Greetings!
I am mashing in a bag (@wilserbrewer), in a standard three vessel system. I like the efficiencies of a finer milling, hence the bag, and I batch sparge with a solid bag squeeze at the end. As many do, I have used/use flaked grains bought from either the the LHBS ($$) or the grocery store ($). They mash just fine and go through the mill or not, I don't notice a difference either way in efficiency or wort collection.
I have also used various grits, usually bought from the grocery store, cooked in a cereal mash in advance. These I just add to the mash with the rest of the grain when the strike water goes in.
Lately, I have been getting whole raw grains from a neighbor who bakes. So here's the details:
Experiment #1-Raw Rye, ground with the rest of grain, gave a great flavor, but I don't think it gave much up in the way of fermentable sugars.
Experiment #2-Cereal mashed Whole Rye, drained and mixed with the grain and then milled. FYI, don't do this. Ever. I spent a half hour more than normal unclogging the mill because the wet grain just stopped it. I thought I was going to burn out my drill (it smoked a bit). I normally do a double grind anyway, but this time I had to do it because I had to keep running the mill backwards to loosen the grain, ensuring that a lot of the grain passed through unmilled. The second pass, the wet grain flattened out to flaked size, which I thought was cool, but not cool enough to take an extra half hour and kill the drill. I almost hit my efficiency numbers on this batch.
I have a bag of already mashed (and frozen) whole grain rice that I plan to use in an upcoming lager. So here are the questions.
1. Should I just throw the cereal mashed grains straight in the mash tun, and hope the enzymes get into them and break them apart? Or should I find a way to smoosh them a bit first, rolling pin, something, I don't know.
2. In the future, how best to deal with raw, whole grains? Grind them and then cereal mash?
Any help is appreciated, folks!
Peace,
Reevesie
I am mashing in a bag (@wilserbrewer), in a standard three vessel system. I like the efficiencies of a finer milling, hence the bag, and I batch sparge with a solid bag squeeze at the end. As many do, I have used/use flaked grains bought from either the the LHBS ($$) or the grocery store ($). They mash just fine and go through the mill or not, I don't notice a difference either way in efficiency or wort collection.
I have also used various grits, usually bought from the grocery store, cooked in a cereal mash in advance. These I just add to the mash with the rest of the grain when the strike water goes in.
Lately, I have been getting whole raw grains from a neighbor who bakes. So here's the details:
Experiment #1-Raw Rye, ground with the rest of grain, gave a great flavor, but I don't think it gave much up in the way of fermentable sugars.
Experiment #2-Cereal mashed Whole Rye, drained and mixed with the grain and then milled. FYI, don't do this. Ever. I spent a half hour more than normal unclogging the mill because the wet grain just stopped it. I thought I was going to burn out my drill (it smoked a bit). I normally do a double grind anyway, but this time I had to do it because I had to keep running the mill backwards to loosen the grain, ensuring that a lot of the grain passed through unmilled. The second pass, the wet grain flattened out to flaked size, which I thought was cool, but not cool enough to take an extra half hour and kill the drill. I almost hit my efficiency numbers on this batch.
I have a bag of already mashed (and frozen) whole grain rice that I plan to use in an upcoming lager. So here are the questions.
1. Should I just throw the cereal mashed grains straight in the mash tun, and hope the enzymes get into them and break them apart? Or should I find a way to smoosh them a bit first, rolling pin, something, I don't know.
2. In the future, how best to deal with raw, whole grains? Grind them and then cereal mash?
Any help is appreciated, folks!
Peace,
Reevesie
