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HOMEBREW Digest #2172
This file received at Hops.Stanford.EDU 1996/09/03 PDT
Homebrew Digest Tuesday, 3 September 1996 Number 2172
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Shawn Steele, Digest Janitor
Thanks to Rob Gardner for making the digest happen!
Contents:
Epoxy safety?? (Jeff Frane)
Alcohol flavors in my Dunkel (Eric White)
dryhopping/making malt/ion bitterness/magnesium/priming (korz@pubs.ih.lucent.com)
Re: electricity 101 (Gregory King)
weld splatter / etc. ("Herb B Tuten")
Pilsner Urquel Yeast (Don Trotter)
source for small (7-8 oz) bottles (Charles Epp)
things electrical (Joseph Kral)
Recipe books ((Mark Stevens))
More on Sorghum Beer (Bill Ridgely 301-827-1391 FAX 301-827-3053)
Re: Wyeast #2112 ((Mike Uchima))
Message-ID: <960903190559_104047.703_JHR34-1@CompuServe.COM> (Mick)
weigh your CO2/Historical ("Bryan L. Gros")
water analysis (Gregory King)
Removing Hop Detritus (???) (mikehu@lmc.com)
blowoff gunge (korz@pubs.ih.lucent.com)
Hop harvest/Burton water/Propane tank gauges (korz@pubs.ih.lucent.com)
Re:s/s Brew Pots (galley@hou.sperry-sun.com)
New All-Grain Brewer Extraction Problems ("Toler, Duffy L.")
Hops, again (orion@mdc.net)
Hydrometer readings ("Ed J. Basgall")
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jeff Frane <jfrane@teleport.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 10:16:04 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Epoxy safety??
Could use some actual knowledge on the use of epoxies. I have to repair my
old friend, the camp cooler mash/lauter tun. The drain has been leaking (cause
of losing way too much extract last batch), and I need to bond two pieces of
plastic so that the leak stops. It *seems* straight-forward enough, but I'm
concerned about the use of epoxy in very close (if not direct) contact with hot
wort. Does anyone know for certain if epoxy becomes inert after it
solidifies (or if it doesn't) or if there are particular epoxies that are
particularly
suited to contact with hot liquid?
Speculation is all well and good, but I'd like to hear from someone who really
has an answer. Thanks (direct e-mail would be great)
- --Jeff Frane
------------------------------
From: Eric White <white@anchorage.anadrill.slb.com>
Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 09:24:16 -0800
Subject: Alcohol flavors in my Dunkel
On 8/21, I bottled my first attempt at a Dunkels Weissbier from extract +
specialty grains. At bottling, a strong "alcohol" flavor and aroma were
evident. After a week in the bottle I sampled one and the same flavors were
present. Is this normal for a Dunkel? The OG was 1.044 and after 17 days of
fermentation at 68 deg F, stopped at 1.014. TIA for any advice or assistance.
Eric
Eric & Vernae White
Qesqa and Susitna (the Malamutes)
Anchorage, Alaska
white@anchorage.anadrill.slb.com
------------------------------
From: korz@pubs.ih.lucent.com
Date: Tue, 3 Sep 96 12:19:37 CDT
Subject: dryhopping/making malt/ion bitterness/magnesium/priming
Dave writes:
>Tom asks when should he go to the secondary and dry hop his pale ale. I
>sugggest the appropriate time is when the major activity is over, a majority
of
>crud has settled out, but there are still signs of some fermentation. The
>continuting fermentation will protect you from oxidation on transferrring.
I agree that you should wait until virtually all fermentation is over, but
why transfer? As I've posted before, I believe that the benefits of
secondaries are outweighed by the drawbacks of their use. I dryhop directly
into my primaries.
>Waiting about a week after pitching is about right for most normal OG beers.
With a decent-sized starter, not only are all signs of fermentation over, but
even the yeast has settled, in my experience.
>I suggest you put your hops in a cheese cloth bag with sterilized marbles,
>boil it
>briefly ( 1 min or less), covered, in a small ( 1-2 cups) amount of water, and
>steep it for a few minutes to reduce the population of bacteria and yeasties
>and
>add the bag and the water to your brew. Not exactly dry hopping but it will
>give you more dependable results. Even though hops do give some bacteria
>resistance, they are loaded with bacteria and yeast, as are most natural
>products.
I say just dump the hops into the primary. There are several problems with
Dave's suggestions:
1. getting a bag of hops and marbles into the neck of a carboy is a pain,
2. getting a bag of wet hops and marbles out of the neck of a carboy is an
even bigger pain (don't forget all that trub too!),
3. boiling the hops for a minute will boil off many of the more volatile
aromatics -- this is not just "not exactly dry hopping," it is "not at all
dryhopping," and
4. hops should not have any more bacteria or yeast than inorganic items --
there is little in hops to sustain life for bacteria and wild yeast (i.e.
you can't *grow* a colony of yeast on a hop -- little food, nutrition, etc.);
they did a test of dryhops at a brewing school a few years ago -- they found
some yeast and bacteria on the hops themselves, but virtually all of these
were killed when they hit the beer.
Dryhopping is easy and much less likely to infect your beer than aerating
with room air. Let's not make brewing any more complicated than it needs
to be -- this is an area (IMO) where simpler is better. As a personal
testimonial, in over 75 dryhopped batches, I have not had a single one where
the dryhops caused a noticeable infection (*all* homebrew is infected -- you
just don't want it to get noticeable).
***
Dave also writes:
>Vienna or Munich type malt can be made by roasting dry lager (but try your
pale
>ale) malt for three hours at 212-225F on an open cookie sheet. Longer and
>higher is Munich style.
You should have read that post of my you praised a little more carefully.
What this will make is Biscuit/Victory-like toasted malt and not a Vienna/
Munich-type malt. For these you have to start with green malt (not yet
dried).
***
Dave also writes:
>If one dissolves calcium sulfate in water it is probably ( I don't know)...
<a bunch of chemical speculation deleted>
Rather than speculating about the bitterness of things based upon strong
bases, weak acids, etc., why don't you just mix them into water an taste
them? I have (well, I had to taste the calcium carbonate directly --
it doesn't dissolve in a neutral pH) and none of these brewing salts are
very bitter in the quantities we use. We're talking grams per gallon
here, remember...
***
Bill writes:
>What you say is true about Burton and Vienna, but these are exceptions to
>the rule. Put 60 ppm in your beer and you will probably find that you
>will become just a bit more regular and your beer will have a nasty
>unpleasant bitterness to it.
Burton beers are quite bitter and Vienna beers are mildly bitter. In
both cases they have a pleasant bitterness not an unpleasant one. Speculating
on what Foster or Noonan thinks will only get you in trouble. Also, don't
confuse the effect of magnesium sulphate (which *will* enhance dryness, but
due to the sulphate (from every other source I've read)) with the effect of
magnesium ions. I don't believe that chemistry works by "exceptions to
the rule." I believe that the rule is the rule.
***
Matt writes:
>Why does 1 of my
>sets of instructions say to add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to each bottle?
That's old technology. It is neither sanitary nor accurate. That's the
way they taught everyone to brew 20 years ago. Before that, they would
teach you to bottle before the beer was done fermenting. The modern
way is to boil up the sugar in some water to sanitize and dissolve it,
then add it to a second, sanitized container and siphon the finished beer
on top of the priming sugar, bottling immediately.
Al.
Al Korzonas, Palos Hills, IL
korzonas@lucent.com
Copyright: see HBD header...
------------------------------
From: Gregory King <GKING@ARSERRC.Gov>
Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 12:55:47 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: electricity 101
> One more thing about the heating elements at the risk of beating it
>to death.It sounds like the suggestion was to run an element rated at 240
>volts @ 120 volts. This is not always a good idea without some modification
>to the element. Amps and Volts are inversly proportional. The higher the
>volts ( given a constant resistence) the lower the amps.
Nope. Amps and volts are *directly* proportional: V = I * R. Cut the
voltage in half and you cut the current in half (assuming constant R).
Using P = I * V (P is power) and V = I * R you can get the relationship
P = V * V / R
which is a good one to remember. Apologies if I'm the 10th person to
respond to this.
Greg King
gking@arserrc.gov
Philadelphia, PA
------------------------------
From: "Herb B Tuten" <herb@zeus.co.forsyth.nc.us>
Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 13:45:08 -0500
Subject: weld splatter / etc.
I just picked up my converted s.s. keg from a 'friend of a friend' welder.
It was a beer for service trade, and I'm generally happy. However,
I had asked him to cut the top out and had mentioned the tip about
putting water inside if splattering was a problem. When I picked
up the keg, he apologized for all the splattered metal but said,
"we couldn't put water inside 'cause we cut it with a rod", whatever
that means. He showed me, with a putty knife, how to chip the
splatters out.
1. Is there a better, or easier method to remove the splatters?
2. I know steel brushes are bad; is anything else to be avoided?
3. Do the splatters have to be removed? Is it ok if they stay?
4. He said I could buff it up with a sander. Is that a good
idea? Which sandpaper would you use?
He welded a s.s. coupling to the side. It's very nice. He's done
s.s. kegs before and appears knowledgable. In reading the keg
conversion faq, I've been scared about poisonous cadmium in welds
and such. However, I think asking him about that might insult him,
like 'I know you're the expert; but do you really know what you're
doing?' I hate to look a gift-welder in the mouth. ;-}
1. Is there a way I can tell by looking at the weld if it's
the right kind?
2. Is it true that only the 'right kind' could have been used
successfully anyway? (I heard that somewhere.)
Thanks for any answers to these questions.
Cheers,
Herb
herb@zeus.co.forsyth.nc.us
------------------------------
From: Don Trotter <dtrotter@imtn.tpd.dsccc.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 13:02:31 -0500
Subject: Pilsner Urquel Yeast
I've recently read that Pilsner Urquel (sp?) yeast descends from a
Bavarian Lager yeast. Is there anyone out there who can identify the
particular one? Is there a commercial equivalent?
don
------------------------------
From: Charles Epp <chuckepp@ukans.edu>
Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 13:04:21 -0500
Subject: source for small (7-8 oz) bottles
Anybody know of a source (preferably inexpensive)for small, cappable
bottles in the 7-8 oz. size? Private email is fine. BTW, thanks again
to everybody who provided suggestions for ales in San Francisco. I had
a great time there.
Chuck
chuckepp@ukans.edu
------------------------------
From: Joseph Kral <kral@hpljlk.hpl.hp.com>
Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 11:14:49 PDT
Subject: things electrical
Man you guys, this is unbelieveable! I'm forced to jump in here and give my
opinion. The misconceptions about things electrical are overwelming.
For example,
>Randy, I certainly did not mean to imply that someone should bypass any
>circuit protection in wiring up a 240 volt heater. What I was trying to
>suggest was that if some "novice" were to "LITERALLY" use the heater as
>originally intended (a commercial application/commercial strength heater),
>they would HAVE to wire it to 240 volts. As we all certainly know, in order
>to get the full 240 volts, you have to wire a device differently than normal
>110. Not many 220/240 devices are normally wired as 220/240 using a normal
>plug outlet. They use a special connector. That, as I was trying to point
>out, is best left to a professional electrician. And, using the heater as a
>240 volt heater, would generate a SIGNIFICANT amount of heat, and COULD
>cause bodily harm to an unsuspecting user. Hence, my advice to avoid using
>such a high voltage heater if possible. Perhaps I will be more detailed (go
>ahead, ask me what time it is... I have a wonderful set of plans for a
>watch...) in my postings in the future. My apologies for those that mis read
>my explanation. BTW, I *AM* a heck of an authority on stainless steel
>tubing, but not about the heaters that are made from it.
>OD
IMHO, if you don't know what you're talking about, then don't talk.
And even worse;
> One more thing about the heating elements at the risk of beating it
>to death.It sounds like the suggestion was to run an element rated at 240
>volts @ 120 volts. This is not always a good idea without some modification
>to the element. Amps and Volts are inversly proportional. The higher the
>volts ( given a constant resistence) the lower the amps. In this instance,
>the lower the volts(120 down from 240) the Higher the amps, and amperage is
>what fries things.
> If you run an element rated for 240 at 120, watch your figures,
>watch your hardware(wires,plugs etc.) and if you see smoke RUN.
It appears that Dick is the only one who knows what he's talking about.
Read his post again and learn something.
Dick's post follows:
"Assuming that by "pure resistance" you mean non-reactive, OK, but that's
too simplistic. Heating elements are not "pure resistance" independent of
voltage.
You can see this dramatically with a "heating element" that gets very hot--
e.g., a light bulb. A 60-watt 120-volt bulb has a cold resistance of about
18 ohms, but if you crank that through the ol' P = v^2 / r, you come up
with 800 watts! In fact, a 60-watt bulb *does* draw more than 10x its
rated power when you first turn it on...but that makes it heat up, and the
heat increases the resistance, and the increased resistance decreases the
power.
Now, a brewing heating element doesn't get anywhere near the temp of the
filament of a light bulb, but there's still a non-negligible change in the
resistance as it heats up, and there is an implication here.
[excerpting a bunch]
>...In this example Resistance equals Voltage divided by current
> or 10.5 Ohms. Power also equals Current squared times resistance, in
> this case 5500 Watts.
>
> If you connected this element to 120 V, the resistance would not change,
> it would still be 10.5 Ohms...
This is wrong, because at 120 V the element will not get up to the opera-
ting temperature implied by the power consumption at 240 V. Randy's cal-
culation of 1/4 as much power at 120 V as at 240 V is correct for the ideal
resistor, but for a heating element it will be somewhat higher than 1/4.
Since 1/4 of 5500W is 1375W, this moves the numbers into the realm where
you want to start to think carefully. A 15-amp 120V circuit is, in
principle, good for 1800W, and it would be prudent not to get right on top
of that. You'll probably be over 1500W. (Howzabout somebody take one of
those 5500W elements and measure the cold resistance?? That will give us
the other endpoint.) So if you are on a 15A circuit, you want to be sure
that your wiring is healthy and you're not trying to run much else on the
same circuit.
In almost all normal cases, there's no dire danger...it's no worse than
when you start the coffeepot and the toaster on the same circuit at the
same time, and it pops a breaker. There are safety nets; you just want to
stay out of 'em.
> Basically most home panels are rated for 100 A or more and the first line
> of protection is the fuse on the transformer primary which is sized to
> allow 150 percent overload or so...
Few homes are on their own transformers. The first line of protection is
the per-circuit breaker (15 or 20 A) which is protecting the wiring to the
outlet. Second line of protection is the 100A-or-more mains breaker; if
that pops you have screwed up big-time or you had a bad single-circuit
breaker. Don't even think about how big a screwup it takes to hit the
transformer."
- --
Joseph Kral
Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
kral@hpljlk.hpl.hp.com
------------------------------
From: stevens@stsci.edu (Mark Stevens)
Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 14:59:03 -0400
Subject: Recipe books
In HBD 2170, Shane Saylor asked about homebrew recipe books.
There are several on the market that I know of. "Homebrew Favorites"
is one that Karl Lutzen and myself edited, and which is published
through Storey Publishing. It has 240 recipes in it. I don't want
to hype my own work here, so send me e-mail if you want details
on this. A second volume will be out next year.
There are also two recipe books put out by the AHA: "Winners Circle"
and "Victory Beer". Both are culled from entries in their national
homebrew competition. Winners Circle is the older of the two. Each
has about 100 recipes.
Another collection that I'm aware of is Steve Snyder's "Brewmasters
Recipe Log". This is a spiral bound book. I'm not sure how many
recipes it contains.
Cheers!
- ---Mark
------------------------------
From: Bill Ridgely 301-827-1391 FAX 301-827-3053 <RIDGELY@A1.CBER.FDA.GOV>
Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 11:42:14 EST
Subject: More on Sorghum Beer
Sorry I was away for the long Labor Day weekend and just got
caught up on the sorghum beer discussions. Many thanks to my
friend Michel Vandenplas for his "Sorghum Beer Challenge". Guess
I'm on the spot now to post some further information, since I
doubt Mr Tegner will be of much help :-). I'd also like to
call on Richard Okambawa of Montreal (the gentleman mentioned
earlier by Russell Mast) to post his recipe for Shakparo, the
West African interpretation of sorghum beer.
For starters, let's begin calling this stuff "African Opaque
Beer", a more generic term but one that better describes the
product. It falls into a category referred to as "SMM"
(Sorghum/Maize/Millet) beer, as these are the principal
ingredients used to brew it. Industrial versions actually contain
very little sorghum - approximately 10% (the remainder being
unmalted maize).
Traditionally, malted grain sorghum (variety caffrorum) comprises
at least half of the grain bill in home and village-brewed
versions, the other half being millet or maize. Keep in mind that
this sorghum is not the same as the "sweet sorghum" (variety
saccharatum) used to produce the molasses-like syrup commonly
found in North America. Please consult my articles in the 1995
Special issue of "Zymurgy" for more details on sorghum, its
varieties, and the various methods used to malt it.
The essential steps required to produce opaque beer are sour
mashing, boiling, sugar mashing, alcoholic fermentation, and
straining. For the purpose of this exercise, we'll keep the sour
mashing and sugar mashing steps simple. Souring in particular is
very difficult to control at home (ask any lambic brewer), and
opaque beer, when freshly consumed, should have just a hint of
sourness anyway.
Here's my very basic recipe for traditional opaque beer (makes
about 8 liters or 2 gallons):
1/2 kilo (1.1 lbs) sorghum malt
1/2 kilo (1.1 lbs) unmalted millet
Packet Red Star baking yeast
Crush the millet and boil in water for about 15 minutes to
gelatinize starches. Drain and add to crushed sorghum malt in the
mashing vessel of your choice (I use my 3 gal brewpot). Add 4
liters water at 160 degrees F (Sorry, don't have my centigrade
converter handy) to reach mashing temp of approximately 150-155
degrees F. Mash for 1 hour.
Transfer liquid portion of mash to fermentation vessel by pouring
entire contents of mash vessel through fine-mesh wire basket.
Sparge grains with sufficient hot (~170 degree F) water to obtain
8 liters of wort. Let wort cool naturally overnight or until
reaching room temperature.
Once at room temperature, check the original gravity of wort.
Full starch conversion should result in an OG of 1.030-1.032.
Depending on the age and condition of the sorghum malt (which has
fairly low disatatic power anyway), you may need to add a small
amount of corn sugar to bring the gravity up to this level.
Add the yeast (preferably rehydrated in a little warm water) and
one cup of additional crushed sorghum malt (to help induce lactic
fermentation). Stir vigorously to combine ingredients and
oxygenate the wort.
Ferment for 2 days at room temperature (65-75 degrees F is
optimum), then strain beer through wire basket once again into
storage vessels (I use two 1-gallon glass jugs). Refrigerate and
serve the same day.
The beer, when fresh, is opaque, slightly pink-colored, yeasty,
and very refreshing. If kept for several days, the lactic
sourness grows but never makes the beer undrinkable. Of course, I
love traditional Belgian lambics as well, so YMMV.
This is the same beer Jim Busch mentioned in his posting awhile
back, and Wendy and I both felt it was far tastier than anything
we sampled in Africa (from both industrial and village
breweries).
I'm currently looking for a source for grain sorghum in the U.S.
as I'd like to try some malting experiments. The sorghum malt we
used was hand-carried back from Africa.
Have fun with this, and feel free to experiment with ingredients
and techniques. Maize or wheat grits can be substituted for the
millet, and several brewers (including Charlie Papazian, who has
published his recipe in "au Juice" magazine) have suggested that
malted barley can be successfully substituted for malted sorghum.
I've never tried this but might give it a shot down the road.
It'll be interesting to see how the other batches in the "sorghum
challenge" turn out.
Bill Ridgely
Alexandria, VA
------------------------------
From: uchima@fncrd8.fnal.gov (Mike Uchima)
Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 14:06:05 -0500
Subject: Re: Wyeast #2112
ksmith2@wingsbbs.com writes:
> A couple weeks ago, we brewed our first California Common and used
> Wyeast 2112 California Lager yeast. After 2 weeks, the fermentation
> is still going pretty steady and I was curious if anyone else had
> this experience with this yeast and if its normal or not. It has
> still not clarified in the secondary and I am a bit concerned about
> it. I know, dont worry etc etc.... Any info would be appreciated..
> E-mail ok.
Yes, I've had the same sort of thing happen. Last time I used this yeast, I
stuck the secondary in a dark corner of the basement and (nearly) forgot about
it. Couple of months later, it was *still* bubbling, albeit very slowly; I
went ahead and bottled. (The beer turned out *great*, BTW...)
This is supposedly a very flocculant yeast; agitating the fermenter slightly
every couple of days (to keep more of the yeast in suspension) might speed
things up.
- -- Mike Uchima
- -- uchima@fncrd8.fnal.gov
------------------------------
From: Mick <104047.703@CompuServe.COM>
Date: 03 Sep 96 15:05:59 EDT
Subject: Message-ID: <960903190559_104047.703_JHR34-1@CompuServe.COM>
Paul Cantalupo writes:
>In some of the recent digests, there has been talk of autolysis in the
>primary fermenter due to the long fermentations and not racking the beer to
>the secondary. My specific question is why doesn't autolysis occur in the
>bottle?......
>If anybody has an answer, please send private email since I hardly get
>a chance to read the digest on a regular basis.
Well, actually I'd really like to know why too. Could a answer be posted, as
I'm sure there are a lot of new-brewers like myself lurking out there who are a
little confused by the sometimes *apparently* conflicting advice given in HBD.
I've recently racked to a secondary fermenter for the first time, and cant wait
see if makes a difference.
Thanks
Mick D.
------------------------------
From: "Bryan L. Gros" <grosbl@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu>
Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 13:48:38 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: weigh your CO2/Historical
Randy in Modesto (California) writes:
>BTW, did anyone else have to go out and try to find propane at 6:00 a.m.
>on Monday morning (an U.S. holiday)? I must get a gauge for that tank!
Or a bathroom scale.
Tom Penn writes:
> Can anyone provide me with recipes for beers from the 1680's up to about
>1800? Or, can you point me to some references or web sites? Any information
>would be greatly appreciated.
Is Tom related to William Penn?
Check out the Cat's Meow at The Brewery (http://alpha.rollanet.org/)
They have a chapter called "Historical Interest".
Brewing Techniques has done several articles on pre-prohibition
pilseners, but you probably want something "weirder", like spruce
beers.
- ----
Quick: Is everyone happy with Ohm's law by now?!? :-)
Actually, it seems to be more useful than the ideal gas law.
Especially since I never did memorize what the ideal gas
constant is!
- Bryan
grosbl@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu
Nashville, TN
------------------------------
From: Gregory King <GKING@ARSERRC.Gov>
Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 15:31:04 -0500 (EST)
Subject: water analysis
Fellow HBDers,
Now that the brewing water thread has re-surfaced, I thought I'd mention
that A.J. deLange will analyze your brewing water for a very reasonable
cost (about half of what one of these independent analytical labs charge
for the same analysis). For details, contact A.J. directly by e-mail:
ajdel@interramp.com. <Paste standard disclaimer here>
Greg King
gking@arserrc.gov
Philadelphia, PA
------------------------------
From: mikehu@lmc.com
Date: Tue, 3 Sep 96 12:33:31 PDT
Subject: Removing Hop Detritus (???)
Richard Buckberg asks:
>Even though I rack my brew from primary to secondary fermenters,
>and sometimes pass it through sterilized folds of cheesecloth on
>its way to the priming tank, some hop detritus always finds its
>way into the bottles, especially when I use hop pellets.
>How do you folks keep hop detritus out of your beer, short of rigging
>an expensive filter system. Or, are there cheap effective filters?
Put your secondary into your beer fridge for a couple of days to
'cold crash' (tm) it, then siphon through a lady's nylon stocking.
I have found that putting the nylon on the outlet side of the siphon
works better than putting it on the intake side. I just usually stretch
the nylon across the opening to a Cornelius keg, then siphon into it.
Also, get the shorter type of nylons, knee high length. That way you get
two separate pieces instead of the one large assembly that includes panties.
(Of course, you could always remove the panties, but that is a different
undertaking, best not discussed in this forum) Also, don't use bleach. I
just dip them into boiling water for about 30 seconds.
mikehu@synopsys.com
Mike H. In Portland, OR
CopyRight 1996, Victoria's Secret, Inc.
------------------------------
From: korz@pubs.ih.lucent.com
Date: Tue, 3 Sep 96 14:49:38 CDT
Subject: blowoff gunge
Jeff writes:
>gunge was deposited on the inside of my plastic tubing. It's about quarter
>inch clear tube. Any ideas how to clean this stuff out?
Sounds like you were using Papazian's method of blowoff. The answer to
your question is: throw the tubing out and buy more. You can't clean it
well enough to siphon beer with it anymore. Furthermore, using such a
small diameter tubing for blowoff is an invitiation for an explosion. Buy
yourself some 1 1/4" OD tubing for blowoff and 5/16" ID FOOD-GRADE tubing
for siphoning and don't use one for the other. The 1.25" tubing will fit
right into the neck of a carboy without a stopper.
Al.
Al Korzonas
Palos Hills, IL
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From: korz@pubs.ih.lucent.com
Date: Tue, 3 Sep 96 16:09:23 CDT
Subject: Hop harvest/Burton water/Propane tank gauges
emccormi writes:
> Some plants like hard conditions and thrive more on little water
>and nutrient than they do with copious water and all the nutrients thay
>could ever want. Hops could be one of them.
Perhaps there are plants like this, but I don't think hops are one of them.
Hops like LOTS of water. The first year I planted I got virtually no hops.
The second year I got a lot more. Hops like lots of water... I was
putting 6 gallons of water per plant per day on them! Also, in my soil,
the hops (according to the books I read) needed more magnesium. I used
Epsom salts (a tablespoon per plant) once every few weeks or when then
showed the need (yellowing between the veins on the leaves).
I have used a food dehydrator for drying hops, but over-dried them. I
used a really cheap, non-adjustable one and in 8 hours they were brittle.
Rotate trays often and check for brittleness. Quit immediately if they
begin to get brittle. I've read that some hop processors dry to where
the hops are brittle and then set them out to re-absorb some water. This
can also be the time period in which you allow the oxidation reactions
to take place -- yes some of these are necessary for some varieties,
especially Noble hops.
***
A.J. writes:
> I don't think the Burton brewers use untreated Burton water any
>more but I'm just guessing about that because the commercial examples are
>less crunchy/salty and have less hops harshness than my authentic brew.
I spoke to the brewmaster at Burton Bridge Brewery about water (among other
things) and he said that the tapwater in Burton-on-Trent is now 1/2 well
and 1/2 surface water. He uses tapwater, but adds gypsum to get the
calcium and sulfate up near where they traditionally have been in the
well water. My guess is that the Burton ales we get in the states as well
as those that are widely available in the UK (Bass, Ind Coope...) are
probably more likely to be more conservative with their additions of
sulphate. Therefore, these are going to be less assertive beers than
beers like Burton Bridge (or perhaps Marston's... have to check my notes --
I'm just speculating about Marston's till I check, but I know that Burton
Bridge tastes quite a bit more bitter than Bass's or Ind Coope's bitters).
***
Randy writes:
>BTW, did anyone else have to go out and try to find propane at 6:00 a.m.
>on Monday morning (an U.S. holiday)? I must get a gauge for that tank!
Just like in a CO2 tank, a high-pressure-side regulator tells you
very little. Both CO2 and propane are liquid in their tanks and
the high-pressure regulators will show the same pressure till all the
liquid is gone. Then they will drop like a stone. You need to measure
the weight of the full propane tank and when it drops 20 pounds (that's
the standard tank size) it's empty. Simlarly for CO2 tanks, but they
come in 2.5-, 5-, 10-, 20-pound and larger tanks. A 10-pound CO2 tank
will hold 10 pounds of CO2. This is also a way for you to know whether
the CO2-filling place has ripped you off. Unless you brought in a steel
tank and picked up an aluminum one (or vice versa), the difference in
weight of a 10# tank should be 10# more when full.
Al.
Al Korzonas
Palos Hills, IL
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From: galley@hou.sperry-sun.com
Date:
Subject: Re:s/s Brew Pots
K. Sprague said:
The actual price for a 40 QT. vollrath s/s stock pot (minus the
lid which is $20-30) is something like $89.00 net cost (I have a
current price list in my office). If you allow the dealer 10% on
cost (which is a respectable profit) plus shipping (which BTW,
they usually get shipping for free) it should cost you about
$100. Now for a lid, I just use a round pizza pan.
You have made me feel very good about the $189 that I paid for my
Vollrath 60 qt (with lid), since the 40 qt. dealer cost with lid,
shipping and 10% profit (how could they stay in business at 10%??) is
around $130. Thanks for the info. Many people have inquired
privately about the source for the pot that I bought; e-mail me for
info (remember: Houston, TX USA)
BTW: Brewing with the Vollrath is a pleasure!!
Tom
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From: "Toler, Duffy L." <TOLERD@cdnet.cod.edu>
Date: Tue, 03 Sep 96 16:51:00 PDT
Subject: New All-Grain Brewer Extraction Problems
As a new all-grain brewer, I am facing dismally low efficiency. I was
wondering what areas of my setup/procedures I should look at. My current
mash/lauter tun is a 10-gal Gott with a Phil's False Bottom. I use a 5-gal
Gott for my hot liquor tank and connect it to Phil's Sparger. A converted
keg with a slotted manifold hop-back is used for the boiler.
My last batch was a compromised APA to satisfy both me and my Budmilloors
softball team. The grain bill was 8 lbs. of American 6-Row pale malt, 1 lb.
40 L American Crystal, 12 oz. malted wheat and 8 oz flaked maize. The
barley malts were crushed at my homebrew store using a quality roller mill.
I used a 122 F protein rest for 30 minutes followed by a 152 F conversion
rest for 50 minutes. The iodine test showed no starch left. I recirculated
for 15 minutes and then sparged 5 gallons of 170 F/pH 5.2 water
through(which took about 35 minutes) and collected about 6.5 gallons of
sweet liquor. This was boiled down to about 5.25 gallons over 90 minutes.
I ran it through my counterflow chiller and took a gravity reading. A
lousy 1.035, or about 18 pts./lbs/gal. The hydrometer has been calibrated.
Here's an open-ended question for the collective: Where should I look first
to improve my efficiency? or if it tastes good, RDWHAH!
Thanks!
Duffy Toler
Sugar Grove, IL
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From: orion@mdc.net
Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 17:56:28 -0400
Subject: Hops, again
Paul in Deposit, NY (No deposit, no return???) said, and I quote:
>Without considering the alpha acid content (these whole hops are wild and I
>have no idea what kind they may be) what might be a general rule for usage of
>whole hops vs. pellets vs. plugs.
My approach so far with wild, unknown hops is to make a mystery beer! Take a
favorite recipe, pretend that these are your recipes type of hops, and see
what happens. I haven't thrown away a batch of mystery beer yet!
>I plan on making two batches of pale ale, changing only the kind of hops
>used.
Ale is a perfect type of ber for the mystery approach!
>Is there a way to identify the strain of hops I have found?
Yes. At least somewhat. The cone shape, size, and leaf structure are the
general way to tell the type. There are several good books about hops, with
full color pics, that you can get that describe the cones and leaves. Some
of the hops producers (commercial) also put out a great brochure that have
pics of leaves and cones.
OD
Orville Deutchman
Brewer of Down Under Ale!
Hobby Brewing at its Finest!
I'm relaxing, and having a homebrew!
orion@mdc.net
------------------------------
From: "Ed J. Basgall" <edb@chem.psu.edu>
Date: Tue, 3 Sep 96 18:51:44 EDT
Subject: Hydrometer readings
>From: comiller@juno.com (Christian O Miller)
>Date: Mon, 26 Aug 1996 20:48:53 PST
>Subject: Hydrometer readings
>Can anyone suggest an easy way to take hydrometer readings for a bucket
>of fermenting wort without pulling the top off, sterilizing a gravy
>baster, and squeezing some into a flask? It seems like an easy way to
>get an infection. Any suggestions to private or posted e-mail. Thanks.
>CHRISTIAN MILLER
>BREWIN' IN DURHAM (Conn.)
>comiller@juno.com
Hi Christian,
I had the same trouble, until I decided to drill a hole into my
fermenter (plastic bucket) near the bottom and put on
a spigot. Now I can sample some wort and take hydrometer
readings without much fuss. Be sure to loosen the airlock
or the vacuum will suck the juice into your beer. I also
clean the spigot well after sampling and sanitize before
using it to drain the fermented beer. No siphoning needed, just
attach a sanitized hose and drain into a secondary or bottling bucket.
Ed Basgall
SCUM
(State College Underground Maltsters)
CUM
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End of Homebrew Digest #2172
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