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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org


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Contents:
  Re: blichmannengineering Therminator (Abe Kabakoff)
  Bottling with Graham (RoadGlyn)
  Attract the opposite sex, the ultimate guide for getting women. ("Stefanie Burnett")
  Water modification and putting ZIP back in your sex life ("Jim Bermingham")
  GADS!!! ("Pat Babcock")
  Water modification ("A.J deLange")
  Need Barley to malt in the Mid-Michigan Area ("National Midnight Star Brewery")
  Wine Oxidation--Wine Bottle Headspace Pump ("Janie Curry")


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JANITORs on duty: Pat Babcock (pbabcock at hbd dot org), Jason Henning,
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Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 22:47:38 -0500
From: Abe Kabakoff <abe_kabakoff at gmx.de>
Subject: Re: blichmannengineering Therminator

Scott D. Braker-Abene said:
 >
 > Yes... They look damn sweet... I would hesitate only because it is a
 > plate heat exchanger that you cannot take apart to clean. Plate
 > chiller are fantastic efficiency wise but also get down right filthy
 > and grubby in a commercial brewery.
 >
 > They have to be taken apart and soaked on a semi regular basis. To me
 > not being able to dismantle is a draw back...

Some professional brewers take apart their chillers more or less 
annually, but in a semi-recent discussion on the AOB Forum the need to 
take them apart was discussed.  As in all internet discussions, no 
conclusion was reached.

I am a commercial brewer, and I know that our heat exchanger has been in 
service for almost 10 years, and has not been taken apart.  I obviously 
have not seen the inside, but if I run clean caustic through it, it 
comes out clean on the other side.

The only reason to ever really take apart a plate chiller is to replace 
gaskets when they leak.  A friend at a different commercial brewery took 
his chiller apart to replace the gaskets, and reported that the plates 
themselves were impeccable. His chiller had been in operation for over 5 
years, and was never dismantled.

You do not need to take these things apart to keep them operating for 
years, you just need a good cleaning protocol.  I suggest an acid wash 
and then a hot caustic wash (lye from the drain opener aisle is perfect 
- -- a 5% solution is more than enough) when you notice buildup.  Nothing 
overly long, maybe 5 minutes each.  Boil it before use (as suggested on 
their site) to sanitize it, and flush the water side with something that 
will remove scale when scale forms.

As usual, a little maintenance as you go along can prevent a big PITA 
down the line.  Don't worry about ever needing to take this thing apart.

Abe Kabakoff


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Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 07:53:07 -0400
From: RoadGlyn at netscape.net
Subject: Bottling with Graham

I must admit I still bottle, and it doesn't bother me to much and 
can be quite fun. I sat down Thursday night with almost 20 gallons 
to bottle. Turned on the Craftbrewer Show and had a wonderful time.
http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/index.shtml#Sound
Thanks Graham!

Thanks Pat!

Bottle on,




Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 10:02:33 -0200
From: "Stefanie Burnett" <stefanie.burnett_rz at rido.nl>
Subject: Attract the opposite sex, the ultimate guide for getting women.

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Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 08:00:13 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
From: "Jim Bermingham" <bermingham at antennaproducts.com>
Subject: Water modification and putting ZIP back in your sex life

Jeremy Hanson is requesting information on modifying water to match styles
and to improve efficiency.  Jeremy, if you don't have one of the software
programs available such as ProMash, I suggest that you go to Ken Schwartz's
web page  http://home.elp.rr.com/brewbeer/ and download BreWater 3.0.  This
a free program designed by Ken and I believe would be of great help.

Graham Sanders has told me more than I really wanted to know about his
encounter with SWMBO after she cornered him in the bedroom.  But he had to
go and ask what is a poor bloke to do when roped in.  Now he has opened the
door.  I suppose he is at this moment looking at the two post in todays
digest and is trying to find out how to put Zip back into his sex life and
trying to attract the opposite sex.  Unless, he is the Governor of New
Jersey...

Jim Bermingham
Millsap, TX


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Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 09:12:21 -0400
From: "Pat Babcock" <pbabcock at hbd.org>
Subject: GADS!!!

Greetings, Beerlings! Administer a dose of sedative...


Aaaarrrrrggggggghhhhhhh!!! ******* spam-mongers!

Well, it appears I missed a (rather obvious) misspelling of a certain drug's 
name in my filter. That's bad enough. Then, I note another little nugget had 
slipped in as well.

Folks, I am going to have to accelerate my implementation of a SPAM filter. 
This will have a high potential to disrupt the HBD as it did the last time 
(though, this time, I'll build from sources rather than rely on someone elses' 
skills in using a binary RPM...). I have two other janitors on staff besides 
me, and this stuff is still getting past our reviews. It's time for more 
drastic measures...

PUSH THE BUTTON!

- --

See ya!

Dr. Strangelove in SE MI
pbabcock at hbd.org


- --

See ya!

Pat Babcock in SE MI
pbabcock at hbd.org


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Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 14:16:29 +0100
From: "A.J deLange" <ajdel at cox.net>
Subject: Water modification

After approximately 12 years trying to simplify brewing water chemistry 
I've more or less concluded you can't. It's not a difficult subject but 
rather an intricate one. Your college chemistry is sufficient for a 
thorough understanding but how many of us remembered an iota of that 
once we passed the final? The basic facts are that in brewing water, the 
only active buffering system is the carbonic/bicarbonate/carbonate one 
(all other acids and bases should either be fully dissociated or absent 
from the water). When malt is added at dough in phosphate enters the 
picture. Calcium phosphate is very insoluble so that if the water is 
hard the calcium will be stripped out. When calcium is precipitated 
protons are released and these protons acidify the mash. This is why 
brewers add gypsum to brewing water - to harden it so that malt 
phosphate can precipitate that hardness and release acid. Thus if you 
tweak carbonate, bicarbonate or calcium (magnesium acts like calcium but 
to a lesser extent) you will alter mash pH. Other mineral tweaks only 
change flavor and are really akin to adding more or less salt in other 
forms of cooking (adding sulfate accents hops, low levels of chloride 
impart an impression of sweetness, lots of chloride when sodium is also 
present make the beer salty...).

In looking at your water report the most important item is alkalinity 
which is not, unfortunately, something that is always reported as, 
believe it or not, not all homeowners brew. If it is take half the 
magnesium  hardness (in parts per million as calclum carbonate) and add 
it to the calcium hardness (same units), divide the sum by 3.5 and 
subtract the result from the alkalinity (in parts per million as calcium 
carbonate). (John Palmer's nomographs and slide rule do all this for 
you). The result is called Kolbach's residual alkalinity and if it is 
less than 50 (the lower the better - it can even be less than 0) you 
don't have to worry about mash pH. If it is above 50 you do. Clearly you 
can lower it by adding calcium and magnesium but it takes a lot of 
calcium (3.5 ppm per ppm of residual alklainity). This is what 
commercial brewers in the UK and almost every micro in the US are doing 
when they dump gypsum into their brews. Alternatively you can acid but 
don't get it from a bottle - get it from dark malt. This is what the 
Munich brewers are doing when then brew Dunkles. Or remove the 
bicarbonate from the water by boiling or lime treatment. This is what 
Munich brewers do when they brew Helles. Or use a combination of the 
above techniques. This is what any brewer can do once he has gained some 
experience.

It's not so important that the details of the chemistry which determine 
mash pH be understood as it is to know how to control it. It's my 
opinion that the serious brewer will regard his pH meter with the same 
reverence as his thermometer and hydrometer; certainly professional 
brewers do. Unfortunately, pH meters are lots more expensive than either 
of those other items and lots more finicky (though the modern ISFET ones 
represent a great improvement in that department) and prices have come 
down somewhat. Equipped with a good meter you can monitor pH (throughout 
the brewing process - not just in the mash tun) and develop an 
appreciation for what effects it and how to set it. Once you have it 
under control you'll stop worrying about that aspect of brewing and can 
move on to one of the innumerable others.

Matching the water profiles of famous brewing cities was a hot topic on 
HBD about 10 (?) years back. I think the most important conclusions from 
all the research done then was that many of the reported water profiles 
are bogus (as can be confirmed by checking to see if they are 
electrically neutral at reasonable pH - many if not most aren't) and 
that it is foolish to, for example, taylor water to mimic the cabonate 
levels of Munich only to turn around and decarbonate this water to make 
Helles.

Never heard of B3's buffer. This doesn't sound very appealing to me. The 
best buffering system is the natural one of malt organic acids with 
reasonable levels of liquor residual alkalinity. This last comment is, 
of course, an opinion.

A.J.



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Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 16:28:12 -0400
From: "National Midnight Star Brewery" <nmstarbrewery at charter.net>
Subject: Need Barley to malt in the Mid-Michigan Area

Anyone know where I can get some barley to malt?  I want to play around and
maybe get the homebrew club to try some experimenting but I haven't been
able to find a source.  Any advice?

Thanks!

William Menzl
Midland, Michigan  [99.8, 344.8] Apparent Rennerian
National Midnight Star Brewery
nmstarbrewery at charter.net



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Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 21:19:03 +0000
From: "Janie Curry" <houndandcalico at hotmail.com>
Subject: Wine Oxidation--Wine Bottle Headspace Pump

While we are on the topic of oxidation, I'd like to solicit opions on the 
best pump to buy to remove air from the headspace when a bottle of wine is 
uncorked.

I recently did a tasting room tour of Yakimah valley wineries by bike, and 
at several tasting rooms they immediately applied a vacum pump after each 
uncorking.

Todd in Idaho



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