Brew Day: 10-30-16 Rye Pale Ale

[Atlmustang]

Sharing my brew day yesterday with you all. It was a good day. Falcons/Packers gameday (Rise up!). Georgia Tech won Saturday, UGA lost...it was a great weekend! Beautiful fall weather and what better to supplement the weekend than a brew day? So, I wanted a rye pale ale. Sweetwater had a rye ale they brewed a few years ago they called "Lowryeder" that I loved. The rye gives a buttery body that I love. I was also in the mood for some mosaic hops, so I set out to achieve that.

Ingredients: (Hopefully you can read it )

Added my 8.8 gallons of water per beersmith scaling to my set up. Going from a 6 gallon batch to a 5 gallon batch. I use my tap water, I just keep a gallon jug around for measuring.

Added my 2 tbs. of Ph stabilizer since using tap water...it hasn't hurt, but I can't say it's helped, so...if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Brought it up to 162F. Perfect! I have 3 burners on this kettle. It's huge. I actually use the front, rear and center burner. Gets it done.

Added my bag and clamps to prepare for grain addition:

Added the grains to the bag and checked the temp after adding grains. Should be a 156F. I go a little higher than 152F to coax additional sugars out using the BIAB method. Perfect again!

Removed the clamps and laid the bag out over the edge of the kettle and set the lid down for mashing for 75 minutes.

Mash completed. Checked final temp of the grains to ensure the pot retained heat above 152F. Kettle did a great job of keeping heat in. Ended at 153.5F.

Removed the grain bag and sat it in a strainer that I sit on top of a pot to lauter for a few minutes. No mash out. I have tried, but I don't think it does anything noticeable for BIAB.

Brought water to a boil. It was a little lazy honestly. I will probably go back out to the garage next time so that I can use my propane burner. The stove has a hard time getting a good rolling boil with that volume and size of the pot. Added additional wort from the lautering process. Did hop additions per my hop schedule above.

Went ahead and got my spoon and thermometer in vat of star san since the cooling process was now in action. Rinsed and wiped down my immersion chiller and threw it in the pot, hooked up my pump and started getting cool water through the chilling system.

Cooled to 75 degrees, siphoned to my sanitized bucket, stirred vigorously to oxygenate and pitched my US-05 Safale. Added sanitized lid and airlock filled with star san water appropriately and closed up brew day!

Will report back in 17 days after 14 days of fermentation/aging and 3 days of keg carbing. OG was 1.050, was calculated to be 1.056, so a little low. But I ended up with 6 gallons rather than 5, probably because of the lazy boil and it didn't boil off as much as the calculator probably assumed. It was really lazy, so I have no doubt that had a hand in ending up with an extra gallon...I'll take it though!

 

[PADave]

You need to get yourself a Wilserbrewer bag to fit that kettle.

 

[soccerdad]

I especially like the Falcon and Jackets wins that you worked in to the narrative. What's the good word?

Another rye recipe to try sometime is https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=25929

 

[soccerdad]

Yeah - get one of Wilser's bags !

 

[thepaulpage]

I go a little higher than 152F to coax additional sugars out using the BIAB method.

In spite of much reading, I'm still a bit confused about mash temperatures. Can someone explain the benefit of 156 vs 152 and why it pertains to biab?

 

[Atlmustang]

I especially like the Falcon and Jackets wins that you worked in to the narrative. What's the good word?

Another rye recipe to try sometime is https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=25929

Thanks! To Hell with Georgia!

 

[Atlmustang]

In spite of much reading, I'm still a bit confused about mash temperatures. Can someone explain the benefit of 156 vs 152 and why it pertains to biab?

Edited for misinformation on my part. See below.

 

[Calichusetts]

In spite of much reading, I'm still a bit confused about mash temperatures. Can someone explain the benefit of 156 vs 152 and why it pertains to biab?

Lower mash temps will give you a more fermentable wort, leading to a lower FG and higher ABV...usually. You can mash in the 140s up to about 160. Lower can also lead to a drier final product while a higher can lead to a sweet.

A lot of people on here prefer 148-150. I like 153-155 depending on the style. Lagunitas IPA is mashed at 158

 

[Foosier]

So, there is fairly fine line between mashing too high and pulling out bad tannins in the grain. In general, 152 has been the optimal temp for extracting sugars. For BIAB, the efficiency is at a disadvantage because there is no sparging which allows flowing water to finishing getting an extra push for sugars in the grains. So, the only way to get extra sugars out is to increase the mash temp. In BIAB that is one of the only variable we can control to increase efficiency in grains during the mash process. The other off the top of my head is double milling your grains to make it easier for the mash to get sugars out, but my LHBS will not double mill because it gunks up their machine, so my only option is to mash a few degree higher.

That's my understanding of it. I read a book called the science of brewing and it went deep. Real deep down in the molecular's of grains/hops everything and that's how it was explained. The higher the mash temp, the softer the outer hull of the grains thus the easier for sugars to escape/breakdown, but double edged sword because mash too high and you get evil tannins. 156 is probably the closest that I'd like to tempt that devil.

Ok.... NO, No, no.... You are repeating bad information here.

Tanin extraction is a function of temperature and PH. This is one of the reasons understanding your water is important. If your PH is in the correct zone (5.4ish) during the mash, you won't be extracting tanins. If temperature was the sole variable, then those of us who do mash out at 168 would have nasty, astringent beers every time. I don't, because I know my PH is in the zone I want.

Temperature does not make the sugars more or less extractable. All the temperature does is make one or the other enzyme active (alpha and beta amylase I believe) One is more active at lower temps 140-150 ish and produces a more fermentable wort which will lead to a drier finish. The other works at higher temps 150-160 ish and leaves bigger sugars which are not easily fermented and results in a fuller, less dry finish. Choosing your temp allows you to play with the dryness of your finished beer nothing else. Folks have done experiments sparging with cold water in their BIAB batches and have found it works just as well as hot (Though it slows down the time it takes to get the wort back to a boil).

If you can't get your LHBS to double mill, add an extra 1/2lb of base malt. That will make up for the difference in efficiency.

Also, the 5.2 PH stabilizer is not helping you out. Don't take my word for it though. Read the Brew Science posts from AJDELANGE and MABRUNGARD. They are water scientist and explain in detail why it does not work.

Sorry if this come across harsh, but there is a lot of misinformation out there in brewing in general. Within the BIAB world there is even more. Keeping our facts straight is important as it helps us all create great beer and it helps newer brewers avoid making the same mistakes we did.

 

[RM-MN]

Ok.... NO, No, no.... You are repeating bad information here.

Tanin extraction is a function of temperature and PH. This is one of the reasons understanding your water is important. If your PH is in the correct zone (5.4ish) during the mash, you won't be extracting tanins. If temperature was the sole variable, then those of us who do mash out at 168 would have nasty, astringent beers every time. I don't, because I know my PH is in the zone I want.

Temperature does not make the sugars more or less extractable. All the temperature does is make one or the other enzyme active (alpha and beta amylase I believe) One is more active at lower temps 140-150 ish and produces a more fermentable wort which will lead to a drier finish. The other works at higher temps 150-160 ish and leaves bigger sugars which are not easily fermented and results in a fuller, less dry finish. Choosing your temp allows you to play with the dryness of your finished beer nothing else. Folks have done experiments sparging with cold water in their BIAB batches and have found it works just as well as hot (Though it slows down the time it takes to get the wort back to a boil).

If you can't get your LHBS to double mill, add an extra 1/2lb of base malt. That will make up for the difference in efficiency.

Also, the 5.2 PH stabilizer is not helping you out. Don't take my word for it though. Read the Brew Science posts from AJDELANGE and MABRUNGARD. They are water scientist and explain in detail why it does not work.

Sorry if this come across harsh, but there is a lot of misinformation out there in brewing in general. Within the BIAB world there is even more. Keeping our facts straight is important as it helps us all create great beer and it helps newer brewers avoid making the same mistakes we did.

If you can't get your LHBS to double mill the grain and even if you can, buy your own mill. The Corona mills work great for BIAB and with your own mill you control just how coarse or fine the milling is done.

http://www.discounttommy.com/p-189-...er-for-wheat-grains-or-use-as-a-nut-mill.aspx

 

[Atlmustang]

Thanks foosier. Absolutely no offense taken at all. I appreciate you setting me straight. Guess I should scrap that book , I need some kindling for the fire pit this winter.

Also, thanks for the tip on the PH stabilizer. I'll save my money on that going forward. I use it because it hasn't hurt my beer at all, so I subscribe to the whole if ain't broke don't fix it book. But my county has great water, so it's likely not an issue either way.

Anyways, appreciate the information (correct). Next time, I'll let the science questions go the way of the experts. All I know is my process and it makes good beer, but don't know exactly why. LOL...scary.

 

[Foosier]

Alt, No problems. I can tell you that those of us who have figured out our processes are always happy to help.

On controlling your mash PH, take a look at the BruNWater spreadhseet. It is a really good water calculator. It takes some time to get up to speed on how it works, but once you do you can figure out if you need any adjustments very quickly.

One key input you need is a water report. Your municipal water report does not give you enough information unfortunately. If you do live in a city, search these forums using "Water report [my city]" Someone may have posted their report for your town. This will give you a decent starting point. If you can't find a report, want more recent data or on a well, look into getting a "Wards lab" brewing water analysis. They aren't that expensive and it really sets you up to understand your water.

If you are doing all grain brewing (which BIAB definitely is) you really want to understand what you are working with water wise. It will make a big difference in your resulting beers. The Brew Science board has lots of information on water and adjusting it to brew with.

Good luck with your future brews!