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HOMEBREW Digest #5068
HOMEBREW Digest #5068 Fri 29 September 2006
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org
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Contents:
Interrupted brewing (Fred L Johnson)
Re: CO2 pressure question ("Pete Calinski")
CO2 pressure question (rodpr)
CO2 & microwave sanitation (Mark Nesdoly)
re: what happened to my fusels/harshness? (Matt)
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Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 07:23:22 -0400
From: Fred L Johnson <FLJohnson52 at nc.rr.com>
Subject: Interrupted brewing
Ben had to store his freshly made wort in the boiling kettle in a
refrigerator before pitching while waiting on his yeast to arrive in
the mail and is wondering if this brew has a chance of being drinkable
when he finally does pitch.
Ben, in my opinion, the wort should be OK if you were able to cover up
the kettle well while it was still hot. If you cooled the wort with the
kettle in an open state, it is likely that some airborne yeast,
bacteria, or mold got into it, and these will have opportunity to start
working on the brew before you pitch. However, if you were able to get
the wort chilled quickly to a very cold temperature, any unwanted
organisms will have had minimal time under favorable
conditions--favorable to their growth--to do much damage.
Refrigerators are notorious for harboring mold and other unwanted
microorganisms, so the barrier on your kettle must be an appropriate
one. Short of actually sealing the kettle up, a foil cap hanging down a
couple of inches over the side would likely be better than a standard
kettle lid. Think Petri dish.
Fred L Johnson
Apex, North Carolina, USA
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Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 09:29:29 -0400
From: "Pete Calinski" <pjcalinski at adelphia.net>
Subject: Re: CO2 pressure question
Well, I'm not the expert on this subject but I know that the pressure
reading on my gauge varies widely depending on what the temperature is. It
is because the pressure in the tank is at what is called "vapor pressure".
The vapor pressure of CO2 is 830 psi at 20 degrees C.
That is, as long as there is liquid in the tank, some of it will turn to
vapor until the pressure equals 830 psi (at 20C). At that point the tank is
in equilibrium. If you draw off some CO2 gas, more liquid vaporizes to get
back to 830 psi.
If the temperature drops, some of the gas in the tank will condense back to
liquid and the vapor pressure (and what your gauge reads) will be lower. I
think I have seen mine as low as 500 psi when my garage is really freezing.
If the temperature goes up, more liquid vaporizes and the pressure goes up.
I don't recall the highest temperature I have noticed. Maybe over 900 psi.
You could try a google on CO2 phase diagram.
Hope this helps
Pete Calinski
East Amherst NY
Near Buffalo NY
http://hbd.org/pcalinsk
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Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 09:52:31 -0400
From: <rodpr at comcast.net>
Subject: CO2 pressure question
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 16:11:01 -0600
From: Mark Nesdoly <m-nesdoly at shaw.ca>
Subject: CO2 pressure question
Yes Mark, they can. The guage is really nothing but a flattened tube, bent
in a C shape an connected to a small rack gear that turns the needle.
Having the pressure at a given point for many years would stress the tube
causing it to respond differently to pressures. The fact that it is a
mechanical device, gear driven, can also cause problems. Especially if the
gear skips a tooth.
Guages aren't that expensive, buy one and replace it.
>Stupid question. I've kegged my beer for about 9 years, and have only
>recently obtained a proper fridge so that I can leave my CO2 always hooked
>up. Recently meaning about 8 months. A roughly half-full tank lasted
>about
>7 months.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 10:28:51 -0600
From: Mark Nesdoly <m-nesdoly at shaw.ca>
Subject: CO2 & microwave sanitation
To clarify one thing: the tank is at the same temperature as all the others
I've ever had: room temperature, 20C. And today the pressure is reading
375 psi yet the tank is still heavy. I think my gauge is hooped.
Someone inquired about microwave sanitation (fly in a starter).....Here's a
link for you:
http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/2811.html#2811-9
It's an old post (from Aug '98) of mine regarding microwave ovens and what
they do/don't do.
Cheers.
- -- Mark
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Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 10:20:36 -0700 (PDT)
From: Matt <baumssl27 at yahoo.com>
Subject: re: what happened to my fusels/harshness?
Replying to the question of why some rocket fuel eventually became
delicious, Glyn writes "Most of the high alcohols/fusels break down or
combine."
Whether or not this is really true was a question I asked here a couple
weeks ago. From my experience I believe it is not true, and that
"fusels are forever," but don't have anything definitive to back it up.
Steve Alexander's reply to my question indicated fusels are not
significantly reduced with time, but if I recall correctly he didn't
cite specific studies, etc. So unless someone can chime in with
something definitive, we are left with opposing views both based on
experience.
One possibility is that the rocket-fuelly thing that has been aging out
of people's otherwise delicious beers is an excess of ethyl acetate, a
harsh/solventy ester (in high enough concentrations) that IS known to
break down over time. When combined with other esters, phenolics,
fusels, and other esters, it might be easy to misdiagnose high levels
of ethyl acetate for a major fusel problem.
I think I can tell the difference (partially because I get an almost
instant headache from a high-fusel sip of beer) but I could be fooling
myself. Anyway, I think it *is* worth knowing whether fusels or esters
are your problem, because one potential means of avoiding excess ethyl
acetate in the future (yeast nutrient) in my opinion has the potential
to make the fusel problem worse.
Matt
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #5068, 09/29/06
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