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


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Contents:
  scrapyard steel? ("Ben Dooley")
  Re: Efficiency Calculation (Dylan tack)
  Re: Hop vines (bines, actually) (Ed Westemeier)
  Re: RepTo: Serial Mash for Maize (stencil)
  growing cherries for kriek lambic (Dylan tack)


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Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 23:08:32 -0400
From: "Ben Dooley" <bendooley at gmail.com>
Subject: scrapyard steel?

Hello everyone,

I was just cruising our local scrapyards and found a stainless
jacekted tank that would make an awesome boil kettle. The owner,
however, doesn't know what it was used for. I desperately want it, but
not knowing what's been in it makes me a little leery. What's the
protocol with cleaning stainless? Can I use this, given a good
cleaning, or is it best to just let it go? Any ideas?

Thanks very much.

Best,

Ben



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Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 22:53:01 -0500
From: Dylan tack <dylan at io.com>
Subject: Re: Efficiency Calculation

> Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 12:00:13 +0000
> From: "A.J deLange" <ajdel at cox.net>
>
> I don't see too much of a problem with Jason's measurements. Thirty
> litres of wort at 1.060 weighs 31.8 kg and as it is 14.74P contains
> 0.1474*31.8 = 4.687 kg extract. The total fermentables weighed 12.5  
> lbs
> which is 5.68 kg. Thus the mash was, overall,  4.68/5.69 = 82%
> efficient.

While I'll admit these numbers are theoretically possible, IMHO it  
would take an "infinite improbability drive" - like device (perhaps  
powered by a hot cup of mash liquor?) to pull it off at home.    For  
Jason's grist, the maximum yield (not to be confused with extract  
efficiency) is 78% (based on data from howtobrew.com).

If his extract efficiency was 100%, and if the grain had a little  
less moisture than typical, and a little less protein, husk, and  
other insoluble material, then yes it might be possible to reach 82%  
yield.  But that's a lot of if's.  Again, IMHO, a whack hydrometer  
seems the simpler explanation (see the November HBD for the  
hydrometer heresy in its full glory).

Or maybe I'm just jealous.  ;)  I rarely see greater than 75% extract  
efficiency in my homebrews.

Since you mentioned AB, any idea what their extract efficiency is (or  
any mega brewery for that matter)?

 -Dylan
  
  


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Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 08:19:52 -0400
From: Ed Westemeier <hopfen at malz.com>
Subject: Re: Hop vines (bines, actually)

Fred wrote:
> This is my first year to grow hops, and I'll be training the shoots
> onto jute twine going up the south side of my house. Is it OK to train
> two shoots from a single plant onto a single line of jute? Or must  
> each
> shoot have its own line on which to grow?

With 15 years of hop growing experience, and a couple of visits to hop
farms, I can say that the simplest technique, used by most commercial
hop growers, works best. Wait until your shoots are long enough to be
trained on the twine. Then assign the 3 or 4 strongest looking shoots
to a nearby twine.

Gently wrap the tips of the shoots around the twine in a clockwise
direction (as you look down from above). Once you get a shoot around
the twine one full revolution, it will take over from there. They will
get pretty tangled later in the season, especially as the lateral
shoots start to appear, but don't worry about it.

The average jute twine will easily hold a full harvest from 3 or 4 hop
bines, so don't be concerned about the weight. Also, you want to cut off
(at ground level) all the shoots you didn't select. You'll have to keep
doing this all summer, so that all the energy production goes into the
roots of the chosen bines.

As for care, I've found that all my hops really want is all the sunlight
and all the water they can get. Any decent soil will work, although
I typically give it just a very light touch of fertilizer in the Spring.

One suggestion: The unselected shoots you cut off, if they are no longer
than about the length of a new pencil, should be brought in the house.
Rinse them off, then saute them in a skillet over medium heat with a
little butter. A rich, nutty flavor that will brighten up any meal.


Ed Westemeier
Cincinnati, Ohio
[226, 186.6] Apparent Rennerian




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Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 10:19:52 -0400
From: stencil <etcs.ret at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: RepTo: Serial Mash for Maize

On Tue, 11 Apr 2006 23:45:17 -0400, you  wrote:

>
>Actually, with quick grits and quick oats, I don't think boiling was  
>necessary.  I think (but I'm not certain) that they are already  
>gelatinized.  I certainly just throw quick oats into the mash straight.
>
And I.  But the Quick variety was to hand, and (this second time around) the
concern was more with validating the in-tun boil procedure;

>Just a side note - you could get along with far less malt in the  
>cereal mash, too.  About 30% will do.
>
 ...the issue being that there was no cereal mash - the whole thing is done in
one pot, pace the bucket to hold the reserved wort (iuris interruptus?)


gds, stencil
[535.2mi, 86.4deg] AR


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Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 19:39:15 -0500
From: Dylan tack <dylan at io.com>
Subject: growing cherries for kriek lambic

Hi,

I'm thinking of planting some cherry trees this spring to be used for  
lambic.  I'm looking for suggestions on good varieties to plant.

The original seems to be the Schaarbeek cherry - In "Wild Brews",  
Jeff Sparrow has this to say about them:

> The Schaarbeek contributes more color to beer than many other types  
> of cherries.  The Shaarbeek cheery does not hove much skin, does  
> have a large pit, and when they are black they are ripe and ready  
> to pick.  The flavor contributed is often described as vanilla and  
> almond when the pits are included (and they should be) in the  
> fermentation.  Traditional lambic producers still consider the  
> Schaarbeek the best cheery in the world and the best with which to  
> produce kriek lambic.  Today, many of the cherries for kriek lambic  
> come from a region in the south of Poland known as Galicia,  
> although the area surrounding St. Truiden is also popular and still  
> has some of Belgium's finest cherry orchards.

Is this variety available in the U.S.?  Could it be imported?  Would  
they grow in Iowa (USDA zone 5)?

If not, can anyone recommend a cultivar with similar qualities, that  
could survive an Iowa winter?

thanks,
Dylan


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