my .02 on rice hulls

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Beer:30

Chief Bottle Washer
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I just wanted to briefly sing my praises for rice hulls. Whenever I get a crush that is a little on the fine side, or a recipe with a lot of wheat or flaked grains, I have added liberal amounts of rice hulls as a stuck sparge insurance policy. I must say that it makes things work out beautifully. I recommend having a sack sitting around and using it as you see fit. They don't go bad, and I can't see any harm in it.

Again, just my .02

:mug:
 
Have you ever let rice hulls soak in water before? The water looks like a stout from the dirt and what not. I dont use them because of it.
 
do rice hulls really have an affect on the color of your beer. I just picked up a big bag (they were surprisingly really cheap) for a brew Im doing this weekend. I am doing the three crop creme ale and do not want to darken the color anymore than I have to.

Can I rinse the dirt off beforehand?
 
do rice hulls really have an affect on the color of your beer. I just picked up a big bag (they were surprisingly really cheap) for a brew Im doing this weekend. I am doing the three crop creme ale and do not want to darken the color anymore than I have to.

Can I rinse the dirt off beforehand?

They are supposed to be color neutral, I have never had luck with them. A lot of people here do have luck I think Biermuncher uses them in every batch.
 
I just toss mine in to the mash. I've tried the rinsing and soaking approaches and have found no advantage to them.

Besides, you're worried about dirty rice hulls...?! Gee, I guess all that grain is sparkling clean? Think about it.

Since grain is a favorite of rats and mice one can expect a certain amount of urine and feces in your malt. Yep. I went there. This hasn't stopped me from using grain or affected my methods one bit.

Truthfully, I really don't find much improvement in regards to stuck mashes by using rice-hulls when batch-sparging. I've found throttling back the run-off by one-half actually reduces the incidence of compacted grain-beds and I get an overall quicker run and more points towards my efficiency even when using upwards of 70% wheat.

So if dirty hulls really are an issue... they're pretty much a waste of time IMO. Spend those pennies on something useful like Campden tablets or Whirlfloc.
 
Have you ever let rice hulls soak in water before? The water looks like a stout from the dirt and what not. I dont use them because of it.

Because it's not like there's any boiling involved afterwords or anything. Oh and other ingredients like irish moss are such pure, clean foodstuffs.
 
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