Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
HOMEBREW Digest #3511
HOMEBREW Digest #3511 Sat 23 December 2000
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Digest Janitor: janitor@hbd.org
***************************************************************
THIS YEAR'S HOME BREW DIGEST BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Northern Brewer, Ltd. Home Brew Supplies
http://www.northernbrewer.com 1-800-681-2739
Support those who support you! Visit our sponsor's site!
********** Also visit http://hbd.org/hbdsponsors.html *********
Contents:
My Philosophy on Home Brewing (John Palmer)
Goo, content, and Lysozyme ("Brian Lundeen")
Attention Mr. Lundeen (and others) (Some Guy)
Fermenting question ("John Todd Larson")
Visit to Graham... ("Kevin Mc Lean")
Re: LME Density (David Lamotte)
Re: Chilling Thoughts (David Lamotte)
Re: Merry Christmas --Page down now! (Brian Miller)
Jet-Dry and my Beer Glasses ("Dave Howell")
Re, Golden Ale ("Sean Richens")
Carbon Filters (Ant Hayes)
Question For Dr Stevo ("Phil & Jill Yates")
Re: beerstone and other foul deposits. (David Lamotte)
Cultures Rubbing ("Abby, Ellen and Alan")
Dogfish Immort Ale ("Darren & Judy Riley")
Re:High-tech homebrewing in orbit, anyone? AND how to chill it ("Pete Calinski")
Merry Christmas, Do go on ("Pete Calinski")
Krausening and Lagering ("AYOTTE, ROGER C")
re: Merry Christmas from Paul N. (McNally Geoffrey A NPRI)
Bottled Water ("Gordon and Sue Ludlow")
siphon starter and a question (david.persenaire)
Re: Re: Cleaning Corny Kegs (John Palmer)
Grahams Post ("Eric Fouch")
Brewsource (Doug Hurst)
Electric RIMS heat: How do 110VAC users get by? ("Dave Howell")
ANN/CFV: Reggale and Dredhop Homebrew Competition ("John J. Allison")
Re: Some CAP Questions (james r layton)
*
* Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy!
*
* Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us
* at HBD.ORG! Be safe! We'd hate to lose you!
*
Send articles for __publication_only__ to post@hbd.org
If your e-mail account is being deleted, please unsubscribe first!!
To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE send an e-mail message with the word
"subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to request@hbd.org FROM THE E-MAIL
ACCOUNT YOU WISH TO HAVE SUBSCRIBED OR UNSUBSCRIBED!!!**
IF YOU HAVE SPAM-PROOFED your e-mail address, you cannot subscribe to
the digest as we canoot reach you. We will not correct your address
for the automation - that's your job.
The HBD is a copyrighted document. The compilation is copyright
HBD.ORG. Individual postings are copyright by their authors. ASK
before reproducing and you'll rarely have trouble. Digest content
cannot be reproduced by any means for sale or profit.
More information is available by sending the word "info" to
req@hbd.org.
JANITOR on duty: Pat Babcock and Karl Lutzen (janitor@hbd.org)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 11:19:41 -0800
From: John Palmer <jjpalmer@gte.net>
Subject: My Philosophy on Home Brewing
I remember posts from years past where writers were accused of being
pedantic and other writers were accused of narcissism.
Still, I think the end result of those posts was that more information on
brewing was shared than was not.
Diversity in homebrewing is priceless. Sometimes I need to haul out
textbooks to translate posts, and sometimes it's the True Blue Australian
Slang Source (http://people.ethernet.com.au/~goeldner/auslist.htm )
(Fair-Dinkum: Honest. Real McCoy.)
I am a technogeek and proud of it. I brew for the fun of it like the other
technogeeks - Steve Alexander, AJ deLange, Louis Bonham, Ray Daniels, Jim
Busch, George Fix, Al Korzonas, Tracy Aquilla, Alan Meeker, etc. x10. We
post this stuff because we are interested in it and because we want to
share our enthusiasm for brewing with others. When I brew, Do I build up my
yeast from a single colony with continuous aeration and an IV drip? Do I
run a clinitest? Do I add minerals additions and lactic acid to my brew
water? Do I do multi rest or triple decoctions? Do I do every single thing
that the HBD has made it possible for me to consider doing? Heck No! But it
is there if I want to. There are good people out there that can help me
brew that peach rice lager if that is what I am interested in.
Anyone who derides someone elses enthusiasm for brewing should buy the next
round. To put it mildly. Anyone who pokes fun in good faith at another
member should get a free beer. To put it another way - If you wish to
participate in a discussion, then do so in good faith.
Enough said.
Merry Christmas Everyone! I love you guys.
John
- --
John Palmer
Palmer House Brewery and Smithy
http://www.realbeer.com/jjpalmer
How To Brew - the online book
http://www.howtobrew.com
Let there be Peace on Earth.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 13:36:29 -0600
From: "Brian Lundeen" <blundeen@rrc.mb.ca>
Subject: Goo, content, and Lysozyme
Drew Avis continues in his quest to strike fear in the hearts of beer judges
everywhere with his latest tale of ickiness:
> Subject: My Freezer is Excreting!
I realized it was some sort of brownish
> liquid goo that's seeping through a seam.
> What is this stuff?
Good grief man, do you not watch the Space Channel? This is a classic
B-movie opening, or at least follows the heart-warming introduction of the
classic Rockwellian family unit that is about to become "it"s first meal.
All I can suggest is that you invite Alexei Yashin over and push him in the
freezer to see if he gets devoured by it.
On to the content debate. Frankly, I regard the HBD (and rec.crafts.brewing,
and any other forum) as an on-line brew club. I would feel awfully silly
running around to every conversation that goes on at my "real" brew club,
and admonishing people if they were talking about something other than
brewing. So should it be here, and if the rules don't allow for it, change
the rules. I enjoy Phil and Graham's humour, I like it when we get off on a
big non-brewing debate, and I like the technical and non-technical brew
posts as well. Although, when -S- starts filling up my screen with formulae,
I will confess to paging down before my Really Small Brain (tm) starts to
hurt. The simple fact is, whatever the readership may be, the active
participation level here is not that great. Without the OT stuff, the Digest
might be a bit thin a lot of the time. It's mid-day on Thursday as I write
this, and I expect I will have no trouble making it in to Friday's digest.
But if I get bumped to Saturday, no big whoop! Keep the fun stuff coming,
mates. In homage to your spirit, I now post with an Australian accent and
all my words should be read as such... eh!
On to brewing matters. It is generally agreed that adequate pitching rates
and short lag times are, to quote Martha, a good thing. This gives the yeast
a chance to crowd out spoilage bacteria before they have a chance to do
their thing. There is a product finding its way into amateur winemaking
circles called lysozyme which is added to the must to prevent malolactic
fermentations, or to stabilize it post ML. It works by destroying certain
bacteria, including Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. Looking at its specs, it
would seem to work even better in the pH range that beer wort falls into. It
strikes me as something that could be added to the wort prior to yeast
pitching to protect it from any nasties that might find their way in. The
big question is, does it have any negative effects on the finished beer's
organoleptic qualities? Any experience out there with this product in the
brewing world?
BTW, I'm still waiting to hear from Mr Talley on the whole cloudy Star San
issue, and I'm STILL not getting the HBD in my mailbox. I have even tried
resubscribing since The Big Switch. I don't want to hear about DNS's
propogating, I just want my HBD. What do I have to do to get it back?
Yell... oops, I mean, Shout!
Brian
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 16:16:03 -0500 (EST)
From: Some Guy <pbabcock@hbd.org>
Subject: Attention Mr. Lundeen (and others)
Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to your lager...
Hiya, Brian! Was wondering when you'd get your curiousity up!
If you are not receiving the Digest, but are relegated to receiving it via
the web, grab a torch and a pitchfork (and a few other restless villagers,
if you can get 'em), and find the wndmill that your monstrous sysadmin is
currently holding up in. Not only can't I query hbd.org through
rrc.mb.ca's dns servers, I cannot even find them on the net! More than
likely they're getting DNS services from another ISP or are using a
"stealth" installation. In either case, they are miconfigured in one way
or 'nother. Best bet is to have them pull an update to their DNS - some
places seem intent on using TTLs that would outlive my grandchildren - and
I (hope that I) won't have any grandchildren for at least the next 9
years or so...
In general, if you're not getting your beloved Digest, ask your sysadmin
to see what their DNS has to say about HBD.ORG. If it says anything other
than 63.219.236.210, then they're out of date...
- --
-
See ya!
Pat Babcock in SE Michigan pbabcock@hbd.org
Home Brew Digest Janitor janitor@hbd.org
HBD Web Site http://hbd.org
The Home Brew Page http://hbd.org/pbabcock
"The monster's back, isn't it?" - Kim Babcock after I emerged
from my yeast lab Saturday
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 13:40:35 -0800
From: "John Todd Larson" <larson@amazon.com>
Subject: Fermenting question
My last 3 all-grain batches have gone through an unusual progression. After
3 weeks in a conical fermentor at reasonable ale temps, I have kegged the
beer. At this point, the beer tastes bad. So bad in fact, that I consider
dumping the whole batch. Fortunately, I am too lazy and frequently stick
the keg in the fridge and forget about it for like 3 months. I than pull it
out, and the beer magically tastes great.
This seems to be a new occurrance that I have not experienced before this
year. Does this sound like simply green beer or under-pitching or some type
of infection that mellows with age. I am very clean and oxygenate the wort.
While past batches have tasted green, this stuff tastes cidery and frankly,
infected. But, with a ridiculous amount of time, it goes away.
BTW, my batches are normally straight-forward american ales with 8-10lbs
pale, 1 lb crystal, 3-5 oz cascade, and either a yeast dump or a wyeast 1056
smakpak.
Any thoughts?
J. Todd Larson
Finance Manager
Amazon.com
larson@amazon.com
(206) 266-4367
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 11:27:36 +1000
From: "Kevin Mc Lean" <mcleank@brampton.cqu.edu.au>
Subject: Visit to Graham...
Well, it's Christmas time - the season of miracles - and I thought I'd make
my much planned trek up to the Middle North to see Graham Sanders. All went
very well and had a terrific time drinking ale and talking brew on the
verandah while we watched the rain bucket down (which he accused me of
bringing). I must admit the brews were delightful and compared with many
commercial examples (and in my opinion the wit even exceeded a few). In
fact, I found that for someone of my expertise an evening with Graham was
like a year's experience brewing at home.
Well done Graham - you don't just talk the talk, you walk the walk as well.
I'll be diligently brewing for when you go down South.
Regards,
Kevin.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 12:35:38 +1100
From: David Lamotte <lamotted@ozemail.com.au>
Subject: Re: LME Density
In reply to Jim Wilson asking about converting quarts of LME to pounds, Ken
Schwartz was so kind as to observe (Pounds = quarts x 3).
Now, I am JUST old enough to remember Pounds, but can never remember how
your pounds relate to ours.
But I do know that Liquid Malt Extract has a SG of about 80 deg plato,
which is roughly equal to an SG( Specific Gravity ) of 1.320. This means
that 1 litre of the stuff will weigh 1.320 kg.
In order to verify this calculation I found an old Coopers tin in the
garage. It told me that its contents originally contained 1.8kg of
extract. I took a measuring jug and found that it held 1.4 litres of
water, which would give it a SG of 1.286 (ie 1.8/1.4).
Now this is close enought to 1.32 but does suggest, within the accuracy of
my measurements, that what is in the tin is has been watered down a little.
How does this help Jim, not much I am afraid as he doesn't use metric
units. So as I believe that 1 lt = .981 Qt, and the same Coopers tin
claims that the 1.8 kg = 4.0 pounds, this would give Pounds = quarts x 2.9
Which is what Ken said.
David Lamotte
Newcastle NSW Australia
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 12:56:44 +1100
From: David Lamotte <lamotted@ozemail.com.au>
Subject: Re: Chilling Thoughts
Daniel C Stedman reviewed the Doc's statement that :-
>"you shouldn't have to use your immersion chiller any more".
>The thing is, that you still can, and
>suddenly get amazing results from it.
Dan, I think that one of us has misinterpreted the above. My reading is
that you use your counterflow chiller as normal, but you direct the warm
'exhaust' water through your imersion cooler prior to disposal. As this is
'immersed' in your kettle, it helps to reduce the temperature of the wort
entering the counterflow cooler by dropping the temperature of the uncooled
wort still in the kettle.
Seems like a good idea to me.
David Lamotte
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 20:31:49 -0600
From: Brian Miller <backatcha@sonetcom.com>
Subject: Re: Merry Christmas --Page down now!
"Paul Niebergall" <pnieb@burnsmcd.com> wrote:
<snip>
>(For your homework assignment, I ask that you all please brush
>up on your linear algebra theory as I will be solving many complex matrices
>in development of a steady state solution to the problem and I don't want
>anybody to get lost .)
Paul,
I have been working diligently on my linear algebra to be ready for next
week's
assignment. I keep getting stuck on matrix inversion, I've have inversion
by cofactors
down, but I can't figure out Cramer's Rule. The textbook says you just take
the matrix of
coefficients, substitute the column vector of constants, and divide by the
determinant
of the coefficient matrix. It seems simple enough, but when I get done, all
my signs are
wrong! Any thoughts?
Beer content: I brewed my first 15 BBL batch today (a wheat beer) at the
local brewpub with
our local brew master--the Fuzzy Brewer. Hours of empirical testing
produced the following
relationship: effort and batch size are inversely related. In my next
post, I shall endeavor to
model this relationship using Generalized Autoregressive Conditional
Heteroskedasticity (GARCH)
models. Sample SAS code will be provided to aid in your analysis.
I really just wanted to contribute to the "bar brawl" here on the HBD ;-)
cheers,
Brian
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 19:58:35 -0700
From: "Dave Howell" <djhowell@uswest.net>
Subject: Jet-Dry and my Beer Glasses
A question for the collective:
What is in Jet Dry, and is it safe for my beer glasses (i.e. it's a wetting
agent, to prevent spots in the dishwasher, is it inimical to foam)?
TIA,
Dave Howell
Costello: You know I'm a catcher too.
Abbott: So they tell me.
Costello: I get behind the plate to do some fancy catching, Tomorrow's
pitching on my team and a heavy hitter gets up. Now the heavy hitter bunts
the ball. When he bunts the ball, me, being a good catcher, I'm gonna throw
the guy out at first. So I pick up the ball and throw it to who?
Abbott: Now that's the first thing you've said right.
Costello: I don't even know what I'm talking about!
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 20:51:48 -0600
From: "Sean Richens" <srichens@sprint.ca>
Subject: Re, Golden Ale
Boy, I missed a few days and I can't say I'm motivated to go back and find
out what started off that snarky exchange!
BIG THANKS to Bob for thinking of a FUN, intellectually stimulating start to
a thread.
OK, here goes: Golden Ale, 5 Imperial Gallons
(my yields tend to be high, so grain bill would correspond to a typical 5 US
gallon batch)
2.5 lb Vienna malt
4.5 lb pale malt (usual 2-row well-modified)
Treat water as appropriate for your supply and colour of beer.
Mash in at 133 F and hold 10 min.
Boost to 153 F for conversion. Mash out etc.
Boil with:
8 AAU Northern Brewer - 60 min.
2 AAU Northern Brewer - 30 min.
2 AAU NAGGNH* - 30 min.
1/4 oz NAGGNH - 10 min.
1/2 oz NAGGNH - strike or hop back
* North American Grown German Noble Hops (a blend allows discreet adjustment
according to current year's prices and AU levels).
Ferment with something like Wyeast 1007, staying on lower end of temperature
range. Fine or filter after cold bulk aging. Carbonate to 2.8 volumes.
Sean Richens
srichens.spamsucks@sprint.ca
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 08:57:55 +0200
From: Ant Hayes <Ant.Hayes@FifthQuadrant.co.za>
Subject: Carbon Filters
Todd Snyder said some digests back
>>1.7 million yeast going head to head against less than 10,000 bacteria
>>is going to be a one sided battle. It's >174 to 1, and yeast multiply a
>>whole lot quicker than bacteria
>>Alan replied: "Actually, most bacteria will divide much more rapidly
>>than our little yeast
>>buddies. Bacterial generation times are often on the order of tens of
>>minutes while yeast take hours. "
The other issue is flavour threshold. Some bacteria are pretty good at
generating low-flavour-threshold off flavours, so even a relatively low cell
count can ruin your beer. So it is important to know which bacteria will
lurk in the filter, if you are doing ratio maths.
In the same digest Graham Saunders gave a cultural summary of England and
her ex colonies' cultural differences,
"But, there are certain people that really leave themselves open
for a bit of TPOS. Pomps are no real fun, they know, Non English
people dont understand. South Africans you cant insult,......"
Leads me to believe that you've tried to take the Michael out of a South
African with sense of humour failure (describes most of us) Graham. I think
our American hosts have been most gracious in the face of the continued
jibes (well meant or not). I think that we foreigners should conform to
their social norms here. (But gloves off on Oz CraftBrewing my ovine
inclined friend)
Ant Hayes
Gauteng; South Africa
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 18:25:51 +1100
From: "Phil & Jill Yates" <yates@acenet.com.au>
Subject: Question For Dr Stevo
Paul Niebergall who goes by the name of Dr Stevo has provided us with some
pretty interesting stuff with regards to lauter tun flow. In particular I
note :
d/dX [Kxx dH/dX] + d/dY [Kyy dH/dY] + d/dZ [Kzz dH/dZ] +
Followed by :
W(X,Y,Z,t) = Ss dH/dT
John Palmer adds to this fascinating topic with:
D1 = sqrt( (x-2)^2 + (y-0.5)^2) )
D2 = sqrt( (x-4.5)^2 + (y-0.5)^2) )
D3 = sqrt( (x-7)^2 + (y-0.5)^2) )
then
P(x,y,z) = (8-y) * (
( 1/D1 * (atan((10-z)/D1) - atan((-10-z)/D1)) )
+ ( 1/D2 * (atan((10-z)/D2) - atan((-10-z)/D2)) )
+ ( 1/D3 * (atan((10-z)/D3) - atan((-10-z)/D3)) )
)
All of which I believe John borrowed from Stevie boy (now don't take me to
court on this - I could have my facts wrong).
Point is, it is all very interesting stuff and I haven't seen posts such as
this since Doctor Pivo and Lester Long (alias the secret squirrel) started
talking to each other in Chinese on the HBD a year or more ago.
And I can understand them just as clearly.
Dr Stevo, I have been doing some lauter flow experiments myself in order to
extract the very last of those sugary pieces into my kettle.
It occurred to me that a rapid orbit of the lauter tun about one's head
would surely force the very last sugary bits out of every bit of grain. But
there is a potential problem. As I found out with the last orbital
experiment I conducted.
And Eric Fouch asked of me a simple and succinct question for which even
today I have not found an answer.
How do you control the tangential factor?
I mean, should the lauter tun slip from your grip.
Dr Stevo, do you have an equation that would explain this?
Phil
Baron Of Unusual Experiments
Burradoo
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 18:37:42 +1100
From: David Lamotte <lamotted@ozemail.com.au>
Subject: Re: beerstone and other foul deposits.
Peter A. Ensminger posted a very nice summary of the methods of beerstone
removal.
I would just like to add that Brewing Techniques magazine had a very nice
article which basically said the same as the link that Peter posted
(http://www.birkocorp.com/beerstone.asp).
Now some relvant facts and an opinion.
DO use phosphoric or nitric acids - stainless loves them.
DON'T use muriatic acid (HCl) or Bleach. The clorine will attack any
discontinuities such as the welds or the liquid/air interface. (I have the
pitted kegs to prove it)
In my opinion, the Acid wash followed by caustic works wonders. My brew
setup is all stainless which goes kettle -> pump -> mesh filter -> plate
heat exchanger. When I got it, it was pretty grotty with a dark brown
coating on all the internal surfaces. A hot caustic wash got it nice and
clean.
Last weekend I gave it a hot phosphoric acid wash, followed by a rinse and
then the usual caustic wash. It is now absolutely brilliantly clean,
shining as if I had spent many hours polishing every nook and cranny.
Changing the subject ....
The man from Far North Queensland has done a reasonable job of putting our
side of the story. We really don't mean any harm. It is indeed a term of
the affection. It is to us the same as a deep hug, or a solid slap on the
back.
Now I can't remember who (it is far too rivial a matter to search the back
issues for) quoted at length from an English dictionary on the meaning of
the word 'bugger'. While I am certain that he is well intentioned and took
obvious offense (I would too if the word had your quoted meaning), I would
hate for people to think that we constantly referred to sodomy in our
general conversation. The English dictionaries have as much
relevance to us down under as they do to you guys in the states.
The Macquarie dictionary (http://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/) is a good
place to start in understanding the way we speak. Now while it does
include the reference to sodomy, it also lists the following meanings for
the word bugger (just follow the above link and type it into the search
box) :-
- a person: "come on, you old bugger"
- a contemptible person "you old bugger".
- a nuisance, a difficulty; something unpleasant or nasty: "that recipe is
a real bugger"; "it's a bugger of a day".
Or as a verb
- to render incapable: "exercise buggers me for anything else"
- to damn or curse, as an indication of contempt or dismissal: "bugger him,
I'm going home"; "bugger it".
- to cause inconvenience to someone; delay "don't just bugger about".
- a strong exclamation of annoyance, disgust, etc.: "Oh, bugger!"
The list goes on when you consider Bugger Up, Bugger about, bugger off,
play silly buggers. So as you can see it is a very versitile word, but it
does take some practise to recognise the correct context.
The Macquarie concludes "When used to describe a person this word can be
offensive or affectionate, depending on the intentions of the speaker,
which are usually manifest in tone of voice, verbal context, etc". And
therein lies our problem, all these signals are missing in this sterile
electronic medium.
If you want to be really offended, look up the meaning of the word "fanny"
in the "Dictionary of Slang".
Later ......
David Lamotte
Newcastle N.S.W. Australia
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 08:03:59 -0400
From: "Abby, Ellen and Alan" <elal@pei.sympatico.ca>
Subject: Cultures Rubbing
Perhaps the good janitors will think this going on too much, but on the
cultural thing, here's one Canadian's perspective...
Speaking from the Commonwealth part of the former British North America,
I get what Graham and the Australians are doing - I do also think TPOS
is indirectly part of homebrewing as it is characteristic of the
independent, robust, pleasure seeking mind set someone who likes home
brewing usually has. My only problem is unlike Poms and Yanks, Canucks
never seem to be the target of TSOP - Ozzies treat us like threat nice
little and perhaps softer/dimmer cousins under the Queen!
[By the way, Canadians don't do TSOP perferring ironic self-deprecation
which is sometimes just insulting the person before us through
apparently making fun of ourselves. More fun that way as the person
never gets mad and you can do it for months. Perhaps this is an
example...]
Alan McLeod
Lurking in PEI, Canada
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 07:16:23 -0500
From: "Darren & Judy Riley" <darrenr@mindspring.com>
Subject: Dogfish Immort Ale
I just had a bottle of Dogfish Head Immort Ale, brewed and bottled in Lewes,
Delaware. The buddy who gave it to me says it's about $16 USD per six pack
up there! The brewer describes the beer as "Vast in character, luscious and
complex, this smooth, full-bodied ale reveals interwoven notes of maple,
vanilla and oak." It's also 11% Alc. ;-\ While the taste was everything
the label stated, the alcohol content was a bit high for my liking.
A few questions;
Their website (www.dogfish.com) describes this beer as using champagne
yeast. Is that how they get the 11%?
Is there a recipe out there yet for this great beer? If so, using a standard
ale yeast would bring down the alcohol but would it change the taste?
How can we brew this beer in Hotlanta (Which aint so Hot right now).
Darren Riley - Lawrenceville, Georgia
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 09:47:15 -0500
From: "Pete Calinski" <pcalinski@iname.com>
Subject: Re:High-tech homebrewing in orbit, anyone? AND how to chill it
Well, there is a second problem. Chilling the beer. About 15 years ago I
started out as the project engineer on a NASA project to build a
refrigerator for use aboard the space shuttle. (Thankfully) I moved on to a
higher priority job before the refridigerator job got started. I followed
the program a little within my company. Well, the results did fly on one
mission but with very limited success. No need to go into all the problems
but, it seems that in a typical refridigerator, there is one point in the
system that requires gravity. If I remember right (Fridge Guy, straighten
me out if necessary) at the output of the compressor, the refrigerant can
exist in both a liquid and gas form. The liquid part is supposed to go on
to do its cooling job while the gas part is supposed to be returned to the
compressor. The two are separated by gravity, the liquid sinks while the
gas is recirculated. In a microgravity environment, the separation didn't
work well.
A recent article in American Scientist
http://www.sigmaxi.org/amsci/articles/00articles/garrettp1.html
describes an alternative approach using acoustic techniques that has been
proposed for space based refrigerators.
I don't know what is used on the Space Station.
Pete Calinski
East Amherst NY
Near Buffalo NY
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 09:55:07 -0500
From: "Pete Calinski" <pcalinski@iname.com>
Subject: Merry Christmas, Do go on
Paul,
Do go on.
>Next week we shall explore various numerical solutions to the above
>equations and how the Peclet number effects the stability of the solving
>process. (For your homework assignment, I ask that you all please brush
>up on your linear algebra theory as I will be solving many complex matrices
>in development of a steady state solution to the problem and I don't want
>anybody to get lost .)
I'll do the brushing up watching you do the math. In fact that is what I
enjoy about posts like yours and Steve's and the other really heavy
technical stuff.
Like:
>d/dX [Kxx dH/dX] + d/dY [Kyy dH/dY] + d/dZ [Kzz dH/dZ] +
W(X,Y,Z,t) = Ss dH/dT (eq 1-1)
>Analytical solutions to equation 1-1 are available, but the tend to be
>very tedious in derivation and solving.
In my early days, we would do this on an Analog Computer (boy am I dating
myself)
Do I understand it?
Just parts and not very well.
Can I follow it?
A little bit.
Why do I like it?
It brings back memories of things I used to do too many years ago and just
might stimulate me to do it again.
What good is it?
Well, if you come up with a conclusion, it may not be considered "peer
reviewed" but at least I would support it against a seat of the pants
assertion. Also, it stimulates thought, perhaps among more knowing people
than me that might help you along. Isn't that what this forum is for?
I find it incredibly interesting to see just how much scientific knowledge
there is behind so many everyday things.
>(God I am so smart. I could go on like this forever!).
I venture to say, smarter than many but less than some. Of course, this
statement is true about nearly everyone.
>Shall I go on?
Please do. But only if typing it up doesn't slow you down. If it does,
contact Yates or Sanders; they must have a "thought to text" converter.
Pete Calinski
East Amherst NY
Near Buffalo NY
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 08:44:00 -0500
From: "AYOTTE, ROGER C" <RCAYOT@solutia.com>
Subject: Krausening and Lagering
Pat Casey <patcasey@iprimus.com.au> asks about:
"I would like to krauesen my bottled beer. As I am not in
continuous production of the one beer, krauesening with pitched
wort is not really feasible. However it would be interesting to try
krauesening a pilsner with an IPA or vice versa if I could get the
timing right."
Two things in your post, the "cross krausening" concept is
interesting, in fact some very good beers are "blended" so the
mixed style concept is actually practiced in some way, the
krausening is just an added twist. The basics are that the two
styles should be compatible, however, I suppose you could krauesen
a lager or pale ale with stout and make a "Black and Tan". On the
other hand, I suspect that the 10% or so krauesen you add will be
all but lost except when you use a heavily hopped barley wine to
hop an American lite lager for example!
On to the other part, I believe you should NOT freeze your wort,
rather "pasteurize" it for short term storage, or "can" it for
longer. What I do is to collect a one half gallon growler bottle
full of wort and keep it in the refrigerator if I am going to use
it in a "real ale" or flash pasteurize it by placing the jar in a
pot with the cap on loosely and boil for a short time, this just
stabilizes the wort, and if kept refrigerated, can be kept for a
few months. However, if you can't refrigerate the wort, then
either "can" it in mason jars like you would any preserved food,
this will keep indefinitely. Leave the yeast out of it! Re-pitch
some dry yeast, or re-start from a slant, or from harvested yeast.
You can also use this wort for yeast starters! When krausening,
make sure the yeast have really taken off, make sure you can
compute the amount required, refer to Noonan's "Brewing Lager Beer"
for a thorough discussion on that. A breviated method is to take
the amount of corn sugar you usually use and compute how much it
will raise the SG of the beer you are priming (assume 1.040SG/LB/G
for corn sugar) take the difference between the OG and FG of the
wort you are going to use in krausening (1.048-1.012=0.036) this is
the "equivalent corn sugar", I assume corn sugar is 100%
fermentable. IF you keg your beer, it is not even necessary to do
the calculation, I just add krauesen, pour it into the keg and
closely monitor the pressure and relieve if necessary, if it comes
out too low, I just add some CO2 from my bottle.
Tom Rutkowski asked about: My first lager
"I am planning to brew up my first lager, but I'm not sure what
temps to keep it at. The White Labs German Lager package
recommends 50 to 55 degrees. Should I stick to this target? Only
for the initial fermentation, or for the entire lagering time?
What happens if temp is 45 degrees instead of 50?"
I ferment my lagers in a refrigerator that cannot control any
higher than about 45-51F, so I just ferment in there and my lagers
just take a little while longer than normal, but suffer no harm as
long as you have goo sanitation and keep air out of the fermenter
to prevent diacetyl. Your fermentation box sounds okay, just
remember to pitch your yeast while the wort temperature is in the
low 60's, if you have a strong starter going, it will take off and
ferment completely, it may just take two months, and by that time
you may have hit higher temps anyway!
Roger Ayotte
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 10:57:55 -0500
From: McNally Geoffrey A NPRI <McNallyGA@Npt.NUWC.Navy.Mil>
Subject: re: Merry Christmas from Paul N.
Hi All,
In HBD #3509 Paul Niebergall spewed forth the following:
>O.K. I have had it with the blather of the digest lately. Steve has forced
>me to join the ranks of the enlightened few. As my own personal
>Christmas gift to each and every one of you, I shall be posting
>installments (each week throughout the entire year of 2001) of my
>own personal scientific masturbation. I hope you all enjoy this as much
>as I do. (Try not to get any on you!).
>
>Part 1 - Lauter Tun Flow:
<hydro-geek techno-speak snipped>
Paul: if you are going to be posting frequently on this subject you should
remember that you can probably type faster if you use *both* hands to type.
:)
Also, if you stop trying to impress us with your obviously vast knowledge
in this area and try to phrase things such that an average technicly trained
person
could understand it, you might just find that some people find this stuff
interesting and possibly useful. Others may not, but that's what the
page-down
key is there for.
Anyone that has taken a fluid dynamics course but still does'nt have a
clue as to
what Paul said in his post, take a look at a post of mine that's in the
archives
at http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/3097.html#3097-8 and then re-read Paul's post.
Keep in mind that my post describes a 1D flow and Paul's is 3D. (There is
also a
slight error in my post, but it would'nt matter unless you actually went to
find the
K' terms in a textbook.)
John Palmer (and others in his circle): if I remember correctly, did'nt
your first
try at applying Darcy's formula to a grainbed flow apply it to the bulk
flow? As
Paul goes on to describe in his post in HBD #3510, that is not the correct
approach.
You may already know this, but many fluid flow formulas (like Darcy's) can
be
proven to be analagous to various electrical formulas (like Ohm's law).
Unrelated hydro-geek trivia question: what is the current world's record
for
underwater speed of a moving body?
Merry Xmas and Hoppy New
Year,
Jeff
PS. Note that my email address has changed since I last posted to the HBD.
- ---------------------------------------
Geoffrey A. McNally
Mechanical Engineer
Naval Undersea Warfare Center
Systems Development Branch
Code 8321, Bldg. 1246/2
Newport, RI 02841
mcnallyga@npt.nuwc.navy.mil
(401) 832-1390
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 08:04:49 -0800
From: "Gordon and Sue Ludlow" <ludlow@aa.net>
Subject: Bottled Water
I know nothing about microbes, but you can write to the bottled water
company for the mineral content. I did that with my local bottled water
supplier. It turned out that the water tasted so good because it didn't
taste like much of anything. The drinking water analysis was the same as
the distilled water analysis except for trace amounts of calcium. So, I
treat the water as if it were distilled and add a salt mixture to it to
(Gypsum, Espom Salt, Baking Soda, Chalk, Canning Salt and Calcium Chloride).
Gordon
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 10:22:29 -0600
From: david.persenaire@abnamro.com
Subject: siphon starter and a question
My first post to the digest so bear with me. I've been reading all the
suggestions on starting siphons and I'm surprised I haven't come across my
tried and true method yet, unless it's buried in the archives. I was
tutored ten years ago into the hobby by Mr. Steve Kamp. In my very first
brew session he told me to go out and get a turkey baster. Throw the
turkey baster in a bucket of bleach water and rinse. Attach vinyl tubing
to racking cane. The tapered end of the turkey baster fits inside the end
of the vinyl tubing and creates a good seal. Keep the tubing bent upwards
to fill the bottom of the j in the tubing by depressing the baster ball
then shoving into the tubing and allow the ball to reinflate; voila you've
created suction. Repeat a couple times to fill the majority of the tubing
then point the tubing downward and watch the flow into your carboy. It
never fails and everything coming into contact with the nectar is sanitary.
You can also use the baster to immerse directly into fermented or
unfermented wort to take samples for hydrometer readings.
After nine years I finally switched to all grain brewing and have made some
wonderful lagers finally. I have one problem albeit a slight one in my
opinion. My two pilsners have remained cloudy after using irish moss in
the last ten minutes of the boil. I have been using powdered irish moss
and just measure a teaspoon and dump into the boil. The moss is quite old.
My question is does this stuff lose its effectiveness over time? Should I
use the less chopped up stuff that other suppliers sell? Should I hydrate
the powdered stuff prior to dumping in, if still effective?
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 08:37:36 -0800
From: John Palmer <jjpalmer@gte.net>
Subject: Re: Re: Cleaning Corny Kegs
Walt attests he has used bleach for cleaning corny kegs for years with no
problems.
I believe him.
In a similar vein, I use sharp knives, strong acids, high temperature
molten salt baths every day. I havent cut myself (badly) in a long time.
Haven't been burned in the last couple weeks either.
Btw, Cascade with bleach is not the same as liquid bleach due to lack of
hydroxide.
Noel,
John
- --
John Palmer
Palmer House Brewery and Smithy
http://www.realbeer.com/jjpalmer
How To Brew - the online book
http://www.howtobrew.com
Let there be Peace on Earth.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 13:24:35 -0500
From: "Eric Fouch" <airrick147@hotmail.com>
Subject: Grahams Post
Excerpts from Crackers' post on 22DEC00:
"
definitely yes a must read. That includes YOU.
Its called "taking the piss out of someone". Lets make that TPOS.
How he reacts determines if he's your mate, or a whinger and not worth
knowing.
Australian take a lot of stock to a persons character by how he reacts to
TPOS.
"
So, what you're saying is, if I don't take offense to your ruinations, and
actually deal it back in spades, I'm Australian?
You pot-licking Hose-bag! I'm going to stop using Pride of Ringwood hops in
my Fair Dinkum Dunkels (gratuitous brewing reference)!
Eric Fouch
Bent Dick YoctoBrewery
Kentwood MI
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 12:22:25 -0600
From: Doug Hurst <DougH@theshowdept.com>
Subject: Brewsource
Has anyone ever ordered anything from Brewsource.com? I just discovered
their web page (as a banner ad on the AHA website) but know nothing about
them. The prices seem very good. Just wondering about their customer
service and where they're located.
Thanks
Doug Hurst
Chicago, IL
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 14:51:53 -0700
From: "Dave Howell" <djhowell@uswest.net>
Subject: Electric RIMS heat: How do 110VAC users get by?
Merry Christmas and other ecumenical greetings:
I just finished building my RIMS, rather, I just finished my temp controller
and fired it up in the RIMS.
While at Lowe's the other day, I made a decision to only buy a 125V, 15A
cord for butchering into the heater element supply line. See, the 220V 1P
30A receptacle was about $15, and the plug was $12, and the 30A cord was
another $15. The cord I bought was $2.95... easy decision, right?
Well, I fired it all up for a 5 gal water test "brew". At 99% duty cycle,
it heated at about 0.9 deg. F per min. This is on a 4500W (at 220V)
element, so I was delivering approx. 1110W into it. I know that the temp of
the mash as a whole will depend on many things (like flow rate past the
heater, mass of grain, water, etc). I varied the flow rate and measured the
dT across the heater chamber. The best I could do was 0.9degF, with a 5
gal/min rate yielding 0.9 deg. F/min on the mash as a whole. Granted it's
uninsulated right now, but I cannot see it losing enough cal. for even 0.1
degF/min. Perhaps I'm mistaken, and this is actually the key?
So how do you folks out there using 110VAC do it? Even a 1 degF/min rate
makes for a long brew day, unless you are doing a single-temp infusion, and
are preheating the water.
I'm probably going to have to go into hock for another round of golf and go
back and get the 220V socket, plug and cord.
(I won't be golfing again until February, as I have had it spelled out to me
just how much money I've been spending on the RIMS. Gimme back my beer
bullets...)
And, since I have everything else ready for brewing (like my starters, etc),
the trip to Home Despot will have to be tomorrow... and this is probably
not the way to assure domestic bliss over the holiday...
Dave Howell
Hoping the center of the brewing universe is warm this weekend, as it is
temporarily relocated only a few hundred miles away from sunny Mesa,
Arizona.
Costello: You know I'm a catcher too.
Abbott: So they tell me.
Costello: I get behind the plate to do some fancy catching, Tomorrow's
pitching on my team and a heavy hitter gets up. Now the heavy hitter bunts
the ball. When he bunts the ball, me, being a good catcher, I'm gonna throw
the guy out at first. So I pick up the ball and throw it to who?
Abbott: Now that's the first thing you've said right.
Costello: I don't even know what I'm talking about!
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 16:02:40 -0700 (MST)
From: "John J. Allison" <john@joss.ucar.edu>
Subject: ANN/CFV: Reggale and Dredhop Homebrew Competition
Initial Announcement and Call for Volunteers:
The Reggale and Dredhop Homebrew Competition, sponsored by
Hop Barley and the Alers of Boulder County, Colorado,
will be on Sat March 17, 2001 at the Falling Rock Tap House
in Denver, Colorado. Entry deadline is Fri March 9, 2001.
The Dredhop will be an AHA Sanctioned Competition and an
MCAB Qualifying Event.
More details (such as rules, how to enter, etc) will soon
be posted to this forum and the website at:
http://hopbarley.org/dredhop/
Please hold entry-related questions until reading that
future posting. Potential volunteers, including judges,
stewards, gofers, etc. are encouraged to contact us anytime
via email at: dredhop@hopbarley.org
John Allison
webmaster@hopbarley.org
Boulder, Colorado
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 17:53:47 -0600
From: james r layton <blutick@juno.com>
Subject: Re: Some CAP Questions
Russ Hobaugh asked about his CAP recipe, specifically the hops. His
recipe:
>8.5 #s 6 row pale malt
>2 #s flaked maize
>.5 # munich malt
>Mash in at 153 for 60 minutes.
>FWH with 1 oz of Hallertaur Mittel.
>.5 oz of Cluster for 60 min.
>1 oz Hall. Mittel. for 5 minutes
You don't say what your target gravity is, or the hop alphas, whether
they are pellets or whole, so I made some assumptions and ran it through
Glenn Tinseth's online bitterness calculator. I estimated 27 IBUs.
Personally, I'd target a bitterness of 35 IBUs for an OG of around 1.053.
Those are the numbers on my latest CAP and I think its a pretty fine
brew. Increase the IBUs if you are aiming for a higher gravity, just keep
the IBU/gravity ratio around 0.65-0.70 and you should be fine. Otherwise,
hops look OK to me.
Jim Layton
Howe, TX
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #3511, 12/23/00
*************************************
-------
