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HOMEBREW Digest #1540
This file received at Sierra.Stanford.EDU 94/10/01 10:46:19
HOMEBREW Digest #1540 Fri 30 September 1994
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Janitor
Contents:
A primer on priming (pt 1) (HIBBERD Mark)
A primer on priming (pt2) (HIBBERD Mark)
bottle infections... (abaucom)
Regional Recipe Request (TJWILLIA)
labels, out of control (HEWITT)
Mailing beer ("William F. Cook")
Thanks, Wort-Chiller Wins by a Landslide (ESMPD)" <gcunning@Census.GOV>
Semi-open fermentation (Allan Rubinoff)
How to get "dirt cheap" grain (Spencer.W.Thomas)
Ball Valve Alert (npyle)
calcium chloride (Jay Weissler)
King Kooker Kooking (Btalk)
1st Annual Naked Pueblo Homebrew Competition (Ray Brice)
Re: Aeration equipment (Dion Hollenbeck)
light beer. (djfitzg)
Re : yeast cell lifespan (Mike Twardowski)
Re: Aeration equipment (KWH)
Re: Plumbing parts for SS kegs (Joel Birkeland)
Wyeast 3068 ("Seth L. Betaharon")
Mature in carboy or bottles? (Jim Blue)
New Magazine ("Vandermey, John")
Screening nasties/stuck ferment (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583)
Hard Water Brewing (Art Steinmetz)
Pilsner Urquell Yeast (Jay Weissler)
Brewpubs in CA (BrewerBob)
******************************************************************
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 17:49:55 +1200 (EST)
From: HIBBERD Mark <mfh@dar.csiro.au>
Subject: A primer on priming (pt 1)
I've recently put together some notes on priming for our club newsletter
and thought I'd see what response it receives herre. It was inspired by
a desire to explain some of the problems I'd been having with priming
various styles of beer.
Priming notes (part 1) - Mark Hibberd (Bayside Brewers, Melbourne)
- ----------------------
Most homebrewers carbonate their beer by adding priming sugar at
bottling time. Usual instructions call for about a teaspoon of sugar per
bottle. But exactly how much sugar is needed and what types of sugar are
suitable? And what can you do if a beer is over- or under-carbonated?
Carbonation levels
The amount of carbon dioxide in a beer can usefully be described in terms
of the volumes of CO2, i.e. how many volumes of CO2 (at atmospheric
pressure) are dissolved in one volume of beer. This terminology is familiar
to those who keg. Charts for kegging systems show the gas pressure to
apply at each temperature to achieve a particular carbonation level. If this
pressure is held for several days, the carbonation reaches its equilibrium
value, i.e. the beer will absorb all the CO2 it can at that temperature. In
bottle conditioning, the CO2 is produced by the fermentation of an
accurate dosing of priming sugar.
Just as each style of beer has its own balance of hops and maltiness, so the
appropriate level of carbonation varies from beer to beer. British ales
should be much less carbonated than lagers or wheat beers. The
accompanying table shows typical carbonation levels for various styles of
beer. Exact values are a matter of personal preference, but a good starting
point for a homebrew is 2.4 volumes CO2.
Beer style Volumes CO2
---------- -----------
British-style ales 1.8 - 2.2
Most lagers, Aussie beers 2.2 - 2.6
American, highly carbonated 2.6 - 3.0
Typical CO2 levels in bottled beers
How much priming sugar
To achieve a particular carbonation level, you need to know the initial CO2
content of your 'green' beer as well as the amount of priming sugar that
will give the additional CO2.
Green beer, i.e. beer that has finished fermenting and is ready for bottling,
is saturated with carbon dioxide because it has had CO2 bubbling through
it continuously during fermentation. This amount of CO2 can be estimated
from the accompanying graph. It shows that the CO2 level depends on the
temperature (at which fermentation was completed) and explains why a
sample taken from a secondary fermenter at 2 degC tastes much brighter than
a sample from an ale fermenting at 20 degC. For the following example, we
will assume an initial 0.9 volumes CO2.
Temp (degC) Vol. CO2 Temp (degC) Vol. CO2
----------- -------- ----------- --------
0 1.7 12 1.12
2 1.6 14 1.05
4 1.5 16 0.99
6 1.4 18 0.93
8 1.3 20 0.88
10 1.2 22 0.83
Chart substituted here for graph in original article
Determining the amount of priming sugar is based on the fact that adding 4
grams of fully fermentable sugar (dextrose, glucose or normal white sugar)
per litre will ferment to give 1 volume of CO2: 4 g/l sugar --> 1 vol. CO2
For our sample homebrew with a final 2.4 volumes CO2, we subtract the
initial 0.9 vol. CO2 in the green beer to find that we need another 1.5 vol.
CO2. This is achieved by adding 1.5*4 = 6 g/l priming sugar. It can be
added directly to each bottle (4.5 g per 750 ml bottle) or by bulk priming
the whole batch.
For bulk priming (in this example, 140 g for a 23 l batch), the sugar is
dissolved and sanitised by boiling in about 500 ml water, then cooled and
added to a clean fermenter. The green beer is then racked into this
fermenter, carefully mixed and bottled. Bulk priming has the advantages of
sterilising the sugar, consistent carbonation for all bottles and not having
to worry about siphoning yeast sediment at the end of bottling. Balanced
against this are the risks of oxidation and infection with the extra racking
as well as the additional time involved.
Variations in the priming rate as small as 1 g/l can produce noticeable
changes in the final CO2 levels (0.25 vol. CO2) so that fairly accurate
measurements are required to obtain consistent results. For comparison
with the priming rate suggested above, it is useful to note that the 3/4 cup
corn sugar (4 oz. dry weight) per 5 U.S. gallons called for in many
American recipes is equivalent to a priming rate of 6 g/l.
This simple picture can be complicated by the CO2 generated by the slow
breakdown and fermentation of dextrins, particularly in strong all-malt
beers. This is rather difficult to estimate. Although it will be negligible in
most beers, it is said to be sufficient to fully carbonate some high gravity
beers that are stored many months before drinking (maybe producing up to
1 vol. CO2).
(continued in part 2)
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 18:22:36 +1200 (EST)
From: HIBBERD Mark <mfh@dar.csiro.au>
Subject: A primer on priming (pt2)
Priming notes (part 2)
- ----------------------
Measuring priming sugar
The most accurate method of measuring priming sugar is by weight but for
bottle priming the most convenient method is by volume using a measuring
spoon. However, much confusion arises here because the same spoon
holds different weights of different sugars.
Measurements show that a standard (5 ml) kitchen teaspoon holds 4.5 g of
normal white sugar but only 3.4 g of dextrose or glucose powder - about
25% less dextrose. This difference is sufficient to explain the changes
homebrewers report when switching from one priming sugar to another,
particularly as many kit recipes suggest rather high priming rates to
produce a beer ready for drinking soon after bottling; these beers often
become over-carbonated with time.
Another useful 'spoon' is a homebrew bottling measure, which holds 6 g of
white sugar (4.5 g dextrose) on one side and 3 g (2.3 g dextrose) on the
other. Thus, either a standard teaspoon of white sugar or a bottling
measure of dextrose per 750 ml bottle will give the same final level of
carbonation (+1.5 vol. CO2). But if the sugars were reversed (teaspoon of
dextrose or bottling measure of white sugar), the final beer would be
under- or over-carbonated by 0.4 vol. CO2.
For really reliable results, you need to know exactly how much priming
sugar your measuring spoon holds. If you have accurate scales, you can
check directly. However, it's best to average by adding, say, 20 scoops to
a small container and weighing them all at once. If your scales aren't
accurate enough, you could ask your homebrew shop to do the weighing.
Or buy some good scales - they're also useful for weighing hops and
letters!
Types of priming sugar
The above calculations are based on using fully fermentable sugars. These
include glucose, dextrose (corn sugar), fructose, and sucrose (white sugar
or castor sugar). Icing sugar should be avoided because of the small
amounts of cornstarch added to prevent clumping. In fact, a given weight
of sucrose produces 5% more CO2 than the other sugars, but the
difference can safely be ignored.
When used in small amounts for priming, none of these sugars contributes
any flavour to the beer. On the other hand, some people enjoy the note
added by using brown sugar or Demerara sugar to prime ales; the same
weights should be used as for dextrose. For the adventurous, syrups can
also be used, but the weights need to be increased to account for the water
and different types of sugars present: honey (extra 40% by weight),
genuine maple syrup (+50%) or molasses (+80%). Furthermore, the
results will be less predictable and carbonation will take longer.
Finally, the all-malt purist may want to prime with malt extract, either
dried (+30%) or liquid (+40%). Again the results may be variable. More
involved methods include adding unfermented or actively fermenting wort
(krausening); details can be found in good brewing books.
Problems
Sometimes things just don't work out and you find a whole batch is over-
carbonated. It may have occurred because of bottling too soon, over-
priming or possibly because of an infection. In any case, the batch can be
saved by releasing some of the pressure. With swing-top Grolsch bottles,
just release the pressure momentarily a number of times over several days.
For crown-sealed bottles, it's best to cool them as much as possible to
avoid gushing. Prise off the caps but leave them sitting loosely in place to
minimise possible contamination of the beer. The time to wait before
resealing with new caps can only be determined by trial and error so
experiment with one bottle at a time, starting with 10 to 30 minutes.
On the other hand the beer may be under-carbonated or even flat. The
simplest explanations are that you forgot to prime or that the caps are not
sealing properly. But it may also be that they just haven't had time to
carbonate properly in which case you'll probably be able to taste the sugar.
The bottles should be held at the yeast fermentation temperature for a few
days for an ale yeast to several weeks for a cool-fermenting lager yeast. A
longer time may be required if the beer sat for a long time before bottling
allowing more of the yeast to sediment out. But there should always be
enough yeast left to do the job provided they are given sufficient time. If
you're really worried, it is possible to add extra yeast - a few grains of
dried yeast or drops of liquid yeast. But extra priming sugar should only be
added as a last resort if you want to avoid producing a batch of grenades.
In conclusion, a teaspoon of sugar per 750 ml bottle is a good rule of
thumb and if you're happy with the result then stick with it. But if you're
having problems, the factors discussed here should enable you to
consistently produce beer that is carbonated the way you like it.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 7:35:03 EDT
From: abaucom@fester.swales.com
Subject: bottle infections...
I once read that if you have a ring around the neck of your bottles (at
the liquid line) that was undeniably an infection signal...
I have some mead that has been bottled for about 6-8 months and before
that it was in a secondary for 6-8 months...Here's the wierd thing...
all the mead bottles have a thin white consistant ring right at the liquid
line but the mead is FANTASTIC... If it IS infected...then 3 cheers for
infections...
So my question is the obvious...is there other explainations for a bottle
ring besides infections?
Thanks...
Andrew
- ------
Andrew W. Baucom, abaucom@fester.swales.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 08:25:17 EDT
From: <TJWILLIA%OCC.bitnet@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Regional Recipe Request
Risking the flames ... For those in Michigan (or close by), does anyone
know of a clone of Sol Sun out of the Kalamazoo Brewing Co.? I know that
this may vex those far removed from these environs, but if I can come up
with this I may just have a new convert for this noble hobby.
Extract or all-grain. E-mail just fine. TIA
Tom Williams
tjwillia@occ.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 08:45 EDT
From: HEWITT@arcges.arceng.com
Subject: labels, out of control
Three cheers to Nuttings Lake Publishing. Good service deserves highlighting
to fellow users. I recently made my first order for beer labels (ad in
Zymurgy) and recieved my order priority mail almost before the check
cleared. Very refreshing. (no affiliation, etc.)
Are you listening psycokitty?
On another subject, on my next lager batch I am considering an approach
to more accurately control fermentation temperature. Rather than mounting
the Hunter controller sensor on the inside of the refrigerator, I am
planning on mounting it on the side of the carboy and taping insulation
on the backside. I will monitor the fridge temp and carboy temp with
time to document the results. To avoid a large undershoot in cooling
to fermentation temperature I will wait until the wort and starter have
stabilized at the desired temp, pitch, switch the sensor to the carboy,
and let the controller compensate for the heat generated by fermentation.
Five gallons of high density wort may be too much of a thermal mass to
control effectively with only free convection, but I will give it a shot.
Anybody tried something similar before I burn up my compressor?
Pat Hewitt
"Don't let the same dog bite you twice" - Tesla
------------------------------
Date: 28 Sep 94 08:43:41 EDT
From: "William F. Cook" <71533.2750@compuserve.com>
Subject: Mailing beer
Please forgive if this is in a FAQ or zymurgy somewhere...I haven't found it
in the stuff I have access to.
What is the proper way to mail homebrew, wrt legality and shipper policies?
I've heard that UPS & post office will not ship beer. Private e-mail is fine,
I will summarize and post.
Thanx in advance,
Bill Cook
HydroComp, Inc.
Team Dennis Conner
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 08:52:35 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Jerry Cunningham (ESMPD)" <gcunning@Census.GOV>
Subject: Thanks, Wort-Chiller Wins by a Landslide
Hello everyone,
I read Bob the Badgerspace guy's article today saying that thanks are in order
for people who respond to your questions (I didn't know if I should send thanks
or not). I decided to thank everyone who responded to my "wort-chiller vs.
secondary" question, but I lost their addresses, so I'm gonna do it in public!
Thanks Jeff D., jc, CLAY, Darren Aaberge, Steve Peters, Al.K, Ralph Griffin,
Paul S., Rick Magnon, and Steve Turner. I really appreciate your comments, and
sorry if I forgot anyone.
To summarize, my question was which piece of equipment would have a bigger
impact on improving my brews. The responses were 2-1 in favor of the wort-
chiller, so naturally I went out and bought a carboy! Here's my "logic":
Winter is coming so my wort will cool faster, and with a glass carboy as a
secondary I can bottle _when I want_! I do plan on building a wort-chiller in
the future, though. Thanks again.
P.S. I also received 2 geography lessons telling my that Checkoslavakia (sp?)
has split into 2 countries. Yeah, right, next thing you'll tell me the Soviet
Union split up.
Jerry Cunningham
Annapolis, MD
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 09:13:40 EDT
From: Allan Rubinoff <rubinoff@BBN.COM>
Subject: Semi-open fermentation
After all this discussion lately of exploding and shattered carboys
resulting in loss of life and limb, I'm starting to reconsider my
brewing procedure.
I brew three-gallon batches, which I ferment in a five-gallon carboy.
Since this leaves a great deal of headspace, I just attach a stopper and
airlock for the entire fermentation. The krausen sometimes gets pretty
high, but has never reached the airlock.
The next two brews I'm planning, though, will be pretty high gravity,
and I suspect I'll get a pretty vigorous fermentation. I don't want to
risk having a clogged airlock. I also don't want to bother with a
blowoff hose.
So, I'm thinking of using the following procedure:
- After pitching the yeast, attach stopper and airlock.
- When krausen starts to build up, remove stopper and airlock, leaving
carboy open.
- After krausen begins to die down, reattach stopper and airlock.
I figure it's OK for the carboy to be open during high krausen, because
the wort is well protected by the CO2 being blown off. And this way I
avoid the chance of the airlock clogging. The worst that could happen
is a little krausen overflowing out of the carboy.
Can anybody see a problem with this approach? Should I at least loosely
cover the carboy, to keep spiders out of my beer?
Thanks,
Allan Rubinoff <rubinoff@bbn.com>
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 10:01:56 EDT
From: Spencer.W.Thomas@med.umich.edu
Subject: How to get "dirt cheap" grain
It worked for us, anyway.
Step 1: Find a friend who has a business, so they can order wholesale.
Step 2: Call Schreier (or other maltings, I imagine) and get a current
price list & spec sheet. They had a big ad at the back of the most
recent Brewing Techniques.
Step 3: Canvas your friends for 50-100 lbs of grain each (1-2 bags).
Step 4: Wait until you've accumulated an order for at least 1000 lbs.
Step 5: Have friend's business order grain from maltings.
Step 6: Enjoy!
We did this recently (I picked my grain up Monday evening). We
managed a 2000 lb order (1000 lbs is the minimum from Schreier,
there's another price break at 1500). I got a bag of DWC Belgian Pale
Ale malt and one of DWC Belgian Pilsner for $23.50 & $23, respectively
(< 48c/lb). Specialty malts (CaraVienne, Munich, Aromatic) came in at
48c/lb. These prices include shipping (10c/lb to Ann Arbor).
If I had "settled" for the Schreier 2-row malt (a "lager" malt, it
appears from the specs), my cost would have been about $19/bag
(38c/lb).
If you don't have a friend with an appropriate business, you may be
able to coerce your local HB shop owner into a bulk special order with
minimal mark-up.
=Spencer in Ann Arbor, MI
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 8:44:57 MDT
From: npyle@hp7013.ecae.StorTek.COM
Subject: Ball Valve Alert
As a followup to this, from John Palmer, about ball-valves:
>On ball valves; I have noticed several varieties. Many are imported from
>Italy. The ball valve I finally selected was forged brass, chrome plated and
>used
>Teflon seals around the ball. It is manufactured by B&K and distributed by
>Ace
>Hardware. I like it. I mounted it 4 inches out from the keg to get it away
>fromthe heat of the propane burner the keg sits on.
I've found out the hard way about getting wrong type of valve. The valve I
used on the outlet of my kettle was a gas valve, which I didn't think much of
at the time. It is a brass valve, might be made by B&K (not sure), with a SS
ball in a black rubber socket. I suppose the rubber gives a better seal at
gas pressures. Well, after a year of service, I started to get infection
problems. It took several tries to realize the root of the problem is the
ball valve itself.
The rubber deforms slightly when the valve is opened and closed, which is a
great trap for spare wort, which is a great home for all kinds of microscopic
beer-killers. Oh, but the heat of the boiling wort should kill that, you
say? I said that too, but I suspect the rubber makes a fair heat insulator
to allow the little guys to thrive, or at least survive. No amount of
boiling water run through this thing managed to take out this infection. The
solution is to use a liquid ball valve, as John suggests. These have a
"hard" socket for the ball to rotate in. John says his is made of teflon; I
believe these look like a white plastic socket. I'm pretty sure I've also
seen them in brass sockets, but I can't say for sure. The point is that the
ones containing rubber will eventually cause problems, so keep it in mind.
Cheers,
Norm npyle@hp7013.ecae.stortek.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 09:51:30 -0500
From: jay_weissler@il.us.swissbank.com (Jay Weissler)
Subject: calcium chloride
Every so often I get the urge to screw-up the perfectly good brewing
water found here in the Chicago North Shore. For those not familiar
with it, we have moderately soft water (about 130) with a high pH
(7.6-7.8). The hardness is almost all temporary. I rarely pre-boil,
because of the low mineral content and instead usually acidify. I
thought it would be fun to mess up a few lagers with Calcium
Chloride. Anyone have any experience with this stuff? Any advice,
suggestions, recommended procedures, etc?
TIA
jayw
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 11:18:05 EDT
From: Btalk@aol.com
Subject: King Kooker Kooking
Mark Montminy asks about flame adjustment and stuff burning on pot bottom.
FWIW, heres what I do. I've noticed that if the 'air' vent is opened too much
proportional to the gas that the flame sorta lifts off of the burner. I close
the 'air' vent so the flame barely sits back down. It is also quieter. No
yellow flame ever. I figure that running a bit lean will get maximim btus
from the propane. Any other thoughts on this?
Regarding pot scorching- Keep stirring while on high heat, or raise heat a
little at a time stirring once in a whle to keep things moving. I still have
a little cooked on area in the bottom of my keg kettle.
What do other people do for a flame spreader/ diffuser for a keg & Kooker set
up?
Regards,
Bob Talkiewicz,Binghamton,NY<btalk@aol.com>
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 08:28:36 -0700
From: Ray Brice <ray@hwr.arizona.edu>
Subject: 1st Annual Naked Pueblo Homebrew Competition
Greetings,
The 1st Annual Naked Pueblo Homebrew Competition will
take place November 19th at:
Gentle Ben's Brewing Co.
841 N. Tyndall
Tucson, Arizona 85719
(602) 624-4177
First Round Judging will begin at 1:00.
Best of Show Judging will begin at 4:00.
Awards ceremony will begin at 6:00.
This is an AHA sanctioned competition with 10 main
categories and 21 subcategories. Please contact
Ray Brice (602-744-6688; ray@hwr.arizona.edu) or
John O'Neal (602-622-4004; JohnmO123@aol.com) for
free entrants packet.
Winner's of each category will receive a commemorative
pint glass. 2nd and 3rd place in each category will
receive ribbons. Best of Show winner will receive
a gift from a local sponsor, pint glass, plus the
opportunity to brew a batch of beer along with the head
brewer from Gentle Ben's Brewing Co. Runners up to
Best of Show will receive a gift from a local sponsor.
Cheers,
Ray Brice
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 09:12:01 PDT
From: hollen@megatek.com (Dion Hollenbeck)
Subject: Re: Aeration equipment
[...question about filtration of aeration air...]
Don't have direct experience, but I was just re-reading a back issue
of Zymurgy, special issue on Yeast Propagation and one article talks
about building a glove box for doing propagation chores. It talks
about a way to use an aquarium pump for creating a positive pressure
in the box and tells how to sterilize the air pumped in.
Dion Hollenbeck (619)675-4000x2814 Email: hollen@megatek.com
Staff Software Engineer Megatek Corporation, San Diego, California
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 12:31:19 EDT
From: djfitzg@VNET.IBM.COM
Subject: light beer.
This may be of general interest to a few of you who have the pleasure of
being both a homebrewer and a family man.
My wife has been asking me to brew a beer to her liking for a few months now,
Mary has a fondness for american light beers. So 3 weeks back i gave it a shot.
It is an all grain recipe, but is very easy to do in a 5 gallon pot on top of
the stove, anyone who hasnt tried all grain shouldnt have a problem with this
one, i used papazians step mashing procedure.
ingredients for 5 gallons:
3 lbs 2 row lager malt.
2 lbs 2 row pale
1 lb rice
1 oz saaz hops
2 tsp irish moss
1 pkg brewers secret ale yeast.
sg. 1.036 fg. 1.004
Make a yeast starter the day before. all grains should be cracked, and rice
needs to be pre-cooked before starting the mash, i under-cooked slightly.
follow a step mashing process with a 20 minute protien rest at 120-122 deg.
After 3 weeks this beer is light and refreshing, Mary loves it and finds
it to be similar to her favorite light beers.
My wife is drinking homebrew while I attempt a celis white clone...Theres
peace in the kitchen again...
Enjoy, and happy brewing,
Dan Fitzgerald djfitzg@vnet.ibm.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 13:13:42 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mike Twardowski <mtwardo@gsosun1.gso.uri.edu>
Subject: Re : yeast cell lifespan
Date: Thu, 22 Sep 94 23:32:01 EDT
From: RaceBrewer@aol.com
Subject: yeast cell lifespan
Hi Gang, I have an odd question for the microbiologists out there. Does
anyone know the lifespan of a single yeast cell under ideal conditions? Not
the lifespan of a culture or how long it will survive in a dormant
condition... But just simply, from birth to death, under normal conditions,
how long will one of Man's Best Friends live? (Technical references
appreciated)
Sorry, no prizes for the correct answer... Just my thanks.
John "RaceBrewer@aol.com" Mulvihill
**REPLY**
9/28/94
John at RaceBrewer@aol.com,
Interesting question. I think it would be difficult to find any
microbiology literature out there giving you a mean lifespan for a yeast
cell, but my curiousity has led me to offer this estimation, the merits of
which you can determine.
The life cycle of a healthy yeast cell is complicated by the fact that when
there are plenty of substrates to grow on (sugar, i.e.), the yeast buds
asexually, but when the yeast is starved it will reproduce sexually where a
full set of chromosomes splits in half to form "haploid" cells in the same
manner that humans form sperm and eggs. Haploids can then fuse to make
"diploids" which can then bud asexually again. Luckily, we can simplify
the situation by assuming that by "normal conditions" you mean the
exponential growth phase in a culture, the time span where the yeast are
growing at the maximum rate possible. This occurs right after the lag
phase (just pitched the starter) when the culture has acclimated to
conditions in the fermentation vessel. Now we can assume the population
is growing primarily by budding.
>From the general microbiology book edited by Prescott et al. (1990), I
quote, "Each time a yeast produces mitotically [i.e., budding], it gets a
bud scar. When it no longer has any unscarred area through which to bud,
it dies. [p. 510]" I estimate (from looking at the buds in the textbook)
that an average yeast cell could support about 10-15 bud scars over its
surface area. I am going to use 10 here. This value is probably the
biggest question mark in this calculation and you can change it
accordingly to get different results.
>From the same textbook, p. 114, it is given that the mean time it takes a
population of S. cerevisiae to double in cell numbers is 2 hours.
Assuming only budding is going on in the culture, it should then take 2
hours for each bud to become its own entity. So, it would take **20
hours** for a rapidly growing yeast cell to bud 10 times, after which it
would die. If we assume that after it's budded itself to death it could
still survive another generation time or so, then we're looking at 22-24
hours before the spent soul sinks to its doom. Hope this helps!
Although you specifically asked for no replies about the lifespan of a dormant
yeast cell, I have to add to this discussion that in the dormant state a
yeast cell can survive hundreds of years. Have you heard of the English Flag
porter brewed with a yeast culture isolated from a bottle of beer found on a
shipwreck? The wreck dates back to 1825. Incredible! I can't wait to
taste it.
-Mike Twardowski, mtwardo@gsosun1.gso.uri.edu
Graduate student at U.R.I.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 11:33
From: KWH@roadnet.ups.com (KWH)
Subject: Re: Aeration equipment
In HBD 1538, Martin Lodahl discusses his wort aeration setup:
....text deleted
>contribution to Brewing Techniques: A small widemouth bottle with
>a 2-hole stopper, a long tube going through one hole that nearly reaches
>the bottom, and a short tube in the other hole. Run tubing from the pump
>to the long tube, and from the short tube to the airstone. Fill the
>bottle about half-way with mild hydrogen peroxide solution or cheap
>vodka, and bubble the air through it. Works fine.
I saw the text and graphic of this setup in BT #2 a while back and wanted
to build this. The text said that even if some hydrogen peroxide was
pushed into the wort, it would not hurt it. I was very skeptical about
this, and this has kept me from using this technique. If this is not a
concern, I will *gladly* put a crowbar in my wallet and make one of these
ASAP. I do not enjoy shaking carboys at the end of an already long brew
day. One question - how mild a solution is used? Do you simply dilute
with a certain amount of water? Secondly, the graphic in BT showed a
second airstone in the jar with peroxide. Is this necessary, or could you
simply bubble the air through the end of the tubing?
Kirk Harralson
kwh@roadnet.ups.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 10:58:51 MST
From: birkelan@adtaz.sps.mot.com (Joel Birkeland)
Subject: Re: Plumbing parts for SS kegs
In Homebrew Digest #1538 (September 28, 1994), John Palmer wrote:
>I found that I could easily obtain stainless pipe, but had no end of trouble
>getting it threaded. Solution was to purchase copper soldering fittings that
>were threaded to NPT for the chrome plated brass ball valve and silver solder
>those over the SS pipe.
For those of you with a McMaster catalog, note that they sell type 304
Stainless pipe nipples. I don't know if these will work, but I thought
I would let you know.
For my own 15 gallon boiler, I simply drilled a hole in the side of the pot,
and inserted a Swagelok bulkhead fitting. A "fiber" washer on the outside,
made from some microwave circuit board, makes it seal very well.
Just a thought for those of you who do not have access to a welder or
don't want to weld.
Joel
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 14:51:35 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Seth L. Betaharon" <sethb@wam.umd.edu>
Subject: Wyeast 3068
Sometime during the next two weeks I hope to brew another batch of my
favorite brew to date: a dunkelweizen. The first time I brewed it I
used Wyeast 3056 Bavarian Wheat yeast. This time, though, I want to try
Wyeast 3068 Wheihestaphen (sp??) yeast. Recently I have seen many posts
concerning this yeast, but in none of them did I see any recomendation as
to what a good fermentation temperature is for this yeast. I saw several
posts that mentioned fermenting at 55F, but this seems awfully cool to me
for an ale yeast. Can anyone out there make any suggestions.
Thanks in advance,
Seth L. Betaharon
sethb@wam.umd.edu
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 14:52:20 -0400
From: blue@cam.nist.gov (Jim Blue)
Subject: Mature in carboy or bottles?
I'm making an imperial stout, and I know that it will take months to
reach its peak of perfection. After the secondary or tertiary has stopped
bubbling, should I bottle or wait longer? What's the difference in
quality between maturation in the carboy or in the bottle? (I realize that
too much time in the carboy and too much of the yeast may drop out, and I
could have to add more yeast at bottling time.)
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 13:43:00 PDT
From: "Vandermey, John" <JAVANDER@p06.dasd.honeywell.com>
Subject: New Magazine
I came across a new publication last week that I thought was very well done.
It's called "Beer, the magazine". It has a lot of interesting articles
ranging from brewing stone beer, to brewpubs in Quebec, to a visit to the
Orval brewery. The articles were well written, informative and
entertaining.
I found my copy at my local grocery store. If anyone wants more
information, e-mail me, and I will get back to you.
John (javander@p06.dasd.honeywell.com)
No affiliation, just enjoyed the magazine...
------------------------------
Date: 28 Sep 94 19:43:00 GMT
From: korz@iepubj.att.com (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583)
Subject: Screening nasties/stuck ferment
Martin writes:
>> Question #2: What is a good filter material to screen out the nasties
>> before they contaminate my precious fluid? And where can it be obtained?
>
>This is a very legitimate concern, in my opinion. I've seen frequent
>references to 0.2 micron filters being used for the purpose, but I've
>just used the method that I got, if I recall, from Pete Soper, a
>much-missed HBD contributor of years ago, and have since seen in a
>contribution to Brewing Techniques: A small widemouth bottle with
>a 2-hole stopper, a long tube going through one hole that nearly reaches
>the bottom, and a short tube in the other hole. Run tubing from the pump
>to the long tube, and from the short tube to the airstone. Fill the
>bottle about half-way with mild hydrogen peroxide solution or cheap
>vodka, and bubble the air through it. Works fine.
Although this appears to kill nasties in the air, if you think about it
a bit more, it doesn't. Let's think of nasties in the air as riding on
dust particles (like those ones you see floating around Sunday morning
as you read the paper -- you know what I'm talking about). As the dust-filled
air travels down the tube and into the H2O2, it forms a bubble... a little
sphere full of dust particles. When it rises to the top and bursts, it
releases its cargo of dust into the headspace of the jar. From there it's
just a short ride through a few more tubes to the wort. There is no reason
for the H2O2 or alcohol to actually kill anything inside the bubbles.
If you want to minimize nasties in your air, you will have to put something
like a 0.2 micron in-line filter into your air line. Perhaps if you
stuffed cotton into the widemouth bottle instead of putting H2O2 or
alcohol into it. Then, maybe you would catch some of the airborne particles.
I don't know what the effective pore size would be of a jar full of cotton.
Disclaimer: I'm not a biologist -- I used my knowledge of physics, not
biology, to come to the conclusions above.
********
gee writes:
>If / when your fermentation is
>stuck, do you usually pitch another batch of yeast, or do you go ahead and
>bottle it? Why? Is what you do dependent on the gravity? I've heard (and
>read) arguments either way. I'm curious because my last two batches have
>gone kaput at around 1.033-36 (from 1.072-76).
This sounds like a candidate for a FAQ -- many have experienced this problem
and posted questions about it to the HBD.
"Stuck" fermentations are usually caused by:
1. very unfermentable wort,
2. insufficient nutrition for the yeast,
3. temperature shocks,
4. high alcohol levels AND insufficient oxygen for the yeast,
5. high alcohol levels AND insufficient starter size,
5. very high alcohol levels, or
6. overly-flocculent yeast.
I put stuck in quotes above, because #1 and #5 are not really stuck
ferments. They are frankly, what is expected. The order of the
reasons, is based upon the frequency I've encountered among my
fellow homebrewers.
First of all, if the yeast poops out you should first determine if you are
close to the expected apparent attenuation for the yeast (see the yeast FAQ).
If you are, then nothing you will do, short of adding a more attenuative yeast
will get the gravity to drop any further. You calculate the apparent
attenuation by using the following formula:
%ApparentAttenuation = (1 - (FG - 1)/(OG - 1)) * 100
So, for example, if your OG was 1.050 and your FG was 1.012, then:
%ApparentAttenuation = (1 - (1.012 - 1)/(1.050 - 1)) * 100
= (1 - 0.012/0.050) * 100
= (1 - 0.24) * 100
= (0.76) * 100
= 76% apparent attenuation
The most common cause is really a very unfermentable wort. Usually this is
caused by using a malt extract such as Laaglander dry or "Dutch" dry
malt extract. With these two extracts, I have known brewers to experience
apparent attenuations of only 55%.
Insufficient nutrition is common only among beers that are made of very
large percentages of corn sugar, cane sugar, rice sugar or honey. When
making meads, some kind of yeast nutrient is virtually mandatory. The
best solution, in my opinion, is to decrease the percentage of these
nutrientless sugars and use more malt, but the easiest solution is to add
yeast nutrient. Chances are that, even if you are trying to make an American
Light Lager, your beer will taste a lot better if you don't overdo the
adjuncts.
Temperature shocks (sudden changes, downward usually, in temperature) can
cause yeast to flocculate out early and settle on the bottom. The solution
is to warm up the batch into a comfortable range for the yeast you used
(ale or lager) and then stir the yeast up into suspension again somehow.
If you are trying to make a barleywine or a triplebock and your yeast poops
out, you must ask yourself: "Did I aerate enough?" and "Did I use a big
enough starter?" There's no way for me to tell you how much aeration is
enough, but I use at least a 2 liter starter for OGs over 1080 or so and
a 4 liter starter for OGs over 1100 or so. I don't actually pour all the
spent wort from the starter into the batch, but rather, I make a 2 liter
starter, let it ferment out, pour off the spent wort, add 2 liters more
wort let that ferment out, pour off most of the spent wort and use that.
If you answered no to either of those two questions, you can make up a
new, bigger starter and pitch that.
If the alcohol level is really high, then about all you can do is to pitch
a more alcohol-tolerant yeast, such as Pasteur Champagne yeast, available
both dry and from Wyeast. You should still make up a big starter even if
you use a more alcohol-tolerant yeast. Sometimes rousing (stirring up
the yeast) can lower the gravity a few more points (try to not aerate the
wort too much or you will elevate diacetyl levels).
If you are using a very highly flocculent yeast, such as that used by
Samuel Smith's brewery, then you will have to keep rousing the yeast
to get it back into suspension.
Al.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 15:56:55 -0400
From: Art Steinmetz <asteinm@pipeline.com>
Subject: Hard Water Brewing
EricT@aol.com asks about pre-treating hard water as a novice
brewer.
The short answer is relax. Don't bother pre-boiling. Water
chemistry is very important for mashing and not very important
for extract brewers, which I suspect you are.
The yeast *does* care what kind of water you have but in my
experiences - many batches with soft water, then I moved to a
location with very hard water - I've noticed no detrimental
effect over a wide variety of yeasts.
When I do all grain I preboil the day before and rack off the
sediment. Contamination isn't an issue since the water will be
boiled again anyway.
I bypass my water softener whether doing extract or all grain.
I prefer calcium to sodium in my beer. Caution: when shunting
the water past the softener check the taste of the water you'll
be brewing with. My unit provides a salt surge when switched
over. I did an all-grain O-fest I had to dump 'cuz it was
saltier than a pretzel. Lesson learned.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 16:12:41 -0500
From: jay_weissler@il.us.swissbank.com (Jay Weissler)
Subject: Pilsner Urquell Yeast
Does any one have experience with the PU(D) aka wyeast w2124 yeast?
Do you use a diacetyl rest? What temps do you use? Miller suggests
using w2308 without the rest for a PU clone. Anyone ever try this?
I've always used it with the rest for Dortmunder style lagers and
have been pretty happy, but have never tried a PU. I've also been
pointed at W2278. Has anyone tried this for a PU, what about the
diacetyl rest, etc?
TIA
jayw
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 18:28:10 EDT
From: BrewerBob@aol.com
Subject: Brewpubs in CA
Subject: California Brewpubs I have visited
By request, the following is a brief review of the brewpubs my
wife and I visited during our recent trip to California.
20 Tanks Brewing, San Francisco:
At least six different beers made by 20 Tanks were available.
We tried:
Heifer Weisen - an unfiltered wheat beer. Good but not great.
Kinnikinick Stout - Light flavor, not dry but not sweet
either.
Kolsch, the specialty beer of the month - a mild but very
hoppy beer, very good, the best of the three we tried.
The service was non-existent on a Sunday afternoon. We had to
go to the bar to order and a different place to order food.
The atmosphere is casual with too loud rock music during a
time that appeared to be an easy crowd that just wanted to
talk or read. The place did not give me a feeling of
cleanliness but I wasn't uncomfortable with it either.
They would not give me samples, even at a price.
Marin Brewing Co, Larkspur:
Far and above, one of the nicest brewpubs I have been in
anywhere. Clean, bright, friendly with excellent service and
wonderful food, albeit mostly sandwiches and salads. I wanted
a porter and a blueberry but they were out of both!
We did try:
Amber - very good flavor and body, an all round good beer.
Hefe Weisen - not quite as good as the amber but better than
average, not quite sour enough to suit me in a weisen but
still very good.
Barley Wine - I'm not big on Barley Wine because it usually
has too much alcohol flavor. However, this one was much like
Bigfoot as opposed to Thomas Hardy or Samislaus and I enjoyed
it. My wife did not like it.
Stout - Low bittering with nice roasty chocolate flavor, a bit
too sweet for my palate but my wife enjoyed it very much.
Napa Valley Brewing Co, Calistoga:
Located in the back of the Calistoga Inn and Restaurant, this
is a very small brewery brewing only 350 barrels a year. They
have three beers which are also available in the local stores.
The restaurant is tops. We had a wonderful dinner in the
garden (weather was perfect).
Wheat - average, not bad but not great.
Amber - better than average, I enjoyed this beer enough to buy
a bottle before leaving town. However, at the restaurant, the
cost for a 22 oz bottle is $4.75. I got it three blocks up the
street at a little specialty food store for $2.99!
Sudwerks in Davis:
Big, clean, modern but still a lot of bright polished wood.
Good atmosphere, good service. We did not eat here but the
menu looked good. Mostly lagers, only one ale available.
Amber - hoppy and full bodied, tastes a LOT like Pete's Wicked
Ale.
This brewery is in the process of expanding from an annual
capacity of 4500 barrels a year to 40,000 barrels a year!
There is a very large building being built behind/beside the
present building.
We did not get to San Francisco Brewing Company as we had
planned. We decided it would be "proper" to have lunch in
Chinatown (NOT!) and did not go to the brewpub only two blocks
away. Some folks said it was not very good but I'm sure it
could not have been worse than the Golden Dragon!
Also in the plan was to finish the trip at Pacific Coast
Brewing but we got to Oakland later than we expected and we
could not find a parking place. The brewery is very near to
downtown (is downtown, really) and difficult to find parking
on Friday evening. I heard good things about it and I'm sorry
we missed it.
I was a bit surprised at the lack of darker beers but I guess
that shows the California preference. I personally love a good
porter but I didn't have any the entire trip except for a
bottle of Anchor Porter that I had with my dinner at a place
on Fisherman's wharf.
Also, Buffalo Bill's was listed as a "stay away" place. I read
in the Celebrator that Bill has sold the place so it may
improve in the near future. If you have been there and were
dis-pleased, wait a month or so and give it another try.
BrewerBob@aol.com
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1540, 09/30/94
*************************************
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