Questions about, mashing, sparging, recirculating wort

Hi

I've done 3 or 4 AG batches now. I noticed the different Mash settings in Beersmith and started reading a little more about it. (actually some Mash settings in Beersmith seemed to change to rather odd numbers so i was confused that i had done something wrong).

Basically this is what i've been doing. It seems to be working well, but I don't know if it's correct.

Firstly I heat x amount of water, according to beersmith calculation.

This is normally around 13L for a 20.8L batch at 75.6 C.

Then i heat my mash tun a little (with hot water).

I then throw this water out.

I then throw the grains and 13L of water into the mash tun and stir it around.

I aim for a temp of 65.6C

I close the cooler.

Generally i leave it for a while and check on the temperature every 10 to 15 minutes. If the temperature is too low i add some hot water and give it a stir (until the temperature is correct).

After 1 hour I add the sparge water (at about 76C) then drain the wort into my brew pot.

I have then been throwing all the wort back into the mash tun and draining it again. (recirculating / rinsing?)

Is this approach ok?

Yes, except for one thing. After 1 hour, slowly drain about 1-2L of wort into a pot, and gently pour back on top of the grain. This helps set your grain bed, and clarify your wort. Then, drain all the wort into a pot.

Add about half of your sparge water into the mash tun, and stir like crazy. I then like to let it sit for about 5 minutes, but that is optional. Repeat the step above.

Then add the rest of your sparge water as above.

Basically, you have been adding your sparge water 1 step too soon.

Of course, if your beer is turning out good, you might consider not making any changes.

hercher said:

Yes, except for one thing. After 1 hour, slowly drain about 1-2L of wort into a pot, and gently pour back on top of the grain. This helps set your grain bed, and clarify your wort. Then, drain all the wort into a pot.

Click to expand...

Thanks I read that last night and plan to do it next time.

What I am still unsure about:

After having added sparge water and draining the wort - I was trying to increase my efficiency by recirculating ALL of the wort back through the grains.

Is this a bad idea?

Also - I have a mesh filter in the mash tun. This kind of thing:



When i stir everything around this filter moves around and i think a large part of it no longer sits on the bottom of the mash tun.

Is this a problem and if so, how do you keep it at the bottom?

I thought it would help draining/filtering if it sat on the bottom.

Make sure your sparge water is the right temp. Drain the first wort first, then add the sparge water. Stir the bejeebers out of it -- for a good 4-5 minutes. Recirc that and then drain. If you want to recirc the whole volume, that's fine, though I think unnecessary. Then do it again. The key is to do 3 or 3 batches of sparge water, and reallly mixing it up, to free up all those sugars.

This might be off topic dylanphelan but I combine my mashtun (coolerbox) preheat with my first water addition. I usually heat my mash in water to about 81 - 83 Celsius. Then I toss it into the mashtun. I stir it for about 2 minutes, insert by thermometer, wrap the mashtun in a blanket and let it sit for 15 minutes. This will preheat the mashtun nicely and your temperature loss will be minimal during mashing and you use less water.

I check the temperature periodically till it levels out. I then toss my grains in and stir like crazy. I monitor the temp while I'm doing this and add little bit of cold water and stir till temp is at right level. This usually takes 7 minutes or so. I close mashtun with thermometer in and wrap it in the blanket and the most I've lost is 1 degree fahrenheit (not celcius) over a 60 minute mash. I used to do it the way you did but since I've changed to this method my mash temp has been rock steady and beer has improved. Always had problems with over attenuation due to dropping mash temps. Off topic but just thought it might help.

Cheers