Strike water method

Methods, ingredients, advice and equipment specific to all-grain (mash), partial mash (mini mash) and "brew in a bag" (BIAB) brewing.

Strike water method

Postby SuperBroo » Thursday Apr 15, 2010 10:03 am

Hi every1,

what the general consensus here...

For the initial water / grain mix, Is it best to add grain to water, or water to grain in the mash tun.

Cheers,
Chris.
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Re: Strike water method

Postby drsmurto » Thursday Apr 15, 2010 10:46 am

Tomarto, tomayto.

I personally underlet, that is the grain is in the mash tun and i run the water into it via the outlet.

This results in no dough balls. A stir to mix in and make sure temp is correct and even across the grainbed and i walk away for 60-90mins.

This is a pic of me attempting ghetto fly sparging. I normally batch sparge. If you connect the hose from the HLT to the mash tun the water will flow in underneath the grain.

Image
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Re: Strike water method

Postby SuperBroo » Thursday Apr 15, 2010 11:28 am

Thanks Doc for the quick reply...
How long does it take for the right amount of water to run in ?

I have a 20L water heater I bought on epay, so can now do exactly as you have said, and will allow it to run in thru the outlet.
Have also scored a temperature controller with 0.1% accuracy probe for free, so can get water temp perfecto (in theory anyway).

thanks again...

Chris, WA
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Re: Strike water method

Postby SuperBroo » Thursday Apr 15, 2010 11:30 am

Hey Doc,

How you sprinkling water evenly on your setup there ?

u using alfoil with holes punched in or something ?
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Re: Strike water method

Postby drsmurto » Thursday Apr 15, 2010 12:18 pm

The fly sparge was a test. The sparge water runs down the side of the esky. I don't do it as i am not convinced fly sparging works effectively in anything other than a cylindrical vessel due to fluid dynamics (less rinsing of grain at corners). Plus batch sparging is the lazy method and I'm sop lazy its a wonder i found the time and energy to switch over to AG. Thankfully whilst the process takes 4-5 hours i don't need to sit there for much of that. :lol:

For a 'normal' grain bill i use ~14L of water. It takes 2-3 mins to transfer it. I then fill the HLT up with sparge water (~20L) and that heats up during the mash. A quick, thin decoction mash out (drain ~5-6L of first runnings and bring to the boil. Dump it back in the mash, stir and start recirculating), drain and refill via underlet. Stir, wait 10 mins, recirculate and drain. Boil. Add hops. Chill. Ferment. Drink. easy as this AG caper.
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Re: Strike water method

Postby SuperBroo » Thursday Apr 15, 2010 1:36 pm

cool,

understand the square esky stuff...
will just batch sparge...

thanks again for the info...

cheers,
Chris
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Re: Strike water method

Postby warra48 » Thursday Apr 15, 2010 3:27 pm

I no longer worry about volumes for mashing in.

I heat my HLT to about 7 to 8ºC above my desired mash temperature.
The water then starts to drain into the mashtun, and when I have about 5 or 6 litres of water in there (measured by the famous eyeballing method) I dump all the grain in and stir like mad while allowing more water to slowly run from the HLT. I monitor the temperature of the mash, and when it's within 1 to 2ºC I stop the water and continue stirring, and allow the temperature to equalise across the mash. I can add some more hot or cold water to fine tune the last degree or so. Walk away for an hour or more while it's mashing, other than refilling the HLT and heating it to about 90ºC.

I batch sparge. I top up my mash tun to capacity with a mashout addition, stir, vorlauf, and drain.
My measure in my kettle tells me how much I've collected, so I can easily calculate how much sparge water I need to add. I stir, immediately vorlauf (I don't wait like many do), and drain. I regularly achieve over 90% mash efficiency, so I agree with Doc, I don't see any advantage in fly sparging for me.

I'd advise you to drain slowly, to avoid stuck sparges. Lots of stuck sparges are caused by too fast a run off, I know from personal experience.

Bring to boil, add hops, yeast nutrient, immersion cooler, cool, and drain to fermenter. Chill in fridge to desired temperature, aerate, and pitch yeast.
Ferment, bottle, and drink. Easy peasy.
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Re: Strike water method

Postby SuperBroo » Thursday Apr 15, 2010 5:31 pm

Thanks Warra,

I have beersmith so will try to do all the temperatures as it suggests, and see how it goes.
Its all slowly started making sense,
perhaps the best advice I had in another thread here was... just get stuck in and actually do it without getting too bogged down with theory.
Did a partial a few weeks ago, and tomorrow nite is my first AG, cant wait...

Understand the slow draining, I am using the braided tube setup in an esky now, so will see how it goes 2moro nite.
Also I have some rice hulls, but shouldnt really need them for an all barley brew if i go steady on the draining...

cheers,
Chris
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Re: Strike water method

Postby SuperBroo » Tuesday Apr 20, 2010 6:36 pm

Well, I did my first AG last Friday night, thoroughly enjoyed meself....

I ran the water from HLT in thru the bottom of my esky, and all perfecto.
Beersmith temps worked out pretty well spot on.
Had no drama's with stuck sparge etc (I know, its only a metter of time) and I didnt use rice hulls.

Thanks to all for the suggestions, will let you know how it turns out.

but bloody hell, I went thru some HB doing the mash :)

cheers,
Chris
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