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HOMEBREW Digest #4856
HOMEBREW Digest #4856 Wed 28 September 2005
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org
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Contents:
10th Annual Music City Brew-Off, Nashville, TN Oct. 22 ("Stephen Johnson")
Upward infusion mashing technique??? (Bill Velek)
Re: Conical fermenter ("Steven Dragon")
Re: Efficiency, again... (Bill Adams)
Corn, Corn Corn ("Unix Bob")
Throw out your hydrometer. Was: Efficiency, again... ("Mike Racette")
Re: Efficiency, again... (Denny Conn)
The efficiency answers you've all been waiting for... ("Michael Eyre")
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Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005 23:03:55 -0500
From: "Stephen Johnson" <sjohnson3 at comcast.net>
Subject: 10th Annual Music City Brew-Off, Nashville, TN Oct. 22
The Music City Brewers, Nashville, Tennessee's Homebrewing Club are proud to
announce their 10th Annual Music City Brew-Off scheduled for the weekend of
October 21-23. The MCB club website has a host of details at
http://www.musiccitybrewers.com/05Brewoff.htm
Some specifics:
- AHA sanctioned accepting all 2004 BJCP styles of beer, mead and cider
- Special event on Friday evening Oct. 21, judging at Boscos Nashville
Brewery on Saturday, Oct. 22, followed by awards ceremony in afternoon and
evening pub crawl, and Sunday, Oct. 23 Brew N' Brunch at location TBA.
- Two (2) unmarked brown or green 10-14 ounce bottles
- Entry Fees: Fees are $6 for each of the first two entries, $5 for each
additional entry. Hop God Challenge entries are $10. Make Checks payable to
The Music City Brewers. Checks or money orders only please.
- Entry Deadline: Entries will be accepted between September 26th through
till October 12th. No late entries will be accepted NO EXCEPTIONS! We are
sorry, but we will not be accepting any day of entries for out-of-town
judges or stewards. Please send all mail-in entries to:
Music City Brewers
C/O Boscos Restaurant
1805 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37212
Telephone: (615) 385-0050
- Hundreds of dollars worth of prizes, including a Kegerator Kit from
Kegkits.com, malt, hops, brewerania, and other assorted stuff
- Charity: This year The Music City Brewers have decided to contribute
portions of their entry fees as well as portions of the Pre-Awards raffle to
victims and survivors of Hurricane Katrina through the 2nd Harvest Food
Bank, so that food can be gotten to those who need it most. Straight cash
donations will also be accepted
- Judging/Lodging: The Music City Brewers have again partnered with the
Holiday Inn Select Vanderbilt to provide lodging for those out of town
guests. The hotel has offered special rates for our event and we hope that
people will take advantage of this opportunity.
The Holiday Inn Select Vanderbilt
2613 West End Avenue
Nashville, Tennessee 37203
Ph. 615-327-4707
When making reservations ask for the Music City Brewers group rate.
The rate for this event will be $85.00 per night. These rates are available
for a limited time so please do not hesitate to reserve your rooms as soon
as possible. As in previous years the Holiday Inn will be providing a
shuttle to the judging session on Saturday.
Contact Steve Johnson, MCB President at sjohnson3 at comcast.net if interested
in judging or for additional information about the competition.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 02:16:39 -0500
From: Bill Velek <billvelek at alltel.net>
Subject: Upward infusion mashing technique???
Came across this webpage which indicates that this microbrewery is using
an "upward infusion mashing technique" -- see third sentence on this
page: http://www.greatbearbrewing.com/brewery.html
I think I can deduce what that means, but I'm intrigued with how and why
it is being done. The only reason I can imagine for 'why' is that the
rate of recirculation is probably improved. Anyone doing anything like
this with their homebrewing RIMS?
Cheers.
Bill Velek
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 06:57:56 -0400
From: "Steven Dragon" <scdragon at att.net>
Subject: Re: Conical fermenter
Eric Schoville asks:
<<1) Should we go with the 12.2 or 14.7 gallon hopper? Larger? >>
This depends on how you plan to maintain fermentation temperatures. I use an
upright freezer that is just large enough to fit the 12.2 gallon size. If
you've got a larger space, go for the larger fermenter.
<<2) Does the 12.2 gallon have enough space to ferment a 10 gallon batch,
and does the 14.7 gallon have enough room to ferment a 12 gallon batch?>>
I've had no problems fermenting 10 gallons in a 12.2 gallon fermenter. I use
Fermcap in the boil. It helps prevent boil over and carries through to
keeping the foam down in the fermenter. Never had a batch foam out of the
fermenter.
<>3) Is it necessary to have 2 ports? In other words is the racking port
necessary, or can you just drain all of the yeast off the bottom valve and
then rack using the bottom valve?>>
I thought that I would get more use from the racking port, but no, I've
never used it. I use the bottom drain exclusively. I suppose that I would
use the racking port for samples, if I were inclined. The racking arm seems
too small for transfer.
<<4) Is a 1/2" valve on the bottom sufficient? Does it ever clog with
yeast? Would it be better to have a 3/4", and does anyone know if 3/4"
would fit on the 12.2 or 14.7 gallon sizes?>>
I did have the 1/2" valve clog on me. I unclogged it by pushing CO2 up
through the bottom port. Clogging hasn't been a problem since employing the
practice of removing built up spent yeast every few days.
5) Do people recommend a welded union on the bottom or some type of
Weld-B-Gone fitting? If Weld-B-Gone is recommended, does anyone have
recommendations or sources?
No information on that. I have an "Fermenator original", which is what I
would imagine you would be basing yours on. It works great! No leaks at all.
Happy brewing,
Steve Dragon
Boylston, MA
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 06:40:46 -0700 (PDT)
From: Bill Adams <badams1010 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Efficiency, again...
I am wondering where the basis for this statement
comes from:
If you are (batch sparging), you will have significant
efficiency losses.
I was continually getting around 75% fly sparging.
When I switched to batch
sparging it jumped to 85%. No doubt the big guys can
squeeze more out fly
sparging but I'm not sure it translates so well to us
little guys.
BA
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 14:36:07 +0000
From: "Unix Bob" <neutrinodust at hotmail.com>
Subject: Corn, Corn Corn
Fellow Brewlings,
I have been trying to develop some light bodied / stronger alcohol
recipies and I'd like to experiment with corn starch, corn meal and corn
syrup as adjuncts.
WIth regards to corn starch - does anyone have any estimates on what the
effect of adding 1LB of corn starch to the mash might have on the SG of a 5
gallon batch? Also, I would be interested to learn anyones experience using
corn starch may have on the final taste / aroma. For better or worse -
Same thing for adding corn syrup to the boil. Again, I'm interested in
learning effects on the SG and resulting taste / aroma. Any specific brands
of corn syrup better than others?
With regards to corn meal - I would be interested in any feedback using
corn meal. I'm planning on doing a double decoction mash and boiling 2LBs of
corn meal with a small amount of grain for 30 minutes to gelatainize before
adding to the main mash. Does this end up being a gooey mess? Should I
plan on a stuck sparge from the beginning? Again, any feedback is greatly
appreciated.
-->
Bob
<--
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 08:42:41 -0600
From: "Mike Racette" <mike.racette at hydro-gardens.com>
Subject: Throw out your hydrometer. Was: Efficiency, again...
Ricardo Cabeza had this to say during the efficiency again discussion:
5) If you're using a hydrometer, throw it out. Those things are
never accurate. The most accurate way to measure original gravity is
to us a volumetric flask and an accurate scale.
Why do you say hydrometers are never accurate, Chad? And can you elaborate
on the flask method. How does temperature affect this method?
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 08:40:41 -0800
From: Denny Conn <denny at projectoneaudio.com>
Subject: Re: Efficiency, again...
At 12:05 AM 9/28/05 -0400, Ricardo Cabeza wrote:
>1) You mention 'batch sparging' in your post. Are you batch
>sparging? If you are, you will have significant efficiency losses.
Compared to what, Chad? I know at least as many people whose efficiency
has gone up as down when they switched to batch sparging. My own runs
anywhere from 75-85%, depending on grist and mash schedule.
>2) How fast are you sparging? Try to slow down your sparging process.
When you batch sparge, a slow sparge isn't necessary.
I don't mean to rag on ya, Chad, but I see these 2 misconceptions
concerning batch sparging quite a bit and I like to try to correct them.
------------------>Denny
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 13:16:54 -0700
From: "Michael Eyre" <meyre at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: The efficiency answers you've all been waiting for...
Whew! Thanks to the whole lot of you who took the time to reply to my
questions regarding the less-than-stellar efficiency me and my brewing
partner have been getting from (one of) our brewing setups.
To answer those questions that were posed to me after my somewhat
lacking original post, I'll add that we are currently using a single
temp infusion mash in a rectangular cooler with a slotted copper pipe
manifold that we lauter in, in the cooler. We batch sparge, usually in
two large batches of 6.5 and 6.5 gallons per batch. This gives us the 13
gallons that we usually look for pre-boil. We normally mash in at either
1.25 or 1.125 quarts per pound of grain, and shoot for a grain temp of
~150-155 degrees, depending on the recipe that we're following. We're
usually pretty accurate on our temps for the grain. We test for
conversion with tincture of iodine every once in a while, and usually
see conversion at about the 20 minute mark for the most part, then we
let it sit for another short time, usually beginning the first batch
sparge somewhere between the 30 minute and 45 minute mark. We then
infuse the grain with the remaining 6.5 gallons of sparge water, stir
vigorously and let that site for 10 minutes or so before we drain that
off into the boil pot.
We grind our own malt, which we buy in bulk and generally use up in two
batches within' a month or two. We crush the malt in a single pass
usually, (we did two passes once before with no difference that we could
detect...) through a Barley Crusher two roller mill that is set at .055
gap. The mill has knurled rollers, so this measurement is taken between
the "tips" of the rollers... so that may make a difference, as the gap
gets significantly wider in-between the knurled points. From what I
gathered from your responses, this may be our problem right here. Our
grain, after going through the mill, generally looks to be broken up
into quarters (4 pieces, sometimes more....), with good husk material
and a bit of powered grain. Most of the time, if you grab a handful of
it, you get the husk wrapped around the grain, which is crushed up, but
still held in place within the husk, giving the appearance that you did
not actually break the grain. If you try to pick up the grain, however,
it will fall apart... during the runoff period, we just open the 1/2inch
ball valve and let 'er fly, full speed. We do not have any problem with
stuck mashes. This further makes me wonder about our crush size.
I will say that we do tend to lose a significant amount of wort to hops
in the boiler. This last beer was (supposed to be) an IPA, that we found
had about 1/2 to 3/4 of a gallon of wort absorbed up in the hops. We
squeezed the hops by hand, just to see, and when the hops were all out
of the boiler (after draining the good wort into the fermenters of
course) there was that above-mentioned wort left behind. We're looking
into Hop bags now as a solution to that problem, but we also worry about
hops utilization loss to a hop bag not letting the hops 'mingle' as well
with the wort. I'd take suggestions on that question as well.
As an aside, the recipe we used to get 11 gallons of 1.050 wort from
24.5 lbs of grain was using 15.5lbs of US two row pale, 4.5 lbs of
German Munich, 2 lbs of German CaraMunich and 2.5 lbs of German Pilsner.
All of which were recently purchased from the store. It's a relatively
busy store, and I can't say for sure how long it was there, but I can't
imagine it was for too long.
Another thing that just popped to mind is that when we brew at his
house, we use his tap water, which is city water... which he says he
found out has chlorine in it. I have a well at my house and thus have no
chlorine. We'll see this Friday if that has any effect on things. Other
than that, we have no idea what our brewing water is like, chemically.
I've always just listened to the old brewing adage "if it tastes good
from the tap, it's good to brew with" and followed that. How far should
I look into this?
With all that said, we love the beer and it tastes wonderful. A couple
of extra pounds of grain isn't going to break the bank, but if we're
missing something basic and could reduce the loss of what *should* be
perfectly good beer, why not fix it?!
Thanks for all the help. If you have any further questions after this
post, you're probably well over my head! };-)
Mike
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #4856, 09/28/05
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