Vincenzo
Irishbrewer
All,
I have a question or two about BIAB and brewing wheat beers in particular.
I have been brewing BIAB for a few years now and probably have 100 or so brews under my belt at this stage, mostly Neipa, Weissbiers, Saisons and Triples. I recently decided to change from gas burner to electric brewing to allow step mashing etc. I built a control panel using an Auber EZ Boil, and installed a 5500w element in a 50lt kettle, with a pump for recirculation during mashing. The resulting brews have overall been easier, with better control and provided good results- with the exception of Weissbiers.
In the past – using the gas burner - I never had a problem with scorched brews, but the last 3 Weissbier recipes have all been scorched. I have been very aware the grind of the wheat, of controlling the power output from mashing to boil, and also of the pump recirculation volume, and I was happy that none of these were responsible for the scorching.
So, I tried another Weissbier brew last week. This time , I milled the gain bill quite coarsely, and sifted the grains to separate any flour from the bill. I mashed as normal- with 4 steps from 40c – 76c, and after a total of 85 minutes I lifted the Brewbag out of the wort , and this time decided to transfer the wort from one kettle to another to inspect the bottom of the kettle and see what was scorching.
On the bottom of the kettle was at least 13mm ( ½ inch) of white deposit- I assume flour – and this was on the element also – so it would naturally burn when the power was turned on- even though I have been careful to use reduced power bringing the wort to the boil. However , removing this would not only reduce the proteins contained in the wort, but lower the OG, and all that that entails.
My questions are: – is there a solution that would allow me to continue to electric BIAB ;is there something I should be doing to mix the wort more to ensure that the deposits are mixed into the wort better, and would this even help at all – or does this deposit (flour) settle out again? Should I consider moving to a 2 vessel approach to avoid the issue , but I would still have to retain the proteins etc in this deposit ? How does this work in a conventional mash tun / boil kettle set-up – are these deposits left behind ?
I have a question or two about BIAB and brewing wheat beers in particular.
I have been brewing BIAB for a few years now and probably have 100 or so brews under my belt at this stage, mostly Neipa, Weissbiers, Saisons and Triples. I recently decided to change from gas burner to electric brewing to allow step mashing etc. I built a control panel using an Auber EZ Boil, and installed a 5500w element in a 50lt kettle, with a pump for recirculation during mashing. The resulting brews have overall been easier, with better control and provided good results- with the exception of Weissbiers.
In the past – using the gas burner - I never had a problem with scorched brews, but the last 3 Weissbier recipes have all been scorched. I have been very aware the grind of the wheat, of controlling the power output from mashing to boil, and also of the pump recirculation volume, and I was happy that none of these were responsible for the scorching.
So, I tried another Weissbier brew last week. This time , I milled the gain bill quite coarsely, and sifted the grains to separate any flour from the bill. I mashed as normal- with 4 steps from 40c – 76c, and after a total of 85 minutes I lifted the Brewbag out of the wort , and this time decided to transfer the wort from one kettle to another to inspect the bottom of the kettle and see what was scorching.
On the bottom of the kettle was at least 13mm ( ½ inch) of white deposit- I assume flour – and this was on the element also – so it would naturally burn when the power was turned on- even though I have been careful to use reduced power bringing the wort to the boil. However , removing this would not only reduce the proteins contained in the wort, but lower the OG, and all that that entails.
My questions are: – is there a solution that would allow me to continue to electric BIAB ;is there something I should be doing to mix the wort more to ensure that the deposits are mixed into the wort better, and would this even help at all – or does this deposit (flour) settle out again? Should I consider moving to a 2 vessel approach to avoid the issue , but I would still have to retain the proteins etc in this deposit ? How does this work in a conventional mash tun / boil kettle set-up – are these deposits left behind ?