Mini Mash Brew Session

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RichBrewer

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I'm going to document my brewing session with the Mini Mash/Lauter tun system I built. If you haven't already seen it look at this thread for an explanation of what I'm doing. I will post specifics and photos as time permits. Mash in was about 15 minutes ago and so far so good.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=8805

Here is the recipe I am making:
McDermott's Irish Ale

A ProMash Brewing Session - Recipe Details Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 8.13
Anticipated OG: 1.056 Plato: 13.81
Anticipated SRM: 16.0
Anticipated IBU: 32.6
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
49.2 4.00 lbs. American 2-row America 1.038 2
36.9 3.00 lbs. Generic DME - Light Generic 1.046 8
12.3 1.00 lbs. Crystal 55L Great Britian 1.034 55
1.5 0.13 lbs. Roasted Barley Great Britain 1.029 575

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.00 oz. Challenger Whole 7.00 30.4 60 min.
0.25 oz. Fuggle Whole 4.00 2.2 30 min.


Yeast
-----

WYeast 1968 London Extra Special Bitter
 
The 1 1/2 gallon strike water was added to the pre-heated Mash/Lauter Tun at 175 degrees and allowed to cool to 170 degrees. The grist was added to the water and stirred to break up any clumps. The mash stabilized at 155 degrees and the temp seems to be holding well. :eek:
 
Thanks for the update Rich. I've been wondering how this was going with you and Chimone. I was eyeballing rubbermaids while out and about this wknd.

Keep us posted and good luck!



Ize
 
This is a good thing you are doing here Rich. If we ever get a FAQ going, this will definitely be in it.

I still can't understand how you can brew so late!!!!
 
Ize said:
Thanks for the update Rich. I've been wondering how this was going with you and Chimone. I was eyeballing rubbermaids while out and about this wknd.

Keep us posted and good luck!



Ize


Im still undecided on a recipe for next weekend.


Way to go Rich! This added about an extra hour and a half + to total brew time correct?
 
Dude said:
I still can't understand how you can brew so late!!!!
For me it's easier to brew late or very early. I have the house to myself and I'm not bugging anyone. Although, the is the first brew I've done in the kitchen in over 10 years and my daughter came down to complain about the smell. :drunk:
 
Chimone said:
Im still undecided on a recipe for next weekend.


Way to go Rich! This added about an extra hour and a half + to total brew time correct?
Actually, it's been so long since I've done an extract brew I'm not sure how much longer it takes. I would say you are in the ball park though.
The wort is done boiling and is now in the sink and is cooling in ice water. I am now at the 3 hour mark for this session. How long does your extract sessions take?
 
About 2-3 hours including cleaning before and after. It has been over 3 once when I had to steep like 2 lbs of grain and only small pots to do it in. Also, can't forget the drinkin' time!

So what did you end up going with for a setup? I'd be interested to know.
 
That session went very smoothly. I have to say that I haven't done an extract brew in over 10 years so it was interesting.

The mash/Lauter tun was preheated with hot tap water for about 15 minutes while the strike water came up to temp. I wanted the strike temp to be 169 but I heated it to 175 degrees. It was poured into the mash tun and took about 10 minutes to drop to 169. I do this so the tun absorbs as much heat as possible. This helps the tun hold temp when the grist is added.
The grist was slowly added and stirred to eliminate clumps
2967-PouringGristintoStrikeWater.jpg

I allowed the mash to stabilize and checked the temp. The mash was at 155 degrees. Perfect.
This 3 gallon cooler works better than my 10 gallon. It held the temp for an hour. It didn't drop one degree.
Here is how the mash looked. Plenty of room for 5 1/8 pounds of grain. I think it could even go to 6 pounds of grain
2967-1stMiniMash.jpg
 
I heated 2 1/2 gallons of sparge water to just about boiling. Half of this was added to the mash when the Saccharification rest was complete. The mash was stirred to mix the water and grains. The temperature stabilized at 164 degrees which is a bit low for mash out but not a huge concern. The valve on the tun was opened and the batch sparge began. I recirculated about 6 cups of wort back into the tun to insure the wort was clear.
2967-Recirculating.jpg

The flow was then directed to the brew pot and the first 1 1/4 gallon of sparge was drained into the pot.
2967-Spargingintobrewpot.jpg

When the flow stopped, the remaining 1 1/4 gallon of sparge water was poured into the tun. Again this was stirred. The grain bed was extremely compacted so it took a bit of effort to get it loosened up and mixed with the water. Once mixed, the tun was again drained into the pot until flow stopped.
The gravity of the final runnings were way high (1.035) and have me concerned. This is one thing I need to figure out.
To save time, I added the DME to the pot during the sparge. After the DME was mixed well I put the pot on the heat and started the boil. (It took a long time to come to a boil. I'm used to my propane burner)
2967-PouringDMEintobrewpot.jpg

Here is a photo showing the mash/lauter tun elevated above the brew pot.
2967-MiniMashsetup.jpg
 
From this point on, it was just like an extract brew.
2967-TheBoil.jpg


Things I've learned:
1. I thought I could use my 16 quart pot for this but 5 pounds of grain make for a mash that requires too much water for it. I ended up using my turkey fryer pot. I think a 20 quart pot would work.
2. I failed to realize that I needed two pots to make this work. One for heating the sparge water and one for the brew pot. The sparge water could be heated then put into another container but I think there would be too much heat loss.
A pot that could heat 2 1/2 to 3 gallons would work for the sparge water.
3. The whole brewing session took about 4 hours to complete. I'm sure I can knock some time off because I did a bunch of this post while brewing. Is this good or bad for you extract brewers?
4. I darn near nailed the OG. ProMash estimated 1.056 and I hit 1.055. This is hard for me to figure out because the last runnings of the sparge were 1.035.
 
I think this test was a success. The Mash Tun held temp really well and the SS braid worked like a champ. The wort flowed quite easily and it cleared up quickly.

I need to learn more about Batch sparging. This was my first attempt. Does it require more water than fly sparging?

With a few small tweaks here and there I think it will work great for an extract brewer who wants to go all grain but doesn't have the time or space to make it work.

If I missed something or didn't explain everything clearly please post and let me know.
 
About your sparge:

The reason the gravity of the runnings is higher in batch sparging is that all of the sugars are washed into solution at once (when you add the sparge water and stir), rather than being gradually rinsed off of the grains, as in fly sparging. So the gravity at the end of the batch is theoretically the same as at the beginning of the batch.

About time:
It seems to my that a PM batch should take about the same amount of time to brew as an "ordinary" AG batch. The biggest difference is that you're boiling smaller amounts at every step (strike water, sparge water, wort), although, as you imply, using the stove vs a propane burner probably mitigates that advantage.

Of course, some AG batches aren't ordinary: If you're doing a huge brew and need to boil down 12 gallons of wort to 5 gallons or such, that's going to take a long time. Also, siphoning a full boiled wort into the fermenter is going to take a little longer than siphoning a few gallons then topping off.

I think this will be a very helpful thread for people thinking about trying a PM batch.
 
RichBrewer said:
Actually, it's been so long since I've done an extract brew I'm not sure how much longer it takes. I would say you are in the ball park though.
The wort is done boiling and is now in the sink and is cooling in ice water. I am now at the 3 hour mark for this session. How long does your extract sessions take?


Well, 45 minute steep. The other 4 gallons are in my kettle coming to a boil. So as soon as the steep is done, its right into the 60 minute boil, then a 15-20 minute cool down.

The Saccharification rest is basically the 60 minutes you spent at 155? And when the sparge water was added you gave the mash another stir correct?

Thanks for the step by step. I actually have the ingredients for a Nut Brown I was going to do this week(6 lbs DME & 2.5 lbs specialty grains) I think Im going to replace 3 lbs of the DME with 4.5 lbs of 2-row and see how it works out. I have a 5 gallon cooler so there shouldn't be a problem with enough space.
 
Chimone said:
The Saccharification rest is basically the 60 minutes you spent at 155? And when the sparge water was added you gave the mash another stir correct?
That is correct. Actually todays malts convert in fewer than 60 minutes but I always do a 60 minute mash just to be sure.
I gave the mash a good stir both times sparge water was added. I'm glad I did for the second one because the grain bed was highly compacted.

By the way, it's bubbling away this morning.
 
Ize said:
Thanks for the update Rich. I've been wondering how this was going with you and Chimone. I was eyeballing rubbermaids while out and about this wknd.

Keep us posted and good luck!



Ize
I would recommend this method. It isn't that much more equipment and it is easier than AG. If you do decide to go AG, sell the mini mash tun to another extract brewer.
It took me 2 hours less than my AG batches and I know I could have knocked off at least 30 minutes. Clean-up was easy as well. I dumped the spent grains in the garden. The tun cleans out nicely with just hot water. The only other big thing to clean was the brew pot which didn't even take 5 minutes to clean.
EDIT: Spelling
 
RichBrewer said:
I gave the mash a good stir both times sparge water was added. I'm glad I did for the second one because the grain bed was highly compacted.
You definitely want to stir between batches when batch sparging...as you noted that grainbed was compacted and stirring it will really help get the remaining sugars dissolved into the sparge water.
 
Baron von BeeGee said:
You definitely want to stir between batches when batch sparging...as you noted that grainbed was compacted and stirring it will really help get the remaining sugars dissolved into the sparge water.
What is your experience with water needed and the gravity of the last runnings while doing batch sparging??
 
RichBrewer said:
What is your experience with water needed and the gravity of the last runnings while doing batch sparging??
Sorry, just saw this. I don't take gravity readings while batch sparging...due to the mechanics of a batch sparge you're just not very likely to get into a pH/gravity issue where you start extracting tannins unless you really oversparge badly.

In terms of water needed, I figure out how much I want in the kettle (usually 7-7.5g for a 5.5g batch). I then figure out how much water will be required to get two equal batches (obviously the first batch requires more water due to grain absorption) which results in my desired final volume.

For the 10g batch I did recently I just did 3 equal batches.
 
Baron von BeeGee said:
Sorry, just saw this. I don't take gravity readings while batch sparging...due to the mechanics of a batch sparge you're just not very likely to get into a pH/gravity issue where you start extracting tannins unless you really oversparge badly.

In terms of water needed, I figure out how much I want in the kettle (usually 7-7.5g for a 5.5g batch). I then figure out how much water will be required to get two equal batches (obviously the first batch requires more water due to grain absorption) which results in my desired final volume.

For the 10g batch I did recently I just did 3 equal batches.
So it sounds like I did OK doing 2 sparges at 1 1/4 gallon each? (plus the 1 1/2 gallons in the mash)
 
RichBrewer said:
What is your experience with water needed and the gravity of the last runnings while doing batch sparging??


Rich are you using ProMash? The procedure outlined on the GreenBoard appeared to work. I say appeared because this was only my first successful AG. Being that there is a, at first, confusing procedure to figure it out in ProMash I was not sure if things would work out, but I did get the right amount of water....

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=10155
 
Beer Snob said:
Rich are you using ProMash? The procedure outlined on the GreenBoard appeared to work. I say appeared because this was only my first successful AG. Being that there is a, at first, confusing procedure to figure it out in ProMash I was not sure if things would work out, but I did get the right amount of water....

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=10155
I did use ProMash but I figured the water needed as if I were fly sparging. Another consideration was sparge volume. I didn't want the volume to be so much that it couldn't be boiled in a 20 quart pot.
 
Man Rich, Thanks for doing this. :mug: I see by your sig it's in your secondary. I'm also wondering how Chimones has been going, but maybe it's another thread... I'll look....


Baron von BeeGee said:
You definitely want to stir between batches when batch sparging...as you noted that grainbed was compacted and stirring it will really help get the remaining sugars dissolved into the sparge water.


That makes total sense. It's all about getting the max out of your grains and getting the best efficiency you can right?


Ize
 
Ize said:
Man Rich, Thanks for doing this. :mug: I see by your sig it's in your secondary. I'm also wondering how Chimones has been going, but maybe it's another thread... I'll look....





That makes total sense. It's all about getting the max out of your grains and getting the best efficiency you can right?


Ize
You are quite welcome. I've enjoyed it and I hope it helps a few folks.
When I racked the beer, it was at 1.016 and it tasted great. I can't wait to try the finished product.


It looks like Chimones got the bug and went all grain. :) Check out this thread.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=10582
 
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