like2brew

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excellent job..nice step by step pics and instructions. some times its the little things that people leave out that have people scratching there heads and wondering

LandoLincoln

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Come on, fellas. No one has answered the question about whether or not it is important to wait 10 minutes after adding in the sparge water but before emptying said sparge water.

WHAT'S THE ANSWER? INQUIRING MINDS MUST KNOW.

Here's the steps I've determined from this thread (modified for my own water's needs for extra chemicals)

1) Pre-heat MLT with boiling water.
2) Treat strike / sparge water with campden tablet (to get rid of chlorine and chloramine).
3) Heat strike / sparge water to x. Find x by using mash temp calculator online.
4) Drain pre-heated water from MLT.
5) Add strike water to MLT.
6) Add grains (“dough in”) and stir as you pour grains, breaking up any clumps (“dough balls.”)
7) Add lactic acid and calcium chloride to the mash (in the amounts as recommended by EZ brew spreadsheet 3.0). Stir.
8) Check temp. If too high, add really cold water. If too low, add really hot water. Stir again. Check temp again. Keep doing this until you stop messing up. Temp should be x.
9) Close lid. Wait 45 minutes.
10) While you’re waiting, treat sparge water with lactic acid and calcium chloride in the amounts that EZ brew told you for the sparge water. Stir.
11) Heat sparge water to 185.
12) Keep sparge water around 185.
13) After 45 minutes, open lid of MLT. Stir. Grab a sample and use iodine to check for complete starch conversion. If it’s not done yet, then keep checking every 15 minutes after stirring. If it is done, then go to the next step.
14) Drain a few quarts (“vorlauf”) until the wort is clear of grain particles and husk material. Check the temp to see how badly you screwed up. Nothing you can do about it now. Lay out a piece of foil or drain through a colander to protect the integrity of the grain bed as you dump the mash back into the top of the MLT.
15) Drain the MLT completely of the initial strike water into the kettle.
16) Begin to heat up the kettle and first runnings. Once the temp gets over 170, then the mashing process is over, because all enzymes become denatured. So it’s a good thing to end it when you can.
17) Add sparge water, pouring onto the grain bed, GENTLY stirring as you go. If you can’t put in all of the sparge water in one go, then you’ll have to add it in multiple steps.
18) Close the lid and wait 10 minutes. (NOTE: verify that you have to wait 10 minutes – it seems like some people do not wait)
19) Vorlauf again. Add it back to the top of the batch through a colander or foil layer.
20) Completely drain the second (or third) runnings into the kettle.
21) If you still have more sparge water, repeat steps 17 through 20.
22) Grab a sample for testing with thermometer, pH, refractometer, hydrometer. Record results. Cry. Curse the gods for giving your town such crappy water.
23) Proceed to finish the boil anyway.

krenshaw

Recipes 

i believe it is to settle the grainbed again..

hey OP, took me all the way to the blue ribbon shot to see that you are in lancaster county.. same here, send me a PM sometime

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DEWSBREW

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SUSCRIBED
awsome tutorial

FoundersBrew

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very nice!!

passedpawn

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No need to wait. Add sparge water, give it a good stir, vorlauf (if you do that) and collect the runnings. I've done about 70 AG batches this way.

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Ravenshead

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I wait about two minutes after stirring just 'cause I used to fly sparge and worry about the bed settling. It's probably not necessary since the vorlauf sets the bed anyway.

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LandoLincoln

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Thanks! Wish I had known this earlier today, but oh well. This was our second time AG, and it went a lot better than the first time. Looks like we got 70% efficiency. Eh. Not too bad, but there's a lot of room for improvement.

passedpawn

Recipes 

Don't sweat the efficiency. I used to chase that. Honestly, I can't remember the last time I even calculated it. It's really a non-factor once your process gets nailed down.

__________________
Nag Champa FTW. Mmmm.