Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
HOMEBREW Digest #4948
HOMEBREW Digest #4948 Thu 09 February 2006
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org
***************************************************************
THIS YEAR'S HOME BREW DIGEST BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Northern Brewer, Ltd. Home Brew Supplies
Visit http://www.northernbrewer.com to show your appreciation!
Or call them at 1-800-681-2739
Support those who support you! Visit our sponsor's site!
********** Also visit http://hbd.org/hbdsponsors.html *********
Contents:
Racking via the Sanke spear ("pddey")
Re: Cask Conditioning Advice Needed ("Craig S. Cottingham")
Re: How can I buildup the oxygen (lipids) levels of existing yeast cells? ("Fredrik")
Why pitch cold? ("Stevens, Jonathan C")
Ph Perplexity ("Martin Brungard")
re: cask conditioning (Ted Hull)
Cask Conditioning Info (Paul Hethmon)
Re: Rennerian (Jeff Renner)
Ph Perplexity ("Unix Bob")
Re: Racking via the Sanke spear (Jeff Renner)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* The HBD Logo Store is now open! *
* http://www.hbd.org/store.html *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Suppport this service: http://hbd.org/donate.shtml *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy! *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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 cannot reach you. We will not correct your address
for the automation - that's your job.
HAVING TROUBLE posting, subscribing or unsusubscribing? See the HBD FAQ at
http://hbd.org.
LOOKING TO BUY OR SELL USED EQUIPMENT? Please do not post about it here. Go
instead to http://homebrewfleamarket.com and post a free ad there.
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 or read the HBD FAQ at http://hbd.org.
JANITORs on duty: Pat Babcock (pbabcock at hbd dot org), Jason Henning,
and Spencer Thomas
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2006 22:10:08 -0700
From: "pddey" <pddey at netzero.net>
Subject: Racking via the Sanke spear
One of my favorite fermentation vessels is the Sanke keg. I have one with
the spear removed in which I use a 2-hole stopper and racking cane to
transfer beer to secondary by applying a few pounds of CO2 pressure to a
stub of tubing in the second hole. After a few struggles with leaks over the
last couple batches (my no. 11 1/2 stopper is too big) it occurred to me
that perhaps I should simply re-insert the spear, hook up the tap, and apply
CO2 to move the beer. Sure I could use the smaller stopper, in fact I think
I have one saddled up in the yeast ranch, but.......vaguely recalling
discussion of similar issues in this august forum, and trying to recall the
name of the handy tool or device I'd seen referenced to make spear removal
easier, I started searched the archives. While my patience with the slow
modem quickly ran out, I found the Keg Man kit. And it is now ordered. This
looks like it will make spear removal and replacement a snap. My question,
at last:
- Can the spear assembly be cleaned and sanitized effectively while removed
from the keg? It has never been cleaned, just gathering dust under the
stairs since its joyous ride home from the junkyard. I could soak in PBW,
acid rinse, and sanitize but I'm afraid I won't get the ball valve part of
it cleaned. I am able to get a tap on it and I suppose I could rig up a pump
to circulate cleaner and sanitizer through. I ask because I can already hear
the yeast in the slow bubbling Sanke keg begging me to get that big IPA off
their back!
What about those keg couplers that are adapted for cleaning? Are they worth
the investment?
Also, should I cut ~3/4 to 1" off the bottom of the spear to stay above the
yeast cake? I have another dusty full length spear under the stairs to use
if I ever want to serve from the keg so sacrificing one is no problem.
Other lurking issues to be aware of?
Paul in Cheyenne, WY
(I haven't visited the Rennerian calculator but I know from his past posts
that Jeff has quite a bit of experience in using Sankes and if I were at 0,0
I'd likely get all the answers I need)
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2006 23:19:01 -0600
From: "Craig S. Cottingham" <craig.cottingham at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Cask Conditioning Advice Needed
On Feb 8, 2006, at 09:37, Ricardo Cabeza <expunged at gmail.com>
wrote:
> I really want to cask condition a few beers in a wood barrel.
So do I -- specifically, I'm interested in trying to recreate some
English (stale porter) and Belgian (oud bruin) beers that were
traditionally aged in wood. My problem is that I have neither the
space nor the financial wherewithal to purchase wooden barrels.
What I do have at my disposal is a large number of 5-gallon food
grade plastic buckets. Everyone says plastic is oxygen permeable; my
question is, how does its permeability compare to wood? For instance,
how many months in plastic is roughly equivalent to, say, three
months in wood?
- --
Craig S. Cottingham
craig.cottingham at gmail.com
Olathe, KS ([621, 251.1] Apparent Rennerian)
OpenPGP fingerprint: 0x7977F79C
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 08:03:20 +0100
From: "Fredrik" <carlsbergerensis at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: How can I buildup the oxygen (lipids) levels of existing yeast cells?
Hello Everyone,
> Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 20:45:14 -0800
> From: "Steve Seeley" <seseeley at hotpop.com>
> Subject: How can I buildup the oxygen (lipids) levels of existing yeast cells?
>
> Hi all,
>
> Is it possible to buildup the oxygen (lipids) levels of existing
> yeast cells? Or can this only be done for daughter cells? I have
> collected yeast out of a primary that I would like to reuse. However
> these yeast should have depleted oxygen reserves that need building up.
Yes, this is the first thing that normally happens when
you aerate the wort at pitching.
The cells utilise the oxygen to restore their membrane lipid
compostion by making UFA's and ergosterol and incorporating
this in the membrane lipids. But it obviously takes some
energy and building blocks to do so. Some glycogen and
precursors usually always inside the cell and provides
a beneficial quickstart when luck returns, but I like to
feed the stored yeast in a small amount of wort (not
for growth, but just to make sure it isn't starving, in
particular if it is coming from long storage), and
aerate the culture repeatadly. I am not sure exactly how
long time it takes, but I've seen some indications that
it may take up to the order of 4-5 hours until lipid
composition of the membranes are restored. You can
probably experiment with the procedure, and with different
temperatures during this procedure.
I don't have the reference at hand but I recall another
paper where it was confirmed in one specific test that with
the proper timing, and control of the aeration, you could
reduce the ppm value from 16 to 8 ppm and still end up with
the same membrane quality. This indicates that alot of the
oxygen is somehow wasted, and that there is alot more to
this than the crude ppm values where the oxygen discussions
often focus.
For an unusually practical paper, see
"Evaluation of the Oxygen Requirement of Lager and
Ale Yeast Strains by Preoxygenation"
- -- http://www.mbaa.com/TechQuarterly/Articles/2003/1014-01.pdf
There are also other related and very interesting and
available (but more abstract) papers.
"Lipid dynamics in yeast under haem-induced unsaturated
fatty acid and/or sterol depletion"
- -- http://www.biochemj.org/bj/378/0899/3780899.pdf
There are the only ones I remember from the top of my head,
but I know there are more.
/Fredrik
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 12:37:00 -0500
From: "Stevens, Jonathan C" <Jonathan.Stevens at dhs.gov>
Subject: Why pitch cold?
>Bob Tower, why do you pitch into wort that's 5 degrees colder than your
>target fermentation temperature? Isn't that hard on the yeast? I don't
>understand the goal.
>
>John Peed
>Oak Ridge, TN
For numerous reasons, many of the big boys in Europe have adopted a start
cold -
free rise regime. Others have adopted this approach including New Belgium.
There are many advantages:
1. Dissolved o2 in wort is a function of temperature: the lower the temp,
the
more o2 in solution. The more o2, the healthier the yeast. Yeast use up
the
dissolved o2 within the first few hours of a healthy ferment. You can prove
this to yourself by racking wort into a carboy, oxygenating, and then
pitching.
After oxygenation, the wort darkens, just like Grandma's six-month-old
canned
peaches. If you have a good healthy starter, the yeast will have sucked up
all
the free o2 within a few hours and the wort will once again be lighter in
color
(all appropriate observations regarding light dispersion of yeast in
suspension
aside). Try it some time, go back and look at your wort color every hour
after
pitching and you will be amazed at how rapidly the color change takes place.
So
anyway, you want the wort as cool as possible as early in the ferment as
possible.
2. Yeast can "take hold" of the wort at relatively low temps. Bad stuff
(bacteria) like it warm. Start cold, yeast can take hold but the bad stuff
can't.
3. Get the product out the door. The warmer the ferment, the quicker the
beer
finishes. When counting beer in millions of hectoliters, a one-day decrease
in
the fermentor means big bucks. This is controversial, but it is becoming
widely
accepted that the vast majority of the esters produced in the ferment occur
at
the transition from aerobic to anaerobic activity. As long as this
transition
occurs at relatively cool temps, the ester profile remains relatively clean.
So
lets say you aerate and pitch at 50. The yeast suck up the o2 and take
command
of the ferment within 4-12 hours and roughly 90% of the ester profile is
set,
now you can allow the beer to free rise to 76, 80, at some breweries up to
86
Fahrenheit. This results in a very fast ferment that is still fairly clean.
And a strong ferment is very important when your beer stream is 10, 12, up
to
13% abv. Yes places like Ommegang and Unibroue are fermenting at 86 and
their
beers have big ester profiles, but they are starting out warm.
4. No diacetyl. No need for a diacetyl rest because you've fermented in
temperature ranges where the yeast are converting all of the precursors
readily.
This translates into another day or two of time saved in the brewing
process.
I'm sure there are other reasons, but these are the ones that readily come
to
mind. I just made a Koelsch using this method: started at 45 Fahrenheit
with
WLP 036 Duseldorf Alt yeast and allowed it to free rise to 67 after the
airlock
showed activity (I realize 67 is still in fairly "clean" territory, but
that's
as warm as my house gets right now). I made two Alts with the same yeast
before
this batch and fermented the first at 52 for two weeks and the second at 49
for
two weeks. The Koelsch turned out cleaner, lower ester profile and lower
sulfur
note. This is anecdotal, different malts, different styles, some of what
I'm
perceiving as esters in the Alts may in fact be Munich...but I'll tell ya
what,
the Koelsch was down to 1.006 in no time at all as compared to the two Alts,
and
I think it's a bit cleaner all around.
Cheers,
Chad Stevens
QUAFF
San Diego
P.S. Thanks to all the HBD'rs who have submitted entries to America's
Finest
City. Your entries have been rolling in nicely with no disasters thus far.
Bottle check-in is this Saturday and judging is on the 17th & 18th. Stay
tuned!
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 09 Feb 2006 04:45:16 -0900
From: "Martin Brungard" <mabrungard at hotmail.com>
Subject: Ph Perplexity
Unix Bob posted a question regarding his water test. I use the term 'water
test' loosely since it clearly has some errors in the report somewhere.
The results are not really complete enough to ascertain what is going on.
But most importantly, the Hardness and Calcium levels do not agree in the
least bit. If the hardness value of 98 ppm is correct, then the calcium
must be below 39 ppm. If the calcium content of 77 ppm is correct, then the
hardness must be at least 193 ppm as CaCO3.
I recommend that Bob go back to the water company and ask to speak to
someone more knowlegible. Point out this discrepancy with the calcium and
hardness. In addition, try to get the other water constituents like sodium,
chloride, sulfate, and bicarbonate. That will make it easier to verify that
the rest of the water results are valid. Bob did include the alkalinity
result. The alkalinity can be used to back calculate the bicarbonate
content. But at this point, I have to question the validity of all the
reported results.
Martin Brungard
Tallahassee, FL
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 05:53:48 -0800 (PST)
From: Ted Hull <theartfuldudger at yahoo.com>
Subject: re: cask conditioning
Chad- I think that, unless you're trying to get
character out of an ex-something-else barrel (bourbon,
scotch, wine, port, etc, etc.), there's no great
reason to use wood for cask conditioning. And those
barrels are generally of a scale that you're gonna
have to brew a lot of beer to fill.
FWIW, Ray Daniels' Real Ale Festival and our own GA
cask ale tasting both use stainless casks. The local
one bought supplies from ukbrewing.com.
Personally, I think you can do a pretty good
approximation in a corny keg. The only problem I ever
had was the slow leak of pressure when carbonating
naturally. That may be taken care of by laying the
cask on its side. A little dip tube surgery, and
you're good to go to serve from that position.
On a related subject, I'm in the gang of "when was the
last time you brewed" folks. I still have a copy of
BYO from several years ago where they put a stainless
hand bilge pump into service as a beer engine. I've
casually looked a couple of time, but haven't seen
that these are still being made. Anyone find one?
Cheers!
Ted Hull
Atlanta, GA
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 09 Feb 2006 09:58:16 -0500
From: Paul Hethmon <phethmon at hethmon.com>
Subject: Cask Conditioning Info
> Subject: Cask Conditioning Advice Needed
>
> 2) Should I go with pitched, unpitched & smooth, or unpitched & rough?
> Anyone ever experiment with the charred oak barrels used by some distilleries?
At the last Brewers Jam here in Knoxville, Alltech's Lexington Brewing
Company had some of their Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale on tap. They take used
bourbon barrels, add their ale and let it age. Quite a nice taste. More info
on their website: http://www.kentuckyale.com
Paul
- --
Paul Hethmon
phethmon at hethmon.com
Farragut, Tennessee
[443.2, 182.3] Apparent Rennerian
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 11:03:41 -0500
From: Jeff Renner <jsrenner at umich.edu>
Subject: Re: Rennerian
Glyn is really moving! From somewhere near Indonesia, it would seem,
to Tennessee, in 23 minutes:
> Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2006 11:40:28 -0800 (PST)
> [7013.1, 8.1] Apparent Rennerian
>
> Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2006 12:03:47 -0800 (PST)
> From: Glyn Crossno <graininfuser at yahoo.com>
>
> Not sure where Jeff is but I am closer to here.
> [480.6, 197.2] Apparent Rennerian
How'd you do that, Glyn?
BTW, I'm still here at [0,0].
Jeff
- ---
Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, jsrennerATumichDOTedu
"One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943
Calculate your Rennerian Coordinates at
http://hbd.org/rennerian_table.shtml
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 09 Feb 2006 23:27:48 +0000
From: "Unix Bob" <neutrinodust at hotmail.com>
Subject: Ph Perplexity
Greetings all,
Although I have been making some decent beers for awhile, I have recently
decided to pay closer attention to water chemistry. The first thing I did
was get a analysis from my water company. The results they supplied were (
among other things)
Alkalinity 44ppm
Calcium 77ppm
Hardness 98ppm
Calcium Carbonate 50-100 mg/l
Magnesuim (not listed)
Ph 8.4
Next I purchased some 'precision' Ph test papers ( No. 4662) from a brewing
supply that are supposed to indicate Ph levels between 4.6 and 6.2 and
change color from yellow (4.6) to brown (6.2).
(Here's where the plot thickens)
As an experiment, I decided I needed to 'test' my tap water. To my surprise,
the papers did not change color at all. OK, I thought, perhaps my water Ph
of 8.4 is out of the range of the test paper so nothing is indicated.
During last Saturdays Pre-Prohibition Pilsener ( thanks Jeff), I tested the
mash during the sacrification rest and again - nothing, just the yellow
indicating 4.6.
On a whim, I decided to add 1/8 tsp of baking soda to the mash to see if I
could raise the Ph. Voila! The papers indicated a rise in Ph to about 5.2.
Now I'm really confused. I would not have expected that grain bill of
6.5Lbs 6-row, 1.5 Lbs rice and 1Lb Maise to lower the PH by 3.8.
Out of curiosity today I bought a pool test kit this just to see if my tap
water Ph really was 8.4. The pool test kit indicated 8.4 right on the money.
I really was expecting to have to add something to lower the Ph not raise
it. Can these papers possibly be right or should I look for better method to
test my Ph.
Any (reasonable) suggestions are greatly appreciated.
-Bob in Pittsburgh PA
How 'bout them Steelers an 'nat?
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 18:44:16 -0500
From: Jeff Renner <jsrenner at umich.edu>
Subject: Re: Racking via the Sanke spear
Paul in Cheyenne, WY wrote (and I sneaked a look at the queue to answer)
> One of my favorite fermentation vessels is the Sanke keg. ... it
> occurred to me that perhaps I should simply re-insert the spear,
> hook up the tap, and apply CO2 to move the beer.
That works well, and if you want, you can rack directly to another
Sankey if you have a second tap. You need to remove the "pea" one-
way valve from the receiving tap if you do. You can put it back,
then. This way, the beer can finish in the second, sealed Sankey and
you will end up with carbonated beer (as long as it doesn't have a
lot of remaining sugar, in which case you'll have overcarbonated beer.)
> I found the Keg Man kit. And it is now ordered. This looks like it
> will make spear removal and replacement a snap.
You can also follow my instructions at http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/
4027.html#4027-14
> - Can the spear assembly be cleaned and sanitized effectively while
> removed from the keg? It has never been cleaned, just gathering
> dust under the stairs since its joyous ride home from the junkyard.
> I could soak in PBW, acid rinse, and sanitize but I'm afraid I
> won't get the ball valve part of it cleaned.
Sanitization of a clean spear and valve is easy - just boil it. It
doesn't all have to be immersed - steam will work, too.
Cleaning will take a bit more care, but I think that unless it's
really thick with proteinaceous gunk, you should be able to clean
it. When I empty a Sankey (I dispense from them, too), I rinse the
spear off, then hole it upside down, then drain it by pushing in the
ball with a screwdriver handle (it's hard to do with your thumb, but
it can be done).
> What about those keg couplers that are adapted for cleaning? Are
> they worth the investment?
Those are for cleaning without removing the spear. Not necessary.
> Also, should I cut ~3/4 to 1" off the bottom of the spear to stay
> above the yeast cake?
No. Most of the yeast will stay behind, and you won't lose any beer
that way, either. If you want, you could run the first pint or so
out into a glass and sample it, then the beer should run pretty
clear. Ditto if you keg in the Sankey. Only the first pint or so
will be yeasty.
> Other lurking issues to be aware of?
Well, this system will work better if you send me beer. -)
> (I haven't visited the Rennerian calculator but I know from his
> past posts that Jeff has quite a bit of experience in using Sankes
> and if I were at 0,0 I'd likely get all the answers I need)
Sure - come by for a beer any time.
Jeff
- ---
Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, jsrennerATumichDOTedu
"One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943
Calculate your Rennerian Coordinates at
http://hbd.org/rennerian_table.shtml
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #4948, 02/09/06
*************************************
-------
