Direct Heat Mashing

Hello, I learned all grain brewing from a friend of mine who always mashed over direct heat (as in in a pot rather than a cooler). That is the method I have always used as well and it has always worked just fine. It also makes multiple rests trivial.

When I started reading all the brewing articles I could find on the internet I noticed that nobody seems to use this method. Is there a problem I am missing with it?

--Ben

Its not really more problematic than the other methods just a different set of problems but scorching the grain at the bottom from lack of constant stirring seems to be the biggest concern. With constant attention during heating and a well secured false bottom / manifold / braid it works just fine.

Ok, that's good to know. Does anyone here use direct heat?

I'm a cooler man, cuz I love the ability to walk away for an hour and let the enzymes do all the work.

Yes, I use direct heat. My mash tun is a converted keg with false bottom. I also recirculate with a pump during the entire mash. For step mashing this allows me to raise the temperature of the grain bed without scorching. This method provides much control, making steps very easy. It's also less complicated in that I'm not moving wort out of mash tun to a hot liquor tank and back (HERMS) or cluttering my mash tun with a copper manifold for heated water to control mash temps (RIMS). *Disclaimer* please note I did not say direct heat mash is better than these two methods, all are tried and true methods. I simply choose direct heat mash because it works best for my setup and my individual brewing style.

I "upgraded" to the cooler method recently, but I've been mashing with direct heat for years in a 5 gallon canning pot on the stove top. A simple and easily controllable way to mash.

Stir when adding heat and wrap the pot with a large towel or blanket when not heating.

I use direct heat, I have a 10 gallon MegaPot that I mash in. I have never had a problem with scorched grain. I do not have the heat on constantly, I reach stike temp, dough in then turn off the heat and wrap the pot in a blanket or sleeping bag. I only lose a couple degrees in a half hour, then I apply a little heat and get the temp to where I wnat it and wrap it up again.

I love mashing in a brewpot. Even in the winter I only have to add heat maybe twice. After the mash is complete, I pour the grains into a fly sparger and then run back into the brewpot.

Cooler just seems simpler to build. That's probably why you see it more and multi rests are not necessarily required very often. I currently use a cooler, but can see the PLus's to DF mashing. Biut also with Herms and Rims it allows multi step mashing with a cooler.

I use a cooler, but I mash small batches of "cooking beer" in a large saucepan. It always turns out fine, and I still drink a few bottles of it before my wife gets to use it.

If you have a system that works for you, then go with it!

I've never stove-top/direct heat mashed, but for people to describe it as 'easy'/'easily controllable' is odd. It really seems like it would be a PITA to me. You have to be on top of it all the time, severe temperature stratification can happen in a few minutes if you're not paying attention, either scorching the grain or denaturing a portion of the enzymes will result. To me, 'easily controllable' is punching in a temp on your controller and letting the system do the work.

I know some people lean toward the more hands on approach, which is fine, but in the spectrum of "easy" to "difficult", direct fired mashing (without motorized stirring) seems like the most difficult possible method, outside decoction, maybe.

I direct heat also. I have an induction cooker so I have no open flame and no scorch issues. My tun is wrapped with 6 layers or reflective bubblewrap. I almost always do step mashes. I might lose maybe 1 F over an hour

JKoravos said:

To me, 'easily controllable' is punching in a temp on your controller and letting the system do the work.

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What kind of system is that? My interest has been piqued.

I use direct fire and will never change.

Another direct-fire guy here, although I'll be switching to a cooler temporarily while we live in Hawaii. I don't think I want to haul my brew stand over there. I love my direct-fired recirculating system and I think I'll miss it.

Lil' Sparky said:

I love my direct-fired recirculating system and I think I'll miss it.

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How do you recirculate? Is part below a false bottom pumping to the top or can the pump handle grain or what?

I have a full false bottom in a keg and direct fire it. I'm not a huge fan of it though. Can't insulate while heating. Too much liquid space under the FB. FB's are a pain to remove/clean. The list goes on.

Yes, I've got a full false bottom in my MLT. The pump draws the wort from underneath and returns it back on top of the grain.

Here's a pic inside my MLT.



And here's a video of the stand in use if you're interested.

Bobby_M said:

I have a full false bottom in a keg and direct fire it. I'm not a huge fan of it though. Can't insulate while heating. Too much liquid space under the FB. FB's are a pain to remove/clean. The list goes on.

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You could insulate it with some of that ultra high temp insulation from McMaster that you posted in another thread. One could also argue that with a direct-fired MLT, the lack of insulation is marginalized since it's so easy to add heat back when needed.

There is some dead space under the FB. I've never figured out why that's suck a bad thing, except that more strike water is needed for the same mash thickness, and it effectively cuts your sparge volume.

My FB takes 30 secs to install/remove. 30 secs under a water hose and it's clean.

I've been using a 10 gallon Polarware with false bottom as an upgrade from the 5 gallon water cooler with reasonable success. My typical beer doesn't involve step-mashing but I do use the burner for a mash-out step. Constant stirring for 10 minutes isn't that difficult but I have had concerns about too much heat extracting tannins from the lower portion of the grain bed. With 1 gallon of wort below my false bottom I suspect that isn't an issue unless the heat is very high or my stirring arm is particularly weak.

Lil' Sparky said:

And here's a video of the stand in use if you're interested.

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Wow, that's sexy. How much did those kegs cost? I have been looking around on craigslist and ebay but they all seem higher than just paying the deposit on one from the store. Is there somewhere good I'm not checking?

Thanks!

I guess it depends on where you're at. I live in a college town. They're really easy to find for cheap.

+1 to Direct Fire MT. I use a 25 gallon megapot with false bottom and bazooka screen beneath and its a breeze. Never had any problems. Thick pot retains heat well.

Lil' Sparky said:

You could insulate it with some of that ultra high temp insulation from McMaster that you posted in another thread. One could also argue that with a direct-fired MLT, the lack of insulation is marginalized since it's so easy to add heat back when needed.

There is some dead space under the FB. I've never figured out why that's suck a bad thing, except that more strike water is needed for the same mash thickness, and it effectively cuts your sparge volume.

My FB takes 30 secs to install/remove. 30 secs under a water hose and it's clean.

Click to expand...

Mashing 1 gallon thinner affected my efficiency by about 10%. My false bottom often clogs badly during recirculation so I try to limit how often I apply heat. I just like the idea of element fired RIMS more and more. It allows for cheaper thicker insulation and stainless braid separation. I've already got that thing built and it was able to recirculate a thick mash with no stoppage.

My FB is held in with the siphon tube which is attached to the keg via compression fitting. I have to get in there with a wrench to take it apart.

Also, that high temp insulation stuff really needs to be protected physically so that's more money for like high temp vinyl.

Bobby_M said:

Mashing 1 gallon thinner affected my efficiency by about 10%.

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What exactly was the effect - increase or decrease in efficiency? And what's your typical water/grain ratio? I've been fiddling with my mash thickness for a while now and am having some trouble getting the sparge volume right.

Oh, sorry. I went from 88-90% typical when I was using a cooler and 1.25qt/lb to about 75% now mashing at 1.5 to 1.6qt/lb. Another bit of eff. loss can be attributed to stopping the MLT draining as soon as I got air in the line. For those of you who drain out of a cooler, I know you let it dribble out well after the initial bulk of wort stops flowing. That's quite a bit of sugar if it's first runnings.

Before anyone has a heart attack and starts defending low efficiency, take note that it's not a big deal to me but it's something to be aware of.

75% is pretty normal for me, too. I still can't figure out what the difference would be, though. Do you think it's lower conversion or lower extraction? I think it's got to be extraction, I just don't understand why it would be so much lower. Anyway, while +10% efficiency would be nice, I've got a repeatable system that I'm happy with.

I direct-fire a plain ole 40 qt. SS pot...usually on the stove. I've turned the stove full-up and it didn't scorch (I stirred it occasionally but not even close to 'constantly'). I do not wrap it in a blanket or insulation...I just let it sit (sometimes with very low heat on) and occasionally give it a stir.

Then I just use a saucepot to transfer it from the mashpot to the zapap...then vorlauf into a 20 qt. pot...then drain the clear wort back into the same 40 qt. pot used for mashing. That same 40 qt. pot is the kettle as well. Then into glass carboys for fermenting.

IMO, as long as you have good control over your efficiency and the fermentability of your wort then that's the main thing.

Everybody has a different reason for; "Why do I brew?" I'm one of the types that just likes to brew and looks for ways to NOT build/buy another piece of gear. I felt dirty just buying an auto-siphon. But I have other hobbies where I am a gearhead.

Lil' Sparky said:

75% is pretty normal for me, too. I still can't figure out what the difference would be, though. Do you think it's lower conversion or lower extraction? I think it's got to be extraction, I just don't understand why it would be so much lower. Anyway, while +10% efficiency would be nice, I've got a repeatable system that I'm happy with.

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I'd probably pick up a few more points if I slow my MLT drain pump speed to a trickle so that I allow more wort to collect under the FB before the pump pulls an air bubble. See, once that happens, I'd have to refill the inlet hose with water to continue draining. In the cooler systems, it didn't matter how slow the wort runoff got, you'd just let it keep draining until you were just ready to pour the sparge in.

The other issue is leaving less volume for sparging having to loosen the mash.

Direct fire mashing for five gal batches seems like a reasonable and inexpensive way to go. Glad others see that it works!

I'm making the move from a Coleman X-Treme to a direct fired mash kettle. I presently have two 15 gallon Megapots that I will use for the HLT and BK and need to buy one more pot. I was going to buy another 15 gal Megapot with a false bottom but the amount of water in the "idle space" seems to be too much for 5 gallon batches, which is mostly what I brew.

Just wondering if anyone has addressed this issue or if I should get a 10 gal kettle for the mash tun. If so, does anyone see any issues using this with 10 gallon batches?

I use a direct fire mash tun. It's a 30 gallon blichmann boilermaker with a false bottom, I recirculate with a march pump and a flow rate controller, I control my burner with a bcs 460 which cycles to hold my mash temperature.

I can think of many uses for different size pots in different configurations, I currently direct fire mash with a 5 gal sparge kettle, 7.5 gal lauter kettle, and 9 gal mash/brew kettle all stainless. I mashed 14 lbs last week, and I think it will handle up to 16+ lbs grain, for a 5.5 gal final batch size. I got my eye's on this one next:

http://brewhemoth.com/penrose-kettle

or another large Bayou Classic:

http://www.cozydays.com/home-garden/cookware/stockpot-lid-82-qt-stainless-steel-1197.html

ebeer said:

Yes, I use direct heat. My mash tun is a converted keg with false bottom. I also recirculate with a pump during the entire mash. For step mashing this allows me to raise the temperature of the grain bed without scorching. This method provides much control, making steps very easy. It's also less complicated in that I'm not moving wort out of mash tun to a hot liquor tank and back (HERMS) or cluttering my mash tun with a copper manifold for heated water to control mash temps (RIMS). *Disclaimer* please note I did not say direct heat mash is better than these two methods, all are tried and true methods. I simply choose direct heat mash because it works best for my setup and my individual brewing style.

Click to expand...

Can you explain how to set up something like this?..I want to move from coolers to SS direct mashing to make step mashing easier plus more durability using SS..My igloo cooler is already bubbling after 4 batches