rockgardenlove
Well-Known Member
Hey,
So I'm building a cheap rig out of a tamale steamer, and am using the steamer insert as my false bottom in conjunction with a BIAB bag. Picture in my other threat, here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/should-i-drill-more-holes-my-false-bottom-292259/
All discussion assumes 5 gallon batch size.
Problem:
So, because my pot is originally a steamer the false bottom sits two inches above the bottom of the pot. This means that 1.25 gallons of water is below the grainbed.
Now, Beersmith tells me to add 2.25 gallons for my initial strike water, 1.5 gallons for mashout, and then sparge with almost 5 gallons. That however would only leave 1 gallon of water in contact with my grain for main mash. Obviously, that doesn't sound like it will get the job done.
Fix?
Say I instead start with 4 gallons of strike water, combining the Beersmith-recommended strike and mashout water quantities, and adding .25 gallons to make the mash looser to hopefully encourage sugars to dissolve into the extra water sitting at the bottom of the tun. This leaves 2.75 gallons of water in contact with the grainbed for the bulk of the mash, greater than Beersmith's initially recommended amount.
Instead of adding any water for mashout, I would instead use direct heat to heat to mashout temperature (just to make use of the one advantage of having the false bottom mounted so high up).
Please let me know what you guys think. If necessary I have some ideas about how I could fashion a false bottom out of the pot's lid...but I'd rather not, and I'm not sure it will even be an issue if I tweak my plan accordingly.
Thanks in advance!
So I'm building a cheap rig out of a tamale steamer, and am using the steamer insert as my false bottom in conjunction with a BIAB bag. Picture in my other threat, here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/should-i-drill-more-holes-my-false-bottom-292259/
All discussion assumes 5 gallon batch size.
Problem:
So, because my pot is originally a steamer the false bottom sits two inches above the bottom of the pot. This means that 1.25 gallons of water is below the grainbed.
Now, Beersmith tells me to add 2.25 gallons for my initial strike water, 1.5 gallons for mashout, and then sparge with almost 5 gallons. That however would only leave 1 gallon of water in contact with my grain for main mash. Obviously, that doesn't sound like it will get the job done.
Fix?
Say I instead start with 4 gallons of strike water, combining the Beersmith-recommended strike and mashout water quantities, and adding .25 gallons to make the mash looser to hopefully encourage sugars to dissolve into the extra water sitting at the bottom of the tun. This leaves 2.75 gallons of water in contact with the grainbed for the bulk of the mash, greater than Beersmith's initially recommended amount.
Instead of adding any water for mashout, I would instead use direct heat to heat to mashout temperature (just to make use of the one advantage of having the false bottom mounted so high up).
Please let me know what you guys think. If necessary I have some ideas about how I could fashion a false bottom out of the pot's lid...but I'd rather not, and I'm not sure it will even be an issue if I tweak my plan accordingly.
Thanks in advance!
