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


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Contents:
  Dry yeast - one more chance (Greg Brewer)
  Re: Water Analysis (Paul Waters)
  Re: brewing software ("Greg 'groggy' Lehey")
  Refractometer calibration ("David Houseman")
  Happy New Year ("Pat Babcock")


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Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2005 14:16:58 -0600
From: Greg Brewer <gbrewer1 at gmail.com>
Subject: Dry yeast - one more chance

The only times I have used dry yeast were with my very first kit batch
in 1996 (Muntons), then again a few years ago when I tried Nottingham
in an ag ipa.  Both those experiences left me unimpressed, which is
why I have used liquid yeasts exclusively otherwise.

However, I have seen some good reports regarding Safale US56 and am
willing to give dry yeast another chance. I ordered a pack by mail and
thought I'd try it in an upcoming AG imperial stout, and want to be
sure I maximize my odds for favorable results.  I am wondering what
experience with this yeast others are willing to share, and how to
best go about using it.

Regarding dry yeast rehydration, the archives suggest that there is no
obvious benefit to rehydrating, but if you are doing it use warm
water, not wort, and pitch it within 30 minutes.  As for starters, the
consensus is they are not necessary with dry yeast, but I do not see
why a starter could hurt given a relatively high OG (1.090) and I have
some canned starter wort ready to use.  Using two packs of yeast would
certainly be easier but I only have one and big starters have always
improved my results.

So unless I am convinced to do otherwise, my plan is to prepare a
well-aerated starter using rehydrated US56 the week before I brew and
pitching that directly in my wort (no step up).  Thoughts?

Happy New Year!

Greg
Chicago



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Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2005 13:06:19 -0800 (PST)
From: Paul Waters <pwaters3 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Water Analysis

Reading all the messages about water analysis it seems
that all the water analyses seem to be lacking or the
information is really not applicable for brewing.

If I wanted to get a sample done specifically for
homebrewing, does anybody know which lab would I want
to send it to?


Paul W
Mad Cow Brewing



	
		


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Date: Sun, 1 Jan 2006 13:46:39 +1030
From: "Greg 'groggy' Lehey" <grog at lemis.com>
Subject: Re: brewing software

On Sunday, 25 December 2005 at  0:56:14 -0800, Bob Tower wrote:
> Ken Pendergrass asks about brewing software, specifically for Mac.
> Well, I am a Mac-person, and I haven't found anything better than
> ProMash. Unfortunately, it is not ported for Mac. However, if you get
> the Windows emulater Virtual PC, ProMash will run flawlessly on your
> Mac (I've heard other apps don't work quite so well, but all I use
> the Virtual PC for is to run ProMash so I don't mind). It's worth the
> trouble.

There are a couple of open source packages that will probably work on
Mac:

  Qbrew (http://www.usermode.org/code.html)
  Brewnix (http://brewnix.sourceforge.net/)
  Brewsta (http://sourceforge.net/projects/brewsta/)

None of them are like ProMash, but you might have fun investigating
them.

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


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Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2005 23:02:10 -0500
From: "David Houseman" <david.houseman at verizon.net>
Subject: Refractometer calibration

Suspecting that perhaps I should check the calibration of my refractometer
(RHB32-ATC) I compared it to a sugar water solution.  While I don't have
pure water, I do have a very soft (water softener) water.  The refractometer
read a little high with water while my hydrometer was dead on 1.000 at 60oF.
Refractometer adjusted to read 0 with water at 20oC.  With sugar water used
on both, they were not aligned.  Adjusted the refractometer set screw to
match the hydrometer.  Tested this over a range of sugar-water dilutions and
they tracked until I got down to about 1.043 at which point the
refractometer was off by 0.35.   So my question is, should the readings be
linear for the entire range of the hydrometer or only over some subset?   I
assume the hydrometer is the more accurate of the two instruments since the
refractometer only cost me about $60.  But then I probably only paid $6-9
for the hydrometer.  Anyone use both and calibrate them together?  Which to
trust?

Thanks,

Dave



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Date: Sun, 1 Jan 2006 00:59:52 -0500
From: "Pat Babcock" <pbabcock at hbd.org>
Subject: Happy New Year

Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to you lager...

A most Happy New Year to y'all! Hope all your brews in 2006 are most satisfying!

 -p


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