mashing flaked oats/wheat separately?

[hilljack13]

I had originally planned a hefe using 1lb each flaked oats/wheat, but someone mentioned stuck mash. After some searching I realized I was going to have a hard time with this. So I adjusted the recipe to have more base malts and only .25lb each of the flaked stuff. Then I was pondering, what if I mashed the flaked stuff separately and then added the two worts? Probably more work that what it is worth but wanted to hear some thoughts.

 

[RM-MN]

Flaked oats and wheat are missing the enzymes to change starch to sugar. Put them all in the mash.

 

[hilljack13]

I figured my good idea fairy wasn't really so.

 

[sibelman]

RM-MN is right about the enzymes. A handful of rice hulls stirred in with everything can mitigate the risk of stuck mash.

 

[doug293cz]

I had originally planned a hefe using 1lb each flaked oats/wheat, but someone mentioned stuck mash. After some searching I realized I was going to have a hard time with this. So I adjusted the recipe to have more base malts and only .25lb each of the flaked stuff. Then I was pondering, what if I mashed the flaked stuff separately and then added the two worts? Probably more work that what it is worth but wanted to hear some thoughts.

I you think flakes oats and wheat will cause lautering problems as fraction of a larger grain bill with barley malt (with husks), why would you think things would be better if mashed alone (irrespective of the lack of enzymes)? You would end up trying to remove the liquid from porridge.

You can use rice hulls in a mash with the full grain bill, as suggested above, or you can add Glucabuster enzymes (or another beta-glucanase enzyme) to the mash to degrade the stuff that makes the mash a sticky mess.

Brew on

 

[hilljack13]

You would end up trying to remove the liquid from porridge.

Yeah, I don't always think things that far ahead. I've been sitting on this recipe all summer and just too lazy to order rice hulls, much less do the brew right now. Deer season starts next month so honestly, this will probably wait till next spring. Maybe my then I'll have an order in.

 

[RM-MN]

Yeah, I don't always think things that far ahead. I've been sitting on this recipe all summer and just too lazy to order rice hulls, much less do the brew right now. Deer season starts next month so honestly, this will probably wait till next spring. Maybe my then I'll have an order in.

Pop down to your local paint store or big box lumber yard and pick up a paint strainer bag, 5 gallons is a good size. Bring your mash water to strike temp, put the bag into the mash container, and mix in the grains. The bag will act as the filter and is nearly impossible to plug without recirculating grain. At the end of the mash period, lift the bag and let it drain. I've done this with rye beers with 50% unmalted rye. With that it required squeezing the bag to get all the liquid out.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

After making this crazy recipe (turned out pretty good, actually), I can verify that the paint straining bag will work fine.

 

[hilljack13]

Pop down to your local paint store or big box lumber yard and pick up a paint strainer bag, 5 gallons is a good size. Bring your mash water to strike temp, put the bag into the mash container, and mix in the grains. The bag will act as the filter and is nearly impossible to plug without recirculating grain. At the end of the mash period, lift the bag and let it drain. I've done this with rye beers with 50% unmalted rye. With that it required squeezing the bag to get all the liquid out.

I have a large brew bag, forgot the micron size. Would that be as good?

 

[RM-MN]

I have a large brew bag, forgot the micron size. Would that be as good?

Yes, use it.

 

[Deadalus]

I recently brewed an oatmeal stout that uses oat malt but also Quaker oats, over one pound. I gelatinize the flaked oats. I use rice hulls but what I think works best is to add the flaked oats towards the middle/top of the mash tun. You can mix them into the mash afterwards being careful not to drive them down in the profile to where they get stuck in the false bottom. In this recipe, I even mill the oat malt with a tighter gap than the barley malt.

In other recipes I use raw barley, also precooked, and add similarly. Nothing else recent with flaked adjuncts.

I fly sparge, so transfer to BK is slow and avoids sucking the mash into the false bottom. However hile mashing, I haven't run into issues needing me to throttle recirculation-no stuck mashes.

Equipment is a 3 vessel 2 pump EHERMS.

 

[HM-2]

With hazy IPAs where I use a lot of flaked and malted oats and wheat I also tend to add them to the top of the mash which, in combination with rice hulls at maybe 5 or 6 handfuls a batch tends to give me pretty free flow.