Leave Cereal Mash in fridge overnight?

[rtstrider]

Hey all! I am wanting to try a cereal mash using 2lbs quick grits, .4 lbs base malt and 1 gallon of water. This would be 2 qts per lb of adjunct and 20% base malt per weight of adjunct. The plan is to let it sit around 158F for 20 min or so, bring it up to a light boil (maybe simmer) for 30 min, cut the heat, then store in the refrigerator overnight until it's time to brew the next morning. Would this end up forming into an unbreakable mass of gelatinous goo or would this be more like cold oatmeal? My line of thinking is use the robobrew to hit the mash temp, toss this in first with a brew bag, let it get back up to temp, then toss the rest of the grains in and treat it like a normal brew day.

I've never done a cereal mash so it's just on the list of things to try for experience tbh. I've heard don't bother with quick grits or minute rice and that's ok. I just want to go through the motions for experience sake is all. Anyone ever had luck with letting this sit in the fridge overnight?

 

[Brewskey]

Cold grits setup pretty stiff...

 

[rtstrider]

Cold grits setup pretty stiff...

Hmm so no way around just grinning/bearing it on brew day eh? lol

 

[Brewskey]

I'm not saying it won't work... just a pain to work with maybe. Are you going to warm them back up when you brew? Seems like 2lbs of cold grits would have an impact on mash temp. I guess you could microwave them

 

[T Murph]

IMO you would get better flavor and fermentable sugars from regular "old fashioned " grits. Cooked grits are going to coagulate into a brick when left overnight in the fridge. However, you can reconstitute the grits by adding a little water and heat prior to adding them into your mash.

 

[rtstrider]

I'm not saying it won't work... just a pain to work with maybe. Are you going to warm them back up when you brew? Seems like 2lbs of cold grits would have an impact on mash temp. I guess you could microwave them

The plan was to get the brewzilla to mash temps, toss the cold cereal mash in first, let it get back up to temps, then add the rest of the grains. But if it's just going to be a huge mass of goo and a pain to work with I'd rather just grin and bear it on brew day lol

 

[rtstrider]

IMO you would get better flavor and fermentable sugars from regular "old fashioned " grits. Cooked grits are going to coagulate into a brick when left overnight in the fridge. However, you can reconstitute the grits by adding a little water and heat prior to adding them into your mash.

I currently have Jim Dandy quick grits on hand so was going to try that. I've always gotten way lower efficiency when using the quick grits and flaked corn so wanted to try the cereal mash for giggles to see if that helps. If nothing it's just wasted time on a brew day. Best case it helps

 

[T Murph]

It's worth a try. I would make sure they are broken up and mixed in very well to avoid creating a stuck mash.

 

[Deadalus]

I haven't used grits, but I have used flaked grains, oatmeal, and pearl barley. If you stick it in the fridge overnight, take it out early the next day and let it warm up. You could possibly microwave it to warm it up but I can't say how that will affect it, maybe use lower power. Wouldn't these grits be about done as your water was heating up? They will affect your initial temps as you have guessed if cold and they will also do that if you add them in just cooked hot.

I over-water my cereals while cooking. This keeps them looser. It's like when you make instant outmeal or cream of wheat, less water, firmer texture. Just account for this water in the mash.

I recently realized that I can use my Instapot to speed up cooking pearl barley because the time it takes to cook exceeded the time I needed to get to the strike water temp. I often mill during that time and then weigh out water salts but pearl barley was taking longer and I had to wait for it. Regular pressure cooker would work too. I think it takes about 20-25 minutes for the pearl barley in the Instapot vs. 50-60 on the stove.

I also make sure to use rice hulls when adding cereals. Maybe you could add directly to the grits? Not sure if the rice hulls would mechanically degrade with the extra cooking time.

I am also not sure how the grits might behave in the bag, might stay solid vs mixing with the grains. On the other hand, I am not sure how they would behave outside a bag they might pass through your false bottom.

Potentially you were getting lower efficiency with the flaked adjuncts as you may not have enough diastatic power. You could add in a mash step to help convert them if it was of concern. I'm not sure about the rationale behind letting them sit at 158 initially? I've always just cooked cereals longer with the intent to gelatinize them. Extra water is needed to do that in my experience as opposed to just cooking them normally.

As far as total water is concerned, I enter the cereal into Beersmith as part of the mash and subtract that water out of the amount calculated for the mash. That will also affect your strike temperature, as even if you get the cereal to the strike temperature, the grain will be adding more heat than just the water in it. It's all a catch 22. You could manually calculate the temperature and water needed but in general, I find it only takes a few minutes to get to the right temperature. Hardest is adding hot cooked cereal as you may overshoot. I can cool down my HLT by adding water to it, which is a step I do anyway right after adding the grains as my HLT has my HERMS cool in. You wouldn't be able to do that but I am not so familiar with AOI systems to know if there is a quick fix for overshooting.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

Hey all! I am wanting to try a cereal mash using 2lbs quick grits, .4 lbs base malt and 1 gallon of water. This would be 2 qts per lb of adjunct and 20% base malt per weight of adjunct. The plan is to let it sit around 158F for 20 min or so, bring it up to a light boil (maybe simmer) for 30 min, cut the heat, then store in the refrigerator overnight until it's time to brew the next morning. Would this end up forming into an unbreakable mass of gelatinous goo or would this be more like cold oatmeal? My line of thinking is use the robobrew to hit the mash temp, toss this in first with a brew bag, let it get back up to temp, then toss the rest of the grains in and treat it like a normal brew day.

I've never done a cereal mash so it's just on the list of things to try for experience tbh. I've heard don't bother with quick grits or minute rice and that's ok. I just want to go through the motions for experience sake is all. Anyone ever had luck with letting this sit in the fridge overnight?

Gelling is a major concern. When I use grits, I cook them first with 10% of the grist added to the cereal mash, and I let the cereal mash cool down to the first mash step temperature while I heat the strike water.

 

[rtstrider]

Gelling is a major concern. When I use grits, I cook them first with 10% of the grist added to the cereal mash, and I let the cereal mash cool down to the first mash step temperature while I heat the strike water.

Plan is to toss in the cereal mash first, let the Brewzilla even out the temps, then dough in like normal

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

Plan is to toss in the cereal mash first, let the Brewzilla even out the temps, then dough in like normal

I DID see that, however I'm not sure how well they will liquify after gelling. There's also a concern for scorching when they are gelatinized.

 

[JAReeves]

FWIW, I have done this with both grits and rice. I normally bring them up to at least room temp before dough-in, so that they are the same temp as the rest of the grain. Breaking up the gel with your hands or spoon or whatever is highly recommended. Depending on %, you may want rice hulls also to avoid a stuck sparge or channeling if recirculating.