Scorching issues, bain marie in Bayou 44qt?

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I'm having scorching issues on my LWD elements when running all-barley and barley+corn washes. I'd like to try pot-in-pot to be able to strip at speed while eliminating the scorching risk. My boiler is a Bayou 44qt pot. I'm looking for another pot that can fit inside it sitting on the false bottom, and ideally holding 5 gallons of wash. Anybody using a similar setup?
 
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Are your corn mashes particularly high in solids?

Brew on :mug:
No solids at all really. I'm using quick grits and 6-row, mashing in a bag, then fermenting off the grain. When I rack to the kettle I'm careful to leave behind trub, yeast, etc. Also, I'm using 1650w LWD elements from @Bobby_M and have never had any scorching issues at all when boiling even high gravity beers. I wondered if it's just tons of corn proteins or something from the grits, but I've had this issue once before with an all-barley wash too. Ciders and fruit wines, rum washes and sugarheads all run fine so I'm kinda stumped.
 
If you cut off the handles the Bayou classic 1024 SS 6 gallon kettle should work perfectly....
Hey thanks for that tip, exactly what I was looking for. Wow, I just picked one up on Amazon that had been returned for just $22. Now I won't even feel bad about cutting off the handles! 😜
 
No solids at all really. I'm using quick grits and 6-row, mashing in a bag, then fermenting off the grain. When I rack to the kettle I'm careful to leave behind trub, yeast, etc. Also, I'm using 1650w LWD elements from @Bobby_M and have never had any scorching issues at all when boiling even high gravity beers. I wondered if it's just tons of corn proteins or something from the grits, but I've had this issue once before with an all-barley wash too. Ciders and fruit wines, rum washes and sugarheads all run fine so I'm kinda stumped.
Well corn is supposedly low in glucans, so it must be proteins. Do you boil the wash to coagulate proteins before fermentation?

Brew on :mug:
 
Well corn is supposedly low in glucans, so it must be proteins. Do you boil the wash to coagulate proteins before fermentation?

Brew on :mug:
Last time I only brought it up to 180 to pasteurize. I've got a batch ramping up to mash out right now, I'll boil it for a few minutes before chilling. Thanks for the tip!!!
 
I also just noticed today that quick grits aren't the same thing as instant grits. No wonder my og was low. Today I inadvertently heated the strike water to 180, so I mashed in the grits and stirred them until it cooled down to 156, then added the 6-row malt. As I was stirring I read the cooking directions on the bag. Duh. Next time I'll buy regular grits or plain old cornmeal and cook it down before the mash.
 
The 24qt pot arrived today, I cut the handles off and it is about as perfect a fit as I can imagine inside my 44qt kettle. The lip of the smaller pot rests perfectly on the steamer basket ledge in the big pot, almost like it was designed to work this way. Like Russian dolls from the Bayou, who'd have thunk it. Thanks @cyberbackpacker ! Leaves about 2.5 gallons of dead space underneath where the elements sit. Suuuper happy and looking forward to trying it out!
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The handles weren't too hard to cut off, turns out the welding rod was a lot softer than the material the handles are made of. Took about 30 minutes total.

Not perfect but, close enough for my needs :p

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