What are the rice hulls for?

So I bought a all grain gluten free beer kit. And part of ingredients were a 2 pound bag of rice hulls. I am educating myself on the grains cuz I hope to do all grains one day. What are rice hulls for and why to use them? I am doing a partial mash and there will be about 6 lbs of grains. Just wondering
:rockin:

tigerface said:

So I bought a all grain gluten free beer kit. And part of ingredients were a 2 pound bag of rice hulls. I am educating myself on the grains cuz I hope to do all grains one day. What are rice hulls for and why to use them? I am doing a partial mash and there will be about 6 lbs of grains. Just wondering
:rockin:

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They aid in filtering when you drain your wort from the mash tun. They perform the same function as the barley husk in regular beer making.

+2 on whats said above... Some people who dont have very well setup falsebottom/filtering systems or insist on draining/ pumping from the MT too quickly seem to have to use these on regular all grain beer mashes as well or they get stuck sparges... (At least thats my experience with brewing over 40 all grain brews without this issue or ever using a ricehull tells me)... With rye you need something like rice hulls to make the grist more course or it just plugs up the false bottom/ filtering system regarless..

+ on all the other advice

Create a filter in an otherwise husk deficient mash.

Soak them in water first before the mash so that they don't soak up your sweet wort.

So basically what were saying is that it just makes your beer clearer, is that right? Just wondering if I really need them thats all. I do a partial mash. Only 5lbs of grains 7 lbs syrup

Doesn't make your beer clearer. It is not a fining agent. Rice hulls are used in all grain brewing to prevent a stuck sparge. If your doing partial mash, presumably you are using a grain bag, no?

If you are using a grain bag there is no need for rice hulls.

Yes I'm using grain bags, awesome thanks Gavin

tigerface said:

Yes I'm using grain bags, awesome thanks Gavin

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No worries. Happy to be of some small assistance


You will probably just need to squeeze the bag more after your mash to get that sweet wort out. Just check the gluten free forum for any other similar questions. I don't have experience with GF brewing but I can't imaging the technical reasons for rice hulls would be any different in GF than in mashing, say a wheat beer; where rice hulls are often used for the reasons already discussed. Im someone knows different please correct me.

Just want to be sure I am not steering you wrong.

For mashing in a bag. No rice hulls needed.

If you decide to use them (can't think you would) be sure to soak them first and don't use 2 lbs in a 5 lb grain bill. (1 handful max)

tigerface said:

So basically what were saying is that it just makes your beer clearer, is that right? Just wondering if I really need them thats all. I do a partial mash. Only 5lbs of grains 7 lbs syrup

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It helps drain/remove the biger chunks of grain.

Well, when I mashed the grains for the kottbusser, pb/pm biab style, I used 12ozs of flaked oats in the mash per recipe. Thinking it over, I thought it might be possible for the oats to make a sticky dough ball mess in the bag, so I added 4oz of rice hulls. 4ozs was quite a bit, considering they're just the shells of the grains. About enough to fill a 1lb Maillard malt bag. Correct me if I'm in error, but I thought it'd be a good idea. As it happened, the mash was rather like a stew, not overly thick when folding/stirring. At any rate, the rice hulls did keep the bit thicker mash nice & loose. I was using my 5 gallon SS BK/MT to mash 7 1/2lbs of grains. So I cut the mash water to compensate. The hulls seemed to work, but necessary? Idk?...

Rice hulls are cheap insurance. Best to hydrate them first so they don't soak up precious wart.