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HOMEBREW Digest #1235
This file received at Sierra.Stanford.EDU 93/09/28 10:00:26
HOMEBREW Digest #1235 Tue 28 September 1993
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
BRFware ("Andy Phillips, Long Ashton, Bristol, UK")
Pumpkin-pie beer (JIM)
Beer/Pubs in Barbados (GONTAREK)
Hops! (and more hops) (Diane Palme x2617)
mailing samples (Jim Sims)
PHILLY HOMEBREW COMPETITION (tmr)
Cherry Juice (Chris Estes)
Solder And Brazing (Bob_McIlvaine)
Re: Purging Keg Headspaces (tmr)
Troubleshoot my dry hopping! (Kelly Jones)
Wedding Bells (Paul Boor)
Apple cider in Boulder area... (Corby Bacco)
Blow-off Loss and Cherry Juice (Tim Anderson)
CO2 / mead (Brian Bliss)
Keg aging (drose)
Accelerating bottle carbonation? (lyons)
oatmeal stout extract, mash HSA (Jonathan G Knight)
Hydrometer rea (uszvnrl6)
Brewpubs in Dartmouth, NH? Need info by 9/30 (Jan Holloway)
Louis Vierling (korz)
Mash temperature drop (Domenick Venezia)
Utah Brewpubs (COYOTE)
Smoked Porter (ron_hall)
Re: heating SS/Keg Forced Carbonation Confusion/Campden Blowoff (korz)
Cellar Notes: Radio Program (Philip J Difalco)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 11:22 BST
From: "Andy Phillips, Long Ashton, Bristol, UK" <phillipsa@afrc.ac.uk>
Subject: BRFware
Sorry to use the HBD for this, but I couldn't get direct mailings to work:
To: Chris Campanelli
- --------------------
Are you planning a new version of the BRF brewing calculator, of
which I'm a big fan? Can I persuade you to include a US/metric conversion
for those of us on the wrong side of the Atlantic? I get very
confused about the size of US gallons, quarts and pounds.
Thanks
Andy Phillips, Bristol, UK
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 07:09 EDT
From: JMGARNETT@ATCSD.ESS.HARRIS.COM (JIM)
Subject: Pumpkin-pie beer
Anyone out there have a good pumpkin recipie? I don't do my own mashing, so I
need to be able to buy the malt. How do you cook the pumpkin? Only leave it
in the wort and filter it out, or should it stay in the fermenter?
Thanks
Jim
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 07:46:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: GONTAREK@JHUVMS.HCF.JHU.EDU
Subject: Beer/Pubs in Barbados
Greetings all! Forgive me if this is not strictly a homebrewing
question, but does anybody know of any good pubs in Barbados? In two
weeks I'll be going there for my honeymoon, and I wanted some input on
where my new wife and I could go for some chilly ones. Do they drink
beer there, or is rum the only thing they imbibe? I would be grateful
for any and all information regarding brewskies and this lovely vacation
spot. You can e-mail me directly. Cheers!
Rick Gontarek
Dept. of Biology
The Johns Hopkins University
gontarek@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 07:38:08 -0500 (CDT)
From: dspalme@mke.ab.com (Diane Palme x2617)
Subject: Hops! (and more hops)
Hi All!
Just thought I would throw in my $0.02 on this year's hop harvest.
With three brand new rhisomes put in the ground ~mid-May, I was able to get
enough hops to distribute freely among friends and family. We planted three
varieties: Cascade, Hallertau, and Tett. The Hallertau was the early-on
favorite but in the end, pooped out before putting out many cones. Total?
Well, maybe 12-15 cones. That's right, CONES, not ounces. :-( The cascade,
on the other hand, did a bang-up job. The hop vines reminded me of grape
vines, there were so many cones! Yikes! We have a standard grocery bag
which has about a 4"layer of cones. This is verrrrry promising. The Tett?
Well, it was a shy plant. Total vine length was about 12". Yup, that's
right, 12". Oh well, I'll get 'em next year!
Looking forward to brewing with home-grown hops ...
D.
- --
Diane Palme
Department Engineer, Central Inspection
Allen-Bradley Co.
(414) 382-2617
dspalme@mkelan5.remnet.ab.com
dspalme@mke.ab.com
" I have found that it is much easier to fake an
orgasm than to pretend to like basketball. "
Oh yeah, um, what I say is my opinion, um, what I think are my own ideas, uh,
Allen-Bradley has nothing to do with them, uh, yeah. That's about it.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 08:53:14 EDT
From: sims@pdesds1.scra.org (Jim Sims)
Subject: mailing samples
I was at the Post Office Friday and checked out the "mailing liquids"
issue. They have a big poster on packaging. It specifically includes
mailing liquids, so obviously that *IS* legal. They say to pack it in
absrobent padding (in case it breaks, obviously).
No mention of mailing alcohol being illegal, despite a long list of
other stuff you cant mail (flammables, toxins, compressed gases,
explosives, etc)
jim
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 08:43:15 EDT
From: tmr@fjtld.att.com
Subject: PHILLY HOMEBREW COMPETITION
I recently heard there was going to be a homebrew competition at the Sam
Adams brewery in Philadelphia some time in November. My first question
is: has anyone heard about it, does anyone have any details about it like
location, date, time, cost, parking and directions. My second question is:
what does a person do at a homewbrew competition besides watch judges taste
beer? I`m thinking of taking a friend (a non-homebrewer) and wondered how
interesting it would be for either of us. I won't have any entries so the
judging might not be the highlight of the day for me.
Tom Romalewski
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 13:31:12 GMT
From: Chris Estes <CESTES@argos5.argosinc.com>
Subject: Cherry Juice
Hi All,
In today's HBD there was a discussion (sorry, no quotes or sources) about
using cherry juice instead of whole cherries. One respondent mentioned that
he couldn't find 100% cherry juice. Many health food stores carry Knudeson's
(sp?) and they make a 100% cherry juice. They also make a variety of other
pure, juices (anyone for a kiwi-papaya weiss?!?).
I've used the cherry juice twice. The first time was in a light ale. The
stuff had a real metallic edge to it and wasn't very drinkable (I just dumped
out the last gallon of it yesterday - over a year old!). It actually turned
out to be passable if consumed on the rocks! I later made a cherry stout
which was much better. In both brews, I used about 3 quarts of the stuff.
Personally, I'm not wild about fruit in my beers. I did my part as a
homebrewer and experimented, and now I'm happily back to malt, hops, water,
and yeast!
-Chris Estes-
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 09:35:08 EDT
From: Bob_McIlvaine@keyfile.com
Subject: Solder And Brazing
A welder with mig or tig capabilities will take about 10
minutes to weld a keg type joint with Stainless, and
charge an hour minimum, typically $30 to $40 per hour.
Make sure the guy knows how to do stainless and can
handle liquid tight joints. Get all your holes and fittings
ready to weld and he can probably do all your joints in
an hour. If your lucky, you'll find a welder who will do
the job for several pints of good home brew.
Silver solder can be nasty to solder and can be hazardous
to your health if you get the wrong stuff. For your health's
sake, get the kind that is cadmium free, for your yeast's
health get low, low lead content. The simplest flux is plain
old borax, the chemical not the soap :-) You can get the
solder and the flux at your local welding supply, consult
them about the solder for food preparation vessels,
melt point of at least 1200 degreesF. The flux you can get
at hardware stores, drug stores (sometimes), and your
local supplier of chemicals for school science labs. The
actual soldering is tricky, burnish the stainless steel
parts, mix the borax powder with water and apply to the
joint, bring entire joint up to temperature, the borax will
melt. Don't get the joint to hot (easier said than done, with
stainless steel), to hot and the solder will ball up and roll
right off. Some old timers will wrap the solder wire around
the joint and heat indirectly until the solder sweats into the
joint making a very nice fillet. The key is to not oxidixe the
surface that the flux has cleaned, direct heat from a flame
WILL oxidise.
Regards,
Mac
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 09:51:47 EDT
From: tmr@fjtld.att.com
Subject: Re: Purging Keg Headspaces
Although Chris Cook writes about purging kegs with CO2, I have been doing
this with my secondary fermenter to eliminate any risk of wort oxidation.
Before racking from the primary to the secondary, I fill my 5 gallon glass
carboy with CO2 using a small 2 or 3 inch long CO2 "charger" used in making
carbonated water. I place the cartridge into the empty water container,
tighten the cartridge to puncture it and then squeeze the lever on the
bottle to release all the CO2 into the secondary. With a carboy I use
a rubber or vinyl tube long enough to reach the bottom of the carboy.
Since the CO2 is denser than air it should fill up from the bottom upwards,
diplacing the air on top as it fills. Then when racking, the wort is
transferred into the secondary under a blanket of CO2 avoiding any contact
with air.
I also use this technique when adding priming sugar/DME. I purge whatever
air I can out of the primary plastic pail with the CO2 bottle. In this
case I don't need any tube. Just fire the CO2 into the secondary starting
all the way at the bottom. I don't know how well this works since I can't
see the CO2 in the fermenters, but it seems like it should work. Maybe I'll
lower a match or candle into the CO2 filled pail and see at what level the
flame goes out.
Tom Romalewski
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 09:06:00 -0600
From: Kelly Jones <k-jones@ee.utah.edu>
Subject: Troubleshoot my dry hopping!
Recently, I tried my first dry hop, and I'm not entirely pleased with
the results. In brief, the brew was half of a 10gal batch of American
Pale Ale. When secondary was almost complete, I added 1 oz of
homegrown cascade, in a weighted nylon stocking, to the carboy.
Sunday, after 10 days dryhop, I bottled.
I tasted the brew at bottling time, and found a very pronounced excess
bitterness. I compared this to the other half of the batch, which had
not been dry hopped, and which did not have this bitterness. So, the
bitterness was a result of the dryhopping.
Questions:
Is this simply a temporary bitterness that will soon mellow? Or can
dry hopping really add noticeable bitterness? Did I over dryhop?
How many IBU's can/should dry hops introduce?
By the way, the hop aromatics in the dry-hopped batch are great, so
I'd prefer not to reduce the amount of dry hops, but I'm afraid this
bitterness may have spoiled an otherwise great ale.
Thanks,
Kelly
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 10:34:14 -0500 (CDT)
From: Paul Boor <PBOOR@BEACH.UTMB.EDU>
Subject: Wedding Bells
I've been brewing like a madman, the kegs have aged up, and the bride and groom
have tasted and decided which two kegs they want to have at the wedding. Now
my problem is: How do I set it up at the wedding?
I noticed several earlier posting about beer for weddings, so anyone with
experience please let me know how it went; specifically:
1) transport:: I was going to haul it over a couple of hours before but
is this enough time?
2) temperature:: THIS could be a problem. I was planning on having the kegs
in a tub with alittle ice on the bottom and cover the whole
thing with a rug or something. I don't want it too cold, etc.
3) Tank:: I'll tape the 5lb CO2 tank to the outside of the tub, I guess,
and cover the regulator to protect it.
Basically I have the standard 5gal kegs, a 5lb tank, and a regular regulator.
Any advise appreciated,
paul boor
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 09:46:49 MDT
From: bacco@md.fsl.noaa.gov (Corby Bacco)
Subject: Apple cider in Boulder area...
Hello,
Does anyone know of a good source of apple cider suitable for
making hard cider in the Boulder area? Are there any apple orchards
in the area?
Thanks,
Corby
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 08:50:32 PDT
From: tima@wv.MENTORG.COM (Tim Anderson)
Subject: Blow-off Loss and Cherry Juice
Norm sez:
>Aren't you risking a siphon of potentially contaminated water (or sanitizer)
>back into your fermenter?
>
> blowoff hose
> ________
> B____ /________\
> // \\
> || ||
> || ||
> _||_ ||
> / || \ |~||~|---C
> | || | | |
>A---|~~||~~| | |
> | | |____|
> | | blowoff bucket
> | |
> |______|
> fermenter
> ...
If you did it this way, you'd have a bigger problem than sanitizer suck-back.
You'd probably blow most of your batch out the hose! The hose goes just into
top of the carboy thusly:
blowoff hose
________
B____ /__foam__\
// \\
|| ||
|| ||
_||_ ||
/ \ |~||~|---C
| foam | | |
A---|~~~~~~| | |
| | |____|
| | blowoff bucket
| |
|______|
fermenter
I agree with raising the effluent bucket above the carboy. I put mine on a
shelf well above the carboy. In fact, I intend to get a longer hose (maybe
8 feet) so I can put it way up there. Most of the foul goo sticks to the
inside of the hose and never makes to the bucket anyway, and I'm hoping I
can get back most of the magic liquid that rides along with the foam.
Added note: 1" ID hose jammed right into the carboy neck is the only
way to go. (But jam it in just a little!)
A data point for the cherry juice:
Some months back I made a wheat ale with Wyeast Belgian and primed with
pure cherry juice. It was just some commercial bottled stuff from a
local "natural food" store (no added sugar, preservatives, or camel snot).
I didn't have a clue how much to use. It wasn't very sweet, so I used
2 quarts to a 5 gallon batch. Didn't boil, heat, or otherwise incant;
Just dumped it in. The carbonation came slowly but in the end was over-
carbonated. The result was tasty and surprisingly kriek-like. Were I to
do it again, I would use only a quart and resign myself to less cherry
flavor.
tim
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 11:25:59 -0500
From: bliss@pixel.convex.com (Brian Bliss)
Subject: CO2 / mead
Chris Cook (cook@cdhf2.gsfc.nasa.gov) writes:
>When people say "purge the headspace," what procedures are you following?
Being totally anal, blanketing the keg with CO2 before you siphon into it,
pressurizing the headspace to 15 PSI and releasing the gas at least 3 times,
once with the keg stright up, once tilted to the side (so that the "IN" gas
fitting is on top), and once swirling the beer in the keg, to make danm
sure you got every last little bit of air out of the headspace.
You should at least be this anal if you are going to force carbonate the
beer by agitating it - any O2 in the headspace is going to making into
solution, and you can easily oxidize 5 gal of beer overnight if you're not
careful (If it doesn't taste as good the next morning as it did the night
before when you carbonated it, then you did something wrong :-).
If you just crank up the pressure and let sit undisturbed for a few days,
it's not a big factor...
- -----
Paul dArmond <paulf@henson.cc.wwu.edu> writes:
>At this point the keg is over pressurized and undercarbonated. The
>pressure is 35 psi. If the pressure is vented to dispensing range, the
>beer will have large coarse bubbles, foam a lot and go flat quickly.
>...
>Something odd happens as the storage time increases. The bubbles get
>smaller, the beading (trails of bubbles) improves, and the carbonation
>lasts longer in the glass. I suspect this is due to the CO2 bonding
>(slowly) to things other than water, but you can't prove it by me. This
>improvement in the quality of carbonation over time is puzzling, but pleasant.
I have definitely noticed this, also. I kind of like the "foamy head, but
little CO2 in the beer" effect that happens just after force carbonation
via agitation (for dry stouts). It makes for more of a Guinness-like taste.
certainly not appropriate in most brews, though.
- -----
Keith Hill <khill@eecs.wsu.edu> writes:
>I was wondering if anyone wout there has mad mead using fruit? If so
>I would like some hints for future batches or help on the following
>problem, how to avoid.
If you use watermelon, beware that the pith will not dissolve during
fermentation; rather, it will float on top, forming a sponge-like layer
that easily clogs blowoff apparati. It also has a red-fireworks effect
(much better than anything you've seen on the 4th of july) when the
pressure is released. If you figure the carpet cleaning in with the price
of the batch, the cost is prohibitive. On the + side, what's left
tastes great :-)
bb
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 12:50:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: drose@husc.harvard.edu
Subject: Keg aging
Greetings:
I have a relatively new keg set up, and I am working on getting a
system that works well for me. I have read the recent postings on forced
carbonation with interest, but I have an additional question. Everyone
suggests shaking vigorously to get the CO2 into solution. However, this
would appear to be at odds with another objective, getting the beer to
clear. In other words, one is also stirring up sediment when shaking. So,
once the keg is carbonated, how long does in need to sit to get a good
clear final product? While I try to rack carefully, some stuff invariably
comes along for the ride, particularly if I dry hop. Also, will chill
haze eventually settle out if I store the kegs cold? How long does this
take? Help.
Dave Rose.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 13:05:33 EDT
From: lyons%adc1@swlvx2.msd.ray.com
Subject: Accelerating bottle carbonation?
Paul dArmond posted an answer to the question on forced carbonation
in kegs (HBD #1234):
> ...
>cubes. CO2 is pretty soluble, but not instantly so. Nor does it difuse
>rapidly through the beer. The disolving takes place only at the
>gas/liquid interface, so the amount of surface area is important.
>
>There are several implications to these facts.
> ...
>3) An upright motionless keg presents the least surface area and thus
>provides the worst conditions for carbonation.
Does this imply that bottled beer would carbonate faster if placed
on its side rather than upright? Anyone have a data point?
Chris
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 12:32:24 -0500 (cdt)
From: Jonathan G Knight <KNIGHTJ@AC.GRIN.EDU>
Subject: oatmeal stout extract, mash HSA
Jim, my e-mail to you bounced.
William's Brewing is a big mail-order outfit in San LEandro CA. Their malt/
oat extract syrup, Oatmeal Dark, is one I used with great success last year.
You can add more specialty grain or extract if you want (I did) but I imagine
it's pretty good just by itself too. (I have no finacial or other
blahblahblah I'm just a yakkityyakkity O.K.? Enough of that.)
Here's yet another partial-mash question, raised by the recent thread on
aeration (bad) of the mash.
If I use the colander to strain/sparge my grains into the brew pot, am I not
then subjecting the mash to Hot Side Aeration?? How hard should I work to
avoid this?
Jonathan Knight
Grinnell Iowa
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 14:01:56 EDT
From: uszvnrl6@ibmmail.COM
Subject: Hydrometer rea
- ----------------------- Mail item text follows ---------------
I'm new the the HBD and homebrewing for that matter, but I figure that
someone out there has probably wanted to do this before.
I would like to record temperature and gravity readings using my personal
computer. What I need is a way of obtaining a hydrometer reading that can be
modified, or already provides an 8/16 bit output. I'm not sure if there are
comercially available "electronic" hydrometers, or if what I will have to do
is attach a carbon strip to the scale of the hydrometer, and read a
resistance to determine the gravity. If I use the resistance method, I need
to find someplace that makes a beer scale hydrometer that has a rather large
distance between units of measure. Any assistance would be greatly
appreciated.
response via E-Mail or HBD is acceptable.
Don Zickefoose
Electronic Systems Engineer
InterBold
internet: USZVNRL6@ibmmail.com
compuserve: 71155,220
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 13:34:40 -0500
From: holloway@ezmail1.ucs.indiana.edu (Jan Holloway)
Subject: Brewpubs in Dartmouth, NH? Need info by 9/30
Greetings, brewlist. A friend is going to Dartmouth, NH, on Thursday and
needs your recommendations for local microbreweries/brewpubs. He's leaving
Indiana Thursday, so we need your inspiration post-haste!
If you want to reply to me, please write to holloway@indiana.edu. We who
are staying behind in Indiana thank you. --Jan
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 13:47 CDT
From: korz@iepubj.att.com
Subject: Louis Vierling
Louis-- Can't reach you via email -- please call me some evening
at 708-430-HOPS -- sorry for the bandwidth.
Al.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 11:58:53 -0700 (PDT)
From: Domenick Venezia <venezia@zgi.com>
Subject: Mash temperature drop
I have seen little about acceptable temperature drops during mashing.
There is much about target and strike temps, however I'm looking for
an indication of how much of a temperature drop is acceptable over the
course of a mash. So, for a single step infusion with a target of
153F what is an acceptable temperature drop over an hour? Can one average
the temp over the mash and then assume that the conversion characteristics
are actually those found with a mash of the average temp. For example,
if I start at 156F, and drop to 150F over an hour is it safe to assume
that I would have gotten the same result with a constant 153F?
Domenick Venezia
ZymoGenetics, Inc.
venezia@zgi.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 13:30:15 -0600 (MDT)
From: COYOTE <SLK6P@cc.usu.edu>
Subject: Utah Brewpubs
There are four brewpubs in the land of 3.2 beer and the Osmond family :(
The biggest in Wasatch brewery in Park City. About 1/2-1hr up from
Salt Lake. Worth the visit just to see the location. Beautiful!
They have a number of brews. I would recommend the
Slickrock. Light, hoppy, hazy. Good afternoon brew.
Ale. Usually pretty good. Recently has been excellent. Malty.
Slightly browned amber. Good heady/hoppy.
Stout. I used to love this stuff till I started making better stouts
Used to seem very thick and creamy. Now...I've had ones I
could walk on top of. This would be a swimmer!
Seasonals...You may still catch the Rasberry. I think it's slickrock
with rasberry extract added. Pretty good though.
Holiday ales, christmass ale, fall bock...depends on what
they are up to at the time.
There is a Light beer now. Watered down slickrock is my guess. ugh.
I have not known them to have the
"best quality control" but hey....it's a brewpub not Miller!
It is the only bottler you could take with you from Utah.
Squatter. Salt Lake City.
Mostly a restaurant which brews too. Hop vines on the patie.
Good selection of styles. I don't know what they have going now.
They've had a cask-conditioned ale which was quite true to style.
Light ales, cream stouts, ambers...Generally nice beer. More
adventurous and willing to bring out the flavors of a style, rather
than catering to "american beer" style consumers. That's a very
good thing! (ps. that should read SQUATTERS)
Ebeneezers. Ogden Utah.
An hour north of salt lake. A wonderfully built log cabin housing
a classy restaurant. Oh by the way, they brew beer upstairs too.
Haven't tried the food, but the 4 beers we sampled were...well...
played pretty safe. Their setup looks very nice and clean...but
being the extreme hop-head I am, I felt the brews were lacking.
The pub has only been open a couple of years, and I hit it early on
so maybe things have changed. A worthy place to visit all in all.
They had a light, amber, stout...and a specialty, which changes.
That may all have changed by now. (oh..it was a lager at the time)
????Can't remember the name. In Price Ut.
A few hours south of Salt Lake. Never been there. Never had their
beer. Seen the label on a bottle. Looked nice. Don't know what the inside
was like. But I liked the homebrew toot refilled it with!
And finally for the more adventurous...
The Coyote Brewery in Logan UT. Run my....none other than....
The Wyllie-Man himself. Fresh brewed beer on tap in a senic basement lounge
decorated in the fashion of the Lambic breweries. All spiders intact.
Even the aggressive house spiders! An ever changing array of tastes to delight.
IPA's, Malty ambers, hoppy bitters, Creamy stouts, Potable Porters...
and the occasional experimental adventures... Fruits, spices, one of
the latest being a Pepper Cardamon corrupted Scotch Ale (90 shilling).
The Pumpkin Mash will begin it's life with the full moon!
(really...if you're passing through northern Ut. drop me a line.
We have the biggest vendor of Wasatch beers (other than their home)
here in town, the White Owl tavern. Nothing like an Owl burger on the deck
friday afternoon with a Big Dog of Ale. Summers gone, the trees are alive!)
**** PS: I don't have any affilition with any of the breweries, except
my own! And sharing the kinship of the many other mini breweries found
in basements and closets all over this little valley!!! ******
*********** John (The Coyote) Wyllie SLK6P@cc.usu.edu 801-753-0825 *********
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 19:57:00 +0000
From: ron_hall%80@hp6400.desk.hp.com
Subject: Smoked Porter
I would like to make a Smoked Porter similar to the wonderful stuff put
out by the Alaskan Beer Co. and Greg Noonan's brewery. I would like to
smoke my own grain, but I have heard or read widely varied recipes on
how to do this. TCJOHB recommends 1 lb. of smoked 2-row for their Smokey
the Beer recipe, and suggests doing it on a brass screen on the BBQ.
I seem to remember a winning recipe from the national AHA convention that
used 4-5 lbs. of smoked grain for a 5 gallon batch. Any experiences
out there? I guess the plan for now is to use 2 lbs. of 2-row, fire up
the Weber, add some Alder chips (that seems to be the smoker's wood of
choice here in the Pacific NW), place the grain on a screen or cookie
sheet, cover and wait until deep roasted color prevails. Any advice?
Ron Hall
Corvallis, Oregon
ron_hall@hp6400.desk.hp.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 15:05 CDT
From: korz@iepubj.att.com
Subject: Re: heating SS/Keg Forced Carbonation Confusion/Campden Blowoff
Paul writes:
>I've used Safety-Silv 1200 to braze numerous bicycle frames, without a joint
>failure, so it provides a fairly strong joint. I use either Mapp gas with
>a Turbo head or one of those propane/oxygen setups from the h/w store. As
>you probably can guess the brazing rod melts in the 1200 deg F range.
>I've read that prolonged heating of SS above 1200-1400 degrees can cause
>it to become brittle, so be careful. I'd suggest practicing on the
>portion of the keg you've cut off.
I once got a hold of a Cornelius keg which I was told was legal, but in
retrospect, I'm quite sure wasn't. The source was a guy from one of the
homebrew clubs who said he got a dozen kegs from an aluminum recycler and
that they had been released by the owners. The kegs still had the:
"WARNING: PROPERTY OF PEPSI COLA BOTTLERS OF ILLINOIS" or some such statment.
I tried removing this label by pulling, but that's not a good way. Then,
I thought, hey, why don't I burn it off with a propane torch? The label
burned off quite nicely, but in the process, the SS glowed red-hot. Upon
cooling, the metal was dark brown and rough. On the inside of the keg,
there was a rainbow colored area, right where I had been heating. I never
ended up using that keg and I think it just started to rust in that heated
area.
The bottom line is that I think that it's possible to ruin a SS keg by
overheating, even with a simple propane torch (no oxygen other than that
in the air).
************************
In response to John McCafferey's keg carbonation/dispensing pressure
confusion:
John "Cisco" and I are still working this issue. We'll report shortly
on our findings.
************************
Johnathan writes:
>Anyway, in #1231 Aaaron Morris recommends Campden tablets in the blowoff
>bucket. What does the campden do? I've never heard of this.
The campden tablets sanitize the water in the blowoff bucket. I believe
they are Sodium or Potassium Metabisulfite. I'm quite sure the intent
is to sanitize the water in case the cooling of the wort sucks blowoff
water up the blowoff tube into the fermenter. Since I've switched to
1.25" OD, 1" ID blowoff hoses, there's no fear of this happening, so I
just use plain water. You could just as well use boiling water in the
blowoff bucket if you wish since after 24 hours, the gas that the campden
tablets make (I forget which it is -- some sulfur-compound) has fizzled-out
and anything that wants to live in your bucket can, so boiling water would
work just as well and is cheaper. I strongly recommend that you use an
oversized tube for blowoff (ideally, 1" ID) to avoid clogging and explosions.
I might also add, that I'm still debating (with myself) on whether to use
blowoff or not anymore (fear of lost head-retaining proteins).
Al.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 93 14:26:45 -0400
From: Philip J Difalco <sxupjd@anubis.fnma.COM>
Subject: Cellar Notes: Radio Program
Hugh Sisson & Al Spoler (of Sisson's, The South Baltimore Brewing Co.) can be
heard on WJHU, Baltimore Public Radio, 88.1 FM, every Wednesday at 8:25PM and
Sunday at 12:55PM. The show explores various topics in the areas of beer, and
at some point is supposed to develop into a Q&A call-in program.
- ---
email: sxupjd@fnma.com (NeXT Mail Okay)
Philip DiFalco, Senior SomethingOrOther, Advanced Technology
FannieMae, 3900 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Washington, DC 22016 (202)752-2812
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1235, 09/28/93
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