First time All Grain brewing

[oldsccorpio227]

Hi. I purchased Brewzilla Gen 4 and did my first All grain brewing. My wort was cloudy and hazy. After I let it sit, it cleared up and I had a lot of precipitation. I heated up my water to 160, dump my grain, and kept the temperature at 155F. When I was running a pump with a screen on top my unit said the temperature is 164 but when I pulled out the screen and mixed it, it dropped to 155. So I decided to do it without the screen but still had about 2 inches of water above my grains. How do you control it? I tried to close the valve but it still had a good stream. After the mash, I raised the temperature to 170 for 15 minutes but still, my wort didn't clear. Any suggestions? TIA

 

[hotbeer]

Some of us don't worry too much about wort clarity. In the end it'll just be more trub in your fermenter.

But perhaps part of your issue may have been the amount of rice hulls you did or didn't use and the crush of your grain. If you are wanting a high mash efficiency, then you'll probably be crushing fine. And that will usually either leave you with cloudy wort to deal with after the boil or a stuck mash where no wort runs through it.

Other than a little bit less malt amounts are needed to get the same OG, there isn't really a need to have a high mash efficiency other than it might save some costs. But you might spend more trying to clean up your wort if you don't like trub in your FV and desire a really high mash efficiency.

I do BIAB, so you'll likely get better advice on your particular set up with later replies here.

 

[tracer bullet]

Agreed that cloudy wort doesn't mean cloudy beer.

For temps it basically requires good circulation with an occasional stir. Check the grains for the temps, not anywhere else, as they are the main point. Anywhere else could be too close or too far from the heat source and give different, confusing or conflicting values.

That circulation tends to help clear the wort of course but it all get undone with the stirring or when the grains are removed. It's life with an all-in-one.

 

[oldsccorpio227]

But perhaps part of your issue may have been the amount of rice hulls you did or didn't use and the crush of your grain.

Didn't use any rice hulls. I got grain already crushed.

 

[hotbeer]

Didn't use any rice hulls. I got grain already crushed.

I think what your all-in-one is doing by re-circulating the wort is a vorlauf process. So if you weren't getting a very good re-circulation going on, then that to me says you probably should have had some rice hulls in with the grain to keep the starches from gumming together and making it hard for the wort to drain through. The finer the grain crush the more rice hulls you will need.

There are some other things too, but that'd be the thing I'd consider for your next batch.

With BIAB, you don't need any rice hulls at all no matter how fine the grind for most of the ways we can BIAB.

 

[DuncB]

or add some glucanase to the mash.

 

[oldsccorpio227]

tried another batch and still it is cloudy. I used rice hauls this time but it didn't help, planning to add whirlfloc tablet at the end. Any other suggestions? I used about 0.5lb of rice hauls

 

[hotbeer]

You could do like the no-chill people and let it sit for 24 hours before adding to the FV. Then quite a bit will probably settle out and give you clean wort.

But again, don't worry about the stuff in the wort. It'll just become trub on the bottom of your FV. Of course if you are fermenting in the keg you are going to serve from then cleaner is probably better.

My FYI and IMO on whilfloc...

10 minutes from flame out might be too much time. 5 minutes from flame out might be too little time.

And too much whirlfloc might be worse than not enough. So don't think more is better.

 

[oldsccorpio227]

first picture when I draw a bit for a measurement and the second after it sat for a while

 

[CascadesBrewer]

first picture when I draw a bit for a measurement and the second after it sat for a while

How did your first batch of beer turn out? I don't worry about having clear wort during the mash, boil or transfer into the fermenter. I have found that a bit of trub into the fermenter will help it clear faster. If your beer turns out fine in the end, that is the real goal.

 

[oldsccorpio227]

How did your first batch of beer turn out? I don't worry about having clear wort during the mash, boil or transfer into the fermenter. I have found that a bit of trub into the fermenter will help it clear faster. If your beer turns out fine in the end, that is the real goal.

It turns out well. I hear what you are saying, but after watching videos of people brewing using Brewzilla and it is clear I am just trying to see what I am doing wrong.

 

[glick]

Can’t comment on the Brewzilla, but I BIAB and my wort is always cloudy. Cloudy Wort does not equal cloudy beer.

 

[Teufelhunde]

first picture when I draw a bit for a measurement and the second after it sat for a while

What I see there is normal. The clarifying agent is doing it's job and binding with the hot break proteins and carrying them to the bottom...