From: joseph@joebloe.maple-shade.nj.us (Joseph Nathan Hall)
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing
Subject: Re: Full mashing Re: The Rice-Brau Challenge (Recipe + Notes)
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 92 00:51:20 EDT
Organization: 5 Sigma Software
Reply-To: joseph@joebloe.maple-shade.nj.us
X-Mailer: uAccess - Macintosh Release: 1.5v5


In article <1992Oct1.214244.13578@news.nd.edu> (rec.crafts.brewing), ulick@angelico.helios.nd.edu (Ulick Stafford) writes:
) In article <01050166.ehcigo@joebloe.maple-shade.nj.us> joseph@joebloe.maple-shade.nj.us writes:
) >
) >My first runoff ranges from 1.060-1.100, usually 1.070-1.080.
) >I'm not sure what Dave does to get 1.100 all the time ....
) >
) In HBD George Fix mentioned that Miller loves recycling wort, but even I   
) can't see how that helps so much.

Well, I've had initial runoffs that were very dense before recycling.
So it's not *required*.

) >I'm beginning to think I could get 32-33 points out of mostly 2-row
) >recipes if I sparged down to a gravity of 1.005 or 1.010 routinely.
) >Usually I just don't bother, since I generally wind up brewing beers in
) >the OG 1.050-1.065 range, and I like to hold boils to 1 hr.
) 
) I s this wise?  Miller makes a big deal out of 1.5 hr boils to get a
) good hot break.  Any info momily man?

I don't know what the point would be.  My electric stove does a fine
job of kicking wort in my 10 gallon pot, and I rarely feel insecure
about my hot breaks.  Neither are my beers of reasonable strength
hazy.  (OK, those all-grain 1.065+ monsters show a little chill haze
from time to time, but who cares?)

) My final runoff always has 1000 gravity.  32-33 points are still beyond me,
) although I am going to try and measure volumes and weights better to see
) if that helps.

I recently added a nice 5000g x 1g scale to my kitchen.  It was a
little pricey but is extremely handy.  I think it is at least as useful
for priming as it is for weighing grains, too.

Pretty soon now I am going to add a 100g x 0.1g scale to my collection
for weighing out mead ingredients, etc.  I am fortunate to have a
friend who has a whole houseful of labware, equipment and chemicals
(no, no, no, he teaches homeschool science ... what were you thinking?)
and it's been great being able to get stuff like USP phosphoric acid,
which poor peon citizens like you and me just can't order from normal
chemical suppliers.

Speaking of which ....

Have any of you ever tried to find USP gypsum/plaster of paris/calcium
sulfate in bulk?  Even by the pound?  You just can't do it!  I'd like
to have the stuff for making tofu (it's a coagulant) as well as for
making beer.  I am sure that it costs about 5 cents per pound in some
quantity, and it pisses me off that I can no more order it from a
chemical supplier than I can order malonic acid, ether, 300 mesh
magnesium, fuming nitric acid and/or sodium cyanide.  I inquired at
some university stockrooms and got answers like, "well, a while ago
I would have just filled up a paper bag with it for you, but these
days the lawyers...."  Of course, drugstores once upon a time would
order chemicals for you, but they don't do that now, either ....

I think there's some money to be made out there for someone who feels
like taking on the gnomes at Wines Inc. who spoon powders into pill
bottles and charge 10-100x their cost for them.

Grrr!

Anyway ... (rambling again) ...

) >2 hours is too much time if you use any of the higher conversion temps.
) >Not that it would hurt anything.
) 
) Depends on the recipe.  Typically his all malt recipes call for 60 min,
) but wiuth wheat or adjuncts about 2 hr.  The last beer I brewed, loosely
) based on his Alt, called for 90 minutes.  Igenerally mash at low temperatures
) to improve attenuation, so usually leave it a while to be sure to be sure.

Well, I know, but he admits to overkill in his times.  I personally
don't think it's necessary to take reasonable conversion times and
double them.  A little extra, OK.  Perhaps a 2 hr 150F mash will in 
some cases improve extract efficiency.  I'm not so sure.  I think that
going to a decoction mash would get you those 36 points much more
reliably.  Of course it makes brewing an all-day process, but, heck,
it lets everyone know how devoted you are.

) I'll do this.  I have lots of flash. ...

Don't let the singed-plastic smell worry you.  Rinse the bucket thoroughly
with hot water for a few minutes and it will smell no worse than usual
afterward.


uunet!joebloe!joseph   (609) 273-8200 day   joseph%joebloe@uunet.uu.net
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