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


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Contents:
  Sparge Arms [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED] ("Williams, Rowan")
  Re: Scottsdale, AZ brew pubs (zac boak)
  StarSan 5.2 ("A.J deLange")


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Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:40:56 +1100
From: "Williams, Rowan" <Rowan.Williams at ag.gov.au>
Subject: Sparge Arms [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply re my question of sparge arms.
There was a lot of good sensible advice in the replies and PM's that I received
so it's great to know that the knowledge is still being shared.

What's also interesting to note is that the days of ordering locally for a
particular sparge arm to, er, phil the mashtun with sparge water are
apparently gone!  I asked the usual suppliers and have been advised that
they're no longer getting them in wholesale.  Fortunately, the aussie market
forces have had an impact and an aussie supplier has 24cm and 32cm diameter
copper rings in stock, just like the one's you suggested David, complete with the
holes on the upper side of the ring!  And freight is nowhere near as nasty...

Cheers,
Rowan

Canberra Brewers Club, Australia
[9588.6, 261.5] AR (statute miles)

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Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 06:14:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: zac boak <boakis2000 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Scottsdale, AZ brew pubs


Hi everyone.  I lived in Chandler, AZ for a few years. 
Chandler is south of Scottsdale on the 101 freeway by about
15 miles or so if my memory serves me correctly.  There are
a few good places to go.  
First off there is a brew pub called "Rock
Bottom" right in Scottsdale.  Good food and beer. 
It is a chain, but not all of them serve the same beers as
they each have their own brew master.  You can become a
member of their "Mug Club" for free and then you
receive a 1/2 liter instead of a pint for no extra charge,
and you collect points towards free beer, food, and
merchandise.
Another place that i would recommend is in Tempe.  I
think they might even have a location in Scottsdale now, but
i cant remember for sure.  Its called "Four 
Peaks."  They have a good selection of beer, and there
is nothing wrong with the food either.  I can recommend
the "Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale"(very tasty) and the
"Hop Knot IPA."  Both excellent brews, just
depends on what you are in the mood for.
One last place i would check out is called "San Tan
Brewing Company."  They are located in Chandler, so it
may be a little bit of a drive depending in where you are
is Scottsdale.  I lived in Chandler and worked in
Scottsdale and the drive never killed me.  Back to beer. 
They have quality beer and food.  Although you may find it
similar to Four Peaks since the man who opened San Tan was
the brew master there.  
Hope this helps.  They all have web sites that you can
find through google.  I put links in the first time I
wrote this not knowing that, that was a "no no."
Slainte
Zac Boak
Gristulin Brewing
Brookfield, WI  




      


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Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:18:30 -0400
From: "A.J deLange" <ajdel at cox.net>
Subject: StarSan 5.2

In yesterday's digest I supposed (as did Calvin) that StarSan 5.2 must  
be a phosphate buffer and indeed several websites/catalogues describes  
it as  "A proprietary blend of food-grade phosphate buffers...". I  
also noted in my post of yesterday that phosphate would be a poor  
choice of buffer at pH 5.2 because 5.2 is 2 pH units from the second  
pK of phosphoric acid and buffering capacity is low if this difference  
is greater than 1 unit.  I spent some time doing some calculations and  
was so surprised at how poor buffering performance of the traditional  
phosphate buffer is that I felt I had to experiment to see if my model  
(in the spreadsheet I use) was valid. It appears it is. The following  
are some results from the calculations. I can do lots more 'gedenken'  
experiments in an hour with a spreadsheet than I can real experiments  
with a balance, a pH meter and glassware (and I don't have to clean up  
afterwards).

At a rate of 11 grams per 5 gallons a traditional phosphate buffer  
designed for pH 5.2 will show in increase in pH to 6.11 (shift of  
0.91)  in water, not mash, in response to a challenge of 40 mg/L  
bicarbonate (this corresponds to an alkalinity of 34 ppm as CaCO3 in a  
pH 7 water). The way this might be interpreted in a mash is that if  
your water has alkalinity of 80 with effective (calcium plus half  
magnesium) hardness of 40*3.5 = 140 then the residual alkalinity would  
be 40 mg/L (80 mg/L minus the 40 mg/L acid released when the calcium  
reacts with malt phosphate) which the buffer (or another source of  
acid) would have to neutralize to get to a pH in the right range. It  
certainly would appear that 11 grams/L of a traditional phosphate  
buffer isn't going to do this. We'd expect the mash pH to be over 6 in  
this example. So perhaps StarSan 5.2 isn't a phosphate buffer. It is  
interesting that a citrate buffer of the same strength (4.5 mmol/L)  
would hold pH to 5.37 against the same 40 mg/L bicarbonate challenge.  
This is to be expected as the difference between 5.2 and the second pK  
of citric acid is only 0.43. Another thing which seems a little  
strange is the concept of buffering a solution with a phosphate buffer  
when the solution itself already contains a lot of one of phosphate  
(Calvin mentioned this). I'm not suggesting that Star San in really  
citrate as I would expect that to have noticeable flavor effects on  
beer made with it. Maybe the word "proprietary" bears significance  
which escapes me. I guess the next step is to actually go buy some of  
this stuff, hit it with bicarb and see where the pH goes. I'll report  
what I find.

A.J.


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