| |
Main
Date: 23 Jun 2006 09:06:58
From: Don Levey
Subject: Things I learned this week...
|
For your amusement, I thought I'd share a few things that I learned
this past week (brewing-wise, that is):
* Krausen can apparently last for five days. I'd never seen it go for
more than three previously.
* Even when krausen is dying down, your blowoff tube is still in danger
of being blown off. That was this morning's adventure. I was getting
ready to put on the airlock this evening; perhaps I'll wait.
* That water-bath thing really works. Or my thermometer is
mis-calibrated. One or the other.
* My chest freezer freezes ice blocks more slowly than the upright in
the kitchen. For dealing with that water bath.
* Cornelius kegs can, if properly stored, maintain pressure for ten
years.
* Make sure to remember which valve is input and which is output...
* Releasing pressure from the output valve can result in being sprayed
with ten-year-old beer. Especially in the face.
* Ten-year-old beer, if stored under pressure, isn't all that bad. At
least not when sprayed on your face.
* You'll find your old bottle capper and caps at least one week after
you bottle the batch with the new capper/caps you bought because you
couldn't find the old one. But you'll find them as you're taking
out the old kegs to clean and rehabilitate so that you won't need to
bottle...
* It's amazing how solid a block old DME can form. With proper sealant,
I'm convinced that it could make a proper building material.
* Old carboys make great mousetraps.
* Don't try to flush dead mice out of an old carboy with a high-pressure
water jet.
--
Don Levey $ cd /pub
Framingham, MA $ more beer
NOTE: email server uses spam filters; mail sent to salearn@the-leveys.us
will be used to tune the blocking lists.
|
|
| |
Date: 23 Jun 2006 07:53:18
From: dutchbrew/chicago
Subject: Re: Things I learned this week...
|
haha thanks for the laugh... did you have the hose on the keg output
pointed at your face??
|
| | |
Date: 23 Jun 2006 11:07:43
From: Don Levey
Subject: Re: Things I learned this week...
|
"dutchbrew/chicago" <vroomski1@yahoo.com > writes:
> haha thanks for the laugh... did you have the hose on the keg output
> pointed at your face??
>
Hose? No hose, just manually depressed the output valve to release
the pressure. It released, all right...
--
Don Levey $ cd /pub
Framingham, MA $ more beer
NOTE: email server uses spam filters; mail sent to salearn@the-leveys.us
will be used to tune the blocking lists.
|
| | | |
Date: 23 Jun 2006 15:28:39
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: Things I learned this week...
|
On 23 Jun 2006 11:07:43 -0400, <Don_RCB@the-leveys.us > wrote:
> "dutchbrew/chicago" <vroomski1@yahoo.com> writes:
>
>> haha thanks for the laugh... did you have the hose on the keg output
>> pointed at your face??
>>
> Hose? No hose, just manually depressed the output valve to release
> the pressure. It released, all right...
I've done this before. Went to degas the keg by pushing in the poppet on
the gas-in post, unfortunately I wasn't thinking about what I was doing and
pushed the wrong poppet.
John.
|
| | | | |
Date: 23 Jun 2006 20:26:14
From: Wayne
Subject: Re: Things I learned this week...
|
John 'Shaggy' Kolesar wrote:
>
> I've done this before. Went to degas the keg by pushing in the poppet on
> the gas-in post, unfortunately I wasn't thinking about what I was doing and
> pushed the wrong poppet.
>
>
> John.
In a similar vein, the first time I fermented in a corny keg I figured I
could just just a QD with a length of tubing into a jug of sanitizer as
an air lock. I found that it works much better when you put it on the
gas post and not the liquid post. I discovered this as the yeast began
pumping my wort all over the kitchen floor a few hours later! :(
Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company
|
| |
Date: 23 Jun 2006 20:50:31
From: Droopy
Subject: Re: Things I learned this week...
|
I have done that may times on a 16 gallon keg of domestic on purpose.
Beer shower. Really popular at college parties back in the day.
Not amusing enough to risk on a batch of homebrew though.
John 'Shaggy' Kolesar wrote:
> On 23 Jun 2006 11:07:43 -0400, <Don_RCB@the-leveys.us> wrote:
> > "dutchbrew/chicago" <vroomski1@yahoo.com> writes:
> >
> >> haha thanks for the laugh... did you have the hose on the keg output
> >> pointed at your face??
> >>
> > Hose? No hose, just manually depressed the output valve to release
> > the pressure. It released, all right...
>
> I've done this before. Went to degas the keg by pushing in the poppet on
> the gas-in post, unfortunately I wasn't thinking about what I was doing and
> pushed the wrong poppet.
>
>
> John.
|
| |
Date: 23 Jun 2006 18:00:57
From: HefeweizenDan
Subject: Re: Things I learned this week...
|
Don Levey wrote:
> * Old carboys make great mousetraps.
>
> * Don't try to flush dead mice out of an old carboy with a high-pressure
> water jet.
I salvaged two old carboys from a house I was living in, one of which
was corked, and the other had three dead mice in it. Each mouse was in
a different stage of decay, as if each one smelled the one before it
and went to investigate.
A bit of hot water, a long stick, and a lot of bleach went into making
the carboy usable again... and as I've just made my first batch with
it, I've been saving the name "Mouse Brown Ale" (c) for months now!
PS: Rigor Mortis is easily cured by crushing the soft bones in the body
of a mouse, then prying it out of the hole. It ain't pretty, but it
sure gets the job done.
|
| |
Date: 26 Jun 2006 04:10:05
From:
Subject: Re: Things I learned this week...
|
Don Levey wrote:
> For your amusement, I thought I'd share a few things that I learned
> this past week (brewing-wise, that is):
>
> * Krausen can apparently last for five days. I'd never seen it go for
> more than three previously.
>
> * Even when krausen is dying down, your blowoff tube is still in danger
> of being blown off. That was this morning's adventure. I was getting
> ready to put on the airlock this evening; perhaps I'll wait.
>
> * That water-bath thing really works. Or my thermometer is
> mis-calibrated. One or the other.
>
> * My chest freezer freezes ice blocks more slowly than the upright in
> the kitchen. For dealing with that water bath.
>
> * Cornelius kegs can, if properly stored, maintain pressure for ten
> years.
>
> * Make sure to remember which valve is input and which is output...
>
> * Releasing pressure from the output valve can result in being sprayed
> with ten-year-old beer. Especially in the face.
>
> * Ten-year-old beer, if stored under pressure, isn't all that bad. At
> least not when sprayed on your face.
>
> * You'll find your old bottle capper and caps at least one week after
> you bottle the batch with the new capper/caps you bought because you
> couldn't find the old one. But you'll find them as you're taking
> out the old kegs to clean and rehabilitate so that you won't need to
> bottle...
>
> * It's amazing how solid a block old DME can form. With proper sealant,
> I'm convinced that it could make a proper building material.
>
> * Old carboys make great mousetraps.
>
> * Don't try to flush dead mice out of an old carboy with a high-pressure
> water jet.
>
> --
> Don Levey $ cd /pub
> Framingham, MA $ more beer
> NOTE: email server uses spam filters; mail sent to salearn@the-leveys.us
> will be used to tune the blocking lists.
Wow! Sounds like your class was much more interesting
than mine. I learned the lesson of mash temps and how NOT to be
impatient and attempt to bring them up too quickly! Fortunatly this was
not an expensive lesson because I was able to pull my beer out of the
fire so to speak and ...well the lesson continues. Yes, I am still
working on that particular chapter.
Steve
|
|
