Woo Hoo! First PM this weekend!

[Turkeyfoot Jr.]

This weekend I’ll be embarking on my first experience with partial mash. Here’s the recipe I’ll be using:

Turkeyfoot Brewery – King Wheat
Grains
3.5 lb. Wheat Malt
3 lb. Pilsner
0.5 lb. Vienna

Extract
4 lb. Wheat DME

Hops
4.1 AAU Hallertau @ 60 min.

Yeast
Wyeast 3068

Predicted OG – 1.051
Predicted FG – 1.014
Alcohol – 4.7%
Color – 5 SRM
Bitternesss – 12 IBU

I’m buying the yeast tonight to get my starter ready. I’m planning on just a normal ½ cup DME with 1 quart water starter. Is there a need to step it up with a hefe?

I think I have the steps for the mash, sparge and boil worked out but I’m very much open to suggestions on ways to improve. Here’s what I’ve thought out:

Strike water volume of 2.25 gallons @ 164F. Roughly 1.28 q/lb.
Single step mash at 150F for 60 minutes.
Single batch sparge with 2.25 gallons at 181F.
By my calculations that should leave me with @ 3.5 gallons for the boil.
Bring the wort to a boil, add the hops, boil for 45 minutes.
Add the DME and boil for another 15 minutes to dissolve.
Remove from heat, chill in an ice bath to 80F, strain into my carboy and agitate.
Top off with enough water to make 5 gallons and pitch my starter.

Here’s my calculation for the volumes:
Mash – Absorption (0.1G/lb.) + Sparge – MLT Loss = Boil Volume
2.25 - 0.7 + 2.25 - 0.25 = 3.55 Gallons

My thanks to Bike N Brew for the equation and a big thank you to everyone on this board. I’ve been reading and reading for weeks leading up to this brew to figure out the ins and outs of PM, the information here has been invaluable.

 

[Turkeyfoot Jr.]

I hate to bump my own thread but I was hoping some of the more experienced AG or PM guys could give me some input on the steps I laid out for the mash and sparge. Never having done this before I'm basing the steps entirely on what I've read, ZERO firsthand experience.

In reading over my numbers again I did catch one thing that concerns me. When I did this as an extract I used 5.25lb. of DME and 3lb. of steeping grains. I don't have my brew log in front of me but I think the OG was 1.056. In this rendition the DME's been dropped to 4lb. but the grains have been increased to 7lb. and the predicted OG is 1.051. I'm getting these numbers from the Beer Recipator web site and I used a 70% efficiency. Can that be right, that dropping the DME by just 1.25lb. and more than doubling my grains and my OG will drop 0.005 points? I'm worried my OG may be a lot higher than that but this is what the computer told me.

 

[Blender]

I ran your grain bill through Promash and at 70% efficiency and 3.5 gallons the OG is 1.052. Then when the 4 lbs of DME is added it makes the OG to high for your style at 1.065. You might think about testign gravity after the mashing and then adjusting the DME to hit your projected OG.

I would also have a bit extra hot water as my grains always suck up .15 lbs. per pound.

 

[FlyGuy]

I ran your grain bill through Promash and at 70% efficiency and 3.5 gallons the OG is 1.052. Then when the 4 lbs of DME is added it makes the OG to high for your style at 1.065. You might think about testign gravity after the mashing and then adjusting the DME to hit your projected OG.

I would also have a bit extra hot water as my grains always suck up .15 lbs. per pound.

Yeah, I get the same thing in Beersmith. That OG is a bit high, especially for the hopping rate you intend to use. At only 4.1 AAU that is going to turn out pretty sweet. Back off on the DME some -- I suggest using only 2 lbs of DME for an expected OG of 1.049. But keep the other 2 lbs on hand just in case you don't hit 70% efficiency -- you can always use it to bump up your OG in a pinch.

Otherwise, your numbers and process look good. My only suggestion might be to pull a bit of your sparge water (say 2 quarts), boil it, and use it for a mash out. Thinning out the mash will help lautering all that wheat malt. It isn't necessary, but I have found it helps.

Let us know how you make out! Should be a great beer.

 

[Driftless Brewer]

What equipment are you going to use? For the MLT (material/size) and brew pot size.

I think I'm going to try PM for my next batch. I'm going to do the brew pot in the oven method for mashing. My grains will be in a grain bag so when mashing time is over I can lift them up and into a colander that I will set on top of the brew pot. Then do my batch sparge. It won't be a pretty set up, but I don't have to buy any new equipment and I'll have zero MLT loss since the MLT is the brew pot.

Just curious as to what your set up will be.

 

[Turkeyfoot Jr.]

Wow, so the Recipator was way off. I decided to go out and download Brewsmith to avoid such issues in the future. It worked really well, took just a few minutes to add my recipe and I love the layout it gives once all the data's been imported. I included the recipe below.

I've only read briefly regarding mash outs. I'll have to read up so more, I think I may want to do that. I was a bit concerned about the amount of wheat in the recipe so anything that will help will be nice.

For my MLT I have a 5 gallon cooler and I used FlyGuy's SS braid design for the manifold. My brewpot is a 4 gallon SS. The MLT was pretty cheap actually, $16 for the cooler and maybe another $20 for the hardware, maybe a little more. My next upgrade will be a 10 gallons SS pot, chiller and turkey fryer setup so that I can start doing full boils.

Turkeyfoot Brewery - King Wheat

Type: Partial Mash
Date: 7/19/2007
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 3.50 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
2.00 lb Wheat Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 22.2 %
3.50 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 38.9 %
3.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 33.3 %
0.50 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 5.6 %
1.00 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.10%] (60 min) Hops 11.0 IBU
1 Pkgs Weihenstephan Weizen (Wyeast Labs #3068) [Starter 125 ml] Yeast-Wheat

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.055 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.4 %
Bitterness: 11.0 IBU
Est Color: 5.2 SRM

Mash Profile

Total Grain Weight: 7.00 lb
Sparge Water: 2.09 gal
Grain Temperature: 76.0 F
TunTemperature: 76.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Step Add 9.00 qt of water at 160.5 F 150.0 F 60 min

 

[Turkeyfoot Jr.]

Alright, the mash is on. Almost hit my mash temp dead on, 149F and I was shooting for 150. Oh well, I'm happy I came that close. LOL!

 

[FlyGuy]

Sounds almost right on to me! Best of luck.

 

[Turkeyfoot Jr.]

Things are progressing smoothly.

I decided to go with the mash out just to be safe. However, I think my sparge was a bit on the cool side. The mash was at 148F, I didn't take a temp after adding the mash out water but the water was boiling and my sparge water was about 172F.

I ended up a little short on collecting wort, 3.25 gallons as opposed to the predicted 3.5 so I've made a note for next time to assume a bit greater loss to my MLT. Although it's probably a good thing I ended up short. After adding the wort to my kettle I was pretty close to the top.

I also forgot to take a gravity reading before starting the boil so I have no idea what my efficiency was. DOH!

Anyway, the wort's boiling away, about 45 minutes left in total. I noticed that the boiling smells SOOOO much better than when I boiled extracts. Not that extracts smelled bad, this is just better. Oh, and the spent grains made me incredibly hungry for some fresh baked bread. I'm off to find something to eat.

 

[Orfy]

If you know your preboil and post boil volumes and have a post boil gravity you can work out you preboil gravity. If you can be bovver'd!

 

[Turkeyfoot Jr.]

Preboil Volume - 3.25 Gallons
Post Boil Volume - 3 Gallons (This is a rough estimate based on the level in the carboy)
Post Boil Gravity - 1.051

What's the formula for computing the efficiency? I can assume I didn't make 70% because that's what I plugged into Beersmith and it came out to a OG of 1.055.

Well, I ran out of ice to chill the wort so I ended up straining it around 103F which is warmer than I wanted. Consequently my pitching temp was also a little warm, 86F. I guess it's time to invest in that wort chiller.

I'm also noticing a LOT of particulate floating in the wort. I made sure during the vorlauf that my runnings were really clear before I drained the MLT. Could it be cold break material from straining the contents of my kettle? My strainers not fine enough to catch what I'm looking at.

 

[djhead]

Looks like I aint the only new PM this week. Lets have a toast fer me and you!

 

[Turkeyfoot Jr.]

I'll drink to that dj! How did your first PM go?

Mine started jugging away just after just 4 hours or so in the fermenter and it's overflowing my blowoff bucket right now. It looks great though, a lot lighter than my extract version which I guess is too be expected.