HOMEBREW Digest #685 Tue 23 July 1991
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FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Re: Homebrew Digest #683 (July 19, 1991) (Brad Isley)
Stainless Steel Pots (John DeCarlo)
mailing list? (Mike Zulauf)
mailing list? (Mike Zulauf)
bananas (mcnally)
All Natural Soda Recipes (bob)
Darryl who?? Hop Harvest (hersh)
DeClerck on dextrin body ("Peter Karp")
T-shirt trick (Carl West)
aluminum v stainless (Carl West)
Culturing Yeast (MC2331S)
"stainless" pots... (Michael Zentner)
Request: recipes for Bridge Port Ale and Pilsner Urquell (Dave Brown)
Q; Rec. for pot lids? (bobc at wings.Eng - Bob Clark)
Re: Aluminum vs SS (larryba)
Flat beer (Rob Malouf)
Ferromagnetism (korz)
Re: Homebrew Digest #684 (July 22, 1991) ("One slip, and down the hole we fall")
Sam Adams Wheat Brew. ("DRCV06::GRAHAM")
Dry brew, cold filtered (Mike Fertsch)
sterilizing water? (Craig Artley)
Conditioning in tanks (fse)
Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmi at hplabs.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmi at hplabs.hp.com
[Please do not send me requests for back issues]
Archives are available from netlib at mthvax.cs.miami.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 91 9:14:32 EDT
From: hpfcla!slammer!brad%emory.mathcs.emory.edu (Brad Isley)
Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #683 (July 19, 1991)
This is a retry...
Please unsbscribe me from the list.
Please subscribe my brother, emory!slammer!bagend!jan
Thanx.
Return to table of contents
Date: Monday, 22 Jul 1991 07:53:24 EDT
From: m14051 at mwvm.mitre.org (John DeCarlo)
Subject: Stainless Steel Pots
Can anyone enlighten me on the use one could make of a magnet when looking
for a stainless steel brewpot? I know the stainless steel pot I have now
(only 5 gallons, alas), doesn't react to a magnet (the magnet won't stick).
But it would surprise me to learn that a magnet sticks to aluminum pots.
John "So, I am confused as to how you would use it." DeCarlo
Internet: jdecarlo at mitre.org
(or John.DeCarlo at f131.n109.z1.fidonet.org)
Fidonet: 1:109/131
Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 91 19:50:12 -0600
From: Mike Zulauf <zulauf at orbit.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: mailing list?
To Whom It May Concern:
I understand you run a homebrew mailing list. Please send me information
or add my name to the list. Thank you.
Mike Zulauf
zulauf at orbit.colorado.edu
Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 91 19:52:49 -0600
From: Mike Zulauf <zulauf at orbit.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: mailing list?
To Whom It May Concern:
I understand you run a homebrew mailing list. Please send me information
or add my name to the list. Thank you.
Mike Zulauf
zulauf at orbit.colorado.edu
Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 91 11:04:25 -0700
From: mcnally at Pa.dec.com
Subject: bananas
I have begun sampling a batch that, like a couple before it, have a
distinct banana aroma. Noonan blames this on ethyl acetate formed due
to lack of oxygen in the early pre-fermentation phase. I'll be building
one of those aerators (from some stiff plastic tubing) real soon now.
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike McNally mcnally at wsl.dec.com
Digital Equipment Corporation
Western Software Lab
Return to table of contents
Date: Fri Jul 19 23:57:18 1991
From: semantic!bob at uunet.UU.NET
Subject: All Natural Soda Recipes
Enclosed are some 'All Natural' soda recipes. There where some
requests a few months ago for some such recipes. I felt inclined
to send them to the digest for that reason and due to the fact that
they seemed so homebrew like. To date I have not tried the recipes,
but plan to run up a test batch of the Ginger Ale.
Recipes from _Early American Life_, August 1975, Pg 12, titled
_Making Your Own Soda Pop_, by Caroline Kitchen Riddle.
I was presented this magazine while helping to clean old books and
magazines from an elderly woman's porch. After a short explanation
as to what specific article was contained in the magazine she said:
"Oh Bob, make some ginger beer, I do *like* that stuff.".
So here they are:
Root Beer
=========
3 tablespoons ground sarsaparilla
1 tablespoon sassafras
1 heaping tablespoon hops
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
2 gallons of water
1 1/2 cups honey
1/4 teaspoon wintergreen extract (Almost all natural)
1/4 teaspoon yeast
Place the sarsaparilla, sassafras, hops, and coriander into an
enameled or stainless steel pan. Cover them with water and bring
to a boil. Reduce the heat and allow them to just barely simmer
for 12 hours, making sure the water does not all evaporate. Strain
out the solids and add the liquid to 2 gallons of water that has
been boiled and cooled to lukewarm. Stir in the honey, wintergreen
extract, and the yeast dissolved in 2/3 cup warm water. Stir the
mixture thoroughly and allow it to mellow for several hours. You
can then siphon off the root beer into a clean container before
bottling, or fill the bottles immediately. Makes about two dozen
12-ounce bottles.
Ginger Ale
==========
2 5/8 cups honey or 5 cups sugar
2 gallons water
3 beaten egg whites
1 tablespoon ginger, moistened with a little water
Juice of 4 lemons
1/4 teaspoon yeast
1 whole lemon
Dissolve the honey or sugar in 2 gallons water. Add the beaten egg
whites and ginger. Bring to a boil and skim. Most of the flavor
of the ginger will have been given out, so don't worry that you
loose much of it in the skimming. Add the whole lemon and set the
mixture aside to cool. When it is lukewarm, add the lemon juice
and the yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water. Stir well and let
stand for a while for the sediment to settle to the bottom. Strain
through a cloth into a clean container. Give it a few more minutes
to settle and you are ready to bottle.
The rest of the article goes into equipment, bottles, cleaning,
siphoning, capping, fermentation, conditioning, ingredients, and
exploding bottles. I won't repeat these points because they are
all the same points brought out when learning to brew. I hope
these recipes serve you well, and please do post any results to
the digest.
-- Bob Gorman Jake had a dream. It was his, --
-- bob at rsi.com the only real one he'd ever had, --
-- uunet!semantic!bob and he clung to it. ... --
Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 91 11:15:22 EDT
From: hersh at expo.lcs.mit.edu
Subject: Darryl who?? Hop Harvest
>Just who is Darryl Richman, anyway ? :-)
Never heard of the guy :-) !!
Well since I am going away for a bit (SIGGRAPH and a Grand Canyon hike)
and a lot of my hops looked ready (as per Pete Sopers description of what that
means), and I had to return the ladder I borrowed I decided ready or not to
harvest my hops. Most of them seemed ready, some were just starting to brown
out a little, Many were a little dry and papery, and when squeezed didn't
spring back, so from what I understand they were probably ready.
Anyway while I was up there trying not to fall off the ladder I noticed
that a few leaves had been munched on, but lo and behold the cavalry was there.
I spotted at least 2 lady bugs, a few spiders and a cricket (these eat other
bugs right??), so it looks like the balance o nature was working for me here
to keep nasties in check and protect my lovely hops.
With a little luck I may get another harvest off these plants.
Anyone ever use any manure, fertilizers, or other growth inducing agent on
their hops?? If so what is good for the plants & good for the environment??
- JaH
Return to table of contents
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 91 14:19:00 EDT
From: karp at unix1.cs.umass.edu ("Peter Karp")
Subject: DeClerck on dextrin body
I found a reference in DeClerck's Textbook of Brewing to the 'Dextrin Body'
controversy. After reading it (text follows) I was surprised to discover that
contrary to David Line's citing of DeClerck as a supporter of dextrin as the
source of body (DeClerck uses the term 'mellow'), DeClerck has come to his
own conclusions.
From DeClerck (pg 262):
Beers rich in dextrin are generally considered to have a more mellow
palate and this is usually attributed to the greater viscosity of such beers
compared with beers with a higher alcholic content. This view, however is
quite erroneous. The author has made a series of mashes so as to obtain
worts of differing dextrin content (12-15% difference in attenuation limit)
and found that the beers brewed from these high dextrin worts lacked palate
fulness. This result is probably due to the fact that raising the mashing
temperature suddenly from 50 degC to 70 degC to suppress partially sugar
formation, at the same time leads to a failure to form intermediate protein
degradation products, as will be seen in the next paragraph.
These intermediate protein degradation undoubtedly make a major
contribution to palate fulness, nor must it be forgotten that the higher
the dextrin content, the lower will be the concentration of alcohol, which is
also a contributory factor to mellowness and palate.
Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 91 11:35:01 EDT
From: eisen at kopf.HQ.Ileaf.COM (Carl West)
Subject: T-shirt trick
Sunday last week I started a batch. Since then we've been in the
sweltering grippe of a heat wave (90-100). I don't have air conditioning
or a Hunter Air-Stat for one of the extra fridges, so...
I figured I'd try the T-shirt trick.
I put three T-shirts one inside the other, wet them down, put them over
the carboy (5 gal) and put the dressed carboy into a dish-washing pan.
I then filled the pan near brim-full and propped a gallon jug, full of water,
mouth down bubbler-style in the corner of the dishpan and strapped it to the
carboy. This `system' went for three days on the gallon of water, all the
while the T-shirts were wet or damp all the way to the top.
CAVEAT: If a corner of the T-shirt (like a sleeve) hangs out over the side
of the pan it will drip on the floor and make a fair size puddle.
Tuck the sleeves in.
-Carl
Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 91 11:12:58 EDT
From: eisen at kopf.HQ.Ileaf.COM (Carl West)
Subject: aluminum v stainless
If a magnet will stick to a pot it is not aluminum, but if it won't stick,
you can't safely conclude that it is made of aluminum. There are (at least)
two families of stainless steel, one of which is non-magnetic. If memory
serves, the non-magnetic family is often used for cookware because of it's
greater ductility. The surer way to test the pot's mettle* is to have at an
inconspicuous corner with a pocket knife, if you can actually remove a small
curl of metal, it is not stainless steel.
-Carl
*sorry, couldn't resist.
Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 91 10:38 CDT
From: MC2331S at ACAD.DRAKE.EDU
Subject: Culturing Yeast
With all of the discussion going on about yeast I decided it was time
to try culturing some myself. I bought the Ironmaster cider kit iin my
(what now appears to be) life-quest for perfect cider (i.e. Strongbow).
If this yeast works better than the M&F ale yeast that I have been using
I'll want to keep some around. So question is, how do I do this? I would
really appreciate a nice step-by-step (hopefully easy) way to allow me to
keep this strain going. This is of course assuming that the cider is drinkable.
Mark Castleman
MC2331S at ACAD.DRAKE
Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 91 11:10:39 -0500
From: zentner at ecn.purdue.edu (Michael Zentner)
Subject: "stainless" pots...
I thought I found quite a deal a while back on a "stainless" 10 gallon
pot for about $70...very heavy duty, made by Wearever. I got the thing
home, after being assured by several people at the store (even the buyer)
that it was indeed SS, and decided to test how long it would take
to boil 5 gallons on my stovetop. The pot discolored horribly, arousing
suspicion.
What I did first was, as many of you suggested, take a magnet to it...didn't
stick. Not being sure about the alloy, I dug out my materials books and
found that not all alloys known as SS have magnetic properties. This was
confirmed by the fact that the magnet did not stick to my kitchen sink, which
was labelled SS.
I rigged up a measuring device to gage the width of the pot material.
Measuring the dimensions of the closed cylinder and calculating the
volume of metal involved vs the weight of the thing, it weighed about
1/3 of what the same volume of SS should weigh, which corresponded almost
exactly to the density of Aluminum. I verified with a call to the manufacturer
and got my money back.
Since then, I bought the Polarware 10 gallon SS pot for $90 from
Rapids Inc. This is a very nicely constructed pot. I had it out
on my 165000 BTU burner last night for some moonlight brewing and have
no doubts as to it's durability (iron grate was glowing red, but the pot
transferred the heat nicely). I'd highly reccommend this pot to anyone
considering spending more than $50.
Another use for such a big pot...our group decided to make a strawberry
mead one day and went out in the morning to pick fresh berries. We came
out of there with 70 lbs in about an hour. Brews were popping, and we
got a little carried away pureeing strawberries, ended up using about
30 lbs of berries and 16 lb of honey, having quite a large volume of
material which undoubtedly would plug up an airlock on even a 7 gal carboy.
So, we just let it cool down from the 170 F steeping temperature in the
pot and carried out the primary in stainless. The thing wiped clean with
no effort. Now, as to what we're going to do with such an outrageously
high gravity mead, we haven't figured out yet....either a very sweet
dessert wine or dilute it (or both).
Mike Zentner
Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 91 09:25:27 PDT
From: brown at ocelot.llnl.gov (Dave Brown)
Subject: Request: recipes for Bridge Port Ale and Pilsner Urquell
My wife has decided that her two favorite beers are Bridge Port Ale
and Pilsner Urquell. Since my wifes total beer consumtion last year
was about 12 - 15 bottles, this new found interest in these beers is
quite interesting. She's already bought about 2 or 3, 6 packs of
Pilsn Urquell.
Given the motivation, I need to find recipes for both of these beers,
I'll be looking in Miller and Papazian, but I wanted to ask the rest
of you on alt.beer.guru to send me any recipes that you might have for
these scrumptious brewskies. Full mash is fine, I can mash about 9
pounds of grain at a time.
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
David S. Brown | The Carboys
brown at ocelot.llnl.gov | Lycanthrope Brewing, CCC CA
.__ / .__ | HM(415) 625-1029
| \ \ |__) | WK(415) 423-9878
|__/ / |__) | beer at ocelot.llnl.gov FAX(415) 423-8002
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 91 09:52:33 PDT
From: Bob.Clark at Eng.Sun.COM (bobc at wings.Eng - Bob Clark)
Subject: Q; Rec. for pot lids?
I am fortunate enough to have a 15 ga. keg ready to be converted
to boiling kettle, but first I would like to get a good lid
for it and cut the hole to match.
Can anyone recommend a good lid for this?
Thanks,
Bob C.
Return to table of contents
Date: Mon Jul 22 09:46:16 1991
From: larryba at microsoft.com
Subject: Re: Aluminum vs SS
In HBD #684:
|>From: pencin at parcplace.com (Russ Pencin)
|
|Well, don't all of you get your airplane tickets to S.F. too quickly. I drove
|up to SF Chinatown yesterday to check out this $42/$39 stainless steel pot.
|Well folks it isn't stainless,it's aluminum! I talked at length with the owner
|and he verified that the pot was aluminum. Not to waste the trip, I scouted
|several other places and found a 8 gallon pot that really looked like
|Stainless, but didn't have a magnet to check it. I'll probably go back up
|next week to re-check since this pot was nothing short of beautiful.
A magnet is not a reliable indicator of SS. Some varieties are magnetic,
some not. No aluminum pot is magnetic. I am not a metallurgist but I
suspect the following will reliably identify your metal:
- if it rusts, it is regular steel
- if it corrodes under lye (easy off) it is aluminum (i used to make
hydrogen ballons using this technique)
- if none of the above it is probably SS.
If it is thin (like formed sheet metal) and has a rolled or folded edge, it
ain't aluminum. Aluminum is too soft and all aluminum pots I have seen are
pretty thick. Also, aluminum, unless surface treated, is easily scratched -
it is much softer than SS. Take one of your kitchen forks and do a simple
hardness test.
The brewers warehouse in Seattle has 5 gal korean ss pots for $40. They are
thin bottomed vessels. I could imagine a 10gal pot for the same $ from a
super discounter buying direct from Korea or Taiwan.
Although I brew in SS, I have heard from reliable brewers that aluminum has
no detectable affects on their beers. If I had known that before dropping
centa-bucks on SS I would have opted for aluminum...
Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 91 10:58 EDT
From: Rob Malouf <RMALOUF at SBMS01.MSRC.SUNYSB.EDU>
Subject: Flat beer
A while ago, I made my first attempt at a partial mash. It was an all-around
failure, but I decided to let it ferment out anyway, just to see what would
happen. It's been in the bottle now for about three weeks now, and it tastes a
little weird but not all bad. Unfortunately, it's almost completely flat! I
used the same priming (1/2 cup corn sugar), bottling, and capping procedure I
have always used, and I've always gotten good carbonation within 2-3 weeks.
The starches in the mash didn't convert, but I added enough DME to get an OG of
1.033. I pitched about a cup of Wyeast Chico Ale slurry, and had strong
fermentation within eight hours, and fermentation was complete in a week. The
gravity at bottling time was 1.006. The beer was still very cloudy when I
bottled it (I assume the unconverted starch had something to do with that).
The bottles have a good yeasty sediment. The temperature has averaged 75 to 80
degrees for most of the time, but this week it's been more like 95 (I live in
an attic). I also chill each bottle for a couple of days before I taste it.
Does anyone have any idea what might have caused this? By the way, I've
brewed a small all-grain raspberry beer since then, and the mash went very
well, so I guess I've solved that problem.
- ---
Rob Malouf Marine Sciences Research Center
rmalouf at sbms01.msrc.sunysb.edu State University of New York at Stony Brook
Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 91 11:03 CDT
From: korz at ihlpl.att.com
Subject: Ferromagnetism
Russ writes:
>and he verified that the pot was aluminum. Not to waste the trip, I scouted
>several other places and found a 8 gallon pot that really looked like
>Stainless, but didn't have a magnet to check it. I'll probably go back up
Sorry Russ, but a magnet won't help you. Neither SS nor aluminum are
ferromagnetic, so the magnet test will not distinguish between the two.
Besides checking the specific gravity of the metal, which would be
difficult given the size (remember the "EUREKA!" story?), I can only
think of testing the electrical potential of the metal (I think that's
what it's called). Anyone care to comment if the following will work:
1. look up the electrical potential of aluminum and of copper
2. soak a piece of filter paper in an electrolyte (say, lemon juice & water)
3. sandwichthe wet filter paper between the pot and a piece of copper
4. measure the voltage potential between the pot and the copper
5. if the voltage is equal to the difference between the AL and CU
electrical potentials, then you know you've got AL.
If the voltage is different, then I don't know what you've got. I don't
have my old Chem book anymore (these potentials were in an appendix)
so I can't look them up for you, and I'm pretty sure that you won't
find an electrical potential for SS. Try the CRC Chem & Physics Reference
Manual.
Al "I can't believe I remember this much from a class I almost failed" Korzonas
korz at ihlpl.att.com
Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1991 13:44 EDT
From: "One slip, and down the hole we fall" <ACSWILEY%EKU.BITNET at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #684 (July 22, 1991)
Fellow Brewsters
I am the guy who thought he had a problem because I pitched the liquid
yeast without letting it incubate. Well everything look likes its going
to be ok. The batch started ferminting friday night..about 2 days after I
pitched the yeast..anyway it was quite active for 2 days straight. Its bubbling
about once every 10 seconds now. Just thought i'd let you guys know. Thanks
to evryone out there who responded to my inquiry! While I am here does anyone
have O'briens of Chicago's telephone or address...I lost my catalog. Direct
e-mail is fine.
Bill
acswiley at eku.bitnet
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Date: 22 Jul 91 13:48:00 EDT
From: "DRCV06::GRAHAM" <graham%drcv06.decnet at drcvax.af.mil>
Subject: Sam Adams Wheat Brew.
I got my first six-pack of the new Wheat Brew from Sam Adams (The Boston
Beer Co.), this weekend. Now, I am new to experiencing many different
types of beer. Two years ago, I hated beer because all I had ever tasted
was the usual American barley sodapop. When I finally discovered beer in
all it's glories, I missed wheat beer. This new brew from Sam Adams is the
first wheat I have ever tasted. (I intend to brew some, but too many
stouts to try first!)
Does anyone know what the wheat percentage is in this beer? Do they brew
it on premesis, or is it contract brewed. Most importantly of all, how
does it compare with other great wheat beers of Europe. (I intend to get
around to trying all of them, too ... it just takes time, a lot of time.)
Oh yes, how did I like the new Wheat Brew? Since I haven't heard any other
opinions yet, I'll go out on a limb and say it is delicious. There is a
good solid taste that starts with a lot of flavor and lingers longer than
any other beer I have tasted. The far end of the aftertaste is not unlike
that you get if you chew raw wheat berries. Now, if the consensus is that
it's a bad beer, I'm proven to have no taste ... but I think it will hold
up to be pretty good in all quarters.
Dan Graham
Beer made with the Derry Air.
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Date: Mon, 22 Jul 91 15:09 EDT
From: Mike Fertsch <FERTSCH at adc1.adc.ray.com>
Subject: Dry brew, cold filtered
Last week, Dave Barrett had a few questions about Bud Dry, cold filtering,
and dry brewing.
I always assumed that Bud Dry is "dry brewed", meaning fermented with a
very attenuative yeast. Attenuative yeasts will ferment all the sugars out
of solution, resulting in a low final gravity and a dry (not sweet) taste.
I assumed that "Cold filtered" meant that the beer was not heat
pasteurized. Typically beers is heat treated to kill any living thing such
as yeast or bacteria. Cold filtering means that the final beer is passed
through a fine filter to remove these organisms. This is reportedly better
to the taste of the beer.
Listening to the adverts, I think it is intesesting to note the order of
the process. A-B always says "cold filtered, then dry brewed" to describe
their process. This seems backwards to me. My bother to filter, if
afterwards you are going to brew the stuff?!
mike f
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Date: Mon, 22 Jul 91 15:40:58 MDT
From: cartley at dix.Mines.Colorado.EDU (Craig Artley)
Subject: sterilizing water?
Hello! I bought a starter kit and cooked up my first batch of homebrew
last night. I checked on it this morning, at it was bubbling right along.
It looks to be off to a good start---I can hardly wait.
Anyway, I'm writing for some opinions. In addition to reading Papazian's
"The complete joy of homebrewing", I got some tips from the fellow at
the homebrew store (The Wine & Hop Shop in Denver). He strongly recommended
Boiling all of the water for 20 minutes to sterilize it, then letting it
cool overnight in the fermenter. Then boil and cool the wort and add it
to the fermenter. Do the rest of you go to such extreme measures as boiling
3-4 gallons of water for making your beer? It was pain, but the shopkeeper
said that using fresh tap water could result in unwanted bacterial
contamination. Next time I will be inclined to skip that step and relax,
don't worry, and have a homebrew. Opinions?
I also cooled the wort by placing the brewpot in a sink of cold water,
which worked rather well. I observed a lot of the protein sediment (trub)
settling out in the fermenter, so I guess that means I got a good
"cold-break", right? This fellow also recommended using two packets of
yeast and rehydrating it in a bit of warm, sterilized water before
pitching. Are these also good ideas?
Craig Artley cartley at dix.mines.colorado.edu (303) 273-3557
Dept. of Geophysics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401
Return to table of contents
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 91 21:29:46 MST
From: teroach!fse at phx.mcd.mot.com
Subject: Conditioning in tanks
I've asked this before and did get a number of helpful responses...
Thanks to those that replied...
But I'm still having trouble and thought I'd cry out once again:
I "keg" my homebrew in 5 and 10 gallon ball lock style Cornelius and
Spartenburg tanks, I've followed the majority of the sound advice I've had
for conditioning in the tanks and I still come up with nearly flat beer.
My local brew supply proprietor and local expert in these matters has been
kegging his brews in standard half kegs (15.5 gal) from his normal 65
gallon batches he does in a single mashing session. He has no problems
with in keg (i.e. large volumes relative to bottles) conditioning.
I've made sure that there's no residual sanitizer in the tanks, that the
seals are 'set' with 8-10 lbs of CO2 after priming with about 1/2 cup of
corn sugar boiled in a pint of water (and let cool of course). After the
lids on I purge the Air with CO2 for several seconds via the presure relief
valve and then let the pressure build and set the seals... I make sure the
sugar/water mixture is well mixed with the beer. I've measured the gravity
after conditioning and it's exactly the same as before I primed, indicating
that the sugar has indeed been consumed during conditioning. I even, as
one person suggested, rechecked the pressure each day for about 5 days to
make sure the CO2 didn't all get absorbed into the beer before it had a
chance to build up it's own presure and therefore lose the seal. The
second and third day it took on a little CO2, the next day, it didn't take
on any and the forth and fifth day it tried to pump beer up my CO2 line!
But by God, after two weeks of conditioning, I've got very little fizzzz!
If you slosh the beer, stir it or agitate it, it produces head pretty well.
So I'm back to artificially carbonating this tank again.
>From the responses last time, I know that some people have given up on natural
conditioning of Cornelius tanked beer, but maybe those of you that have good
luck with this can give me an idea of what I need to do.. Am I cutting back
on priming sugar (as sugested by C.Papazian) too much for this volume? Do I
need to use a full cup to get a 5 gallon tank carbonated? Two cups for a 10
gallon tank?
Geeezzz! I gotta relax! Good thing I'm sippin' on a homebrew. 8^{)
(burping smiley)
Stan
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #685, 07/23/91
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