A few noobie questions

[EddieWess]

1) My house has a septic tank. Does anyone know if, when I clean my carboy after racking after primary fermentation, the yeasts and stuff will have any bad reactions to my septic tank or will it have any effect at all?

2) I like the idea of someday coming up with some artwork for labels for my beer. If I started using labels do they / will they need to come off the bottles each time I reuse them?

3) Any reason not to run bottles through the dishwasher without soap before bottling. I would still use Star San on them before bottling.

Thanks in advance.

 

[mbird]

1) my friend down the street asked this same question of the septic guy that came to do a repair and my friend was told that the yeast will have no ill effect on the bacterial system.
2) chances are that the labels will be damaged when you go to clean and sanitize the bottles. Plan on replacing them.
3) If the bottles are new, then no problem. If you are re-using bottles of beer you drunk or salvaged then they should be cleaned and sanitized even if you rinsed the bottle thoroughly after emptying them.
mark
Beer Diary...

 

[IowaHarry]

The yeast will actualy be beneficial to your septic tank by joining with the existing bacteria and such in breaking down....well, you know what's in there.

 

[Parker36]

The yeast will actualy be beneficial to your septic tank by joining with the existing bacteria and such in breaking down....well, you know what's in there.

Poop! Its poop, isn't it?

 

[taylornate]

I read in "How to brew" by John Palmer that putting bottles through the dishwasher with the heat to dry option turned on is a legit way of sanitizing the bottles.

 

[EddieWess]

I read in "How to brew" by John Palmer that putting bottles through the dishwasher with the heat to dry option turned on is a legit way of sanitizing the bottles.

That's exactly what I want to do, does Palmer mean I don't have to do any further sanitizing [with Starsan] of the bottles?

 

[IowaHarry]

Poop! Its poop, isn't it?

Ding ding ding ding ding! We have a winner!

 

[GroosBrewz]

WE all know what yeast need to survive- Food and proper temps among other things.. Neither of these are going to be found in your septic tank.. In other words, the harsh environment is going to kill your yeast very quickly.. God, can you image high krausen bubbling up through your drains from the septic tank? You thought high krausen in a carboy looked gross.... As for the dishwasher, done it a hundred times and never had any contam or off flavors

 

[Kungpaodog]

1)
2) I like the idea of someday coming up with some artwork for labels for my beer. If I started using labels do they / will they need to come off the bottles each time I reuse them?

I loved Revvy's idea of making hanging labels for bottles. Think like the 'do not disturb' signs for hotel rooms that hang from the door knob, only bottle sized. You could re-use them quite a few times if you were careful.

I made labels for all my beer I gave out for christmas, and I don't think any of them will survive the cleaning process very well.

 

[chrisprince]

Hey guys! I'm a noob too. I'd appreciate any input on my equipment. You can see the pictures in my profile.
I am building a C-PVC manifold and am almost finished. Also, I was wondering what yall think about the setup of my mash tun. Specifically, the house bib instead of the traditional ball valve. Thanks in advance!

 

[IowaHarry]

WE all know what yeast need to survive- Food and proper temps among other things.. Neither of these are going to be found in your septic tank.. In other words, the harsh environment is going to kill your yeast very quickly.. God, can you image high krausen bubbling up through your drains from the septic tank? You thought high krausen in a carboy looked gross.... As for the dishwasher, done it a hundred times and never had any contam or off flavors

I have to disagree with you there. We all know what yeast need to thrive. At this time of year ground temperatures below the frost line will be in the low 50's. Yeast can be frozen and walk away from it. Hot kills yeast not cold. And there are all kinds of food items that yeast can make use of, we just prefer to feed them pure sugar. How do you think it has survived in the wild for millions of years? Yes, it may be a harsh competetive environment but far from sure death. And it would smell bad too.

 

[Bob]

Hey guys! I'm a noob too. I'd appreciate any input on my equipment. You can see the pictures in my profile.
I am building a C-PVC manifold and am almost finished. Also, I was wondering what yall think about the setup of my mash tun. Specifically, the house bib instead of the traditional ball valve. Thanks in advance!

I don't see a problem with it. Needle and gate valves are still valves, after all, just like ball valves.

Cheers,

Bob

 

[chrisprince]

Awesome thanks Bob.

 

[boxerbrew]

Yeast in the septic system is GOOD. It will help breakdown all the things going on down there(we all know whats going on down there). I would worry more about dumping sanitizer down your drains as we know this kills bacteria. Keep the one-step and the iodophor dumped out on the sidewalk or the like and keep the yeast and primary cleanup going down the toilet. Better yet..................YEAST WASHING!!!!! Re-use the yeast, don't flush it!!!(but it won't hurt to flush it)

 

[cowboycoach]

Here's my first noobie question. What is the correlation between Alpha Acid Units and International Bittering Units? Is there a conversion chart?

My recipe (my first brew, of course) has AAU's equaling 5.5. It seems most of the literature and forums seem to mention IBU's.

Any help please...

 

[Bob]

There is no correlation between IBU and AAU. It's not like Celsius and Fahrenheit.

AAU was invented by Charlie Papazian, and is simply the measure of alpha acids added to the wort for the full, 60-minute boil. Thus, one ounce of Cascades at 6%AA is 6 AAU.

IBU are measured by chemical analysis of the finished beer, measuring the parts per million of certain isomerized hops compounds.

AAU are only used by homebrewers, and even few of those. In the days before advanced brewing software, AAU were useful because it's a simple calculation which permits repeatability.

IBU are the industry standard. Even if you can't afford to have your beer analyzed - it's bloody expensive! - the math is straightforward enough I can do it. Luckily, all currently available brewing software will calculate this for you. But if you'd like to take a stab at doing it on paper, here you go:

IBU = 7489 \times \frac {W_{oz} \times A \times U} {V_{gal} \times C_{gravity}}

Where:

• 7489 is the conversion from ounces/gallon to milligrams/liter.
• W is the weight of hops in ounces.
• A is the alpha acid content of the hops (as a decimal). This value is normally expressed as a percent when purchasing hops.
• U is a percent utilization factor. Essentially how efficiently the alpha acids were extracted from the hops.
• V is the final volume of beer in the kettle in gallons.
• C is the correction factor for boils where the gravity is 1.050 or higher during the boil. Below 1.050, the correction factor is 1 (i.e. there is no effect). For worts above 1.050, the formula is: C_{gravity} = 1 + \frac{ {G_{boil} - 1.050}} {0.2} Therefore, a wort with a gravity of 1.075 would have a correction factor of 1.125.

Clear as mud?

Bob