Mashing and sparging

[Andy]

Hi Guys, thought i might pick your collective brains, as my mashing is pretty awful, and about to drive me back to malt extract.

i seem to get really low yield, and as i only measure the gravity post boil, end up tossing heaps of extract or sugar in to bring the gravity to where it should be to match the hops.

Anyway...
How fine should my grind be, as i still have what seem to be whole grains in the mash, should they all be broken.
Any hints on chillibin mash setup for sparging would be helpful, as i never seem to get my wort to run clear, and the gravity is way low. A bit frustrating having to resize the batch,(or top up with something fermentable to get the gravity to match the hops)

Any suggestions, or links appreciated.
Cheers.

[JoKing]

All grains should be crushed at least in half mate. There should be around 25% empty husks in there too.

To get your runoff clear, you want to collect it a litre at a time, then tip it back in the top until it looks clear enough. Then run it into your kettle. When you have collected most or all of the wort, measure how much more water you need in your kettle and ad that volume back into your mash. Stir it in well, then recirculate a few more times, then fill your kettle up.

Hope this help.

[Stu McKinlay]

What is your efficiency? My first advice, without knowing the answer to that question, is: It doesn't really matter too much what it is, as long as it is pretty consistent.

You want all of your grains broken. Mine is like a combination of husk and flour. My run off, when I'm patient, is virtually crystal clear.
Clarity? Good milling, a slow run off and gentle recirculation are the keys. It takes me 60-90min to recirculate and run off (fly sparge) about 45L.

Got any all-grain homebrewers near by that can take a look at your set-up, or that you can take a look at theirs?

[jt]

Greytown - Peak Brewery and Bambule ?

[Dai]

I get the homebrew store to crush my grains as I am too cheap to buy my own mill (well, I'll get one at some stage). May be you could ask them to do this for you. I am in Hamilton and the shop up here is excellent for crushing grains. I sometimes order through the Dunedin Malt House as they are very reasonable (even with the freight up here), but if you get him to mill it, ask him to run the grains through twice as I have found that if he doesn't then many of the husks are still whole.

[jt]

So what is the efficiency and what's the beer taste like ?

I had very cloudy run offs to start and I was getting very husky beers, but like Stu says, gentle recirculation is one of the keys. I also remember Stu mentioning a clearer wort being better for your hops too

[denimglen]

What's your setup? Tube-manifold, braided hose, false bottom? Batch sparge or fly sparge?

All grains should be broken and crushed, as fine as possible so that you don't get a stuck mash or have torn grain husks.

Measure gravity pre-boil, the gravity reading isn't constant but the amount of sugar in the wort is, ie you can calculate the post-boil gravity from pre-boil gravity if you know what your post boil volume is. Measure gravity of your last runnings, you may find that you are leaving sugars behind in the mash, you can go as low as 1.010, may need to run off more and boil harder or longer.

What's your water like? Very soft? If so think about adding some calcium to the mash, it helps the enzymes with conversion.

Now just wait for reviled to come in and suggest BIAB :-P

[Reviled]

:oP ROFL, awesome! I thought about it this morning, but thought I wouldnt cos hes allready got the gear... But what the hell...

Has anyone mentioned BIAB to ya :o) hahaha... No sparging (unless you add that step in yourself), brewing in one vessel instead of three, all ya need is a burner, a big ass pot, and a bag :o)

www.BIABrewer.info

There I did it ;oP

[denimglen]

Haha, you're like the realbeer.co.nz spokesman for BIAB, good on ya.

I'm gonna do a couple of small batches of big beer over the holidays and am thinking of BIAB'ing them.

[Reviled]

lol, im just so dedicated to the cause cos its done so much for me :o) Why not share the love! The good thing is, you can allways upgrade from BIAB by keeping your kettle should you want to.

I had a thought after watching Barrys 3 vessel set up, people go to alot of trouble finding false bottoms etc, braided hose and all that, why not just line the chilli bin with a BIAB bag, the material is fine as and would work just like a false bottom yeah? Then after youve sparged and you want to get rid of your grain, just lift the bag out, give the chilli bin a quick rinse and youre pretty much done...

Anyone see a problem with that?

[denimglen]

I don't, as long as the bag doesn't suck into the outlet of the bin - but that's easily worked around. I was actually thinking of BIAB'ing in a small cylindrical cooler I have for the above mentioned beers.

[JoKing]

Poor Andy will be reading your guys conversation thinking to himself "How the hell does this help me??!!"

[Reviled]

Sorry, bit of a thread jack there, but it makes for interesting conversation :o) haha...

Glen, why not just BIAB in your kettle? Then you just need to rip the bag out and bring it to the boil, less hassle than having to worry about transferring your wort...