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HOMEBREW Digest #4581
HOMEBREW Digest #4581 Fri 13 August 2004
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org
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Contents:
Re: blichmannengineering Therminator (Abe Kabakoff)
Bottling with Graham (RoadGlyn)
Attract the opposite sex, the ultimate guide for getting women. ("Stefanie Burnett")
Water modification and putting ZIP back in your sex life ("Jim Bermingham")
GADS!!! ("Pat Babcock")
Water modification ("A.J deLange")
Need Barley to malt in the Mid-Michigan Area ("National Midnight Star Brewery")
Wine Oxidation--Wine Bottle Headspace Pump ("Janie Curry")
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Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 22:47:38 -0500
From: Abe Kabakoff <abe_kabakoff at gmx.de>
Subject: Re: blichmannengineering Therminator
Scott D. Braker-Abene said:
>
> Yes... They look damn sweet... I would hesitate only because it is a
> plate heat exchanger that you cannot take apart to clean. Plate
> chiller are fantastic efficiency wise but also get down right filthy
> and grubby in a commercial brewery.
>
> They have to be taken apart and soaked on a semi regular basis. To me
> not being able to dismantle is a draw back...
Some professional brewers take apart their chillers more or less
annually, but in a semi-recent discussion on the AOB Forum the need to
take them apart was discussed. As in all internet discussions, no
conclusion was reached.
I am a commercial brewer, and I know that our heat exchanger has been in
service for almost 10 years, and has not been taken apart. I obviously
have not seen the inside, but if I run clean caustic through it, it
comes out clean on the other side.
The only reason to ever really take apart a plate chiller is to replace
gaskets when they leak. A friend at a different commercial brewery took
his chiller apart to replace the gaskets, and reported that the plates
themselves were impeccable. His chiller had been in operation for over 5
years, and was never dismantled.
You do not need to take these things apart to keep them operating for
years, you just need a good cleaning protocol. I suggest an acid wash
and then a hot caustic wash (lye from the drain opener aisle is perfect
- -- a 5% solution is more than enough) when you notice buildup. Nothing
overly long, maybe 5 minutes each. Boil it before use (as suggested on
their site) to sanitize it, and flush the water side with something that
will remove scale when scale forms.
As usual, a little maintenance as you go along can prevent a big PITA
down the line. Don't worry about ever needing to take this thing apart.
Abe Kabakoff
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 07:53:07 -0400
From: RoadGlyn at netscape.net
Subject: Bottling with Graham
I must admit I still bottle, and it doesn't bother me to much and
can be quite fun. I sat down Thursday night with almost 20 gallons
to bottle. Turned on the Craftbrewer Show and had a wonderful time.
http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/index.shtml#Sound
Thanks Graham!
Thanks Pat!
Bottle on,
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 10:02:33 -0200
From: "Stefanie Burnett" <stefanie.burnett_rz at rido.nl>
Subject: Attract the opposite sex, the ultimate guide for getting women.
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------------------------------
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 08:00:13 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
From: "Jim Bermingham" <bermingham at antennaproducts.com>
Subject: Water modification and putting ZIP back in your sex life
Jeremy Hanson is requesting information on modifying water to match styles
and to improve efficiency. Jeremy, if you don't have one of the software
programs available such as ProMash, I suggest that you go to Ken Schwartz's
web page http://home.elp.rr.com/brewbeer/ and download BreWater 3.0. This
a free program designed by Ken and I believe would be of great help.
Graham Sanders has told me more than I really wanted to know about his
encounter with SWMBO after she cornered him in the bedroom. But he had to
go and ask what is a poor bloke to do when roped in. Now he has opened the
door. I suppose he is at this moment looking at the two post in todays
digest and is trying to find out how to put Zip back into his sex life and
trying to attract the opposite sex. Unless, he is the Governor of New
Jersey...
Jim Bermingham
Millsap, TX
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 09:12:21 -0400
From: "Pat Babcock" <pbabcock at hbd.org>
Subject: GADS!!!
Greetings, Beerlings! Administer a dose of sedative...
Aaaarrrrrggggggghhhhhhh!!! ******* spam-mongers!
Well, it appears I missed a (rather obvious) misspelling of a certain drug's
name in my filter. That's bad enough. Then, I note another little nugget had
slipped in as well.
Folks, I am going to have to accelerate my implementation of a SPAM filter.
This will have a high potential to disrupt the HBD as it did the last time
(though, this time, I'll build from sources rather than rely on someone elses'
skills in using a binary RPM...). I have two other janitors on staff besides
me, and this stuff is still getting past our reviews. It's time for more
drastic measures...
PUSH THE BUTTON!
- --
See ya!
Dr. Strangelove in SE MI
pbabcock at hbd.org
- --
See ya!
Pat Babcock in SE MI
pbabcock at hbd.org
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 14:16:29 +0100
From: "A.J deLange" <ajdel at cox.net>
Subject: Water modification
After approximately 12 years trying to simplify brewing water chemistry
I've more or less concluded you can't. It's not a difficult subject but
rather an intricate one. Your college chemistry is sufficient for a
thorough understanding but how many of us remembered an iota of that
once we passed the final? The basic facts are that in brewing water, the
only active buffering system is the carbonic/bicarbonate/carbonate one
(all other acids and bases should either be fully dissociated or absent
from the water). When malt is added at dough in phosphate enters the
picture. Calcium phosphate is very insoluble so that if the water is
hard the calcium will be stripped out. When calcium is precipitated
protons are released and these protons acidify the mash. This is why
brewers add gypsum to brewing water - to harden it so that malt
phosphate can precipitate that hardness and release acid. Thus if you
tweak carbonate, bicarbonate or calcium (magnesium acts like calcium but
to a lesser extent) you will alter mash pH. Other mineral tweaks only
change flavor and are really akin to adding more or less salt in other
forms of cooking (adding sulfate accents hops, low levels of chloride
impart an impression of sweetness, lots of chloride when sodium is also
present make the beer salty...).
In looking at your water report the most important item is alkalinity
which is not, unfortunately, something that is always reported as,
believe it or not, not all homeowners brew. If it is take half the
magnesium hardness (in parts per million as calclum carbonate) and add
it to the calcium hardness (same units), divide the sum by 3.5 and
subtract the result from the alkalinity (in parts per million as calcium
carbonate). (John Palmer's nomographs and slide rule do all this for
you). The result is called Kolbach's residual alkalinity and if it is
less than 50 (the lower the better - it can even be less than 0) you
don't have to worry about mash pH. If it is above 50 you do. Clearly you
can lower it by adding calcium and magnesium but it takes a lot of
calcium (3.5 ppm per ppm of residual alklainity). This is what
commercial brewers in the UK and almost every micro in the US are doing
when they dump gypsum into their brews. Alternatively you can acid but
don't get it from a bottle - get it from dark malt. This is what the
Munich brewers are doing when then brew Dunkles. Or remove the
bicarbonate from the water by boiling or lime treatment. This is what
Munich brewers do when they brew Helles. Or use a combination of the
above techniques. This is what any brewer can do once he has gained some
experience.
It's not so important that the details of the chemistry which determine
mash pH be understood as it is to know how to control it. It's my
opinion that the serious brewer will regard his pH meter with the same
reverence as his thermometer and hydrometer; certainly professional
brewers do. Unfortunately, pH meters are lots more expensive than either
of those other items and lots more finicky (though the modern ISFET ones
represent a great improvement in that department) and prices have come
down somewhat. Equipped with a good meter you can monitor pH (throughout
the brewing process - not just in the mash tun) and develop an
appreciation for what effects it and how to set it. Once you have it
under control you'll stop worrying about that aspect of brewing and can
move on to one of the innumerable others.
Matching the water profiles of famous brewing cities was a hot topic on
HBD about 10 (?) years back. I think the most important conclusions from
all the research done then was that many of the reported water profiles
are bogus (as can be confirmed by checking to see if they are
electrically neutral at reasonable pH - many if not most aren't) and
that it is foolish to, for example, taylor water to mimic the cabonate
levels of Munich only to turn around and decarbonate this water to make
Helles.
Never heard of B3's buffer. This doesn't sound very appealing to me. The
best buffering system is the natural one of malt organic acids with
reasonable levels of liquor residual alkalinity. This last comment is,
of course, an opinion.
A.J.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 16:28:12 -0400
From: "National Midnight Star Brewery" <nmstarbrewery at charter.net>
Subject: Need Barley to malt in the Mid-Michigan Area
Anyone know where I can get some barley to malt? I want to play around and
maybe get the homebrew club to try some experimenting but I haven't been
able to find a source. Any advice?
Thanks!
William Menzl
Midland, Michigan [99.8, 344.8] Apparent Rennerian
National Midnight Star Brewery
nmstarbrewery at charter.net
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 21:19:03 +0000
From: "Janie Curry" <houndandcalico at hotmail.com>
Subject: Wine Oxidation--Wine Bottle Headspace Pump
While we are on the topic of oxidation, I'd like to solicit opions on the
best pump to buy to remove air from the headspace when a bottle of wine is
uncorked.
I recently did a tasting room tour of Yakimah valley wineries by bike, and
at several tasting rooms they immediately applied a vacum pump after each
uncorking.
Todd in Idaho
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #4581, 08/13/04
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