FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
RE: A.J. and beer colour ("Simon Barrett")
postings too complex? No.... ("Darrell G. Leavitt")
A.J. and Mash Temp Experiment (Kevin Elsken)
5 2 pH Stabililzer ("Darrell G. Leavitt")
Re: Questions - I (stencil)
Crash cooling pH sample (WAS: pH stuff) (stencil)
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Date: Sat, 4 Oct 2008 12:22:04 +0800
From: "Simon Barrett" <sbarrett at watermc.com>
Subject: RE: A.J. and beer colour
>>A(lambda) = SRM*[0.022798*exp( (430 - lambda)/17.268) + 0.97901*exp(
(430 - lambda)/81.87) ]/12.7
>>where lambda is the wavelength (between 380 and 780 nm)....
>A.J., yur killin' me! :o)
>If (like me) you gave up when you ran into lambda and log functions...how
'bout this explanation..."Dude, if you want a red beer, start with about 1/2
of 1 percent roasted barley or black patent and work from there."
True, but there are a vast number of places on the web where there are
people who can advise you on how much roast barley to add to get your
desired colour. There is only one place where you can get a fascinating
discussion on how colour works without it being buried in white noise. I
guess I am in the target audience AJ refers to, I couldn't get to that
understanding from the original literature, but once AJ or Kai or someone
sets it out in a logical way for me, I can get it. So I find this list a
great resource and long may there be complicated answers to simple questions
on colour and mash pH.
Cheers
Simon in Aus
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 4 Oct 2008 06:53:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Darrell G. Leavitt" <leavitdg at plattsburgh.edu>
Subject: postings too complex? No....
AJ;
Please don't dumb down (to my level) your posts. I have been reading the
HbD for over 12 or so years, and while my advaced degrees are in the
social sciences (not chemistry or physics), those of you who do post
more "technical" or "advanced" treatments of the factors involved in
brewing
good beer are our friends. You guys motivate the rest of us artists to
take a stab at learning the science as well.
Several years ago, when we still enjoyed the occasional post by George
Fix, I was motivated to read two of his books. The PRINCIPES I have read
several times, and I must admit that covalent and ionic bonds still
challenge me. I also read the TECHNIQUES by him and his wife, and while I
have heard some criticisms of the book/s (I guess that he was a
mathematician, not a chemist - interesting parallel to my comment here) I
none the less feel that I learned a lot by "stretching", as apparently
George did (God rest his soul).
Please AJ, you and the other scientists and more knowlegeable folks among
us, please don't stop posting for concerns that you are "over our heads".
We need this.
Those who find it confusing, or just "greek", can page down, and read the
next post, as I sometimes do.
There is a whole lot of art, science, technique, and experimentation that
goes into brewing. There are "beginners" and "pros" as well. Let us taste
of it all here on the HbD!
Darrell
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:10:42 -0400
From: Kevin Elsken <littleboybrew at verizon.net>
Subject: A.J. and Mash Temp Experiment
A.J.:
I would say don't fret about the content of your posts. I believe it
has been well established what the "Page Down" key is for. Trust me I
have used it many times. Back in older says when the HBD was little
livelier (and contained significantly more fluff) then the Page Down was
indispensable. Alas today it is easier to skim the digest but I for one
am glad that there are still guys like AJ and -S (and many others)
around to offer up their knowledge.
Just to follow up on my mash temp experiment, I bottled the two beers
last night. Both were 3 liter batches, with mash temperature as the
control variable. Both batches were fermented with 2 grams of Danstar
Nottingham yeast, pitched directly onto the wort. Normally I rehydrate
dry yeasts in water first, but I thought I would just eliminate that
variable. After pitching the yeast the each one gallon jar was shaken
furiously to aerate. Fermented at 21C / 70 F. Here are further results:
Batch #85
Mash Temp: 65 C / 149 F
OG: 10.7 P / 1.043
FG 1.5 P / 1.0065
ADF 84%
RDF 70%
RE 3.4 deg P
Batch #86
Mash Temp: 70 C / 158 F
OG: 10.6 P / 1.043
FG 2.5 P / 1.0100
ADF 76%
RDF 63%
RE 4.0 deg P
I measured FG with both my narrow range hydrometer and refractometer.
On Batch 85 the hydrometer measurement was 1.0065, refractometer 5.0 deg
P. When I plugged that into ProMash refractometer utility to convert to
actual FG, the result was 1.0059. On Batch 86 the comparison was 1.0100
vs. 1.0098 ! So I feel pretty good about my refractometer.
Each batch yielded a 6 pack of 12 oz bottles plus 2 - 7 oz. I will be
curious to see if I can taste differences in these beers.
Kevin Elsken
Little Boy Brewery
Upper Saint Clair, PA
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 4 Oct 2008 16:53:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Darrell G. Leavitt" <leavitdg at plattsburgh.edu>
Subject: 5 2 pH Stabililzer
Is the 5 2 pH stabilizer something that any homebrewers use? I recently
ran across a description of this and wonder if it makes sense for those of
us who do 5 gallon batches, as opposed to several barrels?
Darrell
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:04:44 -0400
From: stencil <etcs.ret at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: Questions - I
On Fri, 03 Oct 2008 23:42:19 -0400,
in Homebrew Digest #5427 (October 03, 2008)
A.J deLange wrote:
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
> [ ... ]
>1: Are my postings too heavy for this forum?
> [ ... ]
No. I would much prefer a dense and information-rich post
that provides terminology and numbers that I can research or
request clarifying followup on, than vague opinions and
dubious anecdotes. Hubert Hanghofer's and your posts
regarding water alkalinity adjustments cost me several hours
of skull sweat but ultimately led to a practical spreadsheet
for dosing my tapwater with pickling lime and gypsum or
calcium chloride.
Set the bar high, and let those who can't make the leap,
walk around.
gds, stencil
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 05 Oct 2008 10:53:06 -0400
From: stencil <etcs.ret at verizon.net>
Subject: Crash cooling pH sample (WAS: pH stuff)
On Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:25:46 -0400,
in Homebrew Digest #5426 (October 02, 2008)
Jason Gazeley wrote:
>------------------------------
>[ ... ]
>How does one get a mash
>sample down to room temp in a reasonable amount of time in order to
>make salt/acid additions?
>[ ... ]
You need only 15~20 ml - maybe a Tbsp or so - if your test
vessel is a small-diameter vial such as those that pH test
strips come in. A sample this size can be rapidly cooled by
scooping it from the tun with a measuring spoon, splashing
it into a cool or chilled SS saucepan, and then pouring it
into the test vessel. Less time than it takes to describe.
gds, stencil
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #5428, 10/05/08
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