Cereal Mash Attempt

Long time listener, first time poster...thanks for all the 2d & 3d order help to this point!

Anywho...

I am planning my first cereal mash for a Belgian Wit recipe and I was wondering if anyone out there could offer some adjustments/critiques before I commit...

Equipment
- 10 gal MLT (converted Rubbermaid round cooler)
- 32 qt SS boil kettle
- Bayou propane burner
- Immersion wort chiller, tubing, etc.


Grain Bill (Total)
- 4 lbs Belgian Pilsner
- 4 lbs Unmalted Wheat
- 1 lb Flaked Oats


Cereal Mash Process (Proposed)
1. Place 4lbs of Unmalted Wheat & .5lbs Pilsner Malt in MLT
2. Add 5 qts of 153 deg water to MLT for a protein rest (20 min) at 122 deg
3. Add 10 qts of 180 deg water to MLT for sacch rest (20 min) at 154 deg
4. Transfer MLT contents to Kettle and bring to boil for 20 min (stirring)
5. Add remaining dry Pilsner malt and oats to MLT
6. Transfer cereal mash (once cooled to ~180 deg) from kettle to MLT with dry malt to achieve main mash temp of 154 deg with a total of just under 15 qts (~1.5 qt/lb).
7. Pray


What do you guys think about the process/steps?

Thanks in advance for any advice...

-Custer

Know this is later, but how did it turn out? I got low efficiency on my unmalted wheat. I did a decoction, and only 20 min protein rest, among other issues. pH was low as well due to adding too much acid.

I've done this a few times since the post; it gets easier once you get the rhythm. I got low efficiency when i started too. My fix for that was making sure my batch sparge had enough heat/volume to get the whole mash up to "mash out" temp. The first runnings before that batch sparge (just after the cereal mash was added to the main match and sacch rested) are slow and low volume, but i made sure i got every last drop out of it. If you fly sparge, i would just make sure you have a mash out step to really "de-gum" the thing. As far as the pH goes, i just used half distilled and half spring water from wal-mart (different stores have different water chemistry for there spring water). My tap water at the time was really hard. Next time i think im going to try a little acid malt, just for grins, to see how that changes the profile.

Awesome, I will try your route. I'm really looking forward to using the wheat, and the steps are not that difficult once the process works. I batch sparge as well, figure I should get used to that before moving up.

Thanks again,

I will assume that your number 6 step is done for a full hour.

Yep, although lately I've been doing 75-90 minute mashes with the more traditional beers. I thought of increasing the time on this one as well. I don't think it's needed, especially considering all the conversion that is happening before the cereal mash is added to the main. I think I might try increasing the sacch rest next time, just in the name of science.

I'm actually drinking a Celis White right now...the bar has been set high!

Over the weekend I did my cereal mash for Oberon clone. I didn't do a saccarification rest separately, but combined them, then scrambled to bring down the temp of the main mash hehe (something always goes wrong)

Anyways, I noticed a huge difference in the starchiness of the water. It had a nice consistency. Before with just a protein rest that thing was boiling over every 5 min during the hops boil.

Did 20 min 113F
heated pot up to 130ish rest 20min
boiled 20 while I protein rested my main mash.

Cereal mash consisted of 5lb Briess unmalted wheat and a handful of pale malt

Update:

Turned out great, transfered to keg after 11 days. Nice yellowish color from the wheat. tastes great. I pretty much mashed in the drier range due to temp screw ups for like 90 min. so ended up with a great FG of like 1.006, which I attribute the 6 all to the decoction and crystal malt. May do every beer this way, especially if I'm prone to keep screwing up mash temp.

You guys enjoying this addition to your process? I'm going to give this a go in a couple of weeks. Probably stove stop for the cmash.

ThePonchoKid said:

You guys enjoying this addition to your process? I'm going to give this a go in a couple of weeks. Probably stove stop for the cmash.

Click to expand...

Enjoy? Ummmm....I definitely enjoy the body and taste of the beer it provides when working with greater than 30-40% unmalted wheat. The mash is a lot easier to manage and the sparge process is smoother than if I did a normal mash with the unmalted (I combo mash out/batch sparge). The cereal mash itself was a little tough for me to perfect at first; I often messed up my main mash temp just because i was impatient (which i've found to be the root of the majority of my brewing screwups). I also enjoy it when I start another beer that has a normal mash because it seems so much easier after going through the cereal mash process!

I think the stove top will work great, although, I just set up the main mash first, then use my burner for the cereal while the main does a protein rest in the MLT. The one thing I would make sure to think about (which you probably already have) is how long the stove top will take to get the cereal mash hot enough (my bayou burner is pretty quick). If you're running your main mash at the same time there might be a danger of the main mash temp cooling too much while you wait for the cereal to heat up. If you run a cooler mash tun setup I would make sure to get it nice and preheated before starting the main mash, just to make sure the main mash have all the heat sucked out of it.

Good luck to you!