Mini Mash, another first. Help

[Schmitz]

I picked up Jim Wagner's Vanilla Bean Oat Stout through morebeer in what I thought was an extract kit. It's a Mini-Mash. I've done about a dozen extract ales over the past year with little or no problem.

Not a huge deal, cept I've never done a mini-mash and freaked out.

7lbs. English Light Malt Extract

3.5lbs British Pale
1lb Flaked Oats
.75lb Black Roasted
.25lb Chocolate Wheat
.25lb Crystal 60L

It smells and looks like an extract and If I didnt know any better Id treat it like one.

The instructions that came with a "Gratz! on your first mash" (ugh) has me confused to say the least. Equipment requirements alone ask for Boil Kettle, then a Mash Tun (say what?) and finally a hot liquor tank (dumbfounded).

Is a mini-mash relatively simple with the current equipment I have (which is nothing more then your typical extract equipments) ? And maybe I'm treating this more seriously than it is, or should I spend a few hours diving through mini mash topics before I even think about getting involved.

Appreciate any help in pointing me in the right direction.

 

[Ivan Lendl]

this is the best way to make extract beer, most mini-mash recipes call for at most 2 lbs. of grains, which can easily be placed in a grain sock and steeped.

your recipe however calls for 2 additional pieces of equipment: a small kettle, and a collander (like a speggetti strainer, prefferably a BIG s.s. one)

all you gotta do is this:

place the grains in 170F h20 (about 1 qt. per lb.)
mix well and maintain 150F temp for 60-90 min. (covering kettle with a heavy towel works, or adding small burst of heat work too)
after 60-90 min. pour the grains and water through the collender into the brew kettle
heat another couple of gallons of h20 to 170F
slowy ladel this h2o over the grains in the collender, letting the drippings fall into the kettle.
discard grains, add extract and procede as normal.

 

[davy]

Not with the equipment that you currently you will need some extra equipment. Check out this link:

http://***********/feature/353.html

You should definitely read as much as you can before trying to make a mini mash.

When you start brewing with grains primarily you need to hold the grain at a specific temperature for specific amount of time. Then you need to drain off the sugary mash water and keep the grain in the mash bucket. Then you need to rinse the grains with hot water to get any additional sugar from the grains. All this will yield about 6+ gallons of liquid that you need to boil down to 5 gallons adding hops and whatever as you would when doing an extract batch. It is tricky and can be intimidating when you first try it but there are plenty of people on here that will be able to help you.

Here is an equipment list by no means exhaustive:

(2) 5 gallon cooler Rubbermaid/Igloo whatever.
A false bottom.
A sparge arm.
6+ gallon brew pot
(an extra brewpot your currently one will work as a second)
propane burner/turkey fryer

Hope I have not frightened you away. Don't worry you will get ALOT of good advice from here.

 

[Kaiser]

Thi certainly is a big mini mash.

But it can be done without a mash-tun. I have done a "mini" mash with 5 lb of grain by using a cooler as mash-tun and sparging through a nylon mesh that I fastened over the brew kettle (there will be a lot of grain to hold). My efficiency was at 60%.

Kai

 

[rewster451]

I think with what you have you can go really simple and save yourself a lot of worry. Doing a mini-mash is a good way to get started making better beer. You can control a lot of the elements of body and flavor, as well as alcohol content. But all you need to know to make a totally decent beer is what Ivan said. This doesn't really cover a lot of ideal temperature ranges, protein rest, or anything else you COULD know about and make great beer, but it's enough to make GOOD beer, and it's simple. I say go with that, and if you like it, there is a lot of information out there that really isn't that hard to understand, but takes some time.

 

[todd_k]

Are there any tricks to maintaining a constant temperature with an electric stove? It is difficult to give quick bursts of heat with this kind of stove. Also, I may be missing something here but if you cover the kettle with a towel, how can you take a thermometer reading to know you are maintaing the right temp?

 

[Ivan Lendl]

just cover the ketttle with like 3 really heavy towels, and you should be fine...after 30 min. you could check the temp (just leave the thermo in there) and if it dropped say below 148 or so just add like a quart of boiling water and stir well...it should maintain 150-155 or whatever temp it stabilizes at for at least an hour...a few degrees wont matter much. as long as your around about 150 youll be fine...


were in jersey are you from? im from Wayne.

 

[todd_k]

were in jersey are you from? im from Wayne.

Thanks for the info. Born in Princeton, raised in Hillsborough (Somerset County). I was just up there last weekend.

 

[Schmitz]

This really set me in the right direction and is sinking in.. slowly. I planned on doing a mini-mash sooner or later, better I get a wake up call and just dive in like this.

Really appreciate the help guys.

 

[El Pistolero]

place the grains in 170F h20 (about 1 qt. per lb.)
mix well and maintain 150F temp for 60-90 min. (covering kettle with a heavy towel works, or adding small burst of heat work too)
after 60-90 min. pour the grains and water through the collender into the brew kettle
heat another couple of gallons of h20 to 170F
slowy ladel this h2o over the grains in the collender, letting the drippings fall into the kettle.
discard grains, add extract and procede as normal.

Just another take on this...I think it's a lot less hassle, and probably more efficient, to "batch sparge" your mini-mash. Instead of ladleing the sparge water over the grains, just put the grains into the sparge water, stir and wait 5 minutes, then pour the grains and wort thru the colander again.

 

[Ivan Lendl]

i guess you could batch sparge, but what about the vorlauf? isnt this a crucial step your missing when not using a proper lauter tun? you cant set up a good filter bed and therby trap unwanted proteins and such with out the vorlauf... i would just ditch the sieve, and build a bucket-in-bucket lauter tun. if you can do that then you are all gaining...(is that a term? all-graining?)