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HOMEBREW Digest #3515
HOMEBREW Digest #3515 Thu 28 December 2000
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Digest Janitor: janitor@hbd.org
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Contents:
Fridge in cold garage (fridgeguy)
Best Beginners Kits (nap_aca_bh)
0,0 Rennerian defined (Jeff Renner)
Mash Stirring using a Rotisserie Motor? ("Branam, Mike")
Darcy's Law ("Jim Bermingham")
re: liquid malt extract density (Jim Wilson)
Kettle drains and pellet hops ("Glen Pannicke")
Re: Kettle Drain with Pellet hops ("Scott")
Iron Precipitatin', Cold WX Brewing, That (Un)Certain Something, Let's (mohrstrom)
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* Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy!
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Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 07:51:36 -0500
From: fridgeguy@voyager.net
Subject: Fridge in cold garage
Greetings folks,
In HBD #3514, Steve Hill asked how to determine if is too cold to
run a fridge in his unheated garage.
This question is best answered by looking at the relationship
between the temperature inside and outside the fridge. It is ok to
run a fridge as long as the temperature inside the cabinet is lower
than or equal to the temperature outside the cabinet.
This remains true until the ambient temperature drops below
freezing. It will necessary to warm the compressor if you need to
run the fridge in colder ambient temperatures or if the desired
temperature inside the cabinet is higher than ambient (by more
than a few degrees).
Compressor crankcase heaters are available for this purpose but
there are any number of small heat sources that will work and would
be cheaper to buy. A small light bulb, water pipe heat tape, etc.
would work.
Hope this helps!
- ----------------------------------------
Forrest Duddles - FridgeGuy in Kalamazoo
fridgeguy@voyager.net
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Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 08:19:23 -0500
From: nap_aca_bh <nap_aca_bh@nwoca.org>
Subject: Best Beginners Kits
My nephew was home from university over the holidays, and naturally we
enjoyed a few homebrews (he's officially 21, BTW). I mentioned that the
and his apartment mates should try a batch of their own. What would be
the group's suggestions for best beginners kits that include both
equipment and ingredients? I really want to them to have as successful a
first batch as possible.
Thanks,
Bob
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Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 09:59:59 -0500
From: Jeff Renner <nerenner@umich.edu>
Subject: 0,0 Rennerian defined
Brewers
We just got back from visiting our kids in California for the
holidays and are trying to get used to more than a foot of snow and
cold temperatures (-10F [-24C] tonight). I haven't caught up on back
HBDs yet, but thought I'd get this information out. Santa brought me
a toy for Christmas - a GPS receiver. So now we can accurately
define the center of the brewing universe.
0,0 Rennerian is:
N 42^17'46.9"
W 83^49'34.5"
This is subject to minor revisions as our two story house with snow
on the roof makes it difficult to get a strong signal inside at the
computer desk, and it's too cold and snowy to go out. I did have
fun playing with it in sunny California, though, at the temporarily
relocated 0,0 Rennerian N 36^18'31.6", W 119^47'31.7", my son's house
in Lemoore, CA, and on the flight back.
To make this brewing related, I drank some beer during the holidays,
some nice Gordon Biersch Export and others.
Happy Holidays to all HBDers. For those of you in Oz and other
warmer climes who are lacking the snow necessary for a traditional
northern hemisphere mood, I have large quantities available at only
$1.00/lb. FOB Ann Arbor plus shipping and handling, insulated packing
and dry ice extra.
Jeff
- --
Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, c/o nerenner@umich.edu
"One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 10:20:20 -0500
From: "Branam, Mike" <Mike.Branam@BellSouth.COM>
Subject: Mash Stirring using a Rotisserie Motor?
I have been working on a design to create an automatic wort stirring
device. I have come up with several ideas one was to use a gear motor from
Grainger, second to use an ice cream motor, and last to use the motor off my
Rotisserie. The motor turns slow about 2 to 3 RPM and has a lot of torque.
It also has a long square shaft that I could mount some kind of paddle. I
would like to incorporate this device with a coiled heat exchanger that
could have hot water from the HLT pumped through it when the Temp controller
saw a drop in temp. The stirring device would move the mash around and
distribute the heat more evenly. Do any if you have any ideas in the
Rotisserie Motor? Do you think that is will work?
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 09:52:55 -0600
From: "Jim Bermingham" <bermingham@antennaproducts.com>
Subject: Darcy's Law
I received my lab coat as a Christmas present so I can come out of the
closet and get involved with the scientific post.
Now Paul, I want to start applying Darcy's Law to the flow from my lauter
system but need an answer to the following before I proceed with the
experiment. If I don't achieve the calculated flow rate will I be arrested
by Darcy for violating her Law? Is this Law on the books in all states, or
is it ok if I violate it at home and don't inhale, or tell anyone? If I do
violate it, and Darcy does arrest me, is the violation punishable by being
forced to join a circle jerk?
Note: Now if Darcy is good looking and has something to do with head, I can
see where dh = change in head, and dl = change in length, but how can you
measure v? Wouldn't the specific discharge depend upon the individual?
I'm beginning to like this scientific stuff. I'm off to play "what if" with
Darcy and the girls.
Jim Bermingham
JackAss Brewery
"Where Science gets Down to Business"
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 09:07:55 -0800
From: Jim Wilson <jim.wilson@home.net>
Subject: re: liquid malt extract density
Thanks to everyone who replied. The simple answer is 3 pounds/quart. If
your curiosity is satisfied, page down. If you want to do a Fineman and
learn the details, forge on. If I don't have them quite right, I'm sure
corrections will rain down.
80 Brix is a common LME density, Alexander's is 80 Brix for instance
<http://californiaconcentrate.com/maltmug.htm>, but I've read that LME is
commercially produced in the range of 70-80 Brix. Brix ,Balling and Plato
are units expressing the per cent sugar dissolved in water and are
equivalent for our purposes. Manning's BT article
<http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue1.3/manning.html>
gives several formula for converting deg Plato to SG. SG=259/(259-deg P)
is simple and accurate enough for me. For example, 80 Brix is 3.02
pounds/quart. AJ discussed a third order polynomial converting P to SG in
HBD 3145 (Oct 15, 1999), but I can't read it. Darned e-mail clients should
learn to talk to one another better. Luckily, I think this one is overkill
for home brewing.
o \o
__o /\ /
`\ <> `\ `> `\ >
(*)/ (*) (*)/ (*) (*)/ (*)
I ride my bicycle to ride my bicycle.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 12:04:07 -0500
From: "Glen Pannicke" <glen@pannicke.net>
Subject: Kettle drains and pellet hops
Kevin P. asked about using kettle drains and pellet hops:
My biggest pet peeve in brewing is hop pellet "spooge" in my fermenter.
That's why I prefer plugs and cones. I've added a ball valve to my kettle
with a brass tee on the inside. 2 soft copper pickup tubes extend to the
sides of the kettle to draw wort nearest to the wall. It works pretty well
if you whirlpool the wort after cooling and you have a moderate amount of
hop particulates. If you have a very heavy amount like I had last night
(bag of pellets broke) then there's no saving you - even with a screen.
I did however, try one of those herb steeping balls (screen type). The 3"
diameter only allows you to put about 1 oz of pellets, no more. If you try
2 oz of pellets they will swell to the point that you have a dense mass of
"hop baseball" when you open it. I'm assuming that your utilization will
drop since the hops in the center recieved very little exposure to the wort.
My suggestion: Save these guys for dry hopping kegs!
Glen A. Pannicke
glen@pannicke.net
http://www.pannicke.net
Check http://pgpkeys.mit.edu/ for PGP public key
75CE 0DED 59E1 55AB 830F 214D 17D7 192D 8384 00DD
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 11:48:30 -0800
From: "Scott" <Windsurf@bossig.com>
Subject: Re: Kettle Drain with Pellet hops
Kevin asks if any kettle drain is acceptable for pellet hops:
I try to use whole leaf when possible, for the filtering. However, on
occasion, have had to use pellets, with no problem whatsoever. My Boil
Kettle Sankey keg, with a 1/2" S.S. coupling welded on the side. The
mannifold is circular, with small drilled holes on the underside (exact size
escapes me). What makes this work, I believe, is the mannifold is set about
one inch above the bottom of the keg. After the boil, I wait about 10
minutes, then start the draining into the counterflow chiller. No stuck
boils, ever. I have a couple pictures, if interested:
http://homebrewery.homestead.com/homebrewery.html
Scott
Richland, Wa.
From: Kevin Peters <kpeters@ptd.net>
Subject: Kettle Drain with Pellet Hops
I've been thinking about adding a drain to my boiling kettle, but in
searching the archives, the posts I found said this works only with
leaf hops. No pellets, since the screen will be clogged. Is anyone
out there using a kettle drain who brews with only pellets? What
arrangement works? A screen such as an easymasher? Along the sides
of the kettle? A full false bottom?
Kevin Peters
Mechanicsburg, PA
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 16:52:46 -0500
From: mohrstrom@humphreypc.com
Subject: Iron Precipitatin', Cold WX Brewing, That (Un)Certain Something, Let's
Mike Utes relates:
>>>You can remove iron from your well water by putting an aerator on your
faucet and filling two five gallon buckets (for a five gallon batch) about
five days before brewing.<<<
Now, Dave Hinrichs and I are about in the same boat. I filled my Sankey
HLT and kettle with my well water in order to drop the carbonates along
with some iron. That was some time ago when it was in the upper 30degF's
(it's been some time now since it's been that warm). Rather than burning
up a bunch of propane to thaw it out, I've been waiting for a warmer day to
set my system free (it won't be tonight, since we'll see 10 below).
Besides, I can only *assume* that my system is still under that snow pile.
I began pondering the other night, as the thermometer read -8degF, what was
the induced hoop stress due to the expansion of water. Does anyone have a
Mark's or CRC Handbook with that information?
Drew Avis faces his defecating freezer:
> I realized it was some sort of brownish liquid goo that's seeping
> through a seam. What is this stuff?
With all due respect to FridgeDude's vast knowledge of refrigerator
construction, *I* suspect that it may be "BROWN-25".
Is Dave B. still with us? He has been oddly under the radar of late. I
*know* why AlK is offline (jeez, first cognizant winter holidays for the
trips ...)
As to humor(-less) (non)brewing content, bring it *all* on, with
sensitivity to the length of the queue. I count ~8 editions in the past
month where we have approached the 50K limit (and how much of that is
discussion of OT content?) I am much more sensitive to the vaguely
on-topic (or blatantly off-topic - which BTW, seem to have decreased in
direct proportion to the number of posts from Austin) commercial posts from
brew vendors. At the point where point where two (or more) mavens are
abusing the deceased equine, the good ones will take it offline until the
issue is settled, and then post the summary.
But then, let's not forget the ***HBD SLAMDOWN*** at the NHC in LA. We
were forced to cancel last year's event in Detroit for lack of
participants. This is an important fund-raising event for the HBD, and we
really need the revenue. Let's channel that rancor!
Mark in Kalamazoo
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #3515, 12/28/00
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