HOMEBREW Digest #4052 Fri 27 September 2002


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Contents:
  RE:  Chillin da wort ("Parker Dutro")
  Re: GFI - electrical safety (robertjm)
  Re: Picnic faucet (Kent Fletcher)
  re : Chillin' da wort (Alan McKay)
  RE:  Chillin da wort ("David Houseman")
  Re: Decoction (Martin_Brungard)
  RE: Chillin da wort ("Todd Bissell")
  Re:  New Orlean brewpubs ("Ed Dorn")
  conical building. ("Joe ,just-Joe")
  low cal beer ("steve lane")
  Brakspear Special Bitter ("Byron's Yahoo Account")
  Re: GFI - electrical safety (Tony Verhulst)
  Re: Chillin da wort (Roy Roberts)
  overnight mashing ("Tom & Dana Karnowski")

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 22:13:53 -0700 From: "Parker Dutro" <ezekiel128 at edwardwadsworth.com> Subject: RE: Chillin da wort All you can do is keep the lid on to prevent stuff from falling in. It doesn't matter if it won't seal. Realistically even if you left the lid off during the whole chill phase the beer will be free of infection. I just hold the lid over the kettle and pull it off to check the temp. frequently, no problems yet! Just don't spit in the wort, and try not to touch it with your fingers (or any part of your body.) Cheers! Parker "Excuse me doctor, but I think I know a little something about medicine!" -Homer Simpson Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 22:24:31 -0700 From: robertjm at hockeyhockeyhockey.com Subject: Re: GFI - electrical safety Just to chime in on this. Some communities actually REQUIRE new or remodeled installations of bathrooms and kitchens to install GFI, especially anything that will be within a couple feet of any water source. Robert Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 22:28:34 -0700 (PDT) From: Kent Fletcher <fletcherhomebrew at yahoo.com> Subject: Re: Picnic faucet Rueben was getting a lot of foam from his new picnic faucet setup. Rueben, at 6 feet your 3/16" hose might be a tad long. Presuming that your keg is cold, and that your regulator is not set too high, try cutting 6" (15 cm) off the hose. If you still get foam, whack another 6". Typically 4 to 5 feet of 3/16" hose is about right. The longer the hose, the greater the pressure drop, which in turn leads to foaming. You can either increase the regulator pressure to compensate or shorten the hose. When you're not dealing with a mandatory length (like reaching a bar from a remote fridge) it's better to shorten the hose, as increasing CO2 pressure will force more gas into solution, causing overcarbonation. Hope that helps. Kent Fletcher Brewing in So Cal Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 07:25:03 -0400 From: Alan McKay <amckay at neap.net> Subject: re : Chillin' da wort > how does one keep infection OUT of the wort during the > cooling phase since the lid is off the boiler? Even > if I set it on top it isn't going to "seal" out everything. Being concerned about infection is a very good thing, however I think you are a bit too concerned. Just take the lid off and do what comes natural ;-) cheers, -Alan - -- http://www.bodensatz.com/ The Beer Site (tm) Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 07:30:12 -0400 From: "David Houseman" <housemanfam at earthlink.net> Subject: RE: Chillin da wort In my immersion chiller days I had the same concerns. I kept the lid on as much as possible and did my best to seal with some aluminum foil. Others have a separate lid with a small cutout for the water in/out tubing. But since I brew in my garage where dust is winning the battle, a counter-flow chiller became my chiller of choice to protect the wort. You're right, you won't seal this your kettle completely but try some aluminum foil to keep airborne dust out of the kettle when chillin'. Dave Houseman Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 08:28:42 -0400 From: Martin_Brungard at URSCorp.com Subject: Re: Decoction AJ enlightened us with: Con - coct: to bring together and cook. De - coct: to take away and cook. I thought that decoct was what a eunuch is. ;-o Martin Brungard Tallahassee, FL Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 07:07:10 -0700 From: "Todd Bissell" <bis9170 at hotmail.com> Subject: RE: Chillin da wort Aluminium (sp.) foil works fine. I lay one sheet flat over 80% of the the top of the pot, and then wrap another sheet to cover up the area remaining (where the intake and output tubes are). I then poke my long thermometer through the foil and into the wort, and start up the chiller. Cheers, Todd Bissell Eyechart Brewing Company San Diego, CA Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 11:32:26 -0400 From: "Ed Dorn" <edorn at dukes-stein.com> Subject: Re: New Orlean brewpubs Calvin asked about the brewpub at Beau Rivage in Biloxi, mentioning his frustration that they're not open for lunch. I, too, was surprised that they didn't open until 5:00 PM. I was in there a couple of times during a brief vacation there this summer. The beer is OK, and I can remember very little about it. Maybe four or five varieties, strictly OK, nothing noteworthy at all. IMHO, management at Beau Rivage promotes the place much more as a restaurant and night club than a micro-brewery. Hence the "safe" beers and late openings. Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 10:48:28 -0500 From: "Joe ,just-Joe" <pester_joe at hotmail.com> Subject: conical building. I'm building a unitank fermenter, and want to make sure that it will be able to remove sediment for extended aging. What is the best diameter for the drain at the bottom of a conical fermenter? (12.2 gallon)I'll be using a conical hopper from Toledo Metal Spinning. Anyone with a pre-fabricated one (fermenator or similar) want to comment on how well yours works on sediment removal? Joe Hopedale IL Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 11:45:30 -0500 From: "steve lane" <tbirdusa at hotmail.com> Subject: low cal beer So I see an ad for Michelob coming out with a low calorie beer. What's the deal and what are they doing different than watering down their already watered down beer? Are they merely thinning out the already thin? On this subject, how could one calculate the "theorectical" caloric content of a homebrew and what exactly determines the caloric content? I would assume that a high final gravity would increase the calories in a beer but how does a change in mash temp. figure into all of this with the beta vs. alpha amalyse issue? Thanks Stephen Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 10:51:59 -0700 (PDT) From: "Byron's Yahoo Account" <btowles at yahoo.com> Subject: Brakspear Special Bitter Sorry for the length of following email. In HBD #4044, "Penn, Thomas (MED)" <Thomas.Penn at med.ge.com> inquired about a recipe for the Brakspear Special Bitter. I've found a recipe but am not sure as to it's authenticity or quality (it looks very old to me, but take it for what it's worth). It's from the book "Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy" by Dave Line. The Recipe Follows ver batum: BRAKSPEAR Henley-on-Thames SPECIAL BITTER Delicious residual sweetness balances this hoppy strong brew. stage 5 gallons original gravity 1044 25 litres 1 7 lb. crushed pale malt 3500 gm. 1 5 oz. crushed crystal malt 150 gm. 1 8 oz. Flaked Maize 250 gm. 1 3 gallons water for "bitter" brewing 15 litres 3 2 oz. Molasses 60 gm. 3 1 oz. Fuggles hops 30 gm. 3,4,5 2+1/2+1/4 oz. Goldings Hops 60+15+10 gm. 3 8 oz. soft dark brown sugar 250 gm. 3 1 tsp. Irish moss 5 ml. 5 2 oz. brewers yeast 60 gm. 5 1/2 oz. gelatine 15 gm. 6 2 oz. brown sugar 60 gm. Brewing Stages 1. Raise the temperature of the water up to 60C and stir in the crushed malts and flakes. Stirring continuously, raise the mash temp up to 66C. Leave for 1-1/2 hrs occasionally returning the temperature back to this value. 2. Contain the mashed grain in a large grain bag to retrieve the sweet wort. Using slightly hotter water than the mash, rinse the grains to collect 4 gallons (20 litres) of extract. 3. Boil the extract with the fuggles hops and the first quota of goldings hops for 1.5 hrs. Dissolve the main batch of sugar and Molasses in a little hot water and add this during the boil. Also pitch in the Irish Moss as directed on the instructions. 4. Switch off the heat, stir in the second batch of goldings and allow them to soak for 15 minutes. Strain off the clear wort into a fermenting bin and top up to the final quantity with cold water. 5. When cool to room temperature add the yeast. Ferment 4-5 days until the specific gravity falls to 1012 and rack into gallon jars or a 25 litre polythene cube. Apportion gelatine finings and the rest of the dry hops before fittings airlocks. 6. Leave for 7 days before racking the beer from the sediment into a primed pressure barrel or polythene cube. Allow 7 days conditioning before sampling. ===== - --------------------------------------------- The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity. - --------------------------------------------- Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 14:14:41 -0400 From: Tony Verhulst <tony.verhulst at hp.com> Subject: Re: GFI - electrical safety From: Kent Fletcher <fletcherhomebrew at yahoo.com> > The other day I had a ground fault with a submersible pump. The pump > was NOT plugged into a GFI. The pump was running normally, by all > appearances. When I came into contact with the flow of water from the hose I > got a healthy 120 volt, 60 hertz jolt, as I completed the path to ground. > I can repair the old pump (compression fitting on power cord leaked), but I > bought a new one and postponed my brew for a day to install a GFI at > my brew stand. The advice to install a GFI is sound but the example cited is not, IMHO. A GFI is a device that can fail and you should never bet your life on it. A motor (or whatever) should be propperly wired and insulated and THEN be protected by a GFI. The reason that you got a jolt is that the pump was not properly grounded, I suspect. Try this site for some good GFI advice http://www.zymico.com/gfi.shtml. Tony V. http://home.attbi.com/~verhulst/RIMS.rims.htm - -- Wine is a bad thing. It makes you quarrel with your neighbor, it makes you shoot at your landlord, it makes you miss him. Mark Twain - -- Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any. Mark Twain Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 18:21:02 -0700 (PDT) From: Roy Roberts <psilosome at yahoo.com> Subject: Re: Chillin da wort > Nathan Hoskins writes: > > I have just gotten a wort chiller and was wondering > how does one keep > infection OUT of the wort during the cooling phase > since the lid is off the > boiler? Even if I set it on top it isn't going to > "seal" out everything. A valid concern, but you probably don't have a lot of "bugs" floating around in the air, and you certainly won't have large colonies of bacteria flying around looking to splash into your wort. Anyway in a homebrew environment it is practically impossible to keep out every single unwanted microorganism. That said, it is vital to keep your brewing equipment clean and sanitized, and to pitch a large amount of yeast. Dr. Roy Washington DC Taxation Without Representation Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 21:59:06 -0400 From: "Tom & Dana Karnowski" <karnowsk at esper.com> Subject: overnight mashing To make more efficient use of my time I recently made a batch of all-grain by letting my mash sit overnight. I single-step infusion mashed at a low temp, about 148F, with the grist comprised of 20+ lbs of pale ale malt. I let the grain sit for about 7 hours and in the morning I collected my wort and made the brew. I used Wyeast 1214. The grain temperature was pretty constant, down only 4 degrees to 144F in the morning. I know my mash temperature was on the low side-and I mashed a long time- but this is the most attenuated beer I've ever made. It started around 1.070 and finished just above 1.000!! I racked it last night and it tasted OK albeit much drier than desired. the 1214 is not a very dry yeast as far as I know. Is this consistent with the experience of anyone else, particularly the folks who do overnight mashes (actually does anyone do an overnight or long mash?) I wanted to save time by makeing more efficient use of my brew day (and night) but unfortunately I'm not convinced this method is going to work out for me. thanks Tom Karnowski Knoxville TN Return to table of contents
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