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HOMEBREW Digest #0190
HOMEBREW Digest #190 Fri 30 June 1989
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Yellow Dog Malt Extract Arrived Today (Dr. T. Andrews)
RE: Homebrew Digest #189 (June 29, 1989) (")
Re:Sterilizing (Brian Bacskai)
Re: Questions etc, proper airspace (Pete Soper)
Re: hop aging (Gordon Hester)
re: whirlpooling (Darryl Richman)
Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 89 18:10:56 EDT
From: Dr. T. Andrews <ki4pv!tanner@bikini.cis.ufl.edu>
Subject: Yellow Dog Malt Extract Arrived Today
My two cans of Yellow Dog (as advertized in the most recent issue
of \fIZymurgy\fP) arrived today. You can guess what kind of beer I
expect to brew this week-end.
Has anyone had a chance to make this stuff yet? Any particular hops
which seemed to go well with it? Views on adding crystal malt to it?
In general, I like to add crystal to most everything, but the stuff
does have 12% wheat in it and so may not want a lot of body-building.
E-mail; I'll summarize. Results to follow in a few weeks.
Dr. T. Andrews, Systems
CompuData, Inc. DeLand
--
...!bikini.cis.ufl.edu!ki4pv!tanner ...!bpa!cdin-1!ki4pv!tanner
or... {allegra killer gatech!uflorida uunet!cdin-1}!ki4pv!tanner
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 89 08:27 CDT
From: "Move'm up & move'm out. Get along little yeasties!"
Subject: RE: Homebrew Digest #189 (June 29, 1989)
The mention of the miniscule amount of airspace (1/8 of an inch) that the
person on UseNET put in his bottles makes me wonder about the whole matter.
Papiazan, in his book, recommended from 1/2 inch to 2 inches. How much
air space to most of you leave in bottles?
- Patrick
---
Patrick T. Garvin
in the Society: Padraig Cosfhota o Ulad / Barony of Namron, Ansteorra
ptgarvin@aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu / ptgarvin@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu.UUCP
Disclaimer: This message has no disclaimer.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 89 09:58:37 -0400
From: bacskai@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Brian Bacskai)
Subject: Re:Sterilizing
Although I don't use everclear to sterilize any of my brew equipment,
I work in a cell culture lab under aseptic conditions, and the general
protocol for keeping away unwanted bugs and nasties is to use either
or both UV irradiation and 70% ethanol (140 proof). This is the minimum
concentration to ensure decontamination at the cheapest price. And you
sure don't want to waste everclear!
This is my first post to this mailing list and I just wanted to say
how much I appreciate the information the information I recieve.
If I may solicit opinions, I've just purchased a pressure vessel, because
I hate washing bottles, and I was wondering if anyone has had any
experience using one. I'm really looking forward to having home-brew
on tap!! But I can only guess what the disadvantages might be.
Any comments?
Brian
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 89 10:02:17 EDT
From: Pete Soper <soper@maxzilla.encore.com>
Subject: Re: Questions etc, proper airspace
From: "Christian A. Ramsburg" <car7r@euclid.acc.virginia.edu>
>had tried liners.... And lastly, on UseNet someone was recomending leaving
>a very small airspace in each bottle so that there would be less propelent
>gas when the bottles explode. Any comments??
Ouch. That was me and I'm sure I didn't say "when the bottles explode".
I said IF a bottle breaks and there is only a very small head space,
then there will be no explosion. I also explained why you can't get away
with zero head space (ullage). See, the "Zymurgy" before last for a
complete explanation plus some hard data.
But I switched to a small head space (about 1/8 inch) last year to get
more beer and especially less air per bottle. The safety factor just came
along for free.
I brought this up because somebody posted a dramatic description
of bottle explosions which he then described as a "fluke". I can't
deal with "fluke" explanations in homebrewing myself, but I figured
if this guy was just going to accept the explosions and not
track down their cause and cure, he needed a safety factor.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pete Soper +1 919 481 3730
arpa: soper@encore.com uucp: {bu-cs,decvax,necntc}!encore!soper
Encore Computer Corp, 901 Kildaire Farm Rd, bldg D, Cary, NC 27511 USA
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 89 09:59:26 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gordon Hester <gh0t+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: hop aging
John Isenhour posted an interesting message about "hoppiness
potential during hop aging" (was that supposed to be "happiness
potential....? Nahh.) It included what looked like a very
useful list of hop types/characteristics.
Maybe I'm slow to catch on, but I'm not clear on the
concept yet. Are we talkin' about what happens to hops when
they are stored PRIOR to use, or is it what happens to
the flavor (hoppiness) of your brew as IT ages, depending on
the type of hops you used? If the latter (which I assume to be
the case simply because it seems to me to be more interesting
and useful information), then do the categories relate to
hops added during the boil for bitterness, or at the end of the
boil for aroma?
John, could you (or anyone else) please clarify this? thanks.
gordon hester
gh0t+@andrew.cmu.edu
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 89 07:36:13 PDT
From: Darryl Richman <darryl@ism780c.isc.com>
Subject: re: whirlpooling
From: "1107-CD&I/VIRUS DISEASES" <henchal@wrair-emh1.army.mil>
"To Darryl Richman:
" You recent mentioned that you use the whirlpool method to
"prevent excess trub from being transferred to your fermentors.
"While I have heard that commercial breweries use this same
"method, I am not sure how the homebrewer can use this method. I
"don't think that this method will work for those of us who decant
"our wort to the fermentor....you must drain your boiling kettle
"from the bottom with a spigot. Am I correct?
Yes, this is correct. This is my setup: I use a 15.5 gallon keg with
the top cut out as a boil kettle. I also cut a 2" hole as close to the
bottom as I could, and had a brass nipple welded on. I mash in this
kettle and remove a 2" cap to spill the mash into my lauter tun (I use
an 80 quart picnic cooler with a copper tubing manifold in the
bottom). I have another 2" cap with a .5" hole in it, tapped to accept
regular galvanized iron pipe (I actually use brass...). I have a short
length of pipe that then leads to a ball valve. I hope this crude
drawing explains:
| | ----Keg
| | ----2" Cap
| | / ----Ball Valve
| | -. /
| 2" __ - | +
|hole - |=O=== <---.5" pipe
+-------+ -'
I can boil 13 gallons or so. When done, I stir the wort madly for
about 2 minutes, trying to get as deep a vortex as I can without
splashing. Then I put my immersion cooler into the kettle and run it
for an hour. The very first run tends to have a bit of hops and trub,
and this I discard. It runs clear down to the last gallon or so, which
exposes the pipe and the flow stops. Then I *carefully* tip the keg
and run until I start to get hops and trub.
This generally leaves about 1-2 quarts of wort in with the junk. I
accept this loss as unavoidable. (I still get extracts of as much as
33 s.g. lb. grain/gallon of water, computed as volume in the fermenter,
with 30-31 being typical.)
Now, as to cooking on the stove, which I assume is where you're coming
from: when I was doing 5 gallons (in an 8 gallon pot), I still
whirlpooled the wort. After the boil, I whirled it, covered it, and
placed it in my sink, where I ran cold water around the outside of the
pot. In an hour I would put a racking tube in, against the wall of the
pot, and siphon into my fermenter. I could get nearly all the liquid
out of the pot.
I don't think you could successfully decant the wort without upsetting
the mound of junk that forms in the middle or else leaving behind a
substantial amount of extract. But you might be amazed at how much
stuff whirlpooling leaves behind! It really is fascinating to see a
pyramid exposed as the level of wort goes down.
--Darryl Richman
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #190, 06/30/89
