Monday, January 5, 2009

Homebrew Digest #5480 (January 05, 2009)

HOMEBREW Digest #5480 Mon 05 January 2009


FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org


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Contents:
Favorite beers (Joseph M Labeck Jr)
PAA (Evan Kraus)
Fermcap, Favorite bee (Glyn and Mary)
Forced Air Lines ("A.J deLange")
SKAcomp GABF Pro/Am Qualifier (Dion Hollenbeck)
re: Need help with setting up my draft system. ("jeff_ri")


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Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2009 02:38:02 -0500
From: Joseph M Labeck Jr <jmlabeck at joesjokearchive.ws>
Subject: Favorite beers

Hi, all;

Jerry asks for our favorites, to give him some brewing ideas. I have
three. These are all 4-gal. recipes.

Uncle Bill's Porter

4 lb. dark LME
1/4 lb choc. malt
1/4 lb dark crystal malt
1 lb brown sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1 oz. Cascades hops (Bittering)
1 oz. Fuggles hops (Dry-hopped)
1 pkt. dry ale yeast

I like the buttery flavor the Molasses gives this one.

========================================

Barb's Crystal Sphere

4 lb LME
1/2 lb choc malt
1 lb brown sugar
peel and juice of two oranges
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 oz low-alpha hops (Clusters?)
1 pkt dry ale yeast

My version of a "winter warmer". tasty

========================================

Born to be Mild ale

3 lb light LME
1/2 lb choc malt
1 oz 6% alpha hop
1 oz fuggles (finishing, optional)
1 pkt. dry ale yeast

I've always considered this a great "lawnmower beer".

Hope this helps

Joe Labeck


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Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 05:04:50 -0800 (PST)
From: Evan Kraus <ekraus at yahoo.com>
Subject: PAA


Decided to get back into brewing!

Need a source for 1 Gallon of PAA 15% (Parasitic acid).
And Liquid Caustic 20%


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Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 06:09:29 -0800 (PST)
From: Glyn and Mary <graininfuser at yahoo.com>
Subject: Fermcap, Favorite bee

Anyone using Fermacap to keep the yeast from escaping
primary? Does it make clean up any easier?

My favorite beer, the one in my hand of course! I must say
it is a very mood/location question. I generally have no more
than two on tap, and various store bought bottles. With that
being said if I had to brew just one beer it would be a triple.

Not to heavy, fruity, higher alcohol. Would last longer than
a Wit or something else. Does not numb your palate with heavy
hops. Just my opinion.

Glyn
S. Middle TN

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Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 09:17:31 -0500
From: "A.J deLange" <ajdel at cox.net>
Subject: Forced Air Lines

Let me start off by saying I do not have a forced air system so what I
know about them is based on some planning I did when I thought I was
going to have to move and swore I'd put the cooler under the dining
area if I did (I didn't so I still have to walk down the hall, through
the garage and down to the other end of the brewery to get a beer
- sigh).

Firstly - yes, it is important to keep the beer cold right up to the
tap if you can. If part of the lines run through an area warmer than
the cooler the beer in those lines will not have time to warm up
appreciably while traveling to the faucet from the keg but the beer
standing in those lines (referred to in the bar trade as "the night
watchman") between servings (i.e. at night, while you are at work
etc.) will. At best the CO2 will break out and the first glass
drawn will be foamy. At worst the beer will be nasty in other
ways as well. The night watchman was often given to derelicts
who knew to come round at opening because the regular customers
would complain about the quality. BTW, even if you do chill the
lines the first glass is likely to be somewhat foamy because
there will still be breakout, certainly with a vertical run of
10' simply because the pressure 10' above the keg will be 5 psig
lower than it is in the keg but I get it with a vertical run
from the keg to a faucet on the walk-in door (head pressure
difference from bottom of spear to tap about 1.5 psi).
With the beer cold, however, breakout won't be as bad and
you won't have any staling from high temperature effects.


The usual arrangement in a cold air system is a blower and
a pair of coaxial flexible tubes say 2" OD inside a 3 or 4"
tube. The beer lines run through the center of the smaller
tube through which cold air is blown. The tubing terminates
in a cabinet with the faucets through which the cold air
from the smaller tube circulates returning to the cooler
through the larger, outside tube. Blowers, cabinets and
tubing aren't too bad. See

http://rapidswholesale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?
Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=ForcedAirSystems

to get an idea about prices, configuration etc. Note
that there are obviously intended for use with walk-ins,
not chest freezers, but I don't see any reason why they
couldn't be adapted to chest freezers by drilling the hole
for the tubing in the lid (so as to be sure to miss the
refrigeration coils) and bolting the blower to the inside of
the lid.

The more elegant way to go is with bundled beer and glycol
lines inside an insulating jacket such as at

http://rapidswholesale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen
=PROD&Store_Code=RWEC&Product_Code=5R034-10
.

This requires an external glycol chiller ($$)

http://rapidswholesale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?
Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RWEC&Product_Code=3B100

and a tower which while it is less bulky than an air
cabinet is also more expensive. These systems are easier
to install in the sense that you are routing something an
inch or 2 in diameter rather than 3 or 4, the hole in
the cooler is smaller and you don't have to suspend a
blower inside the cooler. But you do have a separate
chiller unit occupying floor space and consuming electricity.

Cheers, A.J.


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

Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:27:44 -0700
From: Dion Hollenbeck <hollen at woodsprite.com>
Subject: SKAcomp GABF Pro/Am Qualifier

Judges,

We still need more judges for the Pro/Am qualifier event at SKA
Brewing Co. in Durango, CO. on January 31. Please consider judging
at this competition.


For questions contact Matt Morrow at Memorrow at fortlewis.edu or call me at
(970)764-7128.

The website is http://hstrial-cmorrow8.homestead.com/index.html where
you can register to judge.

- --
Dion Hollenbeck
Email: hollen at woodsprite.com Home Page: http://www.woodsprite.com
Brewing Page: http://hbd.org/hollen Toys: 98 4Runner, 86 4x4 PU

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Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 21:59:47 -0500
From: "jeff_ri" <jeff_ri at cox.net>
Subject: re: Need help with setting up my draft system.

Hi All,

In HBD #5479 Matt Frayer asked about chilling the beer lines between his
kegs and the taps.

Your planned beer lines (1/4 inch ID by 10 ft long) only hold about 3.25
ounces of beer. Since you mentioned the lines will be running through a 50
degree space, you probably won't need to chill them. The first pint will
just be a little warmer than the second one.

If you do want to chill them, have the air circulate in a loop between the
fridge and the taps and run the fan from a thermostat with the sensor near
the taps. That way the fan will only run when needed.

Jeff McNally
Tiverton, RI
(652.2 miles, 90.0 deg) A.R.
www.southshorebrewclub.org

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End of HOMEBREW Digest #5480, 01/05/09
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