• Why are hydrometer generally made from glass?

    From Joerg@news@analogconsultants.com to rec.crafts.brewing on Fri Dec 7 07:16:01 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    Yesterday it happened. I touched a ceramic surface with the tip of a hydrometer and its tip shattered, spilling black weight grains. Luckily
    that didn't happen in the brew kettle with the wort in it.

    Why aren't they made from stainless steel? After all, it's essentially
    just a weight with a hollow encapsulated area and gravity markers.

    --
    Regards, Joerg

    http://www.analogconsultants.com/
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  • From gtwrek@gtwrek@sonic.net (gtwrek) to rec.crafts.brewing on Fri Dec 7 16:29:21 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    In article <g6vh55Fe1o9U1@mid.individual.net>,
    Joerg <news@analogconsultants.com> wrote:
    Yesterday it happened. I touched a ceramic surface with the tip of a >hydrometer and its tip shattered, spilling black weight grains. Luckily
    that didn't happen in the brew kettle with the wort in it.

    Why aren't they made from stainless steel? After all, it's essentially
    just a weight with a hollow encapsulated area and gravity markers.

    Well, it is hard to read through stainless steel. ;)
    I suppose a different method of marking the hydrometer
    (and calibrating such markings) could be devised. Probably
    more historical reasons why things still are the way
    they are.

    If you really want to go hi-tech, google the Tilt Hydrometer. I just
    learned about that one. Neat trick but can't see spending $150 to take
    gravity readings...

    Regards,

    Mark

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  • From Joerg@news@analogconsultants.com to rec.crafts.brewing on Fri Dec 7 10:37:17 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    On 2018-12-07 08:29, gtwrek wrote:
    In article <g6vh55Fe1o9U1@mid.individual.net>,
    Joerg <news@analogconsultants.com> wrote:
    Yesterday it happened. I touched a ceramic surface with the tip of a
    hydrometer and its tip shattered, spilling black weight grains. Luckily
    that didn't happen in the brew kettle with the wort in it.

    Why aren't they made from stainless steel? After all, it's essentially
    just a weight with a hollow encapsulated area and gravity markers.

    Well, it is hard to read through stainless steel. ;)
    I suppose a different method of marking the hydrometer
    (and calibrating such markings) could be devised. Probably
    more historical reasons why things still are the way
    they are.


    All a stainless hydrometer would need is etch marks on the thin vertical section, outside. As brewers we have to keep everything very clean
    anyhow so these markers would never gunk up and become unreadable. This
    might require a flashlight in dark areas but that's easy.


    If you really want to go hi-tech, google the Tilt Hydrometer. I just
    learned about that one. Neat trick but can't see spending $150 to take gravity readings...


    Same here. My current hydrometers cost $1 and even have a thermometer
    inside which is very useful, to see whether the wort has cooled below
    80F before racking into the primary fermenter. At that price I could
    afford a couple of spares :-)

    I also have a large professional hydrometer with glass sampling
    cylinder. However, it's too big and bottoms out in the brew kettle. Plus
    it's also glass.

    One thing I'd really like to invent (haven't seen anything commercially
    yet) is an automatic boil-over detector that turns off a burner when the
    foam starts rising fast. On batch #114 I had my first boil-over because
    I wanted to finish answering an email. What a mess.

    --
    Regards, Joerg

    http://www.analogconsultants.com/
    --- Synchronet 3.17a-Linux NewsLink 1.110
  • From gtwrek@gtwrek@sonic.net (gtwrek) to rec.crafts.brewing on Fri Dec 7 23:32:41 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    In article <g6vsugFgmaeU1@mid.individual.net>,
    Joerg <news@analogconsultants.com> wrote:

    One thing I'd really like to invent (haven't seen anything commercially
    yet) is an automatic boil-over detector that turns off a burner when the >foam starts rising fast. On batch #114 I had my first boil-over because
    I wanted to finish answering an email. What a mess.

    First boil-over at batch #114! That's amazing. I was at about batch
    #3, still working in the kitchen. After that mess, I was ahem, banned
    to the driveway - albeit with a new propane turkey burner... Boil
    overs aren't as frequent - I keep a pretty good eye on things - but
    much easier to cleanup in the event.

    --Mark




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  • From Baloonon@baloonon@hootmali.com to rec.crafts.brewing on Sat Dec 8 03:17:21 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    gtwrek@sonic.net (gtwrek) wrote in news:pue751$3hg$1@dont-email.me:

    Joerg <news@analogconsultants.com> wrote:

    Yesterday it happened. I touched a ceramic surface with the tip of a >>hydrometer and its tip shattered, spilling black weight grains. Luckily >>that didn't happen in the brew kettle with the wort in it.

    Why aren't they made from stainless steel? After all, it's essentially >>just a weight with a hollow encapsulated area and gravity markers.

    Well, it is hard to read through stainless steel. ;)
    I suppose a different method of marking the hydrometer
    (and calibrating such markings) could be devised. Probably
    more historical reasons why things still are the way
    they are.

    A wild guess is that whoever makes them cornered the market years ago
    making something like glass lab equipment, and the expense of making new
    molds and machinery for steel or plastic or ceramics isn't worth it to
    them.

    At some point, 3D printing with the right resin may be a cost efficient option. I bet they're not that hard to make if you had access to steel
    tubes, but the calibration would probably drive you crazy.
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  • From Joerg@news@analogconsultants.com to rec.crafts.brewing on Sat Dec 8 07:51:33 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    On 2018-12-07 15:32, gtwrek wrote:
    In article <g6vsugFgmaeU1@mid.individual.net>,
    Joerg <news@analogconsultants.com> wrote:

    One thing I'd really like to invent (haven't seen anything commercially
    yet) is an automatic boil-over detector that turns off a burner when the
    foam starts rising fast. On batch #114 I had my first boil-over because
    I wanted to finish answering an email. What a mess.

    First boil-over at batch #114! That's amazing. I was at about batch
    #3, still working in the kitchen. After that mess, I was ahem, banned
    to the driveway - albeit with a new propane turkey burner... Boil
    overs aren't as frequent - I keep a pretty good eye on things - but
    much easier to cleanup in the event.


    I usually brew outside as well. No smell in the house and I like it much
    more. However, now that temps are in the 50F range I have a hard time
    keeping up the temperature because I only have two back-to-back electric
    1kW burners under the brew kettle. So now I am indoors where the
    boil-over happened.

    It's easier for me to control because I am using a 13-gallon tamale
    steamer pot and there is never much more than six gallons in it. I found
    that if I crack the lid very slightly and leave both burners at full
    bore it'll boil but not boil over. Except that day ...

    I use a rock on a pot holder on top of the lid to prevent it from
    sliding itself shut.

    --
    Regards, Joerg

    http://www.analogconsultants.com/
    --- Synchronet 3.17a-Linux NewsLink 1.110
  • From Baloonon@baloonon@hootmali.com to rec.crafts.brewing on Sat Dec 8 20:39:24 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    Joerg <news@analogconsultants.com> wrote

    I usually brew outside as well. No smell in the house and I like it
    much more. However, now that temps are in the 50F range I have a hard
    time keeping up the temperature because I only have two back-to-back
    electric 1kW burners under the brew kettle. So now I am indoors where
    the boil-over happened.

    It's easier for me to control because I am using a 13-gallon tamale
    steamer pot and there is never much more than six gallons in it. I
    found that if I crack the lid very slightly and leave both burners at
    full bore it'll boil but not boil over. Except that day ...

    I use a rock on a pot holder on top of the lid to prevent it from
    sliding itself shut.

    FYI, this article recommends putting a wooden spoon across the top of a pot
    to prevent boilovers when cooking pasta:

    https://gizmodo.com/1498537569

    It claims that "The foam is thermodynamically unstable, which means when
    the bubbles reach the spoon they will burst, breaking the layer of foam and sending all of the bubbles collapsing down again."

    I don't know if pasta water foam is as potent as malt foam, so it may not work, and obviously if you are trying to keep the lid partially on, that's another issue. But I would bet it's not that hard to use some cotton string tied to the handles of the pot to suspend a couple of wooden dowels below
    the lid and see if that helps.
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  • From Joerg@news@analogconsultants.com to rec.crafts.brewing on Sun Dec 9 07:59:45 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    On 2018-12-08 12:39, Baloonon wrote:
    Joerg <news@analogconsultants.com> wrote

    I usually brew outside as well. No smell in the house and I like it
    much more. However, now that temps are in the 50F range I have a hard
    time keeping up the temperature because I only have two back-to-back
    electric 1kW burners under the brew kettle. So now I am indoors where
    the boil-over happened.

    It's easier for me to control because I am using a 13-gallon tamale
    steamer pot and there is never much more than six gallons in it. I
    found that if I crack the lid very slightly and leave both burners at
    full bore it'll boil but not boil over. Except that day ...

    I use a rock on a pot holder on top of the lid to prevent it from
    sliding itself shut.

    FYI, this article recommends putting a wooden spoon across the top of a pot to prevent boilovers when cooking pasta:

    https://gizmodo.com/1498537569

    It claims that "The foam is thermodynamically unstable, which means when
    the bubbles reach the spoon they will burst, breaking the layer of foam and sending all of the bubbles collapsing down again."

    I don't know if pasta water foam is as potent as malt foam, so it may not work, and obviously if you are trying to keep the lid partially on, that's another issue. But I would bet it's not that hard to use some cotton string tied to the handles of the pot to suspend a couple of wooden dowels below
    the lid and see if that helps.


    Yeah, I can try it. Probably it has to be wood from one particular tree
    that only grows on southern hill sides in one particular town in Italy :-)

    In my case the lid has to be on and only slightly cracked, else I cannot maintain a boil. This is with both 1kW electric plates running full tilt.

    There's got to be a way to do this with radio pulse-echo, similar to
    Radar, where the receiver part detects the surface of approaching
    bubbles and turns of a burner when that gets too close. I already have a
    "hang plate" in the pot for temperature measurements and adding a little
    gizmo wouldn't be a big deal:

    http://www.analogconsultants.com/ng/brew/NTC1.JPG

    The temperature is sent wirelessly to a pocket receiver so I can also do
    some other things on brew day.

    --
    Regards, Joerg

    http://www.analogconsultants.com/
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  • From Baloonon@baloonon@hootmali.com to rec.crafts.brewing on Mon Dec 10 01:48:18 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    Joerg <news@analogconsultants.com> wrote

    There's got to be a way to do this with radio pulse-echo, similar to
    Radar, where the receiver part detects the surface of approaching
    bubbles and turns of a burner when that gets too close. I already have
    a "hang plate" in the pot for temperature measurements and adding a
    little gizmo wouldn't be a big deal:

    I vaguely recall there are moisture sensors that trigger an alarm, but I
    can't remember whether these are cheap devices or something more expensive. They may also be thrown off by all of the steam and condensation.

    A circulator rated for high temps would probably keep foam down, but even a cheap sous vide would cost around $100, which seems like a lot.

    It may be something as simple as putting a sheet of foil across the top of
    the pot with enough slack that it sits a few inches below the top of the
    pot, and then punching some holes in it. It's possible that any high foam will push through the holes, but the process of going through the holes
    will compromise the foam enough that it collapses.

    Or, that may just result in an even bigger mess as the holes clog up, and
    I'm not sure how you'd know without watching while you test, and that kind
    of defeats the purpose.

    Come to think of it, you could probably fashion a collar out of foil that
    rose up another eight inches or so above the top of the pot, and that might give you some extra protection against spills. You could probably fashion something out of a foil roasting pan that you could wash off later and
    reuse.
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  • From Joerg@news@analogconsultants.com to rec.crafts.brewing on Mon Dec 10 11:05:13 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    On 2018-12-09 17:48, Baloonon wrote:
    Joerg <news@analogconsultants.com> wrote

    There's got to be a way to do this with radio pulse-echo, similar to
    Radar, where the receiver part detects the surface of approaching
    bubbles and turns of a burner when that gets too close. I already have
    a "hang plate" in the pot for temperature measurements and adding a
    little gizmo wouldn't be a big deal:

    I vaguely recall there are moisture sensors that trigger an alarm, but I can't remember whether these are cheap devices or something more expensive. They may also be thrown off by all of the steam and condensation.


    I think it really has to be something Radar-like that can differentiate between moisture condensation on the antenna and a radio-reflecting mass
    below that starts to rise. It shouldn't be fooled by things like hop
    spatters and stuff. The electronics part isn't overly complicated but
    the programing of the little micro controller in it is, at least for
    guys like me who are hardcore hardware design engineers with only little porgramming background.


    A circulator rated for high temps would probably keep foam down, but even a cheap sous vide would cost around $100, which seems like a lot.

    It may be something as simple as putting a sheet of foil across the top of the pot with enough slack that it sits a few inches below the top of the
    pot, and then punching some holes in it. It's possible that any high foam will push through the holes, but the process of going through the holes
    will compromise the foam enough that it collapses.

    Or, that may just result in an even bigger mess as the holes clog up, and
    I'm not sure how you'd know without watching while you test, and that kind of defeats the purpose.

    Come to think of it, you could probably fashion a collar out of foil that rose up another eight inches or so above the top of the pot, and that might give you some extra protection against spills. You could probably fashion something out of a foil roasting pan that you could wash off later and
    reuse.


    I've had talks with chefs, brewers and others and they said there really
    isn't anyting that works reliably other than a watchful human eye on things.

    --
    Regards, Joerg

    http://www.analogconsultants.com/
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  • From scott@scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us (Scott Alfter) to rec.crafts.brewing on Tue Dec 11 22:07:12 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    In article <XnsA9B3D3A4D1AF9ballllllllhoo@46.165.242.75>,
    Baloonon <baloonon@hootmali.com> wrote:
    A circulator rated for high temps would probably keep foam down, but even a >cheap sous vide would cost around $100, which seems like a lot.

    Woot had one a short while back for $40. It's worked like a champ so far
    for its intended purpose, but I don't know that it (or any sous-vide cooker) would be able to start or maintain a boil. At 1.2 kW, the power is (barely) there to slowly boil 5 gallons, but I suspect it's not intended to get
    nearly that hot.

    It might be suitable for mashing, though, as long as you can keep solids
    from clogging it up.

    _/_
    / v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
    (IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
    \_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?


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  • From Derek J Decker@derek@decker.net to rec.crafts.brewing on Wed Dec 12 15:50:15 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    On Tue, 11 Dec 2018 22:07:12 +0000, Scott Alfter wrote:

    In article <XnsA9B3D3A4D1AF9ballllllllhoo@46.165.242.75>,
    Baloonon <baloonon@hootmali.com> wrote:
    A circulator rated for high temps would probably keep foam down, but
    even a cheap sous vide would cost around $100, which seems like a lot.

    Woot had one a short while back for $40. It's worked like a champ so
    far for its intended purpose, but I don't know that it (or any sous-vide cooker)
    would be able to start or maintain a boil. At 1.2 kW, the power is
    (barely)
    there to slowly boil 5 gallons, but I suspect it's not intended to get
    nearly that hot.

    It might be suitable for mashing, though, as long as you can keep solids
    from clogging it up.


    I'm doing small batch (1 gallon) all grain brew in a bag, and I use a
    sous vide stick for mashing with great success - it's great for holding a constant temperature. A few notes:

    I have the sous vide stick outside the bag, so no solids clogging problem.

    I use the stick to bring my mash water to temp before adding the bag and
    malt - with the larger batches most folks brew this would take weeks.
    Even to hold temp with a 5 gallon batch I'd imagine you'd need an
    decently insulated mash tub.

    The more time your sous vide stick spends at full output power in the
    mash, the more crud plates on the heating coils. This stuff is hard to
    clean off, and I worry it might affect the beer.

    The crud problem is why I don't use the stick to ramp temps up during a
    mash.

    Boiling? No, not even at my scale. Not made for that.

    To combat foaming during the boil I turn the heat down after boiling
    starts to maintain a nice medium rolling boil. I've only had problems at
    the start of boiling when I don't catch it in time.

    -Derek


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  • From gtwrek@gtwrek@sonic.net (gtwrek) to rec.crafts.brewing on Wed Dec 12 18:13:50 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    In article <X6aQD.1696309$4S3.1155926@fx47.iad>,
    Derek J Decker <derek@decker.net> wrote:

    I'm doing small batch (1 gallon) all grain brew in a bag, and I use a
    sous vide stick for mashing with great success - it's great for holding a >constant temperature. A few notes:

    I have the sous vide stick outside the bag, so no solids clogging problem.

    I use the stick to bring my mash water to temp before adding the bag and >malt - with the larger batches most folks brew this would take weeks.
    Even to hold temp with a 5 gallon batch I'd imagine you'd need an
    decently insulated mash tub.

    I use a sous-vide just to heat my mash water. It's no trouble at all -
    I've done 5, and 10 gallons. Sure it takes a little time - but I use
    that to my advantage. I start the sous-vide the night before at around
    11pm. It's at strike temp when I start next morning at 6am. I'm
    actually not sure how long it takes, but it's always been ready for me
    the next morning.

    I take care to wrap my pot with blankets, and cover the top as best I
    can with foil (to reduce evaporation). Works like a charm!

    The more time your sous vide stick spends at full output power in the
    mash, the more crud plates on the heating coils. This stuff is hard to
    clean off, and I worry it might affect the beer.

    Yeah - I don't do the mash with sous-vide. For one it's against the manufacturer's warranty to heat anything but clean water - for the
    reasons you note (it clogs the circulation and cruds up the heating
    coils). I've also found that sous-vide machines aren't made all that
    well. I've had three different units (different manufacturers )
    over about 6 years. One was repaired once under warranty.
    (The replacement died about a year after the repair).

    I do get good use out of them - both for cooking and brewing - but just
    wish they were better made. It's usually the electronics that crap out,
    not the actually heating/circulation. A hot, steamy environment isn't
    all that friendly to solid-state electronics...

    Regards,

    Mark
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  • From Baloonon@baloonon@hootmali.com to rec.crafts.brewing on Thu Dec 13 02:20:43 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us (Scott Alfter) wrote :

    Baloonon <baloonon@hootmali.com> wrote:
    A circulator rated for high temps would probably keep foam down, but
    even a cheap sous vide would cost around $100, which seems like a lot.

    Woot had one a short while back for $40. It's worked like a champ so
    far for its intended purpose, but I don't know that it (or any
    sous-vide cooker) would be able to start or maintain a boil. At 1.2
    kW, the power is (barely) there to slowly boil 5 gallons, but I
    suspect it's not intended to get nearly that hot.

    $40! That's a good deal. How is it for cooking? I've seen people rave about them, but then I've seen people rave about Instant Pots too. I have one of those, and I like it, but I think it works best on a relatively small
    number of things people use them for.
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  • From Joerg@news@analogconsultants.com to rec.crafts.brewing on Thu Dec 13 07:17:52 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    On 2018-12-12 18:20, Baloonon wrote:
    scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us (Scott Alfter) wrote :

    Baloonon <baloonon@hootmali.com> wrote:
    A circulator rated for high temps would probably keep foam down, but
    even a cheap sous vide would cost around $100, which seems like a lot.

    Woot had one a short while back for $40. It's worked like a champ so
    far for its intended purpose, but I don't know that it (or any
    sous-vide cooker) would be able to start or maintain a boil. At 1.2
    kW, the power is (barely) there to slowly boil 5 gallons, but I
    suspect it's not intended to get nearly that hot.

    $40! That's a good deal. How is it for cooking? I've seen people rave about them, but then I've seen people rave about Instant Pots too. I have one of those, and I like it, but I think it works best on a relatively small
    number of things people use them for.


    Having grown up in Europe we were so used to pressure cookers that we
    still use it a lot here in the US. Stew, goulash, rouladens, and so on.
    Even my grandma had a (gigantic) pressure cooker in the 60's but they
    were always early adopters when it came to technology. We have a fancy
    one from WMF. No digital controls like on an Instant Pot but that's no
    big deal.

    I wish these things worked for brewing but then you'd need some sort of double-gated port to add hops and do late additions, and couldn't stir.
    Space station style. Also, AFAIK it's bad to not let steam come off the
    brew kettle.

    If I had a 3rd electric circuit downstairs I'd use the pressure cooker
    to heat up the late addition malt syrup for Belgians but this would mean running a long extension cord from upstairs.

    --
    Regards, Joerg

    http://www.analogconsultants.com/
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  • From scott@scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us (Scott Alfter) to rec.crafts.brewing on Thu Dec 13 21:48:00 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    In article <XnsA9B6D921780A3ballllllllhoo@46.165.242.75>,
    Baloonon <baloonon@hootmali.com> wrote:
    scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us (Scott Alfter) wrote :

    Baloonon <baloonon@hootmali.com> wrote:
    A circulator rated for high temps would probably keep foam down, but
    even a cheap sous vide would cost around $100, which seems like a lot.

    Woot had one a short while back for $40. It's worked like a champ so
    far for its intended purpose, but I don't know that it (or any
    sous-vide cooker) would be able to start or maintain a boil. At 1.2
    kW, the power is (barely) there to slowly boil 5 gallons, but I
    suspect it's not intended to get nearly that hot.

    $40! That's a good deal. How is it for cooking? I've seen people rave about >them, but then I've seen people rave about Instant Pots too. I have one of >those, and I like it, but I think it works best on a relatively small >number of things people use them for.

    Just did a ribeye with mine last night. Pulled it out of the freezer, added seasonings, resealed the bag (I seal them individually in FoodSaver bags
    when I buy them), and chucked it in the pot. 90 minutes at 130 thaws it and cooks it to medium-rare in one shot. 20 minutes before it's done, throw a cast-iron skillet into a 500-degree oven. When it's done, pull the steak
    out of the bag and give it 2 minutes in the skillet on each side.

    It's a perfect medium rare, with no parts overdone or underdone. Adjust the cooking temperature up or down to taste (though if you prefer your steak well-done, I don't want to hear about it :-P ).

    _/_
    / v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
    (IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
    \_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

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  • From Baloonon@baloonon@hootmali.com to rec.crafts.brewing on Fri Dec 14 03:52:01 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    Joerg <news@analogconsultants.com> wrote:

    On 2018-12-12 18:20, Baloonon wrote:

    scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us (Scott Alfter) wrote :

    Baloonon <baloonon@hootmali.com> wrote:

    A circulator rated for high temps would probably keep foam down,
    but even a cheap sous vide would cost around $100, which seems like
    a lot.

    Woot had one a short while back for $40. It's worked like a champ
    so far for its intended purpose, but I don't know that it (or any
    sous-vide cooker) would be able to start or maintain a boil. At 1.2
    kW, the power is (barely) there to slowly boil 5 gallons, but I
    suspect it's not intended to get nearly that hot.

    $40! That's a good deal. How is it for cooking? I've seen people rave
    about them, but then I've seen people rave about Instant Pots too. I
    have one of those, and I like it, but I think it works best on a
    relatively small number of things people use them for.

    Having grown up in Europe we were so used to pressure cookers that we
    still use it a lot here in the US. Stew, goulash, rouladens, and so
    on. Even my grandma had a (gigantic) pressure cooker in the 60's but
    they were always early adopters when it came to technology. We have a
    fancy one from WMF. No digital controls like on an Instant Pot but
    that's no big deal.

    They're good for soups and for things like cooking beans, but they're not
    so useful for things where you want the liquid to cook down, or for things where you're adding a series of ingredients over time.

    On the other hand, InstantPots work just as well at slow cooking as
    crockpots, so I was able to get rid of my old crockpot.

    I wish these things worked for brewing but then you'd need some sort
    of double-gated port to add hops and do late additions, and couldn't
    stir. Space station style. Also, AFAIK it's bad to not let steam come
    off the brew kettle.

    Referencing the start of this thread, the valves can get clogged by foam, which can be a big problem. I've never had a pressure cooker blow
    (InstantPots are supposedly safe that way) but it's supposed to be pretty scary. Not from a true explosion, but from the spraying hot liquid.

    https://what-if.xkcd.com/40/

    As far as not letting steam escape, I think newer thinking is that the
    risks of DMS are overstated. This is one experiment involving blind taste testing which had the result of no detectable difference between a beer
    with a lid on boil vs. the same recipe with a lid off boil.

    http://brulosophy.com/2016/10/31/the-boil-lid-on-vs-lid-off-exbeeriment- results/
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  • From Baloonon@baloonon@hootmali.com to rec.crafts.brewing on Fri Dec 14 03:54:55 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us (Scott Alfter) wrote in

    Baloonon <baloonon@hootmali.com> wrote:

    $40! That's a good deal. How is it for cooking? I've seen people rave
    about them, but then I've seen people rave about Instant Pots too. I
    have one of those, and I like it, but I think it works best on a >>relatively small number of things people use them for.

    Just did a ribeye with mine last night. Pulled it out of the freezer,
    added seasonings, resealed the bag (I seal them individually in
    FoodSaver bags when I buy them), and chucked it in the pot. 90
    minutes at 130 thaws it and cooks it to medium-rare in one shot. 20
    minutes before it's done, throw a cast-iron skillet into a 500-degree
    oven. When it's done, pull the steak out of the bag and give it 2
    minutes in the skillet on each side.

    It's a perfect medium rare, with no parts overdone or underdone.
    Adjust the cooking temperature up or down to taste (though if you
    prefer your steak well-done, I don't want to hear about it :-P ).

    Sounds good. I had thought they took longer to cook, but 90 minutes from frozen is not bad at all. Maybe I'll ask Santa for one.
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  • From Joerg@news@analogconsultants.com to rec.crafts.brewing on Fri Dec 14 07:49:59 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    On 2018-12-13 19:52, Baloonon wrote:
    Joerg <news@analogconsultants.com> wrote:

    On 2018-12-12 18:20, Baloonon wrote:

    scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us (Scott Alfter) wrote :

    Baloonon <baloonon@hootmali.com> wrote:

    A circulator rated for high temps would probably keep foam down,
    but even a cheap sous vide would cost around $100, which seems like
    a lot.

    Woot had one a short while back for $40. It's worked like a champ
    so far for its intended purpose, but I don't know that it (or any
    sous-vide cooker) would be able to start or maintain a boil. At 1.2
    kW, the power is (barely) there to slowly boil 5 gallons, but I
    suspect it's not intended to get nearly that hot.

    $40! That's a good deal. How is it for cooking? I've seen people rave
    about them, but then I've seen people rave about Instant Pots too. I
    have one of those, and I like it, but I think it works best on a
    relatively small number of things people use them for.

    Having grown up in Europe we were so used to pressure cookers that we
    still use it a lot here in the US. Stew, goulash, rouladens, and so
    on. Even my grandma had a (gigantic) pressure cooker in the 60's but
    they were always early adopters when it came to technology. We have a
    fancy one from WMF. No digital controls like on an Instant Pot but
    that's no big deal.

    They're good for soups and for things like cooking beans, but they're not
    so useful for things where you want the liquid to cook down, or for things where you're adding a series of ingredients over time.

    On the other hand, InstantPots work just as well at slow cooking as crockpots, so I was able to get rid of my old crockpot.



    I find crockpots more practical but they probably use a few hundred
    watt-hours of electricity more per big meal.

    My wife uses the pressure cooker regularly, like yesterday when cooking goulash. It goes a lot faster and saves energy. Here in the People's
    Republic of California electricity costs almost 30c per kWh and rising,
    fast. Propane wouldn't be much cheaper (here).


    I wish these things worked for brewing but then you'd need some sort
    of double-gated port to add hops and do late additions, and couldn't
    stir. Space station style. Also, AFAIK it's bad to not let steam come
    off the brew kettle.

    Referencing the start of this thread, the valves can get clogged by foam, which can be a big problem. I've never had a pressure cooker blow (InstantPots are supposedly safe that way) but it's supposed to be pretty scary. Not from a true explosion, but from the spraying hot liquid.

    https://what-if.xkcd.com/40/


    Well ...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3CkOunk8fY


    As far as not letting steam escape, I think newer thinking is that the
    risks of DMS are overstated. This is one experiment involving blind taste testing which had the result of no detectable difference between a beer
    with a lid on boil vs. the same recipe with a lid off boil.

    http://brulosophy.com/2016/10/31/the-boil-lid-on-vs-lid-off-exbeeriment- results/


    Very interesting. I have to boil with the lid almost closed, only
    slightly cracked, else no boil because of the weak electrical burners.
    Though I always wondered why we have to boil for 60 minutes of some
    beers even for 90 minutes.

    He's got an impressive chiller coil.

    --
    Regards, Joerg

    http://www.analogconsultants.com/
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  • From Baloonon@baloonon@hootmali.com to rec.crafts.brewing on Sat Dec 15 02:37:14 2018
    From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.brewing

    Joerg <news@analogconsultants.com> wrote:

    On 2018-12-13 19:52, Baloonon wrote:

    As far as not letting steam escape, I think newer thinking is that
    the risks of DMS are overstated. This is one experiment involving
    blind taste testing which had the result of no detectable difference
    between a beer with a lid on boil vs. the same recipe with a lid off
    boil.

    http://brulosophy.com/2016/10/31/the-boil-lid-on-vs-lid-off-exbeeriment- results/

    Very interesting. I have to boil with the lid almost closed, only
    slightly cracked, else no boil because of the weak electrical burners.
    Though I always wondered why we have to boil for 60 minutes of some
    beers even for 90 minutes.

    You may not. If you go to http://brulosophy.com and search for shorter
    boils, you will see some experiments with 30 (+/-) minute boils and the results seem pretty good. Obviously you'd need to play around with brewing software to adjust for hop levels and water volumes in many recipes, but it may be worth trying some home experiments. Some recipes may need longer
    boils for a bit of caramelization, but even then I would bet a bit of trial and error would get good results.

    A lot of newer IPA recipes shift hop additions to the last minutes of the
    boil anyway, so they could definitely be good options for shorter boils.
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