mini-mash

[Roscoe]

I just did my second mini-mash. Used a converted cooler as mash/lauter tun. I have a small brew pot and no wort chiller so I am stuck with smaller brews, but can learn all grain techniques and still get my 5 gallon batches with the addition of some extract. I brewed a Funky Armadillo APA with Amarillo hops.
I converted a recipe from Jasper's HBS from extract to mini-mash with a 3.5 gallon boil. Here is the recipe:

4.5 lbs. 2 Row Pale (Mouton's)
8 oz. 10L Crystal Malt
8 oz. 20L Crystal Malt
2.2 lbs. Light Malt Extract Syrup
1.1 lbs. Wheat Malt Extract Syrup
1 oz. Magnum Hops (bittering, 60 mins)
1 oz. Amarillo Hops (flavor, 10 mins)
1 oz. Amarillo Hops (flavor & aroma, Dry Hop)
1 Wyeast #1272, #1056 or Nottingham Ale yeast (I made a starter from yeast cake out of primary fermenter)
1 tsp. Irish Moss (20 min)
5 oz priming sugar

OG 1050-1054
FG 1010-1014

Mini-Mash Procedure:
2 gals at 150-152F (168F strike)
Rest 45 min
Sparge 1.5 gal 170F (185F mash out to settle at 170F)

Boil 60 mins as usual for extract brewing, cool, top off to 5 gals. and pitch at 75F. Rack to secondary after fermentation slows (7 days.) Dry hop for 1 week before bottling.

*I ended up having to add some hot water to increase my temp during mash, and I increase my time due to a low temp. I reheated some wort when I started to vorloft (sp.) to get temp high and re vorlofted as I drew my first wort off. I did an extra small spargead the end to gather any last sugars to top off my boil and to start the yeast (boiled additional wort on the side and cooled before adding to yeast cake.)

Seemed to work out great, I hit mid range with my OG at 1052! Brewed and pitched last night and it is fermenting something crazy this morning!

Any tips or questions?

Amarillo hops are great, I brewed this as an extract an it was my favorite beer ever! First homebrew I am redoing b/c I want some more! Great grapefruity hop flavor.

-Roscoe

 

[honeybadger]

All looks okay to me. Looks like you used 3.5 gallons of mash/sparge water. You could use more sparge water which should increase your efficiency. Get beersmith if you haven't already. Input the equipment you have and the mash profile you want and it will work out the best mash/sparge volumes for you.

Get yourself a bigger kettle, build a wort chiller and you'll be ready to go all grain.

 

[mfraier]

With that much grain you could mash with a large grain bag in the pot and save the trouble of the cooler. Check out death brewers thread on mini mash. I think you'll be happy with the beer, the more grain and less extrat I use the better the beer seems to taste.

 

[Roscoe]

@honeybadger
So good it's ok to add more water, I have a 4 gallon pot, but I will step it up shortly! Thanks and I'll check into beersmith...

@mfraier
I have checked out his threads many times, he was definately an inspiration for me to go towards all grain with a mini-mash technique. I have looked at a lot of youtube videos on all grain and built my own cooler converted mash tun. Then I found I can still use my pot and practice all grain methods while I save for more equipment. I can't wait to try the beer I brewed, very exciting! Thanks!

-Roscoe