Suggestions for my brew process?

I posted my process up here a while ago but it has changed quite a bit so I want to see if anyone has any suggestions/criticism/additions to my brewing process. Thanks!

Note: My "lauter tun" is a pot that fits inside my brew pot and has holes drilled on the bottom of it to allow water to drain out the bottom.

BREW DAY
1. The golden rule of brewing: Don't be lazy with sanitizing!
2. Set lauter tun in brew pot, then slowly fill with 4½ gallons carbon filtered water. Place on burner and bring to the strike temperature needed for a 154°F mash.
3. When water reaches strike temperature, mix in gypsum salt and calcium chloride, then add full mash grains into lauter tun, cover brew pot with lid and towel, and let rest for 60 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
4. Mix 20 minute mash grains into the brew pot and continue mashing for 20 minutes, stirring 10 minutes in.
5. Meanwhile, slowly fill 3 gallon pot with 1½ gallons carbon filtered water (this’ll be the sparge water) and bring to 175°F by the end of the mashing in step 4. Mix gypsum salt and calcium chloride once it is warm.
6. Remove towel from brew pot, then heat mash to 170°F (not exceeding 3°F/minute). Return towel and let rest for 5 minutes.
7. Slowly lift lauter tun above mash, allowing mash to drain out of the grains. When mash stops dripping, scoop grains into sparge water, mix, and let sit for 15 minutes, stirring often. With the lauter tun still above the mash level in the brewpot, pour the sparge water through the lauter tun into the brewpot. When water stops dripping, remove the lauter tun and grains.
8. Bring mash to a boil, then add 90 minute hops. Boil aggressively for 90 minutes.
20 minutes before end of boil, add Worfloc.
15 minutes before end of boil, place wort chiller in the brew pot.
5 minutes before end of boil, add the 5 minute hops.
9. At the end of the boil, turn off the flame, add the flameout hops, and mix for 20 seconds. Let sit, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
10. Cool wort to 175°F, add sub-isomeriziation hops, and mix continuously for 3 minutes. Let sit, uncovered, for 40 minutes.
11. Fish out as much of the hops as possible with the stainless steel strainer, then cool wort to ~70°F.
12. Remove wort chiller. Place brew pot 3 feet off the floor and mix vigorously for 60 seconds to create a whirlpool. Cover the brew pot and let rest for 30 minutes. This should create a cone of trub at the middle of the bottom of the brew pot.
13. Transfer wort to the primary fermenter with the racking cane:
Start at the top of the wort and slowly work down at the side of the brew pot, avoiding the trub cone. Hold the end of the racking cane at the top of the primary fermenter to allow it to aerate as much as possible. Pitch yeast into the primary fermenter half way through the transferring process.
14. Place lid, stopper, and stopper plug tightly on the primary fermenter. Shake the primary fermenter vigorously for 4 minutes.
15. Place airlock in place of the stopper plug.
Place primary fermenter
a) in a small insulated space with a heater set to 60oF (when ambient temperature is below 60oF)
b) in a non-insulated space, in the 8 gallon brew pot filled with water, and a towel half in/half out of the pot (when ambient temp is above 60°F.
16. After the airlock has stopped bubbling, rack to secondary (6-7 days after brewing).

SECONDARY (Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation!)
1. Place primary fermenter 3 feet off the floor, cover with a towel to avoid light exposure, and let sit for >2 hours (to settle out any trub).
2. Attach hose to nozzle and fill secondary fermenter (at the bottom to avoid oxidation). Leave behind trub in primary fermenter.
3. Place stopper and airlock atop secondary fermenter and return to the fermentation space.
4. When haze drops to the bottom of the secondary fermenter, the beer is ready to bottle (~10-16 days)*.

BOTTLING (Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation!)
1. Boil 2 cups carbon filtered water in a small saucepan, add corn sugar and mix until dissolved. Fill the larger saucepan with cold water and then place the small saucepan inside to cool for 5 minutes.
2. Place secondary fermenter 3 feet off the ground, then pour in sugar water and gently mix with the racking cane (avoiding aeration but mixing sufficiently). Return airlock, cover with a towel to avoid light exposure, to and let sit for 1 hour (to settle out any trub). Cover with a towel to avoid light damage.
Meanwhile, wash bottles in dishwasher (without soap).
3. Boil 2 cups water in a small saucepan, place bottle caps inside for 2 minutes, then strain.
4. Fill racking cane and hose with water. Bend hose at the half-way point, allowing water to drain out the open end.
5. Place racking cane half way into secondary fermenter, then push filler valve down in the bowl until beer reaches the valve.
6. Fill each bottle to the top, allowing the displacement of the bottle filler to bring the beer down to ¾” below the top.
7. Allow bottles to sit for 10 minutes (to allow CO2 production to displace oxygen in the headspace of the bottle), then cap in the order they were filled.
8. Let bottles sit in a dark, room-temperature space for 14 days to carbonate. Once carbonated, keep refrigerated, and drink.

Nothing?

Life's too short to read all that. You spend all day writing that?

I've never heard if pitching yeast halfway through transferring the wort, although I don't think it would hurt.

I suggest you spend less time writing. This will allow more brewing time!

You seem worried about oxidation, but your fishing for hops in the hot wort with a strainer post boil.

I am worn out already and all I did was read the steps not actually do the brewday......or was it 2 brewdays LOL

Sometimes simplification is the key to happiness !

Have fun

seanppp said:

I posted my process up here a while ago but it has changed quite a bit so I want to see if anyone has any suggestions/criticism/additions to my brewing process. Thanks!

Note: My "lauter tun" is a pot that fits inside my brew pot and has holes drilled on the bottom of it to allow water to drain out the bottom.

BREW DAY
1. The golden rule of brewing: Don't be lazy with sanitizing!
2. Set lauter tun in brew pot, then slowly fill with 4½ gallons carbon filtered water. Place on burner and bring to the strike temperature needed for a 154°F mash.
3. When water reaches strike temperature, mix in gypsum salt and calcium chloride, then add full mash grains into lauter tun, cover brew pot with lid and towel, and let rest for 60 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
4. Mix 20 minute mash grains into the brew pot and continue mashing for 20 minutes, stirring 10 minutes in.
5. Meanwhile, slowly fill 3 gallon pot with 1½ gallons carbon filtered water (this’ll be the sparge water) and bring to 175°F by the end of the mashing in step 4. Mix gypsum salt and calcium chloride once it is warm.
6. Remove towel from brew pot, then heat mash to 170°F (not exceeding 3°F/minute). Return towel and let rest for 5 minutes.
7. Slowly lift lauter tun above mash, allowing mash to drain out of the grains. When mash stops dripping, scoop grains into sparge water, mix, and let sit for 15 minutes, stirring often. With the lauter tun still above the mash level in the brewpot, pour the sparge water through the lauter tun into the brewpot. When water stops dripping, remove the lauter tun and grains.
8. Bring mash to a boil, then add 90 minute hops. Boil aggressively for 90 minutes.
20 minutes before end of boil, add Worfloc.
15 minutes before end of boil, place wort chiller in the brew pot.
5 minutes before end of boil, add the 5 minute hops.
9. At the end of the boil, turn off the flame, add the flameout hops, and mix for 20 seconds. Let sit, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
10. Cool wort to 175°F, add sub-isomeriziation hops, and mix continuously for 3 minutes. Let sit, uncovered, for 40 minutes.
11. Fish out as much of the hops as possible with the stainless steel strainer, then cool wort to ~70°F.
12. Remove wort chiller. Place brew pot 3 feet off the floor and mix vigorously for 60 seconds to create a whirlpool. Cover the brew pot and let rest for 30 minutes. This should create a cone of trub at the middle of the bottom of the brew pot.
13. Transfer wort to the primary fermenter with the racking cane:
Start at the top of the wort and slowly work down at the side of the brew pot, avoiding the trub cone. Hold the end of the racking cane at the top of the primary fermenter to allow it to aerate as much as possible. Pitch yeast into the primary fermenter half way through the transferring process.
14. Place lid, stopper, and stopper plug tightly on the primary fermenter. Shake the primary fermenter vigorously for 4 minutes.
15. Place airlock in place of the stopper plug.
Place primary fermenter
a) in a small insulated space with a heater set to 60oF (when ambient temperature is below 60oF)
b) in a non-insulated space, in the 8 gallon brew pot filled with water, and a towel half in/half out of the pot (when ambient temp is above 60°F.
16. After the airlock has stopped bubbling, rack to secondary (6-7 days after brewing).

SECONDARY (Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation!)
1. Place primary fermenter 3 feet off the floor, cover with a towel to avoid light exposure, and let sit for >2 hours (to settle out any trub).
2. Attach hose to nozzle and fill secondary fermenter (at the bottom to avoid oxidation). Leave behind trub in primary fermenter.
3. Place stopper and airlock atop secondary fermenter and return to the fermentation space.
4. When haze drops to the bottom of the secondary fermenter, the beer is ready to bottle (~10-16 days)*.

BOTTLING (Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation!)
1. Boil 2 cups carbon filtered water in a small saucepan, add corn sugar and mix until dissolved. Fill the larger saucepan with cold water and then place the small saucepan inside to cool for 5 minutes.
2. Place secondary fermenter 3 feet off the ground, then pour in sugar water and gently mix with the racking cane (avoiding aeration but mixing sufficiently). Return airlock, cover with a towel to avoid light exposure, to and let sit for 1 hour (to settle out any trub). Cover with a towel to avoid light damage.
Meanwhile, wash bottles in dishwasher (without soap).
3. Boil 2 cups water in a small saucepan, place bottle caps inside for 2 minutes, then strain.
4. Fill racking cane and hose with water. Bend hose at the half-way point, allowing water to drain out the open end.
5. Place racking cane half way into secondary fermenter, then push filler valve down in the bowl until beer reaches the valve.
6. Fill each bottle to the top, allowing the displacement of the bottle filler to bring the beer down to ¾” below the top.
7. Allow bottles to sit for 10 minutes (to allow CO2 production to displace oxygen in the headspace of the bottle), then cap in the order they were filled.
8. Let bottles sit in a dark, room-temperature space for 14 days to carbonate. Once carbonated, keep refrigerated, and drink.

Click to expand...

Seems to be a consensus. Thanks for the (non)answers. Perhaps it was too much to ask

seanppp said:

Seems to be a consensus. Thanks for the (non)answers. Perhaps it was too much to ask

Click to expand...

Maybe if you ask a specific question we could be more help ;-)

It is a bit of a manifesto and I am not really sure I have the expertise or attention span to find flaws or provide helpful hints. My process is nowhere near that well documented or precise . I just try to not hurt myself mostly and don't repeat prior mistakes! That being said I am still tweaking the process every time so..... anyways good luck and good brewing!! I hope you find the answers you seek friend!

Thanks for the kind words Tinhorn.

Demus, I'm sure a specific question would definitely be more helpful. But I don't have a specific question. Sometimes you learn things from brewing with others --either by seeing how they do it or if they critique while watching you do it-- that you didn't even know to ask. I live in Italy and there are no homebrewers within god knows how far so I can't really learn that way. I figured this would be the next best thing.

So you’re kind of doing a BIAB except using a pot with holes in the bottom instead of a bag. BIAP I guess. That’s interesting. How big are the holes in the bottom of your pot? Do you get a lot of grain coming through into the boil?

Do you always do 90 minute boils? I usually only do if I’m using Pilsner malt or if I undershoot my gravity.

Fishing out the hops in step 11 doesn’t really seem necessary to me. I usually do the whirlpool and settle thing too and that seems to work just fine. And even if you bring in some hop debris to the fermenter it won’t affect the final beer.

Step 13: I used to try and be as careful as I could to not get any of the hop debris or break material and to try and make sure I got as much wort as possible, but lately I’ve decided that it’s just not worth the worry. So now I just start the siphon and slowly put it on the bottom edge of the pot and just let it go. It’s a little cloudy at first but it clears up quick. Then when it starts pulling all the dregs in I stop it. All of the kettle trub settles out in the fermenter.

I built a venturi type aeration hose similar to this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/cheap-easy-aeration-gadget-68218/ and it works awesome! I don’t have to shake fermenters anymore. You could go with an O2 system I guess, but I’ve never wanted to deal with the hassle or expense.

I’ve also never heard of pitching yeast halfway through the transfer. I don’t see anything wrong with it though. Might just be a little unnecessary stress having to manage the siphon and pitch yeast at the same time.

I would advise you to ditch the secondary altogether. That would be the best way to “Avoid oxidation!”! Leaving the beer on the yeast for longer is better for the beer anyway. And the beer will settle and clear at the same rate in the primary as it will in the secondary. I’ve even started dry hopping in primary.

Any particular reason you don’t use a bottling bucket? It would be much easier than stirring sugar into the fermenter and having to wait for the trub to settle back out. Plus you spend weeks letting it clear just to stir it up right before bottling. If you don’t have access to a bottling bucket in Italy, I would just leave the beer in the primary for 3 weeks (or however long the fermentation is) then use what you have been using for a primary as a bottling bucket. Or if you really want to do a secondary then you could just use the container you used as the primary as a bottling bucket. I guess really what I’m getting at is that you should transfer to a bottling bucket just before bottling.

I usually just soak my caps in StarSan. I feel like boiling them might mess up the seals on the inside, but if it’s been working for you then it’s probably fine.

Anyway, I hope this helps. I was pretty bored at work so I figured I could use my time constructively by helping out a fellow homebrewer! My wife studied abroad in Florence in college and I went and visited her while she was there. We had a great time. It’s really beautiful there, and the wine is cheap and good!

Got ya. Couple things come to mind in ur procedure. Do you know your water profile? Adding gypsum or calcium chloride without knowing your water parameters is shooting in the dark. You may or may not need them, and how much is a mystery without a water report or analysis.
Second, when you heat strike water you need to go OVER your target temperature because the addition of the grains cools off the water. It can be 10 degrees or more depending on the temperature and quantity of the grain. It's the mash temperature that is important, so make sure you check it AFTER the grains go in...

If you find this helpful let me know and I'll read more of your process...

seanppp said:

I posted my process up here a while ago but it has changed quite a bit so I want to see if anyone has any suggestions/criticism/additions to my brewing process. Thanks!

Note: My "lauter tun" is a pot that fits inside my brew pot and has holes drilled on the bottom of it to allow water to drain out the bottom.

BREW DAY
1. The golden rule of brewing: Don't be lazy with sanitizing! OK
2. Set lauter tun in brew pot, then slowly fill with 4½ gallons carbon filtered water. Place on burner and bring to the strike temperature needed for a 154°F mash. Why slowly - unless that is because of the speed of filtering??
3. When water reaches strike temperature, mix in gypsum salt and calcium chloride, then add full mash grains into lauter tun, cover brew pot with lid and towel, and let rest for 60 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
As already stated only make these additions in relation to the recipe and water chemistry.
4. Mix 20 minute mash grains into the brew pot and continue mashing for 20 minutes, stirring 10 minutes in. Why are you mashing grains at different times? I mash all my grains together for 60 minutes or 90 minutes depending on the style/recipe.
5. Meanwhile, slowly fill 3 gallon pot with 1½ gallons carbon filtered water (this’ll be the sparge water) and bring to 175°F by the end of the mashing in step 4. Mix gypsum salt and calcium chloride once it is warm. Again, why slowly and are you adding more salts? Why?
6. Remove towel from brew pot, then heat mash to 170°F (not exceeding 3°F/minute). Return towel and let rest for 5 minutes.
7. Slowly lift lauter tun above mash, allowing mash to drain out of the grains. When mash stops dripping, scoop grains into sparge water, mix, and let sit for 15 minutes, stirring often. With the lauter tun still above the mash level in the brewpot, pour the sparge water through the lauter tun into the brewpot. When water stops dripping, remove the lauter tun and grains. If you have the grains in a bag, squeeze the wort out!
8. Bring mash to a boil, then add 90 minute hops. Boil aggressively for 90 minutes. Some recipes use 90 minutes others use 60 minutes and often there are other timed addition for hops depending on whether they are for bittering, aroma, flavor or combinations of each.
20 minutes before end of boil, add Worfloc. Whirlfloc
15 minutes before end of boil, place wort chiller in the brew pot.
5 minutes before end of boil, add the 5 minute hops.
9. At the end of the boil, turn off the flame, add the flameout hops, and mix for 20 seconds. Let sit, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
10. Cool wort to 175°F, add sub-isoomeriziation hops, and mix continuously for 3 minutes. Let sit, uncovered, for 40 minutes.
11. Fish out as much of the hops as possible with the stainless steel strainer, then cool wort to ~70°F. Or use paint strainer bags to contain the hops. Alternatively just leave the hops in there.
12. Remove wort chiller. Place brew pot 3 feet off the floor and mix vigorously for 60 seconds to create a whirlpool. Cover the brew pot and let rest for 30 minutes. This should create a cone of trub at the middle of the bottom of the brew pot. I never do this.
13. Transfer wort to the primary fermenter with the racking cane: Or just pour it in.
Start at the top of the wort and slowly work down at the side of the brew pot, avoiding the trub cone. Hold the end of the racking cane at the top of the primary fermenter to allow it to aerate as much as possible. Pitch yeast into the primary fermenter half way through the transferring process. I always aerate the wort by shaking the snot out of the fermenter then add the yeast (at proper pitching temperatures.)
14. Place lid, stopper, and stopper plug tightly on the primary fermenter. Shake the primary fermenter vigorously for 4 minutes.
15. Place airlock in place of the stopper plug.
Place primary fermenter I suggest that you start EVERY fermentation with a blow off tube installed
a) in a small insulated space with a heater set to 60oF (when ambient temperature is below 60oF)
b) in a non-insulated space, in the 8 gallon brew pot filled with water, and a towel half in/half out of the pot (when ambient temp is above 60°F. Swamp cooler - use ice bottles if needed. Low to mid sixties for most ales.
16. After the airlock has stopped bubbling, rack to secondary (6-7 days after brewing). Do not ferment to a time schedule. Take gravity readings for final gravity before transferring or you can leave in primary until final gravity then many will leave it for another week or three then bottle.

SECONDARY (Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation!) Unless you are careless splashing all over the place oxidation is unlikely.
1. Place primary fermenter 3 feet off the floor, cover with a towel to avoid light exposure, and let sit for >2 hours (to settle out any trub).
2. Attach hose to nozzle and fill secondary fermenter (at the bottom to avoid oxidation). Leave behind trub in primary fermenter.
3. Place stopper and airlock atop secondary fermenter and return to the fermentation space.
4. When haze drops to the bottom of the secondary fermenter, the beer is ready to bottle (~10-16 days)*.

BOTTLING (Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation!) Again unless you splash a lot, oxidation is not likely.
1. Boil 2 cups carbon filtered water in a small saucepan, add corn sugar and mix until dissolved. Fill the larger saucepan with cold water and then place the small saucepan inside to cool for 5 minutes. I never cool the priming sugar solution. there is so little in a 5 gallon batch that I doubt it makes a difference.
2. Place secondary fermenter 3 feet off the ground, then pour in sugar water and gently mix with the racking cane (avoiding aeration but mixing sufficiently). Return airlock, cover with a towel to avoid light exposure, to and let sit for 1 hour (to settle out any trub). Cover with a towel to avoid light damage. Use a bottling bucket - way easier. I don't wait. There is almost no trub left.
Meanwhile, wash bottles in dishwasher (without soap). This is useless - the water will not get inside the bottles.
3. Boil 2 cups water in a small saucepan, place bottle caps inside for 2 minutes, then strain. Just put the caps in a bowl of Starsan
4. Fill racking cane and hose with water. Bend hose at the half-way point, allowing water to drain out the open end. Use Starsan
5. Place racking cane half way into secondary fermenter, then push filler valve down in the bowl until beer reaches the valve. Get an autosiphon and siphon into a bottling bucket. Attach a bottling wand directly to the spigot with an inch of tubing.
6. Fill each bottle to the top, allowing the displacement of the bottle filler to bring the beer down to ¾” below the top.
7. Allow bottles to sit for 10 minutes (to allow CO2 production to displace oxygen in the headspace of the bottle), then cap in the order they were filled.
8. Let bottles sit in a dark, room-temperature space for 14 days to carbonate. Once carbonated, keep refrigerated, and drink.

Click to expand...

You will probably need at least 21 days then 24 to 48 hours of chilling.


There are no serious flaws in your methods.

There are a lot of other ways to achieve the same ends.

What I have noted are easier and for me, better ways to arrive at the same place.

One question is your lauter pot. Are you also using a mesh bag? If not what size holes are in the strainer pot. If it is a standard one most of the grain will go right through the holes.

peterj, thanks so much for your notes!

The holes in the "lauter tun" are 1/8". I've never had a single piece of grain fall through.

I think I will use a bottling bucket. It's an extra transfer, which is what I was trying to avoid, but what the heck. I still like doing secondaries so l'm going to keep with that. I find that leaving it in the primary it picks up some flavors from the trub.

That aeration gadget is super cool! I'm definitely going to have to make one of those! THANKS!!!

The reason I fish the hops out is because I use whole hops and they are pretty obtrusive.

I live in Livorno, the town south of Pisa. Was in Florence last weekend. I hope you were there in the spring or fall because gets HOT there.

Thanks again man. Appreciate the pointers.

Demus said:

Got ya. Couple things come to mind in ur procedure. Do you know your water profile? Adding gypsum or calcium chloride without knowing your water parameters is shooting in the dark. You may or may not need them, and how much is a mystery without a water report or analysis.
Second, when you heat strike water you need to go OVER your target temperature because the addition of the grains cools off the water. It can be 10 degrees or more depending on the temperature and quantity of the grain. It's the mash temperature that is important, so make sure you check it AFTER the grains go in...

If you find this helpful let me know and I'll read more of your process...

Click to expand...

Demus, thanks for the reply. I used the Bru'n Water Treatment program to determine the salts. As for the strike temp, I set up a little Excel sheet that uses John Palmer's formula to determine strike water temp. That is why I put "the temperature necessary to reach 154F" rather than "heat water to 171F" or something like that.

I'd love to hear any more opinions.

BREW DAY
1. The golden rule of brewing: Don't be lazy with sanitizing! OK
2. Set lauter tun in brew pot, then slowly fill with 4½ gallons carbon filtered water. Place on burner and bring to the strike temperature needed for a 154°F mash. Why slowly - unless that is because of the speed of filtering??
Yes, because if it runs through the carbon filter too quickly it won't do much good.
3. When water reaches strike temperature, mix in gypsum salt and calcium chloride, then add full mash grains into lauter tun, cover brew pot with lid and towel, and let rest for 60 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
As already stated only make these additions in relation to the recipe and water chemistry.
Got it covered.
4. Mix 20 minute mash grains into the brew pot and continue mashing for 20 minutes, stirring 10 minutes in. Why are you mashing grains at different times? I mash all my grains together for 60 minutes or 90 minutes depending on the style/recipe.
This is a little trick I picked up recently. Since specialty grains don't need to be converted (they are only there to steep and add flavor/texture/color) they don't *need* to be in with the entire mash. It is thought by some (me included) that they have a more fresh and crisp presence when they aren't sitting in there for the entire mash.
5. Meanwhile, slowly fill 3 gallon pot with 1½ gallons carbon filtered water (this’ll be the sparge water) and bring to 175°F by the end of the mashing in step 4. Mix gypsum salt and calcium chloride once it is warm. Again, why slowly and are you adding more salts? Why?
This wasn't clear from what I posted. Since I do an English sparge technique, I treat both the mash water and the sparge water. Those amounts are determined in my recipe. Sorry that was unclear here.
6. Remove towel from brew pot, then heat mash to 170°F (not exceeding 3°F/minute). Return towel and let rest for 5 minutes.
7. Slowly lift lauter tun above mash, allowing mash to drain out of the grains. When mash stops dripping, scoop grains into sparge water, mix, and let sit for 15 minutes, stirring often. With the lauter tun still above the mash level in the brewpot, pour the sparge water through the lauter tun into the brewpot. When water stops dripping, remove the lauter tun and grains. If you have the grains in a bag, squeeze the wort out!
No, I don't have grain bags. If you look at the beginning of my original post, I have a "pot in a pot" setup. Actually what it is is a copper sheet metal cylinder that I made which fits inside my brewpot and has 1/8" holes drilled in the bottom. Kind of the same principal as those those spaghetti strainers they use in restaurants that just lift right out of the pot.
8. Bring mash to a boil, then add 90 minute hops. Boil aggressively for 90 minutes. Some recipes use 90 minutes others use 60 minutes and often there are other timed addition for hops depending on whether they are for bittering, aroma, flavor or combinations of each.
20 minutes before end of boil, add Worfloc. Whirlfloc
LMAO!!!!! Oh man! This is hilarious! I've been brewing for 5 years and had this word wrong the entire time! Incredible!
15 minutes before end of boil, place wort chiller in the brew pot.
5 minutes before end of boil, add the 5 minute hops.
9. At the end of the boil, turn off the flame, add the flameout hops, and mix for 20 seconds. Let sit, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
10. Cool wort to 175°F, add sub-isoomeriziation hops, and mix continuously for 3 minutes. Let sit, uncovered, for 40 minutes.
11. Fish out as much of the hops as possible with the stainless steel strainer, then cool wort to ~70°F. Or use paint strainer bags to contain the hops. Alternatively just leave the hops in there.
Excellent idea! The large paint strainer bag! I am going to do this. Thank you!
12. Remove wort chiller. Place brew pot 3 feet off the floor and mix vigorously for 60 seconds to create a whirlpool. Cover the brew pot and let rest for 30 minutes. This should create a cone of trub at the middle of the bottom of the brew pot. I never do this.
13. Transfer wort to the primary fermenter with the racking cane: Or just pour it in.
Start at the top of the wort and slowly work down at the side of the brew pot, avoiding the trub cone. Hold the end of the racking cane at the top of the primary fermenter to allow it to aerate as much as possible. Pitch yeast into the primary fermenter half way through the transferring process. I always aerate the wort by shaking the snot out of the fermenter then add the yeast (at proper pitching temperatures.)
Why don't you add the yeast first? It probably doesn't make much of a difference either way, but it seems like if you add it before shaking you get a nice even distribution of the yeast in the wort.
14. Place lid, stopper, and stopper plug tightly on the primary fermenter. Shake the primary fermenter vigorously for 4 minutes.
15. Place airlock in place of the stopper plug.
Place primary fermenter I suggest that you start EVERY fermentation with a blow off tube installed
Why is that?
a) in a small insulated space with a heater set to 60oF (when ambient temperature is below 60oF)
b) in a non-insulated space, in the 8 gallon brew pot filled with water, and a towel half in/half out of the pot (when ambient temp is above 60°F. Swamp cooler - use ice bottles if needed. Low to mid sixties for most ales.
Can you elaborate?
16. After the airlock has stopped bubbling, rack to secondary (6-7 days after brewing). Do not ferment to a time schedule. Take gravity readings for final gravity before transferring or you can leave in primary until final gravity then many will leave it for another week or three then bottle.
You're right. I need to start taking gravity readings.
SECONDARY (Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation!) Unless you are careless splashing all over the place oxidation is unlikely.
1. Place primary fermenter 3 feet off the floor, cover with a towel to avoid light exposure, and let sit for >2 hours (to settle out any trub).
2. Attach hose to nozzle and fill secondary fermenter (at the bottom to avoid oxidation). Leave behind trub in primary fermenter.
3. Place stopper and airlock atop secondary fermenter and return to the fermentation space.
4. When haze drops to the bottom of the secondary fermenter, the beer is ready to bottle (~10-16 days)*.

BOTTLING (Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation!) Again unless you splash a lot, oxidation is not likely.
1. Boil 2 cups carbon filtered water in a small saucepan, add corn sugar and mix until dissolved. Fill the larger saucepan with cold water and then place the small saucepan inside to cool for 5 minutes. I never cool the priming sugar solution. there is so little in a 5 gallon batch that I doubt it makes a difference.
2. Place secondary fermenter 3 feet off the ground, then pour in sugar water and gently mix with the racking cane (avoiding aeration but mixing sufficiently). Return airlock, cover with a towel to avoid light exposure, to and let sit for 1 hour (to settle out any trub). Cover with a towel to avoid light damage. Use a bottling bucket - way easier. I don't wait. There is almost no trub left.
Yeah, I will use a bottling bucket.

Meanwhile, wash bottles in dishwasher (without soap). This is useless - the water will not get inside the bottles.
I disagree. You're correct that no liquid water will get far into the bottles, but the temperature of the steam bath that is created is above pasteurization temperature and will thus kill anything in the bottles. It is effective.
3. Boil 2 cups water in a small saucepan, place bottle caps inside for 2 minutes, then strain. Just put the caps in a bowl of Starsan
4. Fill racking cane and hose with water. Bend hose at the half-way point, allowing water to drain out the open end. Use Starsan
5. Place racking cane half way into secondary fermenter, then push filler valve down in the bowl until beer reaches the valve. Get an autosiphon and siphon into a bottling bucket. Attach a bottling wand directly to the spigot with an inch of tubing.
Again, good idea. I will do this.
6. Fill each bottle to the top, allowing the displacement of the bottle filler to bring the beer down to ¾” below the top.
7. Allow bottles to sit for 10 minutes (to allow CO2 production to displace oxygen in the headspace of the bottle), then cap in the order they were filled.
8. Let bottles sit in a dark, room-temperature space for 14 days to carbonate. Once carbonated, keep refrigerated, and drink.
You will probably need at least 21 days then 24 to 48 hours of chilling.
It's weird, I always read that carbonation takes 21 days or so, but my brews are always nice and carbonated at 14 days.


There are no serious flaws in your methods.

There are a lot of other ways to achieve the same ends.

What I have noted are easier and for me, better ways to arrive at the same place.

One question is your lauter pot. Are you also using a mesh bag? If not what size holes are in the strainer pot. If it is a standard one most of the grain will go right through the holes.

.

seanppp said:

BREW DAY
1. The golden rule of brewing: Don't be lazy with sanitizing! OK
2. Set lauter tun in brew pot, then slowly fill with 4½ gallons carbon filtered water. Place on burner and bring to the strike temperature needed for a 154°F mash. Why slowly - unless that is because of the speed of filtering??
Yes, because if it runs through the carbon filter too quickly it won't do much good.
3. When water reaches strike temperature, mix in gypsum salt and calcium chloride, then add full mash grains into lauter tun, cover brew pot with lid and towel, and let rest for 60 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
As already stated only make these additions in relation to the recipe and water chemistry.
Got it covered.
4. Mix 20 minute mash grains into the brew pot and continue mashing for 20 minutes, stirring 10 minutes in. Why are you mashing grains at different times? I mash all my grains together for 60 minutes or 90 minutes depending on the style/recipe.
This is a little trick I picked up recently. Since specialty grains don't need to be converted (they are only there to steep and add flavor/texture/color) they don't *need* to be in with the entire mash. It is thought by some (me included) that they have a more fresh and crisp presence when they aren't sitting in there for the entire mash.
5. Meanwhile, slowly fill 3 gallon pot with 1½ gallons carbon filtered water (this’ll be the sparge water) and bring to 175°F by the end of the mashing in step 4. Mix gypsum salt and calcium chloride once it is warm. Again, why slowly and are you adding more salts? Why?
This wasn't clear from what I posted. Since I do an English sparge technique, I treat both the mash water and the sparge water. Those amounts are determined in my recipe. Sorry that was unclear here.
6. Remove towel from brew pot, then heat mash to 170°F (not exceeding 3°F/minute). Return towel and let rest for 5 minutes.
7. Slowly lift lauter tun above mash, allowing mash to drain out of the grains. When mash stops dripping, scoop grains into sparge water, mix, and let sit for 15 minutes, stirring often. With the lauter tun still above the mash level in the brewpot, pour the sparge water through the lauter tun into the brewpot. When water stops dripping, remove the lauter tun and grains. If you have the grains in a bag, squeeze the wort out!
No, I don't have grain bags. If you look at the beginning of my original post, I have a "pot in a pot" setup. Actually what it is is a copper sheet metal cylinder that I made which fits inside my brewpot and has 1/8" holes drilled in the bottom. Kind of the same principal as those those spaghetti strainers they use in restaurants that just lift right out of the pot.
8. Bring mash to a boil, then add 90 minute hops. Boil aggressively for 90 minutes. Some recipes use 90 minutes others use 60 minutes and often there are other timed addition for hops depending on whether they are for bittering, aroma, flavor or combinations of each.
20 minutes before end of boil, add Worfloc. Whirlfloc
LMAO!!!!! Oh man! This is hilarious! I've been brewing for 5 years and had this word wrong the entire time! Incredible!
15 minutes before end of boil, place wort chiller in the brew pot.
5 minutes before end of boil, add the 5 minute hops.
9. At the end of the boil, turn off the flame, add the flameout hops, and mix for 20 seconds. Let sit, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
10. Cool wort to 175°F, add sub-isoomeriziation hops, and mix continuously for 3 minutes. Let sit, uncovered, for 40 minutes.
11. Fish out as much of the hops as possible with the stainless steel strainer, then cool wort to ~70°F. Or use paint strainer bags to contain the hops. Alternatively just leave the hops in there.
Excellent idea! The large paint strainer bag! I am going to do this. One question though, how do I keep it from just floating around in there? How do I get it to more or less take the shape of the brewpot so I can pour all the hops in there?
12. Remove wort chiller. Place brew pot 3 feet off the floor and mix vigorously for 60 seconds to create a whirlpool. Cover the brew pot and let rest for 30 minutes. This should create a cone of trub at the middle of the bottom of the brew pot. I never do this.
13. Transfer wort to the primary fermenter with the racking cane: Or just pour it in.
Start at the top of the wort and slowly work down at the side of the brew pot, avoiding the trub cone. Hold the end of the racking cane at the top of the primary fermenter to allow it to aerate as much as possible. Pitch yeast into the primary fermenter half way through the transferring process. I always aerate the wort by shaking the snot out of the fermenter then add the yeast (at proper pitching temperatures.)
Why don't you add the yeast first? It probably doesn't make much of a difference either way, but it seems like if you add it before shaking you get a nice even distribution of the yeast in the wort.
14. Place lid, stopper, and stopper plug tightly on the primary fermenter. Shake the primary fermenter vigorously for 4 minutes.
15. Place airlock in place of the stopper plug.
Place primary fermenter I suggest that you start EVERY fermentation with a blow off tube installed
Why is that?
a) in a small insulated space with a heater set to 60oF (when ambient temperature is below 60oF)
b) in a non-insulated space, in the 8 gallon brew pot filled with water, and a towel half in/half out of the pot (when ambient temp is above 60°F. Swamp cooler - use ice bottles if needed. Low to mid sixties for most ales.
Can you elaborate?
16. After the airlock has stopped bubbling, rack to secondary (6-7 days after brewing). Do not ferment to a time schedule. Take gravity readings for final gravity before transferring or you can leave in primary until final gravity then many will leave it for another week or three then bottle.
You're right. I need to start taking gravity readings.
SECONDARY (Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation!) Unless you are careless splashing all over the place oxidation is unlikely.
1. Place primary fermenter 3 feet off the floor, cover with a towel to avoid light exposure, and let sit for >2 hours (to settle out any trub).
2. Attach hose to nozzle and fill secondary fermenter (at the bottom to avoid oxidation). Leave behind trub in primary fermenter.
3. Place stopper and airlock atop secondary fermenter and return to the fermentation space.
4. When haze drops to the bottom of the secondary fermenter, the beer is ready to bottle (~10-16 days)*.

BOTTLING (Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation! Avoid oxidation!) Again unless you splash a lot, oxidation is not likely.
1. Boil 2 cups carbon filtered water in a small saucepan, add corn sugar and mix until dissolved. Fill the larger saucepan with cold water and then place the small saucepan inside to cool for 5 minutes. I never cool the priming sugar solution. there is so little in a 5 gallon batch that I doubt it makes a difference.
2. Place secondary fermenter 3 feet off the ground, then pour in sugar water and gently mix with the racking cane (avoiding aeration but mixing sufficiently). Return airlock, cover with a towel to avoid light exposure, to and let sit for 1 hour (to settle out any trub). Cover with a towel to avoid light damage. Use a bottling bucket - way easier. I don't wait. There is almost no trub left.
Yeah, I will use a bottling bucket.

Meanwhile, wash bottles in dishwasher (without soap). This is useless - the water will not get inside the bottles.
I disagree. You're correct that no liquid water will get far into the bottles, but the temperature of the steam bath that is created is above pasteurization temperature and will thus kill anything in the bottles. It is effective.
3. Boil 2 cups water in a small saucepan, place bottle caps inside for 2 minutes, then strain. Just put the caps in a bowl of Starsan
4. Fill racking cane and hose with water. Bend hose at the half-way point, allowing water to drain out the open end. Use Starsan
5. Place racking cane half way into secondary fermenter, then push filler valve down in the bowl until beer reaches the valve. Get an autosiphon and siphon into a bottling bucket. Attach a bottling wand directly to the spigot with an inch of tubing.
Again, good idea. I will do this.
6. Fill each bottle to the top, allowing the displacement of the bottle filler to bring the beer down to ¾” below the top.
7. Allow bottles to sit for 10 minutes (to allow CO2 production to displace oxygen in the headspace of the bottle), then cap in the order they were filled.
8. Let bottles sit in a dark, room-temperature space for 14 days to carbonate. Once carbonated, keep refrigerated, and drink.
You will probably need at least 21 days then 24 to 48 hours of chilling.
It's weird, I always read that carbonation takes 21 days or so, but my brews are always nice and carbonated at 14 days.


There are no serious flaws in your methods.

There are a lot of other ways to achieve the same ends.

What I have noted are easier and for me, better ways to arrive at the same place.

One question is your lauter pot. Are you also using a mesh bag? If not what size holes are in the strainer pot. If it is a standard one most of the grain will go right through the holes.

Click to expand...

Some elaboration:

seanppp said:

4. Mix 20 minute mash grains into the brew pot and continue mashing for 20 minutes, stirring 10 minutes in. Why are you mashing grains at different times? I mash all my grains together for 60 minutes or 90 minutes depending on the style/recipe.
This is a little trick I picked up recently. Since specialty grains don't need to be converted (they are only there to steep and add flavor/texture/color) they don't *need* to be in with the entire mash. It is thought by some (me included) that they have a more fresh and crisp presence when they aren't sitting in there for the entire mash.

I have never done this and it seems like an unneeded step, but I may have to look into this.

15. Place airlock in place of the stopper plug.
Place primary fermenter I suggest that you start EVERY fermentation with a blow off tube installed
Why is that?

Keep brewing and you will find out! Just kidding!
If you have a really vigorous fermentation you could have krausen rise into the airlock. It might clog it until pressure blows the lid off or stopper out, then you will be washing krausen off the ceiling. A blow off tube is larger in diameter, will release pressure and is less likely to get clogged.

a) in a small insulated space with a heater set to 60oF (when ambient temperature is below 60oF)
b) in a non-insulated space, in the 8 gallon brew pot filled with water, and a towel half in/half out of the pot (when ambient temp is above 60°F. Swamp cooler - use ice bottles if needed. Low to mid sixties for most ales.
Can you elaborate?

A swamp cooler is a container large enough to put your fermenter in it with enough water to go at least 1/3 the way up the side. You can rotate plastic bottles of frozen water as often as needed to control the wort temperature. I like to ferment most ales at about 64 degrees F.

Meanwhile, wash bottles in dishwasher (without soap). This is useless - the water will not get inside the bottles.
I disagree. You're correct that no liquid water will get far into the bottles, but the temperature of the steam bath that is created is above pasteurization temperature and will thus kill anything in the bottles. It is effective.

Washing no - sanitizing with high temperatures - Yes.

8. Let bottles sit in a dark, room-temperature space for 14 days to carbonate. Once carbonated, keep refrigerated, and drink.
You will probably need at least 21 days then 24 to 48 hours of chilling.
It's weird, I always read that carbonation takes 21 days or so, but my brews are always nice and carbonated at 14 days.

I find that some are carbonated at 2 weeks but all of my brews have tasted better after 3 weeks or longer.


Again,There are a lot of other ways to achieve the same ends.

Click to expand...

seanppp said:

Demus, thanks for the reply. I used the Bru'n Water Treatment program to determine the salts. As for the strike temp, I set up a little Excel sheet that uses John Palmer's formula to determine strike water temp. That is why I put "the temperature necessary to reach 154F" rather than "heat water to 171F" or something like that.

I'd love to hear any more opinions.

Click to expand...

Even using bru'n water you still have to know your starting point. Do you know your source water profile?

I didn't see if there were answers to some of these, so if I"m repeating, please forgive me.

#3- why gypsum and CaCl2? If you need it, you need it, but without a water profile that tells if it's needed it may be a bad move. Also, no need to stir the mash. When you mash in, stir like you mean it. Then stir some more. Take the temperature in at least three different places. If the temperature is the same throughout, cover and walk way. If it's different- stir some more. After that, no need to stir the mash again.
#4. I have no idea what that means. All your grains go in together. Stir well. Leave them alone.
#5. Again, the gypsum and CaCl2? Why?
#7. I think you're doing this the hard way. If that's the only way you can sparge, so be it. but it sure sounds cumbersome. There is no need to slowly lift, let drip, etc. Just sparge by pouring draining the runnings and adding the sparge water, or dunk them in a new pot with the sparge water. The way you're explaining sounds difficult, slow, and unnecessary.
#8. A 90 minute boil and 90 minute hops is generally overkill. 90% of the time (or more), 60 minutes is fine.
#10. The end of boil hops and hops stand sounds very cumbersome. I'd streamline that, but you're not harming anything by doing it that way.
#11. Big waste of time, and unnecessary. Either use hops bags, or use some other filtering mechanism. But don't worry about sanitizing a strainer and going fishing for hops. Big waste of time and energy (and wort!)
#12- between the hops stand and "going fishing" that's another big time waster. If you're going to whirlpool and siphon, don't waste time with the hops strainer thing. Just do the whirlpool when the wort is chilled, then siphon off of the hops. Pitch yeast after aerating the wort, not halfway through.
#14. Again, aerate BEFORE pitching.

I'd skip racking to a bright tank ("secondary") since it isn't needed and more chance for screwing around with the beer.

Bottling:
1. Just boil the corn sugar in the water, and dump into the sanitized bottling bucket. No need to cool or mess around with it.
2. Absolutely NOT. Put the priming solution into the bottling bucket. Rack the beer into it. Bottle immediately. No sitting/standing/playing around. Bottle right away, from the bottling bucket. No stirring/splashing/etc. don't wash bottles in the dishwasher. Wash bottles by hand, with a bottle brush and oxiclean. Rinse well. On bottling day, sanitize the bottles. Star-san is the best to use, and you can use it when you're sanitizing the bottling tubing and racking cane and bottling bucket. You can sanitize in the dishwasher if you have a "sanitize" setting, but it's much faster to just use a vinator and bottle tree (less than 10 minutes).
3. (or is it 4?). Don't boil your bottle caps. Ever. Put them in a little bowl of sanitizer, and use them as you go.
3-6- just use a bottling wand and a bottling bucket. It's easy, skips the "secondary" and makes life easier and the beer better.
7. No. Cap immediately.

Brewing is pretty easy, but adding 10-15 extra steps makes it difficult and cumbersome. If there is a reason to do something, that's one thing. But there is a whole lot of "make work" in your steps that not only won't help but may harm the beer. I'd try to read Howtobrew.com and see if you can get an understanding of brewing and bottling before trying again.

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR ALL YOUR ADVICE. THIS HAS HELPED TREMENDOUSLY.


kh54s10

A swamp cooler is a container large enough to put your fermenter in it with enough water to go at least 1/3 the way up the side. You can rotate plastic bottles of frozen water as often as needed to control the wort temperature. I like to ferment most ales at about 64 degrees F.

Click to expand...

This is a good idea. I will do this. Thank you.

I find that some are carbonated at 2 weeks but all of my brews have tasted better after 3 weeks or longer.

Click to expand...

Hmm. I guess I can wait that long. It won't hurt I suppose.

Demus

Even using bru'n water you still have to know your starting point. Do you know your source water profile?

Click to expand...

Yes, I looked up my city's water profile and plugged those values into the Bru'n program.

Yooper
Thanks for the detailed advice. There were many repeats but there are two things I wanted to discuss:

#14. Again, aerate BEFORE pitching.

Click to expand...

Why is this? It seems to me that aerating after pitching would help with yeast distribution in the wort. Is there something bad about that that I'm missing?

7. No. Cap immediately.

Click to expand...

Waiting 10 minutes to cap the bottles is a trick I learned from a nationally renowned homebrew expert from my hometown of San Francisco, the owner of the homebrew shop SF Brewcraft, a guy called "Griz". He says that the small amount of CO2 that's produced from the corn sugar addition in that 10 minutes is enough to purge the headspace of the bottle with CO2, thus creating an oxygen-free bottle when you cap. It's impossible for me to varify if this is true or not (if enough CO2 is produced in that short time), but he's a guy who knows what he's talking about in general so I went with his advice.

And one more question. With the grain bed acting as a filter, what exactly is it filtering? If you don't use it as a filter, such as in my process, are you getting bad flavors or just hazy beer?

seanppp said:

T

Yooper
Thanks for the detailed advice. There were many repeats but there are two things I wanted to discuss:

Why is this? It seems to me that aerating after pitching would help with yeast distribution in the wort. Is there something bad about that that I'm missing?


Waiting 10 minutes to cap the bottles is a trick I learned from a nationally renowned homebrew expert from my hometown of San Francisco, the owner of the homebrew shop SF Brewcraft, a guy called "Griz". He says that the small amount of CO2 that's produced from the corn sugar addition in that 10 minutes is enough to purge the headspace of the bottle with CO2, thus creating an oxygen-free bottle when you cap. It's impossible for me to varify if this is true or not (if enough CO2 is produced in that short time), but he's a guy who knows what he's talking about in general so I went with his advice.

And one more question. With the grain bed acting as a filter, what exactly is it filtering? If you don't use it as a filter, such as in my process, are you getting bad flavors or just hazy beer?

Click to expand...

You don't need to mix up the yeast- they do just fine on their own. You want to pitch the yeast into a well aerated wort, at the proper temperature (generally 65 degrees or so for ales).

I understand what you're saying about the co2, sort of. But if you've already let it sit for an hour, letting it sit to produce co2 before capping is silly. Sure, there may be a little bit of co2 coming out of solution, but you've also given it a venue for oxygen. Just fill with a bottling wand to the top, remove the wand, and set the cap on. You can tighten the caps all at once, but at least set the cap on it. (And of course, no sitting for an hour anyway).

I don't understand the question about the grainbed filter, sorry!

seanppp said:

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR ALL YOUR ADVICE.

Why is this? It seems to me that aerating after pitching would help with yeast distribution in the wort. Is there something bad about that that I'm missing?

And one more question. With the grain bed acting as a filter, what exactly is it filtering? If you don't use it as a filter, such as in my process, are you getting bad flavors or just hazy beer?

Click to expand...

You're welcome! I think it's cool you are brewing in Italy. Show those Italians what beer is all about!
As for the yeast being pitched before or after aerating, it really doesn't make any difference. Just do it when it fits best on your process. There's no need to "distribute the yeast", but it won't hurt anything.
Your grain bed "filter" is just filtering itself. As the wort runs out of it, it compacts slightly preventing any grain husks from getting into your brew...
Brew on!!

Demus: That's right. The beer here is lacking to say the least. I hear there are some good microbreweries cropping up in Italy, but none of them are near me!

yooper and Demus, the question about the grain bed is this: What is the grain bed filter actually filtering? Is it only the whole grains themselves, or are there smaller fines that are getting filtered too? Since my "lauter tun" thing has holes that are too small for the grains to slip by, do I need to worry about laying down an undisturbed filter bed? If not, it'd be a lot easier to not worry about that with my current set up. Just throw the grains in the sparge water pot, mix the hell out of them, and pour them through the "lauter tun" which at the point is acting as a strainer, and then continue on the the boil. You see what I'm saying?

seanppp said:

yooper and Demus, the question about the grain bed is this: What is the grain bed filter actually filtering? Is it only the whole grains themselves, or are there smaller fines that are getting filtered too? Since my "lauter tun" thing has holes that are too small for the grains to slip by, do I need to worry about laying down an undisturbed filter bed? If not, it'd be a lot easier to not worry about that with my current set up. Just throw the grains in the sparge water pot, mix the hell out of them, and pour them through the "lauter tun" which at the point is acting as a strainer, and then continue on the the boil. You see what I'm saying?

Click to expand...

I really don't understand what you're asking, but the grainbed filters itself- particles of husk and pieces of grain. Some people use bags for all of their grain, while others (like me) use a mash/lauter tun. It doesn't matter- you want the big chunks and particles to be filtered out and mostly clear wort to go to the brew kettle. How you get that is up to the brewer, as there are several techniques to separate the grain from the wort (the actual definition of "lauter").

I am asking what exactly is being filtered. Is it only the grains themselves, or is it some sort of smaller part of the grain that might slip by a 1/8" hole? Are the individual grains adsorbing some small particulate, or are we just worried about whole grains getting in the wort? I ask because, like I wrote before, can I just throw the grains in the sparge water pot, mix the hell out of them, wait a few minutes, and then pour them through the "lauter tun" which at this point is acting as a strainer, and then continue on the the boil?

Is there anything small than a barley grain that needs to be filtered kept out of the wort? Or is it only the barley grains themselves that need to be kept out?

It's the crushed grain husks that both act as a filter, and are filtered out. If you mix the hell out of it, as you describe you will get some of the finer pieces into your wort because the grain bed has no chance to settle. This COULD lead to off flavors from tannins in the husks. It could also be fine and just settle out with the rest of the yeast and trub. FYI, in a traditional sparge, a few quarts are collected to help settle the grain bed, and returned to the mash. This is called "vorlauf", and it works quite well. When I do it the first quart or so is quite cloudy, with quite a bit of particulate. After that it runs clear into my kettle. I can't say for sure there's a flavor impact, but that's the standard practice...

Demus said:

It's the crushed grain husks that both act as a filter, and are filtered out. If you mix the hell out of it, as you describe you will get some of the finer pieces into your wort because the grain bed has no chance to settle. This COULD lead to off flavors from tannins in the husks. It could also be fine and just settle out with the rest of the yeast and trub. FYI, in a traditional sparge, a few quarts are collected to help settle the grain bed, and returned to the mash. This is called "vorlauf", and it works quite well. When I do it the first quart or so is quite cloudy, with quite a bit of particulate. After that it runs clear into my kettle. I can't say for sure there's a flavor impact, but that's the standard practice...

Click to expand...

Okay. That explains it pretty well. Thanks. Since I don't do a fly sparge I think I'll use a paint filter when I pour it back in with the mash.