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HOMEBREW Digest #0681
This file received at Mthvax.CS.Miami.EDU 91/07/17 03:06:57
HOMEBREW Digest #681 Wed 17 July 1991
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
counterflow wort chillers (John Freeman)
RE: Homebrew Digest #680 (July 16, 1991) (Greg Roody - dtn 237-7122)
Sparging, What's best/easiest? ("Justin A. Aborn")
Cool refinement of John Polstra's aspirator (larryba)
How many Homebrewers? (BREIN)
3 Gallon Kegs (bob)
boulder brewpubs (Lynn Zentner)
Proteins vs. Dextrins and Re: Peristaltic pumps (Ken Giles)
Request: General info on wheat beers (Subbakrishna Shankar)
MeV,American Brewmaster and Thanks ("N. Zentena")
Pump for Immersion Coolers (Tom Dimock)
Re: Homebrew Digest #680 (July 16, 1991) (Michelle H. Teng)
Mead contamination and Brewing software (Darryl Okahata)
Another Lambic Update (Martin A. Lodahl)
Corona Mills (Charles Anderson)
Send submissions to homebrew%hpfcmi@hplabs.hp.com
Send requests to homebrew-request%hpfcmi@hplabs.hp.com
[Please do not send me requests for back issues]
Archives are available from netlib@mthvax.cs.miami.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 91 8:59:36 CDT
From: jlf@poplar.cray.com (John Freeman)
Subject: counterflow wort chillers
>
> Three of us (from the Cornell contingent) have put together a couple of
> counter-flow wort chillers, using 3/8" copper tubing and 3/4" garden hose.
> Thanks to this Digest, we know how to clean the inside of the tubing...
> extended discussion on this point way back in March/April were most helpful.
> What we *don't* know is how to get the near-boiling wort into the tubing......
>
> One wants to avoid oxidizing the boiling wort, so we believe that dumping it
> into a large, spigoted container would probably not be the best plan. We are
> a bit hesitant to drill holes in our stainless steel brewpots (but may end up
> doing so yet). And siphoning a boiling liquid is probably unreasonable.
>
> So, how do YOU effect this transfer? And how do you achieve hop removal?
>
I made a spigoted container out of a 5 gallon bucket and a spigot
using electrical conduit nuts to hold the spigot to the bucket
(the guy at the hardware store thought of this, not me). Anyway,
the wort chiller had a threaded brass fitting which fit the threads
on the spigot. I didn't worry about oxidizing boiling wort - I'd
never even heard of it then, I just dumped it into the bucket
and cooled it. I controlled the chiller by the spigot, the
slower the flow, the more the cooling.
I abandoned the counterflow wort chiller a few years ago in favor of
an immersion chiller.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 91 07:17:36 PDT
From: Greg Roody - dtn 237-7122 <roody@necsc.enet.dec.com>
Subject: RE: Homebrew Digest #680 (July 16, 1991)
re: Subject: Peristaltic pumps
These pumps don't need to be expensive, except when a) you need to maintain
sterile conditions (as in using it for blood) or extremely precise flow
rates. Since neither of these really apply to wort, all you really need is
a length of durable tubing and some mechanism to routinely squeeze it along
the direction of flow. This is usually done by bending the tubing into a
horseshoe shape in a chase and then using a rotary squeezer (sorry for the
technical terms here 8^).) to push the lquid through. Picture a clock
face with tubing wrapped around it from 9 oclock till three oclock. The
sweep hand would act as the squeegie, contacting the tube at 9 and pushing
a volume of liquid along until 3, then repeating when it reaches 9 again.
This is a poor description, but look at the pictures in the catalogue and
you will get the idea.
Should be easy engh to make. (well, about as easy as an all grain recipe
anyway 8^)>).
/greg
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 91 10:27:08 EDT
From: "Justin A. Aborn" <jaborn@BBN.COM>
Subject: Sparging, What's best/easiest?
I recently transitioned to all grain brewing, and I'm very glad I
did. The beer is cheaper, smoother, more delicious and special
tasting. My all grain clarity is not as good as my extract brews
though.
I want to try to improve the filtering characteristics of my
sparging technology, plus sparging is a pain in the butt and I
think it could be easier. What I currently do is put a sparge
bag inside a plastic bucket equipped with a spigot at the bottom.
I run off some wort into a sauce-pan and carefully pour it back
on top of the grain; recirculating for as long as I can stand it.
I then run it all off into the boil pot, and do the same thing
over again using new sparge water. During the recirculations the
wort gets progressively clearer, but I have never gotten it to be
"bright and clear," as Miller suggests is possible. Sparging
takes a long time.
My favorite fantasy filtering answer is to put a peristaltic pump
in the loop that would constantly, gently, and exhaustively
recirculate while I am carefully evaluating the results of last
month's brewing. I have done a little looking for a pump, but I
have had the same results as Dan Graham. They're too expensive
from the sources I found.
I suppose one could also add another filter to the process. I
ran some wort through a coffee filter, and sure enough, it comes
out bright and clear. The filter clogs quickly however. Perhaps
some mondo coffee filter might be able to do a whole batch
without clogging to a dead stop, but it seems messy and unlikely.
Does anyone have any sparging advice or anecdotes that might help
negate the pump?
Does anyone know of a used medical equipment warehouse?
Justin
Brewer and Patriot
------------------------------
Date: Tue Jul 16 07:44:35 1991
From: larryba@microsoft.com
Subject: Cool refinement of John Polstra's aspirator
In HBD #676, John Polstra wrote:
|Take a 1-foot length of flexible tubing. Make a small hole (maybe a
|sixteenth or an eighth of an inch in diameter) in the wall of the
|tubing, a couple of inches from one end. (An electric drill at low
|speed works fine for this.) Attach the end with the hole in it to the
|output side of your in-line wort chiller. Put the other end of the
|tubing into your destination vessel and siphon away. A fine stream of
|bubbles will be sucked into the tube through the hole and your wort
|will end up nice and foamy in the fermenter. Simple, reliable, works
|great.
Last weekend, I brewed a stout. I couldn't remember the details of John's
article, just the fact he had holes in the racking tube somewhere. So I made
mine from a 5" chunk of copper pipe left over from my chiller and racking
tube. I drilled four 1/16" holes about 1" from one end. I started the
siphon and stuffed the short end into my out tube. It was amazing how well
it worked! The beer came out the far end just like the water from the kitchen
faucet. I thought I wouldn't be able to get all 5.5 gals of wort into my 7.5
gal carboy because there was so much foam! The copper pipe is great since I
didn't end up permanently modifying one of my racking hoses.
I repitched 1 cup of whitbread from the previous weeks brew and I had
glugging start within two hours. Four hours later I had a two inch head of
foam. Great stuff!
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1991 8:22:20 PDT
From: BREIN@dsfvax.jpl.nasa.gov
Subject: How many Homebrewers?
hersh@expo.lcs.mit.edu writes:
>Well the AHA estimates I've seen say there are over 1 millions homebrewers
>(still only 1/250 = .4% of US population). I don't know that I believe it,
>and if I do then that means that at ~10,000 members the AHA has only
>1% of all homebrewers joining, a pretty poor rate, though homebrewers are
>a notoriously independent lot.
One million is a suspiciously round number. Somebody must have done a survey.
Does anyone know of a source of demographic and marketing data on the
homebrewing community?
Barry Rein
BREIN@gpvax.jpl.nasa.gov
------------------------------
Date: Tue Jul 16 11:37:06 1991
From: semantic!bob@uunet.UU.NET
Subject: 3 Gallon Kegs
Hi,
I just checked into the 3 gallon kegs advertised in the Summer 1991
flyer from Foxx.
They are Used, Ball lock tanks.
Both Denver and Kansas City are out of stock, but Kansas expects an
order in about a week, and Kansas City supplies Denver.
Price is $28.66 each. No discounts for large orders.
One might get a savings on the shipping cost of large orders. (?)
Kansas City: 800-821-2254. Denver: 800-425-2484.
Cheers,
-- Bob Gorman Jake had a dream. It was his, --
-- bob@rsi.com the only real one he'd ever had, --
-- uunet!semantic!bob and he clung to it. ... --
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 91 11:35:35 -0500
From: zentnerl@ecn.purdue.edu (Lynn Zentner)
Subject: boulder brewpubs
With regard to the Walnut Brewery in Boulder......
I was in Boulder last month for a conference, and needing to unwind a bit
after giving my paper, I headed toward the Pearl Street Mall. In Boulder,
there is a free trolley that makes a loop past several hotels, some dorms,
and around the Pearl Street Mall. It let me off right in front of the
Walnut Brewery where I went in for lunch. They have a beautiful atmosphere
and the grilled chicken sandwich I had was delicious. I tried their sample
set of six beers (about 4 oz. each) and enjoyed all of them. They had just
premiered their Jazzberry Ale (a wheat-type beer with some raspberries
included in the recipe) and really wanted to try one, but they were out.
The hostess was quite charming, and stopped by my booth several times to
ask what I thought of the beers and to tease me about getting sloshed by
my lonesome. The staff was very efficient and courteous. Prices were
quite reasonable. I would highly recommend a visit.
Just wanted to post an alternate opinion to the guy from a couple days ago
that said he wasn't too impressed. Could be that the place has changed since
he was there, or maybe the dirth of neat places to eat/drink around Lafayette
just makes me easily impressed! Still, my palate does get around, and while
none of the beers at Walnut were "jump up and down" spectacular, I thought
they were all well done.
Not much to actually post about homebrew.....this Indiana heat has pretty
much stopped all brewing activity at our house. And our stash of homebrew
is getting dangerously low!!! Come on, Autumn!
Lynn Zentner
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 91 08:54:10 EDT (Tue)
From: slammer!brad@emory.mathcs.emory.edu (Brad Isley)
Please unsubscribe me.
Please subscribe my brother - gatech!bagend!jan.
Thanx
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 91 09:22:30 PDT
From: keng@ic.MENTORG.COM (Ken Giles)
Subject: Proteins vs. Dextrins and Re: Peristaltic pumps
I'm not yet ready to open the debate on whether body comes from proteins or from
dextrins, but would like to get my facts straight. I remember that someone said
that Miller had cited Jean de Clerk? (sp?) I tried to find the citation in
TCHoHB and could only come up with the statement without the reference. Could
someone possibly email me the page number of the citation?
In HBD #680 graham%drcv06.decnet@drcvax.af.mil says:
> Does anyone know of a inexpensive peristaltic pump, or [are] those terms
> mutually exclusive?
Since "inexpensive" is relative, I'll just throw this in. I have one of those
electric painting machines which uses a peristaltic pump to push the paint to
the roller. I think it was $75 new. It uses a fairly large hose, maybe 3/4 inch
OD. I can't say whether it's suitable, but if you found one sufficiently cheap
at a garage sale, maybe it would be worth a try.
kg.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 91 13:55:54 -0400
From: sxs32@po.CWRU.Edu (Subbakrishna Shankar)
Subject: Request: General info on wheat beers
Now that summer is in full swing I've seen a number of specialty
wheat beers (such as Sam Adams' Wheat Beer) and made one of my own (w/
Northwestern's Wiezen malt extract). I'm uncertain, though, of the proper
nomenclature and origin of the various styles. Perhaps someone can answer
these questions for me:
1) Are all wheat beers fermented w/ an ale yeast (e.g. Wyeast's
Wiezenbier Liquid Ale #3056), or is there a lager style as well?
2) What are the differences among Wiesse, Wiezen, and plain old
Wheat beers? I've heard of "Berliner Wiesse" which is
supposedly drunk w/ fruit syrup added. Is the beer different or
just the style of drinking it?
3) I bought some Hefe-Wiezen beers from Germany recently to test my
own concoction against. The "Hefe", I was told, indicated the
presence of a yeast pack from bottle conditioning. Both were
delicious, though not quite as satisfying as my homebrew. Is it
true that a different yeast strain is added at bottling time
because the fermenting yeast flocculate poorly? Obviously, this
would make culturing the fermenting yeast from the bottle
impossible.
4) Should I go ahead and drink my wheat beer with a twist of lemon,
risking being mistaken for Yuppie scum sucking on a Corona?
For answers to these questions my thanks in advance.
- --
Subba Shankar
E-mail: sxs32@po.cwru.edu (Internet) U.S. Snail: Dept. of Neurosciences
Voice: (216)368-2195 Case Western Reserve U.
FAX: (216)368-4650 Cleveland, OH 44106
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1991 18:26:01 -0400
From: "N. Zentena" <zen@utcs.utoronto.ca>
Subject: MeV,American Brewmaster and Thanks
Hi,
I called around here today and came up with the following
on MeV. They supposedly moved 2-3 months ago. Since then they seem to have
gone off the end of the world. My local retailer got a shipment about 1.5
months ago. But right now there phone number has been disconnected. Supposedly
when they moved they intended to get back into bussiness but has of yet
nothing. Having said the above this supposedly isn't the first time MeV has
"disappeared" for a period of time so they may be back.
On American Brewmaster EVERYBODY was very happy with them. They are
supposedly good people to deal with. I've called about a catalog and hopefully
will be ordering a couple of things.
I would also like to thank everybody who sent me infomation. I've tried
to get replies to everyone but some of the messages bounced. So thanks to
everyone.
Nick
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 91 20:40:47 EDT
From: Tom Dimock <RGG@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: Pump for Immersion Coolers
I just stumbled across a fairly cheap pump that looks like just what
the doctor ordered for recirculating cold water through an immersion
heater (Ref. thread of some months ago on immersion heaters and water
conservation). My Grainger catalog (not quite current, but close)
lists their stock numbers 2P370, 1P618 and 1P928 as coolant pumps -
"For evaporative coolers, coolants, laboratories,decorative fountains
etc.". They look like miniature versions of your standard basement sump
pumps, and pump 4-6 gallons per minute. The first two are plastic, the
third is all brass. The best thing are the prices - $25.02, $25.17, or
$32.78 for the brass one.
Grainger's are a ubiquitous industrial supply place with a couple of
hundred outlets nationwide, plus many contractors supply stores can
order from them. Check your Yellow Pages.
I almost got excited about their peristaltic pump for $126, until I
noticed it's maximum flow of 60 gallons per DAY... Sigh...
==> Tom Dimock <== RGG@cornellc.cit.cornell.edu
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 91 20:56:57 PDT
From: michelle@cobalt.cco.caltech.edu (Michelle H. Teng)
Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #680 (July 16, 1991)
PLEASE STOP SENDING ME ANY MORE OF YOUR E-MAIL. THANKS A LOT.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 91 21:15:32 PDT
From: Darryl Okahata <darrylo@hpnmxx.sr.hp.com>
Subject: Mead contamination and Brewing software
[ There are two wildly different topics in this message. ]
I have a fruit/ginger mead that's been aging for a couple of weeks
in a 5-gal. carboy, and I've noticed that a yellow ring seems to be
developing at the surface. It always seems to have been there (from the
end of fermentation), but it seems to be getting thicker. I asked a
question about this on CI$, and it's been suggested that I have a wild
yeast contamination.
Assuming that this is true, can I make a sparking mead even if
there is a wild yeast contamination, or should I dump in some campden
tablets? I was hoping to make a sparking mead, but I'll settle for a
sulfite mead. ;-)
Going on to another topic ...
In the 1990 special issue of Zymurgy, Jackie Rager presented some
equations for calculating IBUs, given weight, alpha %, time, volume,
etc.. If anyone's interested, I've programmed the HP 48SX calculator
with these equations, and you can now calculate any one of the following
five parameters, given any four of them:
IBUs
% alpha
weight
boiling time
boiling volume
I've also added a couple of "enhancements":
* The hop utilization table is entered as a matrix (meaning that you can
edit and change it). It's also interpolated, and not used as a simple
staircase table (the way that it's used in the article). This also
means that the answers from this program will not be exactly the same
as the ones in the article, because of the interpolation.
* You can also calculate IBUs from AAUs, or vice-versa. I added a hack
assuming AAU = <% alpha> * <weight>, and boiling time == 1 hour.
While the program is not fast (it can take 15-30 seconds to solve for an
answer), it provides for:
* "Computing on the go". You can carry the calculator to a friend's
house, to the local brewing supply store, etc., and you don't have to
remember the equations.
* Automatic unit conversion. You can enter weight in ounces, grams,
pounds, slugs, etc.. You can enter time in seconds, minutes, hours,
days, years, etc. (;-). You can enter volume in gallons, liters,
teaspoons, etc.. The answers will still come out right.
If anyone wants a copy of the program, send email (it uses up about 1700
bytes).
-- Darryl Okahata
Internet: darrylo@sr.hp.com
DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not
constitute the support, opinion or policy of Hewlett-Packard or of the
little green men that have been following him all day.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 91 15:49:20 PDT
From: Martin A. Lodahl <pbmoss!malodah@PacBell.COM>
Subject: Another Lambic Update
In HOMEBREW Digest #671, my unindicted co-conspirator Mike Sharp said:
> I heard from Martin Lodhal that some of you have been wondering about the
> lambic experiments. So here goes...
Yep. I was asked to report just as I was edging toward the door,
so I passed the buck to Mike, who ably reported on his own batches,
then:
> Martin's batch --
> ummm, I'm not sure what he did... probably something simmilar.
> He'll have to tell you when he gets back from vaccation.
I'm ba-a-a-ack! And here's my report.
Toward the end of April, I made up a batch using this recipe:
Ingredients -
7 lbs 2-row Pale Malted Barley
3.5 lbs brewers' flaked wheat
0.5 lb crystal malt
1 oz equal parts Chinook, Willamette, and Northern
Brewer leaf hops, baked 1 hour at 300F and
left 3 days in the open air
Wyeast 1007 (German Ale) yeast
Pediococcus damnosus culture
Brettanomyces bruxellensis culture
A teaspoon of yeast nutrient
0.75 cup dextrose (priming)
Process -
Mash water: 14 quarts @ 130F, w/ 1 tsp gypsum
Mash-in: 5 minutes
Protein rest: 20 minutes @ 140F
Conversion: 60 minutes @ 158-155F
Mash-out: 10 minutes @ 170F
Sparge: 5 gallons @ 170F rising to 190F, pH 5.7
Boil: 2 hours, with hops added near the beginning
The first surprise was when the iodine starch test came out negative
after only 30 minutes of mashing. Quick! The mash itself looked
different: I began to understand what was meant by a "turbid" mash.
The sparge wasn't nearly as crystalline as I'm accustomed to seeing
it, despite an excellent "set" to the filter bed, and the boil
produced a hot break virtually outside the realm of credibility!
Fermentation with the ale yeast took off like the proverbial shot.
After 12 days I pitched the Pediococcus. I have to admit, I didn't
much care for the taste of either the beer or the starter solution.
It only took about 10 days (and some premature hot weather) to
produce decided ropiness, so I pitched the Brettanomyces. By that
time the beer was starting to taste good, with a definitely Belgian
cast to it. The Brettanomyces starter solution had a tang to its
aroma that reminded me of the gutters of Brussels. I don't know if
I should find that encouraging ...
I tasted it about a month later, and it had become very astringent,
but with little apparent Brett character or lactic sourness. I'd
been warned to expect this, so I'm not concerned. That was about a
month ago, so I'll be tasting again soon.
I followed that batch up with a very light and delicate wheat beer,
brewed in the same space and using much of the same equipment.
After nearly 2 months, there is no sign of infection, which I find
encouraging ...
= Martin A. Lodahl Pacific*Bell Systems Analyst =
= malodah@pbmoss.Pacbell.COM Sacramento, CA 916.972.4821 =
= If it's good for ancient Druids, runnin' nekkid through the wuids, =
= Drinkin' strange fermented fluids, it's good enough for me! 8-) =
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1991 10:23:00 -0500
From: caa@com2serv.c2s.mn.org (Charles Anderson)
Subject: Corona Mills
On Fri, 12 Jul 91 10:16:52 PDT
smithey@esosun.css.gov (Brian Smithey) Said:
>
>
> Corona makes more than one grain mill. I remember a flyer that
> came from William's Brewing a while back, they had a deal on
> some Corona mills that they accidentally got that were the
> "wrong" ones. They said that it would be ok for grinding
> flour, but probably not strong enough for cracking malt. I
> think the heavy-duty one common for brew duty is the Corn Mill.
>
> Brian
> - --
> Brian Smithey / SAIC, Geophysics Division / San Diego CA
Well they were selling the grain mill for the very purpose of grinding
corn, I opened the box and looked at it before I bought it and it was
just like every other corona grain mill I've seen homebrewers using,
the only thing is that the hopper isn't as big as the ones usually sold
for homebrewers, but this can be fixed with a plastic milk bottle and
some duct tape.
-Charlie
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #681, 07/17/91
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