I started using phosphoric acid to adjust the pH of my water. Ever since then I've notice a layer of gray material on the top of my grain bed.
This has happened on every batch I've used the phosphoric acid, no matter what my grain bill looks like. Has anyone else experienced this, and mostly... what is it?
Also, since I've used the phosphoric acid, I've noticed that when I boil for long periods of time the proteins develop very long white spider-like strands.
I get the grey material all the time and as far as I know it is the finner part of protien and malt that rises to the top of the mash after conversion. I could be wrong however, so I'll wait for a more experienced answer.
I knew it had to happen some day- somebody finally brew his brains out...
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So far, I've had more experience thinking than I've had brewing....you don't think they are mutually exclusive, do you?
57 batches so far,
33 wine, mostly Loquat, peach, plum, prickly pear
22 beers and ciders
1 sauerkraut
1 Tequila, from a prickly pear wine experiment that didn't work. I call it "Prickly Heat"
Doctors have such a sense of humor sometimes.....went to get wax out of my ear and it was a little grey.... I said... wow... thats all wax (I wear hearing aids so it builds up)... and he said... "Mostly... theres a little bit of brain matter there, but nothing to get upset about..."
I tend to see that stuff in brews with unmalted grains. I figured it was the starches from unmalted wheat. In any event, it's harmless unless it sticks your sparge.
Maybe your adjusting of the pH of your water causes some of the starches/proteins to precipitate out?
As far as the stuff in the boil, I sometimes get "beer bagels". It looks like dough chunks boiling around in there. Again, seems harmless. Hot break on steroids...
Cheers
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Oh don't give me none more of that Old Janx Spirit
No, don't you give me none more of that Old Janx Spirit
For my head will fly, my tongue will lie, my eyes will fry and I may die
Won't you pour me one more of that sinful Old Janx Spirit
According to one of the probrewers recently interviewed on the brewing network...the gray stuff is protein.
Yep, Eric Watson form Titletown Brewery (GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN!) said that.
GO PACK, 2-0 in 2006 (so far)
__________________ On Tap: Lake Walk Pale Ale -- Eternity (Raspberry Stout) -- Nutrocker -- Donnybrook Dark Primary: Lake Walk Pale Ale Secondary: Summit IPA Up Next: Smoked Porter -- Pub Ale -- Watermelon Wheat Planning: Gone But Not Forgotten:
Gray matter in my grain bed
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