Black Box 4/BlackBox.cdr/textinfo/hbd80-.arj/HBD806.TXT

Text File | 1992-01-24 | 31.0 KB | 768 lines

HOMEBREW Digest #806                    Tue 21 January 1992


 FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
   Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator


Contents:
  epoxy (chip upsal)
  Autoclaving carboys (Mike Lelivelt)
  Wetting grain for grain mill crushing (adietz)
  kegging, bottling, conditioning (Tony Babinec)
  Re: Homebrew Digest #805 (January 20, 1992) (I45J)
  How much, oh lord? (nnieuwej)
  Multi-strain yeasts (George Fix)
  publicly traded breweries (chuck)
  Multi Strain cultures; Chinese agar; Streaking for single colonies (Dennis J. Templeton)
  Sierra Nevada date codes (John Pierce)
  ss ferment (Dan Feldman)
  Melfami (MIKE LIGAS)
  Where's the trub? (korz)
  Botulism (Dave Platt)
  NA beer (korz)
  aeration (Jim Larsen)
  Toffee notes (Conn Copas)
  Malt Extract Questions, plus (Joe Rolfe)
  Sources of Food-Grade Epoxy (Brian Capouch)
  Agar substitutes (Conn Copas)
  RIMS/MashTun Details (Alan Gerhardt)


Send submissions to [e-mail]
Send requests to [e-mail]
[Please do not send me requests for back issues!]
Archives are available from [e-mail]

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

Date: 20 Jan 92 07:42:30 EST
From: chip upsal <[e-mail]>
Subject: epoxy

>You can improve the bond by sanding around the crack to roughen it up
>so the epoxy will have more to hold onto.  Most epoxies don't bond well
>to smooth surfaces.  Also, covering the crack with some sort of strong
>synthetic cloth that you can permeate with epoxy will make the patch
>much stronger, and more flexible.

However, epoxies do not bond very well with plastics They work much better
with mettle and wood.


Chip


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

Date: 20 Jan 92 09:03:12 EST
From: [e-mail]

Greetings fellow homebrewers...

I am a fairly new home brewer and have had success brewing from malt extract.
However, I have been using Redstar yeast and think that it may not be giving
me all the fine flavor that I should expect.  I have Charlie Papazians book
and notice that the recipes listed all use packages of dry yeast.
What dry yeast do people recommend....What about liquid yeast, .. Can I
use this at temperatures 55 - 60 degrees (my basement temp.)

Also, does anyone have any recommended recipies for a Bavarian/Munich Helles
using malt extract.

Please reply to   [e-mail]

Thanks in advance......

chuckm

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

Date:         Mon, 20 Jan 92 09:12:51 EST
From: Mike Lelivelt <[e-mail]>
Subject:      Autoclaving carboys


For those of you with access to large laboratory autoclaves, has anyone
used these autoclaves to sterilize their carboys?  I'm worried about
them cracking because they are not pyrex.

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

Date: 20 Jan 1992   9:24 EST
From: [e-mail] (adietz)
Subject: Wetting grain for grain mill crushing

Sometime ago, there was a short thread on consequences of cleaning
pasta machine rollers w/ water.  The last time I used the pasta machine/grain
mill for crushing grain, I decided to lightly wet the grain to speed things
along.  Afterward, the whole thing was wiped clean w/ a damp cloth including
the roughed-up rollers.

It's been a week now and there's no visible rusting or damage.  My
conclusion is that water won't hurt your machine one spit.  Actually, for
this design - you tend to *need* the grain slightly damp so you don't
waste time.

 -A Dietz
Bellcore, Morristown
[e-mail]

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

Date: Mon, 20 Jan 92 9:41:50 CST
From: [e-mail] (Tony Babinec)
Subject: kegging, bottling, conditioning

In HBD #805, Michael Fetzer relates his experiences with kegging
versus bottling and the resulting conditioning of the beer.

In my humble experience, here's what has worked for me.  The beer
ferments for a week in primary.  Rack into secondary and let it sit
for another week.  By racking to secondary, you are removing the beer
from most of the yeast, and also, whatever yeast you transfer will
mostly settle out via gravity.  When ready to keg, I've not bothered to
use finings.  I've just kegged.  Following Byron Burch's suggestion, don't
prime while kegging, but instead use only co2.  The beer can be
consumed 3 days after kegging, and is suitably carbonated.  Follow the
temperature/pressure chart for kegging mentioned in previous HBDs, and
also found in Burch's article (Beer & Brewing, vol. 9?).

So, with roughly a 14-17 day turnaround, you can have beer, which is
not the case if you bottle.  However, I would argue that for higher
gravity or highly hopped/multiple hopped beers, you'll get some flavor
change for some time, unless you drink all the kegged beer fast!
Depending on the style, young beer has unmistakable hop flavors that
recede with time.  "Conditioning" means more than "carbonating."  For
normal gravity beers, brewed for present use, we're emulating what
the Brits do with real ale.  It's hard to beat a good draft beer
taste.  In any event, kegged beer kept under pressure, under co2, and
refrigerated, stays good!

As for bottling, it takes time for carbonation to occur, and while
young in the bottle, yeast in suspension will affect flavor and
clarity.  But, beer in bottles also conditions, again especially if
highly hopped and/or high gravity.

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

Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1992 10:48 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Homebrew Digest #805 (January 20, 1992)


Please remove my name from the alias.  It is too long and uses up too much sys
memory, since I can't read it every day.  It has been fun.

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

Date: Mon, 20 Jan 92 11:36:34 -0500
From: [e-mail]
Subject: How much, oh lord?

  In october I brewed a two gallon batch of beer which I hoped would have a
cranberry flavor and the deep red hue I've heard so much about.  I used 3.3
lbs of amber extract, 1.5 lbs of crushed cranberries, and (I think) 2 oz
cascade hops.  Now 3 months later the beer has neither cranberry flavor
nor color.  The predominant (but not overwhelming) flavor is a (not _entirely_
unpleasant) tang; there is little or no beer flavor and the tang is certainly
not identifiable as cranberry.
  Last week I brewed a two gallon batch which was intended to have a hint
of garlic.  I used one BIG bulb of garlic with the cloves peeled and crushed
with the flat edge of a knife (not minced).  I thought this would give a
nice full garlic flavor without the harshness that comes with minced garlic.
Last night I racked it from the primary to the secondary and there was no
trace of garlic flavor or aroma.
  What's up?  Is my sense of proportion that far off?

 -Nils

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

Date: Mon, 20 Jan 92 12:18:34 CST
From: [e-mail] (George J Fix)

Subject: Multi-strain yeasts (George Fix)

Two of the three strains in the Whitbread culture are definitely
Saccaromyces cerevisiae. Both are "mutants" in the sense they are
nonflocculent. One is a fast starting strain that is quite sensitive
to ethanol, over say 2.5% by weight. The other is a slow starting strain
that is tolerant of ethanol. Typically the first strain gets things
started, but becomes dormant around the midpoint of the fermentation.
But this is exactly the point where the second strain becomes active.

The third strain is a nonsaccharomyces yeast. It for example will not
ferment glucose. It, however, is a strong flocculator and takes the
other two strains to the bottom of the fermenter at the end of the
ferment. It is my belief that the Whitbread "lager" yeast is exactly
the same as the Whitbread "ale" yeast. I conjecture that the former
is taken through several generations at progressively lower temperatures
before drying and packaging.

I like this yeast especially for British style ales, and the way the
three strains work together is rather elegant. However, isolating the
individual strains is not a trivial matter as Mike Lelivelt correctly
pointed out in HBD#805. There are morphological differences between the
nonsaccaromyces strain and the other two, and this can be used to isolate
the former in ways suggested by Mike. The results can be checked by staining
( I use Rhodomine B ) in conjuction with microscopic examination at 200X.
Sometimes I go up to 1000X using immersion oil, but this is rarely necessary.

Isolating the other two is a different matter altogether. Currently the
following procedure is used. The yeast is pitched with an unhopped malt
extract solution (S.G.=1.020). Once the fermentation starts, yeast is
skimmed from the top and streaked out on a petri dish. This typically a
mixture of Nos. 1 and 3. Then more yeast is added to a malt extract solution,
this time one spiked with sterile beer giving a total alcohol content of
3-3.5% by wt. The ferment should be slow to start indicating that No. 1 is
dormant. Once the ferment starts, yeast is skimmed from the top and streaked
onto a petri dish. This hopefully is a mixture of No. 2 and No. 3. The latter is
then separated from Nos. 1 and 2 by the methods cited above.

To use for brewing, the three strains are propagated by the classic "Hansen
procedure" nicely described in Paul Farnsworth's Zymurgy article. Here one
uses three petri dishes, one containing each of Nos. 1 to 3.

There is no guarantee that this procedure actually isolates Nos. 1 and 2. I
am not aware of any reliable procedure for checking this. However, in practical
terms the performance of the yeast has been normal. One additional bonus is
that this is also a good way to "clean up" the yeast. Virtually all packets
of Whitbread yeast have some level of infection. Usually it is low enough so
finished beer flavors are not affected, but sometimes this is not the case.
Paul Farnsworth told me that he found unacceptable levels of infection ( over
one cell per 1000 yeast cells ) in one out of four samples in his study
reported in Zymurgy.




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

Date: Mon Jan 20 12:49:40 1992
From: synchro![e-mail]
Subject: publicly traded breweries

To date, most of my investments in brewing have been new kegs and carboys.  I
am considering buying brewery stocks and I am particularly interested in
micros.  I'm not soliciting advice, but I would like to know about any publicly
traded micro or regional breweries.  I'd also love to find a brewery mutual
fund or beer investment club.

- -----
Chuck Cox - SynchroSystems - [e-mail]

"All the other nations are drinking Ray Charles beer,
and we are drinking Barry Manilow." - Dave Barry


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

Date: Mon, 20 Jan 92 13:16:24 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Dennis J. Templeton)
Subject: Multi Strain cultures; Chinese agar; Streaking for single colonies


Mike Levielt writes:

According to Fix's article on Wild Yeast in Zymurgy's Yeast Issue,
Whitbread culture (
1098) consists on three strains of yeast.  In the same issue Burch in
"Yeast and Beer Styles" says
3056 is composed of two strains.  Does anyone know of other Wyeast
cultures being multi-strain in nature?  I ask because these strains are
incompatable with the isolation techniques presented above.  A friend
(Hi Veg) isolated both species of the 3056 culture due to differences in
colony morphology.  This techniques cannot be applied to 1098 culture as
all three are Saccaromyces cerevisiae derivatives and possess similar
colony morphology.  Please don't tell me to run protein gels, I'm
already anal enough.  My current solution is just not to attempt to
isolate.  Come on big brains, any answers?

Mike:  I've been struggling with this same problem, and someone (Martin?)
suggested picking 8-10 individual colonies into 500 ml cultures of DME,
fermenting them, then TASTING to distinguish them... certainly NOT what
you'd do in the lab, but more relevant to homebrew.  You might not get ALL
of the strains that comprise a culture, but should get all of the major
ones...

Protein gels would be interesting too...

And in response to the question about agar-agar in chinese food stores, YES
by all means use this stuff; I had suggested health-food stores, but many
of them don't have it.

About pouring plates at home, Mike suggested autoclaving, and that is what
we do in the lab, but I think that boiling the wort in a saucepan should be
good enough.  Solution:  2 cups water, 4 TBSP DME, 1 gm agar (about 1 tsp
powdered) and boil covered for 40 minutes or so.

Get petri dishes if you can, try the highschool micro lab, a local
hospital, or your doctors office lab.  Homebrew shops ought to carry these.
 A fair price is $5 for a sleeve of 20 sterile plastic dishes.

I've been looking around the house for a substitute and have eyed the
margarine tubs that are about 4 inches around.  While I haven'ttried it,
these look to be usable, and the polypropylene ones (marked PP
on the bottom by the recycle lable) should be boilable.  I would use a
boilable plastic medicine dropper (for giving kids medicine, from a
pharmacy for a couple of bucks) to fill these things from the saucepan.
Since sterility might not be perfect, don't make more than you intend to
use in a few days.  fill the cups a half-inch deep, and let harden.

Mike's method for streaking is fine.  My way is to imagine the plate as a
clock face.  The first streak is a light drop of culture, drawn from 11:00
to 1:00.  heat the loop, then draw through the first from 1200 to 3:00,
heat the loop, then draw a couple of streaks through the second streak,
i.e. 200 to 500 and 300 to 400.  Heat the loop again, the last streak is a
bunch of squiggles through the third  streaks, zig zagging through the
unstreaked part of the plate to cover it. The whole point here is to
reduce the number of organisms being carried along with the loop to the
center part of the plate.  The first and second streaks will be too dense
and will be solid growth, hopefully the last streak will give you 20 or so
well-separated colonies. Practice a couple of times.

Let the plates grow a couple of days at room temperature or slightly
warmer.  Colonies on a plate should be viable for a month or more in the
fridge, but since sterility of a boiled margarine tub might not be perfect,
I'd pick individual colonies into sterile wort for freezing before letting
the plates sit around long.  I posted this method a while ago, write me if
you want a copy.

Mike brings up an important point; with some cultures you may not WANT a
homogeneous (i.e. single) strain.  I would appreciate someone who knows the
strain characteristics of popular cultures posting that info here.

good luck,

dennis

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

Date: Mon, 20 Jan 92 10:33:13 PST
From: [e-mail] (John Pierce)
Subject: Sierra Nevada date codes


Someone mentioned a postscript file that prints a "decoder" for
the Sierra Nevada date code notches.  I lost the reference to this,
and am wondering if someone could mail me a copy of said postscript?

Greatly appreciated in advance,

 -jrp, [e-mail]


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

Date: Mon, 20 Jan 92 11:33 PST
From: Dan Feldman <[e-mail]>
Subject: ss ferment

     To: Homebrew Digest
     Fm: Jack Schmidling <[e-mail]>

 From: Dan Feldman <[e-mail]>
 Subject: ss ferment

   Anyway, the important info is that the primary was done *in the brewpot*.
   I cooked it up, chilled it with an immersion chiller, pitched, covered, and
   moved it to the cool room.

 I've been doing this for about a year now.  It works great, and has freed up
 my old fermenter for use as a carboy.  I can now brew approx twice as often
 as I used to.

     The question left is, is this extract beer or all grain?  As there is
     considerably more and different residues from all grain, I am still reluctant
     to try fermenting on the boil crud till someone claims success.

I made a big mistake when I read the original message (sorry, I don't remember
who sent the original message, my machine crashed and the data was lost). I
hope this will clarify my process.

I'm an all grain brewer.  While the wort is boiling, I clean thouroughly
rinse and sterilize my mash-tun.  When the wort is done boiling, I siphon
it through a reverse flow wort chiller, into my mash-tun (I keep the
output end of the chiller 4"-8" away from the bottom of the mash-tun and
surface of the cooled wort; this provides aeration for the yeast), being
careful not to pick up any residue from the bottom of the pot.  I then
pitch with an active culture, and cover the mash-tun/fermenter with a
plastic bag.

After re-reading the original posting, I must agree with Jack.  I will
not ferment any of my brews on the boil residues.  I feel that fermenting
on the boil residues will cause more harm than good (for the beer that is).

Dan

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

Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1992 14:51 EDT
From: MIKE LIGAS <[e-mail]>
Subject: Melfami

Of course there's Mel Fami, the famous pitcher for the Yankees.
Every game he pitched was a no hitter. Every game he didn't
pitch they lost. They went to the World Series: 7th game, 9th inning,
0-0. Mel was nervous and for the first time in his life
he took a drink of a beer. He got so drunk he walked the next
five batters and lost the game. The manager of the other
team picked up the can of beer and said, "This is the beer
that made Mel Fami walk us."

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

Date: Mon, 20 Jan 92 14:22 CST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Where's the trub?

Curt asks where the trub would end up after swirling the chilled
wort.  It should result in something like this:


      |            |
      |------------|
      |            |
      |            |
      |            |
      |            |
      |     tt     |
      |    tttt    |
      |___tttttt___|

Where the "t's" represent the trub.  Siphon from the edge of the pot.
Al.

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

Date: Mon, 20 Jan 92 10:19:03 PST
From: [e-mail] (Dave Platt)
Subject: Botulism

>                       Also, while laying awake, I thought
> that I remembered reading somewhere that Botulism is a toxin.
> That is, if you have a can with the big "B", you can boil the
> contents and kill the critters that manufacture "B", but that
> doesn't remove what they have already produced.

Your recollection is semi-correct, I believe.  What I recall, from my
high-school microbiology class lo these many years ago, is as follows:

Botulism is an illness... an intoxication, technically... caused by a
toxin released by a species of bacteria (Clostridium botulinum).  The
symptoms include blurred vision, difficulty in swallowing and breathing,
paralysis, and death.  The toxin is extremely powerful... weight for
weight it's one of the most powerful poisons known.

The C. botulinum bacterium is widely distributed.  It forms resting-stage
"spores" which are relatively heat-resistant... boiling water is not
sufficient to kill them, but pressure-canning is (when properly done).
Improperly-canned home vegetables and fruits are perhaps the commonest
source of botulism.

C. botulinum grows and reproduces under conditions of low oxygen
concentrations and low acidity.  It cannot grow if exposed to air, nor
in acid conditions (which is why citric acid or vinegar is often added
to vegetables prior to canning). Tomatoes used to be considered safe,
because of their high acid levels... but modern hybrid-cultivar
tomatoes are often bred to have lower acid levels, and tomatoes are now
considered unsuitable for unpressurized canning.

Although the C. botulinum organism is resistant to heat, the toxin it
releases is not.  Heating canned vegetables to boiling, and keeping them
at that temperature for a sufficiently-long time (I _believe_ 20 minutes
is sufficient but I can't swear to this) will denature the toxin.  For
this reason, I've read that health authorities recommend that all home-
canned vegetables be boiled before serving.  Cooks should NOT taste the
vegetables "right out of the can" to "see if they're OK";  dangerous
levels of the toxin cannot be detected by taste, and even two or three
toxin-contaminated green beans can be enough to cause the cook to become
quite ill.

I believe that it is generally recommended that ANY can or jar which
shows signs of possible bacterial growth... an odd odor or color,
bubbles where there should't be any, swelling of the can lid, or an
outrush of gas when opened... be disposed of immediately without tasting.

So... what this seems to add up to, with respect to your batch of brew,
is that you're probably safe from botulism if you boiled the mixture
well and didn't allow any of the unboiled extract to get into the
secondary.

However, there are other classes of bacterial poisoning to consider.
Staphylococcal food poisoning is much more common than botulism... it's
the type which is responsible for most "bad potato salad" illness
[I _think_ it's staphylococci which are responsible, rather than
streptococci, but it's been 20 years since I took that class...].
The staph bacteria grow at room temperature and normal oxygen levels.
Although they can be killed by cooking, the toxin that they release is
heat-resistant, and (I believe) can cause illness even if the spoiled
food is cooked before eating.  Staph food poisoning is not, I believe,
terribly dangerous to healthy adults... it's rarely fatal... but it is
thoroughly unpleasant!

If people write to you and say "Yes, extract containers do swell up
over time, it's normal and nothing to worry about", then don't worry.
If you don't get reports of that sort, then you do have reason suspect
that your can may have been contaminated by some type of microbe... and
prudence would suggest that discarding the entire lot would be the
safest thing to do.

Dave Platt                                                VOICE: [phone]
              Domain: [e-mail]      UUCP: ...apple!ntg!dplatt
 USNAIL: New Technologies Group Inc. 2468 Embarcardero Way, Palo Alto CA 94303

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

Date: Mon, 20 Jan 92 15:24 CST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: NA beer

I believe someone posted an article on how the big brewers make
NA beer.  Whoever it was, could maybe add more to (read, correct)
this post.  What I recall from that post is that there are four
methods used to make non-alcoholic beer: 1) evaporating the alcohol
away from regular beer, 2) using a special yeast that makes very
little alcohol, 3) killing a regular yeast before it creates much
alcohol and 4) osmosis.  I would like to think that the osmosis
method would make the best-tasting NA beer and, from what I recall,
it was used by the brewers that I thought made the best NA beer,
Kaliber and I forget name of the other.  Unfortunately, the osmosis
method is also the most expensive, but Jack has proven to be resourceful
and has the ability to manufacture, so I think he may have a chance
to build the proper device.

By the way, my reason for NA is different: I love beer and I love to
sailboard -- unfortunately to replace the fluids lost during a hot
summer day of sailboarding, one would have to drink about 12 beers.
I don't know about you, but I can't sail too well after 12 beers.
Al.

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

Date: Mon, 20 Jan 92 14:46:03 PST
From: hplabs!adpplz!jal (Jim Larsen)
Subject: aeration



Mr. Schmidling writes:

>I have found a very simple way to aerate wort.  I tap the
>chilled wort one gallon at a time and glug this into the
>fermenter after giving it a few shakes.  The amount of
>aeration one gets this way is considerable.

My two cents:

My best aeration/fermentation results occur when I prepare a
one-pint starter three or four days in advance, chill the
wort to 70F (or so) in the kettle, and aerate by siphoning
from the kettle and allowing the wort to free-fall from the
top of a seven-gallon carboy, then pitch the starter.  I get
vigorous fermentation in four to twelve hours, rack to
secondary in four days, and bottle in seven.

brew and enjoy

jal

Jim Larsen
[e-mail]
uunet!adpplz!augusta![e-mail]




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

Date: Mon, 20 Jan 92 17:14:21 GMT
From: Conn Copas <[e-mail]>
Subject: Toffee notes

There is an elusive 'toffee' character in some bitters which I have been
trying to duplicate for some time. Crystal malt is sometimes reputed to
give this character, but, for my needs, it doesn't fit the bill; it just
makes a brown ale style brew. Logically, we know that toffee is made
from caramelised sugar and so caramel colouring could be the answer, but this
doesn't seem to work either; it's not smooth enough. All of which leads me
to be considering three other options :

a) The brewers are using special sugars or in-house caramels which are not
generally available. (One example being black invert sugar which MJ claims
goes into some brown ales). Golden syrup in fact does partly what I want,
but the quantity required is ideologically unsound and thins the brew out too
much.

(b) The toffee character derives from boiler conditions. Which leads me to
wonder about the advisability of pressure cooking some of the wort. In
misguided days of yore when I made invert sugar at home, a concentrated
solution was always said to be necessary. So maybe pressure cooking the first
high gravity runnings from the mash could be the answer ?

(c) The toffee character is a fermentation by-product (possibly a ketone, a
la diacetyl). So maybe this aspect could be encouraged (yeast selection ?
inhibiting later stages of the ferment ?)



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

Date: Mon, 20 Jan 92 18:18:36 EST
From: [e-mail] (Joe Rolfe)
Subject: Malt Extract Questions, plus

I am somewhat new to the digest, but I think it is a great thing you have here!

I have a few areas where I could use some help, So please beer with me (oops).

I have been reading thru the archives here (thanks to tom fitz.) and have not
seen much in mentioning the various extracts available.  I have been brewing
with extract for over a year (MF, Bull, American Eagle).  I have recently
solicited info for Breiss, Premier malts.  The info they give is fair. I am
looking for experience in use. (i know you guys/gals prefer all-grain, but i
have my reasons (i won't have room for the extra equipment, or the the time
for a while)).

So a few questions for the brew masses:

Has any one used either of these malts or others?
How do/did they stack up to Munton/Fison, Bull, others?
What beers did you brew?
Did you do a partial mash?
Any finings used?
How was the outcome?
Any other comments you have?

I am primarily intrested in a Golden/Blonde Ale, do these styles relate to
the cream style?? I don't see much info regarding golden/blonde ales in Zymurgy
or any other brew books. Any pointers to refer. material would be greatful.

On yeast/nutrients:

Has anyone used Siebel's Dry Ale Yeast 1 (Whitbred strain??) or the product they
call YEASTX (a nutrient added to the kettle)?


Thanx in advance, keep on brewin'(to the BATF limit of course)



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

Date: Mon, 20 Jan 92 19:47:19 -0600 (CST)
From: Brian Capouch <[e-mail]>
Subject: Sources of Food-Grade Epoxy

Relative to a recent thread about the use of epoxies for sealing up
beermaking equipment: is there anyone out there who knows who to contact
for more information about such products?

I called around a bit, and most of the industrial-type salesfolks I
talked to ceased to be interested in talking to me the minute I said
"food grade."

Thanks.

Brian Capouch
Saint Joseph's College for Children

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

Date: Mon, 20 Jan 92 17:36:50 GMT
From: Conn Copas <[e-mail]>
Subject: Agar substitutes

I've read with interest some of the recent material on cheap home streaking
techniques. One small problem is that gelatine and other vegetable gelling
agents are usually not meant to be boiled. So how does one achieve sterility ?



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

Date: Mon, 20 Jan 92 16:52:24 CDT
From: [e-mail] (Alan Gerhardt)
Subject: RIMS/MashTun Details


I got several requests in response to my last posting, so for what it's
worth, here's some details of my setup.  I have used the RIMS unit itself
for several months, and it works great except for the temperature
controller, and just finished my new mash tun.

I just tried out my new mash tun this weekend, and it works great.

I built my mash tun by getting a 15.5 gal keg, using a metal cutting
blade in a circular saw to cut the top off at the top seam where the
handle ring is welded on. As it turns out, the groove at that weld
tends to guide the blade, so it is easy to get a straight cut. Be sure
and use safety glasses, however, because sparks and metal bits will
be flying. Make sure you follow all the normal safety tips for working
with kegs as well.

I then drilled a drain hole in the bottom, and used a brass "cooler
drain" fitting. The fitting has a nut and a gasket, which gives a
good seal, and is threaded on the inside as well. I then attached
the required pipe/fittings to connect the drain to my RIMS unit.

             =======
             =======flange
             =|   |=gasket
    ----------|   |------------keg bottom
             =======
             ======= nut
              || ||
               | |
               | |other fittings to suit

I used a water heater jacket as insulation by cutting it in approx
thirds, and wrapping three layers around the keg and securing it
with duct tape.

For a false bottom, used a piece of 3/8" copper tubing formed in a
circle to fit the bottom of the keg, and soldered a straight piece
as an extra support across the center. Picture an international
"NO xxx" symbol and thats what it looks like.
A piece of stainless screen rests on top. I also soldered a 1/2" copper
coupling to one side of the inside of the copper ring into which I
stick a vertical piece of copper tube as a vent stack which sticks
above the grain bed.  This limits the compaction of the grain bed by
the suction from the RIMS pump. If you're not using a RIMS, then you
don't need the vent stack, and you have a conventional mash/lauter tun.

My plumbing is set up as follows:

          |--------|
      | v      |   |               v=vent pipe
      | v      |   |               g=grain
      |gvgggggg|   |               s=screen
      |gvgggggg|   |
      |svssssss|   |  ______________
      ----------   --|              |
          |__________|   RIMS       |
          |          |______________|
          x

         drain
         w/valve

On the next installment, I will describe the contruction of my
RIMS unit, which is patterned after the original Rodney Morris unit.

Cheers,
Alan


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End of HOMEBREW Digest #806, 01/21/92
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