Colander Question

[gdenmark]

Does anyone use a kitchen colander to help them with partial mashing. I have been doing partial mashing for a couple of brews now and have had success, but I am just trying to improve my techniques. I will usually mash in my brewpot for about forty five minutes and then use the tea bag technique. I will drain the bag and then let it sit in the sparge water for about ten minutes, and then drain the bag again and combine the sparge water with the main wort.

Would it make sense to use a colander instead of the bag. I was thinking of mashing in my brew pot then pouring that into the colander which will go into my sanitized bottling bucket. I then would run that back through the colander into my main brew pot. Then pour the sparge water over the grains for the last step. Does this method make sense and maybe give me the opportunity to get better result from the grains? I guess my only concern is what kind of corlander should I get? Will the corlander stop all of the grains? Would love some advice on this.

 

[C-Rider]

Does anyone use a kitchen colander to help them with partial mashing. I have been doing partial mashing for a couple of brews now and have had success, but I am just trying to improve my techniques. I will usually mash in my brewpot for about forty five minutes and then use the tea bag technique. I will drain the bag and then let it sit in the sparge water for about ten minutes, and then drain the bag again and combine the sparge water with the main wort.

Would it make sense to use a colander instead of the bag. I was thinking of mashing in my brew pot then pouring that into the colander which will go into my sanitized bottling bucket. I then would run that back through the colander into my main brew pot. Then pour the sparge water over the grains for the last step. Does this method make sense and maybe give me the opportunity to get better result from the grains? I guess my only concern is what kind of corlander should I get? Will the corlander stop all of the grains? Would love some advice on this.

As you said depends on the colander. The one I have would let to much grain thru into the wort. Since I do only small batches I wrap the top of the bag around the spoon and begin rotating the bag while it sits in the colander. As the bag gets tigher and tighter I can sqeeze pretty much all wort out of the grain. Never thought about pouring more water thru to see if more sugars were there. I only work w/about 4.5 lbs for my 1.75 g patches.

 

[1MadScientist]

I use a colander and a bag with my BIAB method. Maybe you can get some ideas from my photos. I pull the bag from the mash after mash-out temperatures and squeeze it. No sparging or running water over it. You can do this for partial mashes too.

 

[POAS]

Here is my set up: I use a colander (spaghetti type) over my bucket. The handles On top of the colander I put cheese cloth, then on top of that I put a mesh strainer. I mash the grains in the brew pot without any bags, then batch sparge into the bucket.

 

[POAS]

Here is my set up: I use a colander (spaghetti type) over my bucket. The handles happen to fit on the bucket so that it holds it up. On top of the colander I put cheese cloth, then on top of that I put a mesh strainer. I mash the grains in the brew pot without any bags, then batch sparge into the bucket. So far that has worked pretty well.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I do the tea bag steeping thing as well, but then I just use a big enough colander that it'll hold my grain bag with all my grains in it, and just sparge through the colander slowly back into the BK. No worry about if the colander is fine enough to keep all the grain. Works well enough for me, haven't noticed any tannin problems and lately have been getting about 73-75% efficiency. I do BIAB PMs and AGs this way.

 

[C-Rider]

I'm mashing in a cooler. How would I do a mash out? Use a bit less water and then mash out w/the difference in the BK? Or sparge the difference? I've been getting about 75% efficiency just squeezing the bag to death.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I mash in my BK wrapped in insulation. And I don't bother with mash out, just sparge. So as for how to add mash-out into the equation, I'm not sure. Maybe a thicker mash and a mash-out infusion? At the end of the day, if what you're doing works for you, I'd keep doing it unless you really want to change it.

 

[gdenmark]

I mash in my BK wrapped in insulation. And I don't bother with mash out, just sparge. So as for how to add mash-out into the equation, I'm not sure. Maybe a thicker mash and a mash-out infusion? At the end of the day, if what you're doing works for you, I'd keep doing it unless you really want to change it.

Okay so I feel dumb for asking this but what is BK? I really don't know and a couple of people used it in this post.

 

[jgln]

Okay so I feel dumb for asking this but what is BK? I really don't know and a couple of people used it in this post.

Brew Kettle?

 

[henryred]

Skip the colander and use your bottling bucket as a mash tun! Since it already has a drain valve in it

 

[gdenmark]

Skip the colander and use your bottling bucket as a mash tun! Since it already has a drain valve in it

How would I use the bottling bucket as a mash tun?

 

[Qhrumphf]

Charlie Papazian wrote instructions (as well as others, I'm sure), basically taking two identical buckets, punching a bunch of holes into the bottom of one, then you can place that inside the one without holes, and voila, mash/lauter tun with false bottom. Just recalling this off of memory so I might be leaving something out, and I haven't tried it (once I move in the next few months I'll be building a cooler MLT).

 

[henryred]

U use your bag in the bucket with the grain mash it for hour. Vorlouf. Drain. Add sparge. Drain. Use stir spoon in front of drain and bag. Works as easy mash tun

 

[kcpup]

I use a colander and a bag with my BIAB method. Maybe you can get some ideas from my photos. I pull the bag from the mash after mash-out temperatures and squeeze it. No sparging or running water over it. You can do this for partial mashes too.

+1 I use this method and it works well.

Austin Homebrew sells a huge colander that continues to serve me well. I bought it to move to partial mashes and still use it for all grain brews now.

 

[1MadScientist]

+1 I use this method and it works well.

Austin Homebrew sells a huge colander that continues to serve me well. I bought it to move to partial mashes and still use it for all grain brews now.

I recently bought a "WINCO COD-14" very similar to yours and haven't used it yet. My little ol' kitchen colander is 4 quarts and only fits half my grain bill. It takes a lot of extra work to deal with such an under-sized colander. Maybe I have the right tools for the right job now.

 

[1MadScientist]

I used my new big colander yesterday for the first time. I found it very clunky to use especially with my 14 1/4 # grain bill. I used it for squeezing my BIAB bag, but gesh. Anybody have any idea how to rig it up to a tray or drainer? I looked all around for one that would set inside my 12" opening of my keggle, with no luck. I like squeezing but may have to give it up.

kcpup, how do you use yours and what do you put under it?


p.s. I posted 3 more photos.

 

[kcpup]

I used my new big colander yesterday for the first time. I found it very clunky to use especially with my 14 1/4 # grain bill. I used it for squeezing my BIAB bag, but gesh. Anybody have any idea how to rig it up to a tray or drainer? I looked all around for one that would set inside my 12" opening of my keggle, with no luck. I like squeezing but may have to give it up.

kcpup, how do you use yours and what do you put under it?


p.s. I posted 3 more photos.

Mad Scientist - sorry it has taken me so long to reply. I've been traveling a lot recently.

Here's some info on how I use the colander. First, my brewing setup is different than yours. I brew on the stovetop and use Deathbrewer's Stovetop All Grain method.

I mash in a 5 gallon pot. Recently I made a beer that had a 14.5# grain bill. For that one I mashed in two pots so my water/grain ratio would be where I wanted it.

Enough of my brew setup, but I thought that was important to disclose so you can take my perspective and weigh it against your brewery.

When I pick up the bag from the mash, I have to be very careful or the wort will drain out over the edge of the colander and outside the pot. In essence, the liquid will drain out of holes that are past the width of my pot.

So, over time I do a step procedure when draining the bag.
1. pull bag up and hold as liquid drips out (good for upper body strength )
2. place colander at an angle so part of edge section is inside the pot. Wedge the bag against the edge of the pot and the part of the colander inside the pot. This allows the bag to continue to drain inside the pot and I don't have to hold it.
3. after that slows down some, I lift the bag up and swing the colander into the "traditional" position suspended on top of the pot. I'll leave it there and also press the bag with mash paddle to extract wort. This provides leverage, and by this point so much of the liquid has drained that the messiness factor is greatly reduced.

This stepped process has reduced the potential mess. Don't know if this will help you, but there's the answer to your question.

Cheers