Random small questions

[BeerHolic Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BeerHolic]

thanks for those

If I recall, soda ash is an alkaline / caustic cleaner?

To my knowledge
Sodium carbonate = Soda Ash
Sodium Hydroxide = Caustic soda (highly corrosive), generally anyting caustic is corrosive.

[DR_Beer Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close DR_Beer]

Fresh Yeast Headspace

Another random question. I placed an order for fresh yeast and will be using it soon for the first time. I just have one concern/question for those using fresh yeast. Do I need to increase my head space going from dry to fresh yeast? I will be using WLP300 hefeweizen yeast. Until now I have mostly used the WB-06 yeast and make 25 liter batches. I have a 30L fermentation vessel, one of those mangroove jack stainless steel ones. and usually fill it to the 25L mark and have no issues with to little head space. Now I am not sure if I it will stay that way with fresh yeast, will it be more vigorous? Will the krausen be bigger or will 5 liter head space be fine? I don't want to come home from work to find my fermenter blew up haha!!

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

So while doing my brew today and having my mash temps spike higher than I would have liked, it got me thinking a bit during the so called mashout...

Basically I have always done it as a matter of course an the textbook reason is "it stops all enzyme activity"

Why do we want to actually stop enzyme activity anyway if that is the whole point of the mash and most conversion is done well within an hour?

Secondly if we are about to pull the bag of grain out anyway (BIAB) as well as start boiling (assuming we do it immediately), aren't both these actions going to serve the same purpose and stop enzyme activity?

[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

@Langchop

From how to brew ....

Screenshot_13.jpg

[jakeslouw Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jakeslouw]

We do it to dissolve the last few sugars and make the mash more fluid. Seems to work well for BIAB as I get better drainage out of the bag.

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

Okay makes sense. So actually largely other benefits from heating up a bit at the end.

[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

We do it to dissolve the last few sugars and make the mash more fluid. Seems to work well for BIAB as I get better drainage out of the bag.

I only heat up to ±76ºC while I circulate (by hand, must still get a pump replacement) but once i hit the temp I pull the bag and drain ... I also squeeze the sh|t out of the bag at the end (no side effects) .... dont know if this qualifies as a "mashout" as I'm actually not letting it rest at that temp .... that said, I'm happy with my results

[Harhm Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Harhm]

Okay makes sense. So actually largely other benefits from heating up a bit at the end.

Very very small boost to alpha activity as conversion is done and denaturing of enzymes. No real gains vs the effort imo

I just pull the bag and proceed to boil.

I used to place the bag on a grid over the pot and fly sparge/rinse with 75 C water from HLT, you then have to be carefull of pH, dilution of wort pre-boil becomes counter productive at a stage.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

PPG is a unit that works super well if you are not on the metric system. I have always struggled to get my head around the whole extraction potential, points, SG, and haphazardly converting SG to points. I can't function in imperial so I pretty much convert everything into metric. The other day I came across an article which made me realise a very basic and fundamental point, assuming I understand correctly, that actually makes this all very easy to understand... And yet I never see these terms referred to in this way:

1,050 converted to "points" is 50 points
This 50 points actually means 50g of sugars, per litre of wort (beer not so much because of alcohol in the mix)
So you could almost do a recipe in your head on this understanding if you knew the yield of the grain (in grams of sugar per kg of grain)

So my random small question is: is my little epiphany legit or an I missing something fundamental here?

[BeerHolic Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BeerHolic]

PPG is a unit that works super well if you are not on the metric system. I have always struggled to get my head around the whole extraction potential, points, SG, and haphazardly converting SG to points. I can't function in imperial so I pretty much convert everything into metric. The other day I came across an article which made me realise a very basic and fundamental point, assuming I understand correctly, that actually makes this all very easy to understand... And yet I never see these terms referred to in this way:

1,050 converted to "points" is 50 points
This 50 points actually means 50g of sugars, per litre of wort (beer not so much because of alcohol in the mix)
So you could almost do a recipe in your head on this understanding if you knew the yield of the grain (in grams of sugar per kg of grain)

So my random small question is: is my little epiphany legit or an I missing something fundamental here?

I think you calculate as follows

PPG of sugar = 46.
Conversion factor to metric = 8.327 (1lbs = 2.2kg, 1gal = 3.785litres ; 2.2 x 3.785 = 8.327)
50g = 0.05kg

Gravity points = (kg x PPG x factor)/volume
Gravity points = (0.05 x 46 x 8.327)/1
Gravity points = 19.152

So 50g of sugar in 1 liter = 19.152 points

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

Of course yes, my little epiphany would only apply if dissolved sugars added zero volume. That's pretty fundamental. Damn. Thanks for bringing me back in line!

[Harhm Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Harhm]

I'm considering a refractometer, what is the pitfalls pros and cons? Where to buy? Thanks in advance

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

Cringe. You brought my embarassing thread back to life.

But onto the refractometer...

Because it serves no real purpose as soon as the yeasties get going, my view is not to blow a lot of money on it.

Super handy for quick density readings on brew day, with no long wait to cool containers of wort. Then during fermentation just use it to *monitor* changes in density without cognisance of the readings. Then verify the important/ final densities with hydrometer.

I think I got mine on Bidorbuy or Takealot if memory serves me, for about R250-R300?

Definately money well spent.

[DR_Beer Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close DR_Beer]

To add on to Langchops answer, a refractometer looses accuracy as soon as alcohol enters the equation and thus I would not rely on it to measure final gravity.

So it depends on what you want, if you want to take lots of readings of your wort on brewday then it will help a lot, otherwise I am on the fence about it.

[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

Beersmith allows you to use the refractometer reading during and after fermentation to calculate the corresponding hydrometer reading IF you know what the original SG was ... Im sure there must be calculators online also ....

Screenshot_5.jpg

so you dont need a hydrometer at all ... if you took the OG, you can get the FG