Why is it called Hot Liquor Tun?

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CowboyShootist

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Why is the HLT called a Hot Liquor Tun if it's only used to heat the water for mashing/sparging?

Besides the mash water and sparge water are there any other liquids that you would run through the HLT?

Thanks in advance
TC
 
HLT=Hot Liquor TANK.

In commercial brewing parlance, liquor=water.

So you have the Hot Liquor Tank, basically a hot water heater. In some breweries you also have the Cold Liquor Tank to help in chilling the wort.
 
Thanks. I was mostly interested in the Liquor part of the name.

I guess Hot Water Heater just doesn't sound quite as sophisticated. :) :)
 
If you said water instead of liquor,
If you said water heater instead of hot liquor tank,
If you said rinse instead of sparge,
If you said hot soak instead of mash,
If you said all of the grain instead of grist,
If you said big pot instead of tun,
If you said dump the grain into the big pot instead of dough in,
If you said clearing instead of fining,
If you said recirculate instead of vorlauf,
If you said bottom crud instead of trub,
If you said top crud instead of krausen...

Then any old schmuck could figure out how to make his own beer!
 
Nice Yuri...

You're absolutely right, we must defend our acronyms and terminology otherwise anyone could come in here and pretend to be the experts that we think we are! :)
 
If you said water instead of liquor,
If you said hot water heater instead of hot liquor tank,
If you said rinse instead of sparge,
If you said hot soak instead of mash,
If you said all of the grain instead of grist,
If you said big pot instead of tun,
If you said dump the grain into the big pot instead of dough in,
If you said clearing instead of fining,
If you said recirculate instead of vorlauf,
If you said bottom crud instead of trub,
If you said top crud instead of krausen...

Then any old schmuck could figure out how to make his own beer!


finally it all makes sense! ;)
 
If you said water instead of liquor,
If you said hot water heater instead of hot liquor tank,
If you said rinse instead of sparge,

Then any old schmuck could figure out how to make his own beer!

No, he got it ;)

And technically, it's a water heater. You don't need to heat hot water.
 
No, he got it ;)

And technically, it's a water heater. You don't need to heat hot water.

Well technically it would depend on how hot the water is and how hot you want it to be so you might actually heat "hot" water to make it hotter. :)
 
Well technically it would depend on how hot the water is and how hot you want it to be so you might actually heat "hot" water to make it hotter. :)

Ask any plumber and he will tell you its a water heater b/c you dont need to heat hot water. I got a big lecture on that my first day on the job working for a plumbing wholesale company. :D
 
Ask any plumber and he will tell you its a water heater b/c you dont need to heat hot water. I got a big lecture on that my first day on the job working for a plumbing wholesale company. :D

Not to get too far :off: but at what temperature is water "hot"? Would that be relative to the ambient or room temperature? :)

If water is frozen at 32F then that would seem "cold" to me but is 33 hot or just less cold? At what point does water transition from being cold water to just water and then to hot water?

Darn, I might have to call a plumber! :)
 
Hot water? Just ask your guberdent. The minimum temperature for hot water is 104F according to the departments in charge of harassing landlords. The maximum temperature for hot water is 104F according to the departments in charge of protecting people too stupid to mix in some cold water. (Based on actual case law.)
 
I get that same lecture (more like 'comment' in my case) when I slip and say hot water heater. I still slip up sometimes.

It's just a word thing...like not putting toast in a toaster. It's not so much what went in but rather what came out that we're interested in. But when you say 'hot water heater' everybody knows what you meant.
 
No, he got it ;)

And technically, it's a water heater. You don't need to heat hot water.
I think 135*F water is hot, but still needs heated to strike with, So I am heating hot water until I turn off my burner.

Ask any plumber and he will tell you its a water heater b/c you dont need to heat hot water. I got a big lecture on that my first day on the job working for a plumbing wholesale company. :D
Good thing we're not plumbing :D If it's not boiling yet, you're heating hot water.

And Yuri, Very cool list. Might hang that in the bar. But with some other addage at the end....hmm think think think.

To hang beside the brewer's Prayer


The Brewer’s Elite

If you said “Water” instead of “Liquor”,
If you said “Water Heater” instead of “Hot Liquor Tank”,
If you said “Rinse” instead of “Sparge”,
If you said “Hot Soak” instead of “Mash”,
If you said “All of the Grain” instead of “Grist”,
If you said “Big Pot” instead of “Tun”,
If you said “Dump the Grain into the Big Pot” instead of “Dough In”,
If you said “Clearing” instead of “Fining”,
If you said “Recirculate” instead of “Vorlauf”,
If you said “Bottom Crud” instead of “Trub”,
If you said “Top Crud” instead of “Krausen”...

Then Any Old Schmuck Could Brew!
 
I can't help but read each line in Yuri's post to the tune of If 6 was 9 by Jimi Hendrix.

Dum-dum
tst...tst...tst....tstssssssss
Dum-dum
tst...tst...tst....tstssssssss
If you said clearin'...
instead of fining...
...I'm not mindin'
 
I can't help but read each line in Yuri's post to the tune of If 6 was 9 by Jimi Hendrix.

Dum-dum
tst...tst...tst....tstssssssss
Dum-dum
tst...tst...tst....tstssssssss
If you said clearin'...
instead of fining...
...I'm not mindin'

Bravo!!! The Brewer's Anthem is thusly created!!!

...and with reference to Jimi, it definitely needs this: :fro:
 
I get that same lecture (more like 'comment' in my case) when I slip and say hot water heater. I still slip up sometimes.

It's just a word thing...like not putting toast in a toaster. It's not so much what went in but rather what came out that we're interested in. But when you say 'hot water heater' everybody knows what you meant.

I think we generallyt call it a "hot water tank" here in Canada, at least in BC.
 
"HLT" is really really incorrect. Water by definition is just water. Liquor can be anything mixed with water and is referenced from tea to soup.

But hot water is still just hot water.
 
Water is what you clean with. Liquor is what you brew with.

+1. Jargon is important. Think of it as linguistic shorthand.

I've got a really kewl jargon word for the list: vollmundigkeit. Literally translated, it's 'fullness in the mouth', but it's far more intricate than that, at least according to German brewmasters. Brewers often use vollmundigkeit as an analogue for 'mouthfeel'.

I first encountered the word researching the 1950s Brooklyn lager beer listed in my drop-down. It's a really neat word to drop amongst all those uber-cool brewers who use words like vorlauf and krauesen in normal conversation. :D

Bob
 
I used to take a college environmental geology class on a tour through the water treatment center in our town. You know, the place with all of the poop? They had numerous lines/tanks labeled liquor, they were full of various stages of degraded poop and pee.
I like Hot Water Tank.
-Ander
 
"HLT" is really really incorrect. Water by definition is just water. Liquor can be anything mixed with water and is referenced from tea to soup.

But hot water is still just hot water.

I would argue that since many of us are adjusting our water with brewing salts or buffers of some sort, it fits the definition of 'liquor'. :)

Ultimately, call it what you want - I just use the technical jargon of brewing. I gotta say, vollmundigkeit is a personal favorite of mine.
 
just to argue and have a bit of fun

It seems as though the actual definition of liquor can include a lot of things, I left out the obvious ones relating to booze
I like "an aqueous solution of a nonvolatile substance", here in the brewing process the liquid ceases to be liquor with the introduction of volatiles, i.e. the isomerazation of alpha acids or some of the various DMS precursor compounds

Liquor
2. A rich broth resulting from the prolonged cooking of meat or vegetables, especially greens. Also called pot liquor.
3. An aqueous solution of a nonvolatile substance.
4. A solution, emulsion, or suspension for industrial use.

Liquor
2. any liquid in which food has been cooked [Latin liquere to be liquid]

Liquor
2. a liquid substance that is a solution (or emulsion or suspension) used or obtained in an industrial process; "waste liquors"

From thrfreedictionary.com
 

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