't  present a problem. And we
should be able to pull in a good pool of judges from the other FL clubs since
our judges go to help at all the other clubs' competitions. We're planning on
doing this approx a year from now, next Sept or Oct, so we've got plenty of
planning time.

That brings me to my question; does anyone have a check-list or planning
document that their club has used for putting together a homebrew competition?
If so, I'd greatly appreciate a copy if possible. I'm open to any suggestions,
feedback etc, that you'd like to offer.

thanks,

Mark Tumarkin
Hogtown Brewers
Gainesville, FL






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Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 16:42:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: Paul Mahoney <pmmaho at yahoo.com>
Subject: drum heater

Brewers:
 I received a catalog at work from Global Industrial
Equipment (www.globalindustrial.com), and on page 294
it has a "drum heater".  It is an "aluminized steel
band" that wraps around a metal drum or pail (55
gallon drum, 22.5" diameter).  It claims to provide
fast, efficient temperature-controlled heating.  It
comes in either 1920 or 3000 watt models, and is
thermostat controlled. 
 Price is $275.95, and temp. range is 200'-400' for
one model, and 60'-250' for another model.
 So, always thinking about brewing (except when I am
thinking about the Redskins), I wondered if anyone on
this list might know about this drum heater, and if it
could be used for mashing or other brewing techniques.
 This catalog also has drum liners and inserts (p.
195) but no info on whether or not they are food
grade.
 They also have FDA approved plastic drums 15, 20, 30,
35 and 55 gallon sizes.  
   Lots of interesting stuff.  Any ideas or comments
about possibilities for brewing?

Paul Mahoney
Star City Brewers Guild
Roanoke, Va.   



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Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 17:00:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: Bryan Gros <blgros at yahoo.com>
Subject: new beer tower

I'm looking for advice on the best place to purchase a new tower
for my kegerator type fridge. Then one I have can fit 3 cornys,
so I need a tower with 3 taps.

Somewhere I saw a "swan neck" tower, which curved toward the
front and had the three taps side by side on the front. Looked
great, and I thought it was around $250. Don't know where i saw
it though.

I see at Rapids they have the standard 3" towers with two and
three taps. About $175. Probably what I'll get.

Nice german Ceramic towers are about $600. Unfortunately, out
of my range.

So, any other good sources I'm missing?
Will Rapids sell to me direct?

Thanks.


=====
 - Bryan

  Bryan Gros    
  Oakland CA
NEW EMAIL ADDRESS: bgros at aggienetwork.com



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Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 10:39:05 +0930
From: "Thomas D. Hamann" <tdhamann at senet.com.au>
Subject: Re: Straffe Hendrik

Would like a recipe too, was my favourite when i was in Belgium.

tdh



At 00:12 5/09/02 Thursday -0400, you wrote:
>Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2002 08:39:38 +0200
>From: "Braam Greyling" <braam.greyling at azoteq.com>
>Subject: Straffe Hendrik and Candi sugar
>
>Hi all,
>
>Have someone ever tried cloning the Belgium beer named Straffe
>Hendrik ?





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Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 21:51:14 -0400
From: "Dan Gross" <degross at starpower.net>
Subject: RE: Efficiency Problems

Andrew,
Do you check the ph of your water?  I have had pretty poor extraction rates
when my mash ph is above 5.5.  This should not be a concern with darker
beers since dark grains will lower the ph. But if you are brewing lagers
with almost no dark grains that could be part of the problem.
Dan Gross
Olney, Md



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