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


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Contents:
  Re: The Cost of Brewing a Batch of Beer (Timmy R)
  RE: Lead in glass carboys? ("Chris Williams") ("Josh Knarr")
  re: the cost of brew ("Chad Stevens")
  re: Recirculation rate? (CD Pritchard)
  Hefeweizen Fermentation Temperature ("Dave Larsen")


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Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:44:50 -0500
From: Timmy R <trunnette at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: The Cost of Brewing a Batch of Beer

> "The cost of the equipment is the price of my hobby."

Agreed.  And it'll help justify my saving up to buy a B3 1550 or 2550  
this year.

Cheers,

Timmy



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Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:43:22 -0400
From: "Josh Knarr" <josh.knarr at gmail.com>
Subject: RE: Lead in glass carboys? ("Chris Williams")

I wouldn't be too worried about lead in glass carboys. In order to get
the lead out (ha ha!) you would have to somehow make the glass
solvent. To take care of surface lead, or any possible lead coating, a
good scrubbing of the carboy (I have a coathanger I bent to the handle
of my brush) should take care of it.

Professional test kits are out there:
http://www.skcinc.com/prod/550-001.asp should work. How you test for
lead (specifically for gasoline, it will probably work on the wipes)
is to let some water soak in the carboy for a week or two to get some
good saturation (if there is any), soak up the water in a paper towel,
add a weak solution of iodine and then a drop dithizone to the iodine
on the towel. If the dithizone turns red, it's lead. You can grab
dithizone in pep boys in the fuel treatment aisle - it's popular among
the SCCA guys here for testing for lead in 120 octane gasoline (my
other money pit...).


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Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:31:27 -0700
From: "Chad Stevens" <zuvaruvi at cox.net>
Subject: re: the cost of brew

I posted a detailed report of my brewing costs years back.  It went 
something like:

Cooler tun - $50
Copper pipe for manifold - $8
Kettle - $75
Temp controller - $50
2 carboys - $40
Hoses - $20
fridge - free
buckets - free
pretty much everything else I've won or been given - free

Amortized over 20 years of brewing, that's about $0.39 per batch.  I harvest 
my own yeast; hops and grain are about $6-8 a batch/52 bottles = $0.16 a 
beer.

Unfortunately I got a wild hair last year and built a 12 keg kegerator 
(thanks to Jamil for the window A/C and temp controller idea).  The 12 tap 
stainless tube from Micromatic was about $1500; everything else was another 
$300.  But even with that, amortized over 600 batches = $0.06 cents a beer. 
I guess the logical conclusion that should be drawn from this rambling is: 
"if your beer costs you too much, it merely means your not drinking enough!"

This need not be an expensive hobby.  Throw in all the friendship this beer 
has brought me over the years - money may not buy you love; beer on the 
otherhand! - priceless.

;o)

Chad Stevens
QUAFF
San Diego 



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Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:23:13 -0400
From: CD Pritchard <cdp at chattanooga.net>
Subject: re: Recirculation rate?

Jason asked:

> This is to all of you HERMS / RIMS brewers out there.
> What rate do you recirculate at? Do you recirculate
> during your entire mash? What size plumbing do you
> use? Do you have reasons for your answers to the above
> questions or did it just come out that way?

I get 1/2 to 3/4 GPM in my RIMS and recirculate
during the entire mash.
Plumbing is 1/2" copper with some 3/8" ID vinyl tubing.
No real reasons for any of the above.

CD Pritchard
cdp at chattanooga.net






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Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:17:48 -0700
From: "Dave Larsen" <hunahpu at gmail.com>
Subject: Hefeweizen Fermentation Temperature

The talk about various hefeweizen yeasts got me thinking about
hefeweizen.  I have not done one in several years.  It seems like it
should be a relatively easy style to brew, but I've never had luck at
it.  Rather than tasting like clove and banana, mine always tasted
like bubblegum.

People always told me to go warmer and warmer in fermentation
temperature to increase that clove/banana flavor, but that never
worked for me.  Then, I visited a brewery in Austin, Texas, called
Live Oak, that made and an excellent hefe, and the brewmaster told me
that the secret is to go colder, not warmer.  He ferments his a like
62 degrees F.   That went against everything that I was ever told.  I
didn't give it much thought, but then I heard it again on the Brewing
Network a few months ago -- maybe a Jamil Show, or a Session, I don't
remember which.

I have not tried it, yet, but I'm itching to.  Any thoughts about
weizens and fermentation temperature?

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


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