FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
Conicals, Music ("A.J deLange")
more on conicals (Starkbier)
Re: Chloramine and Campden Tablets (Dana Edgell)
Re: New to Homebrewing (Tim Bray)
Bimetal Thermometer Calibration ("Dave Larsen")
30th Annual California Homebrew Competition ("Mike Riddle")
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Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:38:33 -0400
From: "A.J deLange" <ajdel at cox.net>
Subject: Conicals, Music
I have 2 barrel cylindroconicals which I fill to 1.5 bbl and I do notice
strong circulation during fermentation. This is a great benefit as it
keeps the yeast in suspension and makes for a short, vigorous ferment.
Where it is not a benefit is when you want to keg. Even after the yeast
floculate the circulation keeps a fair amount in suspension. What I
usually do to try to beat this is bring the temperature down to close to
freezing and then shut off the refrigeration loop a few days before
kegging. The insulation is good enough that the beer is still relatively
cool after 2 - 3 days and during this time the rest (or most of the
rest) of the yeast have chance to drop into the cone.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As for music during brewing I usually listen to Bach. I got the whole
BWV for about $135 which is amazing (less than a buck a disc) and, as a
review said "there are few disappointments". Ther is usually some piece
of equipment running which makes too much noise to hear it very well so
I often don't bother to put any thing on but when I do it's JSB.
A.J.
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Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:20:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: Starkbier <starkbier at yahoo.com>
Subject: more on conicals
Lance mentions how he cleans his conical using a SS bar:
<Using a piece of thin stainless sheet I scrape off...
I just want to note that you really dont want to use
any abrasion system that can scratch your conical. Using
a SS sheet to scrape off krausen of a SS tank can cause
scratching that will tend to be a capture/build up point
for subsequent dirt/protein/trub buildup.
So stick with CIP systems and plastic scrubbies and
you should be fine. You always want to scrub with something
that is softer then your base metal.
Cheers,
Jim Busch
Colesville, Md
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Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:54:58 -0400
From: Dana Edgell <dedg at lle.rochester.edu>
Subject: Re: Chloramine and Campden Tablets
A.J. writes ...
> So if your goal is to dechlorinate/dechloraminate AND deoxygenate then
> observe that it takes 2 Campden tablets per 5 gallons to get the oxygen
> out and 1/4 Campden tablet (per 5 gallons) to get the
> chlorine/chloramine at the normal maximum level of 3 mg/L. Thus if you
> dose with 2 tablets per 5 gallons you will certainly get all the
> chlorine/chloramine and most of the oxygen. Add the extra quarter tablet
> if you like. Note that there is no reason to deoxygenate mash, sparge or
> kettle makeup water. It is important to deoxygenate water used to dilute
> beer after fermentation and before bottling.
If I add 1/4 Campden tablet to 5 gal cold tap water does it attack the
chlorine or oxygen first or does it do both partially?
I have been adding Campden tablets to my tap water in the HLT before
heating. Should I switch to adding it to the heated water which will
have little oxygen to compete for the campden tablet's effects?
Thanks,
Dana Edgell
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:10:31 -0700
From: Tim Bray <tbray at wildblue.net>
Subject: Re: New to Homebrewing
Delurking to reply to Daniel's questions, and some of the responses.
Like most, I wouldn't recommend getting too carried away with equipment
until you brew a few batches. By that time two things will happen: You
will start to get a feel for the process, thus identifying the equipment
that will work best for you; and you will become thoroughly hooked on
this most excellent of hobbies. As you've no doubt observed from the
discussions, everybody's got their own way of doing things and they all
(or almost all) work, so none of us can really tell you whether a
conical or a carboy is going to be best for you. It all depends on how
you like to do things, and you aren't likely to know the answer to that
one until you do it a few times.
So start out with the basics, brew a few times, then see where it leads
you. Even a carboy is optional; I often do primary fermentation in
plastic buckets for 7 to 10 days, then keg directly from the bucket.
Buckets are easier to clean but harder to sanitize, compared to a
carboy, so it takes a little more care.
As for kegs vs bottles, I'm loving the keg life, but it does involve a
big increase in equipment and expense. Not only do you need the kegs,
the fittings, the gas bottle and regulator and hoses and taps, you also
need a fridge. Again, I'd recommend starting out with bottles, get
hooked, then move up to kegging if it seems like something you want to
do. I will dispute those who say kegging impairs your ability to give
away beer or take bottles to parties - just get a counter-pressure
bottle filler or BeerGun, and you can bottle clear yeast-free beer and
take it to parties the same day.
Finally, I strongly dispute the slur on dry yeast. That was true many
years ago, but not today. Safbrew, Danstar, Lallemand all make very
clean, reliable dry yeast. In fact I assert that dry yeast today is
more reliable than liquid yeast. I've never had a slow start or weak
ferment with dry yeast, but it has happened several times with liquid.
If you have a nearby store that keeps a supply of fresh liquid yeast and
rotates their stock, the difference is negligible; but if you have to
mail-order it, liquid yeast can get heat-stressed en route and fail on
you. If I could only get the San Francisco Lager yeast in dry form I
would hardly ever need liquid!
Chers,
Tim in Albion, CA
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Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:49:38 -0700
From: "Dave Larsen" <hunahpu at gmail.com>
Subject: Bimetal Thermometer Calibration
I was calibrating a new bimetal thermometer the other day using
boiling and ice water. I used boiling water to calibrate the high end
of the scale. Water boils in Tucson at 207 degrees F. I used ice
water to calibrate the low end of the scale. Ice water is close to
freezing, or 32 degrees F. What I found is that the thermometer was
off differently from high to low. For instance, if I adjusted my
thermometer to read correctly at the low end, it would be off by a
degree at the high end, and visa-versa. I guess that one degree is
not that bad, but it was quite annoying. I actually had bought two
thermometers and only one of them was this way.
I actually own a third bimetal thermometer, a Blichmann Brewmometer,
and this one does not go low enough to measure the freezing point of
water. That is quite annoying, because I cannot calibrate at two
points. I only can calibrate at boiling. I guess that that is okay,
because when mashing it will be closer to the high end of the scale
rather than the low end, but I still wonder if the temperature
readings are off high to low like my other bimetal thermometer.
Speaking of which, does anybody know a good place to buy a mercury
calibration thermometer, at a decent price? The brew shops don't seem
to carry those anymore. They only carry the alcohol filled ones,
which I've never found to be that accurate.
Dave
Tucson, AZ
http://hunahpu.blogspot.com/
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:31:14 -0700
From: "Mike Riddle" <mjriddle1 at comcast.net>
Subject: 30th Annual California Homebrew Competition
The 30th Annual California State Homebrew Competition will take place on
Saturday, November 8th, 2008 at Stern Grove in San Francisco. For details,
please click on the competition link on the nchfinfo.org webpage.
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #5369, 07/14/08
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