Low OG

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I typically mill barley with an .032" roller gap, while I use an .025" gap for wheat.

That said, I always do a test crush on both - run a half pound through then check the crush - because different grains often means different optimal crush gap. As an example, recently I obtained a bag of floor malted pale from a local mill and had to set the gap down to .028" to get a good crush because the kernels average size were appreciably smaller than my typical base malts. I believe had I not done that there'd be a good 10-20% hit on extract efficiency...

Cheers!

 

[IslandLizard]

I pull up my basket . I start dumping my sparge water...

A fly sparge vessel/system needs very carefully designed fluid dynamics to prevent channeling. A basket is never going to do that, as it won't saturate.

Basically you're running a version of BIAB. Brew in a Basket in your case.
A dunk sparge in a wide and large enough vessel to hold the basket and a few gallons of water (its temp is rather immaterial) is probably the best way. Those 2 to 4 gallons of sparge water will form a balance with the water and sugars trapped in the grist inside the basket. Just stir well or dunk a few times. Then pull up and drain thoroughly.
That captured sparge water probably has the 20-30% of sugars you were missing from doing a no-sparge or a sloppy pour over.

 

[bracconiere]

That wheat is raw, not rolled, flaked, or malted, it needs to be cereal mashed to get anything out of it.
And uh, add rice hulls if you want to lauter it, instead of baking loaves of bread from it.

wheat gel's at the same temp as barley, i used to throw a 5lb bag of flour in my mash to cut costs....got decent effec, and sparged, well slow and had to blow back in the tube a few times, but i sparged it....8lb's homemalt, and 5lb's white flour in the mash.....no pre cooking needed...


same as barley:


https://bakerpedia.com/processes/starch-gelatinization/

(only reason i mentioned a cereal mash to jag, is i was thinking it would help get the starch into solution for the 2-row to convert better, if it wasn't milled fine enough?)

 

[Jag75]

So your saying I'm a BIAB brewer with my Grainfather Lizard ? Lol I never thought about it like that. I guess now that I look at it like that it is. I've brewed for years on this thing and it never even crossed my mind ☺

 

[IslandLizard]

5lb's white flour in the mash

Just keep in mind, flour will hydrate and gelatinize quicker and more thoroughly than granules of milled raw wheat.

 

[VikeMan]

So your saying I'm a BIAB brewer with my Grainfather Lizard ? Lol I never thought about it like that. I guess now that I look at it like that it is. I've brewed for years on this thing and it never even crossed my mind ☺

Pretty much. I have brewed some batches on a "basket" system in a commercial nano brewery. When I first saw it, I was like - BIAB - are you serious? It had its drawbacks (efficiency sucked, which is fine for home brewing, but not great in a comm'l brewery), but in the end, good beer could be made on it.

If you don't want to call it BIAB, you could say that it's a Perforated Surround Elevation Lauter System with Artisan Administered Viscosity Modification Fluid.

 

[bracconiere]

Just keep in mind, flour will hydrate and gelatinize quicker and more thoroughly than granules of milled raw wheat.

i've done this before.....? just not in this ratio....

 

[bracconiere]

well, i'm cooling it now 15lb's 2-row, 7.5 whole raw wheat berries......it was a PITA to mill, had to keep 'jump starting' my free roller on the mill with a knife.....


sparge was fine, and i dropped a hydro in the kettle at 98f, it reads 1.060...so that works out to a corrected 1.066, or 82%, which i'm happy with...i would point out that i really had to acidifify the mash with a good 3 or so light palm fulls of magnesium sulfate to get down to around 5.3.....started at 5.9......


(and on a side note, i found it funny my first wit in a while, and it's the one i remembered to add the whirfloc to!! )

edit: so to stay relevent to the conversation, maybe crush maybe ph? this was done at 0.028" all barley and whole wheat together...i also did a second step mash at 162f for alpha activity.....mashed at 152f for 30 minutes then ramped up.....

edit #2: if it tastes alright with the kilning of the feed wheat, it saved me $10 for a 10 gallon batch, so i might end up tipping my hat to you Jag.....

edit #3 not that i enjoy other peoples misfortune mind you!!

edit #4: damn got it cooled to 85f and whipped out my precision hydro...only read 1.060....so only 79% effec, still not bad though.....

 

[day_trippr]

[...]i would point out that i really had to acidifify the mash with a good 3 or so light palm fulls of magnesium sulfate to get down to around 5.3.....started at 5.9.....

Wait - you playin'? Or is that for real?
It never occurred to me to use Epsom Salt for pH modification. I reckon it'd work, but in the quantities needed it seems likely you'd end up with a laxative posing as beer. I just tried subbing it in BS3 for the phosphoric acid I used for mash and sparge (95% in the mash) for a 22 pound 10 gallon SMASH grain bill I did last week and it says I'd need 72 grams of Epsom Salt instead?

Cheers!

 

[IslandLizard]

i would point out that i really had to acidifify the mash with a good 3 or so light palm fulls of magnesium sulfate to get down to around 5.3.....started at 5.9......

Why using that much Epsom salt? How many grams do you think it was?
Besides deliberate mineral additions, don't we usually add an acid for pH corrections?

Don't you use a mash/sparge water calculator?

 

[bracconiere]

Why using that much Epsom salt? How many grams do you think it was?
Besides deliberate mineral additions, don't we usually add an acid for pH corrections?

Don't you use a mash/sparge water calculator?

no i don't use a calculator, i use a ph meter.....i'd guess it took about 4-5, maybe 6 grams of epsom salts in a 10 gallon batch.....sometimes, the epsom just won't get it there on it's own, but i'm out of phos acid, and i would have had to use pool acid...or sulfuric drain opener....lol....i meant LIGHT palm fulls, kinda like a pinch but with my palm.....


edit: when i adjust ph, i just put a bit in, stir the mash, check it with meter again until it's at 5.3..be it potassium bicarb, or epsom salt....i think my municipal water changes sources often, sometimes after dough in, i get 5.1-5.0 and have to add bicarb to get it up...other times i have to acidify....and yes i just stick my probe in the mash tun at full temp with my manual temp correct set to 60c, i'm not sure if it's 'accurate' but i know when i dial it to 5.3 i get the best effec.....

 

[bracconiere]

I'd need 72 grams of Epsom Salt instead?

that's why i use a meter and not a calculator.....i tried that before i used a meter and, i'm assuming it was so acidic it wouldn't ferment....i complained about it on the morebeer forum, they just told me to join AA.....