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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  Re: Homebrew Digest #5237 (October 16, 2007) (Dean)
  Subject: Gasket material for a conical ("Doug Lasanen")
  Diacetyl ("A.J deLange")
  Re: Gasket material for a conical (stencil)
  Re: Starter without DME (Calvin Perilloux)
  re: Diacetyl, how can i get rid of it ("steve.alexander")


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Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 08:55:50 -0700
From: Dean <dean at deanandadie.net>
Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #5237 (October 16, 2007)

> Date: Thu, 04 Oct 2007 21:41:01 -0500
> From: "Gary Smith" <Gary at doctorgary.net>
> Subject: Gasket material for a conical
> 
> I've got a 12.2 gal stainless conical and there's a dome cover for 
> it. The ID is 16" and the width of the top flange is about 1/2".
 ...
> Any suggestions what I might be able to find that woill be good for 
> this? The existing material is black neoprene looking material, 
> almost firm as a tire and it is very poor as a gasket.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Gary

Hi Gary,

I suggest you check out McMaster (http://www.mcmaster.com/)  They have a 
dizzying selection of products, including all kinds of gaskets.

- --Dean
- --
Unscrambler of eggs
[3265.6k, 273.2deg] Apparent Rennerian
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
i am become def, the mixer of words

I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul


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Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 07:40:46 -0400
From: "Doug Lasanen" <Dlasanen at fuse.net>
Subject: Subject: Gasket material for a conical

Gary Smith is looking for a suitable Lid gasket for a conical fermentor.....

I happen to own a Ferminator.......I would think that that gasket should 
work.  You may have to cut it down to the proper diameter.

Another suggestion would be what I used to do when I flew R/C airplanes, 
many years ago.  Place a bead of silicone on the top surface of the 
fermentor.  Carefully place a piece of waxed paper on top, trying not to 
smear the silicone.  Next, lightly and carefully, place the lid on top. Do 
not apply pressure, just the weight of the lid should be sufficient.  Allow 
to set for 24 hours and then remove.  The waxed paper will peal right off 
and the silicone makes a perfect seal that will stay attached to the top of 
the fermentor.

Good Luck!
Cheers!

Doug Lasanen
Bloatarian Brewing League
Cincinnati, Ohio 




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Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:12:41 +0000
From: "A.J deLange" <ajdel at cox.net>
Subject: Diacetyl

Interesting that diacetyl has come up as it just received some bad press 
in the last week or so. It seems that the first consumer of artificially 
flavored popcorn has come down with the same brochial disease that 
workers in plants that make the stuff frequently suffer from. This guy 
was a popcorn junky and ate many bags of microwave popcorn per day. 
Makes you wonder why the kids that work in movie theatres arent sickened.

But on to beer. The best bet for getting it out of beer would, I'm 
guessin, be to warm up the beer and innoculate it with a goodly dose of 
kreuzen beer from another batch. This is one of the techniques used for 
its reduction and though it is usually done at the end of the 
fermentation I don't see why it shouldn't work just as well after 
several weeks as long as the temperature is high enough. Any method that 
gets young working yeast into the beer should do as well. You could 
probably stir in some malt or even priming sugar and reinnoculate with 
the same or a different yeast strain.

A.J.


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Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 09:34:51 -0400
From: stencil <etcs.ret at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: Gasket material for a conical

in  HOMEBREW Digest #5237 Tue 16 October 2007
Gary Smith wrote:
> 
> 
> I need something spongy for a gasket or at least compressable so the 
> gasket will seat on the top & bottom of the mating flanges of the 
> bodt & lid.
> 
Use aquarium-grade RTV rubber calk to form the gasket on the 
body flange;  use tape as appropriate on the edges of the 
flange to form a dam ;  use keg lube or K-Y as a release 
agent on the lid;  razor-trim after it cures.  You'll want 
to ensure that the flange is very clean - an acetone wipe 
would not be uncalled-for.

gds, stencil
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Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 08:02:15 -0700 (PDT)
From: Calvin Perilloux <calvinperilloux at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Starter without DME

Craig Cottingham mentions using wort from a brew session for 
making a starter, and he's not sure if he can recommend it 100%.
I have no such qualms, Craig!  I use that method occasionally.

If I have extra wort left over, generally from a modest-OG,
modestly-hopped pale wort, I'll dilute the excess down to 
about 1030-1035 OG, put the resulting wort in canning jars, 
and process them as if I were canning... I dunno... say, 
sauerkraut.  That is, sanitise the jars and lids before 
filling, and after filling them then boil 20+ minutes
in a hot water bath.

I've even pressure-canned some of these, but the wort does
get quite dark doing that; these might be good starters 
for beers like brown ale and porter, but not for pilsners.

Keep in mind that pressure canning is the way to go if 
you don't want to refrigerate your canned wort.  That's 
because fresh wort is very close to the pH margin for 
safety when it comes to boiling-water-bath canning and
clostridium (botulin) problems.  Therefore, I keep the 
jars in the cold part of the fridge after that instead 
of leaving them at room temperature where random spores 
might slowly develop.  (I have yet to see any info on 
whether hops would add a further inhibiting factor here,
pushing the pH border higher than 4.6.  Would be interesting
to know for sure.)  

It is conceivable that I could try to reduce the wort pH 
slightly with acid adjustments to get to 4.6 or less, 
which is the point where pressure canning is not required
for long term stability.  I haven't measured my pH on my 
wort samples with enough accuracy to tell, nor do I know 
what effect a modest drop in pH might do to a starter 
culture, so I haven't tried that yet.  Maybe one day 
when I'm bored.

Calvin Perilloux
Middletown, Maryland, USA


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Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:55:24 -0400
From: "steve.alexander" <-s at roadrunner.com>
Subject: re: Diacetyl, how can i get rid of it

Keith Anderson asks ...

> Made my first lager with Wyeast 2206 and fermented ~50F degrees until
> it slowed down, racked to kegs (10 gallons), and then dropped to ~32F
> over a few days.  Everything went great, the beer finished up ~1.012
> but now smells like microwave popcorn.   It has been sitting at ~32F
> for about 5 weeks.
>
> Does it need to lager longer to get rid of the diacetyl?  I didn't
> perform a diacetyl rest because i didn't see any dire warnings about
> WY2206.  I can wait another month or two but don't want to tie up the
> fridge if time will not remove the diacetyl.  Don't know if some
> priming sugar would help it ferment out the offending flavor or if
> time is my only hope.
>
> In general, does a diacetyl rest at 60F degrees reduce lagering time?
> Will an extended (>4 weeks) lagering time make up for no diacetyl
> rest?

Diacetyl is removed by yeast metabolism, so if the yeast is mostly 
removed or
the temp is too cold they yeast fail to clean up their mess.   More storage
cannot help much, assuming the yeast is mostly gone.  There are two possible
solutions.  There are commercially available enzymes which will remove the
diacetyl quite effectively.   Lacking these enzymes the only good 
solution is
to re-ferment in a secondary fermentation.  That is you must add a kreusen
addition of wort&yeast and allow it to ferment out again.  Roughly 10% more
wort is the typical addition. (and yes - I'd perform a Ruh 
storage/diacetyl rest).

Yeast actively regulate he diacetyl level, so even this modest yeast 
complement
will clean up your beer.  Yes it's a nuisance, but FWIW the best HB lagers
I've ever had a kreusen secondary ferment like this.

 -S



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