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HOMEBREW Digest #0234
HOMEBREW Digest #234 Tue 22 August 1989
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Chlorine ("Allen J. Hainer")
Specific Gravity Different (Doug Roberts)
Follow-up on pilsner (florianb)
Brewpub Listings (John DeCarlo)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 89 12:45:17 EDT
From: "Allen J. Hainer" <ajhainer@violet.waterloo.edu>
Subject: Chlorine
Several months ago, I wrote in about a batch I had started only to wake up
the next morning and hear on the radio that Waterloo water should be boiled
before drinking because of a bacterial infection. Well, the good news is
that that batch turned out great - one of my best. The bad news is that my
next batch did not.
Everything started out great, but after a day and a half of fermentation,
everything stopped. I tried yeast energizer, and later repitching with fresh
yeast. Nothing worked and I still had a SG of 18 on a light ginger beer that
should end up somewhere around 5.
I found it too difficult to through out the whole thing, so I primed and
bottled hoping that fermentation would stop again at 18.
Sure enough, two weeks later the beer was carbonated, but almost undrinkable
because of the sweetness. The beer remained this way for about a month
and a half, and then the fermentation took off again. This time it was
some type of infection - the sediment formed in lumps along the neck of
the bottles. My little time bombs are now in a cold empty fridge to
help slow any further carbonation. They are now passing the "gusher" stage
so I guess I'll open them all and throw them out sometime this week. The
beer wasn't that good anyway.
So what does this have to do with chlorine? It turns out that there was
a rash of stuck fermentations in the K-W area. It also seems that in response
to the bacterial infection, a large amount of chlorine was put in the water
system. Some people complained of the smell, but I never noticed it (that
may have had something to do with 10 years of competitive swimming ;^)
My guess (although not very scientific since correlation does not necessarily
imply causation) is that chlorine inhibits normal fermentation so that
infections get a chance to take hold. If everything is not being rinsed
after sanitizing with chlorine bleach, very dilute solutions should be used.
According to previous discussions, it appears that ~1/2 tsp/5 gallons is
sufficient. If you (like me ;-) don't like to wait for everything to
soak for an hour or so, a much stronger solution can be used for a shorter
time, but if this is done, everything should be rinsed. If you don't trust
your tap water, a very dulute chlorine bleach solution can be used instead
for rinsing.
BTW, I have since discovered that Labatt's (a two minite walk from were I live)
has a tap supplying dionized water (no chlorine) to the public. My first
batch with this water is now in the secondary and seems okay even though
the water tastes like there is a large amount of Na. If you live near a
large brewery, you might check it out.
-al (ajhainer@violet.waterloo.edu)
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 89 10:58:19 MDT
From: roberts%studguppy@LANL.GOV (Doug Roberts @ Los Alamos National Laboratory)
Subject: Specific Gravity Different
> The temperature correction issue should be approached with extreme caution. At
> the suggestion of my friendly dealer-guru, I performed an experiment where the
> same wort was checked with the hydrometer fresh out of the brewpot (~180), and
> at various temperatures down to the recommended 60. It turned out that the
> little correction chart badly OVERestimated the gravity at the higher
> temperatures. My advice would be to check the gravity after the wort has
> cooled, or, if the purpose of the check is to see if extracts need to be added
> to a mash wort, to ladle a little hot wort into a canning jar, set it in a bowl
> of cold water or icewater to cool down, then check the gravity.
The relationship between wort SG & temperature should be linear, if
ancient memories from my chemical engineering days serve. However, if
the wort has stratified during cooling (mine always seems to) error in
SG measurement will result if the wort isn't re-mixed prior to taking
a sample for SG. I wrote a little program for my HP-45 that takes the
SG & temperature readings, and spits out the SG corrected for 60
Fahrenheit.
I've verified that the SG variation _is_ linear with temperature by
taking subsequent readings as the wort cooled.
--Doug
================================================================
Douglas Roberts |
Los Alamos National Laboratory |When choosing between two evils,
Box 1663, MS F-602 |I always like to try the one
Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 |I've never tried before.
(505)667-4569 |
dzzr@lanl.gov |
================================================================
------------------------------
Date: 21 Aug 89 12:28:06 PDT (Mon)
From: florianb@tekred.cna.tek.com
Subject: Follow-up on pilsner
A few weeks ago, I submitted an inquiry regarding the aging of lager
in the carboy vs. in the bottle. At the time, the brew had finished
bubbling in the carboy and had reached its terminal gravity (tg=1.009
and og=1.040). My question had been whether to leave it longer in
the carboy or to bottle it right away. I received advice from both
opinions.
I left the brew in the carboy a total of three weeks after bubbling
ceased. I then bottled and began lowering the temperature from the
initial 48 degrees to 32 degrees in four stages. It has now been in
the bottle about three weeks, and is progressing nicely, with a
bodacious head like whipped egg white and superb clarity. It should
improve to its peak in about a month more. I can strongly recommend
the expense of obtaining a second refrigerator especially dedicated
to brewing lager. In the past, I brewed only ales due to my impatience.
I can now say that lager is definitely worth the wait. In addition,
I can now do both in parallel. Where does it all end? Or does it?
[Florian Bell, Boonesborough, Oregon]
------------------------------
Date: Monday, 21 Aug 1989 16:12:06 EST
From: m14051@mwvm (John DeCarlo <m14051@mwvm>)
Subject: Brewpub Listings
Re: Walt Thode's request for a complete list of brewpubs/microbreweries.
I don't know what people have on-line, but I *do* know that the AHA
(American Homebrewers Association) will mail you a paper list of
"North American Microbreweries/Brewpubs by State/Province". I notice
at the bottom that it is copyright 1989 Institute for Brewing Studies.
I have seen a list in electronic form on the BREWNET bulletin board,
(703) 739-2739, but don't know how recent that information is.
John "I have a paper listing, but no time to try to type it in" DeCarlo
John DeCarlo
ARPANET: jdecarlo%mdf@mitre.org
Usenet: @...@!uunet!hadron!blkcat!109!131!John_Decarlo
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #234, 08/22/89
