Anybody do step mashes in their keggle?

My earth leakage device kept tripping yesterday while trying to perform this. No problems heating up the strike water or doing the boil but with a large grain bed in the E-keggle i was experiencing difficulties.

Does anybody else try step mashes in their keggles or am i on my own here?

not sure what you are after; is the question 'do step mashes trip a circuit breaker?", or is that comment unrelated, and you are just looking for instructions on step mashing in a keggle...?

do you have electric elements in your mash tun? in contact with grain...?

when i say i'm doing step mashes in the keggle i'm literally heating up the strike water and doughing into the keggle. Once the first rest is done i use the element to step up to the next temp. I've done it before without difficulty it's just on a recent brew i started experiencing issues with tripping the GFCI.

I'm relatively new to home brewing and especially electric brewing and was just wondering is what I'm doing a bit mad or do some people actually do step mashes in their keggles? Secondly if people are putting grains into the keggle are they experiencing difficulty with earth leakage hardware tripping out?

uh.. no ingredient you put into a keggle should trip a GFCI. if its tripping that means there is current leaking into ground from somewhere, which needs to be found and fixed. that is a wiring fault and has nothing to do with the brewing process.

that said- you should NOT be mashing in a pot with a live/hot electrical element. you can electrocute yourself easily when you go to stir it, even with a wooden paddle. you are already having ground fault issues, that GFCI probably has already saved your life several times and you just dont know it.

not to mention the fact that you dont really want grains sticking to your element and scorching. im suprised you havnt tasted charcoal/burnt flavors in the beer.

search for RIMS and HERMS.

I do steps by adding additional hot water (infusions). Pretty simple.

Putting an element in your mash tun has been done before. I don't think this ever works out, but hey there's always something new in brewing.

passedpawn said:

search for RIMS and HERMS.

I do steps by adding additional hot water (infusions). Pretty simple.

Putting an element in your mash tun has been done before. I don't think this ever works out, but hey there's always something new in brewing.

Click to expand...

I do steps by ramping via my HERMS if I'm doing one. For decoctions, I brew on my old gas system.

I don't know why stirring a mash with an element would be dangerous- that doesn't make sense to me. But I can't see how an element can heat a mash evenly, either. I'd be afraid of the grain being too hot near the element, while not being warm enough at the top. If you're going to be doing step mashes, it's probably much easier to do it via a HERMS or RIMS.

audger said:

uh.. no ingredient you put into a keggle should trip a GFCI. if its tripping that means there is current leaking into ground from somewhere, which needs to be found and fixed. that is a wiring fault and has nothing to do with the brewing process.

that said- you should NOT be mashing in a pot with a live/hot electrical element. you can electrocute yourself easily when you go to stir it, even with a wooden paddle. you are already having ground fault issues, that GFCI probably has already saved your life several times and you just dont know it.

not to mention the fact that you dont really want grains sticking to your element and scorching. im suprised you havnt tasted charcoal/burnt flavors in the beer.

Click to expand...

Cant see how it's a wiring fault, its just live in neutral out and as far as I know elements dont have polarity. But yes it appears there is current leaking somewhere.

On the electrocution issue i have earthed the metal body of the keggle like all electrical appliances with metal housings should be. But yes i do see the cause for concern if the current is leaking to earth some of the electrical path would be provided by the metal body of the keg.

On the last step mash i did in my keggle i didnt have any scorch issues but that is because i was stirring continuously

passedpawn said:

search for RIMS and HERMS.

I do steps by adding additional hot water (infusions). Pretty simple.

Putting an element in your mash tun has been done before. I don't think this ever works out, but hey there's always something new in brewing.

Click to expand...

Does beersmith have the ability to estimate the addition volumes and temps or do you just have set amounts for your batch sizes?

Yooper said:

I do steps by ramping via my HERMS if I'm doing one. For decoctions, I brew on my old gas system.

I don't know why stirring a mash with an element would be dangerous- that doesn't make sense to me. But I can't see how an element can heat a mash evenly, either. I'd be afraid of the grain being too hot near the element, while not being warm enough at the top. If you're going to be doing step mashes, it's probably much easier to do it via a HERMS or RIMS.

Click to expand...

Yup, continuous stirring when ramping worked on the last batch. I use a plastic spoon to be on the safe side but as you said can't really see the danger if i have a safety earth and a GFCI.

I've been drooling over a herms system for a while now. are they as horrendously expensive to set up as they appear to be

gerrywalsh said:

I've been drooling over a herms system for a while now. are they as horrendously expensive to set up as they appear to be

Click to expand...

No. I have had two different systems. My first was an Igloo cooler with a 1500 w element with an old wort chiller for the HEX coil. I still have most of it, as I cannabilized it for the new system.

Now, I have a better system with a float valve (thanks lschiavo!) and the 25' copper coil as the HEX in a keg.

I think a cooler is about $30? and the element is cheap. The coil I had. It can be as elaborate or as chintzy as you like. It sure beats stirring continually!