Messages

31

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: mr malty question

« on: February 14, 2012, 06:43:15 AM »

Does that make sense?  For a 1.054 lager with a stir plate it calls for 7 vials of White Labs per 3.5 quart starter. WOW.
I only have a 2000ml flask.

 Is that right 7 vials at $7 each.

The pitfalls of Mr Malty. We as homebrewers have under pitched our liquid yeast for years. Amazingly enough, we still made great award winning beer and nudged the craft beer industry in a positive direction; all without Mr. Malty showing us the way.
The good thing to take away from MM is that we can improve our pitching rates, but it needs to be applied to the equipment you have. Your 2L flask will work fine. No stir plate? Just give it a swirl every time you walk by. Not as good as a stir plate for aerating, but you make due with what you have. Step up your starter by chilling and decanting the spent wort and refreshing it with around 1.030 wort and repeat up to three times. Regardless what MM tells you, unless you can count your yeast cells, it is only an estimate of the actual pitching rate.

32

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: The Hot Scotchy

« on: February 06, 2012, 01:14:00 PM »

Another use for last runnings that I pressure can for starters!

33

Equipment and Software / Re: Beer Machine

« on: February 06, 2012, 06:31:34 AM »

Mr Beer for those lucky Power Ball winners.

34

Equipment and Software / Re: How's your Thermapen?

« on: February 05, 2012, 07:32:04 AM »

Ancient proverb states that a brewer with just one thermometer always knows his temperatures, whereas a brewer with 2 or more never does. 

I bought a NIST traceable partial immersion lab thermometer from Cynmar to calibrate two dial thermometers, two Ranco probes and my hand held digital. Interesting enough, my family of thermometers were between 7 and 8 Deg F off (high). I did the ice bath and boiling point tests on the new one and got 34 and 221 F respectively. They sent me a another one and it registered 35 and 222 F! My brand new Thermapen is stable in the ice bath at 32.1F, so I'm now back to just one and finally happy.

35

All Grain Brewing / Re: How careful are you?

« on: February 02, 2012, 03:48:36 PM »

I like planning everything out to two decimal places. But... when it comes down to brew day, sometimes it just "gets cut with an axe."

36

Kegging and Bottling / Re: serving pressure

« on: January 18, 2012, 08:15:59 AM »

These taps remind me of the classic German pils pour that would require a three or seven minute pour, depending on the establishment. The constrictor produces lots of foam and your pour technique could easily stretch into the seven minute time frame. That of course does not count the Fraulein "getting ready to start to begin to think about getting set" to start your pour. I learned to order the next one as my beer was served.
My advise would to get additional taps that will pour a western style and save the Euro Faucet to showcase your pils. I personally like my Perlicks.

37

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Looking for Ask the Experts suggestions

« on: December 26, 2011, 06:17:35 AM »

After reading Alpha and Beta: War of Words Revisited in the last issue of Zymurgy's Dear Professor column, I would like to hear more from Dr Evans from the U of Tasmania. His research into starch degrading enzymes with respect to time temperature, mash thickness and enzyme levels seems to go into more detail than mash at 156F for more dextrins and 150F and below for more fermentable wort. Questions I would ask involve malt analysis and how to tailor it to a specific mash profile for a given result. It would be fun to take a house recipe and make different beers just by altering mash parameters.

38

Equipment and Software / Re: march pump stuck

« on: December 08, 2011, 07:20:48 PM »

Yep, and it also reminded me it has been last winter since I oiled mine!

39

Equipment and Software / Re: march pump stuck

« on: December 08, 2011, 01:43:05 PM »

A seed or other bits can't jam the motor or "aluminum Prop" thingy. The front side is magnetically clutched. That part can jam, but not the back. The manual has some limited instructions: http://www.marchpump.com/site/files/966/112196/382493/524058/Pump_Manual.pdf It is supposed to be regularly lubed and the manual tells you how to get the back part off.

Here's the link that show the series of pumps we normally use. Note the model 815PL vs 809 PL-HS graph. That's what you get if you replace part # 11 with # 12. http://www.marchpump.com/site/files/966/110033/376591/563809/815-PL_Beer_Pump_Instruction_Sheet.pdf

40

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Yeast Nutrient

« on: December 07, 2011, 02:45:13 PM »

Reinheitsgebot, was a tax law that defined what beer was so it could properly be taxed. Hey, we don't pay any tax on homebrew!

41

Kegging and Bottling / Re: bottling from a keg

« on: December 07, 2011, 02:41:12 PM »

Once you've bought the Ferrari, the Yugo will never leave the garage.

42

Equipment and Software / Re: Where can I get an accurate thermometer?

« on: December 01, 2011, 03:43:05 PM »

At mash temperature my NIST certified glass thermometer reads 7 to 8 degrees F below two Ranco probes, two dial Blickman thermometers, one handheld dial thermometer, and one nice digital model. Just to confuse the matter, I checked it against a glass NIST calibrated (cheap) lab thermometer, and it is all over the place. I need to do the calibration thing as well.

Did the ASTM ice bath calibration on the "good certified" thermometer and it reads 35.5F. The cheap one reads almost right on. The good news is Cynmar is shipping a new "good certified" one. Since both of these are partial immersion, I made sure I used the immersion mark for the test.

43

Equipment and Software / Re: Underground wort piping

« on: December 01, 2011, 03:37:02 PM »

Taks a look at what it costs to develop 4-6 Kw of solar power.

You might want to clue Sierra Nevada in....

http://www.sierranevada.com/environment.html

I always thought the electric car plug in stations under the parking lot array were cool even if they remain largely unused.

44

Equipment and Software / Re: Where can I get an accurate thermometer?

« on: November 30, 2011, 07:04:59 AM »

At mash temperature my NIST certified glass thermometer reads 7 to 8 degrees F below two Ranco probes, two dial Blickman thermometers, one handheld dial thermometer, and one nice digital model. Just to confuse the matter, I checked it against a glass NIST calibrated (cheap) lab thermometer, and it is all over the place. I need to do the calibration thing as well.

45

Equipment and Software / Re: March Pump oring

« on: October 26, 2011, 02:10:33 PM »

bo, it is a magnetic clutch. jamming can't hurt it.
Works great for me, sounds like you don't need it.