HOMEBREW Digest #5115 Thu 28 December 2006


[Prev HBD] [Index] [Next HBD] [Back]


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


***************************************************************
       THIS YEAR'S HOME BREW DIGEST BROUGHT TO YOU BY: 

          Northern  Brewer, Ltd. Home Brew Supplies
Visit http://www.northernbrewer.com  to show your appreciation!
               Or call them at 1-800-681-2739

    Support those who support you! Visit our sponsor's site!
********** Also visit http://hbd.org/hbdsponsors.html *********


Contents:
  peltier chips and fermentation temps ("David Lewinnek")
  Young's Bottle Culture (Matt)
  BJCP Regional Elections (Ed Westemeier)
  WOI Radio's Semi-Annual Beer Show! ("Rob Moline")
  To HERMS or not to HERMS... (Michael Eyre)
  Barrels.... (rick)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The HBD Logo Store is now open! * * http://www.hbd.org/store.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Suppport this service: http://hbd.org/donate.shtml * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Send articles for __publication_only__ to post@hbd.org If your e-mail account is being deleted, please unsubscribe first!! To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE send an e-mail message with the word "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to request@hbd.org FROM THE E-MAIL ACCOUNT YOU WISH TO HAVE SUBSCRIBED OR UNSUBSCRIBED!!!** IF YOU HAVE SPAM-PROOFED your e-mail address, you cannot subscribe to the digest as we cannot reach you. We will not correct your address for the automation - that's your job. HAVING TROUBLE posting, subscribing or unsusubscribing? See the HBD FAQ at http://hbd.org. LOOKING TO BUY OR SELL USED EQUIPMENT? Please do not post about it here. Go instead to http://homebrewfleamarket.com and post a free ad there. The HBD is a copyrighted document. The compilation is copyright HBD.ORG. Individual postings are copyright by their authors. ASK before reproducing and you'll rarely have trouble. Digest content cannot be reproduced by any means for sale or profit. More information is available by sending the word "info" to req@hbd.org or read the HBD FAQ at http://hbd.org. JANITORs on duty: Pat Babcock (pbabcock at hbd dot org), Jason Henning, and Spencer Thomas
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 09:18:13 -0500 From: "David Lewinnek" <davelew at gmail.com> Subject: peltier chips and fermentation temps In HBD #5114, Jeff Dieterle asks about peltier chips to control fermentation temperatures: > I'm wondering about anyone's experience with peltier devices because that's > how I'm going to construct my next fermenting fridge. Within the strange breed known as "homebrewers", there is an even stranger subgroup of individuals who insist on using peltier chips with their beer, despite recommendations to the contrary. Using peltier chips to cool beer is a horrible idea. Really, a converted fridge is a much better tool for the job. I know of only three people who combined the stupidity of selecting a peltier chip with the stubborn pigheadedness and technical skill to make the setup work. I am one of those three, and you can see my setup here: http://hbd.org/discus/messages/26895/29631.html My Beer Technology Unit (BTU) has a water bath that the carboy sits in, a heat exchanger, a spearate reservoir, and two small aquarium pumps. One pump circulates the the water from around the carboy over the peltier assembly and back. The second pump circulates a different reservoir of water over the other side of the peltier and through a water-air heat exchanger. I have a temperature probe sitting in the water next to the carboy which controls the peltier to heat or cool. If there were a temperature difference between the beer and the coolant, the huge surface area and liquid contact areas should cause the heat to flow to balance out the temperatures. The main problem with my setup is that it's underpowered. It has trouble cooling a beer adequately in the most vigorous stage of fermentation, when temperature control is the most important. To make peltier solution with the power of a typical refrigerator woul take a lot of peltier chips (which are fairly cheap from NWCA.com), and a lot of DC current (which isn't quite so cheap, although I have some crazy ideas about doing it cheaply with a high power SCR and some high ripple 120VDC). Dave Lewinnek Somerville, Massachusetts [647.4, 85.1deg] Apparent Rennerian Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 10:51:34 -0800 (PST) From: Matt <baumssl27 at yahoo.com> Subject: Young's Bottle Culture Anyone ever had success culturing from Young's Special London Ale (or any other Young's product)? Anyone know if the primary strain is used for bottle conditioning? Thanks, Matt Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 19:37:00 -0500 From: Ed Westemeier <hopfen at malz.com> Subject: BJCP Regional Elections Taking advantage of the quiet period during the end of year holidays, I'd like to invite all BJCP judges in the Mountain/Northwest, North, and Northeast regions to consider tossing your hat into the ring for Regional Representative. Elections in these regions for the BJCP Board of Directors are coming up very shortly, and it would be a wonderful thing if we could have two or more candidates for each office. More detail is available on the BJCP Forums: http://www.bjcp.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=943#943 Ed Westemeier BJCP Communication Director communication_director at bjcp.org Return to table of contents
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 21:51:52 -0600 From: "Rob Moline" <jethrogump at mchsi.com> Subject: WOI Radio's Semi-Annual Beer Show! WOI Radio's Semi-Annual Beer Show You are invited to tune in to WOI Radio's Semi-Annual Beer Show on Talk of Iowa! Hosted by Katherine Perkins, the Semi Annual Beer Show airs on 640 AM from 9:00AM - 10:00AM CST, on 12.28.06 and the stream can be found at http://www.iowapublicradio.org/woistream/woi-am.ram and is accessible through Real Audio. Guests on this Semi-Annual Beer Show on Talk of Iowa include Aaron Taubman, Head Brewer of Millstream Brewing in Amana, Iowa; Jeff Irvin, Head Brewer, Olde Main Brewing, Ames, Iowa; John Runyon, Brewer, Olde Main Brewing, Ames; and Rob Moline, Internet Technical Consultant to Lallemand, makers of the Danstar line of brewing yeast, and member of the Governing Committee for the American Homebrewers Association. Join us as Katherine leads the discussion of beer, brewing, and brewers, both in Iowa, and where ever the keg lands; call in on (800) 262-0640 to ask any beer related question, and be ready to win fabulous prizes in our Beer Trivia contest! That's Talk of Iowa on WOI! Cheers! Rob Moline Lallemand - -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.409 / Virus Database: 268.15.28/604 - Release Date: 12/26/2006 Return to table of contents
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 21:05:56 -0800 From: Michael Eyre <meyre at sbcglobal.net> Subject: To HERMS or not to HERMS... Hello all, My question is this: Should I buy a pump and build a HERMs into my existing setup or not? I have a three tier gravity feed converted keg rig that I use right now to make mostly 10 gallon batches. It's all uninsulated except for a blanket I throw over the Mashtun when I'm doing a rest. I'm virtually always doing single infusion mashes and usually drop a few degrees during the rest period. My premise from the beginning was that I always wanted to have gravity work for me and not have to rely on a pump, which *could* fail, and leave me stranded. And I wanna stick with that. Now that I have a couple bucks saved up, in the form of gift certificates, burning a hole in my pocket, I'm thinking about making some improvements. I think I'd like to get a little better consistency in my mash temps. whether it be single infusion or steps, I'm wondering if it would make my beer better to have more precise control over the temps. i'm also wondering if, in this day and age of malts (as good as they are..), if steps are going to really benefit me or not. I'm thinking of getting a pump and a couple of SS false bottoms so that I can heat my mash... right now I've got a copper manifold going on that I *can* direct fire, but I always run the risk of scorching the grain if I fall asleep at the wheel for too long. Honestly, I never do temp steps, not even a mashout, and the beer I make, I feel, is damn good. I guess I'm just concerned that that the rate of return from the money I spend on parts and equipment would be better spent on more grain to just make some more damn beer. But hey, I like toys... but I just don't know. So, I'm thinking of the false bottoms and running a pump to pump the wort from under the false bottom up into the HLT where I'd run it through a copper or SS coil and then back to the mash, heat exchanging the wort via water temp in the HLT. Is this feasible? I've heard it works OK, but does anyone here run one like this? Should I just stick to RIMs? Any thoughts on this, collective? Mike Return to table of contents
Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2006 10:05:23 -0700 From: rick at salvagebeer.com Subject: Barrels.... Hi folks! A friend and I have been looking at brewing using some historical methods. One method we found involved heating and maintaining the mash and boil in a wooden vessel through the addition of hot stones directly into the mash/wort. The stones were heated in a wood fire and moved with tongs. In looking for an appropriate vessel, we happened upon the wooden barrel bottoms often used in landscaping. They're relatively cheap, about $35 each, and all of those I've been able to find locally indicate that they are oak. My research online indicates that many of these landscaping-type barrels are, in fact, reclaimed wine and whiskey barrels. I have two questions. 1) Do you think these barrel bottoms would be safe for the use I intend them for? Is there a way to find out if they have been treated with chemicals? 2) If they're safe for this use, why not use them for longer conditioning? Might this be a cheap alternative to buying barrels specifically for wine/beer? They're often available in both half and full-size barrels...Thoughts? Return to table of contents
[Prev HBD] [Index] [Next HBD] [Back]
HTML-ized on 12/29/06, by HBD2HTML v1.2 by KFL
webmaster@hbd.org, KFL, 10/9/96