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HOMEBREW Digest #1408
This file received at Sierra.Stanford.EDU 94/04/26 03:00:43
HOMEBREW Digest #1408 Tue 26 April 1994
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Janitor
Contents:
ORACLE SPEAK (Jack Schmidling)
Yeast farming with SNPA yeast (708) 938-3184" <HANSEN.MICHAEL@igate.abbott.com>
Kolsch (Richard Nantel)
Composting Technology ( And Hops :-) (Conan-the-Librarian)
enamel on King Kooker (btalk)
Stout bitternest & DI water. (ELTEE)
Recipes wanted ("Michael J. Poaletta")
Unseemly and unnatural adjuncts (erict)
Pop Quiz! (Frank Longmore)
[Aladdin] (Alhana)
Wort Chillers when water shortages are a problem (allison shorten)
BAD all-grain extraction - HELP (Will Smith)
Sparge water ph, Jack's contention (cole)
bruheat replies 1 of 2 (Rich Ryan)
bruheat replies 2 of 2 (Rich Ryan)
Irish Moss Scare (Norman Farrell)
Gott cooler summary (Doug Fettig)
Cask Conditioned Ales (rprice)
hopping in Corny Kegs (25-Apr-1994 1007 -0400)
Re: Cooper's Ale (Jeff Frane)
Where in Tucson.... (Brian Klimowski)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 94 08:15 CDT
From: arf@mcs.com (Jack Schmidling)
Subject: ORACLE SPEAK
After my smashing success with Spanish Moss, I thought I would give the more
traditional Irish Moss a try. The results were a dismal failure, although
probably more a result of my process than any fault of the moss.
I put 2 tbs into my ten gallon batch about 15 minutes before the end of the
boil. I let it air cool for an hour or so then added an oz of finishing hops
and put on the lid with the wort chiller built in. After sitting for about
an hour, I turned on the chiller and cooled down the wort and let it sit for
several more hours. Aside from the Irish Moss this is my normal routine for
providing a decent hop aroma without having to mess with dry hopping.
When it came time to transfer to the fermenter, I hooked up the pump and
after about 6 gallons went through, I smelled plastic burning and found the
pump has siezed up. ....... Pay attention Ulick..... and all efforts to get
it to flow were in vain. The EASYMASHER was hopelessly clogged. I let it
gravity drip all night an managed to salvage about a gallon more.
The wort seemed a bit clearer than usual but upon peeking into the kettle,
there was a mountain of crud, probably 10" high and mucked up in at least 3
gallons of other wise normal wort.
Normall, I just pour whatever is left in the kettle into a jug and it is
clear by morning. I then reboil it and add to the fermenter. No such action
with this crud. Once it was mixed up again, it showed no interest in
settling out even after re-boiling. After three days I threw it out and
ended up with 7 gallons of wort instead of the 10 I had planned on.
As I was anxious to conclude the experiment, I made an ale which is now
fermented out and when I transferred it to the keg, it looked/looks exactly
like all the other beer I have made, except that the 10 gallon keg only has 7
gallons of beer in it.
I suspect that if I went into the kettle from the top instead of drawing
through the EASYMASHER, I could have avoided some of the problem but having
the chiller in the lid makes it impossible to do that without disturbing the
sediment. However, it appears that a great deal of wort is lost because of
the mountain of crud created by the IM and I am not sure I want to live with
that loss. More importantly, the beer seems no clearer than what I make
without it, at least up to the end of primary fermentation. Not sure what to
expect in the next few weeks but just thought I would pass on my experience.
Also, if Ulick is using Irish Moss, I can appreciate his frustration with an
EASYMASHER.... it just plain won't work (as a crud filter that is). I never
said it would work with IM but it's nice to know these things.
js
------------------------------
Date: 23 Apr 1994 07:43:00 -0600 (CST)
From: "Michael D. Hansen (708) 938-3184" <HANSEN.MICHAEL@igate.abbott.com>
Subject: Yeast farming with SNPA yeast
Hey All,
Here is a question to all you yeast farmers out there, particularly those who
have cultured SNPA from the bottle. I took the yeast from two bottles of SNPA
and poured it into my Erlenmeyer flask with starter in it. The yeast took off
with no problem. A few days later I added some more starter and again no
problem. Wanting a large slurry of yeast, I then poured most of the starter off
of the slurry in the Erlenmeyer flask, swirled it around and then pitched it
into 3/4 gallon of 1.040 wort. Vigorous fermentation began by the next morning
(I even had to change airlocks). When fermentation was ostensibly finished I
swirled up the wort to get the yeast back into suspension so I could put it
into test tubes for use at a later time when a very thick head of bubbles rose
to the top. I figured it wasn't done fermenting. The next morning another
vigorous fermentation was going (had to change airlocks twice). When it was
done fermenting (no bubbles from the airlock in 5 minutes), a 3" head of milky
foam still remained on top of the wort. This does not look quite right to me.
It smells fine, albeit yeasty, and I was meticulous in sanitation, swabbing and
flaming surfaces when transferring yeast or wort. Am I on the right track here?
Is this milky krausen characteristic of SNPA yeast? Should I use it or throw it
out? Any and all suggestions are appreciated.
TIA and brew on my friends,
Mike Hansen (HANSENMD@RANDB.ABBOTT.COM)
------------------------------
Date: 23 Apr 94 09:55:36 EDT
From: Richard Nantel <72704.3003@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Kolsch
With the warmer weather approaching, I've decided to brew an all-grain
Kolsch as my next batch. Dry, hoppy, perfect. I'll likely be following
Miller's recipe from TCHOHB:
6 pounds pale lager malt
1 pound Vienna malt
12 AAUs hops (Bavarian, Styrian, or Saaz) (60,30,10 minutes)
Dry hop
ale yeast
I can find very little information about this style in the literature and
have the following questions: Does anyone have suggestions regarding an
appropriate commercial yeast strain? Must Kolsch be lagered after
fermentation like its cousin Alt? What about the water composition in
Kolsch's birthplace, Bonn and Cologne? I lack lagering capability and but
have been dying to brew something with those delicious Saaz hops. Kolsch is
it.
Richard Nantel
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Private email to rnantel@cam.org
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 1994 07:29:19 -0700
From: pascal@netcom.com (Conan-the-Librarian)
Subject: Composting Technology ( And Hops :-)
( This is a little off the main thread, but not too far off. )
Although I'm not growing any hops, I'm currently rebuilding a series of
box gardens, and thought I'd look into composting, also.
The benefit of composting, here, is twofold.
- To create a source of stable plant nutrients for gardening.
- To reduce the amount of garbage produced ( landfill consumed ).
Specially designed composting bins are easily available, although it can
be built out of an old plastic garbage can, with lots of holes drilled
in its sides. A plastic bin is preferred over a pile because dark plastic
absorbs infrared and maintains the warmth of the compost pile better than
an open pile held in place by wooden slats or covered with plastic. The
warmer the compost ( within reasonable boundaries ) ... the faster the
composting process. ( Does that latter piece of advice sound familiar ? :-)
However, composting has advanced somewhat in the past few years. Nowadays,
specific worm species are being added to the microecology of the compost
bin, to expedite the composting process.
As spinoffs, they also produce worms ( for the fishing aficionados in the
audience ) and worm castings ( for the gardening aficionados ). Worm cast-
-ings are regarded as _the_ best fertilizer available, probably superior
to bat guano.
It is my educated, but untested, speculation, that judicious utilization of
a well-designed composting process could result in superior hops and other
garden plants, as well as significant reduction in garbage disposed of via
disposal unit or other conventional methods.
( I daresay it'd even be of help in culturing those "special hops" y'all
keep talking about. :-)
-=0=-
Smaller systems are also available for the apartment dweller. I don't know
how quickly a smaller worm population, in a smaller space, reduces scraps
of vegetables and fruit and such to compost, but, as an experiment, I set
up a 5-gallon bucket a few weeks ago, poured in some sterilized soil, and
added a few hundred red wigglers. Then I stirred in a handful of chopped-up
banana peels and some coffee grounds ... and I've been gradually adding
stuff, stirring it in.
No smell, no mess, no fuss. Eventually I'll have to add a tap to the bottom
of the bucket, to drain off the liquid worm castings, for plant food.
It's actually not that different from regular brewing equipment, except for
the myriad minute holes drilled in the sides. Good use for an old lauter
tun that's sprung a slow leak ... or some old mashing equipment that's
been replaced by an EasyMasher(TM).
Given the large number of people whom have expressed an interest in grow-
-ing their own hops and whatnot, I will forego defending my use of precious
bandwidth. (-:
My next posting : The Nutritional Benefits Of Adding Worms To Your Wort ...
- -- richard
Help ! I'm a lesbian trapped in a man's body !!
richard childers san francisco, california pascal@netcom.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 94 08:07:50 EDT
From: btalk@aol.com
Subject: enamel on King Kooker
Bob Bessette asks about using enamelware pot on these cookers.
I did it until I got a 1/4 keg boiler. It was alot easier to move that volume
than lift 6 gal plus keg!
Anyone have good ideas on moving mass quantities of wort? My next move would
be to 1/2 keg boiler(or RIMS).
Bob, go for it ! You will be amazed at how fast the Kooker gets water
boiling.
regards,
Bob Talkiewicz,Binghamton, NY <btalk@aol.com>
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 1994 14:45:01 -0400 (EDT)
From: ELTEE@delphi.com
Subject: Stout bitternest & DI water.
I brewed CP's Dark Sleep Stout and it has been in the bottle for a couple of
months. At first taste it is wonderful but about 2-3 seconds later it
develops a bitter taste in the mouth. It's possibly astringent but not as
bad as strong tea. Then the flavor mellows again. Two other beer lovers
also verified this. The recipe calls for boiling the specialty grains for 5
minutes, which I did. Is this the problem? I know you shouldn't boil them,
but I was following Charlie. I also added 8 tsp of gypsum. What about
this? My water is already hard and full of minerals.
At work we have de-ionized water. It has a filter followed by two
de-ionizers. Should I use this for my brew? Do I need to boil it before I
add the the concetrated wort from my brewpot? Will it make a huge
difference?
TIA
hoppy brewing
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 94 14:36:47 EDT
From: "Michael J. Poaletta" <MP0824A@american.edu>
Subject: Recipes wanted
- ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I want to brew a steam beer and a wheat beer this summer and I am looking for
some tried and true recipes from the HBD subscribers. I am an extract brewer
who uses specialty grains (haven't made the jump to mashing). I am also trying
to read up on brewing meads for sometime in the future so any literature ( or
for that matter recipes) you folks can recommend would be greatly appreciated.
Also is there a mead net somewhere? Feel free to send me private E-Mail or
post it for all to read. I'm casual. Thanks in advance for any help rendered
Mike Poaletta
Washington D.C.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 94 14:18:56 EDT
From: erict@VNET.IBM.COM
Subject: Unseemly and unnatural adjuncts
Well, somebody had to do it. A few weeks ago, during one of the regular "Can
we brew with cannabis? / How dare you even THINK about it!" flamewars, someone
came back with a flip comment about "not even mentioning catnip beer." It just
so happened that I was in the process of putting together a rather uninspired
brown ale (dare I say it, from extract?) that I wanted to "spice up" a little,
so ...
I hied myself down to the local health food store and picked up a couple ounces
of "brewer's grade" catnip (okay, it was actually labelled as "organic"
catnip -- the point is it wasn't the stuff you buy for Fluffy at the pet
store). My brew had finished it's primary fermentation by this point, so I
dumped the catnip into a cheesecloth bag, weighted it down with a few marbles,
and "dry-nipped" the beer for about a week.
Last night, I experimentally sampled one of the newly-christened "Spacetime
Continuum Ale" (named after my cat, Spacetime) and ... it's not bad at all!
Its only been bottled for 2 weeks, so it could use a little more conditioning,
but the catnip adds a subtle "new-mown grass" note to the nose, a sort of mild
bitter flavour which is not as aggressive as the hops (I'd used Fuggles in the
boil) but complements them nicely, and an aftertaste that I can only describe
as minty, but without the menthol cooling effect. The only adverse side effect
I noticed is that after quaffing a pint I had an uncontrollable urge to roll
around on the carpet and purr ...
On a related subject (to beer flavourings), I thought I'd mention my two
experiments with coffee stouts. Both were based on the Edme Irish Stout kit
(yeah, yeah, I know, I know) souped up with lots of adjuncts and stuff,
including extra roasted barley. (See the various extract stout recipes in
NCJOHB -- I used those as a guideline.) So, for Coffee & Cream Stout #1, at
the end of the boil, after turning off the heat,I dumped in 1/2 lb. of
coarse-ground, mild roast Costa Rican coffee, let it steep for about 10
minutes,and then sparged (am I allowed to use that word?) into the primary and
proceeded as normal. The resulting beverage was -- I blush to report -- a
resounding success. Not only was I quite happy with it, but friends who tasted
it (both homebrewers and non-) were very impressed. The roast coffee beans
complemented the roast barley very nicely, and also seemed to contribute a
slightly sour flavour that was right in line with the style. The only people
who complained were those who weren't very fond of coffee or stout in the
first place. I just polished off the last bottle of this batch last night
(about 6 months after bottling), and it's still great, with no hint of the
"stale coffee" flavours that some other postings here in HBD have mentioned.
Emboldened by the success of my first experiment, a few months later I decided
to try a second batch, this time with EVEN MORE COFFEE. Using the same kit
to start with and only a little (well, okay, quite a bit) more tinkering with
adjuncts, this time after turning off the heat I added 1/2 lb. of Costa Rican
as before, and another 1/2 lb. of French dark roast, and steeped as before.
I am saddened to report that Coffee & Cream Stout #2 did not turn out nearly
as well as batch #1. It has not conditioned very well, has virtually no head
retention, and -- though still quite young -- does seem to be developing some
of the dreaded "stale" flavour. It's the head retention part that bothers me
most, because that's what the "& Cream" part of the moniker refers to.
My theory (and I sure wish I'd thought of this first) is that the culprit is
the dark-roasted coffee beans. These are quite a bit oilier than the mild
roast beans I used earlier, and I expect that it's these oils that are killing
the head, and also may be going rancid more quickly and contributing off
flavours. So my advice to those who would try coffee-flavoured brews is:
Stick to the mild roasts. And incidentally, for those of you who are interested
in the psychoactive properties of your beverages, mild-roasted coffee actually
has MORE caffeine in it than the dark stuff, because the longer roasting
denatures the caffeine.
Let's see, so far in this post I've probably managed to offend the "just say
no" types, the Reinheitsgebot purists, the all-grain anti-extract types, and
those people who object to incorrect use of the term "sparge." I guess I'd
better sign off now.
Eric Tilbrook
Proprietor and Brewmaster
Miskatonic Zythepsary
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 1994 21:35:15 -0500 (CDT)
From: Frank Longmore <longmore@tyrell.net>
Subject: Pop Quiz!
POP QUIZ TIME!
HERE ARE SOME FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FROM THE HBD.
CAN YOU MATCH UP EACH QUESTION WITH IT'S CORRECT ANSWER?
1) How do you make beer? a) yes
2) Would you send me recipes for b) you bought a Zima
Coors, Bud, and Miller beers?
3) How many years running? c) no
4) I'm going to Colorado, are there d) certainly not
any good brewpubs there? using extract.
5) My beer tastes lousy, why? e) three, not four
OKAY, PENCILS DOWN! TURN OVER YOUR KEYBOARDS!
YOU CAN E-MAIL YOUR ANSWER SHEETS TO ME FOR GRADING,
AND I'LL POST THE RESULTS ON THE HOMEROOM BULLETIN BOARD.
If you have already posted any of these questions to the HBD,
get your butt down to the Principal's office for detention.
BrewHaHa,
Frank
>>>>>>>>>> Frank Longmore Internet: longmore@tyrell.net <<<<<<<<<<<
>>>>>>>>>> Olathe, Kansas Compuserve: 70036,1546 <<<<<<<<<<<
>>>>>>> I feel more like I do now than I did when I started... <<<<<<<
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 1994 15:27:13 -0400
From: Alhana@acumen.ca (Alhana)
Subject: [Aladdin]
Regarding: Aladdin
Dennis
Sorry about the delay. My computer was down for a few days. I've gotten
Aladin and I sent the money order on Thursday. It should get there soon.
Yvonne
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 20:49:51 +1000 (EST)
From: allison shorten <shorten@zeus.usq.edu.au>
Subject: Wort Chillers when water shortages are a problem
I used my standard immersion wort chiller today at a friend's place. He
really liked it, but his problem is that, being a farmer in a remotish
area, he has to rely entirely on tank water (filled courtesy of rain), and
we have had a prolonged drought here in southern Queensland, lasting for
over 3 years. So a chiller is only a proposition for him if he can
minimize the amount of water consumed. I confidently told him that I would
turn the problem over to the collective wisdom of the HBD, who would solve
it with little effort.
So, what suggestions can you give us as to how to make or utilize a
chiller so as to use the least amount of water possible? Thanks in advance.
Brett Shorten
Toowoomba, Qld, Australia
shorten@zeus.usq.edu.au
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 07:05:50 -0400 (EDT)
From: Will Smith <wsmith@cap.gwu.edu>
Subject: BAD all-grain extraction - HELP
Dear HBD and All-Grain Gurus (Guri?),
After lurking and extract brewing for about a year, I decided to take the
plunge. My experience has not been too bad - nothing destroyed, wife not
too upset etc. So far so good. MY PROBLEM: BAD EXTRACTION RATES. Batch
# 1 - 10# M&F British two row. I missed my temp on my cooler infusion
mash and wound up at +- 147. Not critical. Mashed for 2 hours (at the
mall), sparged for 1 hour, wound up with about 5 gal. of 1.050 or 25
pts/lb/gal after the boil. Batch # 2 - 10# American 2 row, 1#crystal,
1/2# each roasted and chocolate, all in the mash. Infusion temp 154. Time
1 hour. Sparge 1.5 hours. Boil 1 hour (yes, with hops). SG 1.032 ?!?!?
- wait - let me check that again 1.032 - !@#$%^&*.
EQUIPMENT - rectangular cooler, double-bucket lauter tun, CS-33 (K-Mart +-
$30), misc chilling devices.
OTHER INFO - I ALWAYS kept the sparge water (170 deg) level above the
grain level and carefully poured onto a saucer sitting on top so as not to
disturb said grain. The guy at the HB shop said that "all the grain I
sell is highly modified and suitable for an infusion mash".
SPECULATION - Could this BAD extraction be caused by soft water? I do not
know the local chemistry (but I bet someone out there knows what it is for
FAIRFAX CITY VIRGINIA (a burb of DC)) but does this sound reasonable?
REQUEST - HELP ME GET A GOOD EXTRACTION RATE!!
Thanks for any and all help.
Will Smith wsmith@cap.gwu.edu a cool free internet mail spot
,',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',
Suckin' up to the status quo
',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',','
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 09:55:31 -0400
From: cole@nevism.nevis.columbia.edu
Subject: Sparge water ph, Jack's contention
In the last HBD Jack restated his claim that sparge water
does not need to be acidified as the "buffering" action of
the mash will keep the ph level up (paraphrased).
My experience is that before I started acidifying my sparge
water, the runoff at the end of the sparge would be very
tart (astringent) and unpleasant tasting. I made a bitter
which had an unpleasant dry, harsh flavor which I attribute
to over-sparging and tannin extraction from husks.
So, what gives ? I claim Jack is over-simplifying the situation
if not outright misleading people.
* I am not a chemist but if I understand buffering correctly it
can be described as follows:
> The ph of a solution is determined by the number of free H+
ions in the solution, which in turn is determined by how
various (inorganic ?) ionic compounds (e.g. salts) dissolve
and attatch themselves to the H+ and OH- ions in water.
> The dissolution of the ionic compound will cease at a certain
H+ or OH- concentration leaving some of the (e.g. salts)
undissolved. If the conentration of H+ or OH- ions is changed
the dissolution of the ionic compound will change until the
equilibrium point is again attained.
* Now how does this relate to the mash ? Miller has a discussion
of the processes occuring during the mash that produce the typical
ph of 5.3:
> The enzyme phytase breaks down phytin into phytic acid which
reacts strongly with calcium to release H+.
> Also calcium >>FROM THE BREWING WATER<< reacts with phosphates
to release H+ ions, >>BUT AT A MUCH LOWER EFFICIENCY<<.
> This means that the ph of the mash is due to organic (enzymic)
and inorganic chemical reactions that take place when the malt
is added to the mash water.
> It seems to me that these reactions have >>NOTHING<< to do
with buffering. Once phytase is denatured, no more phytic acid
is produced, once the phosphates are used up no more calcium +
phosphate reactions can occur.
* So, my conclusion is that the mash >>DOES NOT ACT AS A BUFFER<<.
i.e. if de-ionized water were added to the mash, the ph would
rise until at the end of the mash it would be near that of the
water itself (beware of temperature dependence of ph even for
water !!)
* However, it seems reasonable to me that there may be phosphates
from the grain remaining after the mash. If so and there is
calcium in the sparge water, these could react to lower the ph.
The magnitude of the effect would depend on the malt >>AND ON THE
MINERAL CONTENT OF THE BREWING WATER<<
* So, I would claim that the affect of sparge water on the ph of the
sparge can vary substantially depending on local water and on the
mash technique. I certainly found a substantial improvement
in results when I started acidifying my sparge water.
I welcome all technical comments on the above, especially from those
who REALLY know what they are talking about. Please direct all flames
to /dev/null.
Brian Cole
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 94 08:26:05 -0400
From: Rich Ryan <ryancr@install4.swin.oasis.gtegsc.com>
Subject: bruheat replies 1 of 2
About a week ago I asked for comments on the bruheat.
Here is the list, both positive and negative regarding the bruheat. I
am posting the replies as I thing they are of general interest. Note:
the distributor offered to replace/fix the one unit which was cracked.
Standard disclaimers apply, I have no interest... blah, blah, blah.
Hi Rich,
I'm the distributor for the Bruheat and have used one for 13 years. I like
them. They're a good value for around $100. You get both a mash tun and a
7 1/2 gallon boiler. The plastic is hi-density polypropolene and, surprisingly,
is the most durable part of the whole unit. But to allay people's fears,
I have a life-time warranty on the bucket. I've replaced two in 7 years.
Full warranty on the Bruheat itself. All fixable problems are fixed free of
charge for the life of the unit. I do everything I can to keep my Bruheat
customers happy.
People will tell you that scorching the grains on the element is a problem.
Yes and no. You do need to clean the element after each use. If not, you
will see a continual buildup of sugars which will turn black soon. A quick
boil of 1 gallon of water and a tablespoon of B-Brite will dissolve the thin
coating of sugar after each round of brewing and keep the element sparkling
clean.
Where do you live? Perhaps I have a shop close by so you can check one out.
Rich,
I bought a BruHeat when I started brewing, and I like it a lot. I had
been looking at the cost of buying a full-size SS pot for full boils, and
decided that the BruHeat would do the job and do it faster. It brings
6.5 gallons to a boil in about 15 - 20 minutes. I have not used it for
mashing, although I have the bag to do it with. I use my little 30? quart
rectangular cooler, which has the very convenient property of settling
out at exactly 20 degrees lower than my mash water starts at (after preheating
the cooler). Anyway, the only "trouble" I had was installing a 220V outlet
in my kitchen. When I bought the BruHeat, I figured (wrongly) that my range
was plugged in to a socket under the counter. Unfortunately, it was hard-
wired into the wall. It was not difficult or expensive to install the
socket, and now I can run both the range and the BruHeat at the same time.
If you are not comfortable doing electrical work yourself, assuming that
you have to do any, the cost of having an electrician do it may be more than
you feel its worth. Bottom line is that I like mine, and would buy another
one if I had to start all over again. If you have any specific questions
I'll be happy to try and help - just drop me a line. Response time may not
be great after Monday since I'm going over to a different area, and I'm not
sure how the e-mail situation is yet. I'll continue to have this address
though, so I will eventually get it.
Good Brewing (and tasting!!)
Rich,
I've been using a bruheat for more than 10 years and I think they're
great. I use it for heating up mash water(I mash in a Coleman 5 gal.
water cooler), sparge water and for the boil. I would not recommend
mashing in it, you need to either constantly keep stirring or use
a grain bag which is really inefficient for proper overall heat
distribution. The only modification I've done is to wrap the whole
bucket in 1/2 inch closed cell foam, don't forget the top and bottom
also. This helps alot in quickly reaching your desired temps. I also
have it hooked up to 220 volts and use the outlet that my stove plugs
into. It's the next best thing to a cajun cooker except you can still
brew indoors. I should mention that with the insulation it takes just
under an hour to bring wort to a gently rolling boil.
Rich, I have used a Bruheat boiler for four years for my extract and
partial mash/extract beers. Early on I tried using it to mash and did
not like the results - tried maybe five or six times and it just never
seemed to come out right - besides about the most you can possibly put
in it is 5 1/2 gallons and most of my all grains start at around seven
gallons. Anyway, the Bruheat is fast and I love the convenience of the
whole thing - I no longer use hop bags but use the copper scrubber on
the siphon end to exclude the hot break and hops residue. I do not use
the spigot in part because I don't want the hot break going into my
primary ( the Easymasher(tm) would probably work to keep out the hops -
I have written to Jack Schmidling about this) and the other reason I
don't use the spigot is because I siphon into a counterflow chiller and
the spigot just never seemed to make that transition effectively. The
lid is very difficult to get off and would only recommend snapping it in
place in the event you were going to do a low temp setting to ferment in
the Bruheat - I know you can but I have never tried this/ for my use I
just rrest the lid on the top while it is boiling. I use the Bruheat in
my garage (the all grain gets done outside) and when the garage is cold
I wrap the Bruheat in a mylar over airbubble insulation wrap piece that
I cut to size to increase the heating efficiency. I would by a
replacement were something to happen to this one and i guess that serves
as a good endorsement. I haven't noticed their cost recently.
Rich, I have had only one accident/incident with my Bruheat which was
entirely my fault; I had a batch I was going to make in a hurry and
decided i would put all the malts in first and then add the water. Well,
i put the Bruheat on the stand I use, plugged it in, went in to get the
malts, cut open a 3 pound bag of amber DME, dumped it into the Bruheat -
and immediately a column of smoke arose. I had failed to check to see if
the "0" setting actually meant off or just low heat. Well, it must be a
low heat setting. What a mess! It took hours to get the charred malt off
of the element. Anyway, I always make sure the unit has liquids to cover
the element before I pug the Bruheat. Just a very stupid move on my
part.
Good luck.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 94 08:27:13 -0400
From: Rich Ryan <ryancr@install4.swin.oasis.gtegsc.com>
Subject: bruheat replies 2 of 2
Rich,
I have used a Bruheat for a number of years and was generally pleased with it.
I started out using it for both mashing and boiling. As far as mashing goes, it
had one major drawback. Because the heating element is in contact with the mash
you have to use a very thin mash. My general recipe called for eight pounds of
grain in three imperial gallons of water (3.6 US gallon, it has imp. gallons
marks on the side.) This is 1.8 quarts per pound. For a five gallon batch you
want about six gallon of wort at the beginning of the boil so you use about
3.5 gallons of sparge water ( 0.1 gallon per pound of grain is absorbed by the
grai)n. This did not give me a very good mash efficiancy. And it was unthinkable
to try to mash more grains for a higher gravity beer. You run out of sparge
water pretty quickly. I usually added dry malt to the boil.
The thin mash is neccessary to keep from scorching the grains. You may hear this
complaint from others but I have never had it happen to me.
I now use the Gott cooler with copper tube manifold mash/lauder tun design and
am very happy with it.
As a boiler it may work-out based on your situation. I have an electric stove
and did not like boiling wort on it for a number of reasons - potential hot
spots at the heating elements, the pot being wider than the burner and others.
The Bruheat does work, make sure you get the 220 volt version not the 110 volt.
The 110 volt version takes forever to reach boil I have heard. One complaint I
have is the size. It is about seven gallons which makes boil-overs likely. You
have to watch it and turn the thermostat on and off until the boil-over point
is past. During the boil the thermostat cycles on and off constantly ,so I
figure you get slighty lower hop utilization but not much. One last hassle is
the 220 volt connection. I had to pull my stove out to plug in the Bruheat
everytime I brewed. I always planned to put in a Y connection on the outlet but
never did. I now use a cajun cooker with a converted keg as a brew kettle.
I believe the Bruheat is $75 - $80. Not too bad if it meets you needs and
situation. If you have more questions or if you buy one and want more details
on how I used mine feel free to contact me.
Ryan,
On the subject of the Bruheat, I have been using it as a heating vessel
for my mash and sparge water as well as a brewpot for nearly a year now
and it works much more effieceintly (sp) for these purposes than any
stovetop.
I have never mashed in it, I'm afraid that even with the on/off cycling
of the heating element a great deal of the grains would be scorched
unless you were careful to stir the mash every 5 or 10 minutes. Still,
they say it can be done very well, let me know what kind of success you
have mashing with it.
The power cord is approx 5-6 feet long, a possible bummer.
It cleans up very nicely and can be used to store equipment as well.
The spigot is far enough above the bottom so that you can drain from it
into the fermenter without the hops pluggin it up, if of course you only
use pellets.
Anyhting else? I don't know, I hope this helps.
Howdy,
You want MY opinion??? DON'T DO IT! I had one. It's heater element is too
small, too hot, therefore chars the grain. It shorts out in the middle of
the mash when it does this. Then, you have to empty the mash into something
while you clean the element. Don't char your fingers when you do this. The
buckets crack easily. Mine was cracked from day one. I recommend the
picnic cooler method. Or the "large kettle" method. Anything but the
bruheat.
You wanted my opinion.
Good luck.
Rich,
I have seen the bruheat range in price from $72.00 to $130.00 (plus
shipping). I bought one from Brew your Own Beer a mail order place in
the Minneapolis area. I don't have the address or phone number with me
right now but could get it for you if you wish. They have them dropped
shipped for about $78.00 plus shipping. One caveat with these is you
need to figure out a way to plug it into a 220V outlet. They come
without a plug. I bought a dryer cord, plastic electrical box, 220V
outlet and matching plug and made an extension cord to plug into the
dryer outlet. This is working real well for me.
As far as using the Bruheat. I really like mine. It really is the only
way for me to do a decent full boil at home because we have an electric
stove. If you start with hot water you can bring 6 gallons of water to a
boil in about 45 minutes. It is very good at maintaining tempratures for
mashing after you calibrate it (Instructions for this are included). I
would recommend it, my wife is happy because I an brewing in the
basement now and the house doesn't stink as much. She also complains
abou the smell when we have Malt-o-Meal, must be one of those childhood
thinks.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 07:49:57 -0500
From: nfarrell@ppco.com (Norman Farrell)
Subject: Irish Moss Scare
I was under the impression that Irish Moss decomposed quite nicely
after about 10 minutes in the brew kettle. If this is indeed the
case, then it is the leftovers in whatever amount that make it
into the bottle (or keg) that should be of concern. Does anyone
know what these byproducts/leftovers might be? I suspect that the
risk of using Irish Moss as a clarifying agent is essentially nil.
If someone has information otherwise please post.
Best Regards,
Norman (nfarrell@ppco.com)
May your last beer be your best!
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 94 09:48:00 PDT
From: Doug Fettig <DFettig@NYD.LEGENT.COM>
Subject: Gott cooler summary
Thanks everyone for advice on where to get a Gott cooler.
Here's a summary of locations and advice that others kindly
suggested. I neglected to say that I live in NJ, so I got advice
for locations all over the country, which may help others.
It seems the 5 gal. cooler should work for most brews, where
the 10 gal would work for anything.
SportMart here in San Diego for $40. I think they may
also be available from Cabela's mail order (they have an 800 number).
(Dion Hollenbeck)
5 gal Gotts:
BJ's Wholesale Club ( I know in MA, NH ) $18.99
Service Merchandise ( MA, NH ) $19.99
I've heard 12 pounds of grain and sparge water will fit in the 5 gal size,
so that should be adequate enough for me.
(Frank Judge)
Sam's Club stores (Walmart affiliate). Also several suggested
Walmart. The local NJ Walmart didn't have any, but may stock
them when summer approaches.
(Keith B.)
Home Improvement Centers, such as:
Home Depot
Builders Square
(Rich Goldstein, spencer)
REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.).
National customer service number 800-828-5533
(Ken Sager and Rich Goldstein)
Or instead use...
Rubbermaid or Coleman. Its
round, holds a little over 5 gallons and is orange with a white
top. I saw them recently at costco for under $20. When I mash
8-10 lbs of grain i see very little temp change (1-2 degrees F)
in 90-120 minutes.
(John.Treacy , mlittle)
Last fall I researched the same problem. The information I received is that
Walmart among others stocks Gott products. However, I was looking for a
10 gallon cooler and the Walmart near me did not carry said Gott. So I
called
1-800-555-1212 to get the number for Rubbermaid (they bought out Gott) and
got the following info. You can order a 10 gallon cooler directly from them
for 46.75 including S&H (prices as of last fall). The address is
Rubbermaid Specialty Products
P.O. Box 547 Dept K
Winfield KS 67156
(rich lenihan)
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 10:00:35 -0500
From: rprice@cbmse.nrl.navy.mil
Subject: Cask Conditioned Ales
Spending time in the UK on a regular basis, I have enjoyed typical cask
conditioned ales as a regular part of my daily routine. I always attempt to
frequent busy pubs with a reasonable turnover of product, and strictly
stay with the hand pumped fare.
In the past 3 HBD issues there have been several postings on this
matter. For my two cents worth it appears that several factors come
into play in the proper conditioning and service of cask conditioned ales.
The first is freshness, The first days beers appear to be the best, and
by the end of the second day the stuff is slowly going over the hill. We
found that often the local Publican in a fit of thriftyness will pump from
the keg until they draw in the dregs, then simply switch kegs and
continue pumping. If they don't clean the delivery system there are then
several feet of tube, the beer engine itself etc full of bacteria, yeast and
trub. In some of the pubs this can put an evil taste into the next keg
through cross contamination. So I guess in this case you are at the
mercy of the publican and their notion of clean. Also for those ales that
are dry hopped the character continues to change from a fresh malty
brew to a slightly less malty but hoppy one over two or three days.
Oxidation is one factor, but so is exposure to the hop plugs and bacteria.
At one Pub in the town center in Nottingham we watched what we
thought was a petrol truck stop and run a very large rubber hose into the
basement of the pub, through a small glass transome window, then
proceed for the next half hour to offload hundreds of gallons of beer into
a huge plastic vat. The beer was pumped from there. Now thats
volume!, the beer was fresh, the next day the truck was back and so
were we, the same brewers beer when purchased at a "locan" in the
burbs of Nottingham was of really inferior quality.
A few suggestions to try for commercial cask conditioned ales.
1) Flowers (in the south)
2) Theakstons ( in the northeast)
3) Fullers ESB and London Ale
4) Arkels
5) Wadsworth XXXXXX
6) Courage Directors Ale
7) Smiths (but only in Tadcaster right by the brewery).
However, that aside, you can purchase "natural" pressure kegs from
Hambledon-Bard ($15.00), which allow you to naturally condition your
beer. these are relatively inexpensive with a pressure sealing top, and a
spigot near the bottom of the keg. You treat this in a similar manner to a
"real" wooden keg and you are able to enjoy your beer in a naturally
conditionaed format. Mine actually came with a CAMRA booklet! But
unless you are into tanking down a 5 gallon (imperial) batch of beer in a
weekend they work better as secondary fermentors.
If you want to recieve really strange looks try walking on your return
flight with your "carry on" consisting of 2 large self-pressure beer kegs.
Each stuffed with Hops, Malt, Yeast and other assorted goodies.
We have located a couple of sources of hand pumps at Pub and
restaurant supply stores in the UK. They were about $300.00 American
new. Quite a bit of expense to dress up your home bar, but perhaps
worth it. We have been able to demonstrate a high level of bacteria in
our kegs after about 72 hours, so they appear to go off quite quickly.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 94 10:11:49 EDT
From: 25-Apr-1994 1007 -0400 <ferguson@zendia.enet.dec.com>
Subject: hopping in Corny Kegs
>Date: Thu, 21 Apr 1994 11:28:50 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Jim Busch <busch@daacdev1.stx.com>
>Subject: cask ales, pt 4 (last)
>If cask hopping is done,
>only fresh whole hops or whole hop plugs should be used. Place the hops in a
>permeable bag, using a sanitized weight to force the bag to the bottom of the
>cask.
Becareful! I've done this with my soda kegs and eventually, you'll get a
blockage. I was able to get about 8-10 pints out before the blockage effected
flow. what i'm trying now is a muslin bag filled with hops put inside the
keg with no weight. i suspect i'll get blockage eventually, but not quite
as quickly as with the weighted version.
btw, when ya'll dry hop in the keg, do you leave the hops in there for the life
of the brew or take 'em out after X days?
jc
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 07:27:23 -0700 (PDT)
From: gummitch@teleport.com (Jeff Frane)
Subject: Re: Cooper's Ale
Ack! Lost the attribution, but someone was asking about Cooper's Ale. I
haven't seen a bottle in eons, but was told two weeks ago that it was
finally coming back to Oregon -- and that, in fact, the container was at
the dock. Haven't seen a bottle yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing
if the stuff is as tasty as I remember.
For the homebrewer, there are some interesting hints in The Beer
Companion. Jackson says that the beer is made with 82% malt, the
remainder being cane sugar. !! Hops (as typical of Australian beers)
are Pride of Ringwood. Coopers yeast is readily available, either dry
or in a pure cultured version from [insert commercial].
- --Jeff
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 07:35:20 -0700
From: brian@cyclone.atmo.arizona.edu (Brian Klimowski)
Subject: Where in Tucson....
I just moved to Tucson and am having a hard time finding a decent
supplier of homebrew supplies. I've been to the Rumrunner, and the
Hobby shop on Speedway (the two 'best' places in town), and both
have very small inventories and high prices. I would rather not
drive to Phoenix if I dont have to...anyone know if there is some
great little hide-a-way in Tucson where I could buy what I need?
Thanks...Also, I would appreciate some advice on warm-temperature
fermenting (75+). I doubt if I can afford to keep my house cool enough
to ferment my ales at the ideal temperatures this summer. Any advice on
yeast strains or techniques which may aid my brewing this summer??
Many thanks...please feel free to e-mail me directly.
Brian
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1408, 04/26/94
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