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HOMEBREW Digest #1628
This file received at Hops.Stanford.EDU 1995/01/11 PST
HOMEBREW Digest #1628 Wed 11 January 1995
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Janitor
Contents:
pH & acid additions (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583)
Whoisit? (sorry) ("Lee Bussy")
Mashing Temperatures (Harry Covert)
U-Brews in the Northwest (Segolene) (Segolene Badelon)
mash program/ph meters (Ed Scolforo)
NDN: Homebrew Digest #1627 (January 10, 1995) (Gateway)
Maltzbier ("derek a. zelmer")
re: keg crimes (Jim Sims)
Steve Beaumont's article on the Two Buds archived (Alan_Marshall)
ESB mash at higher temp (david lawrence shea)
Root Beer from Sassafras roots (help?!?) (bv lhotka)
Lever cappers WILL work on Champagne Bottles (Roger Grow)
Stuck Primary Fermentation (spencert)
Slow Primary Fermentation (spencert)
Oak Freezer Collar (JSTONE)
Re: Champagne Bottle & Capping (John DeCarlo )
Re: bitterness loss in blowoff/starters (Spencer.W.Thomas)
Capping Champagne Bottles (Stefan Smagula)
Subject: RE: no fermentation, bottle films, bottle crimes (Arthur McGregor 614-0205)
Brewing Software ("Houseman, David L [TR]")
In search of Red Nectar (Tim Fields)
Macintosh software development fer beer (Randall Rosa)
Super heated water ("Christopher V. Sack")
brewery improvements (Steve Robinson)
brewery improvements (Steve Robinson)
Capping champagne bottles with 2-lever capper (FFRI)
Maisel's Hefe Weizen Clone (Robin Hanson)
Gambrinus Malt (Chuck E. Mryglot)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 9 Jan 95 23:02:00 GMT
From: korz@iepubj.att.com (Algis R Korzonas +1 708 979 8583)
Subject: pH & acid additions
As you may recall, I posted a request for data on acid or CaCl2 additions.
Being primarily a brewer of English Bitters and being blessed with only
100 ppm of carbonates in our tapwater, I get by with no adjustment in my
mash (even with 100% pale malt) and add only 1 gram per gallon of gypsum
to my sparge water. Having had no experience with lactic acid, phosphoric
acid or Calcium Chloride (CaCl2), I was curious what the rest of you were
doing with your water chemistry. Hence, my request.
Some of the data is rather spotty, so I could not extract an awful lot
out of it. Also, there is the additional variable of grain bill which was
unaccounted for. I know that the difference between the mash pH with
DeWolf-Cosyns Pale Ale malt is quite different from that of Munton & Fison
Pale Ale or Crisp Maris Otter Pale Ale. Adding as little as a half-pound of
medium crystal malt will drop the mash pH a few tenths. So, with that
in mind, here's the raw data:
Water treatment usual pH
Cl - 30 ppm | |
Ca - 85 ppm | |
Mg - 40 ppm | |
Na - 35 ppm | 1/8 tsp 88% lactic in pale malt mash | 5.3
SO4 - 133 ppm | 1/4 tsp 88% lactic in 5 gal sparge |
HCO3 - 278 ppm | |
*******
pH: 8.5-9.0 | calcium chloride and phosphoric acid |
Ca: low | in strike water to 5.7 pH |
Na: 77 ppm | | 5.3-5.4
HCO3: 117 ppm |phosphoric acid in sparge water to 5.7 pH |
*******
pH: 8.3 | |
Ca: 65 ppm | lactic acid -- did not give quanitity | ??
Mg: 20 ppm |(uses pH meter to measure during addition)|
Na: low | |
SO4: 70 | |
HCO3/CO3: 200ppm | |
*******
pH: 7.5-7.9 | |
Cl: 15 ppm | | no data
Ca: 22 ppm | 1/2 tsp lactic acid to 2.5 gal sparge | on actual
Na: 16 ppm | water lowered the pH to 4.6 | mash pH
Mg: 8.3 ppm | |
Hardness: 90 ppm | (this is Chippewa Falls, WI water |
SO4: 7 ppm | by the way -- Leinenkugel beer) |
*******
pH: 7.7 | |
Cl: 92 ppm | |
Ca: 79 ppm | no adjustment in mash; RO, softened | 5.2 mash
Na: 103 ppm | water + 1 tsp lemon juice in 3 gal for |
Mg: 30 ppm | sparge water | 5.0 sparge
Hardness: 329 | | water
SO4: 279 | |(runnings unk)
*******
pH: 7.7 | |
Cl: 16.0 ppm | no adjustment in mash | mash pH 5.3-5.5
Ca: 37 ppm | |
Na: 38 ppm | 1 tsp lactic acid in 5-gallon sparge | 5.3 sparge pH
Mg: 4.7 ppm | (brewer is considering increasing this) | (runnings unk)
TotalHrdns:130ppm| |
SO4: 48 ppm | (by the way, this is Tucson, AZ water) |
*******
Ca: ~100 ppm | |
HCO3/CO3: 250ppm | mash-in pH is 5.8 so about 0.5 ml of |
| 8% phosphoric acid is added (depending |
| on the grain bill) to get a pH of 5.3 | 5.3 pH
| |
| 30 to 40 ml of 8% phosphoric acid is |
| added to 5 gallons of sparge water to | 5.8 pH
| reach a pH of 5.8 |
*******
pH: 9.0 | about a tsp of lactic acid or CaCl2 in |
Cl: 25.0 ppm | 10-15 gal batch pale mash; about a | no data
Ca: 27.3 ppm | teaspoon of CaCO3 in stout/porter mash | on actual
Na: 9.2 ppm | | mash or
Mg: 8.0 ppm | 1/4 tsp 80% lactic acid in sparge | runnings
TotalHrdns:101ppm| | pH
HCO3/CO3: 66 ppm | |
SO4: 7 ppm | (by the way, this is St. Paul, MN water) |
DO: 10.6 ppm | (NOTE: dissolved oxygen is 10.6 ppm!) |
*******
pH: 7.5-9.0 | 50-60 drops of phosphoric acid to bring | mash and
Ca: 13.0 ppm | sparge water down to a pH of 5.5-5.8 | runnings
HCO3/CO3: 102 ppm| | pH unknown
*******
pH: unk | preboil water -- decant off carbonates |
Ca: unk | add CaCl2 (1/2 tsp / 5 gallons) or | mash and
HCO3/CO3: unk | CaSO4 (gypsum - quantity unk) or use | runnings
TotalHrdns: unk | the water unboiled for dark beers | pH unknown
SO4: unk | |
*******
Hard, high- | | mash pH unk
carbonate water | 1/2 tsp 88% lactic acid added to mash | sparge pH is
similar to | 1 to 1.5 tsp 88% lactic acid added to | about 5.6-5.7
London water | sparge water (volume unk) | after addition
Well, it seems that if you have low-to-medium carbonate water (less than
200 ppm), 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of lactic acid will get your pale mash into
a reasonable range and about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of lactic acid to 5 gallons
of sparge water is needed. For higher carbonate water (200+ ppm), about
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of lactic acid is a reasonable start in a pale mash and
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of lactic acid in 5 gallons of sparge water. For dark
beers, you really want carbonate, so you would want to not preboil the water
(which drops some carbonates out of solution) and not add acids (because
the dark malts will lower the pH for you). Note also, that the amount of
carbonate that drops out of solution is primarily dependent on the carbonates
in the water, the amount of calcium available and the amount of magnesium in
the water (magnesium carbonate being more soluble than calcium carbonate).
It would be very beneficial to compile even more data like this, including
gypsum additions, but I'm afraid I don't have the time to be the compiler.
I could be a reviewer, however. Isn't someone working on a water FAQ? If
not, perhaps someone can volunteer? Meanwhile, get those water analyses
from your water departments and start measuring your additions and pH.
Thanks to: BrewerLee, Ray Corona, Rob Skinner, Ben Woodliff, Mark Melton,
John "Cisco" Fransisco, Steve Zabarnick, Jim Ellingson, Royce Hesley,
Jeff Renner and Scott Bridges
Al.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 18:25:04 +0000
From: "Lee Bussy" <leeb@southwind.net>
Subject: Whoisit? (sorry)
I received a request for a packet for the Wichita competition and I
sent it out to someone but it bounced. All I git back was Tom
someone at Dartmouth.
If it was you, please send me a note and I'll send the packet asap.
- --
-Lee Bussy | The 4 Basic Foodgroups.... |
leeb@southwind.net | Salt, Fat, Beer & Women! |
Wichita, Kansas | http://www.southwind.net/~leeb |
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 95 20:53 EST
From: Harry Covert <0007059940@mcimail.com>
Subject: Mashing Temperatures
I have been all-grain brewing for a couple of years now and I understand the
basics of mashing. What I'm interested in finding out, though, is what the
advantages are in the different temperature steps and how these affect the
mash. For instance, although I've read a lot that a "protein rest" isn't
necessary because of the quality of malt, is this rest at lower temperatures
advantageous for reasons other than protein degradation? If so, what
temperatures would give what kind of results? Also, I understand that
sacharification rests at the lower end (145-152) result in more fermentables
and at the higher end (153-160) the result is more unfermentable dextrins;
but would there be an advantage to doing a rest at the lower end for a
certain amount of time to get the fermentables, and then going up into the
higher range for the dextrins? If so what temps and times would give what
results? TIA
Harry Covert
7059940@mcimail.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 20:18:59 -0800 (PST)
From: Segolene Badelon <psu02502@odin.cc.pdx.edu>
Subject: U-Brews in the Northwest (Segolene)
I totally agree with saying that brewing in a U-Brew is VERY convenient.
It is also an excellent way to taste samples of your fellow brewers.
For information, the first U-Brew of the US was in California. Two others
followed in Portland, OR, the microbreweries capital. I went to West-Side
U-Brew. For $70, I brewed 12 gallons, and tasted an additional 1 !!
U-Brewing is not as fun as home brewing. however, it is easier to wait
for the fermentation to be completed as you are not temptated to taste
the beer you see every day in your garage!!! You also find excellent
recipes !!
**************************************************************************
Segolene e-mail: psu02502@odin.cc.pdx.edu
home brewer with pleasure in Portland, OR
**************************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 16:15:41 GMT
From: ed.scolforo@berkshirebbs.com (Ed Scolforo)
Subject: mash program/ph meters
In my last two mashes I followed Dr. Fix's 40-60-70 degree mashing
program. While it did provide for good extraction as stated, I have a
concern. The beers ended up a bit too sweet, I'm assuming from a large
portion of unfermentables from a sugar rest as high as 70C (158F).
Are all beers brewed with this schedule destined to have the same degree
of sweetness, or should it be controlled with a more attenuative yeast?
Or by changing the sugar rest temp to,say,154 F., thereby making it more
fermentable?
On another topic:I had purchased a Ph Checker *tm awhile ago and had
problems keeping it from excess drift and giving repeatable readings in
a given solution even by just taking it out and putting it back in. I
sent the meter back to the company and they sent the same meter back in
three weeks, declaring it OK after making some sort of adjustment.
I have used it twice since then and hold it responsible for the poor
results in my last batch. Now it won't even calibrate. I mentioned this
to a pro brewer in the Northhampton area and he has had similiar
problems with this meter. He says that he has done alot of research into
PH meters and the bottom line is that you cannot get a meter on the
market today which is reliable and accurate unless you spend $200 for
it. The ones commonly sold to homebrewers simply are not made to hold up
to frequent use. He mentioned Cole Pharmer and others as a source for
better quality meters. I'd like to hear from homebrewers regarding their
experiences with meters, both good and bad, and any recommendations they
may have. We will all benefit from this. Thanks.
Ed Scolforo
Ed.scolforo@berkshirebbs.com
------------------------------
Date: 10 Jan 1995 03:17:47 -0000
From: Gateway@foxmail.gfc.edu (Gateway)
Subject: NDN: Homebrew Digest #1627 (January 10, 1995)
Sorry. Your message could not be delivered to:
Robert Hoover,George Fox College (The name was not found at the remote site.
Check that the name has been entered correctly.)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 07:39:47 -0500 (EST)
From: "derek a. zelmer" <zelmeda4@wfu.edu>
Subject: Maltzbier
I have a friend who enjoys beer, but has quit drinking. He would like to
try to brew something we encountered in Germany called Maltzbier, which
tasted to me like sweet wort that had been fermented just enough to
provide carbonation. He currently makes rootbeer, which is capped early and
kept cold to prevent fermentation but allow carbonation. Any ideas on how
to accomplish this with wort? High mashing temps to produce dextrins? No
aeration prior to pitching? How cold would fermenting wort need to be
kept to stop fermentation. Any ideas on the subject would be appreciated;
Brewing and subsequent dealcoholization of beer would be
too much effort, but this seems like a reasonable solution. Private
E-mail is preferred, as I can then bounce it to the guy. Thanks.
Derek A. Zelmer
zelmeda4@WFU.EDU
"place clever message here"
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 08:22:19 EST
From: sims@scra.org (Jim Sims)
Subject: re: keg crimes
Not to re-start an old thread, but the response from the attourney
brings up a few questions...
When a home brewer maintains possession of a keg, merely forfeiting
the deposit, the brewer is not a "good faith purchaser," as was the
watch customer in the above hypothetical. Subsection (1) of UCC
2-403, is intended to protect a purchaser in good faith. A home
brewer is not a good faith purchaser because a reasonable home
brewer is aware that the keg is property of the brewer, and that
the value of a keg is far greater than the deposit he/she has
placed. The cost that a home brewer would incur should he/she
purchase a keg at market, and the manufacturer's "property of"
insignia on the keg ensure that the home brewer does not purchase
in good faith.
And if i purchase a keg from a Used Restaurant Supply store? I expect
to pay from $0.10 to $0.50 on the dollar on most goods purchased and
even better prices on hard to move items (like beer kegs).
Second, a beer retailer is not a merchant who deals in kegs and
therefore cannot transfer title to the property. Where a person
entrusts possession of goods to a merchant who deals in goods of
that kind (a jeweler entrusted with the repair of a watch for
example), power is given to the merchant to transfer all rights of
the entruster to a buyer in the ordinary course of business. A
retailer is licensed to sell beer, it is not their intention to
deal in beer distribution hardware. When a brewer transfers
possession of the keg to the retailer, only the power to pass title
to the beer within the keg is transferred because that is the kind
of goods in which the merchant deals.
Again, what of purchasing through a used supply store? As it is a
legitimate business (just like your jewwlery store), I do not expect
them to be selling "stolen goods". They are liscensed and in the
explicit business of liquidating equipment from stores/businesses that
are renovating, going out of business, etc.
Finally, Mr. Bonham's argument blithly ignores the fact that the
stamp on a keg manifests the owner's intention to remain the
rightful owner of the property."
I also can see this argument applied to the 5 gal cornelius kegs,
though I've been told that those suppliers are discontinuing their use
of those kegs. Does that mean they no longer "intend to remain the
rightfull owner"?
jim
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 09:04:10 -0500 (EST)
From: Alan_Marshall <AK200032@Sol.YorkU.CA>
Subject: Steve Beaumont's article on the Two Buds archived
A few weeks ago, Jeff Guillet posted:
jg> Subject: Buds in a name?
jg>
jg> I read the following article in the paper. Thought it might interest
jg> some of you.
jg>
jg> _WHICH_BUD'S_FOR_YOU?_
<article snipped for the sake of bandwidth>
Early in December, Stephen Beaumont wrote an article on the two
Budweisers that appeared in a local newspaper. It was about the best
summary of the Bud vs Bud situation as I have seen. I spoke to Steve
and he sent me a disk with the text of the article with permission to
post it on the 'Net and store it in our archives. At the time, our
newsserver was acting up so I asked Craig Verver to post it for me.
He posted it to alt.beer and rec.food.drink.beer just before
Christmas. As it is rather long (nearly 200 lines) I will not repost
it here.
I uploaded the file to the r.f.d.b archives
ftp::/ftp.stanford.edu/pub/homebrew/rfdb (i.e. a subdirectory of the
homebrewing archives maintained by Stephen Hansen) and to Joel
Plutchak's Virtual Pub (ftp::/lager.geo.brown.edu/pub/virtual-pub/).
I used an archive name for the article of beer-2buds-sb.txt. When I
checked Stanford yesterday, the file was still in the incoming
directory. I did not check The Virtual Pub.
If anyone has any trouble finding getting the article, please let me
know. Also, if anyone wishes to sent any comments to Steve about the
article, I will be happy to pass them along.
Alan
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 09:17:49 -0500 (EST)
From: david lawrence shea <dshea@ucs.indiana.edu>
Subject: ESB mash at higher temp
I just subscribed to HBD and thought I would jump right in with a
question. Awhile back, there was a recipe posted on rec.crafts.brewing
to clone Redhook ESB developed from the specs that Redhook provides on
their tours. The author, John Francisco I think, recommended a mash
temperature of 156F to duplicate the residual sweetness and fuller body.
This sounds good since the SG is 1.054 and there is less than 5% alcohol
content. My question is this, has anybody out there mashed a pale ale at
these higher temps, and what were the results? Having just visited the
northwest and drinking lots of Redhook ESB, there was a bit more
mouthfeel and body to the beer. Any comments would be appreciated.
David L. Shea
Indiana University
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 08:49:23 -0600 (CST)
From: bv lhotka <bvl1@esygvl.com>
Subject: Root Beer from Sassafras roots (help?!?)
I have been given some sassafras roots and I am about to attempt making
root beer from them. However, my local Homebrew shops have not been
able to give me any direction (other than use their extract kits...).
Does anyone have a receipe/method/any pointers/ANYTHING that may help?
TIA!
{ B.V. Lhotka - bvl1@esygvl.com }
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 08:07:10 -0700
From: grow@sumatra.mcae.stortek.com (Roger Grow)
Subject: Lever cappers WILL work on Champagne Bottles
I should say "some" lever cappers work on champagne bottles.
The lever capper I use (Black Beauty brand, I think) has
replaceable "jaws" (the metal things that grip the neck).
The jaws come in (at least) two sizes, and the larger
diameter ones have been working fine for me on champagne
bottles (YMMV, IMHO, yadda, yadda, yadda, bada-boom, bada-bing).
Thoughtyamightwannaknow!
See ya,
Roger
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 10:07:49 -0500 (EST)
From: spencert@justice.usdoj.gov
Subject: Stuck Primary Fermentation
In HBD 1627, Chuck at Duke writes of a slow primary fermentation
and requests private e-mail responses. Later in the issue, Ronald
Dwelle implores all to respond publicly where possible. I agree
with Ronald. I have been reading the digest now for about three
months and find the public advice extremely valuable.
I am fairly new at this game, and just brewed may third batch and
hit the same problem as Chuck - seemingly stuck primary
fermentation. The gory details are: 6.6 lbs John Bull amber
extract, 1/2 cup roasted barley steeped before the boil, 2 oz
cascade hop pellets (apologies to the all-grainers, I will join you
as soon as I am confident in my technique!). OG - 1.052. Pitched
7 grams of Munton's dry ale yeast. Bubbles noticeable in 2 hours.
12 hours later bubbles every 2 -3 seconds. 24 hours later, they
had slowed to one every 90 seconds. I took a reading, SG was
1.020. Also, a few white blotches on top of the wort. Tastes and
smells ok. Added more dry yeast. 12 hours later, nothing.
I just can't believe fermentation is complete.
What can I do? Did nasty critters get in there? I am a bit unsure
if everything is sanitized ok. My first two batches had no
problems. I call on the "pros" out there to help me!
Tim Spencer
?
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 9:28:38 -0500 (EST)
From: spencert@justice.usdoj.gov
Subject: Slow Primary Fermentation
In HBD 1627, Chuck at Duke writes of slow fermentation and asks
for advice on this subject. Chuck equests private e-mail. Later
in the same HBD, Ronald Dwelle emplores
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 09:15:10 PST
From: JSTONE@SJEVM5.VNET.IBM.COM
Subject: Oak Freezer Collar
I would like more information from the brewer who mounted the 6"
oak collar around the rim of his freezer. I wasn't smart enough
to save his email address and apparently the '95 posts aren't
archived yet.
Joe
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 12:28:41 EST
From: John DeCarlo <jdecarlo@homebrew.mitre.org>
Subject: Re: Champagne Bottle & Capping
matth@bedford.progress.COM (Matthew J. Harper) writes:
>In digest 1626 Tom Puskar relates his woes in trying to cap the biggies with
>his dual lever capper.
>
>Bad ness for you Tom, in general it won't work.
>
>What *will* work though is a good old bench capper. Having been fortunate to
>been given an old work horse of this type a number of years ago I can tell
>you I have yet to find a cappable bottle that I cannot cap with it.
I have used a bench capper once. It was very nice. However (and I could be
wrong about this), we adjusted the capper to the bottle height, so you would
need to sort your bottles by height for minimum adjustments. But it is so
much faster!
OTOH, my Italian dual-handle capper handles all the bottles I use, from
champagne/cider bottles to 6 oz. Coke bottles. I don't need to adjust it at
all, though you can, since the setting I have it at works on all bottles I
have. You might try changing your current capper setting to see if that
helps.
John DeCarlo, MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA--My views are my own
Fidonet: 1:109/131 Internet: jdecarlo@mitre.org
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 12:37:09 EST
From: Spencer.W.Thomas@med.umich.edu
Subject: Re: bitterness loss in blowoff/starters
Algis R. Korzonas wrote about bitterness loss in blowoff/starters:
> Since we're on the topic of starters, let me mention that some
> brewers like to use hops in their starters for their antibacterial
> properties. It is true that hops do inhibit some bacteria (some
> strains of lactobaccilus, for example), but do nothing to others
> (like pediococcus cerevisiae or acetobacter).
Hops don't inhibit molds, either. Recently, I was stepping up a
starter from a slant. I poured a bit of canned (hopped) wort into an
8-oz juice bottle (per Rajotte) and "pitched" a loopful of yeast. I
screwed the lid back on the wort jar and set both in the cupboard.
When I went back a few days later to step up the starter volume, there
was a nice blob of mold growing on top of the remaining (unfermented)
wort. Presumably it had snuck in during the few moments I had the lid
off while pouring the starter wort. Needless to say, I didn't use any
more of it :-)
=Spencer in Ann Arbor, MI
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 12:45:14 -0500
From: smag@mail.utexas.edu (Stefan Smagula)
Subject: Capping Champagne Bottles
in HBD 1627 Lee Bussy posted:
>Tom Puskar asks about regular caps fitting Champagne bottles:
>
>Tom, you will probably need to use a bench style capper for the
>reasons you found. I don't know of a brand of champagne bottles that
>will work with a twin-lever type (there may be some).
I have used a twin-lever capper to cap many American champagne bottles.
The problem with the champagne bottles is that the necks are thicker than
regular bottles, and the capper won't clamp down properly because of that.
I just used some pliers to remove temporarily the two plastic guards that
clamp down on the neck of the bottle, and after I did that I could cap
American champagne bottles easily. I have the really common Italian-made
twin-lever capper.
^^^ ^ ^ ^ ^^^^ ^^^^ Stefan Smagula smag@mail.utexas.edu
^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Austin, Texas 512-482-8831
^^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^^^
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 13:54:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: Arthur McGregor 614-0205 <mcgregap@acq.osd.mil>
Subject: Subject: RE: no fermentation, bottle films, bottle crimes
Hi All,
In HBD Chuck mentioned his latest batch in the primary not bubbling after
nearly a week. The problem may be low fermentation temperature. I had a
similar lag in fermentation (only 2 days though) on my current batch. My
basement temperature was the apparent culprit, hovering around 62-64 F. I
managed to wrap our 'diaper wipe warmer,' around the carboy tho help warm it
up a bit. The 'diaper wipe warmer' is a small heat belt that wraps around a
container of diaper wipes so the cute little babies aren't traumatized by the
thermal shock of a cold wipe :>). It did the trick, as the carboy was up in
the mid-70s within 24 hours. I unplugged it and will monitor the temps and
cycle it if necessary. Think I'll try a lower temperature tolerant yeast for
the next batch.
*******
Bottle Films
I have noticed that most of my bottles (~75%) have a whitish film on the
inside after the beer is consumed. The beer is always bottle carbonated. The
film coats the inside of the bottle below the liquid line. I have not been
able to find a pattern for which bottles will have this film. Within the same
batch some of the bottles have the film while others do not. It doesn't
matter whether the batch is extract or all grain, dark or light beers, dry
hopped or not, brown, green or clear bottles! The film does clean off with
scrubbing, or B-Brite, but I prefer iodophors or bleach, and _no_ scrubbing.
I rinse the bottles immediately with water a few times after pouring the beer.
Any idea what this film is or why it's on some bottles, but not others? BTW
the beers are ales.
*******
Bottle Crimes
After reading the thread on keg crimes, what about returnable bottles
that are not returned to the store for their deposit? Presumably the no-
return bottles are not supposed to be returned, hence no 'crime.' The Rolling
Rock returnable bottles have permanently painted labels that could indicate
ownership, although the BudMilCors have removable labels, so not as permanent.
In the mean time, I'm going to RDWAHAHB :>)
Good Brews
Art McGregor (mcgregap@acq.osd.mil) Lorton, Virginia
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 14:02:00 EST
From: "Houseman, David L [TR]" <DLH1@trpo3.Tredydev.Unisys.com>
Subject: Brewing Software
While the brewing software is an active thread, I thought I'd put in a plug
(usual disclaimers, only a satisfied customer) for The Brewers Workshop
(Version 4) by TKO Software. This package seems to me to be very complete
handling all ingredients with which one would brew, mash schedules, boil
schedules, fermentation schedules, inventory and cost management, water
adjustments, printing of recipes, etc. I have reviewed and beta tested
several brewing software packages and decided to purchase and use the
Brewers Workshop because of it was superior to the others, although I
haven't tried them all. This latest version is much faster and more
complete than previous versions. Yes, some of the shareware may be free or
cheap, but then you get what you pay for.
Dave Houseman
Groundhog Brewery
dlh1@trpo3.tredydev.unisys.com
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 14:25:40 EST
From: TIMF@RELAY.RELAY.COM (Tim Fields)
Subject: In search of Red Nectar
I am a new homebrewer and would dearly love
to brew up an ale akin to Humboldt Brewing's
Red Nectar Ale (they are out of Arcata, CA).
Does anyone have an extract recipe that
approximates Red Nectar?
Thanks!
Tim Fields
timf@relay.relay.com
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 12:17:49 -0800 (PST)
From: seuss@d2.com (Randall Rosa)
Subject: Macintosh software development fer beer
>From HBD#1627:
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 10:29:25 -0600
From: evanms@lcac1.loras.edu (Mark Evans)
Subject: How about Macintosh Brewers software
Once again all this talk about brewers software has my interest piqued.
The last time I fished around for shareware (e.g. from Sierra) I found
everything uncompatible with the mac system (or you had to run Excel or
something). What about it? anybody know of any brew/recipe formulation
shareware/software for mac systems? Seems like Hypercard would be a good
engine for something like this. ('Course, what would I know? I am NOT a
programmer).
mark
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There is a package called the Brewers Planner (look in any
beer magazine for the ad). It is a pretty good program
that has a great interface and basic database of hops,
malts,etc to choose from. I heard that some of the conversions
are not accurate though.
Also, soon I'll be starting a brewing program for the Mac,
as soon as I finish my winemaking/cellar logging system
software that I'm in the middle of. If there is any requests,
now is the time..private e-mail okay
What Id really like to know is if there are any larger
scale homebrewers that have an automated brewing system
that interfaces with a computer either for control or
monitoring. seems like that would be a great combination.
randall
seuss@d2.com
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 15:08:37 -0500 (EST)
From: "Christopher V. Sack" <cvsack@mailbox.syr.edu>
Subject: Super heated water
On Tue, 10 Jan 1995 Rich Larsen <rlarsen@free.org> wrote:
>
> It is possible that you can super heat water in the microwave.
> I have experienced this myself. You can heat water so much that it
> will just about explode when something is added to it to give
> a nucleation point for steam bubbles to form.
>
> I don't know if the water is actually hotter than 212 (I can't
> see how that's possible, but I'm no physicist) but it will violently
> boil over when the vessel is disturbed.
> [snip]
Super heated water (SHW) is indeed hotter than 212^F. It is possible if
there the water is heated carefully and there are no nucleation sites (a
piece of dirt, a scratch, a vibration, etc.) but it is an unstable
situation. As soon as a nucleation site is introduced into the SHW, the
water (or any SH liquid) will immediately start to boil violently because
the normal phase for a liquid over its boiling point is as a gas. The
boiling will continue until the SH water cools down to 212^F. Cooling
occurs quite quickly because converting a liquid to a gas requires energy
(called the enthalpy of vaporization) which comes from the heat in the
SH liquid. As the heat is used to convert the liquid to a gas, the
temperature of the remaining liquid drops.
Super cooled water is also possible. Have you ever come across a puddle
or pan of water on a cold day that freezes at the slightest touch?
The same idea is at work as describes for SH water. one is now
dealing with a solid/liquid situation and the energy needed for the
phase change is called the enthalpy of fusion.
Christopher V. Sack, Homebrewer and Chemist
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 15:30:18 EST
From: Steve Robinson <Steve.Robinson@analog.com>
Subject: brewery improvements
Well, the HBD connection seems to be re-established after the mysterious
disconnect over Christmas shutdown. I took advantage of the time off to
tinker with my equipment and brew some porter. I'm getting to the end of some
major changes to my setup that began this brewing season. Since most of them
were inspired by discussion here on the HBD, it seems appropriate to share
the results of my efforts.
** WARNING ** Long post about my personal brewery setup.
1. I replaced my old Corona mill with a Maltmill<tm>. Say what you like about
Jack, he makes a fine product. While crushing the grain for this recipe, I had
help from my 2-year-old "assistant". While I wasn't looking, he reversed the
direction of the crank causing some of the grain to go up and around the outside
of the rollers instead of between them until I realized what he'd done. As a
result of this, and also based on the recommendation of the much flamed Zymurgy
article, I double crushed the grain. Subsequently I suffered a very long sparge
time (not quite stuck, but it took almost 3 hours to collect 6-1/2 gallons of
liquid). Since I have also changed my lautering setup, it bears further work
to determine if the grain was crushed too fine or if the grain bed with my new
setup is just too deep. Oh, for those who care, my Maltmill is the
non-adjustable model.
2. I installed an EasyMasher<tm> in my 5-gallon Gott mash tun. Previously I
had mashed in the Gott and then transferred to a grain-bag-inside-a-plastic-
bucket lauter tun. Because of concerns about HSA, one of my goals was to
eliminate (where possible) or simplify the transfer of wort between vessels.
This certainly does the trick. One problem with the spigot on the EasyMasher:
the taper on the nozzle makes it difficult to keep a hose from slipping off.
3. I built a steam generator for heating the mash. This was based on the
article in BT and subsequent discussion here on the digest. To recap, I took
a 6 quart department store pressure cooker (the kind with the weight on top) and
drilled an 11/32" hole in the top. I tapped this out with a 1/8 pipe thread
tap and screwed in a MPT to 1/4" compression adapter. I then ran 1/4" copper
tubing up off the pressure cooker (which sits on my stove), over to the cooler
(which sits on a Workmate right next to the stove), down the inside and along
the bottom of the cooler. I pinched off the end of the tubing and drilled some
small holes in it, and installed a needle valve inline with it as a shutoff. To
use this I fill the pressure cooker about 3/4 full with water, put the cover on
and remove the weight from the stem. I heat the water until steam is blowing
out the stem (purging air and minimizing HSA), put the weight back on and open
the shutoff valve. Steam now bubbles into my mash, heating it as it condenses.
For mashing in picnic coolers, this setup is the greatest thing since sliced
bread! The main drawback of the picnic cooler mash tun has always been the
inability to apply direct heat. Now, even if I miss the target temperature with
an infusion it's just a quick burst of steam to correct it!
4. As a consequence of being able to heat the mash, I tried the mash schedule
that George Fix published last summer for highly modified malt. This consists
of a 30 minute rest at each of three temperatures: 40C, 60C and 70C, followed
by a raise to mash-out temperature. The degree of fermentability is controlled
by modifying the times spent at 60C and 70C. My yield with this procedure was
just over 30 pts/(lb/gallon) compared with about 27 with my previous setup.
Yeah, I know I've changed many variables at once so I can't pinpoint how much
improvement comes from each change. Relax, this is homebrewing, not a thesis.
5. Also as a consequence of being able to heat the mash, I added the colored
malts later in the mash cycle. Several contributors in the past have mentioned
that this gives improved flavor contribution from these malts. I used some
German light crystal in this recipe for mouthfeel and head retention, and I took
this malt and the base pale malt through the entire cycle. The darker crystal
and the chocolate malt were added during the raise to 70C. The verdict on this
will have to wait until the beer is done fermenting. At some point in the
future I will probably try delaying the addition of these malts to just prior
to mash out in order to compare the results.
6. After my old enamelled canner chipped, I broke down and spent the $140 for
a 10 gallon stainless steel Vollrath pot. Based on my desire to simplify wort
transfer, and because of my success with the EasyMasher in the mash tun, I
initially installed an EasyMasher in the boiling kettle as well. Subsequently
it plugged up while trying to drain the wort into the fermentor on a Pale Ale
that I did about 2 months ago. After thinking about this I realized that the
EasyMasher draws liquid from the center of the pot, which is exactly where you
DON'T want to drain from after doing the fake-whirpool thing with the spoon. I
left the spigot on the pot, but replaced the EasyMasher internals with one of
Jeff Frane's super-dooper ring-things (with the holes, not the slots) to drain
from the circumference of the pot, and things are now wonderful. Definitely
recommended.
<snip>
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 15:31:13 EST
From: Steve Robinson <Steve.Robinson@analog.com>
Subject: brewery improvements
<snip>
7. Along with the Vollrath, I also got a King Cooker for boiling. This was
prompted in part by my moving last summer, which resulted in having an electric
stove in the kitchen in place of the previous gas. Since it was snowing when
I brewed the porter, I moved my car out of the driveway and moved the Cooker
and a lawn chair inside the garage. I left the garage door cracked open about
two feet, and boiled porter while the snow fell outside. [insert brief pause
for the reader to wax poetic about winter in New England :-)]. It took about
15 minutes to raise my 6-1/2 gallons of wort to a boil. The King Cooker I got
is the 170,000 BTU model with the adjustable flame, which the guy in the store
recommended over the old 200,000 BTU fixed model because the heat source is more
spread out.
8. This last one was unintentional, and I hesitate to classify it as an
improvement until I taste the results. I use those LCD thermometer thingys on
my carboys to monitor fermentation temperature. The resolution is +/- 5 F, and
the accuracy is questionable, but I figure they give me some relative comparison
between batches. Over the summer and fall, my basement was maintaining
fermentations between 60 and 65 F. With the porter I got a much longer lag time
than I have been accustomed to when aerating the wort well and pitching a yeast
starter. Normally I have a good krausen after about 24 hours. With this batch,
I was just barely getting foam on top after 48 hours. When I checked the
thermometer, I found that the temperature in the basement had dropped to about
50 F. The yeast I used was the YeastLab A01 Australian Ale yeast, which several
sources mention as being tolerant of warm temperatures, so it is not one that
I would have chosen had I been planning on doing a cold primary ferment. The
fermentation is proceeding more like a lager fermentation - almost two weeks
to finish primary fermentation, very little blowoff, etc. Since it seems to
be going okay, I'm not going to worry about this until I taste the results. I
figure at the lower temperature the final product should be nice and clean (low
esters, low diacetyl, etc.)
So that about sums it up. I hope that someone somewhere is able to glean some
useful information from all this rambling. Oh, for the recipe junkies out
there, here is my ingredient bill for the porter:
7 lbs. British Pale Ale malt
1/2 lb. German Light Crystal malt
1/2 lb. D-C CaraVienne malt
1/2 lb. D-C CaraMunich malt
1/2 lb. chocolate malt
1 oz. Hallertauer Northern Brewer hop plugs (7.5%) - 75 minutes
1/2 oz. Hallertauer Northern Brewer hop plugs - 30 minutes
1/2 oz. Hallertauer Hersbrucker hop plugs - 10 minutes
YeastLab A01 Australian Ale yeast - made up into 500mL starter @ 1.040
Steve Robinson in North Andover, Mass.
steve.robinson@analog.com
- ----- End Included Message -----
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 11:45:16 -0900
From: FFRI@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Capping champagne bottles with 2-lever capper
When I first tried using my two-lever capper to put bottle caps on champagne
bottles, it didn't work. I called one of my suppliers and asked: they offered
to sell me a different two-lever capper which they said would work. The
bottom line: It DOES work. I cap my Sapporo (21.4 fl. oz) bottles and my
champagne bottles with beer bottle caps using an "Inart" two lever capper.
It's made in Italy. I don't recall which mail-order retailer I bought it from,
nor do I have any commercial interest in Inart. Good luck. --roy--
-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-
=+=- Roy Iutzi-Mitchell ffri@aurora.alaska.edu -=+=
+=-=+ P.O. Box 1128 I.A.Y.I.A. +=-=+
=+=- Bethel, Alaska 99559 U.S.A. 907-543-3642 -=+=
-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 13:49:23 -0700
From: rhanson@nmsu.edu (Robin Hanson)
Subject: Maisel's Hefe Weizen Clone
I would like to produce a clone of Maisel's Hefe Weizen, anyone have
any ideas.
Thanks Robin.
Robin Hanson
Rhanson@nmsu.edu
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 16:18:59 EST
From: cem@cadre.com (Chuck E. Mryglot)
Subject: Gambrinus Malt
I've seen a new brand of malt advertised...Gambrinus.
I understand that it comes from a maltster in Canada.
Anyone have anything more specific on them and maybe a listing
of their offerings?
cheers for now
chuckm
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #1628, 01/11/95
*************************************
-------
