Brewing Master » Brewing Liquor

My Bikey!

admin — Sun, 26 Jun 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Question:

I’m lucky in that I live in a very large and sprawling subdivision in Spring (just north of the city of Houston). I can ride for miles and miles without ever getting on a highway. However, as I wrote in my first note, that still you on the left without even slowing down. When I’m making a left turn I’ll use a left-hand-turn hand signal, but I never assume that the nut-job behind me will know what that means and wait for me to turn left before speeding past me on the left. I either wait until they pass me, or make sure they’re slowing down and waiting for me to turn. Which is a general rule-of-thumb* when driving *any* vehicle in Houston – *ALWAYS* assume that every other driver on the road is either insane or intoxicated (and often is both) and compensate accordingly! * Trivia question… I hate this expression, "Rule of Thumb" – does anyone else know where this expression came from? Hugs, CatNipped

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – The big disadvantage to riding at night is that I have to keep my mouth tightly closed or I’ll end up swallowing a bug (how do you know when a motorcycle rider is happy? count the number of bugs in his teeth!). Now, here, my friend, you are in real danger! lol! Just as I would be. Keeping my mouth shut has never been my strong suit. ROTFLMAOWTIME! Guilty as charged! ; It’s getting to the point where I get antsy the closer it gets to the time I usually ride, I can’t wait – I think I’m getting hooked on endorphins! For the first 5 miles I feel sluggish and like I’m making an effort, but the last 10 – 15 miles are just plain fun – I have to make myself stop. Wonderful. I am not getting the exercise I should, and I need to. I recall how good it felt to really get the heart pumping on a regular basis. I had to find something that was "fun" rather than a "I have to" chore. I’m glad I picked the bicycle because it takes me back to when I was a kid and riding my bike was strictly for fun and not for fitness. But you live in HOUSTON!! It may be fun but if I recall those drivers correctly, you had better be careful! I’m lucky in that I live in a very large and sprawling subdivision in Spring (just north of the city of Houston). I can ride for miles and miles without ever getting on a highway. However, as I wrote in my first note, that still you on the left without even slowing down. When I’m making a left turn I’ll use a left-hand-turn hand signal, but I never assume that the nut-job behind me will know what that means and wait for me to turn left before speeding past me on the left. I either wait until they pass me, or make sure they’re slowing down and waiting for me to turn. Which is a general rule-of-thumb* when driving *any* vehicle in Houston – *ALWAYS* assume that every other driver on the road is either insane or intoxicated (and often is both) and compensate accordingly! * Trivia question… I hate this expression, "Rule of Thumb" – does anyone else know where this expression came from?

The expression rule of thumb has been recorded since 1692 and probably wasn’ t new then. It meant then what it means now-some method or procedure that comes from practice or experience, without any formal basis. Some have tried to link it with brewing; in the days before thermometers, brewers were said to have gauged the temperature of the fermenting liquor with the thumb (just as mothers for generations have tested the temperature of the baby’s bath water with their elbows). This seems unlikely, as the thumb is not that sensitive and the range of temperatures for fermentation between too cool and too warm is quite small. It is much more likely that it comes from the ancient use of bits of the body to make measurements. There were once many of these: the unit of the foot comes from pacing out dimensions; the distance from the tip of the nose to the outstretched fingers is about one yard; horse heights are still measured in hands (the width of the palm and closed thumb, now fixed at four inches); and so on. There was an old tailors’ axiom that "twice around the thumb is once around the wrist", which turns up in Gulliver’s Travels. It’s most likely that the saying comes from the length of the first joint of the thumb, which is about an inch (I remember once seeing a carpenter actually make a rough measurement this way). So the phrase rule of thumb uses the word rule in the sense of ruler, not regulation, and directly refers to this method of measurement. (http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-rul1.htm) I hope I didn’t leave anything out!! ;o)) —

What's Your Latest Project?

admin — Sat, 09 Nov 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Question:

While not directly brewing related, my on going project is digging (by hand) a ~6000 gallon fish pond next to where I brew outside. I’ll be able to watch the fish and listen to the waterfall while I’m waiting for the mash to convert Yes, before you say it, digging that by hand is insane. It’s several tons of dirt.

6000 gallons is better than a cube nine feet on a side! I would consider looking into renting a Bobcat. Imagine the fun! — Dan Listermann Check out our E-tail site at www.listermann.com Free shipping for orders greater than $35 and East of the Mighty Miss. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I just completed a week’s worth of work yesterday by pouring myself a brewing pad in my backyard. I had to level the ground, etc. but it was worth it. Mixing that concrete by hand is a challenge by itself. I now have a 3′ X 5′ concrete pad that is big enough to hold 2 propane cookers with the tanks also, and room to spare. It sure beats using broken pieces of cinder blocks to prop up my cookers. All I have to do now is let it cure, then I’ll be brewing on a level surface. Have a better one, Herb G. John. — *** John P. Kolesar *** *** Valley Mead Brewery ***

Response:

Fun, but dangerous. I had my first Bobcat experience last summer…it’s gonna take a long time for my driveway to recover! – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – 6000 gallons is better than a cube nine feet on a side! I would consider looking into renting a Bobcat. Imagine the fun! — Dan Listermann Check out our E-tail site at www.listermann.com Free shipping for orders greater than $35 and East of the Mighty Miss.

Response:

It’s about 25′ long, 12′ wide, and 3′ deep. I had thought about renting a Bobcat (my wife was pushing the idea), but it would be awfully tough to sculpt the shape I wanted. At the very least, it’s good exercise. The tough bit was digging out the stump from a maple tree in the middle of it. John. — *** John P. Kolesar *** *** Valley Mead Brewery ***

Response:

Refrigerator upgrade! I got the new fridge today and installed three taps. This weekend I’ll be doing the shelf to make room for 6 kegs and drilling the side wall for the CO2. I needed to do the taps right away so I could clean the old fridge for give-away. Life is good, beer is good, and the barleywine I just sent to secondary is going to be seriously kickass incredible. — Dave Nichols BS#163 RDWHAHB ‘99 FXSTB "City of New Orleans" dmnichol at cox dot net

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – It actually came free with a Williams Mash Tun that I picked up on eBay a couple years ago. I never used it, but I thought it would be kind of fun to use it on the new system. I think they’re WAY overkill, and I wouldn’t pay for one, but it’s fun to watch it spin. If you’re looking for some sort of sparging manifold, I suggest a copper H or ring of soft tubing with small holes drilled in it. Don’t bother with the whirlygig if you have to pay for one. I like aluminum foil with holes punched in it….

I happen to like my whirlygig, but maybe I’m just weird. John. — *** John P. Kolesar *** *** Valley Mead Brewery ***

Response:

Wow Bob! Nice system! I am very envious! Steve

Response:

I just completed a week’s worth of work yesterday by pouring myself a brewing pad in my backyard. I had to level the ground, etc. but it was worth it. Mixing that concrete by hand is a challenge by itself. I now have a 3′ X 5′ concrete pad that is big enough to hold 2 propane cookers with the tanks also, and room to spare. It sure beats using broken pieces of cinder blocks to prop up my cookers. All I have to do now is let it cure, then I’ll be brewing on a level surface. Have a better one, Herb G. Well on another note I have a project too! For almost a year now I’ve been tinkering on my homebuilt bar. I wanted to include a list of features on it that would wow my friends and it appears I’ve done good! It’s almost nine foot long by 27" deep with such features as a ceramic two tap beer tower mounted onto a ceramic tile top. This top is hinged to reveal the various tubes and insulation of my custom built refridgerator. This refridgerator has about 19 s.f. of usable storage space with all the features of any regular fridge, thermostat, fan etc.. All the works have been stashed in an adjacent space within the bar and are fully servicable in the event thats required. The beer is despenced with the use of a 15# CO2 tank and regulators again stashed neatly in their own little space. I was working on the final touches the other day when the compressor decided to call it quits. Not too much of a problem seeing how these items arn’t very expensive for used ones. Pictures will be out soon. Steve

Response:

Easy on the cinder blocks … I have a pad as well, I call it a garage…;) Cheers, Mike www.ipass.net/~mpdixon/homebrew.htm

Response:

I’ve got to finish the plumbing in the brewhouse, then get the cabinets and sink installed. At least it’s usuable as it is…we had 3 brewers with propane burners all going on TAFTB day, and room for more! – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I just completed a week’s worth of work yesterday by pouring myself a brewing pad in my backyard. I had to level the ground, etc. but it was worth it. Mixing that concrete by hand is a challenge by itself. I now have a 3′ X 5′ concrete pad that is big enough to hold 2 propane cookers with the tanks also, and room to spare. It sure beats using broken pieces of cinder blocks to prop up my cookers. All I have to do now is let it cure, then I’ll be brewing on a level surface. Have a better one, Herb G. — "The ‘Ole Spotted Dog Brewery" Home of the Black Mamba Barleywine "You’ll Swear You Were Snakebit"

Why marijuana should be outlawed according to Feds

admin — Sun, 22 Sep 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Question:

"There are 100,000 total Moslems in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic rituals result from this religion. This religion can cause white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others… The primary reason to outlaw Islam is its effect on the degenerate races." — "La Cucaracha, la Cucaracha, Ya no puede caminar, Porque no tiene, porque le falta, Marijuana que fumar."

Response:

"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana can cause white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others… The primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races." —Excerpt from the testimony of Harry J. Anslinger, director at the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, before the U.S. Senate in 1937. Yeah, I remember watching "Reefer Madness" as the preview to midnight movies, like the original "Heavy Metal".

Same here. I’ve read several links that suggest some of the main lobbyists against marijuana are the cotton industry, the liquor industry, as well as the tobacco industry. It’s not so much that reefer is supposedly a dangerous drug as it is that it would take away money from other industries if it were legalized. I see it no different than alcohol or tobacco or even coffee. Just another substance to catch a buzz off of if you like that kind of thing. The suggestion about it promoting satanism or degenerating races is pure garbage. I wonder if our government has a problem with people growing their own coffee or tobacco for personal use. Are they subject to some kind of regulation here in the US? I admit ignorance here since I haven’t done any research into this question yet. — Elroy Willis EAP Chief Editor and Newshound http://web2.airmail.net/~elo/news

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – "There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana can cause white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others… The primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races." —Excerpt from the testimony of Harry J. Anslinger, director at the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, before the U.S. Senate in 1937. Yeah, I remember watching "Reefer Madness" as the preview to midnight movies, like the original "Heavy Metal". Same here. I’ve read several links that suggest some of the main lobbyists against marijuana are the cotton industry, the liquor industry, as well as the tobacco industry. It’s not so much that reefer is supposedly a dangerous drug as it is that it would take away money from other industries if it were legalized. I see it no different than alcohol or tobacco or even coffee. Just another substance to catch a buzz off of if you like that kind of thing. The suggestion about it promoting satanism or degenerating races is pure garbage. I wonder if our government has a problem with people growing their own coffee or tobacco for personal use. Are they subject to some kind of regulation here in the US? I admit ignorance here since I haven’t done any research into this question yet.

As far as I know coffee is no problem. I think that tobacky requires a license however. We can brew some (200 a year, IIRC) gallons of beer and can ferment some amount of wine. I don’t think we’re allowed to distill any liquor, however, without Unc’s okey dokey. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – — Elroy Willis EAP Chief Editor and Newshound http://web2.airmail.net/~elo/news

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – "There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana can cause white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others… The primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races." —Excerpt from the testimony of Harry J. Anslinger, director at the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, before the U.S. Senate in 1937. Yeah, I remember watching "Reefer Madness" as the preview to midnight movies, like the original "Heavy Metal".

I’ve got the big three 30’s "marihuana warning" movies on video…. "Reefer Madness", "Assassin of Youth" and "Marihuana: Weed With It’s Roots In Hell!". – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – — Fester The Not-So-Bad-Assed Atheist #369 Chief Cook and Dog Walker, EAC Mixed Metaphor Division Ordained Clergyman, The Church of Spiritual Humanism With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. Steven Weinberg, quoted in The New York Times, April 20, 1999 — Insane nut rant at http://www.linkline.com/personal/frice "Commodore Rimjob" is available at http://crimjob.tripod.com Why did the Scientologist cross the road? – mimus To slug Bob Minton. – Shydavid (See http://www.BobMinton.ORG/ "You can lie about ICR all you want." — "Jason Daniel Henderson" Avoir sexe avec L. Ron Hubbard’s crane et le nain il troupeau en sur.

Response:

What I always found rather interesting was how no one mentioned that marijuana and hemp were the same thing, it was easy to scare folks with this "new" dangerous drug from Mexico, it would have been much harder to convince anyone that Grandma’s ‘rumatize medicine, Granddad’s evening smoke or the source of some folks oil for oil lamps were going to send you to hell with a bloody ax in your hands. — Harry F. Leopold Prints of Darkness aa #2076

Response:

snip I suggest you read up on Prohibition, alcohol did not escape legal constraint, or have you forgotten about Al Capon, bathtub-gin, speakeasies and Elliot Ness and the Untouchables? You might also read up on the 19th Amendment and why it is the only amendment removing another amendment. — Harry F. Leopold Prints of Darkness aa #2076

Response:

With the religious fanatics back in power, you should get a lot of juicy quotes on that too… –Francois Tremblay www.insolitology.com

Response:

in article "There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana can cause white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others… The primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races." —Excerpt from the testimony of Harry J. Anslinger, director at the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, before the U.S. Senate in 1937. What a crock!

Yup, but it is exactly what Anslinger had to say. — Harry F. Leopold Prints of Darkness aa #2076

Response:

posted in alt.atheism: Same here. I’ve read several links that suggest some of the main lobbyists against marijuana are the cotton industry, the liquor industry, as well as the tobacco industry. It’s not so much that reefer is supposedly a dangerous drug as it is that it would take away money from other industries if it were legalized. Cotton? Does one ingest it, inject it or smoke it? (I assume that wearing it is okay.)

Since acient times hemp has been harvested for fibers to use in rope, cloth, paper, etc. It is an alternative to cotton: http://www.cannabis.com/faqs/hemp1.shtml The hemp plant is a variety of cannabis. The plant used for industrial purposes contains very little THC, and wouldn’t be of much value to would want to smoke it. Nevertheless, the cotton industry, fearing competition, and the other groups mentioned used that excuse to have hemp production virtually banned in this country. I wonder if our government has a problem with people growing their own coffee or tobacco for personal use. I don’t know about tobacco (it /is/ taxed) but growing your own coffee? Not where you live and not where I live. Brewing newspaper would taste better. Not to mention the acreage you’d need to ensure a year’s supply.

– John Hachmann, aa #1782 It was the schoolboy who said: "Faith is believing what you know ain’t so." – Mark Twain (1835-1910).

Response:

Cotton? Does one ingest it, inject it or smoke it? (I assume that wearing it is okay.) I think that they were afraid that "chanvre" (I don’t know the English word) would be used to make clothing and other uses of tissue.

Jute? — Elroy Willis EAP Chief Editor and Newshound http://web2.airmail.net/~elo/news

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – posted in alt.atheism: Same here. I’ve read several links that suggest some of the main lobbyists against marijuana are the cotton industry, the liquor industry, as well as the tobacco industry. It’s not so much that reefer is supposedly a dangerous drug as it is that it would take away money from other industries if it were legalized. Cotton? Does one ingest it, inject it or smoke it? (I assume that wearing it is okay.) I think that they were afraid that "chanvre" (I don’t know the English word) would be used to make clothing and other uses of tissue. I wonder if our government has a problem with people growing their own coffee or tobacco for personal use. I don’t know about tobacco (it /is/ taxed) but growing your own coffee? Not where you live and not where I live. Brewing newspaper would taste better. Not to mention the acreage you’d need to ensure a year’s supply.

Don’t know about that.. But Im [starting to bald] – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – — Olrik aa #1981 Qualified SMASH member EAC Chief Food Inspector, Bacon Division

Response:

I think that they were afraid that "chanvre" (I don’t know the English word) would be used to make clothing and other uses of tissue. I wonder if our government has a problem with people growing their own coffee or tobacco for personal use. I don’t know about tobacco (it /is/ taxed) but growing your own coffee? Not where you live and not where I live. Brewing newspaper would taste better. Not to mention the acreage you’d need to ensure a year’s supply.

– Olrik aa #1981 Qualified SMASH member EAC Chief Food Inspector, Bacon Division

Response:

Hemp fiber can be used to make clothes so it would be in competition with cotton. It’s not really the same type of marijuana that people smoke, but that doesn’t seem to make a difference for those who want to keep farmers from growing hemp. http://www.sodakhemp.org/bhpioneer121900.htm "Are the police in Canada and 32 other nations so much better than South Dakota law enforcement, that they can avoid confusion, while our cops can’t? Or is it that our politicians have been bought off by the lobbyists for big oil, big cotton, big paper, big lumber and big medicine — all of whom face serious competition when our farmers are allowed to grow this versatile crop, hemp." http://www.bake-n-shake.com/advocacy-real%20story.html "The illegality of hemp and pot had nothing to do with saving our moral standards from decay. Hemp was the largest single crop in the world, prior to its prohibition. By removing it from the marketplace it upset a balance, that allowed the victors of the Marijuana Tax Act to prosper beyond their wildest dreams.. We would still be a land of plenty had hemp not been taken off the market. The production of hemp is the only realistic option that can stop the need to rape the remaining borial forests. Furthermore it is not a compromise: hemp fiber makes better paper & lumber products that are cheaper to produce & of superior quality. Hemp bio-mass gives the plastics industry a better lower cost raw material, and the fiber would seriously improve the performance of most plastics in many applications. The harvesting of hemp would totally eliminate our dependency on foreign oil, which is a serious threat to national security, and create a cheaper cleaner fuel than gasoline." I wonder if our government has a problem with people growing their own coffee or tobacco for personal use. I don’t know about tobacco (it /is/ taxed) but growing your own coffee? Not where you live and not where I live. Brewing newspaper would taste better. Not to mention the acreage you’d need to ensure a year’s supply.

I realize I couldn’t grow it here, I was just wondering if there were any regulations involved. As for tobacco, I was wondering if I’d have to pay some sort of tax if I only grew it for personal use and wasn’t intending to sell it to anybody. — Elroy Willis EAP Chief Editor and Newshound http://web2.airmail.net/~elo/news

Response:

alt.atheism: As far as I know coffee is no problem. I think that tobacky requires a license however. We can brew some (200 a year, IIRC) gallons of beer

100 gallons and a second 100 gallons if there’s a second adult in the household. (No credit for further adults.) and can ferment some amount of wine.

I forget how much. 100 gallons? I don’t think we’re allowed to distill any liquor, however, without Unc’s okey dokey.

And you won’t get it. — Al – rukbat at optonline dot net Zymurgist # 2

Response:

posted in alt.atheism: I’m a criminal and I didn’t even know it. I made a still in college out of an electric teapot and some copper tubing. It didn’t work very well, but I guess it was illegal?

And more complicated than it had to be. Ice distilling is much easier for small quantities. — Al – rukbat at optonline dot net Zymurgist # 2

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I wonder if our government has a problem with people growing their own coffee or tobacco for personal use. Are they subject to some kind of regulation here in the US? I admit ignorance here since I haven’t done any research into this question yet. As far as I know coffee is no problem. I think that tobacky requires a license however. We can brew some (200 a year, IIRC) gallons of beer and can ferment some amount of wine. I don’t think we’re allowed to distill any liquor, however, without Unc’s okey dokey. Stills of any sort (used to ?) require a license. Technically if you used the bottom of your wok and some ice to make brandy the wok would have to be licensed. I’m a criminal and I didn’t even know it. I made a still in college out of an electric teapot and some copper tubing. It didn’t work very well, but I guess it was illegal?

Unless they have relaxed the laws, yes. Turn yourself in, you’ll feel better. It’s easy to make a still, it’s hard to make a good one. Get me a copper kettle, get me a copper coil, Fill it with cornmeal and whiskey mash, and no more I will toil.

Response:

Cotton? Does one ingest it, inject it or smoke it? (I assume that wearing it is okay.) I wonder if our government has a problem with people growing their own coffee or tobacco for personal use.

I don’t know about tobacco (it /is/ taxed) but growing your own coffee? Not where you live and not where I live. Brewing newspaper would taste better. Not to mention the acreage you’d need to ensure a year’s supply. — Al – rukbat at optonline dot net Zymurgist # 2

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – The suggestion about it promoting satanism or degenerating races is pure garbage. I wonder if our government has a problem with people growing their own coffee or tobacco for personal use. Are they subject to some kind of regulation here in the US? I admit ignorance here since I haven’t done any research into this question yet. As far as I know coffee is no problem. I think that tobacky requires a license however. We can brew some (200 a year, IIRC) gallons of beer and can ferment some amount of wine. I don’t think we’re allowed to distill any liquor, however, without Unc’s okey dokey.

Stills of any sort (used to ?) require a license. Technically if you used the bottom of your wok and some ice to make brandy the wok would have to be licensed.

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I wonder if our government has a problem with people growing their own coffee or tobacco for personal use. Are they subject to some kind of regulation here in the US? I admit ignorance here since I haven’t done any research into this question yet. As far as I know coffee is no problem. I think that tobacky requires a license however. We can brew some (200 a year, IIRC) gallons of beer and can ferment some amount of wine. I don’t think we’re allowed to distill any liquor, however, without Unc’s okey dokey. Stills of any sort (used to ?) require a license. Technically if you used the bottom of your wok and some ice to make brandy the wok would have to be licensed.

I’m a criminal and I didn’t even know it. I made a still in college out of an electric teapot and some copper tubing. It didn’t work very well, but I guess it was illegal? — Thamus http://www.thamus.org/News/ Random headline: Ten Commandments "Just A Math Error", Says God http://www.thamus.org/News/interviews/command_math.html

Response:

frighteningly enough this is the real reason that Marijuana is illegal in this country and probably the strongest argument for decriminilization around. The Narcatics laws and the controlled substance’s act are in fact racist legislation based not on any sort of science in their creation but instead to control and punish minority groups who used the substances as recreational substitutes for alchohol. Marijuana was in fact attacked because it was extremely popular with Migrant Hispanic workers. Cocain orignially because it was the drug of choice of blacks. Alchohol and Nicotine have avoided legal constraint mainly because they are drugs popular and accepted by white society. Further evidence of the racial bias of drug laws can be shown in the make up of our prison population. Even though the majority of drug users are white the majority of people in prison for drug convictions are people of color. The sad thing is the fact that the racial basis of the war on drugs (which is tantamount to a war on the citizens of this country) is completely ignored in the emotional indignation over the mater. The so called "War on Drugs" is the greatest travesty in the history of this country. Its a war that makes criminals out of victims and hypocricy a national policy. It is an further example of the flawed thinking of supply side conservatives. It attempts to address the supply side of the equation while marginalizing the demand side. Even Richard Nixon recognized the flaw in the policy of interdiction. Even then people knew that money spent on treatment of drug addiction got better results than money spent on interdiction. So the question that is begged must be this. With all of the evidence that the policy of interdiction has been a complete and utter failure (adjusted for inflation drugs cost less today than 10 years ago) meaning that just based on the economics of it that plenty is getting through our wonderful interdiction to keep the prices low. Why do we continue this failed policy? Think on this if you want to know how far to trust someone or what their true motives are look to where they have a financial or power gain. The people who are profiting from the war on drugs are simply foriegn drug lords and darker elements in our own government. Consider this where did Olie North, and company get the money to buy the arms that they traded to Iran? "There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana can cause white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others… The primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races." —Excerpt from the testimony of Harry J. Anslinger, director at the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, before the U.S. Senate in 1937. — Insane nut rant at http://www.linkline.com/personal/frice "Commodore Rimjob" is available at http://crimjob.tripod.com Why did the Scientologist cross the road? – mimus To slug Bob Minton. – Shydavid (See http://www.BobMinton.ORG/ "You can lie about ICR all you want." — "Jason Daniel Henderson"

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Avoir sexe avec L. Ron Hubbard’s crane et le nain il troupeau en sur.

Response:

"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana can cause white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others… The primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races." —Excerpt from the testimony of Harry J. Anslinger, director at the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, before the U.S. Senate in 1937. It’s funny how the arguments change to reflect the current boogeyman.

The latest example of this is the rapid motion of the RAVE Act through Congress. Youth, the once and forever pariah of the government. http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/newsroom/rep/195.htm http://www.health.org/newsroom/rep/195.htm — *GlennGlenn – Lost & seeing double somewhere in Hollywood, CA — aa#825* The Earth is degenerating today. Bribery and corruption abound. Children no longer obey their parents, every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is fast approaching.

Unboiled Sparge Water in Recipe

admin — Fri, 23 Aug 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Question:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – As you request Toast Pale Malt in oven at 350F for 10 minutes. Crush all grains and tie into muslin bag. Put 1G of cold water into your brew pot, add grain bag, bring water to 154F and steep for 30 minutes. Sparge (rinse) grain bag with 1/2 gallon warm water into primary fermentor. Discard bag. To grain liquid in brew pot add liquid malt extract and 1oz of Hallertau hops, return to heat and boil gently for 60 minutes. Add another 1 oz of Hallertau hops and continue to boil another 15 minutes. Add irish moss, continue boiling for 15 minues. Add 1/2 oz hallertau hops, continue boiling for 5 minues. Remove from heat. Place 3.5 G of cold water into primary fermentor, then add cooled wort. Add enough cold water to yiled 5.5 G. Cool to 65 – 75F and pitch yeast.

It’s just badly typed, and instead of "primary fermenter" it should read "brew pot". The next sentence is the key … "To grain liquid in brew pot…" I often make similar mistakes when cutting and pasting… Cheers, Mike

Response:

Pre-boil the water before using it to sparge with to drive off chlorine. I would imagine the sparge temp would be hot enough to kill most nasties although I don’t think it’s something *I’ll* try Regards, Dave.

Response:

Toast Pale Malt in oven at 350F for 10 minutes. … into primary fermentor. Discard bag. To grain liquid in brew pot add …

I agree with previous poster that "primary fermenter" is incorrect and should be "brew pot" evidenced by the later sentence (ie. how could grain liquid be in the brew pot if you poured it into the primary fermenter). However, if the toasted pale malt is all the grains there are, wouldn’t the 350F roast kill any nasties that might be on the grain? So the recipe would probably be OK either way I think… DS

Response:

However, if the toasted pale malt is all the grains there are, wouldn’t the 350F roast kill any nasties that might be on the grain? So the recipe would probably be OK either way I think…

I doubt the grains are packaged/shipped in a sterile environment. They probably pick up lots of bugs post-toast. John. — *** John P. Kolesar *** *** Head Administrator, Monty Python’s Flying Talker ***

Response:

Toast Pale Malt in oven at 350F for 10 minutes. … into primary fermentor. Discard bag. To grain liquid in brew pot add … I agree with previous poster that "primary fermenter" is incorrect and should be "brew pot" evidenced by the later sentence (ie. how could grain liquid be in the brew pot if you poured it into the primary fermenter).

It could have grain extract in the brewpot because you are steeping the grains in there. They could then be instructing you to sparge into the fermenter. However, if the toasted pale malt is all the grains there are, wouldn’t the 350F roast kill any nasties that might be on the grain? So the recipe would probably be OK either way I think…

It sounds like there are other malts besides the malt that gets toasted. And then you have to crush the toasted malt. If you use a mill to crack the toasted malt, it will get contaminated by the grain dust in the mill.

Response:

an oktoberfest with yeast pitched at that temp is’t going to come out right. this is obviously an ale yeast. did it come with the can ? is this by any chance an australian recipe?

Response:

As you request Toast Pale Malt in oven at 350F for 10 minutes. Crush all grains and tie into muslin bag. Put 1G of cold water into your brew pot, add grain bag, bring water to 154F and steep for 30 minutes. Sparge (rinse) grain bag with 1/2 gallon warm water into primary fermentor. Discard bag. To grain liquid in brew pot add liquid malt extract and 1oz of Hallertau hops, return to heat and boil gently for 60 minutes. Add another 1 oz of Hallertau hops and continue to boil another 15 minutes. Add irish moss, continue boiling for 15 minues. Add 1/2 oz hallertau hops, continue boiling for 5 minues. Remove from heat. Place 3.5 G of cold water into primary fermentor, then add cooled wort. Add enough cold water to yiled 5.5 G. Cool to 65 – 75F and pitch yeast. — Tim Donnelly – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have a Malt & Grain kit that calls for using 1/2 gallon of the sparge water from the soaking grains directly into the primary fermentor. Though I am relatively new at this, it still seemed somewhat strange to me. However, when I asked the store they said the kit was tested using the recipe as it stands, but I could do it either way. I know it might be a PITA, but can you post those directions word for word. I’d be interested in seeing who would ever suggest something like that. Cheers, Mike

Response:

I know it might be a PITA, but can you post those directions word for word. I’d be interested in seeing who would ever suggest something like that. Cheers, Mike

Response:

Thanks everybody – I will boil away like my intuition told me. Tim —

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have a Malt & Grain kit that calls for using 1/2 gallon of the sparge water from the soaking grains directly into the primary fermentor. Though I am relatively new at this, it still seemed somewhat strange to me. However, when I asked the store they said the kit was tested using the recipe as it stands, but I could do it either way. Since this is unboiled water, I assume I am increasing the risk of infection/contamination. However, if I put this water into the brew pot am I giving something up with the flavor? I have to imagine thiat adding this sweet liquor directly to the preimary fermentor affects (lowers) the O.G. as well. Can anyone help me with trade offs? PS, it’s an Oktoberfest recipe. Thanks, — Tim Donnelly

Response:

Yes, I did mention my concern about contamination. They really didn’t seem concerned, though it was over e-mail and that’s not the best way to have an interactive conversation. Tim — Tim Donnelly 781-665-8207 H/F – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have a Malt & Grain kit that calls for using 1/2 gallon of the sparge water from the soaking grains directly into the primary fermentor. Though I am relatively new at this, it still seemed somewhat strange to me. However, when I asked the store they said the kit was tested using the recipe as it stands, but I could do it either way. I’ve never heard of this before. Sounds like a great way to add bacteria to your fermenter. Did the store owners tell you what the reason for doing this was? John. — *** John P. Kolesar *** *** Head Administrator, Monty Python’s Flying Talker ***

Response:

I have a Malt & Grain kit that calls for using 1/2 gallon of the sparge water from the soaking grains directly into the primary fermentor. Though I am relatively new at this, it still seemed somewhat strange to me. However, when I asked the store they said the kit was tested using the recipe as it stands, but I could do it either way. Since this is unboiled water, I assume I am increasing the risk of infection/contamination. However, if I put this water into the brew pot am I giving something up with the flavor? I have to imagine thiat adding this sweet liquor directly to the preimary fermentor affects (lowers) the O.G. as well. Can anyone help me with trade offs

There’s a good chance you’ll be brewing up a bacterial soup if you do this. I see no advantages to it. Do you know why they even suggest doing this?

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -I have a Malt & Grain kit that calls for using 1/2 gallon of the sparge water from the soaking grains directly into the primary fermentor. Though I am relatively new at this, it still seemed somewhat strange to me. However, when I asked the store they said the kit was tested using the recipe as it stands, but I could do it either way. Since this is unboiled water, I assume I am increasing the risk of infection/contamination. However, if I put this water into the brew pot am I giving something up with the flavor? I have to imagine thiat adding this sweet liquor directly to the preimary fermentor affects (lowers) the O.G. as well. Can anyone help me with trade offs? PS, it’s an Oktoberfest recipe. Thanks,

I would definitely NOT do this. Grains contain many wort spoiling bacteria, so you especially need to boil any water which has been soaking in grains. Try putting a handful of grains in a glass of beer, and leaving it for a few nights. You’ll see what I mean. -Kevin

Response:

I’ve never heard of this before. Sounds like a great way to add bacteria to your fermenter. Did the store owners tell you what the reason for doing this was? John. — *** John P. Kolesar *** *** Head Administrator, Monty Python’s Flying Talker ***

Response:

Liquior recipe

admin — Sat, 06 Jul 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Question:

I still think you are a kid looking to make some booze. Chalk it up to many years as a teacher. Tom

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – (a) wrong newsgroup. I can give you a nice recipe for a belgian wit though (b) are you talking about liquor (hard alcohol – distilling – ILLEGAL) or liqueurs (generally making flavoured drinks by adding fruit, spices etc. to commercial vodka etc..), the latter is legal, but again this is the wrong forum -John I had no idea it was illegal to make your own liquior, my granddaddy did it all his life until he passed a few years ago. I have wanted to try since then but he left no instructions, but he did leave several bottles so I think I will enjoy one day. Good day.

Response:

Yeah, i love that site. I like the one about the hillbilly hunters whose truck headlight went out cause a fuse blew. They took a .22 round, stuck it in the fusebox, and kept driving until there was a bang and they swerved into the ditch. The heat set off the .22 round and it hit the driver right in the nuts. Ah, the tree of life is often self pruning. John – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Having read all the replies, as well as the reply from the original poster, I’m reminded of a URL posted in response to another thread in this group…… www.darwinawards.com Visit this site at your own (laughter) risk! — –DAsh with 7119)

Response:

Excuse me , it is illegal in Australia as well.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I suppose there is a general mistake made that what laws apply locallly must apply globally too. Case in point is distilling. In the US as well as most of the world it is illegal w/o licence but I assume your grandfather was in either New Zeland or Australia where such draconian laws do not esist. Should that be the case might i suggest you pop by http://www.homedistiller.org/ for some very good information on the topic. For those who live in other areas remember to abide by the laws local to you. Cheers. (a) wrong newsgroup. I can give you a nice recipe for a belgian wit though (b) are you talking about liquor (hard alcohol – distilling – ILLEGAL) or liqueurs (generally making flavoured drinks by adding fruit, spices etc. to commercial vodka etc..), the latter is legal, but again this is the wrong forum -John I had no idea it was illegal to make your own liquior, my granddaddy did it all his life until he passed a few years ago. I have wanted to try since then but he left no instructions, but he did leave several bottles so I think I will enjoy one day. Good day.

Response:

Right, New Zealand is one of the few exceptions. And I believe most people there buy stills and kits from reputable homebrew shops as opposed to making cheap and possibly dangerous ‘bathtub’ booze. John – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Excuse me , it is illegal in Australia as well. I suppose there is a general mistake made that what laws apply locallly must apply globally too. Case in point is distilling. In the US as well as most of the world it is illegal w/o licence but I assume your grandfather was in either New Zeland or Australia where such draconian laws do not esist. Should that be the case might i suggest you pop by http://www.homedistiller.org/ for some very good information on the topic. For those who live in other areas remember to abide by the laws local to you. Cheers. (a) wrong newsgroup. I can give you a nice recipe for a belgian wit though (b) are you talking about liquor (hard alcohol – distilling – ILLEGAL) or liqueurs (generally making flavoured drinks by adding fruit, spices etc. to commercial vodka etc..), the latter is legal, but again this is the wrong forum -John I had no idea it was illegal to make your own liquior, my granddaddy did it all his life until he passed a few years ago. I have wanted to try since then but he left no instructions, but he did leave several bottles so I think I will enjoy one day. Good day.

Response:

Here in Australia you can legally buy small stills (usually of NZ origin), but you must pretend you only use it to extract essential oils and the like. China

Response:

Does anyone have a recipe for liquior? Any kind will do? Thanks.

Having read all the replies, as well as the reply from the original poster, I’m reminded of a URL posted in response to another thread in this group…… www.darwinawards.com Visit this site at your own (laughter) risk! — –DAsh with 7119)

Response:

(a) wrong newsgroup. I can give you a nice recipe for a belgian wit though (b) are you talking about liquor (hard alcohol – distilling – ILLEGAL) or liqueurs (generally making flavoured drinks by adding fruit, spices etc. to commercial vodka etc..), the latter is legal, but again this is the wrong forum -John

I had no idea it was illegal to make your own liquior, my granddaddy did it all his life until he passed a few years ago. I have wanted to try since then but he left no instructions, but he did leave several bottles so I think I will enjoy one day. Good day.

Response:

I suppose there is a general mistake made that what laws apply locallly must apply globally too. Case in point is distilling. In the US as well as most of the world it is illegal w/o licence but I assume your grandfather was in either New Zeland or Australia where such draconian laws do not esist. Should that be the case might i suggest you pop by http://www.homedistiller.org/ for some very good information on the topic. For those who live in other areas remember to abide by the laws local to you. Cheers. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -(a) wrong newsgroup. I can give you a nice recipe for a belgian wit though (b) are you talking about liquor (hard alcohol – distilling – ILLEGAL) or liqueurs (generally making flavoured drinks by adding fruit, spices etc. to commercial vodka etc..), the latter is legal, but again this is the wrong forum -John I had no idea it was illegal to make your own liquior, my granddaddy did it all his life until he passed a few years ago. I have wanted to try since then but he left no instructions, but he did leave several bottles so I think I will enjoy one day. Good day.

Response:

Does anyone have a recipe for liquior? Any kind will do? Thanks.

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Does anyone have a recipe for liquior? Any kind will do? Thanks.

Response:

John, Keep in mind that school is out. Cheers, Tom

Response:

Good point. I guess the ‘any kind will do?’ should have been a tip-off. happy brewing John

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -John, Keep in mind that school is out. Cheers, Tom (a) wrong newsgroup. I can give you a nice recipe for a belgian wit though (b) are you talking about liquor (hard alcohol – distilling – ILLEGAL) or liqueurs (generally making flavoured drinks by adding fruit, spices etc. to commercial vodka etc..), the latter is legal, but again this is the wrong forum -John Does anyone have a recipe for liquior? Any kind will do? Thanks.

Response:

All grainer seeks equipment upgrade advice

admin — Tue, 21 May 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Question:

40 qt aluminum kettle A cajun cooker burner Nested bucket lauter-tun Couple of 19 qt SS pots (For sparge water and other stuff.) An assortment of racking canes and hoses (and auto-siphons!) Bucket and three carboys (1 26L and 2 23L) for fermenting/aging A capper Maybe somebody has some advice for myself and any other all grainers with equipment envy.

Chiller, corny keg equipment and a second propane burner for sparge water. Bob Scott — Posted with Mozilla running on Linux. Certified MS virus free!

Response:

Where?

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Sorry, not phil’s philler, the philtap for the mini-keg. some places I shop online: — Success lies in achieving the top of the food chain. — Jubal Harshaw, 1904- I would get at a minimum: o 10 gal Gott cooler with stainless or Phalse bottom o the tap-a-draft or Phil’s philler/mini-keg and defer the large expense for kegging equipment o If you are thinking about getting more carboys think about a conical instead o do you have a wort chiller? If not then make or buy one — Success lies in achieving the top of the food chain. — Jubal Harshaw, 1904- Greetings: I’m an all grainer with the basic equipment: 40 qt aluminum kettle A cajun cooker burner Nested bucket lauter-tun Couple of 19 qt SS pots (For sparge water and other stuff.) An assortment of racking canes and hoses (and auto-siphons!) Bucket and three carboys (1 26L and 2 23L) for fermenting/aging A capper I will soon have the space to upgrade my equipment. I’m wondering what recommendations people would have to maximise my return in brewing enjoyment. My choices seem to be to start kegging my beers or start modifying my brew-day equipment by converting some 1/2 barrel kegs I’ve got sitting around. My thoughts: I’ll probably upgrade the lauter-tun and start kegging right away. Maybe somebody has some advice for myself and any other all grainers with equipment envy. Mark A. Fox

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Greetings: I’m an all grainer with the basic equipment: 40 qt aluminum kettle A cajun cooker burner Nested bucket lauter-tun Couple of 19 qt SS pots (For sparge water and other stuff.) An assortment of racking canes and hoses (and auto-siphons!) Bucket and three carboys (1 26L and 2 23L) for fermenting/aging A capper I will soon have the space to upgrade my equipment. I’m wondering what recommendations people would have to maximise my return in brewing enjoyment. My choices seem to be to start kegging my beers or start modifying my brew-day equipment by converting some 1/2 barrel kegs I’ve got sitting around

Response:

Greetings: Thanks to all. I’ve already got into yeast culturing and I recommend it to anyone who brews beer. I’ll upgrade my wort chiller with a pre-chiller. That only costs a few bucks. I’ll definitely be setting up a kegging system in short order. I’ll turn my 1/2 barrel kegs into a kettle and a mash-tun. If I find a local source for Gott coolers I’ll pick up at least one. Well, now I know how my next few pay-checks and next few weekends will be spent. Mark A. Fox

Response:

I’ve only got two all-grain brews under my belt so far, but in my limited experience the sparging can be tedious if you have to do it by hand. My first batch I sparged (fly-sparged?) using a ladle. My second I set up a kind of gravity feed system but I had to hold a plate under the sparge tank output to keep the flow from drilling a hole in the mash – and I kept spilling 170F water on my hand.

Aluminum foil with hole punched in it. Cheap, simple, and easy with no heat loss. Cheers, Mike

Response:

I have used foil in the past but on my last batch I found the plastic lid on a 5 gal bucket fits perfectly in a 10 gal igloo cooler. Drilled several holes in it and voila! Worked good A side benefit is it floats. So now during recirulation the grain bed is not disturbed at all. — Bill http://home.swbell.net/bufkin Alvin, TX

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’ve only got two all-grain brews under my belt so far, but in my limited experience the sparging can be tedious if you have to do it by hand. My first batch I sparged (fly-sparged?) using a ladle. My second I set up a kind of gravity feed system but I had to hold a plate under the sparge tank output to keep the flow from drilling a hole in the mash – and I kept spilling 170F water on my hand. Aluminum foil with hole punched in it. Cheap, simple, and easy with no heat loss. Cheers, Mike

Response:

Greetings: o 10 gal Gott cooler with stainless or Phalse bottom

I tend to do a lot of step mashes, so my kettle doubles as a mash-tun, but a dedicated mash-tun would sure be nice. I think I’d just insulate a keg with a couple wraps of hot-water tank insulation and that metallic tape. o the tap-a-draft or Phil’s philler/mini-keg and defer the large expense for kegging equipment

Hmmmm…the expense for kegging doesn’t seem to be that much. Maybe I’m missing something. The extra fridge or chest freezer seems to be the lions share of the expense. Luckily, my workbuddies bought me one as wedding present. Still, I’ll look into Phil’s stuff. Thanks for the recommendation. o If you are thinking about getting more carboys think about a conical instead

See the "conical worries" thread. Most of the folk were pretty slanted against conicals. That’s what lead me to ask about other pieces of equipment. But I’d still like a conical. Someday. o do you have a wort chiller? If not then make or buy one

Yes I do. Forgot that one. I am thinking about making a pre-cooling coil for my immersion chiller. I feel horribly guilty just watching 10s of gallons of cold water go down the drain. Thanks for the ideas. My brain is warming up now. Mark A. Fox

Response:

With your set up, I’d upgrade in this order: 1. Wort Chiller. Make or buy one. I prefer immersion chillers, others prefer counter flow. I like the immersion for ease in building your own, and less places for bacteria, etc., to contaminate your wort. 2. Gott cooler Mash/lauter tun with SS false bottom. Get at least a 10 gallon. You WILL use it. 3. Gott cooler Hot Liquor Tank. Again, 10 gallon. 4. Hi temp pump. Makes moving liquids a lot easier. 5. Corny kegging set up. Depending upon how much you brew, you may need to move this up the list! 6. Grain mill. No comments…. no war wanted! 7. Yeast culturing gear. Great way to save bucks, and it’s a natural extension of this hobby. Enjoy, and let us know what direction you take, Mike

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Greetings: I’m an all grainer with the basic equipment: 40 qt aluminum kettle A cajun cooker burner Nested bucket lauter-tun Couple of 19 qt SS pots (For sparge water and other stuff.) An assortment of racking canes and hoses (and auto-siphons!) Bucket and three carboys (1 26L and 2 23L) for fermenting/aging A capper I will soon have the space to upgrade my equipment. I’m wondering what recommendations people would have to maximise my return in brewing enjoyment. My choices seem to be to start kegging my beers or start modifying my brew-day equipment by converting some 1/2 barrel kegs I’ve got sitting around. My thoughts: I’ll probably upgrade the lauter-tun and start kegging right away. Maybe somebody has some advice for myself and any other all grainers with equipment envy. Mark A. Fox

Response:

Since you’ve got the fridge, I’d go for the kegging equipment first thing. Bottling is great if you’re entering competitions but kegging will free up a lot of time. Get the kegs at www.rcbequip.com . NAYYY Next, I’d put a spigot on that 40 qt pot with a bazooka screen or some other type of strainer/FB. I always hated having to rack from the kettle. It can double as a mash tun too. If you really hate using that much water, go with a counter-flow chiller. Combined with a pump, I can drain 10 gallons in 10 minutes down to under 70

RECIPES FOR MOONSHINE,WHISKEY,RUM,VODKA – by exp'd cruiser!

admin — Sat, 27 Apr 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Question:

So Dick, do you even know what the hell a spammer is? I posted one message about a submect that was covered by this news group. I also included in my message that I sold a particular product. But that was not the only point in my message. The key term here is "my message". This was a personal email, not a mass junk emailing and as such not spam! Do you even know what the term means? Didn’t think so. Or to quote you "I think is" Dick, know one really cares what a lame like you thinks. BTW, please do write my ISP, I’d like to be cc’d on that I need a good laugh. c’ya Dick. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I disagree. I think is morons like yourself with big egos, who think they can fart all over the NG’s with their stupid books and nonsense. Does your ISP know your a spammer? He will now. R

Response:

I disagree. I think is morons like yourself with big egos, who think they can fart all over the NG’s with their stupid books and nonsense. Does your ISP know your a spammer? He will now. R

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I didn’t say it took me one day. I said it took a day to brew the mash! Fermenting took just over a week. The warmer it is the faster it works. But you can’t let it get to hot or the yeast (microbes) will die. As to telling you how to make it… that is why I wrote the book. That’s going to cost you all of $14.95. But I’ll tell you what. You tell me which one you want the recipe for and I’ll post one free one here. How’s that sound to you? Btw lay off the snide comments. The worst thing about the internet is people with little egos like yours who all of a sudden get bold when they can be anonymous.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – You seam to have the fastest firkin microbes (Yeast) to go from mash/starch/sugar to alcohol in one day. How many Gals of booze from a bushel of corn.? Come on moonshine boy tell us all how to make whiskey, vodka, gin, rum, tequila.

Response:

So on my last long term trip, funds were something we were a bit short on. And of course (as my wife pointed out) one of our (read my) biggest expenditures was on beer and liquor. I don’t know about you, but my first night in port I like to have a couple drinks! Well growing up in Kentucky I knew how to handle this situation. MAKE MY OWN. For less then $10 I was able to buy all the ingrediants and everyhting else I would need to make my still. All that was left was to spend a day brewing it up. WOW, I had plenty of booze. We used it to trade for supplies and I even used some to supplement the fule supply for my outboard on the dingy! A couple of weeks later we were running low on fresh water. Then it hit me, we had a still! Threw some saltwater in my still and the next thing you know, pure fresh distilled water! Anyway I had so many people ask me how to do it, I decided that I’d make it easy on them and put together an entire workbook. With easy to follow steps.

Response:

You seam to have the fastest firkin microbes (Yeast) to go from mash/starch/sugar to alcohol in one day. How many Gals of booze from a bushel of corn.? Come on moonshine boy tell us all how to make whiskey, vodka, gin, rum, tequila.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – So on my last long term trip, funds were something we were a bit short on. And of course (as my wife pointed out) one of our (read my) biggest expenditures was on beer and liquor. I don’t know about you, but my first night in port I like to have a couple drinks! Well growing up in Kentucky I knew how to handle this situation. MAKE MY OWN. For less then $10 I was able to buy all the ingrediants and everyhting else I would need to make my still. All that was left was to spend a day brewing it up. WOW, I had plenty of booze. We used it to trade for supplies and I even used some to supplement the fule supply for my outboard on the dingy! A couple of weeks later we were running low on fresh water. Then it hit me, we had a still! Threw some saltwater in my still and the next thing you know, pure fresh distilled water! Anyway I had so many people ask me how to do it, I decided that I’d make it easy on them and put together an entire workbook. With easy to follow steps.

href="http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&userid=tekr – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – ex&include=0&since=-1&sort=2&rows=25 "You can check it out here

Response:

I often wondered why they didn’t build a water distiller into the dry stacks on huge diesels in yachts for fresh water…..or other drinkable liquids…. Larry

Response:

Oh gawd, that is so cruel. You do realize you’re the first person to ever abuse my given name? Nice of you to cut your spam down to one ng. Still pissy from the spank your isp gave you? Lets just get you another one. R Possible TOS/AUP violation. Please take the appropriate action immediately. Second offense. Path: news.uswest.net!feed.news.qwest.net!newsfeed.cwix.com!newsfeed.nyc.globix.n e t!newsfeed.nyu.edu!arlnews!oanews!skynet.be!skynet.be!newsfeed.online.be!is d net!sn-xit-02!supernews.com!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: rec.boats.cruising Organization: http://groups.google.com/ Lines: 25 NNTP-Posting-Host: 63.195.38.126 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit GMT) Xref: feed.news.qwest.net rec.boats.cruising:107609 So Dick, do you even know what the hell a spammer is? I posted one message about a submect that was covered by this news group. I also included in my message that I sold a particular product. But that was not the only point in my message. The key term here is "my message". This was a personal email, not a mass junk emailing and as such not spam! Do you even know what the term means? Didn’t think so. Or to quote you "I think is" Dick, know one really cares what a lame like you thinks. BTW, please do write my ISP, I’d like to be cc’d on that I need a good laugh. c’ya Dick.

I disagree. I think is morons like yourself with big egos, who think they can fart all over the NG’s with their stupid books and nonsense. Does your ISP know your a spammer? He will now. R

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – So Dick, do you even know what the hell a spammer is? I posted one message about a submect that was covered by this news group. I also included in my message that I sold a particular product. But that was not the only point in my message. The key term here is "my message". This was a personal email, not a mass junk emailing and as such not spam! Do you even know what the term means? Didn’t think so. Or to quote you "I think is" Dick, know one really cares what a lame like you thinks. BTW, please do write my ISP, I’d like to be cc’d on that I need a good laugh. c’ya Dick.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I disagree. I think is morons like yourself with big egos, who think they can fart all over the NG’s with their stupid books and nonsense. Does your ISP know your a spammer? He will now. R

Response:

I didn’t say it took me one day. I said it took a day to brew the mash! Fermenting took just over a week. The warmer it is the faster it works. But you can’t let it get to hot or the yeast (microbes) will die. As to telling you how to make it… that is why I wrote the book. That’s going to cost you all of $14.95. But I’ll tell you what. You tell me which one you want the recipe for and I’ll post one free one here. How’s that sound to you? Btw lay off the snide comments. The worst thing about the internet is people with little egos like yours who all of a sudden get bold when they can be anonymous. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – You seam to have the fastest firkin microbes (Yeast) to go from mash/starch/sugar to alcohol in one day. How many Gals of booze from a bushel of corn.? Come on moonshine boy tell us all how to make whiskey, vodka, gin, rum, tequila.

Response:

Ale recipe from Elizabethan England

admin — Tue, 26 Mar 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Question:

I frequently brew a variation of Bryan J. Maloney’s redaction of the 1503 single ale recipe. It goes over very well with the re-enactors crowd. Most of them drink any commercial dark ale so they consider a dark, smoky brew a treat. I don’t mind it, but I’d rather drink a wee heavy instead. I’m convinced the style is similar to medieval strong (stale) ale. But that’s another story! Cheers! Kel

Response:

So the next question is: has anyone ever tried orris root in their beer? In combination with juniper?

Thankfully, no. Orris root (they’re actually iris roots) has been mentioned as a preservative and additive to beer and wine throughout the ages across Europe, though. Said to be quite allergenic. ben

Response:

Nicely worked Ben but… she addeth unto it half a bushel of wheat meal, and so much of oats small ground Equivalent: 400lbs barley malt, 30 lbs flaked wheat, 30 lbs flaked oats Fair enough.

Actually, that was part was the mistake. It’s because the Elizabethan recipe used volume and I’m converting to weight, and the various grains have differing densities. Barley weighs approx. 48-50 pounds a bushel; wheat weighs 60, for oats I’ve seen values from 36-44 pounds, average about 40. I used the most convenient approximations in the scaled-down version but didn’t go back and edit this part properly. It should read more like: Equivalent: 400 lbs barley malt, 30 lbs flaked wheat, 20 lbs flaked oats. Why the descripancy between the amount of Wheat and Oats? At first I thought it a typo and you’d missed the 7 off but you compund this with… .75 pounds Flaked Wheat .5 pounds Flaked Oats Did you simply make the typo in the Scaled down weights and then copy those while composing the rest of the recipe/mail?

There could be other values for the weight-per-bushel of the various grains. But the 50lbs, 60lbs, 40lbs scale down neatly to 10, .75 and .5 lbs which is convenient for the homebrewer and certainly close enough for government work. ben

Response:

In this context, "bayberries" are almost certainly juniper berries. Arras, though, I have no idea except that it probably doesn’t refer to a tapestry.

Apparently it’s an alternate spelling of "orris" root. The OED even quotes this passage from Harrison as an example. So the next question is: has anyone ever tried orris root in their beer? In combination with juniper? Seamus Fergie

Response:

Nicely worked Ben but… she addeth unto it half a bushel of wheat meal, and so much of oats small ground Equivalent: 400lbs barley malt, 30 lbs flaked wheat, 30 lbs flaked oats

Fair enough. Scaled down: 10 lbs barley malt, .75 lbs flaked wheat, .5 lbs flaked oats

Why the descripancy between the amount of Wheat and Oats? At first I thought it a typo and you’d missed the 7 off but you compund this with… Pour into the 11.25lb of grain.

and… .75 pounds Flaked Wheat .5 pounds Flaked Oats

Did you simply make the typo in the Scaled down weights and then copy those while composing the rest of the recipe/mail? Regards, Dave.

Response:

Long is the word. Damn, that man can ramble. What I’m going to try to do is translate his recipe into a modern equivalent. He is brewing a 200-gallon batch so I’ll convert to a modern 5-gal by dividing by 40. Yeah, he’s using old Imperial measures but I think it’ll all turn out pretty well in the end. Having therefore ground eight bushels of good malt upon our quern, where the toll is saved, she addeth unto it half a bushel of wheat meal, and so much of oats small ground

Barley weights roughly 50 lbs the bushel, as do oats; wheat is closer to 60. Equivalent: 400lbs barley malt, 30 lbs flaked wheat, 30 lbs flaked oats Scaled down: 10 lbs barley malt, .75 lbs flaked wheat, .5 lbs flaked oats That sounds like a beer recipe already! Given his discourse on the various kilnings, I think that the barley he uses would be somewhere in between English Brown and Pale malt. clunter, fall into lumps, and thereby become unprofitable. The first liquor (which is full eighty gallons, according to the proportion of our furnace) she maketh boiling hot, and then poureth it softly into the malt, where it resteth (but without stirring)

Add about 80 gals boiling water. 2 gallons, for our purposes. Pour into the 11.25lb of grain. This is clearly way too hot — it yields a 175 F strike temperature, but the slow pour, lack of stirring and other inefficiencies probably ensure that a good proportion of the malt comes in contact with water at better extraction temperatures. until her second liquor be almost ready to boil. This done, she letteth her mash run till the malt be left without liquor, or at the leastwise the greatest part of the moisture, which she perceiveth by the stay and soft issue thereof;

"Sparge". I’d say a single-temperature rest at 150 – 155 for about an hour and sparging as normal would replicate this process as well as can be expected. and by this time her second liquor in the furnace is ready to seethe, which is put also to the malt, as the first woort also again into the furnace, whereunto she addeth two pounds of the best English hops, and so letteth them seethe together by the space of two hours in summer or an hour and a half in winter, whereby it getteth an excellent colour, and continuance without impeachment or any superfluous tartness.

Boil 90 minutes with three ounces of EKG or Fuggles (2lbs = 32 oz = approx 1 oz per running, three runnings). I frequently start boiling while still collecting in another vessel, too, and that’s what the following paragraphs more or less describe. Because of the huge inefficiencies in the method I’d say the small beer (third runnings) would be much more similar to the big one (first runnings) than it would with a conventional sparge, but the average of all the batches should be about right. But, before she putteth her first woort into the furnace, or mingleth it with the hops, she taketh out a vessel full, of eight or nine gallons, which she shutteth up close, and suffereth no air to come into it

If there is a more irritating habit in recipe books of any sort than describing a sequence of events and then saying "but, BEFORE you do that, you should first have done this …" I don’t know what it is. OK, then, we take about two pints of wort and seal it in an Erlenmyer flask. setteth her drink together, she addeth to her brackwoort or charwoort half an ounce of arras, and half a quarter of an ounce of bayberries, finely powdered, and then, putting the same into her woort, with a handful of wheat flour, she proceedeth in such usual order as common brewing requireth.

In this context, "bayberries" are almost certainly juniper berries. Arras, though, I have no idea except that it probably doesn’t refer to a tapestry. in their success, and worthily. The continuance of the drink is always determined after the quantity of the hops, so that being well hopt it lasteth longer.

Indeed. Much follows about the water, etc., and of course there’s no understanding of yeast. I would nonetheless tender this as my interpretation: William Harrison’s Loquacious 1577 Ale For Five Gallons 5 pounds Marris Otter Pale Ale Malt 5 pounds English Brown Malt .75 pounds Flaked Wheat .5 pounds Flaked Oats Mash at 155 F for a good hour. Sparge with 175 F water. Start collecting about 6-7 gallons, start 3 heating while still collecting. Decant 2 pints of wort into a flask with a few crushed juniper berries, seal and set aside. When the wort has reached a boil, add three ounces of Fuggles, EKG or similar UK hops. Set wort aside to cool. Add the contents of the juniper-wort flask. Either leave it outside, uncovered, for wild yeasties to do their work or try using a British yeast with some Brettanomyces or other culture, or just wimp out and use a standard yeast …. ben

Response:

I’d be interested to hear if anyone has tried to duplicate a recipe like the one given below, by William Harrison, from the 1570’s. This is an extract from a long treatise, most of which can be found at: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1577harrison-england.html#Chapter%… "But what have I to do with this matter, or rather so great a quantity, wherewith I am not acquainted? Nevertheless, sith I have taken occasion to speak of brewing, I will exemplify in such a proportion as I am best skilled in, because it is the usual rate for mine own family, and once in a month practised by my wife and her maid-servants, who proceed withal after this manner, as she hath oft informed me. Having therefore ground eight bushels of good malt upon our quern, where the toll is saved, she addeth unto it half a bushel of wheat meal, and so much of oats small ground, and so tempereth or mixeth them with the malt that you cannot easily discern the one from the other; otherwise these latter would clunter, fall into lumps, and thereby become unprofitable. The first liquor (which is full eighty gallons, according to the proportion of our furnace) she maketh boiling hot, and then poureth it softly into the malt, where it resteth (but without stirring) until her second liquor be almost ready to boil. This done, she letteth her mash run till the malt be left without liquor, or at the leastwise the greatest part of the moisture, which she perceiveth by the stay and soft issue thereof; and by this time her second liquor in the furnace is ready to seethe, which is put also to the malt, as the first woort also again into the furnace, whereunto she addeth two pounds of the best English hops, and so letteth them seethe together by the space of two hours in summer or an hour and a half in winter, whereby it getteth an excellent colour, and continuance without impeachment or any superfluous tartness. But, before she putteth her first woort into the furnace, or mingleth it with the hops, she taketh out a vessel full, of eight or nine gallons, which she shutteth up close, and suffereth no air to come into it till it become yellow, and this she reserveth by itself unto further use, as shall appear hereafter, calling it brackwoort or charwoort, and, as she saith, it addeth also to the colour of the drink, whereby it yieldeth not unto amber or fine gold in hue unto the eye. By this time also her second woort is let run; and, the first being taken out of the furnace, and placed to cool, she returneth the middle woort unto the furnace, where it is stricken over, or from whence it is taken again, when it beginneth to boil, and mashed the second time, whilst the third liquor is heat (for there are three liquors), and this last put into the furnace, when the second is mashed again. When she hath mashed also the last liquor (and set the second to cool by the first), she letteth it run, and then seetheth it again with a pound and a half of new hops, or peradventure two pounds, as she seeth cause by the goodness or baseness of the hops, and, when it hath sodden, in summer two hours, and in winter an hour and a half, she striketh it also, and reserveth it unto mixture with the rest when time doth serve therefore. Finally, when she setteth her drink together, she addeth to her brackwoort or charwoort half an ounce of arras, and half a quarter of an ounce of bayberries, finely powdered, and then, putting the same into her woort, with a handful of wheat flour, she proceedeth in such usual order as common brewing requireth. Some, instead of arras and bays, add so much long pepper only, but, in her opinion and my liking, it is not so good as the first, and hereof we make three hogsheads of good beer, such (I mean) as is meet for poor men as I am to live withal, whose small maintenance (for what great thing is forty pounds a year, computatis computandis, able to perform?) may endure no deepeer cut, the charges whereof groweth in this manner. I value my malt at ten shillings, my wood at four shillings (which I buy), my hops at twenty pence, the spice at twopence, servants’ wages two shillings sixpence, with meat and drink, and the wearing of my vessel at twenty pence, so that for my twenty shillings I have ten score gallons of beer or more, notwithstanding the loss in seething, which some, being loth to forego, do not observe the time, and therefore speed thereafter in their success, and worthily. The continuance of the drink is always determined after the quantity of the hops, so that being well hopt it lasteth longer. For it feedeth upon the hop, and holdeth out so long as the force of the same continueth, which being extinguished, the drink must be spent, or else it dieth and becometh of no value. In this trade also our brewers observe very diligently the nature of the water, which they daily occupy, and soil through which it passeth, for all waters are not of like goodness, sith the fattest standing water is always the best; for, although the waters that run by clalk or cledgy soils be good, and next unto the Thames water, which is the most excellent, yet the water that standeth in either of these is the best for us that dwell in the country, as whereon the sun lieth longest, and fattest fish is bred. But, of all other, the fenny and marsh is the worst, and the clearest spring water next unto it. In this business therefore the skilful workman doth redeem the iniquity of that element, by changing of his proportions, which trouble in ale (sometime our only, but now taken with many for old and sick men’s drink) is never seen nor heard of. Howbeit, as the beer well sodden in the brewing, and stale, is clear and well coloured as muscadel or malvesey, or rather yellow as the gold noble, as our pot-knights call it, so our ale, which is not at all or very little sodden, and without hops, is more thick, fulsome, and of no such continuance, which are three notable things to be considered in that liquor. But what for that? Certes I know some ale-knights so much addicted thereunto that they will not cease from morrow until even to visit the same, cleansing house after house, till they defile themselves, and either fall quite under the board, or else, not daring to stir from their stools sit still pinking with their narrow eyes, as half sleeping, till the fume of their adversary be digested that he may go to it afresh. Such slights also have the alewives for the utterance of this drink that they will mix it with rosen and salt; but if you heat a knife red-hot, and quench it in the ale so near the bottom of the pot as you can put it, you shall see the rosen come forth hanging on the knife. As for the force of salt, it is well known by the effect, for the more the drinker tippleth, the more he may, and so doth he carry off a dry drunken noll to bed with him, except his luck be the better." Seamus Fergie

Response:

What size burner 5 gallon all-grain

admin — Sun, 17 Mar 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Question:

Tim, I have a couple of Superb 35K BTU natural gas burners that I use for 10 gallon batches. I used to use a 170K BTU propane burner, but that is overkill (it will boil cold water faster than a 35K BTU burner though). With smaller burners you need to have more careful planning (get sparge water heating toward end of mash, etc.), but it can be done easily. These burners have a valve at the input which allows regulation of flame. I usually have to turn it down quite a bit to avoid boil-overs with 12-13 gallons of wort in a 15 gallon pot. I love not having to worry about running out of propane during a boil. Email me with any questions Scott

Response:

Mike On domestic stoves, the smaller burners start at less than 5,000 BTU and the wok burner (if you’re lucky enough to have one) reaches only 12,000 to 15,000 BTU. Fairly pathetic and only designed for up to a gallon. Chris – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I switched to a cajun cooker / propane burner a while ago despite having a natural gas stove in my basement where I brew that is used for nothing but brewing. The reason is that even though my pot can span two burners on the stove, it took forever to bring 6.5 gals to a boil. Two *very* nice things about the cajun cooker setup: 1. I can bring 6.5 gals of freshly sparged wort to a boil in under 15 minutes. 2. I mash on the stovetop so I can start my boil when I start my sparge. The bottom line is that with a propane cooker, you can do an all grain batch from start to cleanup in 4 hours. Not too shabby considering the usual 8 hours I’d spend when cooking with only natural gas. Mike

Response:

Mike These were salvage jobs. The tanks were corroded but the gas gear was still in OK condition (the heaters had definitely retired early). I removed the burners with the whole thermostat and control system. I disabled the thermostat (not needed) and repositioned the controller (still connected to the flame-safe and pilot hardware). Tank (storage) heaters are fairly common here. Actually, the instantaneous "tankless" heater burners are generally more powerful. I plan only to use the heaters "al fresco", hooked up where my BBQ goes, so the installation regulations are a little more lax with respect to ventilation and allowable heat output. I’m being a little over-cautious here, because the flame will be supervised 95% of the time, but I like to worry about these things (-: I initially had reservations about whether my gas supply was going to have the pressure, but the spot I have chosen used to supply a 56,000 BTU spa heater. No shortage of gas ! Chris. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi Chris, Did you buy these new, with the 100% shutdown valve, or did you salvage them? Do they use tank-style hot water heaters in Oz, or do you use the tankless "instant" heaters that are fairly common throughout Europe? Regards, Mike Sharp

Response:

FWIW, I use a 170,000 BTU (propane) outdoor cooker from Cabelas (www.cabelas.com). Sells for $50. Boils 6 gallons of cold tap water in about 25 minutes. Garry

I’ve always wondered about these ratings…I have a low pressure propane 2 burner stove, rated at 56K BTU total, which I take to mean each burner is about 28K BTU. It boils 6 gallons of cold tap water in about 35 minutes… I also have one of those 170K BTU burners, but I’ve never actually used it for homebrewing. I’m gonna do a side-by-side comparison this weekend. I’ll bet if we did a bit of research, we’d find out that the ratings are based on propane consumption, not heat production. Anyone have specific knowledge on the subject? Regards, Mike Sharp

Response:

FWIW, I use a 170,000 BTU (propane) outdoor cooker from Cabelas (www.cabelas.com). Sells for $50. Boils 6 gallons of cold tap water in about 25 minutes.

Are you able to regulate the heat?

Yes, very much so. Note that I’m doing full-boils with extract, not AG, so I’m starting with cold water. The cooker comes with a simple valve for regulating the fuel flow. There is a simple air valve as well for dialing in the flame. I’m pretty happy with it… Garry

Response:

Are you able to regulate the heat?

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – FWIW, I use a 170,000 BTU (propane) outdoor cooker from Cabelas (www.cabelas.com). Sells for $50. Boils 6 gallons of cold tap water in about 25 minutes. Garry

Response:

FWIW, I use a 170,000 BTU (propane) outdoor cooker from Cabelas (www.cabelas.com). Sells for $50. Boils 6 gallons of cold tap water in about 25 minutes. Garry

Response:

I switched to a cajun cooker / propane burner a while ago despite having a natural gas stove in my basement where I brew that is used for nothing but brewing. The reason is that even though my pot can span two burners on the stove, it took forever to bring 6.5 gals to a boil. Two *very* nice things about the cajun cooker setup: 1. I can bring 6.5 gals of freshly sparged wort to a boil in under 15 minutes. 2. I mash on the stovetop so I can start my boil when I start my sparge. The bottom line is that with a propane cooker, you can do an all grain batch from start to cleanup in 4 hours. Not too shabby considering the usual 8 hours I’d spend when cooking with only natural gas. Mike

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – What is a good size burner (in BTUs) to use for 5 gallon all-grain brewing? Excellent question. I’m contemplating switching to natural gas for my brewing system. One burner I’m looking at is rated at 27,000 BTUs. If I had two of these (1 for hot liquor, 1 for mash/kettle), is this going to be sufficient for 5 gal. batches? Or should I stick with the higher-pressure propane? Who brews with natural gas? What’s your burner rated at and how does it work? Thanks for the help, Christopher Hadden

Response:

Chris & Tim I’m about to get a couple of NG burners (30MJ = 28,200 BTU each) plumbed in. The burners are of the same type used in domestic "family sized" hot water heaters and come with neat features like automatic shut-off on flame failure.

Hi Chris, Did you buy these new, with the 100% shutdown valve, or did you salvage them? Do they use tank-style hot water heaters in Oz, or do you use the tankless "instant" heaters that are fairly common throughout Europe? Regards, Mike Sharp

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Chris & Tim I’m about to get a couple of NG burners (30MJ = 28,200 BTU each) plumbed in. The burners are of the same type used in domestic "family sized" hot water heaters and come with neat features like automatic shut-off on flame failure. The ratings indicate that a single burner would bring 5 US gallons of tap water to the boil in about 12 minutes. OK, so this is on the basis of a hot water heater and the efficiency will be less than perfect under my kettle, but there’s still plenty of oomf in the burner. I can fit two (or 3) under the kettle, so I can increase the heating rate later if needed. Not that I’m planning on 10 gallon batches, but you never know. Meanwhile, I’m still using a 15MJ (14,200 BTU) low pressure propane burner, and manage to get a good boil out of that, so your 27,000 BTU burner sounds good to me! My main reason for going natural is to prevent running out of propane mid boil, and save costs too. Bottled propane is much more expensive than NG where I live. Two notes of caution. (1) Make sure you brew either outdoors or where there is sufficient ventilation. (2) With NG, get a gas fitter to do the job, or at least check it out. Chris

Thanks for the advice. From the response I got from local homebrewers, it seems that 27,000 BTUs will be perfectly adequate – especially when I’ve got a burner for the hot liquor and a burner for the kettle. As the first runnings hit the kettle (at 170

Water Analysis

admin — Tue, 26 Feb 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Question:

I too am blessed with very soft water and I used to add Calcium Carbonate to the water and then I realised that it is insoluable in water. Thats why the White Cliffs of Dover are still there after millions of years. The Chalk just sits on the bottom of the boiler and laughs at you. If you do need to _Raise_ the pH of the mash adding the chalk to the mash is a much better bet as it becomes more soluable under acid conditions. I normally find that adding gypsum is all I need to do to brew my ales. That may change when I do the Imperial Stout and I think that I will be using Chalk again! — ‘ol heitir me(eth) manunum en me(eth) Assum bjor’ ‘Ale it is called among men and among Gods beer’ ( Old Norse from the Alvismal c950 ) Wassail Tony Barnsley

Response:

For dark malt brews, you may have to add a touch of calcium carbonate (check the mash ph with test strips) since our water has very little buffering capability and the dark grains might drop the ph of the mash below optimum range. I too am blessed with very soft water and I used to add Calcium Carbonate to the water and then I realised that it is insoluable in water. Thats why the White Cliffs of Dover are still there after millions of years. The Chalk just sits on the bottom of the boiler and laughs at you. If you do need to _Raise_ the pH of the mash adding the chalk to the mash is a much better bet as it becomes more soluable under acid conditions.

Good point, Tony. I should have been more specific about this in my post. By all means – the calcium carbonate should be added to the mash only and in small increments with the ph being tested after each addition has been thoroughly mixed in. A little goes a long ways when adding chalk. Brian Travis

Response:

Can any Atlanta area brewers help me with my water analysis. The Gwinnett Co water dept gave me the following Ca 2ppm Na 5-10 ppm SO4 < 2 ppm Copper < 3 ug/l Iron < 3 ug/l Lead < 2 ug/l pH 7.4-7.7 Hardness 15 ppm ?? Alkalinity 15-20 ppm ??

Hardness for your water is equal to CO3 plus HCO3 (they interchange in solution, actually). Don’t worry about Mg or Cl, just don’t add any Mg salts and it’s pretty damned hard to get too much chloride in water. Your calcium is pretty low, though. — To respond via email, switch the elements of my domain. http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/bjm10/ "If there is no human nature outside social construction, no needs or capacities other than those constructed by a particular discourse, then there is no basis for social criticism and no reason for protest or rebellion" –The Nation, June 9, 1997.

Response:

As a fellow Gwinnett County homebrewer may I suggest looking at Phil Schlect’s article on the covert hops webpage on brewing waters of famous brewing cities ? (don’t have the exact url, but the home page is at www.coverthops.com). When I did, I was impressed with the similarities between Atlanta’s water and the water of Pilsn, Chechoslovakia. Our water is just about perfect for a bohemian pilsner or for that matter any pilsner style. I add gypsum and calcium chloride for pale ales at the rate of 1 tsp of each per 5 gallons of brew water (both mash and sparge water). For dark malt brews, you may have to add a touch of calcium carbonate (check the mash ph with test strips) since our water has very little buffering capability and the dark grains might drop the ph of the mash below optimum range. Regards, Brian Travis Brian Travis

Response:

Further to my theme on water treatment: I know sod all about chemistry, so most discussions on water treatment, chemical equations, etc, are severely challenging to me. Can anyone help me – in layman’s terms – figure out what I need to do to perform my own water analysis? I’m just interested in determining the main constituents from a brewing perspective – Ca, Mg, Na, Cl, SO4, hardness, etc. Is it feasible for me to do myself? Cheers, Martin

Response:

It’s very easy to do yourself. First, you’ll need to get a water quality report for your house. Call the Customer Service number on your water bill and ask them to send you a copy of the most recent water report. Some Counties even have it on line. Post the information here and well walk you through it. Burp, -Dan

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Further to my theme on water treatment: I know sod all about chemistry, so most discussions on water treatment, chemical equations, etc, are severely challenging to me. Can anyone help me – in layman’s terms – figure out what I need to do to perform my own water analysis? I’m just interested in determining the main constituents from a brewing perspective – Ca, Mg, Na, Cl, SO4, hardness, etc. Is it feasible for me to do myself? Cheers, Martin

Response:

There are many simple "cookbook" approaches on the ‘net-remember water analysis is for all-grain brewing

Response:

Ok, this now demands the full explanation!! Sure, I have the water company’s analysis sheet which details the minreal composition of the stuff as it gets squirted into the distribution network. I know from this (and from looking at the fur in our kettle) that we have a lot of temporary hardness in our water. I know that temporary hardness – calcium bicarbonate – is a no-no for the mash tun. I therefore boil the brewing liquor for 1/2 hr prior to cooling and mashing. This precipitates the CaCO3 & I then filter the "softer" water from the CaCO3 residue. Having now thus altered the mineral content of the brewing liquor, I’d like to be able to determine it’s post-boiling minerals & salts content. Perhaps I should have explained this before! Cheers, Martin

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – It’s very easy to do yourself. First, you’ll need to get a water quality report for your house. Call the Customer Service number on your water bill and ask them to send you a copy of the most recent water report. Some Counties even have it on line. Post the information here and well walk you through it. Burp, -Dan Further to my theme on water treatment: I know sod all about chemistry, so most discussions on water treatment, chemical equations, etc, are severely challenging to me. Can anyone help me – in layman’s terms – figure out what I need to do to perform my own water analysis? I’m just interested in determining the main constituents from a brewing perspective – Ca, Mg, Na, Cl, SO4, hardness, etc. Is it feasible for me to do myself? Cheers, Martin

Response:

Thanks! – I’d got BreWater 2.0. Didn’t realise there was a newer version.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Having now thus altered the mineral content of the brewing liquor, I’d like to be able to determine it’s post-boiling minerals & salts content. If you’re using a Windows operating system, you should download Brewater 3.0 and let it do the work for you. It’s got an option for calculating hardness after boiling. There’s a link for downloading it here: http://home.elp.rr.com/brewbeer/

Response:

Having now thus altered the mineral content of the brewing liquor, I’d like to be able to determine it’s post-boiling minerals & salts content.

If you’re using a Windows operating system, you should download Brewater 3.0 and let it do the work for you. It’s got an option for calculating hardness after boiling. There’s a link for downloading it here: http://home.elp.rr.com/brewbeer/

Response:

There are many simple "cookbook" approaches on the ‘net-remember water analysis is for all-grain brewing

That’s precisely why I’m placing so much importance on it. However, it’s not just grain brewing for which water treatment is important. Yeast does not like chlorine. I’m also not sure what impact calcium carbonate has on yeast. Cheers, Martin