Need a little help here...

[WenValley]

OK, my first attempt at All Grain was less than spectacular, not a dumper, but a disappointment. I’ve been all over the web and I’ve read a ton of posts. I have a flaw in my process and need to sort out where I’m going astray.

I’m using BeerSmith, and I have a 48 quart cooler for a LauterTun. I’m OK with the first part, the strike temp, and the mashing. The next part is where I get fuzzy.

Here’s what the BeerSmith blog says:

“Leave your mash mixture in the cooler for at least 45 minutes to assure that the sugar conversion is complete”.

OK, no problem so far, but then it says:

“After 45 minutes, sparge the mash with hot water to extract the sweet wort that will be your beer. Sparging is nothing more than rinsing the mash with hot water to extract the sugars and create wort that you will later ferment to make beer”.

So, it doesn’t say to drain out the first batch of wort from the MLT. Other websites say to vorlouff (sp) the first quart or two, and then collect for the brew pot. Do you just add more water to the mash tun? Or do you drain the mash tun, close the valve, and then add the sparge water to a mash tun that has just (wet) grain?


“Heat several gallons of water to 178F and slowly add it to to the top of your mash tun while drawing wort from the bottom of the grain tun using your false bottom and collect it in your boiler. The wort coming from the mash tun will start out cloudy with bits of grain and husks, but will soon run clear. Take the first few quarts of wort from the tun (the first runnings) and add them back to the top of your mash tun”.

This seems to be more like fly sparging, and now they recommend the vorlouff (sp) step. Is this step the Mash Out? I’ve been adding the sparge water, then give it a stir, wait five or ten minutes, then drain at maximum flow into the brew pot.

“As you continue to sparge, it is important to keep the flow rate slow to maximize the sugars extracted. Lautering a 5 gallon mash tun should take at least 40-50 minutes to collect 6 gallons of wort”.

Is this right? 40-50 minutes to lauter a mash tun? I’ve been taking maybe ten minutes or less. So BeerSmith is recommending a slow trickle out of the mash tun. Crack the valve and walk away. I haven’t read this instruction on other All Grain tutorials.

I need to adopt a process that’s proven to work. Thanks for your help and input.

 

[beerkrump]

It looks like you need to look at the stickies in this sub forum.

Here's a quick run down of my process with the caveat that it works for my system and YMMV.

1) Mash at 1.25 qt/lb
2) Add strike water to mash tun at 10° F over strike temp to heat tun and let sit until strike temp is reached.
3) Add grain and stir until all grain is wet.
4) Close lid and wait ten minutes and take temp, adjust if needed and wait 50 min.
5) Perform iodine check and drain tun if conversion is complete.
6) Calculate sparge volume. Target volume - first runnings = sparge volume
7) Pour half the calculated volume of 180° F water in to tun, stir, and drain.
8) Repeat 7.

That's it. I don't vorlauf as my manifold has really fine slots. Anything that comes through drops out eventually in the boil or fermentation and my beer is pretty clear. I get between 70 and 80% efficiency, depending upon my target OG. I'll adjust my recipe accordingly for big beers.

I hope this helps and check out the stickies, there are some good videos in there.

 

[WenValley]

Thanks BeerKrump: I've read all of the stickies, and I've watched the videos. Actually, I think I've read too many stickies and I'm trying to incorporate too many suggestions.


Can I ask about your steps? I'm with ya up to your step 4:


"adjust if needed and wait 50 min".
What do you do after the wait? Do you drain your MT into the brew pot? Do you just add the sparge water to the the mt without removing the wort then drain? How much time do you spend on this step.

6) Calculate sparge volume. Target volume - first runnings = sparge volume
7) Pour half the calculated volume of 180° F water in to tun, stir, and drain.

Do you agree with BeerSmith about taking 50 minutes to drain out the MT?

8) Repeat 7.

Thanks for your time, I'm not trying to avoid finding my own answers, I'm just trying to improve my process.

 

[beerkrump]

After 4 comes 5. I don't add anything to the tun, I just drain it. The speed at which I drain depends upon the contents of my tun. If I have any flaked wheat, rice, corn, or rye in the mix, I usually go more slowly than if it is just barley. If it is just barley, then I'll drain it wide open.

Concerning steps 7 and 8, it's add water, stir, and drain, no waiting. You don't need to let it sit and wait for the grain bed to settle. I'll drain it at a similar rate to what was done to get my initial runnings. If I run my tun wide open, I can get it to finish draining in less than ten minutes. My mash tun is also a 48 qt cooler. I've fitted it with a CPVC manifold.