Word of the Day

[Bugeater]

I found this over on rec.crafts.brewing and thought I would share. Credit for finding this goes to Steve Bonine.

Merriam-Webster Word of the Day for January 20 is:

flocculate \FLAH-kyuh-layt\ verb
: to aggregate or coalesce into small lumps or loose clusters

Example sentence:
During fermentation, yeast cells flocculate and either rise to the top or sink to the bottom of the vat.

Did you know?
In the late 16th century, scientists noticed that the loose masses separated from a solution or suspension through precipitation often resembled tufts of wool, and they began to refer to them as "flocks," using another word for "tufts." (This "flock" is not related to the word "flock" that refers to a group of animals, which comes from Old English "flocc," meaning "crowd" or "band.") About two centuries later, the Late Latin term "flocculus" found its way into English and was also used with the meaning "a small loosely aggregated mass." By the end of the 19th century, a whole word family had been formed, including the adjective "flocculent," the noun "floccule," and the verb "flocculate."

Wayne

[BadRock]

This reminded me of work so I thought I would post a clip from Wikipedia about what flocculation means to me.

Flocculation

Flocculation is a process which clarifies the water. Clarifying means removing any turbidity or colour so that the water is clear and colourless. Clarification is done by causing a precipitate to form in the water which can be removed using simple physical methods. Initially the precipitate forms as very small particles but as the water is gently stirred, these particles stick together to form bigger particles - this process is sometimes called flocculation. Many of the small particles that were originally present in the raw water absorb onto the surface of these small precipitate particles and so get incorporated into the larger particles that coagulation produces. In this way the coagulated precipitate takes most of the suspended matter out of the water and is then filtered off, generally by passing the mixture through a coarse sand filter or sometimes through a mixture of sand and granulated anthracite (high carbon and low volatiles coal). Coagulants / flocculating agents that may be used include:

1. Iron (III) hydroxide. This is formed by adding a solution of an iron (III) compound such as iron(III) chloride to pre-treated water with a pH of 7 or greater. Iron (III) hydroxide is extremely insoluble and forms even at a pH as low as 7. Commercial formulations of iron salts were traditionally marketed in the UK under the name Cuprus.

2. Aluminium hydroxide is also widely used as the flocculating precipitate although there have been concerns about possible health impacts and mis-handling led to a severe poisoning incident in 1988 at Camelford in south-west UK when the coagulant was introduced directly into the holding reservoir of final treated water.

3. PolyDADMAC (This is what we typically use ) is an artificially produced polymer and is one of a class of synthetic polymers that are now widely used. These polymers have a high molecular weight and form very stable and readily removed flocs, but tend to be more expensive in use compared to inorganic materials.

[Mylo]

Fuckyoulate

Fuckyoulate is the process by which Shat fucks CrazyBitch. It involves some late night, druken texting - followed by the misidentification of the Rat Pad for the old man neighbor's house, and ends with Shat's window screen getting busted though by the aformentioned sasquatch. There is then a large, squeaky commotion (no pun intended) where psycho pants of "Ahh, Ahh" and "I love you" are heard throughout the Rat Pad. This is not to be confused with the often attempted but never sucessful "Fuckyoulater" whereas Shuman tries to get a little sloppy seconds.


Mylo

[BDawg]

Fuckyoulate

Fuckyoulate is the process by which Shat fucks CrazyBitch. It involves some late night, druken texting - followed by the misidentification of the Rat Pad for the old man neighbor's house, and ends with Shat's window screen getting busted though by the aformentioned sasquatch. There is then a large, squeaky commotion (no pun intended) where psycho pants of "Ahh, Ahh" and "I love you" are heard throughout the Rat Pad. This is not to be confused with the often attempted but never sucessful "Fuckyoulater" whereas Shuman tries to get a little sloppy seconds.


Mylo

[dresselbrew]

Funny. I've used the word flocculate in a conversation before and my friend didn't know what the hell I was talking about. I think I was talking about my septic system and how the lift pump pumps out the water after the solid matter" flocculates" out. I thought it was a common term but I guess it's just common amongst brewers.

[Brew Engineer]

Fuckyoulate

Fuckyoulate is the process by which Shat fucks CrazyBitch. It involves some late night, druken texting - followed by the misidentification of the Rat Pad for the old man neighbor's house, and ends with Shat's window screen getting busted though by the aformentioned sasquatch. There is then a large, squeaky commotion (no pun intended) where psycho pants of "Ahh, Ahh" and "I love you" are heard throughout the Rat Pad. This is not to be confused with the often attempted but never sucessful "Fuckyoulater" whereas Shuman tries to get a little sloppy seconds.


Mylo

+ a whole lot!

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

Fuckyoulate

Fuckyoulate is the process by which Shat fucks CrazyBitch. It involves some late night, druken texting - followed by the misidentification of the Rat Pad for the old man neighbor's house, and ends with Shat's window screen getting busted though by the aformentioned sasquatch. There is then a large, squeaky commotion (no pun intended) where psycho pants of "Ahh, Ahh" and "I love you" are heard throughout the Rat Pad. This is not to be confused with the often attempted but never sucessful "Fuckyoulater" whereas Shuman tries to get a little sloppy seconds.


Mylo

I was going to complain that we were in danger of getting too edumacational in here. Thanks, Mylo!

[TheTodd]

I was talking about . . . how the lift pump pumps out the water after the solid matter" flocculates" out.

I'm sorry Dressel, I got distracted. Are we still talking about Shat and Crazy Bitch here?