First partial mash

[Superstorm]

I’m going to be doing my first partial mash tomorrow and want to be sure that I have the method correct before I start. So from my understanding, you only put part of the water in the pot and bring it to about 170F so that the grains can settle at 150F and you sustain that temperature for 1 hour. You also drape the grain bag over the pot so that you can occasionally stir the grains. After 1 hour has passed, you lift up the grain bag and pour the rest of the water through the grains. After that, you boil for 1 hour and add the malt extract and hops during the boil, then you cool the wort to the correct temperature for pitching the yeast. Do I have this right or did I get some steps wrong? Any corrections would be much appreciated!

 

[IslandLizard]

You "sorta" got it right.
What grains and how much of each are you mashing? Are they milled?

 

[RM-MN]

The reason that Island Lizard asked about the grains is that there is often a misunderstanding about the difference in "steeping" and "mashing". With steeping you are extracting the color and flavor from the grains and that can be done at a wide range of temperatures. In that case you have the description correct.

Mashing is different from steeping as you are using the enzymes in the grains to convert the starch to sugars. This requires that the grain wasn't kilned at so high of a temperature that it destroyed the enzymes that do the converting or that the converting wasn't done prior to the kilning such as Crystal or caramel malts.

Mashing requires what is called a "base malt" and also requires a narrower range of temperature to activate the enzymes without destroying them. That requires that you have a measured amount of water, know the weight and temperature of the grains, and calculate the temperature of the water so that when the grains are added the temperature of the mash falls within the range of 148 and 158F.

For a good understanding of the process and how steeping differs from mashing a good book to read would be "How to Brew" by John Palmer. John has be gracious enough to make his first edition available for free online at www.howtobrew.com but the later editions of the book have some corrections made and are worth purchasing.

 

[Superstorm]

You "sorta" got it right.
What grains and how much of each are you mashing? Are they milled?

1 pound of Vienna or 2-Row malt, 4L
½ pound crystal malt, 40L
½ pound malted wheat

Those are the grains and the amounts, and yes they are milled so do I follow the process that I described or do it differently?

 

[Superstorm]

The reason that Island Lizard asked about the grains is that there is often a misunderstanding about the difference in "steeping" and "mashing". With steeping you are extracting the color and flavor from the grains and that can be done at a wide range of temperatures. In that case you have the description correct.

Mashing is different from steeping as you are using the enzymes in the grains to convert the starch to sugars. This requires that the grain wasn't kilned at so high of a temperature that it destroyed the enzymes that do the converting or that the converting wasn't done prior to the kilning such as Crystal or caramel malts.

Mashing requires what is called a "base malt" and also requires a narrower range of temperature to activate the enzymes without destroying them. That requires that you have a measured amount of water, know the weight and temperature of the grains, and calculate the temperature of the water so that when the grains are added the temperature of the mash falls within the range of 148 and 158F.

For a good understanding of the process and how steeping differs from mashing a good book to read would be "How to Brew" by John Palmer. John has be gracious enough to make his first edition available for free online at www.howtobrew.com but the later editions of the book have some corrections made and are worth purchasing.

So is it better that I strep the grains instead? This recipe that I’m doing is a pumpkin ale and says that you can do a partial mash or soak the grains. If I do a partial mash, what did I get wrong that needs to be done instead of what I described?

 

[bracconiere]

1 pound of Vienna or 2-Row malt, 4L
½ pound crystal malt, 40L
½ pound malted wheat

Those are the grains and the amounts, and yes they are milled so do I follow the process that I described or do it differently?

what size batch is this? i'd say 170f is a little on the hot side, to hit a target of 150f, with just 2 pounds....personally i'd say, yeah. the 2-row and wheat should be mashed....

 

[catalanotte]

Your approach sounds right on. You can always add a bit heat or ice to get your temp in the zone, but if you are just looking for colors and flavors from the grain, anywhere between 150-170 will work. If you are counting on fermentable sugars, spend a bit of time looking at the comments and link for mashing as your temperature control gets a little more important. Happy brewing, what are you making?

 

[catalanotte]

Your approach sounds right on. You can always add a bit heat or ice to get your temp in the zone, but if you are just looking for colors and flavors from the grain, anywhere between 150-170 will work. If you are counting on fermentable sugars, spend a bit of time looking at the comments and link for mashing as your temperature control gets a little more important. Happy brewing, what are you making?

Sorry, missed your earlier reply. For a partial mash on your pumpkin ale, manage the temperature to hold as close to 152 deg as possible for an hour to ensure starch conversion. A tip to help get the most out of your grains is to then heat the pot to 170 after after the hour as you rinse (sparge) the grains with additional 170 deg water. Don’t go over 170 until you get those grain husks out of there.

 

[Superstorm]

what size batch is this? i'd say 170f is a little on the hot side, to hit a target of 150f, with just 2 pounds....personally i'd say, yeah. the 2-row and wheat should be mashed....

5 gallon batch, so should I aim for about 160- 165 before the grains are added?

 

[catalanotte]

5 gallon batch, so should I aim for about 160- 165 before the grains are added?

If you’re on the stove, Add the grains at about 150° and keep the heat on until you stabilize at your target.

 

[Superstorm]

Sorry, missed your earlier reply. For a partial mash on your pumpkin ale, manage the temperature to hold as close to 152 deg as possible for an hour to ensure starch conversion. A tip to help get the most out of your grains is to then heat the pot to 170 after after the hour as you rinse (sparge) the grains with additional 170 deg water. Don’t go over 170 until you get those grain husks out of there.

Thanks for the tip, I’m definitely gonna do that when its time to spare. Bracconiere said that 170 is a little too high of a starting temperature for the water before the grains are added, so I think I’ll probably have the starting temperature be 160-165 instead.

 

[BrewInspector]

Use an online calculator to figure out an approximate strike water temp for your amount of grain and mash volume.

 

[IslandLizard]

Mashing:
Don't mash that small amount of grain in too much water.
You've got 2 pounds of grain, use only 3-4 quarts of warm/hot water of around 165F (a ratio of 1.5-2 qt/lb).
Maybe do it in a 1-2 gallon pot on the stove?
Once you've stirred the grain and the warm/hot water well together, looking like (thin) porridge, under good stirring bring the temp to 152-154F, and put the covered pot in a somewhat prewarmed but turned off oven (internal temp of around 150-160F will work fine). Let sit for 60'. Stir it halfway if you want, and return.

Straining the wort out:
At the end of the 60' mash, stir the mash well, again.
Then strain the content of the mash pot through a sieve, colander, or through a steeping bag into another container. This is called "lauter," separating wort from grain.
Pour the captured sugary liquid (wort) over the grain heap again, to strain out any grain bits that went through. You don't want a lot of grain bits in your kettle, a few and some dust is fine. This is called "vorlauf," straining the grain bits out.
Put the captured wort into your brew kettle.

Sparging (rinsing):
Pour another 2 quarts of water (cold or warm <170F) over the grain heap to rinse more sugars out. Or instead, mix that water with the grain in your mash pot, stir well, and lauter and vorlauf again the same way you did before.
Add the captured wort to your kettle.
Add enough water to get to your boil volume.

Proceed as usual with your brew.
Add only half the extract at the beginning of the boil, the rest directly after flameout. No need to boil it as long as it remains at or above 150F for at least 10 minutes.