BRAND NEW ezRecipe-RO© - βeta Testers Wanted

[ScrewyBrewer]

It's nothing to worry about, I make my RO water the night before brewing too. Last weekend the pH of the water I treated measured 7.13, before it was mixed in with the grains for my Porter. After 20 minutes in the mash the pH reading was 5.43, just 0.02 off from the predicated value. Like I said earlier, measuring the pH of untreated RO water is of little value because the pH can change very easily.

However once adding some alkalinity, in the form of CaSO4, CaCl2, etc. the pH will be able to resist changes due to Co2 in the atmosphere.

[mashani]

If you package your RO water in sealed containers filled as close to the top as you can, it should remain more stable if it worries you.

But yeah, there is a reason that there really isn't "pure" water on the planet except for man made. Water doesn't like to be pure (it's a solvent).

[ScrewyBrewer]

If you package your RO water in sealed containers filled as close to the top as you can, it should remain more stable if it worries you.

But yeah, there is a reason that there really isn't "pure" water on the planet except for man made. Water doesn't like to be pure (it's a solvent).

That's true, in nature water is unique in that it is both a solvent and a glue. It dissolves nearly everything, lipids excluded, but it also sticks to things too, like a beer glass or just about anything in the brewery.

[ScrewyBrewer]

Hey, I don't know how complicated you want to get there, but HopUnion and other hop producers provide information about AA levels vs. age vs. storage conditions (temperature). How much AAs degrade over time varies quite much depending on variety and temperature. If you want to be really ambitious and do something nobody has bothered doing, you could link up that information to your hops and ask people about how old they are and what temperature they stored them at...

What's on the bag is actually pretty much "a lie" unless they have been in the freezer since the moment they were packaged until you use them.

mashani thank you for providing me with such a stimulating and rewarding challenge. After much research and formula manipulation I have taken your advice and added the HSI calculations to the latest release. Values in the Sfactor column represent [1.00 - Stored in non-oxygen barrier bag, or unsealed], [0.75- Sealed in barrier packaging, airtight jars, but not free from oxygen] and [0.50 - Sealed in barrier packaging, airtight jars under vacuum or inert atmosphere such as nitrogen or carbon dioxide] as published on the MoreBeer site.

Example: Brewers Gold, packaged as 8.0% alpha acid, when stored unsealed for 30 days at 68F, will only have 7.1% alpha acid, which amounts to 0.9 AA% loss.

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Thank you for sharing your feedback and recommendations.

[mashani]

Hey that's awesome! Nobody else does it.

EDIT: Just thinking out loud, how do folks here store their hops? I know mine go right into my freezer and only come out before I use them. It looks like your defaulting your storage temp to 68, but I'm wondering if most folks store their hops in their fridge/freezer.

That said, although I know hops are stored cold before shipped to LHBS, LHBS's are all over the place, the one Steve (Dawg) uses stores them in the fridge, the one closest to me sticks them on metal racks at room temperature (and only god knows how long they stay there), so that throws a wrench into things, no matter what there will be some guesswork there, and another one I know does both (fridge until they go onto racks). I'd probably consider at least 30 days @room temp for hops I got from my closest LHBS that doesn't have a fridge for anything but liquid yeast and just gets random LD Carlson shipments. I'm fairly confident that would be about right considering how old their freshest liquid yeast is.

[bpgreen]

Hey that's awesome! Nobody else does it.

EDIT: Just thinking out loud, how do folks here store their hops? I know mine go right into my freezer and only come out before I use them. It looks like your defaulting your storage temp to 68, but I'm wondering if most folks store their hops in their fridge/freezer.

That said, although I know hops are stored cold before shipped to LHBS, LHBS's are all over the place, the one Steve (Dawg) uses stores them in the fridge, the one closest to me sticks them on metal racks at room temperature (and only god knows how long they stay there), so that throws a wrench into things, no matter what there will be some guesswork there, and another one I know does both (fridge until they go onto racks). I'd probably consider at least 30 days @room temp for hops I got from my closest LHBS that doesn't have a fridge for anything but liquid yeast and just gets random LD Carlson shipments. I'm fairly confident that would be about right considering how old their freshest liquid yeast is.

I vacuum seal my hops and freeze them. If I'm using pellet hops, I'll take them out the night before brew day and weigh the amount I want to use, then reseal and freeze the rest. My homegrown hops are in pre-weighed vacuum sealed bags, so I'll get them out and put them in jelly strainers while I'm waiting for the wort to come to a boil. I haven't bought hops at my LHBS in a ling time, but IIRC, they at least keep them in the fridge and may have them in a freezer.

[Beer-lord]

Pretty much my process as well.
Well, except I have no homegrown hops.

[ScrewyBrewer]

The latest release of ezRecipe-RO© is now ready to be tested by The Borg!

As always, please feel free to post your questions or suggestions here.

Compare this release of ezRecipe-RO© against the IBU, SRM, OG, FG, etc. output of your favorite brewing recipe software and let me know what you find.

PS: Also included in this release is my American Porter recipe, to use when comparing ezRecipe-RO© with other recipe software.

[Beer-lord]

Thanks again Vince. I'll play around with it this weekend and hope to brew again in a few weeks and put this into action.
You rock!

[Dawg LB Steve]

Hey that's awesome! Nobody else does it.

EDIT: Just thinking out loud, how do folks here store their hops? I know mine go right into my freezer and only come out before I use them. It looks like your defaulting your storage temp to 68, but I'm wondering if most folks store their hops in their fridge/freezer.

That said, although I know hops are stored cold before shipped to LHBS, LHBS's are all over the place, the one Steve (Dawg) uses stores them in the fridge, the one closest to me sticks them on metal racks at room temperature (and only god knows how long they stay there)

My guy actually uses the freezer for storage and we are so close to LD Carlson where he buys from he makes a weekly run. He has toyed with the idea of buying bulk and repackaging but dropped the idea cause he had no way to keep from oxidizing them during repackaging. Sounds like the hops from your guy would be good hops for Lambics. I put mine directly into the freezer when I get them home and as you pull them out when I start the mash.

[ScrewyBrewer]

My guy actually uses the freezer for storage and we are so close to LD Carlson where he buys from he makes a weekly run. He has toyed with the idea of buying bulk and repackaging but dropped the idea cause he had no way to keep from oxidizing them during repackaging.

Since researching Hop Storage Index I found out how bad it is to store hops in Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE), aka Poly bags. Especially since my LHBS has no way to purge the oxygen out after filling them. I now know to stay away from repackaged hops completely.

[ScrewyBrewer]

The latest release of ezRecipe-RO is now available for testing.

Issue resolved in this release:

Acid contributions, for Acid Malt and Lactic Acid, not updating ph/RA slope
Lactic Acid additions marked in ml

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[Beer-lord]

I hope to brew again late next week and will give this another try and report back.
Once again, THANKS!

[Beer-lord]

Vince, is the link in your first post auto updated to the latest release?

[ScrewyBrewer]

Yes Paul, The link is pointing to the latest release of ezRecipe-RO.