I had a post like this in the recipe section and it got buried....hopefully this will breathe a little air into it. Kaiser recommended doing a mini-mash for an Oktoberfest Ale I'll be working up since Munich malt needs to be mashed, not steeped. Can anyone give a ballpark idea of the efficiency of such a method described here:
I think my method is as easy and efficient as you can get. I have a grain bag as big as my kettle. I mash the grains at the usual 1 1/3 quarts of water@168F per pound of grain for an hour. Then I pour all the rest of the water @ 170F into the kettle. I open the bag, stir gently for 5 minutes and lift the bag out. Give it about 5 more minutes to drain. Add extract & head for the boil.
Efficiency? I have hit the OG dead on every time. I don't do anywhere near as well with full mashes.
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Thank you for the replies. I look forward to trying this technique out. I was curious to the efficiency because I'm thinking I might be able to use less DME if I get a decent amount of fermentables from the mini-mash.
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Take a look at this thread and don't shoot me if you have read this before. I want to push it because I think it is a very viable option for extract brewers.
This system will allow you to mash your Munich as well as some 2 row cutting down the amount of extract needed. The one I built mashed a little over 5 pounds of grain with no problem. It produced about 3 1/2 or 4 gallons of wort. Not too much that the brew can't be boiled in a 20 quart pot.
Take a look at this thread and don't shoot me if you have read this before. I want to push it because I think it is a very viable option for extract brewers.
This system will allow you to mash your Munich as well as some 2 row cutting down the amount of extract needed. The one I built mashed a little over 5 pounds of grain with no problem. It produced about 3 1/2 or 4 gallons of wort. Not too much that the brew can't be boiled in a 20 quart pot.
Thanks for reminding me of that thread. I remember seeing it a while ago, but forgot about it as I usually didn't frequent the PM/AG section until the past few days. I think I'm going to try making something like that. So the SS braid works just fine for letting wort through but keeping bits of grain out.....looks like an easy enough and cheap enough setup, especially for someone like me who can be retarded with tools........any other suggestions now that you've built and brewed?
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Primary: None
Secondary: None
Bottled: None
Drinking: Schwarzbier, Raspberry Celebration, Northern English Brown, Carty Cascade Pale Ale - Vintage 2009, Maibock Pale Ale, 1120 IPA
Next: Simcoe IPA Bohemian Pils? Classic American Pils? Robust Porter? Dunkelweizen? Blonde Ale?
Thanks for reminding me of that thread. I remember seeing it a while ago, but forgot about it as I usually didn't frequent the PM/AG section until the past few days. I think I'm going to try making something like that. So the SS braid works just fine for letting wort through but keeping bits of grain out.....looks like an easy enough and cheap enough setup, especially for someone like me who can be retarded with tools........any other suggestions now that you've built and brewed?
The SS braid worked fantastic. Whoever thought of that is a genius. I think it worked better than my Phil’s Phalse bottom which was much more expensive. I didn't get a stuck sparge even with a highly compacted grain bed.
I didn't realize that 2 pots are needed for this to work. One for the brew pot and one for sparge water. I would recommend a 20 quart SS brew pot and any 12 quart pot that isn't rusted would work for the sparge. (Trying to keep costs down for this system)
I have a few tips in the thread on building the Mash/Lauter tun but if you have any questions or suggestions please get them out here so we can make that system as good as possible.
Let us know how it goes!
Thank you for the replies. I look forward to trying this technique out. I was curious to the efficiency because I'm thinking I might be able to use less DME if I get a decent amount of fermentables from the mini-mash.
ive done quite a few mini-mashes using a zap-tap mash/lauter system (bucket in a bucket). I felt that the less dme and the more all grain i used definitley made for better beers (actaully virtually indistinguishable from all grain). I would only use 3 lbs dme, and then mash 5-7 lbs malt. I would typically get 65 percent utilization using a ladel fly (continuous) sparge. So with the dme giving me about 1.027, the malt would give me another 23-30 points for a grand total of 1.049-1.057.
The only thing was that i was forced to do this untill i got a big enough kettle to boil a full 6-7 gallons. Its alot of time spent mashing and sparging for a partial mash, but it works great!
The SS braid worked fantastic. Whoever thought of that is a genius. I think it worked better than my Phil’s Phalse bottom which was much more expensive. I didn't get a stuck sparge even with a highly compacted grain bed.
I didn't realize that 2 pots are needed for this to work. One for the brew pot and one for sparge water. I would recommend a 20 quart SS brew pot and any 12 quart pot that isn't rusted would work for the sparge. (Trying to keep costs down for this system)
I have a few tips in the thread on building the Mash/Lauter tun but if you have any questions or suggestions please get them out here so we can make that system as good as possible.
Let us know how it goes!
Again, it looks simple enough that I could even do it. One question though, the rubber gasket already on the cooler was all you needed for a good seal between the cooler and rubber stopper with racking tube......or after having used it now would you suggest something else for the seal? I know someone in the the big thread talked about those rubber gaskets getting flacid at warm (165F) temperatures. Just curious your comments or anyone else's on that.
Looks like it would be a breeze to clean too, hose it out and that's about it.
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Primary: None
Secondary: None
Bottled: None
Drinking: Schwarzbier, Raspberry Celebration, Northern English Brown, Carty Cascade Pale Ale - Vintage 2009, Maibock Pale Ale, 1120 IPA
Next: Simcoe IPA Bohemian Pils? Classic American Pils? Robust Porter? Dunkelweizen? Blonde Ale?
Partial Mash/Mini Mash Efficiency
Linear Mode
