Monday, September 6, 2010

Homebrew Digest #5730 (September 06, 2010)

HOMEBREW Digest #5730 Mon 06 September 2010


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


***************************************************************
TODAY'S HOME BREW DIGEST BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

Sponsor The Home Brew Digest!
Visit http://www.hbd.org/sponsorhbd.shtml to learn how

Support those who support you! Visit our sponsor's site!
********** Also visit http://hbd.org/hbdsponsors.html *********

DONATE to the Home Brew Digest. Home Brew Digest, Inc. is a
501(c)3 not-for-profit organization under IRS rules (see the
FAQ at http://hbd.org for details of this status). Donations
can be made by check to Home Brew Digest mailed to:

HBD Server Fund
PO Box 871309
Canton Township, MI 48187-6309

or by paypal to address serverfund@hbd.org. DONATIONS of $250
or more will be provided with receipts. SPONSORSHIPS of any
amount are considered paid advertisement, and may be deductible
under IRS rules as a business expense. Please consult with your
tax professional, then see http://hbd.org for available
sponsorship opportunities.
***************************************************************


Contents:
Re: plate chillers questions (Robert Tower)
Arkansas State Fair Judging ("Ken Haycook")
Re: plate chillers questions (Pete Calinski)
Returning home (Ed Jones)


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy! *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

NOTE: With the economy as it is, the HBD is struggling to
meet its meager operating expenses of approximately $3500
per year. If less than half of those currently directly
subscribed to the HBD sent in a mere $5.00, the HBD would
be able to easily meet its annual expenses, with room to
spare for next year. Please consider it.

Financial Projection As of 13 Jun 2010
Projected 2010 Budget $3305.65
Expended against projection $2500.06
Projected Excess/(Shortfall) $ 422.01

As always, donors and donations are publicly acknowledged
and accounted for on the HBD web page. Thank you


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: Sun, 05 Sep 2010 23:47:02 -0700
From: Robert Tower <roberttower at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: plate chillers questions

Paul Hethmon of Knoxville, Tennessee asks about plate chillers. I have
experience with the Blichmann Therminator. If you keep it relatively
clean, you can get within about 10 F. of ground water temp. If you are
diligent acid wash after every 5-6 uses to remove mineral build up, you
can get the wort to within 5-6 F. Since Paul's ground water is currently
76 F. I don't think either of these scenarios is acceptable. He may want
to stick with the immersion chiller.

I have similar issues with ground water temps during the summer. I can't
get my wort much below 80 F. in the summer time with the Blichmann
alone. The other three seasons are no problem. After trying numerous set
ups, I've settled on plumbing a copper immersion chiller in a bucket of
ice and water post plate chiller. I pump the wort out of the kettle,
through the plate chiller, then through the immersion chiller and
finally into the fermentor. Unfortunately, the first time I tried this
setup I hadn't thought about line resistance. Adding 25 feet of 3/8"
copper tubing to the pathway really slowed down my poor March pump, from
about 10 minutes with just the plate chiller to over 40 minutes when I
added the immersion chiller. Luckily I have a spare March pump so the
next time I brewed I plumbed the second pump at the end of the path
(between the fermentor and the immersion chiller). Now, between the two
pumps, my chilling time is down to about 15 minutes and the wort is
getting down into the low 60s. As you can imagine, this a lot of
equipment to have to set up and break down (not to mention maintain).
I'd really like it to be less equipment intensive, but I haven't found
another way that is as effective. Fortunately, I only have to do this
for the 3-4 summer time brews ("ain't no cure for the ....") I brew or
if I am brewing a lager. Otherwise, I can leave the immersion chiller
and the second pump on the equipment shelf.

Stay cool,
Bob Tower / Los Angeles, CA


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

Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2010 07:56:20 -0500
From: "Ken Haycook" <k.haycook at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Arkansas State Fair Judging

How about an early fall ROAD TRIP? The Central Arkansas Fermenters will be
hosting the
Arkansas State Fair Homebrew competition and we need judges. All BJCP styles
of beer,
mead, and cider will be accepted. 2008 AHA/BJCP style guidelines will be
used. The
Competition will be AHA/BJCP sanctioned. Sorry, since this is a State of
Arkansas
sponsored function, we can not accept entries for out-of-state brewers. For
in-state
brewers, the details are located on www.centralarkansasfermenters.com.
1st Round Judging will begin at 4:00 PM, Monday, October 11th, and will
continue
through Oct 12th at the Arkansas State Fair Grounds, at the Arts and Crafts
Building;
2600 Howard St, Little Rock, AR. Friday October 15th will be scheduled for
2nd Round
judging beginning at 4:00 pm. Best of Show will be judged at the Arkansas
State Fair
Grounds; Arts and Crafts Building; 10/16 starting at 4 pm. Fair Passes will
be available
to all pre-registered judges. Registration will be on-line at
www.centralarkansasfermenters. Fair Passes will allow each car to park on
the fairgrounds
and every person in the car will have free entrance to the fair grounds.
Interested
judges please contact Ken Haycook at 501-223-0030 or k.haycook AT
sbcglobal.net.

Events Schedule:
October 11th - 12th: 1st Round Judging 4 pm-10 pm; Arkansas State Fair
Grounds,
Creative Arts Bldg, Little Rock AR, 72201
October 15th: 2nd Round Judging 4:00 pm 10:00 pm on the Arkansas State
Fair Grounds,
Creative Arts Bldg, Little Rock AR, 72201
October 16th: Best of Show Judging and winners will be announced, 4:00 pm -
10:00 pm,
Arkansas State Fair Grounds, Creative Arts Bldg, Little Rock AR
The address for the Arkansas State Fairgrounds is 2600 Howard St.
Exit I-30 at #139, Roosevelt Rd and travel west. The fair grounds will be
on the left.
More information will be sent with your pass.


Ken Haycook
501-223-0030


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

Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2010 09:24:40 -0400
From: Pete Calinski <petec.100 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: plate chillers questions

I have been successful using a bucket of ice water. Specifically I fill a
bottling bucket (7 gal. with a valve at the bottom) with ice and water. I
start the chilling process using tap water until the chilling slows down.
Then I switch my immersion chiller from the tap to the ice water. If I
control the flow so that the water coming out of the chiller is not too cold
it works great.

Usually I have a lot of ice in my freezer but I have been known to buy a bag
for $1.39 if my supply is low.

Hope this helps.

Pete


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

Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2010 15:06:09 -0400
From: Ed Jones <cuisinartoh at gmail.com>
Subject: Returning home

Hi All,

I've been out of the hobby for almost 5 years. Moving to a smaller house,
getting married, and having babies will do that. I haven't built my new
brewery yet, but I wanted to get back into the swing of things and dream
for what the brewery will look like when we move in the Spring. I would
post a link to pictures of my old brewery but I can't get past the posting
restrictions of the digest.

I wasn't aware of the TT exodus from the HBD and now the (hopeful)
flight back. Going back through some of the recent archives, I saw
several names from the past. So when I start all over again next
Spring, I know there will be many, many years of experience here.

One question, does anyone know what the current state of
ProMash is? It looks like it hasn't been updated in 7 years and Jeff
has some family things going on which has caused him to halt
work on ProMash 2.0. Are there quality alternatives to ProMash
these days?

Thanks!

Ed Jones

PS I've tried sending this 4 times with annoying returns each time.
I hope it goes through this time. grrrr.


------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #5730, 09/06/10
*************************************
-------