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


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Contents:
  RE: What is an Apparent Rennerian? ("Ronald La Borde")
  Wyeast is available...... ("Doug Lasanen")
  Windfall ("A.J deLange")
  Cass Riber HC (Fred M. Scheer)
  yeast through web (Fred M. Scheer)
  correction (Fred M. Scheer)
  RE: Fridge/Freezer conversion to beer tap (Bill Tobler)
  Coconut Cup 2008 (Scott Graham)
  Cooler conversion (Geoff Cooper)
  chimay yeast strain (Aaron Martin Linder)


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JANITORs on duty: Pat Babcock (pbabcock at hbd dot org), Jason Henning,
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Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:16:06 -0600
From: "Ronald La Borde" <pivoron at cox.net>
Subject: RE: What is an Apparent Rennerian?

>From: "LANCE HARBISON" <harbison65 at verizon.net>
>
>...I am thinking of acidifying my sparge water for the first
>time with lactic acid.  What is the desired pH and how much of 88% lactic
>acid would I add to 13 gallons to get it?...

The amount to add will be different for every source of the water.
Start out by using one or two teaspoons of lactic acid.  Then you take a PH
reading and continue adding smaller amounts of acid until the PH comes down
to about 6.0.

Each source of water contains various amounts and types of dissolved
minerals, therefore once this test is done, it's usually repeatable and not
neccessary to actually read the PH every time.  In some locations the water
source can change due to many various conditions.  In that case it will need
to be adjusted for the new changes.

I use the test papers to check the PH, they are close enough and reliable.
I bought two PH meters only to find it a waste of money because they do not
last very long before becoming useless.  It turns out that the worse thing
one can do is put a PH probe in wort.  If you only use the meter for water
readings, it would probably last longer.  I just use the papers.

Ronald J. La Borde -- Metairie, LA
New Orleans is the suburb of Metairie, LA
New Orleans is the New Atlantis




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Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 08:02:26 -0500
From: "Doug Lasanen" <Dlasanen at fuse.net>
Subject: Wyeast is available......

Greetings HBDer's......

Wyeast is still available and often times recommended at Listermann's 
Brewing and Vintnor Supply, www.listermann.com .

Cheers!

Doug Lasanen
Bloatarian Brewing League
Cincinnati, Ohio 




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Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 08:10:44 -0500
From: "A.J deLange" <ajdel at cox.net>
Subject: Windfall

I propose that the 850, 000 pounds be used to upgrade the servers/lines.

A.J.


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Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 13:46:33 +0000
From: fredscheer07 at comcast.net (Fred M. Scheer)
Subject: Cass Riber HC

I saw today on the HBD that the Cass River Homebrew club in
Frankenmuth, MI, still exist?
When I saw that post from Mike Rogers, it brought back lot's of memories.
When I found that club with Jeff Hervert, we had lot's of plans what
to do and we DID. We had lot's of help from the AABG
and brought (with the $$$$ help of F'muth Brewery) some very
interesting people to our Beerfests, HB competitions; Michael Jackson,
Fred Eckhardt; Mary Ann Gruber; Roger Briess, only to name a view.
Time gone by.....................
Happy Brewing my friends

- --
Fred M. Scheer


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Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 13:51:57 +0000
From: fredscheer07 at comcast.net (Fred M. Scheer)
Subject: yeast through web

HI Brewers:
Ever tried  WHITELABS.com  for your yeast needs?
Joanne Carilli is doing a fine job when ordering and shipping.
I use ~ 25 - 30 vials of yeast yeast a month for casking;
and fresh yeast, shipping etc is a important key.
BTW: I don't get paid from White labs for the forgoing,
it's just my 2C
Happy Brewing
- --
Fred M. Scheer


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Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:05:53 +0000
From: fredscheer07 at comcast.net (Fred M. Scheer)
Subject: correction

CASS River; not CASS RIBER
Sorry

- --
Fred M. Scheer


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Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 10:33:00 -0600
From: Bill Tobler <brewbetter1 at comcast.net>
Subject: RE: Fridge/Freezer conversion to beer tap

Tom is tired of bottling and asked about building a 4-6 keg system  
from scratch, and how much it would cost.

Hey Tom.  Been there, done that on the bottling.  I keg just about  
everything except Barleywines, Old Ales and a choice other few big  
beers.

I prefer a fridge over the chest freezer for serving.  I can fit four  
5 gallon kegs in, plenty for me.  I also have a kegerator that will  
fit 4 kegs, but it needs work.  I elected to put the taps on the side  
of the fridge, instead of the door.  The door is safer to drill  
holes, as you will not hit a freon line and ruin the fridge.  I was  
very careful.  I put 3 taps on the side and plumbed the CO2 in the  
side also.  I can always put a fourth tap in if I feel I need it.  I  
did not choose a chest freezer because:  I had the fridge; I already  
have two chest freezers in the brewery, and do not have room for  
another one.  Right now, I have 2 chest freezers, 2 fridges, one for  
fermenting and one for serving, and a kegerator.  Plus, you would  
have to put a collar on the chest freezer and an external temperature  
controller.

The fridge is a "No-Name" 15.4 Cu foot.  (11.5 cu ft for the fridge,  
and 3.8 for the freezer)  I took all the shelves out and had to build  
up the bottom up about 2 inches to over come a small "slant" in the  
floor at the back of the fridge.  I have full use of the freezer and  
the two drawers at the bottom of the fridge.  I had to take out the  
rails on the door shelves, as they hit the kegs.

A 3 hole SS drip tray runs about $100, and the faucets are anywhere  
from $30 to $70 each, depending on how much you want to spend.  (All  
SS or chrome and brass)  Most of the online beer shops sell  
everything you need.  Your local guy probably has everything also.   
Use good beer lines too.  (Micro-Matic, 3/16" ID X 7/16" OD)

Don't rule out a good used fridge.  You can save a few hundred right  
off the bat.  If we go with top of the line stuff, for a 4 keg  
system, not counting the fridge or kegs, you can expect to spend (For  
all new faucets, drip tray, hoses, fittings, 5 Lb. CO2 tank,  
regulator, 4 line CO2 header)  Oh my, $500, NOT counting the kegs and  
fridge.  I would start looking for stuff on sale and or used.... Try  
ebay and second had stores.


Bill Tobler
Lake Jackson, TX
(1129.2, 219.9) Apparent Rennerian
Brewing Great Beer in South Texas



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Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:27:01 -0500 (EST)
From: Scott Graham <grahams at cs.fiu.edu>
Subject: Coconut Cup 2008

Greetings from the members of the Miami Area Society of Homebrewers (MASH)
in Miami, FL.

It is almost time for this year's Coconut Cup homebrew competition. We are 
accepting all of the BJCP categories, as well as our special COCONUT BREW 
category.

Entries of TWO bottles are due between February 4th and February 15th. 
Please use the on-line entry form available at the Coconut Cup website, 
http://www.miami-homebrew.org/coconut.html .

Judging will take place on February 23rd and 24th, 2008. Please contact me 
if you are interested in judging. We will have some fun activities planned 
for out-of-town judges.

I hope to see you (or at least your beers and meads) in Miami!

Scott Graham
Coconut Cup Judge Coordinator
[1159.9, 169.3] Apparent Rennerian







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Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 14:23:44 +0000
From: Geoff Cooper <geoffreyalan at gmail.com>
Subject: Cooler conversion


> On Jan 24, 2008, at 04:05, "Alex Rigoni" <alex.rigoni at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I want to make a picnic cooler mash tun w/ a manifold.  Should I
>> bother drilling a hole in the side to use gravity flow or just run  
>> the
>> outlet over the side of the cooler and siphon it out?

Several people responded to this post recommending not siphoning.  
Spencer said he had tried it and it only barely worked. But, as  
always, YMMV.

I siphon from my cooler mash tun and it works perfectly well for me.  
I would suggest a different approach: if your cooler has an existing  
spigot or drain hole, use it - that will be best.

If there is no existing hole, then try the siphoning approach. When  
you build the manifold, place a T at one end to bring the copper tube  
vertically up the cooler. Reduce to, say, 3/8" on the way up and stop  
the tube just below the top of the cooler (but above where the top of  
the mash bed will be). The manifold should be put in place at the  
start of the mash.

When the mash is finished, PVC tube can be pushed over the exposed  
end of the 3/8" copper tube. Form an inverted U with the PVC tube and  
tape it to the side of the cooler - otherwise when the hot wort  
starts to flow the PVC will soften and kink.
Now start the siphon and sparge. A clear disadvantage is that the lid  
of the cooler cannot be fully on so, although possible, it is less  
easy to use an automatic sparge arm.

If you find that siphoning doesn't work well for your setup, I would  
suggest that that is the point where you decide to drill holes.

Cheers
Geoff
(Somewhere just east of London (the real one))


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Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 19:33:47 -0500 (EST)
From: Aaron Martin Linder <lindera at umich.edu>
Subject: chimay yeast strain

Hi,

I want to try to reproduce the chimay blue label, and I have tried WLP500
a couple of times.  The resulting beer has a very different yeast
character from  Chimay. Is this really a chimay-like yeast?!  How does
WLP500 differ from WLP530 and WLP540?  I've used WLP550 with good results.
The WLP500 just seems to be a bit hot tasting and kind of solventy.  It's
not exactly unpleasant, just not the same as Chimay.  Maybe I need to age
my beer for several months to get the smooth flavor of the Chimay blue?

aaron
ann arbor, mi










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