Fine Tuning my Brutus 10 - Mash Question

[jawilson20]

I have built a Brutus 10 system and now need help fine tuning my brewing process. I have brewed three batches with this weekend’s batch being my most successful, but far from ideal. My efficiencies have improved since the first batch, but not yet to where they should be. For those with a similar system what efficiencies do you usually get? I have a few specific questions I will lay out below.

My system is direct fired recirculating mash, just like Lonnie’s. When heating the water that will be transferred to my MLT, should I bump up the temp a few degrees above my target mash temp? I have not been doing this. While the recirc and heating of the MLT will quickly (less than 5 mins) bring the temp up to my target mash temp am I doing any damage here by not having the temp equalize at the target when mashing in?

While recirculating how fast or slow should I be pumping the mash? My initial thought is the faster the better to ensure a consistent temp through the grain bed, but on the other hand I am afraid that the disruption of the grain bed could be bad.

After the mash is complete, should I wait a few minutes to allow any settling/resting before starting the fly sparge?

When fly sparging, I am keeping my HLT set at my fly sparge temp. Should I continue the heat below the MLT? If so, should it be at the fly sparge temp or the initial mash temp? What temp should the wort that is exiting my MLT be (mash temp, fly sparge temp, somewhere in between)?

I understand that it is recommended to discontinue the sparge when dropping below 1.010 or 2.5 brix. In a perfect world, should my calculated water volumes from Beersmith ensure that I am hitting that number as the last of the sparge water enters my BK? If I am hitting that number prior to running out of water, does it mean that I sparged too quickly?

Thanks for the help.

 

[ColeR]

Hey, a post i can answer..

its ok to stir while the mash in its recurc.. time.

bring the mash up to your sparge temp 168deg+/- depending on your recipe

at the same time bring up the fly sparge water up to 168deg+/-

dont stir the mash as you get closer to the sparge temp, let the mash do its filtering, (mine is still recurc'ing at this point.)

after the wort is clear enough for you, and its all at 168deg+/-, start your fly sparging.. slowly<== my hard part

you can check out one of my threads where i had a lot of the same questions, >>here<<

any wort that leaves the MLT and heads to the Bk should be at the full sparge temp.

good luck

CR-

 

[jawilson20]

Thanks for the reply. The big take away for me is to get the mash up to sparge temp before sparging.

dont stir the mash as you get closer to the sparge temp, let the mash do its filtering, (mine is still recurc'ing at this point.)

after the wort is clear enough for you, and its all at 168deg+/-, start your fly sparging.. slowly<== my hard part

You mention not to stir as I approach sparge temp - go it. But won't the recir essentially aggitite the wort to the degree you would consider it stirring? Finally, what do you mean after the wort is clear enough? The wort being recirced into the MLT? Is it expected that I will need to recir for some time after completing the ~152 mash and prior to the sparge?

Thanks for all the help.

 

[ColeR]

Thanks for the reply. The big take away for me is to get the mash up to sparge temp before sparging.

this was also my big learning part and where i gained 20% on eff.

You mention not to stir as I approach sparge temp - go it. But won't the recir essentially aggitite the wort to the degree you would consider it stirring? Finally, what do you mean after the wort is clear enough? The wort being recirced into the MLT? Is it expected that I will need to recir for some time after completing the ~152 mash and prior to the sparge?

its called channeling, sometimes when recic'ing the wort will bypass a good portion of the grain, stiring will reduce this from happening. the path of least resistance is to not go through the grain.

I stir the wort up to the sparge temp off and on, it gets cloudy, i let it recir for a few more min to clear up. then when at 168 i start fly sparging.

i hope that helps

 

[jawilson20]

I have built a Brutus 10 system and now need help fine tuning my brewing process. I have brewed three batches with this weekend’s batch being my most successful, but far from ideal. My efficiencies have improved since the first batch, but not yet to where they should be. For those with a similar system what efficiencies do you usually get? I have a few specific questions I will lay out below.

My system is direct fired recirculating mash, just like Lonnie’s. When heating the water that will be transferred to my MLT, should I bump up the temp a few degrees above my target mash temp? I have not been doing this. While the recirc and heating of the MLT will quickly (less than 5 mins) bring the temp up to my target mash temp am I doing any damage here by not having the temp equalize at the target when mashing in?

While recirculating how fast or slow should I be pumping the mash? My initial thought is the faster the better to ensure a consistent temp through the grain bed, but on the other hand I am afraid that the disruption of the grain bed could be bad.

After the mash is complete, should I wait a few minutes to allow any settling/resting before starting the fly sparge?

When fly sparging, I am keeping my HLT set at my fly sparge temp. Should I continue the heat below the MLT? If so, should it be at the fly sparge temp or the initial mash temp? What temp should the wort that is exiting my MLT be (mash temp, fly sparge temp, somewhere in between)?

I understand that it is recommended to discontinue the sparge when dropping below 1.010 or 2.5 brix. In a perfect world, should my calculated water volumes from Beersmith ensure that I am hitting that number as the last of the sparge water enters my BK? If I am hitting that number prior to running out of water, does it mean that I sparged too quickly?

Thanks for the help.

Whenever I post something I always hope it will turn into the next 10 page thread. Perhaps that's aiming too high, but only getting one reply makes me scratch my head. I thought I laid at least a couple tought provoking questions.

On my next batch I will be heating the mash to sparge temp prior to starting the fly sparge, in hopes that this will improve my efficency.

In regards to my question about hitting 1.010 before my predescribed boil volume makes it to my BK, I am hoping that the improved effeciency I am getting from the steps above will take care of it. Is it most folks experience that you will be hitting the 1.010 right as the final water is coming from your MLT when using the volumes calculated by BeerSmith?