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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  RE:  A Bad Day Kegging (Bill Tobler)
  honey in brewing (Dan)
  RE Propane cooker conversion to NG ("Pete Calinski")
  Link of the week - Jan 23, 2004 (Bob Devine)
  Burley Method of Keg Purging ("Dave Burley")
  Anyone know what happened to the Maltose Falcons website? (Scott Alfter)
  Re: fusels & esters ("Chad Stevens")
  10 gallon corny kegs ("Andy and Tina Bailey")


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Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 07:42:27 -0600
From: Bill Tobler <wctobler at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: RE:  A Bad Day Kegging

Yesterday, Phil said,

"Yesterday evening, whilst gassing up a keg, Jill announced it was cool
enough to go horse riding. Jill scares me more than horses so reluctantly I
shoved the keg in the fridge and prepared myself for a ride..."snip

 ...and then went on to tell us about the lousy day he had on a horse.
Sounds like "Gassing the Keg" was the only thing that went right all day,
Phil. 

Shame on you for blaming your bad day on your beer making.  You're giving it
a bad name.  If you shared some of that beer with the horse, he probably
would have behaved!  ;-)

Bill Tobler
Lake Jackson, TX
(1129.7, 219.9) Apparent Rennerian




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Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 10:11:11 -0500
From: Dan <dan at zlater.net>
Subject: honey in brewing

I have an extract recipe for a "honey wheat " that says to add honey to 
the boil.
The guy at my local HB store told me that adding honey to the boil would 
not add any honey flavors to the final beer as the sugars would all 
ferment though it would increase alchol content. I was just wondering if 
this seems correct? Could I add the honey after the boil directly to the 
fermenter?add it to the secondary? use it for priming? or all or none of 
the above?
Dan




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Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 11:25:20 -0500
From: "Pete Calinski" <pjcalinski at adelphia.net>
Subject: RE Propane cooker conversion to NG

Well, last summer I converted my propane grill to NG.  I talked to the
manufacturer.  They said all I had to do (other than removing the regulator
and plumbing in the NG) was drill out the orifice to the size of a #49 drill
bit.  Before I drilled, I measured the existing size and it just took a #51
bit.

They also said to adjust the air vents to get the right color flame.  Those
vents have never had any effect.  Neither before the conversion or after.
No matter where they are set, the flame stays the same.

My grill is a 12,000 BTU.  I guess you could measure the size of your
existing orifice and open it up two drill sizes.  If that isn't enough, try
another size up.

I think I will try a #48 next just because I would like to have it a little
hotter.

Hope this helps.

Pete Calinski
East Amherst NY
Near Buffalo NY

http://hbd.org/pcalinsk


***********************************************************
*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.)
***********************************************************



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Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 11:53:21 -0700
From: Bob Devine <bob.devine at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Link of the week - Jan 23, 2004

You say you can't get enough to read on homebrewing?
Try one of these blogs related to beer and/or brewing:

http://blog.homebrew.com/blog.shtml
http://hopbonkle.blogdrive.com/archive/cm-1_cy-2004_m-1_d-2_y-2004_o-10.html 

http://www.suckerfish.net/~matt/beer/blog/
http://www.beerdrinker.org/
http://www.tastybrew.com/journal/rob
http://www.beerblog.com/
http://realbeer.com/library/beerlog/ 
http://www.beergeek.com

Bob Devine


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Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 16:03:04 -0500
From: "Dave Burley" <Dave_Burley at charter.net>
Subject: Burley Method of Keg Purging

Brewsters:

After  a lot of time, I managed to get through all of my HB digests.  Bin
Bizzy with the holidays, visitors, brewin', answering all those p*nis
enlagrement ads, etc.

Many topics of interest, but one thing did catch my eye and that was comments
on my recommendation for purging kegs to avoid oxidation.  What I developed
was a method for filling the keg with VERY hot water and then pushing it out
with CO2 to guarantee no oxygen. It works great and has for a few decades.

Other later modifications by other brewers added in the idea of using
sanitizing agents instead of just plain hot water. There is no need to make up
5 gallons of sanitizer.

I am fortunate that my hot water tank in my brewery can be kept so hot I can't
even stand to put my hand in it and SWMBO claims I have asbestos hands! I
wouldn't advise this for anyone with small kids or older folks around. As a
good alternative you can consider pouring some boiling water in the keg and
topping up with hot water to get the same effect. Get it to about 160F and you
shouldn't have any trouble.

If you don't fill through the "out" with lid on and vent open ( by far the
preferable method) , cover the open top of the keg opening with plastic wrap
to mimimize the mixing of CO2 and air as you fill.  Then be sure to purge that
little bit of space on top of the beer by opening the relief valve and blowing
in CO2.

Trying to purge the keg by displacing air with gaseous CO2 based on the idea
that CO2 is heavier than air and will settle to the bottom of the keg just
plain doesn't work.

The reason? Any CO2 you add in mixes immediately with the air as it is
supposed to, as gases are infinitely mixable per the gas laws definition.  The
vessel is just too small and the gas velocity too high for it to do otherwise.
I once did a calculation and to reduce the oxygen content to 1% of its
original value in air ( still a lot) it would take 100 kegsful of carbon
dioxide.

Now in the case of that lake in Africa a couple of decades ago in which huge
quantities of CO2 erupted from a suspersaturated lake and killled villages and
animals, well, that is an entirely different mattter. Still, I imagine mixing
did occur but the oxygen content of the air was reduced to below the limit
humans could breathe and not suffocate. Likewise in large industrial ( ESP
WINERY AND BREWERY)  accidents.  These safety lectures have given the false
impression that all of the oxygen is displaced.

You don't have to replace all the O2 for it to be hazardous to human health,
but that is a long way from getting oxygen content low enough that it will not
affect your beer.  And it doesn't take nine weeks, especially if the beer has
been filtered or is active yeast free to be affected.

Keep on Brewin'

Dave Burley




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Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 14:04:40 -0800
From: Scott Alfter <scott at alfter.us>
Subject: Anyone know what happened to the Maltose Falcons website?

They're one of the hosting clubs for this year's AHA conference here in Las
Vegas, but http://www.maltosefalcons.com/ is coming up 403 now.  There
appears to be another site at http://hbd.org/maltose/, but it appears to be
a few months out of date.  Does anyone have current information on the
whereabouts of their website?  I'd like to get my own page fixed.

  _/_   Scott Alfter ($firstname at $lastname.us)
 / v \  http://alfter.us/
(IIGS(  Southern Nevada Ale Fermenters Union - http://snafu.alfter.us/
 \_^_/  Beer and Loafing in Las Vegas - http://www.beerandloafing.org/



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Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 19:46:03 -0800
From: "Chad Stevens" <zuvaruvi at cox.net>
Subject: Re: fusels & esters

To add to Steven's pontification...I wrote this a while ago.  The source
material is the important contribution:

- -------------------

Fats and Lipids are bad for foam; their derivatives can be major flavor and
aroma contributors however.  For ease of understanding in the brewing
context, both fats and lipids are made up of fatty acids and are generally
not soluble in water but are soluble in acids, alcohol, bile.and will be
referred to simply as lipids.  Lipids are hydrophobic, as are the large
glycoproteins (molecules made of both protein and carbohydrate, albumin and
globulin polypeptides combine with carbohydrates to form glycoproteins for
example) that make up foam, and compete for position on the bubble surface
reducing the ability of the proteins to entrain liquid (Bohnsack, David,
Prasadi, Dannis, Reinig, Jeffrey and Wetzel, Lisa (2003) Beer, Wine and the
Colloids Which Make it All Possible,
www.eng.buffalo.edu/Courses/ce457_527/ce457_pro/g5_doc.htm).  Lipase, the
enzyme which hydrolyses fats and lipids, is most active during the fourth
day of germination liberating free fatty acids.  I was unable to find web
friendly references regarding lipase thermal stability or activity during
mashing.

Three main lipid fractions find their way into beer: neutral lipids, free
fatty acids, and phospholipids.  The first two deteriorate foam stability
proportional to the amount present.  Phospholipids appear to have no foam
destabilization effect however (Hollemans, M., Tonies, T.R.J.M., Bisperink,
C.G.J. and Ronteltap, A.D. (1991) The Role of Malt in Beer Foam, Tech.
Quarterly of the Master Brew. Assoc. of Am., 28(4), 168-173,
www.mbaa.com/TechQuarterly/Abstracts/1991/tq91ab29.htm. ).

>>>ESTERS and Amides are naturally occurring derivatives of lipids.
Naturally occurring lipids contain even numbers of carbon atoms in straight
chains (from 14 to 26 atoms) with fatty acids linked by an ester or amide,
either of which may be liberated on hydrolysis.  An amide is simply Ammonia
+ an -ide, an ion picked up from an acid or free radical.

Some common Saturated Fatty Acids of animal and plant origin (adapted from
W. Christie, 2002).

Systematic name  Common name   Shorthand
ethanoic               acetic                 2:0
butanoic               butyric               4:0
hexanoic              caproic              6:0
octanoic               caprylic             8:0
decanoic               capric              10:0

 -The first digit before the colon indicating the number of carbon atoms in
the chain and the second digit, after the colon, denoting the number of
double bonds.  The list goes on and on.

Note the common names in the preceding table.  This is where the terms
acetic and butyric come from; acetic of course being associated with acetic
acid, the fatty acid in vinegar, and butyric acid, which is found in animal
fats and is most pronounced in rancid butter.  Caproic, caprylic, and capric
acids are all derived from the Latin word caper, meaning goat.  Caproic acid
reportedly smells like wet goat, caprylic like rancid goat, and capric like
fresh goat (is that possible?).  These are the group of esters associated
with aerobic and anaerobic Dekkera/Brettanomyces fermentations.  Horse
blanket, horse sweat, foxy, feral, goaty, musky: these are all descriptors
of glandular odors.  This is most appropriate because all of the listed
fatty acids are also products of bacterial and fungal enzymatic action on
human glandular excretions.  A lambic or gueuze is most accurately described
in fatty acid or glandular odor terms rather than as being "estery" in odor.
While fully formed esters may be liberated as a result of enzymatic activity
on various grain fractions (e.g. ethyl ester in amylopectin), the ester
products we are more commonly concerned with from a fermentation standpoint
are those formed from an alcohol and a grain derived fatty acid as part of a
dehydration process.  The alcohol and fatty acid react, often in the
presence of a catalyst such as an esterase, to form the ester and a water
molecule.  Isoamyl acetate, the characteristic banana odor so closely
associated with Weizenbiers, occurs when isoamyl alcohol reacts with acetic
acid.  Two other esters common to various beers are isoamyl butyrate, from
the reaction of isoamyl alcohol and butyric acid which smells like pear, and
ethyl acetate, made from ethyl alcohol and acetic acid, which smells like
juicy fruit.

Typically, to make an ester all you need is an alcohol and a fatty acid.
The number of possibilities is a function of the number of fatty acids
available and the number of alcohols available.  All of the even numbered C2
to C30 common saturated fatty acids are found in nature; that's 15 fatty
acids.  The primary alcohol in beer is ethanol.  Congeners, or by-products
of ethanol production, may include: Pentanol, also known as isoamyl alcohol,
Butanol or butyl alcohol, and Propanol.  As a group, these higher alcohols,
predominantly comprised of isoamyl alcohol, are known as fusel oil or more
incorrectly as  fusel alcohols.  So 15 fatty acids multiplied by 4 alcohols
are 60 ester possibilities.  There are actually many more possibilities;
this is simply for illustrative purposes.  Note that fusel alcohol
production increases with fermentation temperature.  This is one reason why
the warmer the fermentation, the greater the complexity of the ester
profile.

As an aside, isoamyl alcohol in particular is affected by pitching rates.  A
four-fold increase in yeast results in an 80% increase in isoamyl alcohol
(Van Gheluwe, G., Chen, E., and Valyi, Z. (1975) Factors Affecting the
Formation of Fusel Alcohols During Fermentation, Tech. Quarterly of the
Master Brew. Assoc. of the Am.,
www.mbaa.com/TechQuarterly/Abstracts/1975/tq75ab03.htm ).  If you are fond
of strong isoamyl acetate banana, don't be shy about pitching a large volume
of your favorite German Wheat Beer yeast and keeping the fermentation on the
warm side.

>From the catalyst side of the ester equation, the same effect seen in
isoamyl acetate production should hold true for the production of just about
any ester.  The underlying protein responsible for this is Acetyl-Coenzyme
A.  Acetyl-CoA is used by yeast for growth as well as for ester production.
If a small volume of yeast is pitched, Acetyl-CoA is tied up in yeast
growth.  If a larger volume of yeast is pitched from the start, little
Acetyl-CoA is tied up in a growth phase and as a result, is free to be used
by the yeast for ester production. (Cone, Clayton (2003) in Homebrew Digest,
http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/4329.html ).

As an example, the amino acid Choline alone is responsible for 36 aromatic
esters, 13 of which are naturally occurring in plants.  They include: anisic
acid, isovanillic acid, vanillic acid, cinnamic acid, coumaric acid, and
cafeic acid ( Wathelet, Jean-Paul, Mabon, Nicolas, and Marlier, Michel
(1999) Synthesis and Purification of 36 Aromatic Choline Esters as
Standards, Proceedings of the 10th International Rapeseed Congress,
Canberra, Australia.  www.regional.org.au/au/gcirc/1/186.htm  ).The
associated odors are self-explanatory.  Choline is of course, yet another
amino acid found in grain.

- -------------------

Hope this further illuminates rather than obfuscates (Palmer's favorite
word).

Chad Stevens
QUAFF
San Diego

America's Finest City Homebrew Competition now open for entries and judge
registration:
www.quaff.org/afc2004/AFCHBC.html



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Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 20:15:34 -0800
From: "Andy and Tina Bailey" <atmlobailey at cox.net>
Subject: 10 gallon corny kegs

I am looking for a source of 10 gallon corny kegs...so:

1) if anyone has any for sale, let me know

2) What industry uses them? (so I know where to look) For instance, does
(did) the soft drink industry use them (so I could hit up my local pepsi
bottler), or are they used in the medical profession, or elsewhere?

If you can help me locate any, I would appreciate it!

Andy
in Las Vegas



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