Re: [CH] Little reminders we get every now and then....

Jim Graham (spooky130@cox.net)
Fri, 4 Jul 2008 18:11:15 -0500 

On Fri, Jul 04, 2008 at 05:10:46PM -0500, jim wrote:
> Beer solutions, since you *are* trying to still do some active
> fermentation, in a solution *designed* to grow something, is a
> trickier subject.

You're missing one crucial detail, though:  what you want to survive
is, while you're doing the cleaning/sanitizing, still sitting on the
shelf (the previous starter) in another container.  You're about to
transfer the yeast, and a nice, rich, tiny batch of beer (about 400 mL
per starter in 500 mL flasks, and double that for 1000 mL flasks) to
another container.  Before you transfer over the yeast, you want that
container to be free (or as close as possible) of bacterial
contaminants.  Anything alive in there before you pitch yeast is BAD.
So the objective there is the same at this point whether for brewing
or hot sauce---you want the container you're about to transfer into to
be at least microbiologically clean (sanitized), if not completely
sterile (requires an autoclave or pressure cooker to serve same role).

> I look at it like engineering

As an engineer with a degree in electronics/specialty in telecom (before
working in Intelligence, I was a senior network engineer), I also tend
to look at things that way...when appropriate.  I also have a background
in cooking and brewing.  Engineering solutions don't always fit in those
environments.

> Much more skill and education is required by brewers 
> because they hope to pick out what grows

Not really....  We cultivate the yeast we want to grow (or buy it in
smack packs or, back before BrewTek crapped out, on agar slants) on
agar, and when we're ready to use it, step it up using increasingly
large starters (first being 10 mL---and there, everything MUST be
truly sterile---a torch-type self-standing cigar lighter is used for
the innoculation loop, which actually touches the yeast, and the rest
is sterilized in an autoclave/pressure cooker).  For the remaining
starter batches, very highly sanitized is acceptable (the first, 10 mL,
starter is stepping up from literally only a few cells---*ANY* bacteria
is a MASSIVE contamination ... after that, the yeast cell count is much
higher).

The point is, we don't "pick out what grows" ... we do our best to KILL
what we don't want (bacterial and/or wild yeast contamination) prior to
the introduction of what we do want (our selected strain of yeast).

> whereas hot sauces makers want *nothing* to grow.

See above.  At the stage we're talking about, the objective is the same.
We want to destroy all microbiological contamination.

Where the processes differ is what happens AFTER that.  In brewing, we
pitch yeast into the carefully-sanitized container and the sanitized
(by a 90 minute boil), chilled, and oxygenated (ideally with pure O2)
wort, and do our best to provide the yeasties everything (including
environment---shade, proper temperature, etc.) they need to take what
we've given them and turn it into (if we've done our part correctly)
the beer that we want.  The yeasties make the beer...we just give them
the stuff to make it with.

Btw, a better analogy would be kegging finished beer vs. bottling a
fresh, new batch of hot sauce.

You don't want any microbiological contamination in the kegs, because
it could cause the beer to go bad.  With the fresh, new hot sauce, the
same is true.  Exploding bottles?  Yep, brewers who bottle their beer
can get those too.  We call 'em "glass grenades"...and they can cause
VERY serious harm (i.e., the name is not a joke).

> For a military analogy, a brewer would be a sniper- trying to
> selectively kill only certain things- and a hot sauce maker would
> be a grenade thrower :-) 

Not really.  See above.  The same processes that kill bacterial/wild
yeast contamination will also kill the desired yeast strain.  The
yeast is only added AFTER the mass kill.

> A bit of caution on boiling and pH- more is NOT necessarily better.
> The longer the vinegar/hot sauce solution boils, the LESS effective
> your pH as you start to break down the acid if you boil it too
> vigorous or too long... 

Hmmmmm, nobody told me this before....  I used a gentle 15 minute boil.
And since my pH test strips are OFO/AWOL, I'll just have to assume that
it's all ok.

Later,
   --jim

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