Mash paddle decision

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hilljack13

hilljack13

That's what she said!
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Finally have everything I need to get some brews going, or so I thought. I realized I don't have a mash paddle...duh.

Just curious if there are preferences for SS/wood and size. I'm using GF G40. I thought about a giant whisk as well.
 
Congrats to the setup!

Anything with a good grip (and appropriate size) should do the trick. It easily gets pretty heavy, especially if you don't do full volume mashes. If you're really lazy get a cement mixer you attach to a drill :)
 
I'm glad you brought that up! A couple years ago there was a thread on here with a link to a large whisk on amazon that a number of folk swore by. Unfortunately I've lost the bookmark and have been meaning to order one myself as all I currently have is a large plastic paddle that really doesn't do the job very well. I hope someone using it can come in here with a link for it.
 
hilljack13 said:
Finally have everything I need to get some brews going, or so I thought. I realized I don't have a mash paddle...duh.

Just curious if there are preferences for SS/wood and size. I'm using GF G40. I thought about a giant whisk as well.
Click to expand...
I made mine out of hard maple.
It looks a lot like the commercially available wood paddles and does the job.
I can see the advantage of SS over wood for sanitation, but that's part of the reason I chose the tight grain and pores of maple. Everything it touches gets boiled anyhow.
 
fwiw, I used my hard maple mash paddle for years, but once I started underletting the strike the paddle has become a brewery ornament. No dough balls to break up, I just give the mash one good stirring with a big spoon to even the temperature out and it's good to go...

1704991950529.jpeg


Cheers!
 
I have a giant whisk and a giant SS spoon, and use both. I could live with just one or the other and I'm sure they are pretty interchangeable, but yeah, as mentioned I use both.

I know that wood is OK, one pretty much only uses it before boiling. But I have SS just in case I forget and dip that charismatic thing into cooled wort and then wonder if I'll have an issue afterwards.
 
tracer bullet said:
I know that wood is OK, one pretty much only uses it before boiling. But I have SS just in case I forget and dip that charismatic thing into cooled wort and then wonder if I'll have an issue afterwards.
Click to expand...
I have a wood paddle too, but switched to a SS long spoon for this reason. Now it hangs on the wall as a decoration.
 
There was a thread a while back about using a whisk. They recommended this one. It works really good for me.

Winco Stainless Steel French Whip, 24-Inch, 1​

 
i am still deciding also on a mash paddle. i have used a whisk before in the past for smaller biab and it works very well. the extra long handle ones tend to be expensive but as an aside the whisk is also the best for dissolving those stubborn clumps of dme when extract brewing. so maybe its worth the investment if you do both


1705006426870.png
 
passedpawn said:
I have that exact one. Works great in my 5 gallon AIO. I previously brewed in 15g keggles. With those, I used a large teak paddle that I cut myself. Not sure if the whisk would have moved through some of those phat grain beds.
Click to expand...

It breaks up dough balls better than anything else I've used. I've had good luck with it in 10 gallon batches, but I suppose it has its limits.
 
I'm just going to pull this out of the ServSafe certification and suggest that if you are using your whips and paddles for anything other than beer production, a bleach water soak is required for compliance prior to mashing in.
 
Kornssj said:
I just use a SS Large Spoon.

Wood is porous so for me, its not good for long term use.

I've had my large SS spoon for almost a decade now. looks pretty much brand new still.

View attachment 838958
Click to expand...
I started with one of those, but it kept bending when I had a lot of grain.

Brewers long ago WANTED the porous wood for their paddles. That's how they transferred yeast from batch to batch. Of course, they did not know about yeast back then, so they just called the magic in the mash paddle "godisgood". (not sure how the yeast survived the mash, or the boil; not sure what I'm even talking about actually LOL).
 
passedpawn said:
I started with one of those, but it kept bending when I had a lot of grain.

Brewers long ago WANTED the porous wood for their paddles. That's how they transferred yeast from batch to batch. Of course, they did not know about yeast back then, so they just called the magic in the mash paddle "godisgood". (not sure how the yeast survived the mash, or the boil; not sure what I'm even talking about actually LOL).
Click to expand...
That's really interesting to hear. Yeast is very resilient, so I could see it being suspended in the solidified parts of the pores and reactivated when the paddle hits another batch.

Although I'm unsure about how much yeast would be transferred over (perhaps would take a while to build itself back up for proper fermentation?) and as you stated when it hits boiling it may not survive. Perhaps if they "happen" to use a different spoon during cooling where the wort had cooled down enough. So they used the "Magic Spoon" during the "Magic Time" and got beer.

Would love to see any type of historical reference for this though if you happen to have it.
 
Kornssj said:
That's really interesting to hear. Yeast is very resilient, so I could see it being suspended in the solidified parts of the pores and reactivated when the paddle hits another batch.

Although I'm unsure about how much yeast would be transferred over (perhaps would take a while to build itself back up for proper fermentation?) and as you stated when it hits boiling it may not survive. Perhaps if they "happen" to use a different spoon during cooling where the wort had cooled down enough. So they used the "Magic Spoon" during the "Magic Time" and got beer.

Would love to see any type of historical reference for this though if you happen to have it.
Click to expand...
I read that a long time ago, no idea where. I'm sure a quick search on godisgood (probably the german spelling) would result in something.

[edit]

1705173057091.png


https://allaboutbeer.net/article/god-is-good/
 
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Dancy said:
I’ve got one similar to post #5 and love it. My daughter gave it to me at Christmas maybe 5 years ago so that’s 1/2 the reason I like it. The finish is great — very tight grain and cleans up nicely with a hot water rinse.View attachment 838976
Click to expand...
I got the same exact paddle that I love too!

I have a SS paddle too, Bayou classic or something like that with a bottle opener on the end. I've never used the opener though but I'm ready should I miss place the dozen others I have.
 
OakIslandBrewery said:
I got the same exact paddle that I love too!

I have a SS paddle too, Bayou classic or something like that with a bottle opener on the end
Click to expand...
Exactly the same, wood for the mash and metal for the boil (and bottle opener). The wood one is great if you do any decocting, as the wide flat end scrapes nicely on the bottom of pot to keep from scorching. Also, I lay it across the top of my boil keggle and it helps control boil overs. The metal one gets too hot.

Wisks for me are hard to clean and since I bottom fill my mash tun I don't get dough balls.
 
I have been a fan of my wood paddle. This is only for the mash. I was a gift and it is nice to use wood.

One a side note, I just purchased a SS spoon from Ace Mart and it was very inexpensive. I went with the 18" model for a manual whirlpool and I could actually drive to the store an buy a piece of homebrew equipment!
 
day_trippr said:
fwiw, I used my hard maple mash paddle for years, but once I started underletting the strike the paddle has become a brewery ornament. No dough balls to break up, I just give the mash one good stirring with a big spoon to even the temperature out and it's good to go...

View attachment 838777

Cheers!
Click to expand...
fluketamer said:
my 2 ft wisk came today. this thing is massive the picture really doesnt do it justice.

View attachment 839285

im going to name it Doughball Slayer

thanks again
Click to expand...
@day_trippr ; I'm still slowly building my 3V rig and have been planning for underletting as SOP as I've read many accounts suggesting that it's best for both strike temp stability as well as doughball elimination. I've only tried it once on a test batch in which my vessels were spread across my kitchen and my incomplete controllers were 'breadboarded' with screws, staples and tin-ties on wooden boards. It takes me a long time to make theoretical learning into empirical practice, so to hedge my bets I've been meaning to buy a really big whisk as I've seen successfully used on here. Do you never get doughballs with underletting?
@fluketamer let us know how that works out. In your opinion, would it be possible to extend the handle length on that whisk with some tubing or pipe and not have it wobble apart at the union? I ask because of spinal issues and for my own ergonomics, I'd try and get a much longer handle.
Thanks Friends/Mentors! :mug:
 

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