Cole-Parmer offers several options to ensure safe temperatures of food, especially meat. The Taylor^® Food Service Thermometers determine if the correct food temperature has been met and maintained. The Cole-Parmer^® Stainless Steel Pocket Thermometers offer easy-read dials. NSF-Approved Digital Pocket Thermometers deliver a quick response (about 30 seconds) for most readings and a digital reading. The Cole-Parmer^® Thermometer with Alarm/Timer (shown) allows users to view temperature, time, and set point simultaneously and also accurately program the alarm for easy use. Each of the models contains probes to penetrate dense meat surfaces.

One of the key applications in this process is enzyme dosing in Grain Distillery liquefaction. The role of the enzyme is to break the starch into glucose. The enzyme is added to the liquefaction tank 24 hours a day. A precise volume is required to be delivered at very low but variable rates, depending on the process and size of the tank.

The sugar factory was initially using diaphragm metering pumps to deliver the enzymes but experienced leakage and blockages in the metering pump system. Transferring and dispensing highly viscous products or high-solid concentrated products can create problems, while handling shear-sensitive products can bring another set of problems. Food processors must also maintain contamination-free flow and meet stringent product quality and safety requirements while simultaneously maintaining high production rates. Efficient fluid handling and flow control with minimal downtime is paramount.

Masterflex® L/S® Economy Variable-Speed Pump

Cole-Parmer leveraged its knowledge of pumps and brought to the table the Masterflex^® L/S^® Economy Variable-Speed Pump with Easy-Load^® II pump head and PharMed^® BPT thermoplastic elastomer tubing. This pump is designed to handle the toughest process applications and achieves high flow rates of up to 9.8 gallons per minute (37.1 LPM). The system offers a high degree of durability which reduces costs, downtime, and improves the overall operating efficiency. The performance of the Masterflex peristaltic pump more than measured up to expectations—with substantial reduction in service and maintenance costs, convenient batch-to-batch changeover, and reduced downtime.

August is National Water Quality Month

In August the only water you may be thinking about is the nearest pool. Yet, as National Water Quality Month, the reality is not all of our water supply is equal in quality.  Did you know that each year in the US, by July 1, your local water supplier should provide your household with a water quality report?  Your water quality report (or drinking water quality report) summarizes the sources from which your water originates (such as rivers, lakes, reservoirs, etc) and contaminants detected, as well as includes compliance and educational information.

Because poor water quality not only impacts our personal health but also affects scientific research, Cole-Parmer offers effective water quality solutions.   As scientists and researchers, take a moment to consider the quality of water in your laboratory to ensure the integrity of your applications.  Consider a water purification system if your incoming water quality is poor.

As personal consumers, take a moment to learn about the quality of water in your community and in your household.  For more information regarding water quality, and tips on safe drinking water at home, visit the website for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):  http://water.epa.gov/

Through hundreds of papers and consultations with wineries in France, Italy, Spain and the US, Peynaud shared his expertise in vinification practices. He advocated for a balance of acidity, tannins, fruit, and alcohol to produce flavorful wines. Though initially criticized, Peynaud advised winemakers to encourage and control malolactic fermentation. He also offered insights on the scientific processes of winemaking, including the timing of harvests, choosing the best grapes, controlling fermentation temperatures, and more. One colleague asserted that Peynaud’s work brought discipline to the winemaking process.

As comfortable in cellars as he was in the classroom, Peynaud’s legacy lives on through his influence in the industry, his books―and the appreciation of wine connoisseurs around the world. Mr. Peynaud passed away on July 18, 2004.

More about Fermentation

The fermentation process refers to the production of a large culture of a microorganism. Either the microorganism itself or the byproducts of the microorganism may be used for further manipulation and product development.

Cole-Parmer Antifoam and Carbon Dioxide Meters/Controllers

Successful fermentation processes require tight control of parameters such as aeration/dissolved oxygen (DO), carbon dioxide (CO₂), pH, temperature, and foam. Accurate control is imperative to maximize cell growth and productivity.

For a selection guide to cell culture fermentation systems, read this.

Cole-Parmer IFT 2001 Gift Pack

Not only is June National Dairy Month, but one of the largest food shows in the industry begins in just a few days. The Cole-Parmer booth at IFT® in New Orleans will feature efficient new products for food scientists and processors:

• The breakthrough picoSpin™ Benchtop NMR Spectrometer from Cole-Parmer is the world’s first miniature NMR spectrometer. The 45-MHz picoSpin spectrometer is affordable, portable, and easy to use.
•  The new Atago® Programmable Digital Refractometers with Touch Screen have a built-in thermomodule to ensure accuracy while also eliminating the need for a water bath circulator. Use this fully featured device to determine the refractive index of citrus, animal, or vegetable oils, and more. Take precise Brix measurements of fruit and concentrated juices, canned syrups, liquid sugars, and glucose with a Brix range of 0.00 to 100.00%.
• The Oakton® Benchtop pH 700 Series Meters offer a compact footprint more than 40% smaller than similar benchtop meters―saving valuable space in the research lab. Visit the booth to see their oversized LCDs, with optimal visibility even at a distance. Instruments for food quality and safety testing will also be available, including viscometers, thermometers, and more.

What’s in it for you? Each day one raffle winner will receive a New Orleans Gift Pack valued at more than $200. The bags include a variety of “survive and thrive in New Orleans” items including a cooler, water bottle, gift certificate, and more. Register to win.

Keep in mind that temperature measurement is essential for proper food storage, cooking, and serving. Quick checks with a thermometer can ensure safety and a non-contact thermometer can remove the hazard of cross-contamination.

Oakton® Food Safety Infrared Thermometer

Check critical food temperatures with handheld infrared food thermometers. The Oakton^® Food TempTestr Basic Infrared Thermometer provides safe, non-contact readings in a half-second. With easy one-handed operation, the thermometer also features laser sighting to pinpoint your exact target, selectable degrees (F/C) display, steam interference filter, and a hold function that freezes display for seven seconds after button release. The Oakton^® Food Safety Infrared Thermometer is a combination contact/noncontact thermometer for all food applications. Its LED rapidly indicates if food temperature is in the bacterial growth safety zone. Green lights indicate safe temperatures below 40°F (4°C) and above 140°F (60°C). Red light indicates the HACCP danger zone between 40 to 140°F (4 to 60°C). The Raytek Infrared Thermometer is specifically designed for use in food applications. As a contact thermometer, it measures surfaces within ±2°F of the critical temperature zone of 32 to 150°F- the range where harmful bacteria grows most rapidly.

In recognition of December 17 as Maple Syrup Day, Cole-Parmer shares the story of Rascher’s Sugar House and its process enhancements with the Masterflex® B/T® Variable-Speed Pump.

Three miles from the Vermont border, Rascher’s Sugar House resides as a beacon to maple syrup lovers. Owner Steve Rascher is sweet on quality and the syrup he produces is a testament to his efforts. Rascher is an international award-winner in contests judging density, clarity, color, foreign materials, and, especially, taste of the smooth amber liquid.

The sap for his syrup is drawn from more than 5,000 trees. In business since 1945, Rascher constantly monitors the variables of weather, time, temperature, and evaporation residency to enhance the quality of the syrup he produces, as well as the efficiency of his process.

Yet even Rascher was surprised to learn he could improve his process. Rascher ordered a Masterflex® B/T® Variable-Speed Pump from Cole-Parmer. The washdown pump is designed to handle the toughest process applications and achieves high flow rates of up to 9.8 gallons per minute. Rascher bought the pump to supplement the veteran double-bellows device he uses for about half of his grove.

Masterflex® B/T® Variable-Speed Pump

Once he installed the pump, Rascher immediately noticed efficiencies. “The Masterflex B/T pump has marvelously improved my operation,” he said. “It has reduced my labor more than half and eliminated trucking from remote collection tanks. It pumps the sap from about 3,000 trees into a stainless steel tank.”

Rascher installed seven miles of food-grade plastic tubing running from his trees across the road into the building housing the pumping system. With this setup, he no longer has to haul sap from remote tanks, load it into his truck, and unload it at the Sugar House. Plus, the sap never touches the air, retaining its purity. It goes directly from the tree to the tank, is concentrated through evaporation, and then heated to make syrup. In addition to enhancing his process and saving time, Rascher is pleased that even the quality of his already-stellar product was elevated.

“In 2010, for the first time, Rascher Sugar House has been recognized as Federally Certified Organic,” said Rascher. “At this point, we are the only private enterprise maple syrup producer in the state of New York to be able to make that claim.”

However, there are alternatives to the traditional caviar or fish eggs. The method of producing these alternatives is much more cost-effective and certainly less taxing on the sturgeon.  One company uses kelp, a marine plant filled with nutrients, which is fat free, cholesterol free, and has zero calories.  Plus, because kelp caviar is a plant, this “caviar” may appeal to vegetarians.

The kelp is ground into a thick gelatinous solution and, with the help of a Masterflex® pump, the solution is pumped through a separator which outputs tiny kelp “pearls.”  This brief video shows how kelp caviar is made with a Masterflex pump, and raises the question, what can’t you do with a Masterflex pump?

Masterflex Peristaltic pump helps manufacture kelp caviar

Measuring the temperature of fruit-sugar mixture for fruit gelee candies

This fall, the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) launched a Science & Cooking Lecture Series and Course. Featuring Harvard professors teaching alongside renowned chefs (including Ferran Adrià, José Andrés, and Wylie Dufresne), the course was designed to explore the relationship between science and food. Cole-Parmer donated laboratory equipment in support of the first-of-its-kind class, including thermometers, cooling and heating baths, balances, and waterproof pH pocket meters.

The equipment is used in the kitchen experimentation component of the course, which also features lectures and demonstrations. Covering topics including viscosity, emulsions, gelation, browning and oxidations, and more, the teaching team seeks to expand the boundaries of gastronomic science. For example, students study thermal energy as it applies to pressure cooking and steaming, learn the rheological properties of bread dough, and discern the effects of kinetics processes on the texture of food.

“Cooking provides an ideal framework to study a variety of complex phenomena―from basic chemistry to materials science to applied physics―through something familiar to all students: food,” said David A. Weitz, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Applied Physics in SEAS and the Department of Physics at Harvard.

Chef Ferran Adrià’s own nonprofit Alícia foundation originally collaborated with the Harvard team to bring his vision of applying scientific principles to the art of cooking into a reality. Other sponsors include Whole Foods, Le Creuset, Mars Chocolate, José Andrés ThinkFood Group, and Esade Business School.

Cole-Parmer® Stir-Pak® General Purpose Laboratory Mixers

With July as National Ice Cream Month, we turn our attention to some savvy equipment that can help prepare delicious treats. Specifically, today’s focus is mixers. Cole-Parmer offers a broad selection of mixers and mixer products for various applications. Selecting an appropriate mixer is easy once you consider the variables:         

• Container capacity: tank diameter and batch height
• Liquid viscosity: different types of liquids display different characteristics when force is applied. Four most common types of liquid behavior are listed below—all of our mixers are to be used with fluids exhibiting Newtonian, pseudoplastic, or thixotropic behaviors.
• –Dilatant Liquids—viscosity increases as shear rate increases. Mixers can bog down and stall after initially mixing such liquids. Dilatant liquids include slurries, clay, and candy compounds. View Real-Torque Digital Brushless Mixers.
   –Newtonian Liquids—viscosity remains constant regardless of shear rate or agitation. As mixer speed increases, flow increases proportionately. Newtonian liquids include water, mineral oils, and hydrocarbons. See the Cole-Parmer® Stir-Pak® General Purpose Laboratory Mixers.
   –Pseudoplastic Liquids—viscosity decreases as shear rate increases, but initial viscosity may be sufficiently great to prevent mixing. Typical pseudoplastic liquids are gels, latex paints, and lotions.
   –Thixotropic Liquids—as with pseudoplastic liquids, viscosity decreases as shear rate or agitation increases. When agitation is stopped or reduced, hysteresis occurs and viscosity increases. Often the viscosity will not return to its initial value. Thixotropic liquids include soaps, tars, shortening, glue, inks, and peanut butter. 
• Torque requirements: the rotational force required of the mixer motor—measured in in-oz or in-lb. Torque and speed are inversely related (as speed increases, torque decreases).
• Horsepower (hp) requirements: the efficiency required of the mixer motor with regard to torque (in-oz) and to the rotation speed (in revolutions per minute—rpm) as defined by the following equation: hp = (in-oz x rpm)/1,008,400
• Rotational speed (rpm) and diameter of mixing propeller: A small increase in the rpm or diameter greatly increases the power required for mixing. This relationship can be expressed as follows: Power α rpm³ x dia⁵
• Duty cycle: the time interval devoted to starting, running, stopping, and idling when a device is used intermittently.
• Power supply: electric (115 or 230 VAC) or air-drive mixers for areas where electricity is unsafe or impractical.

NSF-Flat-Surface Pocket Thermometer

As the Fourth of July holiday nears, many are planning picnics and barbeques as they await the evening fireworks. Grilled brats, hamburgers, hot dogs, steak, fish, and chicken are typical fare for a summer feast. Yet, if meat is undercooked, it can lead to foodborne illness with symptoms including upset stomachs, diarrhea, fever, vomiting, cramps, dehydration, and more.       

To avoid ending the party before the light show begins, check the internal temperature of meat prior to serving it. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends a temperature of at least 71 °C (160 °F) for ground beef and at least 63 °C (145 °F) for steaks and fish. Poultry requires even higher temperatures 74°C (165 °F). Temperatures should be measured in the thickest part of the meat.      

NSF-Flat-Surface Pocket ThermometerCole-Parmer offers several NSF-Approved Digital Pocket Thermometers ideal for checking food temperatures. The economical Basic Thermometer has a temperature range of -40 to 300 °F and features a data hold button to freeze readings. The Cole-Parmer® Thermometer has °F/°C switchable ranges and displays updates every second. The Taylor® Flat-Edged Dial Safe T-Guard Thermometer includes a microbial sleeve with an additive that inhibits bacterial and fungal growth. The Flat-Surface Thermometer  is ideal for measuring temperatures on cooking grills, motors, or other flat surfaces. Many more options are also available online.    

Make it a safe holiday. As you grill out, keep the temperatures rising.

Home brewers love the Love Temperature Controller.   

Read our community contributed 35 product reviews and 11 Questions and Answers.

The Love On/Off Economical Temperature Controllers (110 VAC, °F) are ideal for on/off control applications where a digital display and an adjustable deadband are needed over a limited temperature range.  Use with packaging equipment, food cooling and chilling equipment, wine cellars, and more! 

$65  - BUY ME NOW from coleparmer.com!

	Digital display and adjustable deadband for a very economical price
	Powerful 16 A, SPST relay can run up to a ¾ hp compressor
	Feature password protection and error messages
	Include thermistor probe with 5-ft cable

 

View all of the details on this product.

What makes coffee so bitter, aside from being constantly cast as a wake-up caller? Two classes of compounds have been ID’d as the perpetrators, according to chemists in Germany and the United States who say they have identified the chemicals that appear to be largely responsible for java’s bitterness, a finding that could one day lead to a better tasting brew. Their study, one of the most detailed chemical analyses of coffee bitterness to date, was presented Tuesday at the American Chemical Society national meeting in Boston.

Research by others over the past few years has identified an estimated 25 to 30 compounds that could contribute to the perceived bitterness of coffee. But the main cause of coffee bitterness has remained largely unexplored until now, the researchers say.

“Everybody thinks that caffeine is the main bitter compound in coffee, but that’s definitely not the case,” said study leader Thomas Hofmann, Ph.D., a professor of food chemistry and molecular sensory science at the Technical University of Munich in Germany. Only 15 percent of java’s perceived bitterness is due to caffeine, he estimates, noting that caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee both have similar bitterness qualities.

Roasting is the key factor driving bitter taste in coffee beans. “So the stronger you roast the coffee, the more harsh it tends to get,” Hofmann says, adding that prolonged roasting triggers a cascade of chemical reactions that lead to the formation of the most intense bitter compounds.

Using advanced chromatography techniques and a human sensory panel trained to detect coffee bitterness, Hofmann and his associates found that coffee bitterness is due to two main classes of compounds: chlorogenic acid lactones and phenylindanes, both of which are antioxidants found in roasted coffee beans. The compounds are not present in green (raw) beans, the researchers note. Ironically, the lactones and the phenylindanes are derived from chlorogenic acid, which is not itself bitter.

Chlorogenic acid lactones, which include about 10 different chemicals in coffee, are the dominant source of bitterness in light to medium roast brews. Phenylindanes, which are the chemical breakdown products of chlorogenic acid lactones, are found at higher levels in dark roasted coffee, including espresso. These chemicals exhibit a more lingering, harsh taste than their precursors, which helps explain why dark-roasted coffees are generally more bitter, Hofmann says.

Perception of bitterness can also be influenced by how the coffee is brewed.. Espresso-type coffee, which is made using high pressure combined with high temperatures, tends to produce the highest levels of bitter compounds. While home-brewed coffee and standard coffee shop brews are relatively similar in their preparation methods, their perceived bitterness can vary considerably depending on the roasting degree of the beans, the amount of coffee used, and the variety of beans used.

Some instant coffees are actually less bitter than regular coffee, Hofmann says. This is because their method of preparation, namely pressure extraction, degrades some of the bitter compounds. In some cases, as much as 30 to 40 percent fewer chlorogenic acid lactones are produced, leading to a reduced perception of bitterness, he says.

“Now that we’ve clarified how the bitter compounds are formed, we’re trying to find ways to reduce them,” Hofmann says. He and his associates are currently exploring ways to specially process the raw beans after harvesting to reduce their potential for producing bitterness. They are also experimenting with different bean varieties in an effort to improve taste. But so far, none of these approaches—details of which are being kept confidential by the researchers—is ready for commercialization, he notes.

What makes coffee bitter?
Oral Presentation, August 21, 2007
American Chemical Society National Meeting
Boston, Mass.