3dB Brewing
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- Feb 3, 2021
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How do all these LODO techniques translate to partial mash brewing?
My current hot side procedure is (for a 5gal batch):
Mash 3lb grain in 1gal H2O for 1 hour.
The grain mix is all specialty grains in the recipe + enough base grain to make up 3lb; convert remaining base grain to DME
Strike at 163F, it settles to around 152-154, then mash out at 163
(I heat the mash water in a spaghetti pot then drop the grains in a BIAB into the pot and gently stir to prevent clumps, cover & insulate)
Meanwhile, heat 2qts sparge H2O and about 2gal in kettle
At mash out, I lift the bag & let drain; and put it in a colander over the brew kettle
Slowly pour wort over grains to filter (I guess that counts as a 1-time recirculation -- so, just a "circulation"?)
Pour sparge water at 170F over grain bed. Let it drain, squeeze the bag, & remove
Add H2O to kettle to get ~3.5 gal, add ~1/3 of my DME, and start hopping per recipe at boil
Gentle boil 1hr
Add remaining DME, optional cane sugar, and Whirlfloc/PVPP at 10min.
Immersion chill (yeah, it's copper. I know; I've read).
Whirlpool & let settle
Rack to plastic fermentation bucket
Add H2O to make 5gal
Pitch (typically Wyeast with the baby starter per its packaging; a 1-day yeast starter for a high gravity batch, or if I'm using White Labs)
Clariferm if it's a light ale
Aerate with O2.
This is manageable in the kitchen, without spending a fortune on gear, it takes about 4hrs, and it produces great beer.
But we can always make the beer better, right?
The first thing I changed already is a bladder instead of an airlock, to capture CO2 for protection during cold crashing, but that's for the cold side. I'm concentrating on the hot side.
So reading these forums, I learned of Yeast Oxygen Scavenging and the Trifecta. Both seem simple enough, and it sounds like the Na-meta will mitigate the use of a copper chiller. So I would need to treat all of the mash, sparge, and kettle make-up H2O.
Does it make any sense to treat the fermentation make-up H2O? I mean, I pour it in for all of 15sec. before pitching yeast, then I'm pumping in pure O2.
The other thing that stands out is that dripping the wort and sparge H2O through the grains into the brew kettle is a splashy process, so probably picking up O2?
Without a major equipment overhaul (at this stage anyway), is there a better way to get the wort into the kettle? I suppose I could just mash in the kettle and remove the grain bag, but then how do I sparge the grain? I've read that step is necessary to extract all the sugars from the grain bed. That would also omit the step of "filtering" the wort through the grain, so would leave more particulates in the boil. I'm not sure that's a bad thing, if they drop out with the cold break.
Anyway, I'd welcome any suggestions for minimizing oxidation within the general parameters of what I'm doing. It works well for me, and at this point I'm not interested in going all-grain.
My current hot side procedure is (for a 5gal batch):
Mash 3lb grain in 1gal H2O for 1 hour.
The grain mix is all specialty grains in the recipe + enough base grain to make up 3lb; convert remaining base grain to DME
Strike at 163F, it settles to around 152-154, then mash out at 163
(I heat the mash water in a spaghetti pot then drop the grains in a BIAB into the pot and gently stir to prevent clumps, cover & insulate)
Meanwhile, heat 2qts sparge H2O and about 2gal in kettle
At mash out, I lift the bag & let drain; and put it in a colander over the brew kettle
Slowly pour wort over grains to filter (I guess that counts as a 1-time recirculation -- so, just a "circulation"?)
Pour sparge water at 170F over grain bed. Let it drain, squeeze the bag, & remove
Add H2O to kettle to get ~3.5 gal, add ~1/3 of my DME, and start hopping per recipe at boil
Gentle boil 1hr
Add remaining DME, optional cane sugar, and Whirlfloc/PVPP at 10min.
Immersion chill (yeah, it's copper. I know; I've read).
Whirlpool & let settle
Rack to plastic fermentation bucket
Add H2O to make 5gal
Pitch (typically Wyeast with the baby starter per its packaging; a 1-day yeast starter for a high gravity batch, or if I'm using White Labs)
Clariferm if it's a light ale
Aerate with O2.
This is manageable in the kitchen, without spending a fortune on gear, it takes about 4hrs, and it produces great beer.
But we can always make the beer better, right?
The first thing I changed already is a bladder instead of an airlock, to capture CO2 for protection during cold crashing, but that's for the cold side. I'm concentrating on the hot side.
So reading these forums, I learned of Yeast Oxygen Scavenging and the Trifecta. Both seem simple enough, and it sounds like the Na-meta will mitigate the use of a copper chiller. So I would need to treat all of the mash, sparge, and kettle make-up H2O.
Does it make any sense to treat the fermentation make-up H2O? I mean, I pour it in for all of 15sec. before pitching yeast, then I'm pumping in pure O2.
The other thing that stands out is that dripping the wort and sparge H2O through the grains into the brew kettle is a splashy process, so probably picking up O2?
Without a major equipment overhaul (at this stage anyway), is there a better way to get the wort into the kettle? I suppose I could just mash in the kettle and remove the grain bag, but then how do I sparge the grain? I've read that step is necessary to extract all the sugars from the grain bed. That would also omit the step of "filtering" the wort through the grain, so would leave more particulates in the boil. I'm not sure that's a bad thing, if they drop out with the cold break.
Anyway, I'd welcome any suggestions for minimizing oxidation within the general parameters of what I'm doing. It works well for me, and at this point I'm not interested in going all-grain.