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


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Contents:
  Re: Yeast slants versus suspension (Fred L Johnson)
  plastic bottles ... sign me up. ("steve.alexander")
  Re: Efficiency and Astringency (stencil)
  PET Bottles For My Draft Beer System (Pete Calinski)
  Re: Efficiency and Astringency ("Dave Larsen")
  glass carboys in Pigeon Forge (Neitzke Arnold)
  Common problem with commericial beers (Thomas Wilberding)
  Slants Vs Suspension......... ("Doug Lasanen")


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Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 06:40:50 -0400
From: Fred L Johnson <FLJohnson52 at nc.rr.com>
Subject: Re: Yeast slants versus suspension

I failed to mention in my original post that the yeast have been  
propagated with constant aeration and stirring before storage as a  
liquid suspension. I think I store my yeast in a condition that is  
probably pretty close to what you receive from Wyeast or White Labs,  
so I'd like to know if slants would be better. Perhaps they last  
longer on slants?

Fred L Johnson
Apex, North Carolina, USA



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Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:49:13 -0400
From: "steve.alexander" <-s at roadrunner.com>
Subject: plastic bottles ... sign me up.

Plastic beer bottles ...
http://www.plasticredesignproject.org/files/phasetworeport.html
These are designed for 4month shelf life and some of these implemented 
around year 2000 by Miller had a pthalate layer (that I would personally 
stay away from).

Yeah - a "subscribing" or supporting  member arrangement for HBD is a  
is a great idea.  Good thought Fred.

 -S




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Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:25:44 -0400
From: stencil <etcs.ret at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: Efficiency and Astringency

On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:59:20 -0400, 
in Homebrew Digest #5374 (July 20, 2008)
Jason Gazeley wrote:

>
>
>The mill is set to .039". [ ... ]
>
>Scince buying the mill all of my beers have an
>astringency that although not over powering is
>still noticeable and annoying. 

That's one millimeter, which seems awfully fine.  The goal
is to strip off the the whole husk and then crack the starch
granules within;  if the husk fragments too much - well,
there it is.
Do you set and gage this yourself, or is it not
field-settable?  If uou can adjust the nip yourself, offer
it a scrap of bare 14AWG solid copper wire  and if it
grudgingly passes by the turning rollers, you're somewhere
around .065".
If the nip cannot be adjusted you may want to try a 1-hour
cold soak and rinse of the grain before milling.
FWIW I habitually use a double pass:  80 thou (12AWG) and
then 65.  Gotta love that Valley Mill.

gds, stencil



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Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:02:01 -0400
From: Pete Calinski <petec.100 at gmail.com>
Subject: PET Bottles For My Draft Beer System

I have been bottling in PET bottles for 3 or 4 years.  I use 3 liter soda 
bottles.  They are part of my mini-draft system.

I always wanted to have my beer on draft but I couldn't justify taking the 
whole fridge to do it.  With what I put together, I can have 5 different 
beers on tap at the same time and it occupies only the bottom two shelves of 
my fridge.

I fashioned a manifold from copper tubing that distributes the CO2 to the 
five PET bottles.  The bottles I use have the larger diameter caps.  I 
altered the caps to have CO2-In and Beer-Out fittings.  The Beer-Out line 
ends in a "cobra" tap.  Each CO2 line has a shutoff valve so I can swap 
bottles in and out.  Each line also has a check valve to ensure the CO2 
flows into the bottle and not out to other bottles.

I carbonate the bottles with about half the normal amount of priming sugar.

The system is a sort of "work in progress".  I keep a list of refinements 
and when I get the urge I install one or two and see how they work.  If I 
ever get it to the point that it doesn't need a lot of coddling I may add a 
description to the preserve....if there is enough interest.

SIGN ME UP FOR CONTINUOUS FUNDING OF THE "SEVER FUND".


Pete Calinski
East Amherst NY
Near Buffalo NY

http://hbd.org/pcalinsk


***********************************************************
*My goal:
*      Go through life and never drink the same beer twice.
*     (As long as it doesn't mean I have to skip a beer.)
*********************************************************** 



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Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:25:40 -0700
From: "Dave Larsen" <hunahpu at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Efficiency and Astringency

>
> Scince buying the mill all of my beers have an
> astringency that although not over powering is
> still noticeable and annoying. Is it possible that
> my new higher efficiency my sparge water gravity
> is dropping too low to maintain a good Ph range?
> Or could it be something else? What solutions
> would you recommend?
>

One thing that you did not mention is whether you check the gravity of
your runoff near the end of your sparge.  When I bought a grain mill
and my efficiency jumped up to the mid-80s, it got to the point where
I almost always had to end my sparge early because the gravity of my
runoff droped below 1.010, unless it's a pretty big beer.  There are
other non-sparge related reasons you could be getting astringency as
well, including over hopping or bacterial infections.

Dave
Tucson, AZ
http://hunahpu.blogspot.com/


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Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:35:47 -0700 (PDT)
From: Neitzke Arnold <aneitzke at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: glass carboys in Pigeon Forge

I am camping in Pigeon Forge for the last few days
doing a bunch of touristic stuff.  I just got back
from shopping with the wife, one of the places we
went, was Old Time Pottery, where they have at least
20 5 gal glass carboys for $19.99 from Mexico.

Since these are going to get rare and if you are in
the area, you may want to pick up one or two, if you
need them.

Drinking beer from the Smokey Mountain brewery.


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Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:52:14 -0400
From: Thomas Wilberding <tom at wilberding.com>
Subject: Common problem with commericial beers

Hi,

Recently, I have had beer (six packs from the local liquor store) from  
3 different local breweries (names withheld for now) that all had a  
very similar set of problems. All three times the beer was nearly  
undrinkable and I don't think it tasted anywhere near what the brewer  
had intended. The beers were an irish red, an amber ale and a munich  
dunkel. Again, three different breweries.

Here are the symptoms:
1) very sour (I love flanders reds and lambics, this was unpleasant  
lactic sourness).
2) sediment was little round pellets of yeast. They looked like  
miniature white peppercorns swirling around the bottom of my glass.  
When I choked down the sour beer, I pushed some with my finger half  
expecting them to be hard, but they just mushed into yeasty paste.

I find it unlikely that all three breweries were trying for a sour  
beer and these are the only beers where I noticed the weird  
"peppercorn" style yeast sediment. And since it was three different  
breweries I thought maybe others would have seen this elsewhere in the  
country and perhaps be able to diagnose the problem.

I want these local breweries to succeed and I plan to contact each of  
them to complain, but hope I could also offer them some advice on what  
might be happening to the beer. In the meantime, I'm gun-shy on  
plunking down another $10 for their beer because the off flavors  
dominate the beer and make it really unpleasant.

Tom Wilberding
Midland, MI


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Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:07:05 -0400
From: "Doug Lasanen" <Dlasanen at fuse.net>
Subject: Slants Vs Suspension.........



hbd #5374, Fred Johnson reports.......

For years, I have kept my yeast cultures by merely putting 10 mL of a
suspension a fully-fermentated starter culture into sterile 30 mL
vials and keeping these at about 35 degrees F. When I'm ready to make
a starter, I just pull out a vial and transfer the contents into the
starter medium, and this can be several months later.

Is there an advantage to using slants to store my yeast instead of
the method I've been using?


Hey Fred!

I too, have been keeping yeast going as you speak.........ie, I make  a 
starter. Then on brew day I "Sanitize" a "White labs" vial.  After a good 
swirl of the yeast, I "pitch" and fill the vial for the next use......This 
can often times be 6 to 9 months, depending on yeast.  I have done that for 
many years, with no problems.  However, I have recently had an astringincy 
problem!!!  I have dumped 5 or 6 carboys!!  I have tried to blame sanitation 
and other reasons for the "foul", "tart",  brews.......and perhaps it could 
still be, however, I think it may be yeast related.

I have 15 or more vials of yeast in the fridge waiting to be used and I am 
thinking it is time to start over!  I have other club members that do the 
same as I do.......at the price of hops and grain,  today, I question 
whether or not it is worth saving $6.00 on the yeast?!  Interested in your 
comments!

Cheers!

Doug Lasanen
Bloatarian Brewing League
CIncinnati, Ohio 




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