Wellshooter
Well-Known Member
I have been calculating and recalculating and planning this for over a month.
Ok, so here is how it went. I heated 14 gallons of tap water up to 164 degrees and then pumped 5 gallons of it over to the 10 gallon ice chest mash tun (because I only have one brew kettle that big). I expected to have a temp of about 160 when it got there but it was only 157. So rather than run it back and reheat it I just dumped the grain in. This is an AHS Premium lager kit, actually two of them. So I had a mash temp of 147 instead of the 150 called for by the recipe. After an hour the temp was about 144.
So I heated the rest of the water up to 180 degrees and pumped 6 gallons up to my 10 gallon water cooler HLT. I wanted 8 gallons but the pump kept getting steam or vapor locked. I finally decided that would have to do. The PH in the mash tun was about 5.6, a little above the recommended 5.2. Then I started running the wort back to the BK. At the same time I ran my hot water from the cooler down to the mash tun, I tried to go slow and keep the volume in the mash tun constant, and stretch out the time. The recipe says 12 minutes per gallon, which would be 2 hours!! I didn't go that slow.
The objective was to sparge at 168 degrees. It was actually 164. I hoped to get 12.5 gallons back to the BK. I actually got about 11.75. After that I boiled out as usual, except a larger volume than ever. I chilled and pumped (because the BK is too close to the floor, I'm getting a wort wizard to take care of that) over into two PET carboys. Wound up with about 10 gallons total a little short, but not too bad. Chilled to 60 and set in my lager chest. Will pitch my starters later this evening, they have been in the lager chest for a couple of days. OG is 1.042, a little shy of the 1.044 calculated target but right on the recipe target.
So, since I mashed out at too low a temp, I'm going to get 'dry' beer right?
Ok, so here is how it went. I heated 14 gallons of tap water up to 164 degrees and then pumped 5 gallons of it over to the 10 gallon ice chest mash tun (because I only have one brew kettle that big). I expected to have a temp of about 160 when it got there but it was only 157. So rather than run it back and reheat it I just dumped the grain in. This is an AHS Premium lager kit, actually two of them. So I had a mash temp of 147 instead of the 150 called for by the recipe. After an hour the temp was about 144.
So I heated the rest of the water up to 180 degrees and pumped 6 gallons up to my 10 gallon water cooler HLT. I wanted 8 gallons but the pump kept getting steam or vapor locked. I finally decided that would have to do. The PH in the mash tun was about 5.6, a little above the recommended 5.2. Then I started running the wort back to the BK. At the same time I ran my hot water from the cooler down to the mash tun, I tried to go slow and keep the volume in the mash tun constant, and stretch out the time. The recipe says 12 minutes per gallon, which would be 2 hours!! I didn't go that slow.
The objective was to sparge at 168 degrees. It was actually 164. I hoped to get 12.5 gallons back to the BK. I actually got about 11.75. After that I boiled out as usual, except a larger volume than ever. I chilled and pumped (because the BK is too close to the floor, I'm getting a wort wizard to take care of that) over into two PET carboys. Wound up with about 10 gallons total a little short, but not too bad. Chilled to 60 and set in my lager chest. Will pitch my starters later this evening, they have been in the lager chest for a couple of days. OG is 1.042, a little shy of the 1.044 calculated target but right on the recipe target.
So, since I mashed out at too low a temp, I'm going to get 'dry' beer right?
