Messages

106

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Carbonation fineness/coarseness?

« on: June 29, 2012, 11:48:20 am »

on an only slightly related note can any of you science types explain why shaking up a sealed bottle of carbonated beverage causes it to release disolved co2 so much faster then the container is opened?

That one I always understood to be about nucleation sites.  Shaking it up puts bubbles from the headspace into solution, which then become runaway nucleation sites.

107

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Carbonation fineness/coarseness?

« on: June 29, 2012, 10:37:53 am »

I wonder if particulates play a part in the overall nucleation and release of gas bubbles?  Morticaixavier raises an interesting issue, but it appears that the primary change from coarse to fine bubbles is the CO2 hydration into carbonic acid.

This should be easy to test for anyone who bottle carbs.  Pull two out of the fridge and roll one on its side to get the yeast in suspension.  I might have to try this tonight, provided I have two from the same batch in the fridge.

108

Homebrew Clubs / Re: BN Army wins club of the year.

« on: June 28, 2012, 07:04:43 am »

I'm not a member of a club so I'm not sure how this works.  In various places I've seen people list that they belong to such-and-such club as well as the BN.  When you enter, are you allowed to put down all the clubs to which you belong, or do you have to pick just one, or do the points get split by the number of clubs listed? 

Also, for someone like me who has picked up a lot of good info from the BN but am perhaps too cheap (or some other reason) to join, it would be easy for me to say that I belong to the BN on the entry out of perhaps some desire to feel like I'm supporting them in some way for the free podcasts I've downloaded.  Is there any validation on this at any level, that the person on the entry is in current good standing in the club that they entered?  My guess that, given the volume of entries and the volunteer nature of the event, the answer is no, but that would be one place where I would think a national virtual club would have an advantage.

109

Ingredients / Re: Rosemary Dry hopping

« on: June 28, 2012, 06:42:12 am »

I'm interested how it turns out.  Rosemary seems so similar to spruce tips that I wonder whether they should be used in a similar manner.  I recall that Gordon Strong had a nice page on how to use spruce tips (advice which he got from someone else) in his Brewing Better Beer book.  Unfortunately I don't have access to my copy at the moment to look it up, but I think they are best used in the boil like hops.  I wonder if it would be the same with rosemary?

110

Ingredients / Re: "Creamy" mouth feel ?

« on: June 25, 2012, 10:52:15 am »

My guess is that the chocolate and the 60L would give it a red hue and put it along the lines of a Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale.  I've had that twice, both served on nitro from tap, and when it comes out it is very creamy, low carbonation, and has that attractive shower of bubbles that you get from a Guinness on tap.  I've read on line that if you get Kilkenny out of a can, it comes out pretty much like a standard Irish Red like Smithwick's.

111

Ingredients / Re: "Creamy" mouth feel ?

« on: June 25, 2012, 06:47:15 am »

Maybe you're supposed to serve it on nitro??

112

Yeast and Fermentation / White Labs German Lager X

« on: June 25, 2012, 06:40:07 am »

Was going through the latest Zymurgy and saw an ad for this.  Anyone know anything about this yeast?  I can't find it on the White Labs web site.

113

Questions about the forum? / Re: Can't log on

« on: June 21, 2012, 07:50:35 am »

For some reason last night I couldn't log in on my password; it kept telling me that the password was wrong.  I had to reset the password to log back in.  Were there account changes that I missed?  Is there an expiration on passwords?

114

All Grain Brewing / Re: How much of a difference does mash thickness make?

« on: June 19, 2012, 12:01:49 pm »

The short answer, I believe, is for the level changes you're talking about (which if I did the math correct is changing from 1.5 qts/lb to 1.2 qts/lb) is that you wouldn't notice much difference and you shouldn't worry about it.

Kai Troester did some nice experiments on mash thicknesses http://braukaiser.com/download/Effects_of_mash_parameters_on_attenuation_and_efficiency.pdf.  His results, and the results of others he cites, suggest that mash thickness has little effect on attenuation.  He did see a temperature effect of mash thickness on overall efficiency.  He was comparing mashes done at 1.2 qts/lb and 2.4 qts/lb and found that the thin mash had better efficiency at higher temperatures.  I suspect that for the amounts you want to change and the temperatures you'll most likely be at, batch-to-batch variations in your efficiencies will depend more on your measurement accuracy than changes in your mash thickness.

115

Equipment and Software / Re: recirculating boil kettle during immersion chilling

« on: June 15, 2012, 12:40:20 pm »

Isn't a wort-soaked grain bag pretty heavy to lift?  I know I've seen some articles where people have various setups to lift and/or hang their grain bags over their pot to let them drain.

116

Ingredients / Re: African Beer

« on: June 15, 2012, 09:24:25 am »

It has been a number of years since I read it, but in Charlie Papazian's Microbrewed Adventures he has a story about drinking some sorghum-based drink while in Africa.  Apparently you drink it while it is still fermenting.  If I recall correctly, at the end of each of his stories he has a recipe that approximates the beer he as talking about.  I'll see if I can dig out the book tonight and find a recipe.

From going to Disney's Animal Kingdom Park, I was specifically looking for African beers to try and they were offering Tusker from Kenya and Windhoek Lager from Namibia.  I believe they are both German-style lagers without the addition of anything unusual.  They have both been brewed in Africa since the 1920's or so.  I coincidentally stumbled upon them again a few days ago while looking for a Kilkenny Irish Ale clone recipe.  I wasn't aware they are all owned, along with Guinness and a number of others, by Diageo.

117

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: UPS returned my box of NHC beer

« on: June 07, 2012, 10:17:20 am »

Was this a call from UPS, or did you have the UPS Store ship it for you?  I'm just curious where it was opened.  Was it after UPS picked it up, or before?

118

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: WLP029 how cold can I go?

« on: June 05, 2012, 08:21:54 am »

Two weekends ago I just christened my first temp-controlled chest freezer ferment chamber with this yeast.  I pitched it at about 59F and held it at 60F until the krausen fell.  It looked like a good and active ferment.

119

Equipment and Software / Re: Hemocytometer setup recommendations

« on: June 04, 2012, 08:15:24 pm »

Thank you.  That looks like a handy document. 

120

Equipment and Software / Hemocytometer setup recommendations

« on: June 04, 2012, 07:01:48 am »

Because I'm a laboratory guy, for me there's nothing better than making measurements and analyzing data.  To this end I've been wanting to play around with yeast counting.  I pulled out a simple student microscope from the back of the closet, though I failed to check what power it has.  I'm looking for recommendations for a basic hemocytometer setup.  Poking around the Internet I see prices on counting chambers that range from $30 to $500.  What kind of chamber do I need and at what quality?  I expect that I would be using it on the order of 6-10 times per year.  What magnification range is useful for counting?