TimothyTaylorslLandlady
Active Member
If anybody can help me with some thoughts/comments on my set up I would be grateful. Its all a bit odd......
My mash is a 500L dairy bulk tank. Its like an enormous steel cylinder laying horizontally, but just the bottom half, with a cooling /heating jacket and steel covers. I can control the mash temp to 67C pretty exactly by preheating the tank and lots of insulation. The tank is so huge the grain cover on the bottom is never deep (maybe 8 inches for 31kg for 150L brew but its 1.5m by 1.5m!).
Its a nightmare to get the grain out afterwards but the potential for volume is urging me on and its a beautiful tank and needs to brew beer.
It drains to a 2inch drain at one end which I flood first and then cover with steel gauze. I sparge at 80C with a hosepipe with a spray end, its not very elegant nor gentle nor a very even sparge, its more like drain, flood and a slow drain.
It all seems to work ok but I wonder what effect it might have on flavours?
The SGs are fine (1040). My beers are tasty enough (well I'm delighted). Being hyper critical they are dull. I want to make Goose Island IPA which you could never say was dull. I don't think there is any problems at the boiling hop ferment end. I wonder about the mash set-up, maybe I need a false bottom and a proper sparge arm? There must be so much going on in the mash that should be controlled for the really good flavours?
Comments?
My mash is a 500L dairy bulk tank. Its like an enormous steel cylinder laying horizontally, but just the bottom half, with a cooling /heating jacket and steel covers. I can control the mash temp to 67C pretty exactly by preheating the tank and lots of insulation. The tank is so huge the grain cover on the bottom is never deep (maybe 8 inches for 31kg for 150L brew but its 1.5m by 1.5m!).
Its a nightmare to get the grain out afterwards but the potential for volume is urging me on and its a beautiful tank and needs to brew beer.
It drains to a 2inch drain at one end which I flood first and then cover with steel gauze. I sparge at 80C with a hosepipe with a spray end, its not very elegant nor gentle nor a very even sparge, its more like drain, flood and a slow drain.
It all seems to work ok but I wonder what effect it might have on flavours?
The SGs are fine (1040). My beers are tasty enough (well I'm delighted). Being hyper critical they are dull. I want to make Goose Island IPA which you could never say was dull. I don't think there is any problems at the boiling hop ferment end. I wonder about the mash set-up, maybe I need a false bottom and a proper sparge arm? There must be so much going on in the mash that should be controlled for the really good flavours?
Comments?