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HOMEBREW Digest #4445
HOMEBREW Digest #4445 Tue 06 January 2004
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
Re: Carbo Calories (huh - what did they say ?) ("-S")
Carbs / what about high protein beer (Don Van Valkenburg)
Re: Link of the Week - Jan 3 2004 - drunk ("Greg 'groggy' Lehey")
Final Bar Rinse ("Eric R. Theiner")
re: Of barrels and beer ("Doug Hurst")
RE: removing keg labels ("Jamil Zainasheff")
catching up--oak, cider, caustic, and the like (Marc Sedam)
Kegging (D.T.)" <dpeters3@ford.com>
Portland, OR and football (Marc Sedam)
re: barrels (Rama Roberts)
Competition Announcement / Call for judges and stewards (MOREY Dan)
pump cflow control valve for use with PID (mike4nospam)
Wombat Stew Or Wombat Brew? ("Phil Yates")
Competition Announcement - Big Bend Brewoff ("Martin Brungard")
A brief return to bottling (Nathan J. Williams)
infection or Alpha overdose ?? ("Webb, Mike")
Rewiring Johnson's "The Controller" ("Neil Spake")
removing keg labels ("Steve Holden")
Re: Copper and sodium hydroxide ("Sean Richens")
Invert Sugar Procedure and HBD Search Index (rickdude02)
Wascawy Wombats and Leach Like Labels (Jeremy Struffert)
Double Enghien Brune Clone ("Chad Stevens")
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 01:15:42 -0500
From: "-S" <-s at adelphia.net>
Subject: Re: Carbo Calories (huh - what did they say ?)
AJ deLange writes ...,
> HBS&Y are of the opinion that the upper range of protein concentration
> in beer is 0.63%.
AJ and I are (I think) agreeing to the same facts in different terms, and
coming to different conclusions.
I wrote:
-S>Nitrogen sources (protein, amino acids, DNA, RNA) alone amount to 5%
-S>to 6% of sweet wort extract.
5% of EXTRACT mass is indeed about 0.63% of BEER mass for conventional
strength and attenuation beers. We agree !
I purposely chose extract mass as the basis since the amount of protein
that remains is approximately proportional to the original extract, and not
related directly to the beer mass. This makes the calculation more clear I
think.
===
> Ash constitutes no more than a couple of tenths of a
> % as well.
Not so fast - that's tenths of a percent of beer mass, not extract and not
gravity. M&BS pp 207 table 7.6 shows analysis of 2 lagers and 2 ales and
each has about 1.2 grams of mineral content per liter. Kunze cites similar
numbers on pp 563. That's 1% of extract mass as mineral for a conventional
gravity beer. I don't have figures for the specific major beer ions (K, Mg,
phosphate, sulfate, chloride), but other soluble minerals have very high
density in solution as compared to sucrose. For example a 1P sodium
carbonate sol'n gives an SG of 1.0089 (not the 1.0039 of sucrose). If
this relation holds at lower concentrations of the other ions, then the
0.12P of beer minerals contribute about 1 SG degree to beer's final gravity
! If that was the only issue I'd ignore it, but it is around 5% of final
extract.
===
Back to the REAL issue of simple carbohydrate (Atkins) calories in beer.
> Ignoring these is certainly an adequate approximation for
> those who calculate alcohol content and true extract from OG and FG
> measurements, especially if those are done with a hydrometer.
I can't agree. The mineral content, because of it's high density compared
to sucrose, will approach 1SG degree in gravity and the protein will account
for some ~2.5 SG degrees [AJ's 0.63% (0.63P) converted to gravity] . If
you read a final gravity of 1.012, and account for the ethanol and
determine that the effective gravity ignoring the ethanol is around 16 SG
points - then you consider that 3 or 4 of those 16 SG degrees are
non-carbohydrate this is not an ignorable contribution to final gravity and
real final extract.
>If more accuracy is required the beer must be [..]
There is little point in getting more accurate numbers while you ignoring
terms that add to perhaps 20% or 25% of the whole. AJ posted the
equivalent of ...
CarboCalories_per_100ml = 4 * (rep - ash) * fsg
then tells us to ignore the ash, giving:
1/ CarboCalories_per_100ml = 4 * (rep) * fsg
Kunze pp 563-564 discusses beer constituents. He states bluntly, "The
extract of beer consists of 75%-80% carbohydrate, in particular dextrins
(maltotetraose, maltopentaose,) and very little maltotriose. 6% to 9%
nitrogenous compounds, 4% to 5% glycerol(glycerine) and also B-glucans,
inorganic compounds, phenolic compounds, and bitter substances, organic
acids, and a number of compounds [...]".
If we believe in Kunze's statement then the carbohydrate calories are only
75% to 80% of the real_final extract.
Kunze's version of the Carbo_calorie eqn would be
2/ CarboCal_per_100ml = from 4 * (0.75 * rep) * fsg
to 4 * (0.80 * rep) * fsg
I posted previously:
3/ CarboCal_per_100ml = 4 * (rep - 0.1*oep) * fsg
=============
Consider a beer that begins with 1.048SG wort and ends with 1.012 apparent
gravity. The real final extract is about 4.7P. Original extract(oep) is
nominally 12P and fsg is 1.012 .
AJ calculates:
1'/ CarboCal_per_100ml = 4 * 4.7 * 1.012 = 19Cal/100ml
Kunze's range is:
2'/ CarboCal_per_100ml = 4 * ([0.75-0.80] * 4.7) * 1.012 =
14.26Cal to 15.22 Cal/100ml
My posted eqn gives:
3'/ CarboCal_per_100ml = 4 * (4.7 - 0.1*12) * 1.012 = 14.17Cal/100ml
I'm perfectly willing to accept that my estimate is around 1% below the
low-end of Kunze's range and so is probably too low by several percent.
Clearly something is very wrong with AJs equation which ignores terms that
place him 25% above the Kunze high-end of the Calorie range. If AJ
included the terms he ignores (0.2P ash and 0.63P protein) he'd get within a
few percent of Kunze's high-end. The remaining error is primarily from
ignoring the substantial amounts of glycerol (~1.5gm per liter) in beer.
Glycerol is technically a carbohydrate, but is not considered in Atkin's
diet as it has a low glycemic index and is not rapidly converted to glucose.
similar to mannitol, sorbitol and sugar alcohols.
=====
> "Beer has about 90% of the total calories as its unfermented wort !" I
> guess that's a testament to the relative efficiencies of oxidative
> phosphorylation as opposed to fermentation.
That depends on what you mean by *efficiency*.
Respiration extracts much more energy than fermentation to acetaldehyde (and
then to ethanol) or in the mammalian anaerobic conversion of glucose to
lactate in muscle tissue. Brewing yeast can efficiently respire ethanol
given some oxygen, so it's not really lost energy so much as reserved for
later use.
The problem w/ mammalian respiration is that it's so d*mned slow that it
cannot meet the high and variable power demands for muscular activity.
Anaerobic glycolysis (similar to fermentation), producing lactate is the
primary energy system for rapid muscle demands. Mammals may then turn
around and expend 3 times the released energy converting lactate back into
precious glucose stored as pancreatic and muscular glycogen(starch) if other
carbohydrates are not available. This highly inefficient method of keeping
carbo stores intact is called the Cori cycle. Of course even this sort of
inefficency means "lost" energy is converted into potentially useful body
heat.
Respiration is more efficient in extracting energy from glucose, but
anaerobic glycolysis is more efficient at producing power (energy per unit
time) and certainly in making beer !
-S
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 04 Jan 2004 22:22:06 -0800
From: Don Van Valkenburg <brewing at earthlink.net>
Subject: Carbs / what about high protein beer
Bill from brewbyyou.net makes some good points about carbs.
But what about protein?
The following comments are from Charlie Papazian made in the AOB forum:
"Part of the Atkins diet as I understand it, is about low carbs and
high proteins. Has anyone figured out how much more protein
there is (percentage wise) in unfiltered beer than filtered, chillproofed
beer? High Protein Beer? - Yes I realize the protein levels are
relatively insignificant, but then the "lower" carb levels of low carb
beers is also relatively insignificant.
Also interesting to me is that low carb, could imply a health benefit.
I thought that there were label restrictions on promoting health
benefits of beer. Seems like the agency has lost their opportunity
to reject "low carbohydrate" as a health benefit in having already
approved Low Carb beers on the marketplace."
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 17:03:00 +1030
From: "Greg 'groggy' Lehey" <grog at lemis.com>
Subject: Re: Link of the Week - Jan 3 2004 - drunk
On Saturday, 3 January 2004 at 13:09:50 -0700, Bob Devine wrote:
> BTW, how much alcohol is too much? You will be amazed at this story:
> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&e=3&u=/nm/drunk_dc
"The unidentified middle-aged man was unconscious but stable after a
blood test showed 7.22 parts per million of alcohol, police
spokeswoman Ieva Zvidre said. "
We must have some pretty resistant people here in Australia, then.
You're allowed to drive a car up to 0.05% of alcohol in your blood,
which makes 500 ppm, and many people are caught exceeding this limit.
My idiot nephew fell off a car last month (see
http://wwww.lemis.com/grog/Photos-20031225.html#Nathan) and was
measured with 3000 odd ppm.
In fact, this is almost certainly a mistranslation of "promille",
parts per thousand. That would correspond to 0.722 % or 7220 ppm,
which is certainly impressive. It's clear that he couldn't have done
that on beer alone.
Greg
- --
Finger grog at lemis.com for PGP public key.
See complete headers for address and phone numbers.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2004 09:58:35 -0500
From: "Eric R. Theiner" <rickdude02 at earthlink.net>
Subject: Final Bar Rinse
Someone asked about a product called "Smart & Final Bar Rinse" from
Sam's. The only two sanitizers that I know of in the Smart & Final line
(they're a low-cost food service vendor) are not good for brewing applications.
The first is bleach, which is suitable for no-rinse sanitizing in
restaurants (at 50ppm, drip dry is all that is required), but obviously not
something that you want to use as a no-rinse product. The second is a
quaternary ammonium chloride-based compound, which is basically a detergent
that destroys microbes. Again, you don't want trace amounts of this
product coming into contact with your beer.
Rick Theiner
LOGIC, Inc.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2004 09:58:11 -0600
From: "Doug Hurst" <dougbeer2000 at hotmail.com>
Subject: re: Of barrels and beer
Steve wrote:
>Like the pepper-beer thread - this is only my personal opinion of
>beer flavor.
And like the pepper-beer thread I'm going to suggest that you simply haven't
had the right oak aged beer. I would suggest that oak aging doesn't suit
light lagers, pale ales, and may not even a standard IPA. It does, however,
seem to work well with really big beers like Barley Wines, Old Ales,
Imperial Stout, and some "Imperial" IPAs. The oak characteristics add a
wonderful additional complexity to these styles. Think vanilla and slightly
smoky or toasty tannic dryness in a big sweet malty beer.
Those who attended the Barrel Aged Beer Festival in Chicago early last
spring would attest that oak aged beers can be amazing. There were
certainly some beers at that fest which seemed overwhelmed by the oak, but
there were as many that really benefitted from the oak. Most, if not all
the beers at the fest were very big beers. The trick, I think, is to
determine how long to leave the beer on the oak.
Just finishing the last few bottles of my Habenero filled Winter Warmer.
Doug Hurst
Chicago, IL
[197.5, 264.8] Apparent Rennerian
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 08:15:50 -0800
From: "Jamil Zainasheff" <jamilz at citlink.net>
Subject: RE: removing keg labels
> Any suggestions for removing lables that are glued onto stainless steel
> Corny kegs? I've been soaking in an ammonia solution for several days
> (which works well for bottle labels, BTW) but this doesn't seem to help.
It depends on the type of label. Some come off with heat, some need to be
"chipped" off.
Heat the label by filling the keg with HOT water. Let it sit for 30 minutes
or so. Once the adhesive softens, peel the label off. You can use Goo Gone
or a similar product to remove the adhesive residue once the keg cools.
If it doesn't respond to heat, then the only simple thing I've found is to
chip the label off with a plastic knife or similar tool. Score the field of
the label, then start chipping away. (You can try scoring the field and then
soaking with Goo Gone. Might work.)
JZ
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2004 11:24:56 -0500
From: Marc Sedam <marc_sedam at unc.edu>
Subject: catching up--oak, cider, caustic, and the like
Back in the lab, we used a 3% NaOH solution to help get gunk out of our
tanks. Used hot (160F) it makes a surprisingly good cleaner and an
effective inhibiter of bacterial growth. A quick rinse with boiling
water is useful and recommended.
*******************************************
I made a very easy and very tasty cider a few months back by blending
2:1 fermented cider with unfermented juice (I used Whole Foods' organic
cider). The cider was bone dry, but blended with the fresh juice it has
a nice sweetness and apple-y taste, and is moderately low in alcohol
(about 4%). I put this in a 3 gallon keg and kept it below 40F so it
wouldn't ferment further. If you wanted to bottle this I don't suppose
it would work well. OTOH, you could rack the cider to a secondary and
add a couple of Campden tabs and wait a few days, then add the juice and
bottle. Since the juice is pasteurized it should be free of wild yeasts
at the time you add to the cider.
*****************************************
On to the oak barrel fun...
Just to rehash, the barrel I received from Santa was (1) new, (2)
Hungarian oak, and (3) had a medium toast char. So much of the
discussion of new (i.e. green) oak barrels isn't germane to my
particular instance, but was useful to know.
Seems the best way to clean the barrels and get some of the oak out is
to soak the barrels (after they've been conditioned with cold water)
with Oxiclean or some other sodium carbonate/percarbonate cleanser.
That helps leach some of the tannins out. Then a rinse with citric
acid helps neutralize anything left. I have all the info at home and
will post something with real numbers in case anyone cares. Sulfur
strips were not recommended for beer.
But to Steve's point on why to age beer in wood. Personally I have
three reasons. (1) Why not?; (2) it was a very great gift from a very
great brother; and (3) it's different from what I normally do. I do
understand that for much of time brewers have been trying to get away
from wood aging. But let's not forget that some of that is likely due
to the lower cost, over the life of the vessel, of using stainless or
copper. I agree that for lighter styles like lagers and pale ales that
any oaky character would not only be out of place, but ruinous for the beer.
Use of a charred oak barrel for darker or richer styles of beer might,
however, be an interesting undertaking. I could see an Imperial IPA
doing well in the wood, as would an export stout or a rich and meaty
porter. Now I'm not saying to store the beer for 6 months in the barrel
for your first use, just like you'd never store a chardonnay in a new
barrel for more than a week or two. I envision a judicious use of oak
to be something worth pursuing.
My other thought on the barrel was to keep it used for something more
traditional...like an oud bruin...and use Jeff R's concept of a "solera
ale". Basically I would be perpetually taking out 5 gallons of oud
bruin and filling it with 5 gallons of fresh wort (same recipe) and hope
to approach something like Rodenbach. I'm even considering having its
first use be 15 gallons of chianti, then switching over to the beer, to
reduce the oakiness some. Who knows? But I think there's a place for
wood-aged beer in today's brewing. It's up to us homebrewers to figure
out exactly how to do it.
Like most experimentation, it's something to do with a judiciously light
hand. But certainly worth trying. I think I'll make a low-carb,
wood-aged, habanero beer to send to Steve...KIDDING!
But I will use the barrel frequently and report back.
- --
Marc Sedam
Chapel Hill, NC
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 11:33:35 -0500
From: "Peters, David (D.T.)" <dpeters3 at ford.com>
Subject: Kegging
Apparently I sucked up too much yeast when I transferred my pilsener to my
corny keg. It is very cloudy. I had hoped that it would settle out in
short order. But, a week later it has not improved.
Can I add any particular clearing agents into the keg to clarify the beer?
What would be the recommended agent and procedure?
Would I then need to re-rack the beer or just pour off a cup or two. How
long should I give the process to work?
David T. Peters
Northville, MI
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2004 13:20:24 -0500
From: Marc Sedam <marc_sedam at unc.edu>
Subject: Portland, OR and football
Hey all,
An impromptu meeting will leave me in Portland, OR on Sunday...over
3,000 miles away from my beloved Eagles. Can anyone recommend a bar
with good beer selection in town (I'll be at the Marriott with no car)
that would also likely have the game prominently displayed?
- --
Marc Sedam
Chapel Hill, NC
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 10:38:11 -0800 (PST)
From: Rama Roberts <rama at sun.com>
Subject: re: barrels
Hi Marc,
been catching up on the HBD, and your post about oak barrels.
I've been meaning to play around with oak and beers too, but have put it
off for over a year (my initial plan was to use French oak chips in a
split batch of IPA, one oaked, one not).
If I had a barrel, I think I would do a oud bruin as you hinted at. New
Belgium Brewing Company in Colorado produces a beer called La Folie, which
is a "wood aged beer":
http://www.newbelgium.com/beer_lafolie.shtml
Its "laid down in wood barrels previously used to store burgundy wine"
for 1-3 years. Perhaps the winemakers in the crowd can say how much
oakiness would be left in a barrel that age.
I haven't personally tried this beer, but if its anything like Rodenbach,
then it'd be one of my favorites.
Maybe you can pull off and bottle part of the aged ale, and top with wort
(rather than completely draining the barrel), so you've always got a
healthy supply of sour ale beasties. I think Jeff Renner posted something
a few months ago about using this technique.
- --rama
SF bay area
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 13:10:21 -0600
From: MOREY Dan <dan.morey at cnh.com>
Subject: Competition Announcement / Call for judges and stewards
ATTENTION BREWERS, MARK YOUR CALENDERS! BABBLE and The Onion Pub and Brewery
are pleased to present the AHA/BJCP sanctioned BABBLE Leap Beer Brew Off.
The Leap Beer Brew Off will be held Saturday, February 28, 2004 at The Onion
Pub and Brewery in Lake Barrington, IL. All BJCP beer, mead, and cider
categories will be accepted.
Schedule:
February 7-21, 2004 entries accepted.
February 28, 2004 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. judging
The Onion Pub and Brewery
22221 Pepper Road
Lake Barrington, IL 60010
Rules, entry forms, and bottle labels can be downloaded from BABBLE website:
http://hbd.org/babble/
We need BJCP accredited judges for this event. Novice judges are welcome and
will be teamed with experienced judges. Experience points will be awarded
through the BJCP Organization based on the number of entries received. Those
wishing to judge should contact:
Judge Director
Scott Clement
(847) 587-5320 (preferred contact)
scottrandi.clement at worldnet.att.net (Please use phone first)
Stewards are also needed. Those wishing to steward should contact:
Head Steward
Aaron Slocum
(847) 973-2598
AJSlocum007 at msn.com
Please see BABBLE website http://hbd.org/babble/ for additional information.
Other inquiries should be directed to:
Organizer
Scott Lasky
(312) 603-0263
scottlasky at hotmail.com
Dan Morey
Club B.A.B.B.L.E. http://hbd.org/babble
[213.1, 271.5] mi
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2004 16:12:31 -0600
From: mike4nospam at centurytel.net
Subject: pump cflow control valve for use with PID
I've got two mag pumps and a PID controller on the way for my
HERMS (I love ebay). I plan to use the controller to manage the
flow of heating water through the heat exchanger. (flow of wort
will be manually controlled with pump #2).
My question is how to use the SSR output from the PID to control
the flow rate of the pump. I know that the ideal is a valve
downstream from the pump. Has anyone got experiece doing
this that they can share?
Mike Schrempp
Gig Harbor, WA
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 10:32:20 +1100
From: "Phil Yates" <phil.yates at bigpond.com>
Subject: Wombat Stew Or Wombat Brew?
Last comment on this subject of silliness before Pat's big hammer comes down
on my head with "Enough is enough!"
I've had private emails on the subject ranging from:
"Why don't you eat them?" to "Are they too big to fit in the kettle?".
Being an experimental brewer, I could be tempted to discover what fermented
wombat tastes like. But somehow I suspect the fur caught on the back of the
throat would destroy the otherwise delicate flavours of a fine rice lager.
Where is Brian Lundeen on the subject? Last I heard he was engaged in verbal
sword fighting with an Aussie Homebrew shop owner.
Cheers
Phil
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2004 14:29:12 -0900
From: "Martin Brungard" <mabrungard at hotmail.com>
Subject: Competition Announcement - Big Bend Brewoff
The North Florida Brewers League is hosting the AHA-sanctioned, Big Bend
Brewoff in beautiful Tallahassee, Florida. This is the 8th edition of this
annual event. Expert judging and feedback for beers, meads, and ciders will
be provided by BJCP-qualified judges from across the Southeast U.S.
The competition date is January 24, 2004. Competition entries are being
accepted now through January 17th. Rules, forms, contacts, and addresses
for the competition are available at the following link:
http://www.nfbl.org/BBBO2004/
We welcome your participation as both entrants and judges! There will be a
pre-competition party on Friday, January 23rd at Beef O'Bradys for all
participants. Please review the Judge Information document on our website
for information about the party. If there are other questions, please feel
free to contact me at this email address.
Martin Brungard
Competition Coordinator
Big Bend Brewoff 2004
Tallahassee, FL
------------------------------
Date: 05 Jan 2004 18:59:30 -0500
From: nathanw at MIT.EDU (Nathan J. Williams)
Subject: A brief return to bottling
I've been brewing sporadically for about two years now, and a year ago
switched to kegging instead of bottling. Aside from an initial spike
in consumption, I've been very pleased with the results of kegging and
force-carbonating, and I haven't had a reason to look back.
However, I'd like to enter my current batch into a competition, which
of course wants bottles. Here are what I see as my options:
(a) Bottle the whole batch, just like in the bad old days. Slow,
tedious, but probably reliable, and I know that what I'm
submitting to the competition is the same as what I'm drinking.
(b) Keg as usual, and get a counterpressure filler to fill the handful
of bottles. A bit expensive, and I don't know how closely
carbonation in the keg will transfer to carbonation in the bottle.
(c) Keg most of it, but bottle a little and prime those (with
PrimeTabs, most likely). Seems difficult to calibrate, having
never used PrimeTabs before.
Priming the whole batch at once and splitting between keg and bottles
seems out of the question, since one's supposed to use less priming
sugar for kegging than for bottling.
Did I miss any major pros or cons? I have a hard time resisting toys,
so I may well go for a counterpressure filler, but I'm still worried
about how the carbonation will "keep".
- Nathan
Cambridge, MA
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 16:32:24 -0800
From: "Webb, Mike" <mike.webb at pse.com>
Subject: infection or Alpha overdose ??
I have a question for the group. I recently made an IPA with a
ridiculously stupid amount (trust me) of hops in it.
(even for a hophead like me..) When I was going to bottle it
I noticed a plastic - phenolic taste. I've been brewing for 20+ years,
fortunately with no experience with infections. At first I thought
it may be infected, but them the more I analyzed it, I think it
may just be the hops. It tastes similar to chewing on a centennial
cone. So, my assumption is : if it's infected it'll get worse, if it's
the hops, it'll mellow down some as it ages. Correct assumption ??
BTW, anyone in the Seattle area have the ability to test
the IBUs for me ?
Mike Webb
Near Seattle Wa.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 18:34:43 -0600
From: "Neil Spake" <neils at texas.net>
Subject: Rewiring Johnson's "The Controller"
Curious as to whether anyone has a schematic and/or has modified a Johnson
Control's "The Controller" to accomodate a heater as well as the
frig/freezer compressor? William's Brewing's Controller II does this with a
jumper inside the housing and just wondered if anyone had looked into
modifying the Johnson since I already own two of them (they're about half
the price of the other fancier one too).
Neil Spake
Austin, Texas
mailto:neils at texas.net
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 17:52:58 -0700
From: "Steve Holden" <spholden at comcast.net>
Subject: removing keg labels
Peter Ensminger asks:
>Any suggestions for removing labels that are glued onto stainless steel
>Corny kegs? I've been soaking in an ammonia solution for several days
>(which works well for bottle labels, BTW) but this doesn't seem to help.
I assume you are talking about the plastic labels near the top of the keg.
I just warm them up with my propane torch so that the adhesive is nice and
gooey and just peel them off. I then use a putty knife to push the
remaining adhesive into gobs and just pick it off the keg.
Steve Holden
Salt Lake City, UT
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2004 21:28:36 -0600
From: "Sean Richens" <srichens at mts.net>
Subject: Re: Copper and sodium hydroxide
Fred Johnson asks about copper and sodium hydroxide. I only have the same
Cole-Parmer table in front of me, and it looks promising. I suggest a
simple experiment of soaking a small fitting or cut-off in a jar. The
liquid will turn blue-green if there is any corrosion.
The storage solution is a good idea, and one that I am planning on using at
work with some equipment that just doesn't drain well. I figured on
performing the rinse a few hours before the batch starts.
Solder, on the other hand, I would worry about. I imagine that a
counterflow chiller doesn't usually have solder joints in direct contact
with the wort-side of the tubing, so no problem.
Sean
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 21:31:04 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
From: rickdude02 at earthlink.net
Subject: Invert Sugar Procedure and HBD Search Index
Fellow Brewgeeks (emphasis on geek for this question):
A mention has come up in my local club about preparing an
invert sugar solution. I seem to recall that it is possible to
rotate dextrose by boiling it in an acid solution, but details
escape me. Further, it's been quite a few years since P-chem
and I'm not even sure how to begin to try and research this.
Anyone familiar with the process?
Secondly, I note that we no longer have the HBD search index
on the HBD.org website. Is it still available? Believe it or not,
that index actually helped me to refine my search a few times
while trying to nail down a half-remembered post. Anyone
know?
Rick Theiner
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 19:25:57 -0800 (PST)
From: Jeremy Struffert <mnbrewerguy at yahoo.com>
Subject: Wascawy Wombats and Leach Like Labels
Phil Yates wrote:
>>This morning I come out to check on my brew and find
a massive Wollondilly
Wombat has tunneled an even more massive hole right
under the foundations
of the brew house! The Wollondilly Wombat is the most
obstinate of all
wombats. And he's smart enough to know he's protected
by law, so basically
he
can do anything he wants. You're not even allowed to
catch them and move
them more than 200 yards from their home. That's real
handy given that they
find their way back from up to 20 miles! And the
buggers like to have five
or more homes (probably with a wife in every one)!!<<
They may be protected by law, but you can make the
choice of domicile particularly uninhabitable. I have
had to remove unwanted protected mammals and I assume
that Wombats have lungs and pretty sensitive peepers
so I will recommend the liberal use of hot pepper
(cayenne, habenero or powdered white). Either sprinkle
it in and around the entrance to the hole(s) or use a
fan of some sort to fog the tunnel with it. I believe
there is a great chance that the wombat will choose to
vacate...no permanent damage just watery eyes and a
runny nose for the 'bats.
Peter A. Ensminger writes:
>>Any suggestions for removing labels that are glued
onto stainless steel
Corny kegs? I've been soaking in an ammonia solution
for several days
(which works well for bottle labels, BTW) but this
doesn't seem to help.<<
Try a heat gun and a putty knife. That's how we remove
registration numbers on boats and snowmobiles up here
in MN.
=====
Jeremy
[501.5, 293.2] Apparent Rennerian
Burnsville, MN
Malt and hops may not have inspired
as many precious pens as the noble grape,
but they have always provided good company.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 19:44:53 -0800
From: "Chad Stevens" <zuvaruvi at cox.net>
Subject: Double Enghien Brune Clone
Y'all,
My wife and I enjoy sharing a new brew every now and then. This evening it
was Br. de Silly's "Double Enghien Brune." I popped the cap, poured, my
wife and I sipped. We sipped again. We looked at one another in
astonishment. She said, "That's your beer!"
Not having had this beer before, I claim no higher knowledge or ability.
But the stuff I made back in April is a near ringer so I thought I'd share
the 9 gallon recipe for anyone who may be interested.
11 gallons Sparklets drinking water
6 gallons RO water
20 lbs Moravian Pils
5 lbs DWC Belgian Munich
1 lb Aromatic
8 oz Gambrinus Dark Munich
8 oz Crisp 70-80L
8 oz Digmans Caravienna
2 oz Special B
1 lb gelatinized hard red winter wheat
=14.5 SRM+/-
Five pounds pils + wheat 105-113f gum rest 15 min. Heat to 119-125 protein
rest 15 min. Added mini mash + 160 strike to rest of grain bill = 130 for
20 min. Decoction and return = 140 for 10 min. Decoction and return = 148
for 15 minutes. Decoction and return = 153 for 15 minutes. Mash out at 158
for ten minutes. 170 sparge.
1 oz 4.6% Brewers Gold in the first mash decoction.
1 oz BG First Runnings 80 min
1 oz BG 50 min
1 oz BG 20 min
1 oz 4.5 % Hallertaur 2 min
=20-25 IBU's
WLP 510 Bastogne Belgian Ale yeast, 60-64f
1.076 OG
1.022 FG
Tertiary in Oak for six days.
Bottled.
Mine was more tannic as a result of the new oak but the malt
profile/flavor/aroma/head/mouthfeel/color are spot on.
Regards,
Chad Stevens
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #4445, 01/06/04
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