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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  stealing trade secrets from the bottom of a bottle?  (Brad Knierim) ("B Knierim")
  priming and cask conditioning ("Walter C. Pelissero")
  Cider ("Dunn, Drew A.")
  GFI Smackdown ("Wayne Holder")
  re: Attack of the Killer Spores (Danny Breidenbach)
  I just couldn't resist (Danny Breidenbach)
  Party Pigs) (Darrell.Leavitt)
  Extract success ("Adam Wead")
  allgrain setup (building a stand) (Alan McKay)
  Re:  - SSR with EFI - was: GFI - Electrical Safety ("Kent Fletcher")
  Re-entry (Scott)


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Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 23:06:10 -0400
From: "B Knierim" <bknierim at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: stealing trade secrets from the bottom of a bottle?  (Brad Knierim)

    I am currently on my 7th batch of all-grain, and I have found the
biggest help to "clean-up" my beer flavor is a good yeast starter (1 qt.
min.).  can anyone help,  is there any suggestions out there for good
results propagating a yeast starter from a commercial "micro-brew" such as
sierra-nevada? does anyone have a list of beers with active yeast.   I'm
doing just fine with Danstar and some others, but  I've read that it can be
as easy as dumping a bottle or two into a DME starter.  Sterile technique,
of course.  Any help (or criticism) will be taken in kind.
                                                    Thank you, Brad
                                                        Wheeling, Wv



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Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2002 11:28:17 +0100
From: "Walter C. Pelissero" <walter at pelissero.org>
Subject: priming and cask conditioning

I'd like to try to cask condition before bottling according to Graham
Wheeler's suggestion, but I couldn't figure out if I need to prime
both before casking *and* before bottling, or if it's enough to prime
just before bottling.

Cheers,

- -- 
walter pelissero
http://www.pelissero.org


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Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2002 07:34:54 -0400 
From: "Dunn, Drew A." <Drew.Dunn at jhuapl.edu>
Subject: Cider

Does anyone have a good cider recipe they would be willing to share?

Thanks, 
Drew A. Dunn


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Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2002 05:45:36 -0700
From: "Wayne Holder" <zymie at charter.net>
Subject: GFI Smackdown

Steve Alexander paraphrases a bit from a web page of mine:

"Not exactly - he says the Leviton 50A unit he is using specifically cannot
handle SSRs.  This hi-current unit is really a separate current mis-match
sensor and power relay (not included).  The current switching
characteristics of an SSR may (a guess) hose the current sensor.  The
online spec page  http://www.leviton.com/pdfs/6895gfci.pdf
doesn't  mention this limitation - it may only be that the output relay
cannot be an SSR.  Can't tell w/o full specs.
"

The actual sentence goes more like:

"You CANNOT use a Solid State relay (SSR) with this unit. Doing so voids the
UL listing of the device."

As a person that has dealt with SSR's that are shorted closed many times, I
would guess that UL did not trust the SSR to be open after a ground fault.

Back into hiding,

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




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Date: Tue, 01 Oct 2002 12:23:03 -0500
From: Danny Breidenbach <dbreiden at math.purdue.edu>
Subject: re: Attack of the Killer Spores

Brian sez:

> People always say, if you can drink your water, you
> can brew with it. I think, if you can breathe your air, you can brew in it.
>

True, but if you fill a quart jar with air, leave it in a warm spot for
a week, and then eat it (the air, not the jar), you might DIE!

- --Danny in West Lafayette, Indiana



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Date: Tue, 01 Oct 2002 12:48:22 -0500
From: Danny Breidenbach <dbreiden at math.purdue.edu>
Subject: I just couldn't resist

Not totally off-topic, because it seems almost true about Our Fair
Digest.

For a laugh (at least I thought it was funny), check out
http://www.skally.net/listowner/humor.html

- --Danny



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Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2002 15:16:42 -0400
From: Darrell.Leavitt at esc.edu
Subject: Party Pigs)

No,.....( for those of you who do not know) "Party Pigs" are not biped
critters of the other gender,...who like to consume large quantities of
your home-brew.., etc...etc...

 They are small 2.25 gallon plastic 'kegs' that some of us use...

  Anyway, I have had a discussion recently with Mike Lane at Quoin
Industrial regarding inflation issues.  If anyone wants to see this, let me
know and I will send.....

 ...Darrell


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Date: Tue, 01 Oct 2002 15:14:08 -0600
From: "Adam Wead" <a_wead at hotmail.com>
Subject: Extract success

Dear Fellow Brewers:

I'd like to report the recent success of a batch of pale ale that I made 
from extracts.

My FGs were pretty high.  I was getting good beer, but lousy attenuation and 
low alcohol levels...felt like I was in Oklahoma.

What fixed the problem was adding a saccrification (sp?) rest, with some 
extra added amylase to help with the breakdown of unfermentables.

I first steeped my specialty grains in a bag with 1.5 gals. of 158 F water 
for 30 minutes, then took them out, rinsed them with some hot tapwater 
(quasi-sparging), then added the extracts, both DME and LME, amylase, and 
rested the whole thing for an hour at 150 F.  Then, I boiled the wort as 
usual.  It started at 1.052 and is now at 1.015 and falling.

Anyone else used this technique before?

I was thinking of modifying it a little.  I'd like to get away from having 
to add extra amylase.  Would there be enough enzymes just from the specialty 
grains?  I immagine you could also mix the grains and extracts in at the 
same time and then rest for 60 to 90 minutes, depending on the recipe, 
similar to a single infusion mash, but without sparging....you would just 
lift the grain bag out and rinse it with hot water.

any suggestions?

Adam Wead

(Bloomington, IN)




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Date: Tue,  1 Oct 2002 19:06:45 -0400
From: Alan McKay <amckay at neap.net>
Subject: allgrain setup (building a stand)

Joe asks what is the best way to build a stand without welding.
The perhaps not-so-obvious question is : wood!

Last weekend I was brewing in a friend's backyard and to prevent
my burner from sinking into the ground from the weight of the
pot, we put a piece of plywood under it.  I was fully expecting
it to at least get scorched during the brew session, but 
several hours later and there was not a mark on it.

In fact, in the bottom of this photo you can just see half of
the plywood, after we were done and my system was put away :
http://www.bodensatz.com/gallery/album07/abe
And here's another photo after we were done with the burner
and getting ready for the chill :
http://www.bodensatz.com/gallery/album12/aas

Also see another club members wooden setup at :
http://www.bodensatz.com/gallery/braufrauhelga

cheers,
 -alan

- -- 
http://www.bodensatz.com/
The Beer Site (tm)


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Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2002 18:14:45 -0700
From: "Kent Fletcher" <kfletcher at socal.rr.com>
Subject: Re:  - SSR with EFI - was: GFI - Electrical Safety

Steve A. posted:
> Drew Avis says ...
>
> >Tony Verhlust points us to http://www.zymico.com/gfi.shtml for
information
> >on GFI.  I notice that the site says GFI is incompatible with systems
that
> >use a solid state relay.
>
> Not exactly - he says the Leviton 50A unit he is using specifically cannot
> handle SSRs.  This hi-current unit is really a separate current mis-match
> sensor and power relay (not included).  The current switching
> characteristics of an SSR may (a guess) hose the current sensor.  The
> online spec page  http://www.leviton.com/pdfs/6895gfci.pdf
> doesn't  mention this limitation - it may only be that the output relay
> cannot be an SSR.  Can't tell w/o full specs.
>
>  -S

The Leviton High Current GFI is basically a 120 v. GFI with an external
current transformer.  This unit requires a separate 120 v. control circuit.
The conductors for the high current load are passed through the C.T. on the
back of the GFIdevice and connected to the load through a separate definite
purpose contactor with a 120 v. coil.  The COMBINATION of the Leviton GFI
and the SPECIFIED contactor become a rated GFI divice.  Leviton lists a
number of contactors that have been certified for this use.  When the sensor
detects a ground fault, it kills voltage to the 120 contactor, shich opens
ALL phases of the circuit.  A SSR acts as a single pole switch, so it cannot
be used for GFI purposes.  For the purpose on turning a 220 v. heating
element on and off, an SSR is fine, but you mut remember that both of the
teminals are HOT (that is, 120 v. potential) at all times, only the FLOW of
current is present when the SSR makes.  To truly deenergize the circuit, it
must be disconnected by use of a multipole switch/breaker or unplugged.



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Date: Tue, 01 Oct 2002 20:42:37 -0700
From: Scott <sejose at pacbell.net>
Subject: Re-entry

Hello everybody.....  finally gearing up to do another brew, I think it's
been almost a year since I've brewed.  To get me going, I've ordered up the
minibrew mash/lauter tun.  I've wanted this item for a long time and decided
it's time to do it.  So I am wondering if anyone else has used this and what
the feedback is for general infusion mashing.  Also, has anyone set up a
RIMS with this unit?

Thanks

Scott Jose
Auburn, CA




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