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HOMEBREW Digest #0499
This file received at Mthvax.CS.Miami.EDU 90/09/19 03:14:24
HOMEBREW Digest #499 Wed 19 September 1990
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Zymurgy - latest issue (Rick Myers)
how to save time kegging (Marty Albini)
kegging time: I beg to differ (617)253-0885" <CASEY@ALCVAX.PFC.MIT.EDU>
Re: Bottling techniques (John DeCarlo)
Artificial carbonation (POST)
Priming - corn sugar/malt extract (sandven)
Digest #495 ("MISVX1::HABERMAND")
Wort chilling, Bottle filling from kegs (Brian Glendenning)
making oatmeal stout? (UNLV Student ACM Chapter)
DMSux (Jason Goldman)
On Artificial Carbination (bob)
kegging vs. bottling (florianb)
Munich dark beers (florianb)
advertising at sports/cost (JEEPSRUS)
advertising beer kits in magazine (JEEPSRUS)
Re: Vortex in bottles (John Polstra)
bakers yeast, head (Bill Crick)
Hop growing (Norm Hardy)
Kegging vs. Bottling (John Polstra)
EDME SFX (GARY 18-Sep-1990 2141)
Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmr@hplabs.hp.com
[Please do not send me requests for back issues]
Archives are available from netlib@mthvax.cs.miami.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 90 8:43:26 MDT
From: Rick Myers <cos.hp.com!hpctdpe!rcm@hp-lsd>
Subject: Zymurgy - latest issue
Full-Name: Rick Myers
Gee! Is that Chuck "world's smilingest beer judge" Cox on page 15 of
the latest issue of Zymurgy? Somehow, he looks exactly like I pictured
him!
- --
*===========================================================================*
Rick Myers
Hewlett-Packard Colorado Telecommunications Division
5070 Centennial Blvd.
Colorado Springs, CO 80919 (719) 531-4416
INTERNET: rcm@hpctdpe.col.hp.com
*===========================================================================*
Disclaimer: standard
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 90 7:57:27 PDT
From: Marty Albini <martya@sdd.hp.com>
Subject: how to save time kegging
> From: polstra!jdp@uunet.UU.NET (John Polstra)
>
> Things have been getting a little boring around here lately. What we
> need is to add a little controversy. It's a nasty job, but somebody's
> got to do it. To that end, I offer the following bit of heresy:
>
> Kegging doesn't save time.
>
> There, I've said it. I feel better already. Now, let me explain myself.
>
> [description of bottling cycle deleted]
>
> KEGGING CYCLE: I use Cornelius soda kegs (a.k.a. the "good" kind of keg).
> After I drink up all the beer in a keg, I have to clean it as well as
> the cobra tap and hose. The first step is to rinse the keg several times
> with water. Then, I boil a few gallons of water and clean out the cobra
> tap and hose by repeatedly putting boiling water into the keg, sealing
> it, pressurizing it, and dispensing the water out through the cobra tap.
> I do this at least 3 times, because I worry (oops) about what might be
^^^^^^^
> lurking inside that opaque dispensing hose.
AHA! There's the problem: you're worrying.
> Then, I disassemble the keg. I clean the inside of the keg using
> [...]
> I clean each of the other parts in
> a big sink, rinse them well, and let them dry. After a few days, I
> re-assemble everything and store the keg.
>
> Now, the killer: At kegging time, I have to go through almost all of
> that again. First, I fill the keg with a weak bleach solution and boil
> a bunch of water. I seal the keg, apply some pressure, and dispense
> some of the bleach solution until the hose is full of it. I let it sit
> that way for 15 minutes. (No longer than that -- bleach corrodes
> stainless steel.) Then I rinse a few times with the boiling water,
> pushing it through the hose, etc.
>
> What I am really hoping to get out of this discussion is some tips on
> how to spend less time and effort cleaning and sanitizing my kegs.
You are going to wear out the threads on the keg
fittings this way! I'd recommend proceeding directly to step
two. The bleach and hot water will get everywhere the beer
got, and disassembly just gives you an opportunity to lose
parts.
I have been known to empty a keg of steam beer and
follow it directly with stout, with no cleaning at all--and no
detectable effects on taste. But then, I take the advice of not
worrying to an extreme...
The only time I go to the effort to completely
disassemble a keg is when I buy it (used), and then I just
replace all the gaskets and o-rings anyway. If I'm going to
store one dry (not likely!) I put 5 psi of CO2 into it to keep
little nasties from climbing in, then swab the fittings with
vodka when I take it out of storage. That's it.
I have never had an infected batch.
- --
________________________________________________Marty Albini___________
"Thank god for long-necked bottles, the angel's remedy."--Tom Petty
phone : (619) 592-4177
UUCP : {hplabs|nosc|hpfcla|ucsd}!hp-sdd!martya
Internet : martya@sdd.hp.com
CSNET : martya%hp-sdd@hplabs.csnet
US mail : Hewlett-Packard Co., 16399 W. Bernardo Drive, San Diego CA 92127-1899 USA
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 90 11:00 EST
From: "JEFF CASEY / (617)253-0885" <CASEY@ALCVAX.PFC.MIT.EDU>
Subject: kegging time: I beg to differ
I know, I'm probably one of a thousand taking up this controversy, but I have
to get my comments in. RE: bottling time vs. kegging time:
bottling: 1) I have no dishwasher
2) I have a lever type capper, and no matter how carefully I sort,
I never have two cases of the same size bottle, so I must keep
resetting the height of the thing
result: even with ultra efficient technique, good music, and zen
type mood, it takes an ungodly 90-120 minutes to bottle
a 5-gal batch (from washing to clean up).
kegging: 1) I never clean the remnants of the old beer out until I am ready
to keg the new one, so I only clean it once
2) I clean the hose out every time I use it, so it isn't a big deal
when I keg -- if you prop the spigot open, and push the pressure
fitting end with the blunt end of a chopstick, you can run water
through it in the sink in a couple of seconds, and don't need to
go through that pressurization garbage
3) I rinse a couple of times, run bleach through once, then rinse
till I can't smell the bleach
result: kegging (washing to clean up) takes about 15 minutes.
No comparison.
The way I normally brew these days, is to mash as much grain as my big pot
will hold (10-12 lbs), then use it as a base for partial mash of two batches.
(It is too much trouble for a single batch, and partial mashes taste nearly as
good as full grain mashes). Typically I'll do some "everyday" beer, which will
be ready fast and suck down quickly, and something that needs to sit around for
months and drink slowly (a stout or fruit experiment). Right now I have a
red bitter and a licorice stout bubbling away in my kitchen. I'll keg the fast
beer (red bitter), and put the heavy stuff into the first carboy for a
secondary fermentation. I always dread the time when I have to bottle the
second batch -- sometimes I end up putting it off for weeks. The kegging,
cleaning both carboys, and transfer of second batch goes very fast and is no
trouble, but cleaning those bottles is a real chore. As soon as I feel rich,
I'll buy a second (and a third?) keg and be done with it forever.
Jeff Casey casey@alcvax.pfc.mit.edu
------------------------------
Date: Tuesday, 18 Sep 1990 11:03:09 EST
From: m14051@mwvm.mitre.org (John DeCarlo)
Subject: Re: Bottling techniques
>Date: Mon, 17 Sep 90 08:57:35 PDT
>From: polstra!jdp@uunet.UU.NET (John Polstra)
>BOTTLING CYCLE: After I pour a homebrew out of a bottle, I
>rinse the bottle several times right away with water. (I.e.,
>put some water in the bottle and shake vigorously.) That takes
>only a few seconds and it at least removes all visible residue.
>Then I put the bottle in the dishwasher, to be run with the next
>load. My bottles come out of the dishwasher absolutely
>sparkling, and of course the heat from the dry cycle sanitizes
>them. So my bottles are always stored clean. There is nothing
>in them that would make little beasties want to come in and set
>up shop. Worst case, they might pick up a little dust during
>storage.
>When I'm ready to bottle a batch, I fill my priming bucket with
>a weak bleach solution. I fill one of my (already clean)
>bottles halfway with the bleach solution and shake vigorously.
>Then I funnel the solution into the next bottle and repeat.
>After I've treated about 12 bottles, I switch over to rinse
>mode. I give each bottle a thorough but quick and painless
>rinse, using a bottle washer attached to the sink with the
>faucet full on hot. I place the bottles on a bottle-drying tree
>to drain.
>That's it. The total time spent in washing and sanitizing the
>50 bottles is small and relatively painless. And it overlaps
>with sanitizing the priming bucket and siphon hose, and with
>boiling the caps and the priming solution.
OK, I do just about the same thing. Except instead of the bleach
solution, I put all 50 bottles in the dishwasher and run a rinse
and heat-dry cycle only.
Now, something I read recently said that Charlie Papazian cleans
his bottles after use, covers the top with aluminum foil, and
then uses them immediately after removing the aluminum foil cap,
no extra sanitizing step. Hmmm.
So, I have decided that if I sanitize my Grolsch-style bottles, I
can seal them and use them directly. I still don't trust the
aluminum cap to keep my other bottles safe, but I might try some
experiments.
Internet: jdecarlo@mitre.org
Usenet: @...@!uunet!hadron!blkcat!109!131!John_Decarlo
Fidonet: 1:109/131
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 90 08:25 PDT
From: POST@LIS.llnl.gov
Subject: Artificial carbonation
My CO2 will put out 25 lbs. pressure, and I've got the beer down to 35
degrees F. How long should it take to carbonate?
Also, if somebody has a table of times vs. pressure and temperature for
carbonating, please publish it!
Thanks...
john
post@vaxt.llnl.gov
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 90 10:02:18 MDT
From: sandven@wayback.unm.edu
Subject: Priming - corn sugar/malt extract
Howdy - just a quick survey type question.
I noticed in a recent posting that someone mentioned that
priming with corn sugar versus malt extract reduced the amount of
sediment or cloudiness at the bottom of a beer. I have always primed
with dry malt, and was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the
subject ( or better yet some experience ).
Survey Sez ...
Steve Sandven
------------------------------
Date: 17 Sep 90 14:31:00 PDT
From: "MISVX1::HABERMAND" <habermand%misvx1.decnet@afal-edwards.af.mil>
Subject: Digest #495
send 495 from homebrew-new
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 90 12:14:46 EDT
From: bglenden@mandrill.cv.nrao.edu (Brian Glendenning)
Subject: Wort chilling, Bottle filling from kegs
When I made beer in Toronto I used to wonder what all the fuss about
wort chillers was, the 45 degree tap water always seemed to do a
decent job in a bathtub, particularly if you moved the pot around in
the bathtub.
When I made my first batch here (Charlottesville Va) 10 days ago, I
quickly (but not until I needed to cool my freshly boiled wort)
discovered that the "cold" tapwater here was 80 degrees that day, and
was pretty ineffective at cooling in the way I'd been used to. I
quickly improvised by putting a bunch of ice in my mash pot,
sterilized the outside, and put that in the boiler - this actually
worked pretty well. Next time I want to be more organized about my
chilling. Can anyone comment on good/bad experiences they have had
with the following:
1) Using ice (boiled and then frozen in a sanitized container the
night before). If the infection risk is low (?) you'd think that this
would be the easiest approach and would get the best cold break.
2) Counterflow chiller. This seems like a good approach, but Miller
seems quite worried about the risk of infection. Has anyone had any
problems like this? Does anyone have any experience building one of
these that they could share?
3) Rather than counterflow, how about putting the copper coil in an
ice bath - is there any reason why this wouldn't work? (How much
energy does it take to turn 1 gram of ice at 0C into 1 gram of water
at 0C - I can never remember that number!).
4) An ordinary "immersion" chiller. My guess is that even if the
tapwater is normally 60's in the summer this would be too slow. True?
5) Any other cute wort-chilling tricks out there?
On a completely unrelated note, can anyone tell me how well the
counter-pressure bottle fillers sold by Fox (among others) work? I
would have thought that the loss of pressure between taking the rig
out and putting on the cap would be problematical, but maybe
(probably) so little CO2 needs to come out of solution to pressurize
the headspace that this isn't a problem.
Anway, thanks for listening to my ramblings.
Brian
- --
Brian Glendenning - National Radio Astronomy Observatory
bglenden@nrao.edu bglenden@nrao.bitnet (804) 296-0286
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 90 09:23:55 -0700
From: UNLV Student ACM Chapter <acm@nevada.edu>
Subject: making oatmeal stout?
howdy folks,
i'm going to make an oatmeal stout.
problem is i don't now exactly what
kind of oatmeal to use.
is quaker oats 1 minute stuff good
to use?
or do you have to buy a certain type
from a homebrew shop.
any comments, suggestions would be appreciated.
chris sinanian
acm@nevada.edu
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 90 11:02:56 mdt
From: Jason Goldman <jdg@hp-lsd.cos.hp.com>
Subject: DMSux
My big change lately has been the switch to all grain brewing. I just made a new
batch this past Sunday. The sparge went a little smoother this time, so I'm thinking
that this batch will be better than the last batch (which wasn't bad but it had room
for improvement ;-). On the last batch, when I racked to the secondary, I salvaged a
fair amount of yeast to reuse. A couple of days before I brewed, I pulled it from
fridge, warmed it slowly and added some wort to make a starter. It started normally
and I didn't notice any off smells. On Monday morning, the berr was fermenting
nicely. Monday afternoon, I uncovered the carboy (I keep a towel around it to
minimize light-skunking) and saw that it was realing going well. Then I sniff the
bottle that the blow-off tube is bubbling in...ACK!!!!!
Now many of the words to describe off tastes and smells are hard to imagine until
you smell them. I can unequivocally state that I can identify DMS (dimethyl sulfide)
now. The description of cooked cabbage barely does it justice. It smells almost
like overcooked creamed corn. And _VERY_ strong.
I read up on DMS in the 1987 Troubleshooting issue of Zymurgy. It said that this is
usually caused by a particular bacteria or less than thorough boiling (to boil off
precursors, I think). Well, boiling is not an issue, because I had to boil this
sucker for 3 hours to get a manageble volume. Since I use a wort chiller and I was
fairly careful about cleaning my carboy, etc., I'm assuming that the problem was
with my starter (either the original yeast I salvaged or a step in making the starter).
The question is whether or not there is any way to salvage this brew. The literature
says that the bacteria usually die once the pH drops during fermentation. Smelling
the blowoff, I can't imagine drinking a beer that had that smell present at all. If
I let it ferment out and if the smell is still present, is it possible to add some
fermentables so the yeast can get busy again and blow off more of the DMS? Is this
just a pipe dream?
Advice and sympathy welcome.
Jason
hp-lsd!jdg
------------------------------
Date: Tue Sep 18 13:16:10 1990
From: semantic!bob@uunet.UU.NET
Subject: On Artificial Carbination
Hello All!
Having got my hands on a CO2 tank and regulator I've decided to get
into kegging. With a recent opportunity arising I placed an order
for a couple of three gallon kegs. (Next is to find an old fridge)
Looking ahead I decided to start researching artificial
carbonation. So I called up the AHA and asked about where to find
some literature on the subject. The fellow whom I talked to said:
'Well, why don't I just tell you how I do it?'. Well, now I know
something about artificial carbonation and so I thought I would
share it with you all.
Originally I thought there must some kind of published tables out
there. With variables like: The pressure of the CO2, the area of
the exposed beer, the temperature of the beer, the volume of the
beer to carbonate, the length of exposure and what your horoscope
prediction for the day was.
Well instead I got some no non-sense hands on information. The
recommendation went something like this:
1) Chill you beer as much as you can. (Obviously not below 32F)
2) Turn up your regulator to 30 PSI.
3) Lay your keg on its side.
4) Shake your keg 200 times. (Sort of rolling it back and forth)
Well that's straight forward now isn't it!
So I asked: "What if I don't like shaking my beer?" (I'm very
sensitive about my homebrew)
The fellow said it would take a day or two to carbonate at 30 PSI,
and if I wanted it to carbonate faster to turn it up (with caution
of course) and see what happens.
He further added:
1) You should wait an hour or two to let the shaken up beer
settle down. (What should it matter if the tank is full?)
2) To purge any remaining pressure from the tank before
dispensing, via the relief valve, and then re-pressurize at
normal dispensing pressure. (I learned this one in high
school, it comes in handy after rolling your keg down a flight
of stairs)
3) And never lay your CO2 tank on it's side, liquid CO2 might get
into the regulator and do some damage to it. (I don't what
kind of damage, but it seems like sound advice)
4) Dispensing pressure should be between 5 and 10 PSI.
5) Storage pressure should be about 15 PSI. (This I don't
understand, I guess I should have asked why)
6) Since I'm using three gallon kegs maybe I only need to shake
them 150 times!
Well that's all I have to say. If anyone wishes to correct or
elaborate on this information I would certainly appreciate it.
- -- Artificially Yours
- -- Robert A. Gorman (Bob) bob@rsi.com Watertown MA US --
- -- Relational Semantics, Inc. uunet!semantic!bob +1 617 926 0979 --
------------------------------
Date: 18 Sep 90 10:30:06 PDT (Tue)
From: florianb@tekred.cna.tek.com
Subject: kegging vs. bottling
Yesterday, John Polstra wrote about the time spent in kegging vs. bottling
and essentially concluded that the difference is a "wash", if I may make a
pun. I would like to offer that kegging provides the possibility of dry
hopping the finished beer. This provides an exceptional hop aroma that
is more difficult to obtain in bottling. John also queried for hints on
how to reduce the sanitation time in kegging. The methods I use are far
more time saving. After use of the keg, I rinse it with hot water from
the sink hoze. Then I add some tri-chlor, some hot water, and put the lid
on. I shake it around a while, then dump out the solution. I follow this
with a couple of rinsings with hot water, then put the lid back on.
When kegging time comes again, I repeat the process. Altogether, it takes
about 10 minutes to sanitize the kegs. I don't know if I would recommend
this procedure in the Seattle area. As I have mentioned in the HBD before,
I have had little experience with infections, so my sanitation procedures
are really sloppy.
The other advantage to kegging I have seen is that if one shortens the
output tube at the bottom by about 1/2 ", there is little yeast in the
initial glasses of beer. From then on, the beer is very clean. I have
always found it a pain to decant off of bottles and stop at just the
right moment.
Florian
------------------------------
Date: 18 Sep 90 10:49:24 PDT (Tue)
From: florianb@tekred.cna.tek.com
Subject: Munich dark beers
Yesterday, Greg Crawford posed some questions about Munich dark beers:
>Now I have a new goal in life, to brew a Dunkel. My problem is I have no
>experience with making dark beers. I assume the dark rich chocolate taste
>comes from munich malt (is this true?). Any text I have read says to avoid
>chocolate malt, it is wrong for the style. Does anyone out there have any
>experience with dark german beers or munich malt? Dave Miller's book has a
>recipe that includes all munich malt, no other source of enzymes. Does
>munich malt contain enough enzymes for the conversion? Also, does anybody
>have a good mail-order source for munich malt? If anyone can help me out
Having lived in Germany, I've tasted several of the Munich dark beers. The
chocolate taste you refer to is a mystery to me; I never thought of it that
way.
Chocolate malt gets its name from the color, not the flavor.
I recall reading that chocolate malt is wrong for the style of Munich beers.
To this, I would like to say "horse crap". In former times, only malted
barley was allowed in the making of German beers. The Munich brewers got
around this by high-kilning some of their malts in order to produce dark
colors and rich flavors. I claim that using chocolate malt is a perfectly
acceptable way to to imitate a Munich dark beer (you will never reproduce
them, for various reasons, including water). Furthermore, it is impossible
to imitate a beer like Paulaner Salvator using available Munich malt.
Chocolate malt is one of the few ways to get there from here. I suggest
using basically two-row lager malt, adding about 25% Munich malt, then
adding enough chocolate malt to get the color up to what you like. You
can refer to color charts of the target beer, then add chocolate according
to its Lovibond rating.
Finally, I must say that the choice of yeast is just as important as the
choice of ingredients. If you use Vierka lager yeast, for example, you
will come out with a spicier beer than if you were to use one of the
liquid cultures. If you use Red Star lager yeast, you will get a drier
beer, but with more "side tastes".
There are sufficient enzymes in Munich malt to properly convert. However,
the temperature control during fermentation will be critical to avoid
generation of sulphury odors.
Steinbart's of Portland, OR is a mail order source of Munich malt. However,
I believe they only have one color.
Florian
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 90 13:24:57 PDT
From: robertn@fm1.intel.com (JEEPSRUS)
Subject: advertising at sports/cost
<Date: 17 Sep 90 13:18:02 EDT
<From: Jay Hersh <75140.350@compuserve.com>
<Subject: Beer production costs
<
<While we're on the subject I have heard that 45% of the cost of a Budweiser (or
<like brand of swill)goes to race cars, speed boats, and other moronic or not so
<moronic (depending upon your viewpoint)sports events and promotional gimmicks.
<That means that every Bud you drink forces you to watch yet another idiotic
<commercial. Pretty vicious cycle, eh??!!
Jay,
At sporting events and concerts and such, what is sold by the tens of
thousands of kegs? You got it. Bud, Coors, and Miller. What is consumed
by those watching at home? You got it again.
The sponsership in NASCAR and NHRA racing by the big companies and the
sposorship of the cars and events is most likely payed for many many times
over by the amount of thier product that is sold at the event, that people
watching TV buy, and by the product sold after the event when Rusty Wallace
wins a 500 mile race and every one remembers his Miller car. The same
can be said for other sporting events, and concerts too. People are going
to remember Rusty Wallace and his Miller car for weeks after the race.
Take a look at the stands sometime, and remember that there are a lot more
people watching at home too. That's a lot of people remembering that
Miller car.
As a further example, turn on a big NASCAR race sometime. You'll also see
a Tide detergent car, a Alka-Seltzer car, barbeque sauce cars, and many
others. I'd defintely say that advertising must pay for itself many times
over. Otherwise, you wouldn't see the diversity in advertising like you
do.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not into the big brewers beer, and I HATE
watching all those STUPID commercials too. But, they must be doing something
right, cause they have a real diversified group they hang out with.
And PLEASE, if you want to call my favorite sports moronic, PLEASE do it off
the net! I think we have WAY WAY too nice of a digest here to make judgements
and flames like that.
RobertN
robertn@fm1.intel.com
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 90 13:25:54 PDT
From: robertn@fm1.intel.com (JEEPSRUS)
Subject: advertising beer kits in magazine
I thought some of you might be interested in this one.
I like to read a magazine called "Guns & Ammo". Low and behold,
what do I see in full page ad in the latest issue, but a
brewing advertisement.
The folks at "Bierhaus International" pulled out the stops with
a ad introduced by "I'll send you $5.00 FREE if you dont
agree my ALL NATURAL beer is better than any commercial
beer you've ever tasted."
It looks to be a hopped malt/sugar kit with a complete
primary setup, and a bottle capper, for $39.95.
they have some customer comments, tell you how easy it is to
brew, and tell you about some of the great brews you can make,
and that it's legal to do, and that you can get all kinds of
different alcohol contents. The price also includes everything
you need to brew two batches.
Just a interesting FYI,
RobertN
robertn@fm1.intel.com
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 90 13:35:32 PDT
From: hplabs!polstra!jdp (John Polstra)
Subject: Re: Vortex in bottles
In HBD #493, "FEINSTEIN" <crf@pine.circa.ufl.edu> writes:
> RE: creating a vortex when draining bottles by spinning them a few
> times while holding them-- this isn't meant to sound condescending in
> the least,
Neither is this, but ...
> but ever hear of the Coriolus effect?
No, but I've heard of the Coriolis effect ;-)
^
> This is the "spin effect" put on winds, waters, etc., by the Earth's
> rotation. It's also what creates that useful little vortex mentioned
> in dig 492.
>
> The Coriolus effect, btw, is affected by latitude. So, you'll probably
> find you get a better vortex spinning the bottle in one direction or
> the other, but not both.
This is one of those myths that "everybody knows," yet which is false.
It goes along with the myth which says that whirlpools rotate one
direction in the Northern Hemisphere and the other direction in the
Southern Hemisphere.
The Coriolis force is of *negligible* magnitude when it comes to
vortices of water (or wort) on Earth. A whirlpool spins in whatever
direction it gets started in. The initial direction is practically
always determined by other forces (random motion, stirring, tidal
currents, surface irregularities) which completely dominate the Coriolis
force. I live pretty far north (above the 47th parallel), yet I can
easily create a clockwise or counterclockwise vortex in my sink. All
it takes is the tiniest stir in the desired direction at the beginning.
Try it, you'll see.
Yours in rotation,
John Polstra jdp@polstra.uucp
Polstra & Co., Inc. polstra!jdp@uunet.uu.net
Seattle, Washington USA ...!uunet!polstra!jdp
(206) 932-6482
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 1990 10:41:19 -0400
From: hplabs!ames!gatech!bnr-vpa!bnr-rsc!crick (Bill Crick)
Subject: bakers yeast, head
A friend once described beer he made with baking yeast as "liquid Bread"
He was a well experienced brewer, and he said it is the only beer he ever
had to throw out?
Regarding head: Good head is hard to find (or so they say)
So is long lasting head;-)
Things which contribute to stable head, are proteins from malt,
and also some which come from hops as a result of a good long boil.
Over sparging can destroy the stability of head by washing fats, or
fatty acids? from the malt. If you are all grain brewing, you have
to balance the drive to get the last microgram of extract, with the
possibility of short lived head.
Also, I believe there are mould, or fungus like things in malt that
at some point was stored too damp, that can cause head problems???
This can happen if you use grain, or extracts, and it is hard for the
brewer to detect or control.
The fellow with the rapidly disappearing head when he touched it was
probalably contaiminating it withgrease, or soap from his hands, although
the sudden collapse he described is faster than I've ever seen for a
true fine bubbled, "creamy head".
I recently brewed a batch of wheat beer called SunWiess which had a head
so long lasting that if you pour it sloppily, and get a big head, it really
never goes away, but condenses down into a thick glob of something like
a cross between whipped cream, and Mereingue (SP? The stuff on top of
a lemon pie!) Note that Wheat Malt helps create teriffic head. I
don't remember why, but believe it is the proteins in it. If you have
head problems, try adding a cup of wheat malt to any recipe, along with your
other specialty grains.
Bill Crick.
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Date: Fri, 14 Sep 90 18:53:51 PDT
From: hplabs!ames!gatech!mailrus!uunet!polstra!norm (Norm Hardy)
Subject: Hop growing
A question about Hallertauers being limited to 10 or so cones:
Alot of factors are happening here:
(1) Do you have a southerly exposure to much sun?
(2) Weather conditions in your parts?
(3) Aphids/Spider Mite problems?
(4) Soil/Nutrition/Watering?
(5) Worrying?
In Seattle my Hallertauers (2 plants) are strong and healthy. One plant is
four years old and did most of the bearing of fine cones. The other is two
years old and did pretty well. The total dry yield this year was 18 oz.
I relate to your story, however, since I have ONE Cascade plant in its
second year and it produced 51 cones for a dry weight of .25 oz (good for
dry hopping I guess). It is partially shielded by an apple tree and does
not get the sun the other hops do.
You may want to consider transplanting your hops next Feb. or March to a
better location, if you have one. Also, the next issue of Zymurgy will
feature the entire magazine to hops, including growing.
Norm Hardy (soon to submit a German trip summary)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 90 18:15:33 PDT
From: hplabs!polstra!jdp (John Polstra)
Subject: Kegging vs. Bottling
Things have been getting a little boring around here lately. What we
need is to add a little controversy. It's a nasty job, but somebody's
got to do it. To that end, I offer the following bit of heresy:
Kegging doesn't save time.
There, I've said it. I feel better already. Now, let me explain myself.
BOTTLING CYCLE: After I pour a homebrew out of a bottle, I rinse the
bottle several times right away with water. (I.e., put some water in
the bottle and shake vigorously.) That takes only a few seconds and it
at least removes all visible residue. Then I put the bottle in the
dishwasher, to be run with the next load. My bottles come out of the
dishwasher absolutely sparkling, and of course the heat from the dry
cycle sanitizes them. So my bottles are always stored clean. There is
nothing in them that would make little beasties want to come in and set
up shop. Worst case, they might pick up a little dust during storage.
When I'm ready to bottle a batch, I fill my priming bucket with a weak
bleach solution. I fill one of my (already clean) bottles halfway with
the bleach solution and shake vigorously. Then I funnel the solution
into the next bottle and repeat. After I've treated about 12 bottles,
I switch over to rinse mode. I give each bottle a thorough but quick
and painless rinse, using a bottle washer attached to the sink with the
faucet full on hot. I place the bottles on a bottle-drying tree to
drain.
That's it. The total time spent in washing and sanitizing the 50
bottles is small and relatively painless. And it overlaps with
sanitizing the priming bucket and siphon hose, and with boiling the caps
and the priming solution.
I siphon the brew from the carboy into the priming bucket. That's an
extra step compared to kegging, but it doesn't take very long. After
that, bottling goes pretty fast using one of those wands with a
spring-loaded valve at the end. I use a standard 2-lever capper, piece
of cake.
The main clean-up task is cleaning the carboy (just like with kegging).
The priming bucket is easy to clean, since it never got very dirty to
begin with.
KEGGING CYCLE: I use Cornelius soda kegs (a.k.a. the "good" kind of keg).
After I drink up all the beer in a keg, I have to clean it as well as
the cobra tap and hose. The first step is to rinse the keg several times
with water. Then, I boil a few gallons of water and clean out the cobra
tap and hose by repeatedly putting boiling water into the keg, sealing
it, pressurizing it, and dispensing the water out through the cobra tap.
I do this at least 3 times, because I worry (oops) about what might be
lurking inside that opaque dispensing hose.
Then, I disassemble the keg. I clean the inside of the keg using
liquid dish soap, warm water, and a dishrag. That is awkward, because
my elbow fits through the mouth of the keg only when it is oriented
properly. It makes scrubbing kind of difficult and sometimes painful.
(Scrub, scrub, scrub, CRUNCH -- OW!) I clean each of the other parts in
a big sink, rinse them well, and let them dry. After a few days, I
re-assemble everything and store the keg.
Now, the killer: At kegging time, I have to go through almost all of
that again. First, I fill the keg with a weak bleach solution and boil
a bunch of water. I seal the keg, apply some pressure, and dispense
some of the bleach solution until the hose is full of it. I let it sit
that way for 15 minutes. (No longer than that -- bleach corrodes
stainless steel.) Then I rinse a few times with the boiling water,
pushing it through the hose, etc.
Filling the keg is a piece of cake, of course -- just pour in the
(boiled) priming solution, run a little CO2 in to guard against
oxidation, and siphon directly from the carboy into the keg.
Then comes cleaning the carboy, etc.
CONCLUSION: I haven't actually timed my bottling or kegging process.
But it *feels* like kegging takes about as long. Now, I *like* kegging.
It's great having homebrew on tap. But the primary reason that is
always given for kegging (i.e., saving time) is, IMHO, bogus.
What I am really hoping to get out of this discussion is some tips on
how to spend less time and effort cleaning and sanitizing my kegs.
John Polstra jdp@polstra.uucp
Polstra & Co., Inc. polstra!jdp@uunet.uu.net
Seattle, Washington USA ...!uunet!polstra!jdp
(206) 932-6482
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 90 18:45:34 PDT
From: GARY 18-Sep-1990 2141 <mason@habs11.enet.dec.com>
Subject: EDME SFX
Could someone please tell me:
1. What are the special characteristics of the subject malt extract, and
2. Are any of the M&F DMEs (Light, Amber, or Dark) close?
Thanks...Gary
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #499, 09/19/90
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