Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Homebrew Digest #5463 (December 09, 2008)

HOMEBREW Digest #5463 Tue 09 December 2008


FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
Re: Aluminum Tubing ("pjmuth")
Re: Ultrasonic masher? (stencil)
Re: immersion chiller idea (stencil)
copper tubing ("Bill Wright")
Aluminum Tubing (michaelr.beck)
Old Wyeast (michaelr.beck)


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Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2008 08:55:15 -0500
From: "pjmuth" <pjmuth at bellsouth.net>
Subject: Re: Aluminum Tubing

> From: "Lance Harbison"
> I am in the process of building a chiller that will deliver glycol to a
> coil
> that will be immersed in the beer. In McMaster Carr 3/8" copper tubing is
> $200 for a 50' coil, while aluminum is $50. I know many use aluminum for
> their pots, but would there be any disadvantage to using it in the fashion
> I'm thinking of?
>

Lance,
I personally would not use the aluminum tubing. There is a much cheaper
alternative in copper. Try this site:
http://www.coppertubingsales.com/copper_tubing_prices.php
3/8" OD - $29.90
1/2" OD - $39.85
That even beats the aluminum price. They are located in Greensboro, NC so
shipping should not be outrageous for you.

HTH
Paul

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:29:46 -0500
From: stencil <etcs.ret at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: Ultrasonic masher?

On Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:23:37 -0500,
in Homebrew Digest #5462 (December 08, 2008)
Dick Adams wrote:

>>[ ...]
>>ultrasonic
>> cleaners - to gelatinize adjuncts

>[ ... ] upsetting my childbride.
>A price tag of $6,000 should set her off just like when
>I showed her the photos of a $7,500 homebrewing system!
>
>

Umm. Sixty hunnert lotta money. You maybe like senny-fi'
buck?
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95563

Since I already have a wee one, just big enough for a barrel
or a cylinder, I was thinking in terms of, say, a pound of
grain in a fairly stiff mash.

gds, stencil

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 09 Dec 2008 11:44:13 -0500
From: stencil <etcs.ret at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: immersion chiller idea

On Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:23:37 -0500,
in Homebrew Digest #5462 (December 08, 2008)
Matt wrote:

> [ ... ] "Planispiral" designs in which the copper tubing is left
>in a flat, pancake-like configuration, suspended at a shallow
>level in the wort. Cooling near the wort surface is supposed
>to create convection currents.
>
>There may be others. Anyway I was thinking about the second
>idea and got to wondering what configuration would really
>maximize the convection current.

FWIW, my chiller is six pounds of 3/8" copper tubing
arranged as a flattened torus 12" OD, 6" ID, and 2-1/2"
thick. A five-gallon paint strainer bag serves as a condom.
The unit is suspended from the rim of the ketle, torus plane
parallel to wort surface, just barely awash. The piece of
vinyl tubing on the feed side contains a strip of sheet
aluminum, about four inches long and about a quarter inch
wide, twisted into an extended helix. This is intended to
enhance the turbulence of the cooling water.
Recently I acquired a March pump, probably from Morebeer,
and I find that recirculating the wort, directing the
outflow at the cooler, noticeably speeds cooling. Further,
as pitching temperature approaches, the outflow can be
arranged to promote aeration.
The cooling has always been done with a clean cloth
stretched across the kettle mouth, so I'd never observed
whether there were noticeable convection currents roiling
the break and hops; that's certainly happening now. My
kettle had been a 10-gallon SS job with a false botom, so
hopstopping had never been an issue. Now that I've moved to
a 15-gal aluminum kettle (thanks to Agri Supply) I'm
adequately served by a conjoined pair of SS scrubbies wired
to the Weld-B-Gone inlet. At knockout the kettle is tilted
so that hops gather at side farthest from the spigot.
Whatever trub and hops particles get through are welcome to
sit at the bottom of the fermenter.

gds, stencil


>
>

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2008 10:05:08 -0900
From: "Bill Wright" <gourmetak at gmail.com>
Subject: copper tubing

>>In McMaster Carr 3/8" copper tubing is
>>$200 for a 50' coil, while aluminum is $50.


I just bought 50' of 3/8" flexible copper tubing at my local building supply
for about $100. The tubing in McMaster Carr may have thicker walls, but
copper refrigeration tubing should work for you and will be cheaper.

Bill


------------------------------

Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2008 19:53:04 -0500
From: <michaelr.beck at cox.net>
Subject: Aluminum Tubing

Lance,

Regarding your post:

>In McMaster Carr 3/8" copper tubing is $200 for a 50' coil, while
>aluminum is $50.

Check with the big box home stores for 50' x 3/8" copper refrigerator
tubing. They sell it for about $60.

Mike

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2008 20:08:12 -0500
From: <michaelr.beck at cox.net>
Subject: Old Wyeast

Here is a random comment for home brewers wondering what to do with
Ancient packets of Wyeast. I thought Wyeast packets went bad after
a few months. My local homebrew store will not carry Wyeast because
of the short shelf life.

Recently, September 2008, I picked up a packet of Wyeast Pilsen
Lager from a fellow brewer, dated July 2001. Knowing the yeast was
refrigerated the whole time, I gave it a try. It took about a week
for the packet to fully inflate. Then I poured the yeast into a
half liter and then two one liter starters to make two pilsners.
The beers came out tasting fine. So for the brewing collective, if
you have an old package of Wyeast it might still be fit for use, but
your mileage may vary.

Mike

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #5463, 12/09/08
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