ferulic acid rest disaster

[MikeFallopian]

Brewing a saison today, and had an absolute disaster using a ferulic acid rest. Have done this step before with no problems in wheat beers. However, today it caused the wort to gelatinise, forming milky clumps, and burned onto the element, causing the mash tun to trip out. I emptied and cleaned out the mash tun, filtered out the gelatinised clumps, and put everything back in - but as soon as the element touched the wort, it scorched again!

I was following the mash schedule from the Farmhouse Ales book:
- 30 min rest at 45c
- 15 min rest at 55c (didn't make it this far)
- 30min rest at 62c
- 15min rest at 68c

Grain was extra pale with small amounts of bohemian pilsner, torrified wheat and carapils (<5% each for the last two).

What went on here?

Is the grain from this batch salvageable, or shall I just dump it and start again...?

 

[Vale71]

Your issue is called by the starch not gelatinizing at such a low temperature. Because of that it forms clumps and if they come into contact with a heating element they will tend to stick to it and scorch. Scorched grains impart a terrible taste to the wort which won't go away even after fermentation so I'm afraid your batch is a dumper, sorry...

 

[MikeFallopian]

Your issue is called by the starch not gelatinizing at such a low temperature. Because of that it forms clumps and if they come into contact with a heating element they will tend to stick to it and scorch. Scorched grains impart a terrible taste to the wort which won't go away even after fermentation so I'm afraid your batch is a dumper, sorry...

Thanks - very helpful. I've done ferulic acid rests with no issue several times before, so I wonder why it emerged this time... In any case I think I'll avoid feruloc acid rests from now on!

The wort is obviously a dumper...was wondering if the grain would be salvageable for a single infusion mash, but it's too late in the day now!

 

[Bassman2003]

I have found electric elements and sub-gel temp mashing to be problematic. The bits just suck up to the hot element like bugs to light. I think this also has to do with the larger temperature differential between the surrounding liquid and the element itself. My workaround is to temperature infuse any steps until I get into the 140Fs. Though that only works if you have an HLT in your system.

 

[Vale71]

Thanks - very helpful. I've done ferulic acid rests with no issue several times before, so I wonder why it emerged this time...

Gelatinization temperature can vary between different malts and from year to year even for the same brand/type of malt, so it's possible that this might be at the root of the issue you're experiencing now.

 

[postalbunny]

same issues with doing RIMS and trying step mashing with ferulic rest. You need to be extra careful about duty cycle on that element... i've burned two batches playing with this so now I just do an infusion step first then step after step 2 start using the element. I mash in extra thick at 1 qt/lb to hit 110-115degF and hold... then infusion addition to get to 2qt/lbs with HLT water that raises to the next step. From there i use the RIMS to get up to each step.

Setting the element to 25%-50% max power/dutycycle seemed to avoid burning but my 2500watt element becomes a 750watt element and takes forever to get to the next step. I have a long skinny element that's easy to clean, but they're right... once a clump hits that element when it's on full power it burns on and then ruins the batch with a bad smoke/burnt smell/taste.