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


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Contents:
  Re: beer preservatives ("Bob Devine")
  fusel beer: distill it? ("Peter A. Ensminger")
  Sorghum (Delano DuGarm)
  Pumps (Fred L Johnson)
  Pump Recomendations (wilkreed)
  Re: Efficiency of Color Extraction ("JONES,AARON K")
  A question for you promash masters... (Joe Katchever)
  pumps, bourbon barrels (Joe Katchever)
  Re: sorghum (Ed Westemeier)


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Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 21:55:37 -0600
From: "Bob Devine" <devinebob at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: beer preservatives

"Ian Watson" <hophead at sympatico.ca>
>
> I keep hearing ads from breweries that say their beer has no preservatives
> in it.  To my knowledge, NO beer has or needs preservatives except of course
> the hops.  Are there any beers that contain artificial preservatives or is
> this a marketing devise?

Mainly it's a marketeer's slogan.

(By the way, the lack of preservatives in bread probably
hurts more people.  BHA/BHT reduces mold so there is
more food poisoning now that a few decades ago.)

Little known fact: besides hops and alcohol as preservatives,
smoke is also a natural way of preserving!

Industrial brewers have, in the past, used a wide pharmacopia
of preservatives -- benzoic acid and derivatives; random sulfur
compounds; and various propionic compounds were all used.

Because the above are scary names, one new preservative
that is being used more commonly is 'nisin' which is
sometimes claimed to be a 'natural preservative' so the marketeers
can claim "no artificial preservatives".  It is pretty effective at
inhibiting certain classes of bacteria that can spoil wort or beer
but still I'd rather have a beer without it, thank you very much.

All good reasons to brew the beer you drink.

Bob Devine


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Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 01:42:57 -0400
From: "Peter A. Ensminger" <ensmingr at twcny.rr.com>
Subject: fusel beer: distill it?

Regarding what to do with my beer (actually a braggot, see:
www.hbd.org/hbd/archive/5042.html#5042-5 ) that has lots of fusels ...

Chad suggests that I distill it and discard the "heads" and "tails".
This seems like a good (albeit illegal) way to get rid of the fusels.

I've only distilled things in the laboratory, never for consumption.
Even if I was accomplished enough to know how to distill a
consumable beverage, I seem to recall (from previous HBD posts?) that 
distilling a beer that has significant IBUs can lead to something very 
strange/nasty.

My plan: as soon as SWMBO is out of town, I will pass a small bit of my 
fusel beer through our counter-top Brita filter (which has activated 
charcoal). My next step will depend on my results. Will keep the HBD 
posted!

Cheers!
Peter A. Ensminger
Syracuse, NY
Apparent Rennerian: [394, 79.9]
- ----------
Surprised I haven't seen this recomendation yet....

Distill it!  Throw out the heads and tails (fusels) and keep the good
stuff. Carry out this operation in a country where it's legal, of course....

Chad Stevens
QUAFF
San Diego





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Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 04:15:10 -0700 (PDT)
From: Delano DuGarm <ddugarm at yahoo.com>
Subject: Sorghum

>However, couldn't I also do a cereal mash with the
raw 
>grain? Is the flavor an issue, which is why it should
be >malted first?  What percentage of the grist should
be >raw sorghum?  How do I grind/crush the little
suckers?  >My maltmill definitely won't handle those
little guys.  
>As you can see, I've got no clue what I'm doing, so
any >and all input is greatly appreciated.  I tried to
get >him to plant triticale, but he couldn't find the
seed.

I brewed sorghum beer many years ago.  I ground up the
grain in a Corona mill (see, there is some use for
them), and did a cereal mash.  I got reasonable
extraction.

My recipe was thus for 5 gallons:

Batch #137 
10/19/1997

Grain bill
7 lbs. 6-row malt
3 lbs. sorghum 

Hops
1 oz Spelt (6.6%) 60 minutes
 .8 oz Spelt 30 minutes
 .8 oz Spelt 15 minutes
 .8 oz Spelt 0 minutes

Mash in 6.25 lbs. of 6-row at 130.  Make a thick mash
of 3/4 lb. of 6-row and the ground sorghum.  Hold at
the thick mash at 150 F., then raise to boiling, boil
for 20 minutes.  Add to main mash (it should raise the
main mash temperature to 150 F.).  Hold at 150 F for
60 minutes, sparge.

OG 1047
FG ?

My tasting notes give thumbs down to this, but I used
old sorghum, and the sorghum germ might have gone bad.

Delano "Adjunct Boy" DuGarm


Delano DuGarm
St. Paul, Minn.
ddugarm at yahoo.com



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Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 07:30:14 -0400
From: Fred L Johnson <FLJohnson52 at nc.rr.com>
Subject: Pumps

Nathan asks about pumps for his brewing purposes.

I know little about March (centrifugal) pumps, which are used by many 
homebrewers, but I have a good deal of experience with peristaltic 
pumps. I like the latter because the wort only comes into contact with 
tubing, not the pump head. There are no nooks and crannies to catch 
particles, so cleaning, even sanitizing, is a breeze, and you can 
simply change the tubing if you wish.

Check out the Masterflex pumps (lots of varieties of pumps, pump heads, 
and tubing) at coleparmer.com. You'll probably be interested in those 
that can use the larger diameter tubing to speed up transfers when you 
need to move wort fast. You can even use the pump heads that accept 
different size tubing.

You can often find Masterflex pumps on eBay or at used scientific 
warehouse places like labx.com

Fred L Johnson
Apex, North Carolina, USA



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Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:46:17 -0400
From: wilkreed at netscape.net
Subject: Pump Recomendations




In response to Nathan's inquiry,

I strongly recommend a Peristaltic Pump (Masterflex, etc)

I bought one with a head that accepts 3/8" tube off e-bay for about 
$50.00 (after searching for a few months).

This thing is great!  I have nothing to clean, as only the tube is in 
contact with the beer.

If you go this route, you will want to upgrade to silicone tube, but 
that also has distinct benefits in that you can sterilize (not just 
sanitize) it by boiling in your hot liquor tank at the beginning of 
your brewing session!

An easy load head also makes it very easy to switch circuits and 
applications.

If I recall, there was a great article about using peristaltic pumps in 
either Zymurgy or Brew Your Own in the last couple of years.

Good luck with your freedom from gravity!

William Reed
Hendersonville, NC


Nathan wrote:


Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 10:38:31 -0500
From: "Nathan Baldwin" <nbaldwin at gmail.com>
Subject: Pump Recommendations

I am tired of having three tiers in my brewing setup, so I am looking 
for
a good pump that can handle typical wort acidity and temperature ranges.

>From looking at HDB and web pages about home built RIMS and HERMS
systems, it seems like the March 809-HS is the standard pump to use.

So my question is: is there any better alternative to the March 809-HS 
that
people have been pleased with?  Or is anything more than the March just
overkill?

Thanks,
Nathan


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Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 11:13:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: "JONES,AARON K" <kjones1 at ufl.edu>
Subject: Re: Efficiency of Color Extraction

Disclaimer:  This is only my thought process and may be complete 
B.S.  Please seek an expert opinion.

My guess:

It would seem to me that a lot of the variables for color 
extraction are the same ones we deal with for "extract extraction" 
(temperature, time, pH, crush, etc.), however, we have a new 
player, namely, the husk of the grain.  We are no longer dealing 
with only the kernel, but the husk as well, which provides 
tannins, among other things, that can add color to beer.  So I 
would hypothesize that color extraction efficiency is not exactly 
equal to conversion efficiency.

Kyle



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Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 10:33:09 -0500
From: Joe Katchever <joe at pearlstreetbrewery.com>
Subject: A question for you promash masters...

When brewing a batch of beer, I tend to always over sparge, usually by a 
lot. This is aggavating, to say the least. However, I have recipes that 
are written for different batch sizes, yet promash doesn't adjust the 
sparge water needed based on recipe size. I've found I can solve this by 
adjusting the "water needed" in a brewing session (from default to a 
smaller or larger batch size.) If I'm brewing a half batch, anbd save as 
default on this screen, it changes sparge water needed for all future 
brews. What I would like it to do for me is to base the "water needed" 
on how many pounds of grain are in the recipe, I think. Any body?

- -- 
Joe Katchever




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Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 10:44:11 -0500
From: Joe Katchever <joe at pearlstreetbrewery.com>
Subject: pumps, bourbon barrels

Nathan, here is a pump that would work:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/itemDetailsRender.shtml?ItemId=1613542980
Bev, email this guy. His name is Tom Griffin --->  bourbonbarrel at yahoo.com

- -- 
Joe Katchever





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Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 16:59:11 -0400
From: Ed Westemeier <hopfen at malz.com>
Subject: Re: sorghum


Jason wrote:
>
> A friend was "resting" his garden this year and planted sorghum,  
> which he
> wants me to concoct some kind of brew.

Can't help with procedure, but a word of caution:
If your beer comes out like Dragon's Gold from Bard's Tale (all  
sorghum), it will taste like Cracker Jack. Not unpleasant, but a bit  
unexpected.

Ed




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