Mini Mash System for Extract Brewers - Page 11

**RichBrewer** · 06-26-2006, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paul_beer

Would that have lowered my efficiency?

I think you are right about the fresher grains. I grew up on a farm and it didn't have that good barley smell. I think that next time I will order grains online, especially when one of the LHBS clerks admitted to ordering their grains from paddockwood.com anyways. No sense in paying mark-up twice.

I plan to pitch a porter on top of the yeast cake when this one is done brewing so I will get some more practice soon. I will try fresher, properly milled grains and see how that fairs. I am still pretty happy with the set up. I think it worked well and was not any more difficult that steeping. From start to pitching the yeast was about 4 hours. A lot of that time was spent waiting for water to heat up on the kitchen stove. I can’t wait until I have a yard so I can use propane!

It's hard to say without seeing the grains but I'll bet it had an effect.

I'm glad to hear you say that it was no more difficult than steeping. I think anyone could use this method and it doesn't take that much longer.
Thank you for taking the plunge and telling us about your experience.

Toilet Rocker · 06-27-2006, 03:20 PM

Great info/discussion in this thread. Learning a ton of info. Thanks to all.

I bought and converted a 5Gal Rubbermaid Victory cooler I got from target. I'll use that for PM brews. I am considering getting a 10Gal cooler to use as the sparge tank (for now) and will reverse the two when I go all grain sometime in the future. Would this work? Is it advisable? My thinking is that a 10 Gal PM mash tun would leave to shallow a grain bed. And I don't want to buy a cooler that'll be too small for going AG.

Also, the SS braid may be effective for PM...will it be for AG?

I bought a SS sparge arm, but it's 1/2" too wide to fit in the 5 Gal cooler, so I'll try and rig it somehow, or save it for when I go AG and use a strainer or something to "rain" the sparge water on the grains.

Thanks.

**RichBrewer** · 06-27-2006, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gaelone

I bought and converted a 5Gal Rubbermaid Victory cooler I got from target. I'll use that for PM brews. I am considering getting a 10Gal cooler to use as the sparge tank (for now) and will reverse the two when I go all grain sometime in the future. Would this work? Is it advisable? My thinking is that a 10 Gal PM mash tun would leave to shallow a grain bed. And I don't want to buy a cooler that'll be too small for going AG.

That sounds like a great idea to me and I agree that a 10 gallon cooler would be too big for PM. The grain bed would be shallow and a smaller mash may not hold temp as well in the larger cooler.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gaelone

Also, the SS braid may be effective for PM...will it be for AG?

Maybe someone who has tried this can chime in but, from my experience with the mini mash brew, I would think the SS braid would work very well with AG.

**RichBrewer** · 07-03-2006, 01:15 AM

Originally, I was planning on selling the mini Mash/Lauter tun I made after this experiment was done but now I'm thinking about keeping it. That Mini mash brew session was so easy that I may do some more of them. Might be nice to do when the weather is too bad for out door brewing.

Jwedel · 07-06-2006, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prowler 13

D. If you really want to improve your brew, the next step up from partial mashes is: Full boils with late extract addition. First wort hopping (flavor hops added to the steep).

Please Explain:

Full boil with late extract addition: What are the advantages? How late is the extract added to the boil?

First wort hopping (flavor added to the steep.) Does this work with all beer styles or only certain beer styles?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prowler 13

And all the other factors being improved - temp control, yeast starters when using liquid yeasts, ensuring you are buying the freshest ingredients, using a program like beersmith to tweak your OGs, IBUs and so on.

If I am using a yeast smack pack should I still add the yeast to a starter or directly to the wort?

Desert_Sky · 07-06-2006, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jwedel

Please Explain:

Full boil with late extract addition: What are the advantages? How late is the extract added to the boil?

First wort hopping (flavor added to the steep.) Does this work with all beer styles or only certain beer styles?

If I am using a yeast smack pack should I still add the yeast to a starter or directly to the wort?

Advantgages to late additions are lighter color, and less caramelization of the extract. add at 15 minutes left. But theres no set time you have to add it at.

SO far on my reading up on first wort hopping, most people do it on Pilsners and lagers, of course once again, there are no set rules on this. Try some experimenting of your own.

If you are using a smack pack, well technically it is a starter, but once again, its up to you if you want to make an even bigger starter. And now Wyeast smack packs come in the XL size. 400 ml I believe

**RichBrewer** · 07-10-2006, 08:34 PM

I'm going to brew this weekend and the yeast I'm using was harvested from a primary fermenter a few months ago. I want to make a starter for it to be sure it is still viable. My LHBS is closed today and I don't have any DME so I did a small 2 pound batch in my mini masher.
2 pounds of grain, 1/2 gallon mash water, and 1 gallon sparge water. I boiled the wort for 30 minutes. I ended up with a bit less than 1 gallon between 2 growlers. The OG is 1.050 which is pretty darn good. I was afraid that the very shallow grain bed would create problems but it worked great. The wort came out very clear with lots of trub.
I like this thing and I'm glad I made it.
Here's a pic of the wort in the hydrometer flask.

**the_bird** · 07-11-2006, 01:13 PM

This is a great thread and there's a ton of information on here, but I still have one fundamental question.

How big of a cooler SHOULD I get?

I'm going to try and piece together a lauter tun this weekend, I've seen a few coolers start to go on sale now that the 4th of July is behind us. I don't forsee myself going all-grain at anytime in the foreseeable future, at least not for a couple years, so convertibility into something useful to the AG process isn't a concern. Hell, I'll just convert it back into a cooler to hold more beer! I'd like to start doing partial mashes, start getting a good chunk of my fermentables from grain. I'd like to be able to do a barleywine using a good amount of grain, but I don't really know what that means in terms of weight or volume.

Basically, my plan WAS to get a 5-gallon rectangular cooler, but it seems that a few posts indicated that heat loss might be too much. One of the original posts pointed towards a 2-gallon cooler that happens to be the exact model we already have in storage and that I had earlier dismissed as too small. I was actually thinking about using that to hold the sparge water, with a few minor mods, if I do any fly sparging.

Should I go with a 3-gallon? 4 gallon? Is five gallon really too big, or is heat loss not that big a deal as long as I preheat it?

Insight and suggestions are much appreciated...

Desert_Sky · 07-11-2006, 01:49 PM

WalMart has the 5 gallon orange Igloos for right around 20 bucks right now. My only problem is this though. I did so well with a partial mash, that I went straight into all grain on the next batch and haven't looked back since. Now Im wishing I had picked up a 10 gallon cooler instead.

Oh well, but the 5 gallon did great for a partial though. It held temp great, and for my partail I used the SS braid. That worked liek a champ too.

**the_bird** · 07-11-2006, 02:13 PM

I am planning on using the SS braid, as well. This setup looks like it will be pretty easy to get going. As long as the 5 gallon holds temp well, I'll go with that; again, my only concern is extra heat loss if I go too big.