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


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Contents:
  RE:  taking into account the rice hulls? (Wayne Faris)
  Hop Storage ("Stephen Johnson")
  Re: Sight Glass Material (Bob Tower)
  Re: More on rice hulls (Nate Wahl)
  alcoholic taste (Nathaniel Lansing)
  Re: Perfect sterilization solution (Dylan Tack)
  Pumping iodophor ("Peed, John")
  Faro? (leavitdg)
  RE: Rice Hulls (Ricardo Cabeza)


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Date: Mon, 23 May 2005 22:26:33 -0500
From: Wayne Faris <ke0bz at arrl.net>
Subject: RE:  taking into account the rice hulls?

I use rice hulls in almost every brew since I mill my malt pretty fine 
and a lot of my beers use either wheat or oats.  I don't take the hulls 
into account with my strike water.  I don't even measure the amount of 
hulls I use.  I just toss in 3 or 4 big handfulls as I add my grains. 
If my crush looks exceptionally fine or am using lots of oats, I'll toss 
in a little more.

I batch sparge, so I figure my strike water on 1.25 qts/lb.  I put in 
all but the last 1/2 gallon and check the temp, then adjust the temp 
with the last addition.  If it still looks a bit thick, I will add a bit 
more water (up to 1.35 qts/lb.).  I figure, it's beer, not rocket 
science, so I keep the process simple.  No need for fancy formulas to 
account for the rice hulls.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company


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Date: Mon, 23 May 2005 23:06:16 -0500
From: "Stephen Johnson" <sjohnson3 at comcast.net>
Subject: Hop Storage

I just saw an ad for a new Glad food storage product: Press and Seal
Freezer Wrap sheets that are designed to store food products in the
freezer. They are sheets of wrap that can be laid flat and the food item
placed in between, followed by pressing action that seals the two sheets
together. Has anyone tried these for use with storing hops that have
been opened from original packaging? Just curious as to how oxygen
permeable they might be...

Steve Johnson
Nashville, TN




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Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 00:37:34 -0700
From: Bob Tower <tower at cybermesa.com>
Subject: Re: Sight Glass Material

There's been a lot of talk about material for making sight glasses. I  
got some great ideas from this and will be switching over to the  
polycarbonate tubes.

Does anyone have any ideas for an ELEGANT way of marking the volumes  
on the sight glass? The "best" idea I've come up with so far is to  
print it out on sticky back transparency material and adhere it to  
the glass then put another layer of the transparency material over  
the first so that the print doesn't get scratched off. My only worry  
is how well the adhesive stands up to the heat of a boil kettle.  
Also, I'm not sure you can get sticky back transparency material in  
which case a clear adhesive would need to be applied to the back of  
the transparency material. Also, it just occurred to me that the  
transparency material itself might not hold up to the heat. But It  
sure would like nicer than hand made gallon/liter marks made with a  
black felt tip pen. I must confess that is how my current glass is  
marked and I've seen no other method on the many pictures of others'  
glasses I've seen on the web.

Bob Tower
Los Angeles, CA


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Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 06:59:40 -0400
From: Nate Wahl <cruiser at coastalwave.net>
Subject: Re: More on rice hulls 

Hmmm, say that subject line real fast.....!

For systems with continuous flow (RIMS, HEARMS), the filter bed is set 
up during the initial recirc while mashing; lautering is just a 
continuation of that flow through the grainbed.  So for them, if the 
batch needs rice hulls, they go in at the beginning.  Otherwise they'd 
only be needed when lautering.

Filter media is usually fiber (or little dead sea critter fossils), so 
the hulls probably just bulk out the sticky mash for better flow.  I've 
occasionally had to use them with non-sticky grainbills to get things 
unstuck, and it always seems to work.

Richard's tip on pre-soaking the hulls during a pre-heat was great!  
Thanks!  Here's another semi-related tip in return:

"Good" tubing, high temperature rated stuff like silicone or CFlex, 
sometimes softens with heat and can collapse if used on a pump suction 
if the grainbed gets restrictive; the cheaper braided-type tubings won't 
collapse but aren't rated for that high of temperatures.  To use the 
softer tubings, you can wrap thin SS wire from a mega home store around 
a length of dowel of a smaller OD than the tubing ID, and longer than 
the tubing length.  Use a notch or hole drilled in the dowel to hold the 
one end, and start wraping it tightly in a spiral of about 3-4 wraps per 
inch to the length needed (typically the unsupported distance between 
the barbs), and hold the loose end against the dowel.  Insert the dowel 
into the tubing so the spiral is in the desired position and release the 
end you are holding.  It will spring out and form a nice flexible core 
insde the tubing that won't allow it to collapse!  You might have to 
manuver it around a little to fit best, and have to nip off the bent end 
that was in the notch.  Works great!

Oogy Wawa!
Nate Wahl
Oak Harbor, OH



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Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 08:09:55 -0400
From: Nathaniel Lansing <delbrew at compuserve.com>
Subject: alcoholic taste

>>
I guess I mean a "hot" or "unmellowed" alcohol taste
and smell that I notice in young beer(especially young
high gravity beer).  To me it is even more apparent in
young cider.  I also find that (as with that tripel)
it ages out--though obviously with enough sugar it
wouldn't (pure ethanol, for instance).<<

>From your description it sounds a  little like fusels.
They have a more "hot" flavor than ethanol.
The aging of the tripel would allow esterification
of the fusels to nicer flavors.
Ciders have a low flavor level and would allow  the
higher alcohols to be more apparent.
 



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Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 10:33:00 -0500
From: Dylan Tack <dylan at io.com>
Subject: Re: Perfect sterilization solution

> In response to the Perfect Sterilization Solution post, I think this
> is total BS.

Not sure if it is BS or not, but it is not H2O2.

http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/mee/2004-43mee.htm
lists the active ingredients of Oculus Microcyn as:

HYPOCHLOROUS ACID
SODIUM HYPOCHLORITE

Still not earth shaking... hypochlorous acid is just another name for 
tap water (HOCl, i.e. water + gaseous chlorine), and sodium 
hypochlorite is household bleach.

 -Dylan




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Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 09:08:46 -0700
From: "Peed, John" <jpeed at elotouch.com>
Subject: Pumping iodophor


No, it's not a new workout video, it's yet another way to strip iodophor
of its power.  You know how heat and sunlight will cause an iodophor
solution to lose its color (and its ability to sanitize)?  Well, I've
been pumping it through a convoluted counterflow chiller and, lo and
behold, it turns clear in a matter of minutes.  I replace with new
iodophor solution every ten to fifteen minutes and it just turns clear
again each time.  Anyone know what's up with that?  I'm using a BBB pump
and convoluted copper chiller.  Water is no more than 70 degrees and the
whole assembly is in the shade.

John Peed
Oak Ridge, TN



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Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 13:32:12 -0400
From: leavitdg at plattsburgh.edu
Subject: Faro?


Anybody made "Faro"?  It is apparently a Lambic that is sweetened with candi 
sugar?

Darrell



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Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 14:08:34 -0400
From: Ricardo Cabeza <expunged at gmail.com>
Subject: RE: Rice Hulls

I use rice hulls for every mash in my RIMS system.  I would strongly
suggest experimentation to determine the ideal amount of rice hulls
for your system.  I would also suggest keeping the amount of rice
hulls you use to a minimum.  I have a formula I use to determine the
minimum amount to use to avoid a stuck mash.  For my system, the
formula is:

For a mash containing flaked barley, flaked oats, or flaked wheat / raw wheat:
lbs. rice hulls = 0.03 X lbs. of malt (including wheat malt) + 0.25 X
lbs. of above adjuncts

For a mash with no 'sticky' adjuncts:
lbs. rice hulls = 0.06 X lbs. of malt

Like I said, I would experiment to see if your system requires more or
less (my guess is less).  I've never used more than 1 pound of rice
hulls, and that was for a high OG beer with a grain bill consisting of
10% of those 'sticky' adjuncts.  Oh, one more thing, I personally
would not suggest a grain bill with more than 10% by weight of the
above adjuncts.

Ricardo Cabeza



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