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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  Irish kegging equipment (Calvin Perilloux)
  Regulator mishap (Lou King)
  Approximating British Pale in Germany (Fred Johnson)
  Re: Help with Electric Systems (Bill Tobler)
  Quick Connects ("Paul Niebergall")
  RE:  Help with Electric System (Scott McAfee)
  Conical dump valve size ("Craig Wheeler")
  Re: "No Hose Barb" ("Pete Calinski")
  Yeast Food Packs (Pete Limosani)
  Re: Pale malt in Germany ("Greg 'groggy' Lehey")
  Last call for entries (John Larsen)


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Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 22:06:31 -0800 (PST)
From: Calvin Perilloux <calvinperilloux at yahoo.com>
Subject: Irish kegging equipment

Peter Cox asks about his kegging equipment:

> I'll be moving back to Ireland soon, and am not sure 
> if the standards are the same there. 
> If I take my kegs and cylinder/regulator back with me, 
> will I be able to get refills/replacement parts? Or am I better
> off leaving the gear here and getting new stuff in Ireland?

Much better to just leave it at my house in the USA, 
where I'll dispose of it for you.  But seriously...

I'll take a guess that the Irish standards are probably 
the same (or nearly) to the English standards.  Bring most
of your kit.  I'm assuming you're talking about the usual
5-gal keg system that homebrewers use, and not the commercial
Sankey/etc. stuff.  Here's the details, based on my UK experience, 
which I think would *probably* apply for Ireland/EU:

(1) Corny kegs.  Great!  You can maybe get parts in the UK,
    ir possibly Ireland, but for small things like poppets, 
    etc. just order them from the USA.  They're light and cheap 
    to ship.  Corny kegs are in use in the UK by homebrewers
    but are a premium item, rather expensive.  So bring yours.

(2) Regulator.  I've used my British regulator in the UK,
    Australia, and in the USA as well.  No problem, but
    your US regulator probably has that unfathomable psi stuff 
    instead of kPa and Bar.  It might confuse people who
    use those things over there.  Hee hee.  But you'll manage OK,
    and it ought to work just as usual.  Make sure you have 
    washers, not the "washerless" fittings I've seen on a
    few US regulator/tank sets.

(3) CO2 tank.  This might be the only problem.  First off, 
    you'll almost certainly have to ship it empty.  Then to
    get it filled, I'm not sure the test stamp from the US
    is recognised over there.  Not only that, some places
    require that you lease/rent/borrow THEIR tanks, and they
    won't even touch yours.  I think Air Liquide was bad about
    that.  BOC and distributors were better.

So I'd sell the tank here, barring any disputing evidence from 
someone else on HBD.  And if you're lucky enough to live three 
doors down from a welding supply shop like I did (nice neighbour-
hood -- note that only a homebrewer might call that "lucky"!) 
then they'll fix you up one way or another. 

Calvin Perilloux
Middletown, Maryland, USA



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Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 06:54:08 -0500
From: Lou King <lking at pobox.com>
Subject: Regulator mishap

Embarrassing, but this morning I let beer flow into my regulator when I
was force carbonating a batch.  I have blown it out with CO2, taken off
the outflow barb, sprayed star san into it and blew it out again.

I hesitate to just drop it into BLC then star san because I don't know
what is inside.  I could try to take it apart, but don't really have the
right tools and worry about getting it back together without leaks, but
will do this if it's the only way to be assured of clean CO2.  (Of
course I'd take off the guages before dropping it into any solution).

Any suggestions?  Is there anyone else out there willing to admit
they're fool enough to let this happen?  Or perhaps someone who knows
something about the insides of regulators...

(Sorry for the crosspost, but HBD has been a little slow lately.)

Lou King
Ijamsville, MD
http://www.lousbrews.info




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Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 07:06:06 -0500
From: Fred Johnson <FLJohnson at portbridge.com>
Subject: Approximating British Pale in Germany

Some have suggested that British Pale malt could be approximated using 
German Pilsner malt and about 5% light crystal. I'm not sure how light 
the crystal is that is available in Germany, but even 5% of American 
crystal 20L gives a considerably darker beer than straight British 
Pale. My calculations are closer to 1% of a 20L crystal will come 
closer to the color of British Pale malt, and if the lightest Belgian 
CaraMunich is used, it would be closer to 0.5%.

I have no idea how close in flavor these beers would be with these 
substitutions.  Might be a nice experiment.

Fred L Johnson
Apex, North Carolina, USA



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Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 08:54:29 -0600
From: Bill Tobler <brewbetter at houston.rr.com>
Subject: Re: Help with Electric Systems

Hey Eric.  Good choice on going electric.  I've been brewing with  
electric for 3 or 4 years now and love it.  If you go about it proper  
like, (Use 240 volt only) you will have no power problems at all like  
Baruch Mettler said he had.  Below you will find a link to my electric  
brewery.  It's just some pictures on nikonnet.com in the form of a  
picture album.  I don't have a web site yet, so I use them.

Like kent Fletcher said, the elements are 1" straight thread.  In my  
opinion, the best way to mount these are to use SS 1" full couplings  
welded into your kettle.  Picture attached.  Use the rubber washer that  
came with the element.  (You have to use what's called a "Low Density  
Element".  This is the one that is folded back on itself.  The theory  
is that the longer element does not have to get as hot as the short  
ones to put out the same amount of heat.  In the HLT, you can use a  
high wattage high element if you want, cause you can't scorch water.   
(I have a 7000 watt element in the HLT) In the kettle, you want the low  
density element  so you don't scorch the wort.  You can go as high as  
5500 watts, if you have a way to control the element.  I'll get to  
control later. )

I took the couplings to a machine shop and had them run a 1" straight  
pipe tap into one side of the coupling.  (The tap is called a NPS, or  
National Pipe Straight)  If you do that, you can screw the element in  
by hand every brew session and remove them by hand.  No leaks and no  
tools. If you choose not to tap out the threads, the element will still  
screw into the coupling, but it will get hard to screw in before the  
washer seals, and you will have to use a wrench.  It's because the  
straight part of the thread is getting into the tapered part of the  
coupling.  But it works.  The elements need to be cleaned after every  
session so you don't get a build-up of crud on them.  If that happens,  
they loose some heat transfer ability, draw more amps, the wires get  
hot, things burn up....you get the idea.

A couple of  tips on getting the couplings welded on the kettle.  Use  
full couplings, not the half coupling.  Have the coupling welded on so  
most of the coupling is on the outside.  This gives you an extra 1"-2"  
of space in case your element is too long and wants to hit the other  
side of the kettle before it is seated.  If using a sanke keg, note  
where the weep holes are on top, and avoid putting the elements below  
one of them.  When you have a boilover, it would be nice not to drench  
the elements in sticky wort...

Controlling the vigor of the boil is the next trick.  I played around  
with stove top controllers with no luck.  To get around using a  
controller, I used two elements in the kettle, one 4500 watt and one  
3500 watt.  I brought the wort up to a boil using the 4500 watt  
element, then switched to the 3500 watt to maintain the boil.  It  
worked very good.  I used double pole/single throw 240 vac switches.   
The 4500 watt element at full power is just a little bit too much heat  
once the wort gets up to a boil.  You have to keep a close eye on the  
boil, it's very vigorous, and you have a high boil-off rate.  Another  
electric brewer friend found a electronics guy to build him a PWM  
controller using the 555 timer like the one Ron uses. I had one built  
for myself and I call it my SSR driver.  It works great.  I use just  
one element now, the 4500 watt and just turn it down a little when the  
boil starts.

Electric brewing indoors is great. In my opinion, you must use 220  
volts so you don't spend half your time waiting for things to get hot.   
This takes some serious power requirements, but it is worth the extra  
trouble. Feel free to email me if you have any questions or problems.   
Below is the link to NikonNet.  You may have to cut and paste the lines  
to get it to work.  The password gives guest privileges only.  You will  
not need to use it, it's in the url.

http://home2.nikonnet.com/servlet/com.arcsoft.LoginNew? 
com=arcsoftBanner&awp=index3.html&DIRECT=&USERNAME=wctobler&PASSWORD=nik 
oneditor_-42477439&WHO=memberguest


Bill Tobler
Lake Jackson, TX
(1129.2, 219.9) Apparent Rennerian
Brewing Great Beer in South Texas



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Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 10:38:10 -0600
From: "Paul Niebergall" <pnieb at burnsmcd.com>
Subject: Quick Connects

US Plastics has quick connect fittings for just about any application
you can think of:

http://www.usplastic.com

Also take a look at their fermentation tanks, tubing (great source for
Tygon,
Silicon, food grade plastic), pumps (Little Giant).   

Have Fun, 

Paul Niebergall


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Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 12:48:11 -0500
From: Scott McAfee <scmcafee at cox.net>
Subject: RE:  Help with Electric System

Rick was asking about hot water heater element installation.

I picked up a 2000W 110v element at Home Depot and was wondering the 
same thing.
On a return trip to Home Depot, I noticed they had an adapter to go from 
a screw in type
element to a four bolt bulkhead/seal type hot water heater fitting. I 
haven't installed it yet,
but it was only six bucks so I figured it was worth the try.  I'm 
putting it on the flat spot on
the bottom of a Sankey keg I'm not currently using.  My element has an 
OD at the
threads of 1 and 9/32, by the way. 

Some questions I'm wondering:
1) can you heat up and bend those elements without damaging them?
2) How long does it take 2000W to heat up 15 gallons of water?

 From Rick:

I'm going to use water heater elements of the "screw-in"
variety to provide heat, but I'm not sure how to put them
into the boiler and HLT. I was thinking I would put
together bulkheads, but I can't find anything that matches
the 1 3/8" thread of the elements. Am I not looking hard
enough? Or is there a better method that someone can
think of?




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Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 19:50:13 +0000
From: "Craig Wheeler" <craigwh69 at hotmail.com>
Subject: Conical dump valve size

Hi all,

I'm planning on purchasing a conical hopper from Toledo Metal Spinning and 
I'm going to have them weld in a ferrule to the bottom for a clover clamp 
dump valve. My question for the Beer Collective is this:

What size should the dump valve be? I can go with 1/2", which would be less 
expensive, but I don't know how well yeast goo will flow through it. My 
other thought was going all the way up to 1", but that costs about twice as 
much, but flow will definately be better.

For those out there who have the 1/2" dump valve, do you have problems with 
clogging? Is the move to a 1" dump valve worth the extra cost?

Thanks much!
- --Craig
Woodinville, WA




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Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 21:07:11 -0500
From: "Pete Calinski" <pjcalinski at adelphia.net>
Subject: Re: "No Hose Barb" 

The Home Depot stores in my area carry a line of plastic hose/tubing
fittings they claim they work on plastic and soft metals.  They fit various
sizes of hose and adapt between sizes.  You just push in on a tab around the
hose to make it release.

I have had a lot of good results with the fittings in my draft beer system..
They claim they work up to 70 psi.  Cost may be twice what a barb fitting
costs.

They also have valves but I found they don't shut off completely.

I couldn't find them on the HD website, they are in the store near the
plastic tubing.

Hope this helps.

Pete Calinski
East Amherst NY
Near Buffalo NY




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Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 18:49:07 -0500
From: Pete Limosani <peteLimo at comcast.net>
Subject: Yeast Food Packs

Fellow Brewers,

I've been using the stirring aeration technique to make yeast starters for
several years. (http://www.primetab.com/yeaststarter.html)

I generally use Wyeast smack packs. The technique, however, does not require
that the packs be smacked.

Are the little food packs that are left unsmacked good for anything? Are they
basically just a mini-wort? Is there any reason not to throw them out?

Any thoughts appreciated!

Pete
Wallingford, CT




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Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 10:14:52 +1030
From: "Greg 'groggy' Lehey" <grog at lemis.com>
Subject: Re: Pale malt in Germany

Steve, out of courtesy I normally reply to the sender.  In your case,
though, I can't: your mail address is invalid.  It always has been,
but now mail agents are getting pickier, and mine refuses to even try
to deliver to you.  You'll run into this problem more often.  I
believe that s- would be valid.

On Friday, 25 February 2005 at 15:08:46 -0500, -S wrote:
> Florian Hirschmann wrote ...
>> As I cannot get my hands on (British) pale ale malt here in Germany,
>
> In past decades lager malts were made from higher protein barley, and
> were less modified as compared to PA malts.

Is this not still the case in Germany?

> Groggy Greg says ...,
>> why can't you get them via mail order?
>
> The cheapest UPS rate for a sack from London to Munich is about
> 115Eur($152usd) which is pretty steep for a sack that would cost around
> $20usd at wholesale.

I said "mail", not "courier".  I know that UPS and friends are very
popular in the USA, but in my experience they don't work at all well
elsewhere.  This very definitely includes UPS, who on occasion have
taken 6 weeks to deliver overnight packages.

Having said that, I don't know what mail would cost.  But I'd expect
it to be much cheaper.

> You can ship the same sack from LA to NewYork(4 times farther) for
> under 40Eur.  Now you know why mail_order/web_commerce is not the
> same in EUland.

This is obviously one of the reasons why couriers are not popular
outside the USA.

Greg
- --
Finger grog at lemis.com for PGP public key.
See complete headers for address and phone numbers.



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Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 21:16:32 -0500
From: John Larsen <jlarsen at nettally.com>
Subject: Last call for entries

I just wanted to remind everyone of the Big Bend Brew Off 2005.  There's 
still time to get your entries in - if you act now.  The competition is 
run by The North Florida Brewers League of Tallahassee and  is 
registered with both the AHA and the BJCP. We  will accept entries in 
all categories in the 2004 BJCP guidelines (see www.bjcp.org ) .  
Judging will be held on Saturday, March 12 and entries will be accepted  
until  March 4.  An entry cost $6 and consists of three bottles. 
Complete rules and entry forms may be downloaded from our website at 
www.nfbl.org.

Send all entries to:
   Big Bend Brew Off,
   c/o The Homebrew Den,
   1350 E. Tennessee ST, #B-3,
   Tallahassee, FL 32308

If you have any questions, please contact the competition organizers,  
Joel Tedder and Wendy Gregory , jandw1112 at aol.com

Of course, we can always use judges.  Please contact the Judge Director, 
John Larsen, if you are interested jlarsen at nettally.com




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