High Gravity Beer and mash tun
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Evan!
Well-Known Member
My biggest grain bill was 18 lbs. I had to switch over to my 50L MLT rather than my normal 8 gallon kettle for mashing. Along that vein, you could always do direct-fired mash in your kettle...if you have a big enough kettle. I do almost exclusively direct-fired in the kettle (even though I have a cooler, I get better efficiency with direct-fired stepped mashes). When you're ready to drain+sparge, just dump as much into the mash tun as you can fit, drain it, then sparge. You might lose a little efficiency, but not much.
Alternately, you could just use as much grain in your mash as you can fit...and make up the pppg via extract.
Alternately, you could just use as much grain in your mash as you can fit...and make up the pppg via extract.
Nwcw2001
Well-Known Member
I am about to do 25 gallons of Belgian Dubbel and the grain bill is 37# of grain. I am pretty sure not all will fit into my 12 gallon igloo. So I am going to do it in 3 batches. I will equally split my grain and mash it. Then I wll end up doing 3 different boils and then combining them for the fermentation, just like they do in the brewery in town.
I think I am going to also attempt what Vinnine at Russian River does...
20 min mash.
Do you perform the legendary "20 minute" mashes? If not, how long do you mash?
I didn't know it was legendary, but, yes I do only mash for 20 minutes. I've gone as short as 15 minutes, but, I've got 20 minutes of work to do between the last malt going into the mash tun and the next step in the brew process so 20 minutes works great. We couldn't see a difference in flavor with beers done with a longer mash.
for the complete interview and other pro brewers
http://www.brew-monkey.com/articles/interview.php?id=16
John
I think I am going to also attempt what Vinnine at Russian River does...
20 min mash.
Do you perform the legendary "20 minute" mashes? If not, how long do you mash?
I didn't know it was legendary, but, yes I do only mash for 20 minutes. I've gone as short as 15 minutes, but, I've got 20 minutes of work to do between the last malt going into the mash tun and the next step in the brew process so 20 minutes works great. We couldn't see a difference in flavor with beers done with a longer mash.
for the complete interview and other pro brewers
http://www.brew-monkey.com/articles/interview.php?id=16
John
There are a couple of tricks to make a 5 gallon mash tun work in a situation like this -- all of them borrowed from historical brewing techniques when they didn't have highly modified malts.
You could:
A) Do a double mash. You essentially make two beers. Split your grain into two batches. You'll probably have to bulk it up to 20lbs to make up for absorption and other losses. Do a normal mash with half the batch and collect as much of the first runnings as possible. Reserve that and sparge normally, collecting the 2nd and 3rd runnings in a separate vessel. Rinse out your mash tun and repeat with the second batch of grain. The high gravity 1st runnings from both mashes get boiled as your big beer, although you'll probably end up with 4 to 4.5 gallons rather than a full 5. The 7 gallons (or so) of 2nd/3rd runnings from both mashes get boiled down to make a nice 1.038 to 1.040 mild or ordinary bitter.
B) Again split your grain bill but mash and sparge normally, keeping all of the wort together. Clear your grains and refill the mash tun with the 2nd batch of grain. Heat the wort from the 1st mash to use as your strike/sparge water.
C) Fill your mash tun with as much grain as it will hold -- about 12lbs for a 5 gallon tun. Mash and sparge normally. When done, clear about 4lbs (actually closer to 5 with absorbed water) of spent grain and "cap" your mash with the remaining grain and repeat the process. This is another old school technique for getting the most out of your grains.
I've been researching this a bit lately. I also have a 5 gallon cooler for a mash tun and want to make a serious 1.080+ Old Ale. I'm going with method A -- doing two mashes and collecting two sets of runnings, one for the big beer and one for a mild.
Method B was used mostly for estate beers, as far as I can determine, to create extremely high gravity beers for long aging. The technique (again, as far as I can determine) was often employed for October/November beers because the barley harvest had just come in and grain was plentiful.
None of these fits any particular model in Beersmith or other standard brewing software, so there will be a fair amount of winging it.
Hope this helps,
Chad
You could:
A) Do a double mash. You essentially make two beers. Split your grain into two batches. You'll probably have to bulk it up to 20lbs to make up for absorption and other losses. Do a normal mash with half the batch and collect as much of the first runnings as possible. Reserve that and sparge normally, collecting the 2nd and 3rd runnings in a separate vessel. Rinse out your mash tun and repeat with the second batch of grain. The high gravity 1st runnings from both mashes get boiled as your big beer, although you'll probably end up with 4 to 4.5 gallons rather than a full 5. The 7 gallons (or so) of 2nd/3rd runnings from both mashes get boiled down to make a nice 1.038 to 1.040 mild or ordinary bitter.
B) Again split your grain bill but mash and sparge normally, keeping all of the wort together. Clear your grains and refill the mash tun with the 2nd batch of grain. Heat the wort from the 1st mash to use as your strike/sparge water.
C) Fill your mash tun with as much grain as it will hold -- about 12lbs for a 5 gallon tun. Mash and sparge normally. When done, clear about 4lbs (actually closer to 5 with absorbed water) of spent grain and "cap" your mash with the remaining grain and repeat the process. This is another old school technique for getting the most out of your grains.
I've been researching this a bit lately. I also have a 5 gallon cooler for a mash tun and want to make a serious 1.080+ Old Ale. I'm going with method A -- doing two mashes and collecting two sets of runnings, one for the big beer and one for a mild.
Method B was used mostly for estate beers, as far as I can determine, to create extremely high gravity beers for long aging. The technique (again, as far as I can determine) was often employed for October/November beers because the barley harvest had just come in and grain was plentiful.
None of these fits any particular model in Beersmith or other standard brewing software, so there will be a fair amount of winging it.
Hope this helps,
Chad
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