Mash out

I am brewing my first AG batch this weekend, and I have a question. I am brewing EdWort's popular haus pale ale...

After the 60 minute mash, it says to add 5qt of 175 degree water and begin vorlauf and drain the first runnings. This may be a stupid question, but when adding the 5qt of 175 degree water, should I pour it in gently so it doesn't disturb the grain bed and drain the first runnings immediately ----- or do I add, stir, and wait before draining the first runnings?

I know that when I add the sparge water, I have to stir well and let it sit for 10 minutes before vorlauf/draining the 2nd runnings.

Thanks!

Ed might answer this better, but I'm pretty sure the 175F is to get the temperature up to mash out. 5qt seems like an awfully small amount to make a difference at that low of temp. Anyway, you'll want to stir this in to bring the temp of the whole mash up, then vorlauf. Then drain the whole tun, add 3.5 gal more at 175F, stir it up, vorlauf again (if desired), and drain again.

Maybe I've been doing it wrong, but after the 60 minutes I vorlauf about 2 quarts, or until my runnings are clear, then drain the entire mash tun, then sparge in with whatever my first sparge volume is, then repeat.

The way gi2indking is describing sound like he is going to put 5 quarts of sparge water in before his first runnings.

I'm assuming you are batch sparging. From what I can tell all the temps that I get for recipes don't work for me. I would recommend going to brewheads.com and using their calculator. It gives you the temps and volumes. I have nailed my numbers with this calc.

I guess to answer the original question: yes, pour slow as not to disturb the grain bed. I have started laying a piece of tinfoil with some holes poked in it on top of the grain bed, then pouring my vorlauf on top of this.

spenghali said:

Maybe I've been doing it wrong, but after the 60 minutes I vorlauf about 2 quarts, or until my runnings are clear, then drain the entire mash tun, then sparge in with whatever my first sparge volume is, then repeat.

The way gi2indking is describing sound like he is going to put 5 quarts of sparge water in before his first runnings.

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You're doing a standard (double) batch sparge correctly. The OP looks to be mashing out, which is a different technique I guess.

I brewed Ed's Haus Pale Ale yesterday (My 1st AG too, very fun!). According to beersmith I added 7.4 quarts of 200F water at my mashout, stirred thoroughly and let sit for about 10 mins. It brought the temp up to about 170 which was perfect for me. I then vorlaufed about 2 quarts and drained, then sparged w/ 170F water to get my total preboil volume.

That sounds more right, adding 200F water to mash out at 170F.

spenghali said:

I guess to answer the original question: yes, pour slow as not to disturb the grain bed. I have started laying a piece of tinfoil with some holes poked in it on top of the grain bed, then pouring my vorlauf on top of this.

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No. The original question is should the OP gently add the infusion/mashout water, and the answer is no. Stir the hell out of it, then vorlauf (gently) and begin the sparge.

Is it possible to heat the vorlauf to the temperature of mash out infusion instead of adding water and changing the concentration on the mash? You would have to vorlaugh the proper amount to raise the mash up, would this be an easy decoction mash method? I just brewed my first all grain batch, and only achived 64%, so I'm looking for anything that might help.

It sounds to me like the OP is batch sparging since the directions said to drain the tun.

I do not add any water to stop the conversion I just put a BIAB bag in my pot and after stirring the heck out of it I open her wide open. No vorlaff no muss or fuss just wide open into the bag. Fill the tun with enough near boiling water to get my water volumes stir the stuffing out of it again and then wide open again.

I do not worry about trub or such because the bag catches most all of it and the speed that I can sparge is pretty dang fast. I never get odd efficiency due to channeling and my brew day is much faster.

Love this beer!

meltroha said:

Is it possible to heat the vorlauf to the temperature of mash out infusion instead of adding water and changing the concentration on the mash? You would have to vorlaugh the proper amount to raise the mash up, would this be an easy decoction mash method? I just brewed my first all grain batch, and only achived 64%, so I'm looking for anything that might help.

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Yes, draining some first runnings, boiling for a short time & returning to the mash tun is a "thin" decoction step. It's useful in high gravity brewing to maximize sparge water if you want to raise the mash temperature. It should only be done after conversion is complete because boiling wort will denature the enzymes. A "thick" decoction boils a minimal amount of wort plus more grain to leave more enzymes in the mash tun. You can also do this to get to mashout but I recommend checking for conversion because boiling the grain may give more starches to convert. They will convert very fast (10 min) if you raise the mash into the 160's. An iodine test is quick and very useful here.

You need to still vorlauf as usual.

Awesome, thanks! I also think I didn't stir enough, should I stir at vorlauf?

meltroha said:

Awesome, thanks! I also think I didn't stir enough, should I stir at vorlauf?

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Stir well right before you vorlauf. Vorlauf until your wort runs off without grain bits coming out. I generally do (4) 1 qt volumes and gradually increase my flowrate (batch sparging).