Shaking Mash (Shaken Not Stirred)

Has anyone tried shaking their mash tun instead of sitrring?

I was thinking about that while listening to a recent episode of Basic Brewing. A recent experiment on starch conversion showed that stirred mashes had a significant reduction in temperature (in addition to the expected increase in efficiency). They were stirring every 5 minutes, and presumably weren't using a heated mash tun. But they mentioned one case where the mash dropped over 20 degrees F.

Then, Kai mentioned that some brewer(s) actually vibrate their mash and say they get good results.

I have the 10 gallon Rubbermaid mash tun cooler, and I've noticed that when it's cold out the mash drops about a couple of degrees when I open the cooler and stir. That would correspond to about a 20 degree F drop if stirred every 5 minutes over 60 minutes. Of course, I wouldn't stir my mash 12 times, but I don't want my mash dropping 2 degrees everytime I stir my mash.

So, I'm wondering if I'll get a similar increase in efficiency from shaking up the mash instead of stirring, and that would allow me to keep the lid on and retain the heat. I know there would be some concern about hot side aeration, but I thought I might be able to kind of swirl the mash without getting too much oxygen in the mash.

 

I don't stir or take the lid off for any reason during the mash.

 

I'll second that. I have tried to shake it around a bit, and I don't see why that would hurt it. In the end I realized it was hard to drink and shake the mash, so that idea fell flat pretty quickly.

 

After mash-in I only open the MT once during the 90 minute mash period. Even then, it's only for a moment, and I just check the consistency of the mash to make sure it's all good... Then it's closed until I take a final temperature reading before draining the MT...

If you wanted to set up a vibration platform/table for your mash tun, that might work... But then it would be a matter of how much reward for the effort would you get from it. It would need to be significant in order to justify the extra complication to me... Besides, as things stand now, I'm 100% mobile with where I can brew. :rockin: With the vibration rig, I'd be tied to either my place, or someplace where I would need to set it up... PITA...

 

Maybe you could stir it with a big , fat , industrial strength dildo, I mean vibrator. They are waterproof right.

 

As long as it's fully sealed you could just turn it on and toss it into the MT... :rockin: Of course, if it's the favorite of your SWMBO, you could be in trouble when she notices how it smells like wort...

 

Next time Hulk Hogan comes over to help me brew he can shake the mash. I don't think I have it in me.

 

Took me 10 minutes to stop laughing enough to type again. Man thats too funny.:rockin:

 

It makes sense to swirl the wort inside the tun. Similar to rousing yeast, rousing the mash doesn't sound like a bad idea.

I use a paint mixer. I hit the mash at dough-in and then again at 30 minutes for a 60 minute mash. The mixer has a plastic head (metal shaft) and really moves the mash around. I do about 30 seconds forward then 30 seconds in reverse; adding a little bit of hot water should it drop.

I'm telling you it works very well.

This was with a mash of 1.5 QT per pound in a voile bag. The grain was moving around like a mofo ...

 

Or it might backfire when she starts to smell like Lacto...

 

What about a concrete vibrator???

http://www.harborfreight.com/power-...concrete-vibrator-extra-long-shaft-41078.html

No seriously

 

Just be careful that SWMBO doesn't claim it for her own.

The issues I see with using that (on a serious note) is that you would need to be 100% sure to seal where it goes into the MT. With the vibrations, it could easily break that seal... Plus, the noise it will make will probably prevent you from brewing early, or late in the day... Either other household members, or the neighbors, will be telling you to stop...

I just see this as a practice that doesn't apply to the vast majority of home brewers... Maybe if you're mashing for a 3BBL batch... But for under 1BBL, I don't see it even starting to make sense. Just one more thing to break/fail/go wrong...

 

wow... is that ever a softball...

So, if it smells like wort and she likes the taste of your wort... hmmm. Could prove to be an interesting brew day.

 

Oh man! what have I started here.

 

I don't know about you, but my SWMBO LOVES to swallow all the wort I can feed her.

 

I was thinking about shaking mash today and the weight of a ten gallon batch vs the strength of my 94 qt Igloo marine cooler MT handles. I am going to just put a piece of pipe under the cooler so I can easily roll the cooler it back and forth. That should give my a nice even "shake."