HOMEBREW Digest #4486 Fri 27 February 2004


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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  Dunklemumblemumble, metabisulfite as a water treatment ("Dave Burley")
  CARBOY Shamrock Open - March 27 ("Mike Dixon")
  Spam and the Digest: Restraint, please... (Pat Babcock)
  Bunratty Mead ("Al Boyce")
  spring training ("greg mcgann")
  RE: Gas Measurement ("Ronald La Borde")
  Email Address Harvesting (rickdude02)
  OT - SPAM harvesting (Mark Kempisty)
  Re: Bunratty Mead (Jeff Renner)
  A must read PID article ("Reddy, Pat")
  Bunratty Mead ("Mike Maag")
  plastics and temperature ("The Mad Brewer")

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 12:22:55 -0500 From: "Dave Burley" <Dave_Burley at charter.net> Subject: Dunklemumblemumble, metabisulfite as a water treatment Brewsters: JonO is having a hard time deciding if his first all grain is fuinished fermnenting or not as the hydrometer hasn't moved but it's still bubbling. First, bubling is not a sign of fermentation just the CO2 leaving the solution (off-gassing) , which can happen long after the fermentation has stopped. Secondly, a hydrometer is not a good instrument to use for this, as the clinging bubbles give a false high reading. Using a hydrometer to determine the fermentatoin endpoint is especially frustrating ( and uninformative) when doing all grain as the FG is not always easy to know unless you have made this particular brew a number of times and have not made any temperature mistakes. Wintertime is also a problem as the fermenter temperature may drop below the desired temperature , esp with ales and a stuck fermentation is a possibility. This is exactly why I use Clinitest to determine that the reducing sugars are at 1/4% or below, then I know with confidence that the fermentation is at an end, even though I may have a high final gravity which is dependent on the mashing conditions and the fermenter is still off-gassing. - --------------- Rich asks if Kmetab'ite can be used to treat his water. This, used in the ppm range, will remove any chlorine, but in a non-acid state Kmetab'bite will not do anything else as it is the SO2 which is only available at below pH -around 3.3 that "kills" nasties You will be boiling and cooling your water for beer so no need to treat it for biological contaminants. If that sounds like too much work use bottled water from the supermarket that is ozonated. No chlorine. Keep on Brewin', Dave Burley Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 07:51:59 -0500 From: "Mike Dixon" <mpdixon at ipass.net> Subject: CARBOY Shamrock Open - March 27 The CARBOY Shamrock Open Homebrewing Competition will be held on March 27, 2004 in Raleigh, NC at the BB&Y restaurant. Once again the competition is registered with the BJCP and the AHA. The fees are $6 first entry and $5 each additional entry. Deadlines for mail in entries is March 19 and for drop off entries is March 21. All the gory details can be viewed at http://hbd.org/carboy/shamrock.htm Please use the online entry form for entries and to sign up to judge or steward at competition http://hbd.org/carboy/shamrock_register.htm If you need directions to the event they are on the Shamrock page or you can link there off the main page http://hbd.org/carboy/ This is your chance to see how you measure up against some of the best North and South Carolina Brewers as we begin the 2004 season for Carolinas Brewer of the Year http://hbd.org/cboy/ Cheers, Mike Dixon Wake Forest, NC Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 08:34:09 -0500 (EST) From: Pat Babcock <pbabcock at hbd.org> Subject: Spam and the Digest: Restraint, please... Greetings beerlings, take me to your lager... Once again, a piece of SPAM has made it into the Digest. And, once again, someone feels it necessary to voice their indignation over it. First, let me say that, even with the rare incidence that a piece of detritus makes it onto the Digest, the HBD still has one of the highest signal-to-noise ratios of any other list of its type. For those that don't understand how the HBD is managed, please review the FAQ at http://hbd.org. In it you'll find a discussion on "Low-Level Moderation" -better described, I think, as "deadman moderation." Just as the "deadman switch" on a train prevents runaway accidents, our method of moderation ensures that, as long as the server and the internet are up, and there are posts in the queue, you should never have to muddle through your day without the HBD. Some of the moderation is done through automation. Easily identifiable patterns are put into the scripting to prevent many posts from even getting into the queue. Same for certain formatting errors (for instance, the HBD rejects 90% of the HTML mail it receives, thereby eliminating 99% of the SPAM and viruses cast at its gate). Whatever is left is handled by manual review and removal from the queue by the janitors - and here's the key point: note that I said REMOVED from the queue. Most moderation schemes depend on the moderator to ALLOW posts INTO the queue. Hence the term "deadman moderation": unless the Janitors remove a message from the queue, it will eventually publish. The unfortunate side effect is that this method leaves the queue exposed when it is low enough that any item posted prior to publication will make it into the next Digest - which publishes at 12:00 am EST. So, if the Janitors choose sleep over insomnia, and the Digest queue is not filled, the occasional piece of detritus will make it in. Trust me: I am painfully aware when something slips by. I don't need a note from anyone telling me so, and I certainly don't need anyone reposting the piece of SPAM with their comments added. This simply multiplies the offense by repeating it in their quote! Note that I do edit the Digests in the Archive and the HTML Digest to remove SPAM, preventing the offender from gaining free advertisement there. I have considered changing the publication time of the HBD to prevent the timing disparity; however, this would impact the performance of the HBD server since it would be processing the 3800 subscriber mailings during times when folks are still using the Brewery and HBD web sites. With all of the worms, viruses, and legitimate mail banging on the gates, I don't think the Server will be very responsive to those using the web pages if I do so. In any case, just as I noodled out a solution to the email harvesting issue, I am working on ways to implement an "automatic night lock" to defer postings received after, say, 10:00 pm EST from entering the true queue until after the Digest publishes the next day. This is preferred to implementing a server-wide filter as there would be many pieces of legitimate mail lost through such an implementation - I would not have time to review, one by one, any mail quarantined by such a thing. And, with, perhaps, one piece of SPAM making it into the Digest per month, on a conservative average (it's actually lower than that), this issue is not top priority at the moment. - -- - God bless America! Pat Babcock in SE Michigan pbabcock at hbd.org Home Brew Digest Janitor janitor at hbd.org HBD Web Site http://hbd.org The Home Brew Page http://hbd.org/pbabcock [18, 92.1] Rennerian "I don't want a pickle. I just wanna ride on my motorsickle" - Arlo Guthrie Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 08:15:27 -0600 From: "Al Boyce" <aboyce at mn.rr.com> Subject: Bunratty Mead Brian- Bunratty Mead was the first mead I ever tried, when I was touring Ireland back in 1981. At the time, I thought it a marvelous elixir, and I hand-carried several bottles back home from across the foam. Recently I found Bunratty mead here in the states. For me, the import product is nothing like what I remembered when I sampled it in Ireland. Granted, many more meads have passed my lips since then, and I admit to being spoiled. The bottle claims it is "honey wine", and describes it as white wine with honey added. So there's your recipe, if you want to try to make it here - make a white wine first, and then add honey to it later in the fermentation. - Al Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 09:22:34 -0500 From: "greg mcgann" <mcganngreg at hotmail.com> Subject: spring training commrades: next month i'm planning a beer & baseball bike ride along the pinellas trail in s.w. florida. i know dunedin pretty well, but does anyone have suggestions for places to get decent beer elsewhere along the trail-st. pete, clearwater, tarpon springs? proximity--near enough to get there by foot or bike -is important. thanx! Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 08:34:59 -0600 From: "Ronald La Borde" <pivoron at cox.net> Subject: RE: Gas Measurement >From: "Martin Brungard" <mabrungard at hotmail.com> > >What I'm hoping to cultivate with this message are some ideas about how a >tipping device might be fashioned or if there are other approaches to flow >measurement that aren't going to cost an arm and a leg. One possible way to calibrate the bubble counter might be thus: * First I would think that the airlock solution must be at the same volume and contain the same liquid to have any meaningful repeatability. * So how about measuring the amount of water to completely fill a corny keg, then empty the keg and put on airlock at gas out port. Now start your bubble counter and slowly fill keg with water through the liquid in port until full. This should give the exact volume of air pushed out. This is your measurement and use this for calibration. * Someone had posted earlier about using an audio pickup to hear the bubbling. This may work, but another method might be to have a small magnet in the bubbler to pulse a reed switch, or perhaps a piece of foil that would lift with the bubble and break a light beam counter........ Ron ===== Ronald J. La Borde -- Metairie, LA New Orleans is the suburb of Metairie, LA www.hbd.org/rlaborde Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 09:48:59 -0500 (GMT-05:00) From: rickdude02 at earthlink.net Subject: Email Address Harvesting Patrick states that his address has been harvested from this list. Could be-- I dunno. Patrick, did you use the "at" instead of " at " when you posted? I'm just thinking that someone must have a lot of time on their hands to manually enter email addresses off of the HBD. And could it be that someone got you in a random string search or something (i.e. sending to guy1 at hotmail... guy2@hotmail... etc.)? I don't mean to discount what you're saying, and I know that harvesters are working out there... I'm just wondering about the details of it. Rick Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 10:29:52 -0500 From: Mark Kempisty <mskhbd at yahoo.com> Subject: OT - SPAM harvesting I get a ton of SPAM at my work address which I'm pretty sure came as a result of HBD :-(. As a result I didn't post for months. I finally created a mule account at Yahoo. I check it about once every two weeks and its Bulk mail folder is packed with SPAM. The SPAMMERS probably have their SPAM-bots programmed to look for <space>at<space> and insert a at . Maybe our digest hosts can randomize what gets inserted. Brew on, Mark Richboro, PA P.S. Another piece of SPAM just came in! UGH! Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 10:32:04 -0500 From: Jeff Renner <jeffrenner at comcast.net> Subject: Re: Bunratty Mead "Brian Dougan" <dougan_b at hotmail.com> wrote: >While travelling around Ireland last spring I happened upon "Bunratty Mead" >produced at the Bunratty Winery, Bunratty, Co. Clare. Has anyone else >sipped this mead and have opinions on it? I was hoping perhaps someone >would be able to help me figure out a recipe that would be close to it. >Having yet to make a mead, I thought this would be a good one to try and get >close to having enjoyed it. Below is all you need to know about this product from Dick Dunn, Mead-Lover's Digest janitor (subscribe at mead-request at talisman.com). He posted this on Mead Lover's Digest two years ago. You might do a Google search for "site:aboutmead.com Bunratty" for more information. I suggest that you might like to a lightly spiced sweet pyment (grape and honey mead). You could use a white wine concentrate with honey. To keep the alcohol down, you could make if of moderate gravity and add honey when it was done fermenting along with spice or a spice tea, and sorbate to keep it from fermenting again. For more information on this I highly recommend Ken Schramm's new book _Compleat Meadmaker_ and MeadLover's Digest. Jeff Subject: Bunratty, again ("Meade" is NOT mead) From: rcd at talisman.com (Dick Dunn) Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2002 15:24:00 -0700 (MST) Short summary - Bunratty "Meade" is not mead. NLSteve at aol.com wrote a while back: > I don't know of any true Irish meads available around these parts, but wanted > to warn you about at least one "meade" imported to the US from Ireland. Brand > name is "Bunratty." The extra "e" on the word "mead" is a tipoff that it > isn't really mead as we know it, but grape wine with honey added or >some such. Lynhbrew at aol.com responded in the last digest: > ...I don't believe that the labeling on the Meade you consumed was incorect > but it may have been incomplete. You were probably expecting a traditional > or varietal honey mead and instead there was a surprise grape flavor present. > The category of beverages known as Meads actually includes a broad array of > honey wines and has been further broken down into several subcategories... Most of us already know the categories. But Bunratty "Meade" is NOT a honey wine. Specifically, the honey that is put into it is NOT fermented. > While I am not familiar with Bunratty (unfortunately) I can only guess > that it is most likely a Pyment; which is a mead made with with the > addition of grapes or grape juice. I (unfortunately!) AM familiar with Bunratty "Meade", and I can tell you that although your guess is what a reasonable person would expect, it is quite wrong. I'm going to be more blunt than in the past. "Meade" is a poor-quality white wine (a grape wine, to be clear), with honey and spices added to make it (barely) drinkable. It's a disgrace to the tradition of mead, particularly because anyone who tries it out of interest in mead is likely to be put off mead as a result. The name "Meade" is their trademark for this product. It is a deliberate deception: the text on the bottle, and occasionally on a hang-tag on the neck, discusses the lore of mead, in order to encourage you to believe that "Meade" is mead. It is not. In the US, the BATF (federal agency that regulates alcoholic beverages, among other things) has a history or at least a reputation of being strict about labeling. I wonder why Bunratty "Meade" hasn't come under scrutiny for its deceptive label. (Maybe it's because the people who understand the issue and are bothered by it are all like me--sit around complaining but don't do anything?:-) Dick - -- Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, JeffRenner at comcast.net "One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943 Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 13:51:36 -0600 From: "Reddy, Pat" <Pat.Reddy at mavtech.cc> Subject: A must read PID article I'm not here to start up the PID/Temp probe placement debate, AGAIN! Rather, here's a great article on how to control a difficult heating system, i.e. one in which there is a long "thermal lag", as in when you have your temp probe at your mash tun outlet. http://www.essproducts.com/download/PIDprimer.PDF Pat Reddy River Bound Brewing Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 19:13:38 -0500 From: "Mike Maag" <maagm at rica.net> Subject: Bunratty Mead Brian Dougan wants to clone Bunratty Mead. The bottle lists white wine, honey, and herbs as the ingredients. It tastes like a semi sweet mead recipe with 1/3 of the honey replaced with white grape juice. (or mix white wine with your mead if you are not a purest). This is actually a pyment, which is a mead made from honey & grape juice. I believe the major herb used is sweet gale (Use sparingly), available at home brew supply shops. Be sure to add yeast nutrients so the fermentation isn't too slow. Hope this helps, Mike Maag, in the Shenandoah Valley Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 21:02:56 -0600 From: "The Mad Brewer" <seansgroups at mts.net> Subject: plastics and temperature Regarding Aaron's post on coolers, I've been wondering about similar things too. I would believe that HDPE is OK at mash temperatures. One of Rubbermaid's problems is that if they are selling plastic items as "food grade" they are complying with regulations enforced by the FDA, and known as "21 CFR 170 through 179". I think plastics come under 21 CFR 177. If you go to www.fda.gov and hunt around you should find a link to the site that actually has all the US government regs on-line. These regulations state what limits apply to the composition of plastics etc. in contact with food as "indirect food additives". The issue here is they also state what uses the compliant plastics may be put to - some things are OK for dry foods, but not for wet, or only for foods low in fats, etc. So if they tell you it's OK to mash in a cooler, they could be in trouble if the regs only apply to "storage". The issue would be plasticizers - if you can find polyethylene in the regs I expect they don't allow anything particularly exotic, and HDPE doesn't normally require plasticizers. What about those brown rectangular thermal containers that caterers use for coffee? I haven't found them on the web yet. I wonder if anyone makes one big enough for mashing. You'd think the US army would have big thermoses. Sean Return to table of contents
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