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Contents:
  Beer in Syracuse ("cyserman")
  re: freshly harvested malt (what to do with it?) ("-S")
  re: measuring and adjusting mash pH ("-S")
  bromelain use (=?iso-8859-1?q?Arthur=20Gonzales=20III?=)
  A Full Mash Beer In Ten Minutes! ("Phil Yates")
  Re: pLambic (Jeff Renner)
  Re: Yeast Strain's Effect on Beer Color. (Jeff Renner)
  beer color related to yeast strain (Brad Nicholson)
  insect damage to barrels (Jeff Renner)
  Hoppy Halloween Challenge ("Susan Ruud")
  barley (not yet malt) (leavitdg)
  Thermocouples & rims, etc.... ("Mark Nesdoly")
  Vancouver Brewpubs ("Bill Riel")
  Carbon Water Filtration / Filter Storage and Sanitation (homebrewdigest)


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Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 22:18:18 -0500
From: "cyserman" <cyserman at comcast.net>
Subject: Beer in Syracuse

If you go to Syracuse, you must visit Clark's Ale House (22 beers and one
sandwich) 
http://www.beertravelers.com/details/newyork/clarks.html

The Blue Tusk a few blocks away. Not only a full deli//bistro, and many
quality beers on tap, they have a separate small bar that is all Belgian
beer
http://www.bluetusk.com/
If the proprietor is on the premises, tell him I sent you

And of course The Middle Ages Brewery has been mentioned
http://www.middleagesbrewery.com/
if that proprietor is on premises, please tell him I sent you

There are a fairly decent number of good places in the vicinity, but you can
find out about them at the places above, and it will take you awhile to work
your way through what they have to offer. 

cyserman
Amor est vitae essentia - Love is the essence of life. 
Carpe Cerevisi - Seize the beer!
http://www.musiccitybrewers.com/




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Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 01:34:08 -0400
From: "-S" <-s at adelphia.net>
Subject: re: freshly harvested malt (what to do with it?)

The long lost Darrell of Levitt claims ....

>My brother just left me with about 30 lb of freshly harvested malt from his
>trip to Nova Scotia.

Hahahaha - your brother is quite a joker or perhaps the Nova.Scots have
a wetter summer than usual.

The grain we brewers typically use is BARLEY and only after it has been
wetted, spouted, dried and de-culmed is it called "malt".  Actually many
(not all) grains can be malted successfully.  If you have any questions
about this very basic process I'd suggest you memorize (and teach your
children) the famous Robert Burns poem, "John Barleycorn" which describes
the malting process in the context of distilling well enough to prevent any
generation of prohibitionists from driving our ilk into oblivion.  Ahh the
collective
memory ...

One version  goes ....
http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/steeleye.span/
songs/johnbarleycorn.html

(and  I did so like Steeleye Span in the day ) Or a more literal Burnsian
version ...

There was three kings into the east,
  Three kings both great and high,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
  John Barleycorn should die.


They took a plough and plough'd him down,
  Put clods upon his head,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
  John Barleycorn was dead.


But the cheerful Spring came kindly on,
  And show'rs began to fall;
John Barleycorn got up again,
  And sore surpris'd them all.


The sultry suns of Summer came,
  And he grew thick and strong;
His head weel arm'd wi' pointed spears,
  That no one should him wrong.


The sober Autumn enter'd mild,
  When he grew wan and pale;
His bending joints and drooping head
  Show'd he began to fail.


His colour sicken'd more and more,
  He faded into age;
And then his enemies began
  To show their deadly rage.


They've taen a weapon, long and sharp,
  And cut him by the knee;
Then tied him fast upon a cart,
  Like a rogue for forgerie.


They laid him down upon his back,
  And cudgell'd him full sore;
They hung him up before the storm,
  And turned him o'er and o'er.


They filled up a darksome pit
  With water to the brim;
They heaved in John Barleycorn,
  There let him sink or swim.


They laid him out upon the floor,
  To work him farther woe;
And still, as signs of life appear'd,
  They toss'd him to and fro.


They wasted, o'er a scorching flame,
  The marrow of his bones;
But a miller us'd him worst of all,
  For he crush'd him between two stones.


And they hae taen his very heart's blood,
  And drank it round and round;
And still the more and more they drank,
  Their joy did more abound.


John Barleycorn was a hero bold,
  Of noble enterprise;
For if you do but taste his blood,
  'Twill make your courage rise.


'Twill make a man forget his woe;
  'Twill heighten all his joy;
'Twill make the widow's heart to sing,
  Tho' the tear were in her eye.


Then let us toast John Barleycorn,
  Each man a glass in hand;
And may his great posterity
  Ne'er fail in old Scotland!!

===

Or in a less poetic description ...

Barley is an interesting grain that has a rather short growing
season and can tolerate low water conditions quite well ... very
well attuned to the Northern climes and the more desert like
regions.  Rather subject to mold in wet areas tho'.

Fresh barley should be dried or seasoned for seveal months
after harvest. Very fresh barley has a low germination rate ...
natures way of assessing the season.   Keep the grain cool
and relatively dry for a couple months after harvest.

Next use a zapap or similar and drench the grain for at least
12hrs and up to 23 hours a day until the grain gains 40% to
45% water weight. 2-3 days will do it *but* measure.
For example start w/ 10lbs of grain soaking and when the
drained weight hits 14lbs stop soaking.

Do use chlorinated "city" water throughout and also consider using
a limed water (food grade lime is available for pickling cucumbers)
as an early rinse for several hours.   These measures help reduce
bacterial and mold infections, and the basic lime water will remove
a lot of husk phenolics too.

After the 40+% water is in the grist (and I prefer the low end of
the range near 40%) then spread the grain out on a cool cement
floor or on a window screen in a several inch deep layer and turn
several times a day.   The grains will begin to sprout and the rootlets
(culms) will reach about the grain length and the sub-husk acrospire
about 75% of the grain length in 10-13 days.  If you keep the water
levels low-ish (~40%) then you can afford to spray off or even rinse
off the germinating grain if necessary - NOT too much please. At
this point the grains are fully modified and ready to dry.

Germinating malt heaps are *always* infected so the use of chlorinated
and limed soaks is a big advantage.  Turning the pile often and creating
some air flow (fan) is a big advantage.  Some sunshine and frequent
turns helps.  A little funk and even a fair bit of diacetyl aroma is OK
but if you can't stand the smell of your malt heap, the malt is ruined -
toss it.

You can make "wind malt" by sun drying the grains if you live in a
dry climate, or you can zip the grain in a pillowcase and toss them
in the clothes dryer if your wife is out of town.  In any case you
must stop the germination process in a hurry by drying the grains.
An extra day of germination will shockingly reduce the amount
of carbohydrates available for brewing.  Oh yeah - the culms
(rootlets) detatch while drying and should be discarded (bitter).

I have found that a large crock-pot w/ lid does a nice job of
'stewing' grains for making light crystal, but use your imagination.
Dry in a very low oven (<230F) for diastatic malts.

As long as you are going to the trouble of malting I will suggest
that you try making some *traditional* pils malt for decoction - not
the overmodified stuff from .cz and .de  .   To do this soak to only
32-35% moisture and then terminate the germination at day 5 or 6.  The
enzyme levels are are near peak around day 4 - and so the primary
change as the germination proceeds is more protein and starch
breakdown.  Plan on a protein rest then a serious decoction boil for
this stuff.

Another malt type you can consider is bruhmalz or melanoidin which is
something like Munich malt but better.,   Seal some of the malt at late
germination in an air tight container and watch it brown out as the
oxygen fails. Then dry at a higher oven temp to the color of dark crystal
 - yum.

In any case be sure to dry the heck out of the malt - dry malts last
for years, slack malt will self-destruct in a short time.

- --

Some of the other grains (oats, rye and likely wheat) are a fair bit
more difficult to malt well ... typically more infection prone when
huskless or with thin adherent husks.  Same basic procedes tho'.

 -S



Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 01:42:46 -0400
From: "-S" <-s at adelphia.net>
Subject: re: measuring and adjusting mash pH

Mauricio writes ...

>What I do is:
>Take the water alone at room temperature and correct the Ph to 6 - 6.2

I do the same (well ~6.5) and highly recommend this method.  Once you've
broken thru the carbonate buffering barrier the malt will typically carry
the
mash to the proper pH range without a lot of fuss.

 -S



Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 08:23:51 +0100 (BST)
From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Arthur=20Gonzales=20III?= <bokolobs at yahoo.com>
Subject: bromelain use

 
 
 Well... I wonder if you could help me. If someone
 chooses to use it, how much bromelain should one use
 to brew, for example, a thousand liters of beer?
 What are the circumstances that one should use it?
 Thanks.
 
Arthur Gonzales
Philippines
 




Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 20:23:40 +1000
From: "Phil Yates" <phil.yates at bigpond.com>
Subject: A Full Mash Beer In Ten Minutes!

Dave Burley says:

>SO if efficiency and an improved mouthfeel and ,
>more  importantly,  flavor is desired, I suggest step mashing and a longer
>mash time than 20 minutes. What is the rush when you look at the time >for
all the other steps? This is a hobby!

Dave is dead right with regards to time saving. Shaving time off the mash
will shorten your day, but not by much. All the other processes take so
long, there is no easy way to drastically shorten a day's brewing if full
grain brewing is your go. As Dave points out, it is a hobby.

In answer to Bill Velek and Jim Bermingham, I'm still enjoying beers that
have been made from the full laborious process, but I'm not doing any
mashing. I'm not doing any sparging or boiling either. I'm not taking up six
hours of a day to brew and clean up equipment.

I'm just plain cheating. I've got on to a concept where a brewer does all
the hard work and hands his wort over to me to ferment. Okay, I pay for his
wort, but the price is damn cheap when you consider the hours I save.

My hobby (as Dave rightly says it is) simply got out of hand. The demand for
my beer was such that I became a slave to the process. Jill was the worst
offender, threatening me with constant retribution if I ever dared let the
kegs run dry. But she still wanted fences fixed, horses fed, paddocks
slashed etc. How much spare time do you get, being a poor farmer? Ray Kruse
seems to find enough time to paint American flags all over his barn, but
then, he hasn't brewed at all for years.

How can a hapless guy win?

Now I have a way of keeping my kegs full of beer without doing the hard
work. I just tinker around with fermentation.

I guess a kit or extract brewer could almost say the same thing. But without
wishing to offend anyone, I've never enjoyed a beer made from extract, they
always taste tinny to me.

So that's where I am with brewing at the moment. I dare say I will get back
to full mash brewing for myself, when time permits. In the meantime, I'm
having a lot of fun doing nothing but fermenting, and enjoying the results.

Phil





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Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 09:06:43 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <jeffrenner at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: pLambic

Bill Gornicki gornicwm at earthlink.net of CRAFT Homebrew Club here 
in Michigan writes:

>The "Flaked Wheat" was chosen over the "Raw" because my shop
>does not carry the raw wheat.

I think there are two meanings of the word "raw" as we use it in 
regards to brewing grains - either unmalted or uncooked to the point 
of gelatinization of starches.  Flaked wheat is obviously the former, 
not the latter, and I think this is what's germane in regard to using 
wheat in a mash.  Even uncooked raw wheat will be gelatinized in the 
mash.  Probably not all of it, though, and this might make a 
difference.

>Where could I obtain raw
>wheat in the future?  Is this wheat sold as animal
>feed?  Would most health food stores carry this product?

Your standard hippie health food store.  Come on over to Ann Arbor 
for dinner at Arbor Brewing Co. some day and go to the Fourth Ave 
Peoples' food Coop beforehand.  It's about three blocks away.  (An 
insider's secret - you can park for free in the courthouse parking 
lot across from the Coop after 5:30 pm.  It's never full that early 
and parking, especially weekends, is tough in AA.)

Get soft wheat berries.  ( I don't know why they call them "berries." 
They aren't.)  It is more specifically soft, white, winter wheat. 
The winter part is unimportant for brewing purposes - it simply means 
it is planted in late summer or early fall and overwinters.  But the 
fact that it's soft is important - there is less protein and it the 
protein (gluten) is not as strong as in hard wheat.  This means 
easier grinding and potentially easier/better brewing.  The fact that 
it is white is of some potential benefit - red wheat is higher in 
tannings and phenols than white.  Soft, white winter wheat is what 
they use for brewing in Belgium, from what I understand.

Grinding wheat is where a Corona mill works better than a roller mill.

>Organic would be the way to go, I suspect.

It makes no difference in the brewing or beer, but I think it's 
always a nice idea for other reasons.  The Coop wheat is organic.

>I am fairly comfortable that starches
>were left behind.  Again, its only a guess...

An easy way to get starch in the wort is to throw a few tablespoons 
of flour in the boil near the end.  (Thanks to Randy Mosher for this 
tip in a Zymurgy article on Witbier a few years ago).  Mix it up well 
in some water first (as in making gravy) or you'll get lumps.

Jeff
- -- 
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: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 09:45:05 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <jeffrenner at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Yeast Strain's Effect on Beer Color.

  "Dan Listermann" <dan at listermann.com> wrote:

>A dramatic display of this effect was seen at the National Conference in
>Chicago last year.  Dragon Mead brewing split a 3 barrel batch amount 17
>yeast strains IIRC.  All lined up across a bar, the color variation was
>remarkable to observe.

To give credit where credit is due, it was actually fellow AHA board 
member Chris "Crispy" Frey who did this experiment with Belgian 
yeasts.  He brewed at Dragonmead, then took home 17 carboys (he had 
to borrow some) with different yeasts and fermented them at home, 
then kegged them and brought them to Chicago.  There was a lot of 
Belgian-style beers left and we were drinking them at AABG functions 
for some time after.  A great experiment.  It really showed off the 
differences in yeast character.

(A tantalizer for what may be coming to NHC 2005 in Baltimore, Crispy 
says he wants to repeat this with a different category of yeasts.)

>>Any theories as to why this happens?
>
>I don't know.  Maybe the sugars that some yeasts are capable of fermenting
>and others are not contain pigment.

I am not convinced that this is an actual phenomenon.  I think it may 
be due to different amounts of suspended yeast.  I think if the beers 
were all well fined or filtered they would have the same color. 
Suspended yeast can have quite an effect on perceived color.

Jeff
- -- 
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: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 10:01:15 -0400
From: Brad Nicholson <Brad.Nicholson at duke.edu>
Subject: beer color related to yeast strain

>From: tmeier at real-ale.net
>Subject: beer color related to yeast strain
>
>
>10 gallons of wit, split in two fermentors. One pitched
>with WL Witbier yeast, other pitched with WL Wit II.
>
>The Wit II is much lighter in color.  Both were shaken to aerate,
>and both have flocculated out.

Hello,
I brew 10 gallon batches and ferment in two 6 gallon buckets/carboys with
different yeast strains.  Sometimes the color differences in the finished
beer are quite apparent.

My take on it is that different yeast isolates express different cell
surface proteins or flocculins.  If the compounds in the beer that provide
the color are charged, then they might stick to the yeast cells during the
ferment.  

This leads to the possibility that the finished beer depends on not just
what the yeast puts in (esters, alcohols) but what it takes out (charged
molecules that affect color or flavor).

Any ideas on this hypothesis?

Cheers,

Brad
- -- 
Beer and loafing in North Carolina.
[brad.nicholson at duke.edu]




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Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 10:09:30 -0400
From: Jeff Renner <jeffrenner at comcast.net>
Subject: insect damage to barrels

Steve Jones <stjones1 at chartertn.net> writes:

>The last few days I've noticed several
>spots on the barrel (all located at joints) that seem to
>be tiny piles of sawdust. When I brush them away I don't
>see any evidence of a hole, so if it is some kind of
>insect it must be microscopic. Is it possible that it is
>a result of the positive pressure inside the barrel? Or
>do I have some kind of bugs in there?
>
>If it is bugs, how do I get rid of them? No insecticides,
>as they could permeate thru the wood into the beer. It
>might be a reason to coat the barrel with something to
>lock out the air, suffocating the bugs and having the
>added benefit of minimizing oxydation potential.

This sounds like powder post beetles.  See 
http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/mod02/01500546.html, 
http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/powderpostbeetles.htm

My brother-in-law in California had these in a used wine barrel he 
had and was aging wine in.  He also didn't know what to do.  You 
could see little pinholes in the wood that the powdery sawdust came 
from.  I researched the problem a bit for him and came up with 
nothing.  I was surprised that a google search for ["powder post 
beetle"  barrel] didn't get any relevant hits, as I would think this 
would be a problem for commercial wineries and distillers.  He only 
aged the wine a year or so and then bottled it, so it never became an 
actual problem.  Perhaps they stop when they hit liquid and leaks are 
so slow that they clog up?

The above web sites and others all suggest insecticide control.  The 
only non-toxic control I can think of is diatomaceous earth, I don't 
think you could get it into their tunnels.

Good luck.

Jeff
- -- 
Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, JeffRenner at comcast.net
"One never knows, do one?"  Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943


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Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 10:39:30 -0500
From: "Susan Ruud" <susan.ruud at ndsu.nodak.edu>
Subject: Hoppy Halloween Challenge

The Prairie Homebrewing Companions wish to announce the 7th Annual Hoppy
Halloween Challenge which will be held this year on October 23rd.   Entries
will be accepted from September 20th thru October 1st and the Best of Show
on October 23rd.  We are again having a special Halloween Theme Category.
All of the information can soon be found on our web page at
www.prairiehomebrewers.org  The Hoppy Halloween Challenge is again part of
the High Plains Brewer of the Year
http://www.kcbiermeisters.org/highplains.htm and the Midwest Homebrewer of
the Year Award http://www.sgu.net/mwhboy/ so get those brewkettles going!!




Return to table of contents


Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 11:43:53 -0400
From: leavitdg at plattsburgh.edu
Subject: barley (not yet malt)


thanks Fred.  I meant to say that it was freshly harvested barley...and that my 
concern was that being feed barley it is probably too high in proteins to use 
in brewing, but I am uncertain, and hate to throw it out?

 ..Darrell



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Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 09:24:29 -0700
From: "Mark Nesdoly" <mnesdoly at ouc.bc.ca>
Subject: Thermocouples & rims, etc....

Thanks for all of the great information.
 
A lot of you mentioned that you can buy a thermocouple for about $20.
To me, that's more like $30 CDN.  I think that's expensive, especially
considering that I then need an instrumentation amp to go along with the
thermocouple for about another $30.  Total cost: $60.  I can buy a
digital thermometer IC (integrated circuit) that's accurate to +/- 0.5C
(about 1F) for $7.  And it doesn't require the amp.  And for the person
who asked, it's the Dallas Semiconductor DS18S20, $7.06 from
digikey.
 
Someone also mentioned that the response time of the ic would be much
too slow for the system.  Yes, I'd agree that it would be slower than a
bare thermocouple, *but* I have one of the DS18S20's hooked up right
now, and if I place my finger on it, the measured temperature starts to
increase within 1 second.  If I had one of the metal can ICs, it would
react a lot more quickly.  Considering that I'm going to be mashing about
20 lbs of grain and about 8 gals of water, there's no way the mash
would heat up too fast for the sensor to follow it.  There's simply too
much thermal mass in that much water & grain.
 
And yes, I'll be doing a quasi-PID type of control, not a simple on-off.
Actually, the code behind a PID controller is very simple to write;
getting the system properly tuned is another matter.  But, again, since there
is such a large mass of grain & water to mash, I really question whether
full PID control is really required.
 
Consider this.  I'll be using a standard electric water heater element, but
at 120V.  At that voltage, I can expect maybe 1500W of heating from it.
If you don't even consider the grain, just the water, there's roughly 8 gals
(30 litres) of mash water for a 10 gal batch of beer.  The specific heat
capacity of water is 4200 J/kg - degC.  That means that if you want to
heat 1 kg (= 1 litre) of water up by 1C, then you need 4200 Joules of
energy to do so.  For a 1500W heater to deliver 4200 J of energy, it
would need to be on for 2.8 seconds.  Therefore, to heat up 30 litres of
water by 1C, I'd need to run the heater full blast for 84 seconds.  With
the grain added in, it would actually take longer, but since I can't find
what the specific heat of crushed barley is, this simple calculation will
have to make do.
 
Can you see where I'm going with this?
 
If I was trying to control the temperature of a one litre mash with a
1500W heater, then yes, I'd probably need full PID control.  For a 30
litre mash - I simply don't think so.  There's way too much thermal mass
in the mash - it's temperature can't change all that quickly.  It's like
getting your three year old to help push your truck out of the mud.
Eventually they may do it, but it will take a long time.
 
Someone mentioned that they got an old omega-type controller for
$45 used - I'm assuming that's $45 US - that's about $70 CDN.  My
controller consists of:  a $10 LCD, $7 encoder (knob), $10
microcontroller and couple of other assorted electronic odds & ends
that I have laying around.  Total cost will be somewhere around $50
once it's done, including the temperature sensor.  Add to that a $27 solid
state relay, and it's complete.  Still much cheaper than a thermocouple
and a used controller, or a thermocouple, amp and my home-made
controller.
 
I guess where I'm going with this (and my reason for posting in the first
place) is:  why does everyone run a PID controller on their rims system?
It's overkill.  Before I get my head bitten off, I'll restate that:  in my
opinion only, a PID controller on a rims is overkill.  Of course, once I
get my beast built and test it, I will post full results of its performance
for those who are interested.
 
- -- Mark



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Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 09:52:07 -0700
From: "Bill Riel" <up883 at victoria.tc.ca>
Subject: Vancouver Brewpubs

Marc Sedam asks about Vancouver brewpubs:

>Hey all,
>
>I'll be in Vancouver this coming week and would like a recommendation on 
>brewpubs in the area.  I know there are about 5 pubs, with a few more 
>breweries.  Anyone have a preference?

You've already got some good answers, and I'll throw in my 2 cents
worth:

Darrell wrote about Dockside and Granville Island and thought they were
a bit mediocre: this I concur with. I'd give both of them a pass,
though having lunch on the deck at Dockside is pretty nice.

Sailor Hagar's was recommended: this used to be my favourite brewpub in
the Vancouver area but sadly it is no more :-( However the brewer has
some new digs, and while I haven't been there, I've head nothing but
good things about it:Central City Brewing. I believe that Steve
Dale-Johnson mentioned this and where to find it.

I respectfully disagree with Steve regarding Big Ridge in Surrey - I
don't find their offerings very interesting, and I find Yaletown the
most interesting of the Mark James pubs. Steamworks in Gastown is
definitely worth visiting as well.

If you can, I strongly recommend that you make time for a trip over to
my home town (Victoria). We've got some interesting brewpubs here, all
within walking distance of each other, and I'd be happy to play the
role of beer guide if you drop me a line.

Oh, one more thing: there is a small brewery in Vancouver that I do
think is worth checking out: Storm Brewing. Head brewer James does some
pretty interesting beers.

Cheers!

Bill



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Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 21:35:39 -0400
From: <homebrewdigest at myxware.com>
Subject: Carbon Water Filtration / Filter Storage and Sanitation

Hello everyone,
	I recently purchased GE GXWH04F water filter canister along with the
FXWTC activated carbon paper filter from Home Depot.  I have read a good
amount on similar filtration setups on HBD.  I have a few points I would
like some knowledgeable / experienced readers to help clarify for me.

       I have a concern about the potential of bacterial growth in the
tubes, fittings, etc through which the filtered water runs through.  The
removal of chlorine and chloramines leaves the water without any bacterial
inhibitors, thus creating an invitation for bacteria to flourish.  Is my
logic correct?  I can keep all the lines exiting the filter clean with
Iodophor but can I keep the filter cartridge clean?
       This brings me to my second concern; the storage of the filter
cartridge when not in use.  If the cartridge is left in the water which was
in the filtering canister could bacteria grow on it?  Drying seems like a
good option, but there will still be some bacterial growth since it would
take at least a few days (3+) if dried at about 73 degrees F and slightly
under 50 % relative humidity.  Also I do not know if the filter can
withstand repeated drying. Is it possible that it cannot handle this?  If it
was to be dried, how could it be dried rapidly to minimize bacterial growth?
Keep in mind there is a good amount of plastic on the filter cartridge and
the filter canister is not supposed to exceed 100 degrees F water.  If the
cartridge cannot be dried, or dried rapidly enough, it may be a good idea to
store it in some sort of sanitizing agent, or can it ruin the filter?  Does
anyone have any experience with this (which sanitizers, what percentages,
soaking time, etc)?  Does the filter need to be flushed with water from your
source for a few minutes (how many) before each use after soaking in a
sanitizer?  Thank you everyone for you the amazing information that you post
on HBD. Everyone, keep brewing!

 - Michael 





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