Messages

1

Pimp My System / Re: Show us your Son of a Fermentation Chillers!!

« on: April 30, 2013, 06:26:40 pm »

What about the impish bastard son of fermentation chiller:

2

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Extending the life of chest freezers question

« on: April 21, 2013, 01:11:48 pm »

This is actually a very tricky topic to get into..... I'm in the HVAC business as well as I work on small appliance such as chest freezers. the biggest problem is that the compressor and system in general is meant to be run at below 32 degree f. It contains a what is called a low temp compressor which means that above that 32 degree ( or actually lower ) you are in essence making the unit work harder which you would think the exact opposite as you would think higher temps would equate to less work. the short answer to your question without getting into thermodynamics and the actual amount of cooling capacity of a compressor based on cubic footage is to #1 insulate to a ridiculous amount around the collar if you have a keezer #2 try to keep the ambient outside air as close to the temperature of the internal temperature without going below the compressor oil tolerance and #3 get the unit serviced like call someone in to check the refrigerant charge and to clean the evaporator coil etc... as the old saying goes proper prevention prevents poor performance.  best of luck !!!

Thanks.  You cleared up many of my questions. I wonder if a new freezer would have died just like the older used ones, considering that I didn't follow any of the three tips you offered to extend the life of the compressor. 

I'll look into, either a regular fridge, or into the $35 chest freezer from Sears

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Kegging and Bottling / Re: Extending the life of chest freezers question

« on: April 20, 2013, 05:24:20 pm »

I use an analog temp controller like this one:

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Kegging and Bottling / Extending the life of chest freezers question

« on: April 20, 2013, 11:01:24 am »

My second chest freezer died a couple of months ago.  Since it was cold in my (uninsulated, no ac) garage it wasn't a big deal, but now that it is warming up the beer that it houses is now sitting at unfriendly temperatures.   I have bought used numbers twice, both times $100 for a ~12 footer, one lasted around 2 years the other 3.  Both developed a frozen spot on the interior (probably where a freon line busted) then stopped cooling altogether.  I am now debating whether to buy another craigslist freezer or buy new. I am also wondering how to extend the lives of these things.  Is there a trick?

5

Ingredients / Re: adding scotch to a Scotch Ale

« on: February 21, 2013, 09:20:26 pm »

Before you go and do something crazy, like adding Scotch to your beer  , try dosing a pint and see if you like the combination.  If you measure it out you can get a better idea of just how much you should add to the batch. 

6

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Thermometer for fermentation chamber

« on: February 01, 2013, 09:20:53 pm »

I take it they are satisfied with their performance?

I ordered a couple of them.  Thanks.

7

Yeast and Fermentation / Thermometer for fermentation chamber

« on: January 31, 2013, 09:36:01 pm »

Is anyone familiar with these thermometers?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-LCD-Indoor-Outdoor-Celsius-Thermometer-w-Probe-/160615581160

I was thinking of using this in my fermentor so that I can get a better idea of when to change out frozen water bottles.  Has anyone used anything like this?  Can anyone recommend something they are familiar with?

8

The Pub / Re: Trying to understand state excise taxes on beer.

« on: January 19, 2013, 06:47:45 pm »

Not really.  Not to get into the methods stuff but the r-square isn't as important as the actual coefficients presented in the model.  The r-square is just a descriptive statistic that describes the model's goodness of fit. To increase its size all one has to do is to include a bunch of variables.  Check out "How not to lie with statistics" by Gary "The Political Science Methods God" King: http://gking.harvard.edu/files/abs/nolie-abs.shtml

But I agree, it'd be nice to have a larger R2.  What other variables would you include?

Thanks for your responses. 

9

The Pub / Re: Trying to understand state excise taxes on beer.

« on: January 19, 2013, 03:02:09 pm »

The model explained about 17% (r-square) of the variation.  It is a small r-square.   

10

The Pub / Re: Trying to understand state excise taxes on beer.

« on: January 19, 2013, 02:42:50 pm »

Well, I'm not going to run the regressions, but it sounds like you have, so you tell us.

This might help: http://alcoholjustice.org/campaigns/charge-for-harm/450-neglected-and-outdated-state-beer-taxes.html

Maybe legislators in some states are just lazy?

I was just running the numbers yesterday and according to my analysis the only variable that had a significant coefficient was %populationBlack.  According to the regression model, as %Black increases so does tax on beer (about .40 cents for every percentage point). 

I told you it was a can of worms. This finding is, however, consistent with some of the prohibition literature I have read (check out Okrent's Last Call).  This also seems analogous with some of the the political science (my day job) research in other policy areas.  I suppose if I include other variables like median income the relationship between race and beer tax might disappear. 

11

The Pub / Re: Trying to understand state excise taxes on beer.

« on: January 19, 2013, 01:58:50 pm »

Alright.  So if you exempt those 5 states, what explains the rest?

12

The Pub / Re: Trying to understand state excise taxes on beer.

« on: January 19, 2013, 01:47:38 pm »

Big breweries might matter but #of breweries doesn't.  Maybe I should get a figure for the number of brewery employees for each state.  The more people are employed by breweries then the lower the taxes on beer, right?

13

The Pub / Trying to understand state excise taxes on beer.

« on: January 19, 2013, 01:39:58 pm »

I saw this posted the other day:
http://taxfoundation.org/blog/monday-map-state-beer-excise-tax-rates-0



A slight correction of the numbers are here (from the Beer Institute):
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/325601-excisetaxrate.html

I was wondering what you guys thought might make these tax rates vary by state? Let me tell you that I punched these numbers into SPSS (stats software), used OLS regression, and found that %Christian, %liberal, perCapita car fatalities, property tax rate, and #breweries per state all had no effect.  It was all state level data.  I am leaving out of this explanation the one and only variable that had a coeeficient that was significant (it is positive and a can of worms).  I am thinking of writing this up, but am interested in including more "controls" or explanations that help us understand state excise tax policy.  What do you think the model is missing?  I should probably include medianIncome and maybe percapita # of breweries in the state. 

14

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 11/23 Edition

« on: November 22, 2012, 11:02:04 am »

Brewing 10 gallons of an all Cs APA (Columbus, Cascade, Centennial, and Amarillo). 

15

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 11/2 Edition

« on: November 04, 2012, 07:56:01 pm »

Brewed my first take on an all 2-row beer (21#s) for 12 gallons and an OG of 1.048.  I plan on using WLP 500, Abby Ale, in one fermentor and WLP 036, Dusseldorf Alt, in the other.