Yin_Yang
Well-Known Member
Hey all. Most probably don't know me, but I'm back from almost 2 years of being gone. Anyway, with the temps cooling here in upstate NY soon, I was thinking about taking up brewing again for fun. The problem is it's been so long, and been so far from my everyday thought process that I've totally forgotten everything, and I've started rereading all my homebrew books, to try to remember how to do things, and some things are re-confusing me.
When I stopped I had made about 3 batches of extract/specialty grains steeping method beer. I figured I'd start with partial mashing this time around.
I guess I'll start asking.
1. First of all, how does one maintain the mashing temperatures throughout? I've seen the homemade cooler masher/tuns, and is it just as simple as heating the water, putting in the the grains, ensuring the right temperature and just dumping it into the cooler masher? WIll that hold the temperature for the full hour, or do you just have to keep watching the temperature, and keep adjusting it as it goes down naturally?
2. In all the steps I've been reading , it made no mention of the specialty grains, and when to put it in. do you mix it with the base grain, in the mashing process, or does it still have its own steeping process?
3. what kind of recipes do you look at when you're looking at partial mashing? do you look at all grain recipes, and use that, or what?
4. If I use all grain recipes, what is the final output in liquid volume? is it now in the 10-15 gallon range?
5. at the end of all the instructions i've been reading, after the mash is done, and lautered and tunned (sp?), it says to add your extract and proceed with the rest of the process? EXTRACT? I thought that was the whole point of the mash w/ the grains was to get the fermentable sugars you want from the grain, why do you need to add more extract, and how much do you add, since i dont see it in any of the recipes.
6. at the end of the 60 min. of mashing it says to raise the temp to 160-170 degrees and hold it for 15 min. how do you do that if you're using the cooler masher? do you put it back in the brewpot,and fire it up again, or do you just add enough hot water to raise the temp to the required temperature?
I'm sure I'll have more questions but those are the main ones for now.
When I stopped I had made about 3 batches of extract/specialty grains steeping method beer. I figured I'd start with partial mashing this time around.
I guess I'll start asking.
1. First of all, how does one maintain the mashing temperatures throughout? I've seen the homemade cooler masher/tuns, and is it just as simple as heating the water, putting in the the grains, ensuring the right temperature and just dumping it into the cooler masher? WIll that hold the temperature for the full hour, or do you just have to keep watching the temperature, and keep adjusting it as it goes down naturally?
2. In all the steps I've been reading , it made no mention of the specialty grains, and when to put it in. do you mix it with the base grain, in the mashing process, or does it still have its own steeping process?
3. what kind of recipes do you look at when you're looking at partial mashing? do you look at all grain recipes, and use that, or what?
4. If I use all grain recipes, what is the final output in liquid volume? is it now in the 10-15 gallon range?
5. at the end of all the instructions i've been reading, after the mash is done, and lautered and tunned (sp?), it says to add your extract and proceed with the rest of the process? EXTRACT? I thought that was the whole point of the mash w/ the grains was to get the fermentable sugars you want from the grain, why do you need to add more extract, and how much do you add, since i dont see it in any of the recipes.
6. at the end of the 60 min. of mashing it says to raise the temp to 160-170 degrees and hold it for 15 min. how do you do that if you're using the cooler masher? do you put it back in the brewpot,and fire it up again, or do you just add enough hot water to raise the temp to the required temperature?
I'm sure I'll have more questions but those are the main ones for now.
