Extra Equipment needed for Mini-mash?

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maxamuus

maxamuus

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Ok i am looking to move to the next step, Mini-mash! Have read Deathbrewer's thread about it and watched a few youtube videos. Just wondering what extra equipment i need.

I have a 6 gallon SS pot now. Just ordered the Bayou turkey fryer that comes with a 7.5 gallon pot. Ordered a new grain bag and looks like i need some clothes pins to hold the bag. Just wondering if there is anything else i need?

I have all the basic pieces from my extract beers (ie wort chiller, hydrometer, fermenter, etc. etc.)

Just trying to avoid that Oh sh*t moment on brew day when i realize i need a certain widget that i don't have.

Thanks in advance and excited to try this new method and learning more about brewing.
 
I am not an experienced masher but I am in the same boat as you since my next recipe calls for a partial mash.

The only item I really see that you could use and are lacking is a metal colander. I plan to get one that I can hang on my pot to help support the weight of the grains during sparging.

This is optional but I feel like it will save my arm endurance and let me get a more efficient sparge.

Something like this:

u14136493.jpg


or

KT-Metal-Colander-2.jpg
 
I recently saw a first time mini-masher on youtube and I asked him what would he do different, and indeed he pointed to the difficulty using even a large hand strainer.
 
I did not think DeathBrewer's method required a colendar - but I could be wrong. Anyways, I started partial mashing using a colander. Not ideal - messy, potentially beer damaging due to excessive hot side aeration (this has been debated though). I also kept tasting this astringency that was perhaps a result of over-sparging (or aforementioned aeration). Regardless of the reason, I decided to make a 2-gallon mini mash tun - used these directions to a t and it works perfect. No more astringency. Makes excellent beer. I can mash ~4 pounds of grain, which works nice for me since I do 3.5 gallon batches and can only boil ~2.5 gallons on the stovetop.

Also, since I've gone the mini-mash tun route, three of my beers have placed in local comps - including a first place for my American Wheat. Coincidence? Probably. But perhaps not.
 
You can do it with the equipment you have. I have a hard time keeping a constant temp on my stovetop, so for my first PM I'm using the cooler method. I just went out and bought a 2 gallon cooler, and insulated the top and sides. Did a test run and it only lost a couple degrees over the course of an hour (with no grains).
 
JLem said:
I did not think DeathBrewer's method required a colendar - but I could be wrong. Anyways, I started partial mashing using a colander. Not ideal - messy, potentially beer damaging due to excessive hot side aeration (this has been debated though). I also kept tasting this astringency that was perhaps a result of over-sparging (or aforementioned aeration). Regardless of the reason, I decided to make a 2-gallon mini mash tun - used these directions to a t and it works perfect. No more astringency. Makes excellent beer. I can mash ~4 pounds of grain, which works nice for me since I do 3.5 gallon batches and can only boil ~2.5 gallons on the stovetop.

Also, since I've gone the mini-mash tun route, three of my beers have placed in local comps - including a first place for my American Wheat. Coincidence? Probably. But perhaps not.
Click to expand...

Thank you for shooting my post to **** (I'm being serious!) Since I have never done a minimash and am just answering based on preparations I have made I am thankful for some information improving both of our brewing processes
 

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