mash brew method

[Bomma]

http://www.wcc.net/~jkmccoy/brewing/brew.htm

This bloke obviously has a few tools but he has a good system. Good description and pics on the site. Always good to see it happenning in the kitchen so the wife can kick it and the kids can chuck lego bricks in it!

[NRB]

His brew looks pretty turbid.

[grabman]

interesting setup, any comments from the mash brewers here? is it viable, worthwhile etc

[Dogger Dan]

Umm, excuse me.
http://groups.msn.com/DoggersHomebrew/shoebox.msnw?Page=1

It is a much better system (blow my horn here) and you don't need to worry about the false bottom and I don't have turbid beer. Someone should have a chat with that guy about chill haze.


Then take a look at Munkeys, its first rate to

Dogger

[NRB]

Someone should have a chat with that guy about chill haze.

I don't think he's cooling fast enough; he's not getting the cold break to settle.

I prefer my setup

[grabman]

Cheers Dogger, I've seen your setup already, but is always intereseting to see how the other half live

[jkellymcc]

I can't believe it. I've never even been on this forum and first thing you guys are knocking my beer because of chill haze. If you're ever in West Texas...you get NONE of my beer.

Yes, the glass of beer in the picture on my website looks bad. It's a lousy picture that makes a batch of beer with more chill haze than normal look even worse. That is the beer I was drinking the day I decided to take pictures and put up a web page about it. I do understand cold break, but I don't take special pains to get rid of it. I drink almost all of my beer and it doesn't bother me much. That particular batch didn't break well, I was trying a new yeast that never flocked and never settled, and there was some condensation on the glass when I took the picture.

I can't believe I'm being defensive here! Trust me, it was a very tasty brew and I enjoyed it greatly.

Unlike Dogger, I will not claim that my system is "much better" than anyone else's. I brew good beer with my system. It didn't cost much. It's pretty easy to use. Although I only finished that webpage recently and the link just now appeared on this forum, I've been using that system for four years and have brewed a lot of beer with it. If anyone finds my ideas useful or interesting then I'm happy. I will point out that I actually took the time to write a real web page instead of just posting pictures on MSN.

Cheers,
Kelly McCoy
San Angelo, TX

[Evo]

It's on ! !

Firstly J, I'll commend you on a good website. As a junior partial masher (junior in experience that is) it's pretty hard to get your hands on some straight forward advice.

I've done two lots of partial mash myself. This involved putting a kilogram of grain into a grain bag, tying a knot in it and placing it in a small esky (chilly bin, coleman cooler, insulated drink/food capsule). I heat 4 litres of water to 70 - 75 degrees C and pour half into the esky just covering the grain bag and seal the esky for an hour. I then squeeze the grain bag like a tea bag, pour the soupy water (wort) into another pot, and then sparge with the other 2 litres of water that I have again heated to 70-75.

I then boil this 4 litres of wort and add any other extract to it and hops at appropriate times. So far (as in the first lot) they have turned out bang on.

So my question to you (and Dogger and anyone else), is what advantages does your system have over this (being that this system involves bugger all equipment) ?

BTW, this isn't me chucking rocks at anyone elses system. It's just me trying to find the best system for me.

[grabman]

I'm with Evo,

Having yet to do my first partial mash, I'm looking for a simple method that uses little or no specialist equipment! I have the esky and/or a 20L stockpot but don't wont to buy anything else until I know what I'm up to!
Read that as she indoors has finally put the foot down on me

[NRB]

I can't believe it. I've never even been on this forum and first thing you guys are knocking my beer because of chill haze. If you're ever in West Texas...you get NONE of my beer.

[snip]

Kelly, I have no doubt your beer is tasty... I simply stated that the beer was turbid. I even gave a reason why I thought it was so. Please don't think I'm bagging you, your setup or your beer!

I think you've done a great job with the webpage (except it's too damn wide ) and the setup is certainly functional.

Perhaps you could use the feedback from here, create some subpages in order to educate the masses about chill haze, how it presents, the reasons why it's present and some pics of beers with and without chill haze.

Cheers!

[Dogger Dan]

You know,

I spent the day feeling like a dink but I realized I wasn't wrong. That picture like it or not is text book chill haze and it is the first thing you see.

Some suggestions,

1 Brew with 50 grams worth of chocolate malt
2. Use a protein rest stage
3. Try using Irish Moss in the boil
4. Filter your hot break using a copper scrub pad at the exit for hot break.
5. Filter it again for the cold break after it is cool.
6. Chill after it ferments and drop the proteins
7. Filter

WRT false bottom. No matter what you do, your efficiency will be poor because you are leaking the sparge around the edges and not filtering the grain bed. A manifold that is inserted away from the edge will work better. Additionally, how do you clear a stuck sparge.?

Bully about your web page, last I looked we were in the homebrew section

Sorry you got your nose bloody

Dogger

[Hrundi V Bakshi]

Kelly McCoy, I admire your system. It shows ingenuity enabling you to brew in your own kitchen and make beers you enjoy. Kudos on the sparge arm and how it is your design is accounting for a wooden kitchen chair. Brew day must include a modicum of pleasure and satisfaction at your house.

[jkellymcc]

Yes, there is chill haze in that beer, it says so right on my web page. Yes, I've read all those suggestions for getting rid of chill haze. I've used some of them. The batch I was drinking on the day I took those pictures was unusually bad. I guess I might take a new picture some time if I decide it's worth the trouble.

I never meant to build a web page with comprehensive brewing intructions. Just thought someone might like to hear about the system I built. I hoped someone might find it useful or interesting. Never occurred to me that the picture of a glass of beer would be more important than the mashing system.

Sure, the picnic cooler with a copper manifold is a good system. Tom and Vince have a nice page on how to build one on their web site. It just wasn't what I wanted. Big 3-step systems are real popular (at least around here) and I wanted the same thing on a scale that fit for a home brewer. So I built it.

There probably isn't much point in arguing fluid dynamics on this forum, but I think you're mistaken about wort leaking around the false bottom and not getting filtered by the grain bed.

How do I deal with a stuck sparge? Don't stick it in the first place.

What's the advantage of a partial mash system? Although some people would argue that all-grain brewing produces superior beer, if you are using fresh extract the difference is not huge. If you are already doing a mini-mash, you probably won't see a big difference in your beer if you mash a little more grain. I brewed a lot of beer mashing a kilo or so of grain in a stock pot and straining it through a big kitchen strainer. It made pretty good beer.

Why did I build this system? Why do I brew partial mash beers? Because I can and it amuses me.

Cheers,
Kelly McCoy
West Texas

Bloody nose? Not hardly.

[Dogger Dan]

jkellymcc

There probably isn't much point in arguing fluid dynamics on this forum, but I think you're mistaken about wort leaking around the false bottom and not getting filtered by the grain bed.

Yes I am sure you are right about fluid dynamics, "Hydraulic Conductivity" is such a big word


Evo

So my question to you (and Dogger and anyone else), is what advantages does your system have over this (being that this system involves bugger all equipment) ?

Cheap, Simple and 85 percent efficiency on the mash, easy to make. The shitty side is you just get pics on MSN. I think I mentioned chill haze before so I wont repeat it and sooner or later everyone sticks a sparge. Watch out for your chlorine levels though in your water. Make sure you treat it or the smell and taste will be harsh. The chlorine reacts with the tannins from the sparge or mash and produce chlorophenols.

The advantage on the other system is temp control so you can do a step mash. (Check out munkeys wrap first, maintaining the temp is important)There are some calculators out there that will do the math for you so you can brew in the German Fashion (they know something about brewing don't they? Sure I heard something about that once) and you can add hot wort at various stages of the process.

But, when all is said and done, most of your base malts have enough enzyme that you don't need to worry about doing a step mash because it is already available and you can hit a buck fifty and go. Simple get the right temp on your strike water and drive on.

Which ever way you choose, it will be all right.

And once again, I am sure someones nose is out of joint and I will find out how little I know.

Dogger

[jkellymcc]

Nope, I'm just going to go have a beer. Have fun guys.

Cheers,
Kelly McCoy

[Dogger Dan]

Enjoy

Dogger

[Hrundi V Bakshi]

Kelly McCoy makes ales without the technicality of a commercial brewer. His equipment is working sculpture. His recipes do not include details such as the Alpha Acid of the hops he is using. What matters to a craftsman who brews for his own pleasure and enjoyment, not for competition or market, whether his beer is cloudy?

When one is concerned only with the end product and not the elegance or aesthetic of the means of production, then the art resides in not to get the cloudiness.