First experience with dough balls

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SailorTodd

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After a couple of years of brewing I just had my first serious experience with dough balls in the mash. Luckily I caught it as I was mashing in, thoroughly took care of the buggers stirring vigorously and smashing them against the tun wall. Don't know how the rest has turned out, as I'm just ten mins into the mash. Brewing a batch of Irish Red, by the way.

I'm wondering if it's the grains I'm using, as it is the second time I've ever worked with Maris Otter. I'm wondering if it's just more prone to doughing up than others. Or maybe it is the weather now that I'm thinking of it. It's a cold, sticky day. Anybody notice such a problem with a specific grain type but not others?
 
I have had the same problem with MO. Normally I have no issues with pouring in all the grain at once, but the first, and only time, I did it with MO, I had a ton of dough balls. I spoke with a brewer in MN about it and he told me that he had similar problems and that he had heard that many times.

Just have to be a little more careful with it. Definitely worth the little extra work. I love MO!
 
I was doing a double batch today. The second one had as bad of a problem with dough balls, too. This time I mitigated by having a second person dump more slowly while I stirred the grist in. Worked well enough. I'll just have to keep that in mind with MO in the future.
 
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