First AG GF Brewday Reviewed

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jmitchell3

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GF Brewers!

Just wrapped up my first ever all-grain gluten free brewday!

My recipe details:

Target OG: 1.054
Actual OG: 1.051
Target FG: 1.008
Actual FG: ?

Target IBU: 42
Actual IBU: 44 (added the whole ounce of NB instead of 26g!)

10 lb grouse pale millet malt
1 lb buckwheat malt
1 lb golden candi syrup
10oz eckart james brown rice malt

1 oz Northern Brewer 9.6% at 60
2 oz Styrian Goldings 3.7% at 10
2 oz Halletauer 2.7% at 0

Fermentis Abbaye Ale Yeast, 1 package rehydrated

My equipment is a 5gal 240v electric Blichmann BrewEasy system, for reference. Uses a BIAB type RIMS setup with two vessels. Didn't use any special equipment other than what is in that system.

I use a Barley Crusher with a 7lb hopper. Not nearly big enough for all the millet! So I milled the grouse pale millet at .010 once, milled the eckert james brown rice once at .025 and couldn't get my buckwheat to go through the mill at .030 or .035. Ended up putting all 16oz through the food processor! Worked well actually, two pulses made course bits out of it. Added in 1lb of rice hulls for lautering.

I started with 9.25 gallons of water, 91% RO and 9% filtered tap water. Treated with 7g gypsum and 5g calcium chloride, along with 2ml of lactic acid (88% solution). doughed in at 170F, which took the temp down to about 157F or so. Let that sit for about 10 mins, then began the recirculation to bring the temp up to 163F. Let that sit for 15 minutes, then ramped down to 150F. Once it hit 155F I added 3 tbsp powdered BSG amylase. I took a gravity reading with a refractometer at that point and was at 6 Brix. Measured pH at room temp was 5.5 at that point. Added another 1 ml of lactic acid to the mash.

I let that run for about 45 minutes, took another gravity reading (7 Brix) and a ph reading at room temp of 5.4 (right on target!). I was disappointed with the conversion at this point and ended up adding the rest of the bottle of powdered amylase just for good measure. time will tell whether that was a good idea.

Ended up ramping up for the last hour to 154F and let it set there, then 155F for the last 30 mins. Total mash time was about 2.5 hours.

Drained into the kettle, took a hydrometer gravity reading pre-boil of 1.037 which was only 2 points below my target; however, the volume was 7 gallons, 0.5 gallons below my 7.5 gallon target. My target mash efficiency was 75%, ended up at 66.1%.

Everything else I did normally--that is, as I would any barley-based batch. Boiled for 90 minutes, adding my hops, yeast nutrient, whirlfloc, etc. at the appointed times.

Knocked out and cooled to 62F into my brew bucket, pitched rehydrated yeast and put the temp controller to 66F.

Notes and hindsight:

1) I only added a quart more water than my software called for, and I knew that millet would retain more water but didn't know how much. now i know! Looks like I need about 10% more water than barley-based batches when using millet as the base malt.

2) I'm disappointed with my mash efficiency. It may be that I need to double-crush my millet malt and maybe add a better quality liquid enzyme. Any recommendations?

3) Was a bit miffed that there was almost no hot break when the boil started up. Any thoughts?

Any feedback or thoughts?

I'll post back next week or so when I've kegged up the beer to let you all know how it is.

Thank you all for your posts the last few months, I see this as a pretty successful brew day for being my first foray into the GF AG arena! We'll see how the brew turns out!
 
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Seems like it went pretty well for a first go into GF. Good job! Please keep us updated on how this one moves along.
 
I used to mill my buckwheat separately and had to use a very wide gap to keep it from jamming. With some input from other posts on this forum I tried mixing the buckwheat with the millet and it ran right through with a small gap ( 0.020 inches). With a small percentage of buckwheat compared to the millet, the buckwheat seeds encounter the mill at a rate that does not seem to be able to stop the momentum of the crushing process.

There are several people on this forum that really have their enzymes down. My experience is the powdered enzymes from my LHBS did not do very well. I noticed some benefit when I switched to the EC Kraus diatase enzymes :
http://www.eckraus.com/2-oz-diatase-enzyme.html
I would do more research on enzymes as others seem to have experimented more.

What was your OG and pitching volume?
 
I used to mill my buckwheat separately and had to use a very wide gap to keep it from jamming. With some input from other posts on this forum I tried mixing the buckwheat with the millet and it ran right through with a small gap ( 0.020 inches). With a small percentage of buckwheat compared to the millet, the buckwheat seeds encounter the mill at a rate that does not seem to be able to stop the momentum of the crushing process.

There are several people on this forum that really have their enzymes down. My experience is the powdered enzymes from my LHBS did not do very well. I noticed some benefit when I switched to the EC Kraus diatase enzymes :
http://www.eckraus.com/2-oz-diatase-enzyme.html
I would do more research on enzymes as others seem to have experimented more.

What was your OG and pitching volume?

OG was 1.051 with the 1lb of candi syrup.

Pitching volume was 4.75 gallons.
 
With 12.19 lb grain and 7 gallons at 1.037 collected, that is a little over 21 ppg which is not bad at all. However, at 4.75 gal pitching volume that would give an OG of 1.054 without any added sugars so I must have something wrong.

Recipe looks great regardless of how close it matches the barley version you were shooting for. What hops did you use?
 
So the candi syrup gives 36 ppg. So 37*7gals = 259 total gravity points => 259-36=223 total without candi syrup => 223 / 11.6 lbs = 19.2 ppg from grain.

Thanks! Spent plenty of time on here researching...you all on the forum have been really helpful!

Hops! 1oz Northern Brewer at 60, 2oz styrian holdings at 10, and 2 oz hallertauer m. at 0 mins.

Also, just ordered three bottles of that e.c. Kraus enzyme! Thanks I'll give it a try.
 
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Well, day 7 in the fermenter and activity ceased around day 5. Took a gravity reading and it was really low-- 1.003. Crazy attenuation! In testing my hydrometer, I was likely a point or two high on my OG estimate of 1.051, it was probably closer to 1.049. Still a bit cloudy, but it tastes pretty good. Began dropping the temp about 3F per day yesterday. Plan to keg it on tuesday or wednesday. I'll post back when its carbed up!



Here's a pic:

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UPDATE: kegged it up today. Looks and tastes great. 1.049 OG to 1.004 FG, 46 IBU.
Pic:
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Well it's carbed about 3/4 of the way there after being in the keg for 48 hrs at 30psi. Headed for 3.5 volumes.

Tasting notes:

Pours with a thick, creamy off-white head. Color is deep straw to copper, slightly hazy. (May be a bit of chill haze?) Head settles quickly to a light cover. A bright hoppy aroma meets the nose with subtle floral and herbal notes. Some sweet malt comes through. Taste is firmly bitter with a sweet malt character and a complimentary hop medley of stone fruit mid and in the finish supporting. Bitterness is medium to medium high. Body is medium light to medium. Carbonation is medium. Relatively clean finish without astringency; bitterness hangs on just slightly into the finish.

I'd call this a success. Don't know that anyone would guess it's a gluten free brew unless they were told!

Cheers!

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View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1449185132.020342.jpg
 
GF Brewers!

Just wrapped up my first ever all-grain gluten free brewday!

1) I only added a quart more water than my software called for, and I knew that millet would retain more water but didn't know how much. now i know! Looks like I need about 10% more water than barley-based batches when using millet as the base malt.

2) I'm disappointed with my mash efficiency. It may be that I need to double-crush my millet malt and maybe add a better quality liquid enzyme. Any recommendations?

3) Was a bit miffed that there was almost no hot break when the boil started up. Any thoughts?

1) Millet does seem to absorb more, now that you mention it. My guess is that it mills differently than barley: I do a triple run on my mill so my millet gets down to a mixture of intact kernels but probably 75% flour (I'd like it to be more flour like but my "cereal killer" mill doesn't go do down low enough, its really meant for barley)

2) Everything I've read is that millet needs be crushed to a flour for highest efficiency. I'm doing this by running my millet thru 3x. Its a mild PITA but I already made the purchase of the mill so I am stuck with that and I consider it penance for a bad decision on my part. Maybe one day I will go to another mill, like Monster, that I hear goes down to a smaller gap.

You're doing BIAB so stuck sparge should not be a problem with a millet crushed to a flour. Rice hulls can be used in non BIAB situations to remedy.

3) You know, I don't think I've seen a hot break either... at least I haven't noticed it. I'll have to monitor that going forward... maybe a millet thing?
 
Hey Jeremy and Chris, in the next two weeks I am going to brew my first all grain batch. I recently purchased a two roller monster mill and adjusted the gap to .40" from their instructions . I noticed that you both use a much tighter setting for your millet and rice malt. I am using Grouse and Eckard Malt in this batch. Any recommendations?

Thanks
-Daniel
 
mergs and DRV, I only have done one run with GF grain but i mixed my grains like chris and only did one pass (chinese corona style mill), just enough that all the millet was getting cracked but not really flour and I got great efficiency (i batch sparged using a cooler that was lines with a grain bag). I think if i went much finer i would have had a really bad brew day
 
With mostly millet and a relatively small percentage of rice and buckwheat (say 30% or less) i have been mixing together and running through my mill at a gap of about 0.020 inches. Sometimes i run it through twice and sometimes not. I received advice to run through at a slow speed so the millet grains don't "explode" into flower. I try to run through at a slow constant speed to get a good even crack on the grain. I use a voil bag so i don't have to worry about stuck sparges, but i think others that lauter with a normal grain bed also mill at similar gaps with no issues. Use rice hulls if worried about stuck sparge.

If for some reason you mill the rice and/or buckwheat separately, 0.040 inch gap is a good number. Much lower than that and it jams. The millet by itself can be milled as low as 0.010 inch gap.
 
Thank you guys for getting back to me. I wrote to Grouse and Chris your recommendation is spot on. They wrote recommended setting is between .65mm-.70mm.

Chris, when using rice hulls to improve the sparging process are you leaving them whole or milling them as well?
 
They are only there for filtration so leave them whole and just mix them into the mash. Since i use a bag i don't use them often. When i use them i usually soak them for 15 minutes or so in hot water before adding to the mash tun so that they don't soak up precious wart.
 
Hey Chris, if you have a second some advice would be greatly appreciated. My setup consists of a 10 gallon kettle and a Rubbermaid mash tun. I decided on a step mash as I want to see what type of efficiency I get without the addition of enzymes.

Grouse sent me the following schedule:
140F for 30 min
156-158F for 60 min
162-163F for 30 min

I am using the mash calculator from brewersfriend for the addition's of strike water for the two rests.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash/

Any suggestions from your experience you could impart.



Many thanks
-Daniel

Mash_Calculator.png
 
I use a spreadsheet for my infusion calculations but I am sure I would get the same number. The equations used in these calculations were developed for barley and I think millet behaves slightly differently. Probably has to do with the percentage of husk to grain meat. I seem to end up with a little different final temperature with millet then they predict but it is not worth worrying about. I am guessing the first rest is in your kettle so no problem if the temp is a little high as the temp will drop a few degrees during the rest. I would recommend infusing with boiling water to a 1.5 quarts/lb grist ratio for the second rest and heat the rest of the way. Stir CONSTANTLY during the heating and don't get too aggressive with the heat. I have been counting the heat ramp with the next rest time. I do the final rest in the cooler as I expect you will. My long rest is in the cooler and your long rest will be in the kettle, so you may want to wrap the kettle with some blankets during the second rest, especially if it is a cold day.

The Grouse mash schedule seems good to me. Honestly, I don't know enough to critique step mashes. What I think I have seen is that a relatively long mash zone in the 155F to 165F range is needed, say 1.5 to 2 hours. As more added roasted rice malts are added, we may need to pay attention to extraction of tannins from the husks and stay closer to 1.5 hours.

I am not sure if the lower temperature rest is needed, but I have used it and I think it may play a positive role, so I keep it without knowing if it helps.

If you have a 10 gallon pot then give a healthy sparge to get all the grain has to give. Worst case is you have to boil a little longer if you need to get the volume back down.

Definitely brew it and post the results. We will all learn something. If you are prepared to make adjustments after seeing what yield you get, then it almost doesn't matter how efficient the mash is. Have some syrup handy to boost gravity if you need it and adjust your hops additions as needed. Worst case is that your efficiency is better than expected and you have to leave a little wart behind. :)
 
Hey Chris, I had planned to do the all rests in the mash tun to make it easier so I don't have to transfer any of the grain from the kettle to the mash tun. I was going to heat the strike water in the kettle hot enough and then add it to the mash tun to get the mash to around 140F, from there I was going to add boiling water for the two additional rests. Any issue you see with that?

Thank you for the heads up on the water/grain ratio? I was using a 1:1 ratio based on what I had read but that was for barley/wheat.

The thought was to batch sparge based on some of the things I was reading from Grouse and also BYO.

If needed to raise the PH in addition to the other brewing salts that will be adding I will use sodium bicarbonate(baking soda)

After reading in two issues of BYO it looks like adding Calcium Carbonate is a little tricky. One issue says that "adding Calcium Carbonate is not effective when added directly to the mash because it dissolves slowly. His solution is to dissolve the chalk in carbonated water first using a carbonator cap. The other issue states "Note that you cannot add chalk to the water before mashing as it is not very soluble in water; if you want to do it that way add sodium carbonate instead.
 
This sounds Awesome..I have a daughter whom is gluten intolerant and have been looking for a good recipe.. I have a question for you... In your mash schedule you started out high and then reduced temp..Seems backwards..Can you explain this procedure?
Just wondering if it might have anything to do with your not getting the conversion you'd hoped for.
Thanks..and I'm looking forward to some education from you.
 
The 1 quart/lb ratio for the first rest is a good plan in my opinion. That is what I do. If you do the infusion calculations you find you end up having to add a lot of boiling water to get up to the final rests from there. I am afraid you will have to heat if you are going to stay anywhere near 1.5 quarts/lb. There is a lot of advice about keeping the ratio around 1.5 for the enzymes. It is also good to save some volume for the sparge.

I did some research on the water chemistry when I started into AG. Read Palmer's book on water and a lot of internet posts. Ended up getting a water report from Ward labs on my local water and adding salts based on spreadsheets to get the calcium and residual alkalinity into the right range for the beer I like to brew. You are right calcium carbonate is insoluble, so don't use it. I add calcium chloride (CaCl2) and gypsum (CaSO4). Early on I took pH readings to make sure i was close to the right range. I don't check pH any more, I just keep consistent salt additions for my brewing water and just brew. I don't recommend adding salts without having some basis. If you don't want to go to all that trouble, just use good water and go with it. It will probably do just fine without all the pain and agony trying to get it perfect. If you use city tap water, then use some Potassium Metabisulfite to neutralize the chloramine in the city water, but other than that you may not need anything.
 
Hey Chris, so your saying for the first rest at 140F to use a 1:1 ratio and for the other two rests use a 1.5:1 ratio?

One thing I was reading on BYO's Guide to All-Grain Brewing was the pro's and con's of Thick, Medium and Thin mash. Have you tried any mash's that were a larger water to grain ratio?

I have a Lamotte testing kit and also had a PH tester from a family member. I was able to get the information needed then plugged it into a calculator to figure out my additions.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/

I have a cone carbon filter to handle the added chlorine because I am using tap water which is from our NY State watershed, but do you think it would be in my best interest to still add Potassium Metabisulfite?

Grain is due to be delivered tomorrow, very excited!!!
 
The mash step I am using now is pretty much what I put in post #21 of the following thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=511974
I settled in on that based on what I learned from that thread and a desire to dough in at a temperature that is supposedly good for the enzymes I add. Not sure if the low rest really helps, but it doesn't hurt so I keep it

I have reduced the final rest time a little bit but basically it is like the Grouse profile, rest at a low temp for 30 minutes or so and then between 155F and 165F for 1.5 to 2 hours.
Then add a healthy sparge which is key if you believe the advice in the thread above. I now believe that is key.

Previously I was using complicated step mashes, cereal mashing the buckwheat, separating enzyme rich mash water to add back in after higher temp gelatinization rest etc. With that process I ended up with a high ratio of water to grain and that meant I sacrificed sparge volume. I did OK with it but the thread above showed me I could reduce complication and actually get better results.

There are some really good GF AG brewers on here that just do a single infusion mash. I think sometimes they get a few less ppg points out of their grain but they don't care. They just put a few extra pounds of grain in, boil maybe a few minutes longer and roll with it. Definitely not just one way to do it.

What I learned from the above post is the sparge is really important because the grain bed holds a lot of the precious sugars on the first running and we want to get those out. Maybe the most important piece of advice from that is to keep volume for the sparge and do say 3 small sparges rather than one large sparge.

Not sure if the carbon filter effectively removes chloramine. I know reverse osmosis does, but that also removes the other ions that you almost certainly want to keep in there. Mother earth is much better at adding calcium then we are. :) Potassium Metabisulfite is added in such small amounts that I would just use it in case there is chloramine in there. Better safe then sorry and I cannot imagine the PM has any noticeable impact on taste.

Reminds me I need to order some grain! Have fun and post your results!
 
Hey Chris, three questions I had for you :)

I remember with my previous batch I used a starter size of 16oz water to one packet of Fermentis. Any suggestions?

Just wanted to be sure I am using Eckard rice malt in this batch, I don't have to mill it just soak it before I add it to the mash?

When you are batch sparging 1 gallon of strike water are you draining the entire mash then adding back one gallon of water or draining off one gallon of water than adding a gallon back?

Thanks again for all your advice and help
 
If you are using rice malt then crack the grain with the rest of the grain bill.
If you are adding rice hulls to the mash for filtration then i would soak those in advance. The rice hulls by themselves are not fermentable.

I have not used yeast starters. I either just pitch the dry yeast on the top or pre- hydrate dry yeast before pithing. Others may have advice on starters.

I use a voile bag. I pull the bag and let it gravity drain reasonably well. For each sparge step, I put the grain bag in a fresh bucket, spread it out a little and pour the sparge water gently over. Let it soak a little and pull the bag. Basically moving back and forth between two buckets and moving all collected wart to the boil kettle. Not very elegant but it works.

Purists will say that the bag method oxygenates the wart and can pull off flavors out of the husks. I am not sure that is as big a factor with millet and that is why i don't notice an issue. Or its just that I am not refined enough to notice :)

If you have a proper mash tun then you would vorlauf, drain and sparge normally. Igliashon recommends to underlet on sparge steps which sounds like a really good idea.
 
The moment of truth,I am a humble grasshopper after yesterday's brew day. The grain bill was a total of 11.25lbs of Grouse Millet and .50lb's of Eckard Rice Malt. I did three passes using a Monster Mill 2 roller at .65mm and .25lbs of rice at .83mm. My first runnings were 1.042 and my last gravity reading was 1.024 pre-boil collected from roughly 8 gallons. Post boil with with 1lb of D-45 beet sugar it was 1.036

Here are my notes

Grist/Mill
I would like to mist the grist a little when milling it to cut down on the particulate in the air. I was milling in my bathroom "insert joke because my apartment is small" and found that the fine grain was air bound. I think also a particulate mask would help so you don't have to breath in all that grain. I hand ground the grain and maintained a consistent speed, what I saw with the millet was all hulls removed some grains cracked some not and some husks milled to a flour consistency. I was using a gap size of .65mm on a monster mill 2 roller.

Water Treatment
Using my tap water, I ran it through a carbon conical filter at a very slow rate and collected 10 gallons. Based on the results of the Lamotte Brewlab I had the water was treated with 2g of NAHCO3, 5.5g of CaSO4 and 4g of CaCl2.

Mash
14qts of 155f water we're added to reach a target of 140f of which we we got 139.5f. After 30 minutes 4qts of 205f water were added bringing the mash to 153.5 target was 156. Next time will reach 212f just that I am working off a stove. After 60 minutes I noted that there were deviations in the temperature of the mash and also that the mash decreased in temperature. The temperature several inches down in the middle was 151f after moving the mash around the temperature dropped down to 148f. 2.6qt of 212f water was added and the temperature didn't move, I attempted to push the water through the bottom of the mash tun but after the temperature didn't budge I added the water over the top of the mash. To bring the temperature up to 161.6f I added a unmeasured amount of 212f water not more than 3.5gal. After a total mash time 155 minute I completed a starch test that showed no starches present.

Mash notes
I will attempt to insulate the mash tun next time. I also learned that Millet soaks up a ton of water. I have a 7lb hopper for the monster mill but in the future may consider the extension and also a better PH meter, the one I was given was not reliable at all and I don't have any PH readings for this batch.

Sparge
I set the grain bed with three vorlauf's and let it take up to an hour to drain. One thing I noticed is that towards the end of the drain a lot of sediment did come through. In the future as the flow starts to slow down I will not pull that through. I had 1.5 gallons of sparge available to use. I sparged three times during which each sparge I stirred the mash thoroughly. The temperature of the spare water was in the 180f's. Roughly 8 gallons of wort was collected at a gravity of 1.026.

Misc
I collected 1/2 of the grains and cooled them to reuse for cooking, found a good BYO issue where it talks about reuse. This week with bake them @200f for 6-8 hours then store them for later use.

Boil
The boil was 60 minutes with a total of 3.22oz's of hop addition, yeast nutrient and 1lb of D-45 beet sugar. I was happy with the whirlpool at the end of the boil, very little sediment made it into the carboy.

Cooling
Using a counterflow chiller I was able to get a 2:1 ratio 10 gallons cooled 5 gallon's of beer down to 98f. I want to continue to be more efficient and use less water. Trying to figure out how to reuse spent water. Ice bath in my kettle brought the carboy down to 78f. During this time I used a airstone for a total of 15min to oxygenate the wort.

Yeast
Fermentis T-58 was rehydrated at 82f in 8oz's of water. Using a stir plate it was agitated for 120 min. Before pitching the yeast the stir plate was stopped for a total of 45min. The yeast was pitched in the wort that was reading 78f. It was late and I was tired, I forgot to connect the power for the ferm heat wrap so four hours later the temp dropped to 55f of which T-58 wants to be 59-68f. I opened the chest freezer to warm it up and it's at 58f now.

Longest brew day of my life, well it's only my second :)
HUMBLED!
 
Interesting that you felt like you had a lot of dust on the grind with your roller mill. I grind in my garage and my roller mill has lots less airborne dust than the corona mill ever had. Could be worse :)


Looks like you got a little less than 19 ppg out of this mashi if I did that calcs correctly. You can definitely work with that and can build on it with refining your process.

Looks like you have a method for your water chemistry.

I did a lot of research and got what I think is a good pH tester and I have to say it is hard to get confidence in pH measurement. I think it is important to confirm that your water chemistry is reasonably good for your mash, but I would not be concerned with too precise measurements. Only to confirm that it is not way off.

I believe it is good to keep the main mash to about 1.5 quarts/lb and save water for the sparge. Maybe consider being able to heat the mash or just go for a single infusion mash.

I think the stiffness of the mash affects the temperature measurement. Have always struggled to get consistent measurements. I always have to stir and put the temp probe in an area where there is more water than grain. I have given up on feeling like I have an “exact” measurement of mash temp. I get close and go with it.

I can tell you with the bag method, a LOT of cloudy material gets through. Your wart was surely a lot clearer than mine ever is. Some falls out in the boil, and the rest falls out in the fermentation in my opinion. I think the clearer you wart, the less ends up as trub in the primary so the more you have available for the keg. If you have the equipment to go for a really clear wart, then go for it but I don’t worry that you have lost a lot if some cloudy material gets by your defenses.

AG brew days are really LONG for sure. I feel your pain, but think it is worth it. Let us know how it turns out!
 
Hey Chris, a lot of the dust was created when i was transferring the grain. I ran the grain through the rollers three times and had to transfer it from the bucket back to the hopper each time.

One thing I was reading is that the husks are good for drainage but are also a source of tannin's which could be considered off flavors. I saw some threads that show people milling down to a flour consistency to get the most efficiency out of the millet. I milling at .65mm and most of the hull's were in tack. I am trying to work on my grist and mash for the next batch and unsure if I should go with a smaller gap for the millet?

For the water chemistry I was using BYO All-Grain issue and the Lamotte testing to bring my values within the desired ranges. Just crude math I was using. One thing I was unsure of was how to use was Potassium Metabisulfite. I got a small jar of LD Carlson Potassium Metabisulfite. Any recommendations?

I not sure what I want to do for the next batch, if I continue with the step mash I am going to physically lower the mash tun so there is enough force by gravity to push the water from kettle spout through the mash tun spout to add water via the mash tun bottom. My question is should I be mixing the mash after each water strike water addition to try and even out the temperature differences?

I was very surprised that I used close to 10 gallons of water for the entire mash, sparge and boil for a 5 gallon batch. I didn't realize that millet soaks up that much water.

I feel batch number 2 had a lot of improvements, especially on the cold side.

The update now. I am not sure if it's just the Fermentis T-58 strain or the fact I used the stir plate, oxygenation and yeast nutrient but fermentation was very active. I used a blow off tube into a glass. Fermentation was stepped from 58F to 64F and finished within 2 1/2 days. I am controlling it using a thermowell and a two stage temperature controller. Last night it was racked and dry hopped with .75oz of hops. Next week I will be bottling and three weeks from there will be ready to drink.
 
My view is that 0.65mm is a good gap. A roller mill should not grind up the husks very much because it is crushing the grains rather than grinding them.

The directions I have call for 0.03 g potassium metabisulfite per gallon of water. I use an inexpensive jewelers scale to measure my brewing salts and hop additions and at 0.3 g for 10 gallons of water, it is close to the accuracy of the scale. I put in a little extra for good measure and try to mix it in well with the water. I let it sit for 30 minutes or so before beginnning to heat.

I think you should mix the grain on sparge steps. You want to wash the sugars from the grain. Igliashon used the underlet method becuase it allowed efficient mixing all the way to the bottom. If you have a lot of grain it can be hard to mix all the way to the bottom. Most of us don't have too much grain to just simply mix by hand, so you can do it either way. I just pour gently on top and stir to the bottom.

I never got violent fermentation with sorghum syrup batches but I have gotten violent ferementation with all grain. It pays to be prepared for an all grain batch, especially for those fermenting around room temp.
 
Thanks Chris for the heads up, I am looking to see some better efficiency with the next batch and I know my mash temperatures were not what I wanted them to be. Next batch I am going to take measurements before and after adding water for the steps to see if there is a big difference, if so I will move the mash around to even things out.

With Potassium Metabisulfite, do you need to boil the water after 30 minutes to precipitate the Chloramine out or do you rack that water out to another vessel?
 
I just mix it in with my other brewing salts. If i remember correctly, chlorine is volatile so eventually it will evaporate on its own and faster with heat but chloramine won't. I think the metabisulfite chemically combines with the chloramine and chlorine and neutralizes them. Once you add the potassium metabisulfite you just have to give it some time to react.

Campden tablets are essentially the same thing but there was some debate if the binding agents for the tablets were gluten free so i never used them.
 
Thanks Chris, this definitely will help with shorten my brewing schedule, where as I don't have to boil the water first. I can now just run it from the tap through the carbon filter and then add the Potassium Metabisulfite the night before. Boiling times are an issue for me as I am using the burners on a stove, to boil 10 gallon's of water takes 75+ minutes.

I found this excerpt on BYO's website and as you stated are the reaction is independent of boiling. The chloramine is broken down into form's that are not harmful to overall optimal levels for a mash.

http://byo.com/malt/item/902-it-was...lfite-to-the-water-would-clear-the-chloramine

"Although many reducing agents can be used to dechlorinate water, the ones that are most accessible to homebrewers are sodium metabisulfite or its cousin, potassium metabisulfite (commonly found in the Campden tablets used by winemakers). These compounds will remove chlorine from both sodium hypochlorite (bleach) and chloramine treated waters. The reaction converts chlorine into chloride and the sulfite is converted to sulfate. Chloride has no affect on aroma, is found in most water and is added by many brewers in the form of calcium chloride. Likewise, sulfate is a normal constituent of water and is added in the form of calcium sulfate by brewers. When this reaction occurs with chloramines, there are also ammonium ions released into the water. Again, this is no big deal because ammonium ions are found in a brewers mash and come from the malt. Keep in mind, we are talking about very low concentrations of all of these reaction products due to the low concentrations of chlorine and metabisulfite involved in the reaction."
 
Life got busy :)

Attached is a picture of the final product. I was pleasantly surprised about the success of this brew. There was hints of coffee, chocolate and even raisin.

IMG_4205.jpg
 
1) Millet does seem to absorb more, now that you mention it. My guess is that it mills differently than barley: I do a triple run on my mill so my millet gets down to a mixture of intact kernels but probably 75% flour (I'd like it to be more flour like but my "cereal killer" mill doesn't go do down low enough, its really meant for barley)

2) Everything I've read is that millet needs be crushed to a flour for highest efficiency. I'm doing this by running my millet thru 3x. Its a mild PITA but I already made the purchase of the mill so I am stuck with that and I consider it penance for a bad decision on my part. Maybe one day I will go to another mill, like Monster, that I hear goes down to a smaller gap.

You're doing BIAB so stuck sparge should not be a problem with a millet crushed to a flour. Rice hulls can be used in non BIAB situations to remedy.

3) You know, I don't think I've seen a hot break either... at least I haven't noticed it. I'll have to monitor that going forward... maybe a millet thing?

Maybe a millet thing. Since then I've brewed a Milk Stout. Yeah then found out I'm pretty lactose intolerant to, so took it to a homebrew festival and dumped the rest. It had this really sour thing going on, think I may have put to much lactose in. anyways.

I'm planning a GF pale ale or IPA now, based on the House IPA HBT thread. Just saw that my LHBS has the WhiteLabs 4300 Optimash enzyme so I'm going to use that in conjunction with a diatase and see how that goes.
 
This sounds Awesome..I have a daughter whom is gluten intolerant and have been looking for a good recipe.. I have a question for you... In your mash schedule you started out high and then reduced temp..Seems backwards..Can you explain this procedure?
Just wondering if it might have anything to do with your not getting the conversion you'd hoped for.
Thanks..and I'm looking forward to some education from you.

Hey there, sorry it took so long for me to respond, for some reason my thread updates weren't posting to my email. weird.

Two things happening here: Gelatinization and Saccharafication. Gelatinization is when the starches become soluble and thus accessible to the enzymes responsible for turning those starches into fermentable sugars. Saccharafication of course is the process of turning those starches into fermentable sugars.

With many gluten free grains, the gelatinization temp is higher than the saccharafication temp. Thus, for decent efficiency, it is necessary to gelatinize the grains first, then rest them at a sacc. rest temp for starch conversion.

Unfortunately, the gelatinization temp for these grains is higher than the operating range for the saccharafication enzymes, and those enzymes start to denature at these higher temps (160-170 or so). That's why with high adjunct barley grists and for most GF grists it is necessary to add supplemental diatase, amylase, or other enzyme to aid in starch conversion after the gelatinization rest is complete and the mash has cooled.
 
GF Batch 1 Update:

Sent it to my local homebrewclub's springfest (AZ Society of Homebrewers is the largest homebrew club in the state, about 270 entries this year in the spring comp) as well as to the NHC comp (denver).

Springfest it scored a 32. One of the judges is our state's only BJCP-ranked Grand Master-ranked Judge. His overall impression: "This is a tasty and interesting beer. It hits the major marks of a blonde ale and I would drink a pint. The slight tartness and odd spicy notes detract from the overall balance of the beer for me. Work to lessen those characters and improve crispness." Takeaways: I used the Fermentis Abbaye ale strain so yeah that's probably the spicy notes!

NHC: Scored 33. Judges specifically noted they docked me 5 points for not specifying the alternative grains used, and another 2 for failing to specify American Blond or Belgian Blond. So it would have been a 40! Not bad!
Judges comments: "Very good american blonde. Noticeably different grain but can't ID"
Second Judge: "Pleasant malt/hop balance. Great alternative beer. Try fruits to gain complexity."

I'll post a recent photo here from my phone.
 
Hey there, sorry it took so long for me to respond, for some reason my thread updates weren't posting to my email. weird.

Two things happening here: Gelatinization and Saccharafication. Gelatinization is when the starches become soluble and thus accessible to the enzymes responsible for turning those starches into fermentable sugars. Saccharafication of course is the process of turning those starches into fermentable sugars.

With many gluten free grains, the gelatinization temp is higher than the saccharafication temp. Thus, for decent efficiency, it is necessary to gelatinize the grains first, then rest them at a sacc. rest temp for starch conversion.

Unfortunately, the gelatinization temp for these grains is higher than the operating range for the saccharafication enzymes, and those enzymes start to denature at these higher temps (160-170 or so). That's why with high adjunct barley grists and for most GF grists it is necessary to add supplemental diatase, amylase, or other enzyme to aid in starch conversion after the gelatinization rest is complete and the mash has cooled.

Awesome thank you! When I'm ready to brew a batch.. I will PM you for some advice. Hopefully you will get that email update quicker...:mug:
 
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