user 79142
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Recap of my first Partial-Mash
After my first attempt with partial mashing, I though I'd post a recap of the process and perhaps see where I might have improved my process. I brewed this Honey Basil Ale recipe:
71.4 % 5.00 Light Dry Malt Extract 33.8 2.0
14.3 % 1.00 Canadian Honey Malt 4.5 25.0
7.1 % 0.50 Wheat Malt 2.9 1.7
3.6 % 0.25 Dextrin 1.2 1.5
3.6 % 0.25 Flaked Barley 1.2 2.2
2 oz. East Kent Goldings
2 oz. Fresh Basil
Observations:
1. Bigger grain bag needed: I had a smaller-ish nylon bag that accommodated my grain bill, but it was pretty tight and not ideal. Also, a small portion of the bag was sticking out from the water, so I kept turning my bag over during the mashing process to ensure that all of the grains were being soaked. I hope this was ok.
2. Temp control: I had a bit of a problem maintaining the mash temperature on the stove. I had it dialed in to the 160 range, (to account for the drop in temp from the room temp grain bag) but I couldn't maintain the 150ish range with any consistency. I didn't want it to get too hot, but I hope that the lower-than-called-for temps won't hugely affect the extraction process. I'm guessing that it had a pretty good mash in the high 140s range, so I think from what I've read that all should be OK. Lesson learned: Get a better, instant thermometer and perhaps wrap the kettle in a heavy blanket while mashing. Thoughts?
3. Not enough Basil: I only bought about 1.5 oz of basil (oops) but this shouldn't be too much of an issue in the end.
4. No Irish Moss: I forgot to purchase this at the LHBS, but my understanding is that this more for clarity and shouldn't affect the overall taste in the end.
One other thing: I did take a gravity reading (forgot to write it down and compare to recipe), but I think based on my memory that it was a little lower than the target 1.055 (in the 1.040s). I'm pretty sure I had mixed the wort well (it was post-aeration with a wisk), but since I didn't write it down, it's not worth worrying about.
All in all, a pretty painless, though not perfect, inaugural PM. Only time will tell, I guess. A special thanks to DeathBrewer for his excellent sticky and Marc0 for answering some of my questions offline.
After my first attempt with partial mashing, I though I'd post a recap of the process and perhaps see where I might have improved my process. I brewed this Honey Basil Ale recipe:
71.4 % 5.00 Light Dry Malt Extract 33.8 2.0
14.3 % 1.00 Canadian Honey Malt 4.5 25.0
7.1 % 0.50 Wheat Malt 2.9 1.7
3.6 % 0.25 Dextrin 1.2 1.5
3.6 % 0.25 Flaked Barley 1.2 2.2
2 oz. East Kent Goldings
2 oz. Fresh Basil
Observations:
1. Bigger grain bag needed: I had a smaller-ish nylon bag that accommodated my grain bill, but it was pretty tight and not ideal. Also, a small portion of the bag was sticking out from the water, so I kept turning my bag over during the mashing process to ensure that all of the grains were being soaked. I hope this was ok.
2. Temp control: I had a bit of a problem maintaining the mash temperature on the stove. I had it dialed in to the 160 range, (to account for the drop in temp from the room temp grain bag) but I couldn't maintain the 150ish range with any consistency. I didn't want it to get too hot, but I hope that the lower-than-called-for temps won't hugely affect the extraction process. I'm guessing that it had a pretty good mash in the high 140s range, so I think from what I've read that all should be OK. Lesson learned: Get a better, instant thermometer and perhaps wrap the kettle in a heavy blanket while mashing. Thoughts?
3. Not enough Basil: I only bought about 1.5 oz of basil (oops) but this shouldn't be too much of an issue in the end.
4. No Irish Moss: I forgot to purchase this at the LHBS, but my understanding is that this more for clarity and shouldn't affect the overall taste in the end.
One other thing: I did take a gravity reading (forgot to write it down and compare to recipe), but I think based on my memory that it was a little lower than the target 1.055 (in the 1.040s). I'm pretty sure I had mixed the wort well (it was post-aeration with a wisk), but since I didn't write it down, it's not worth worrying about.
All in all, a pretty painless, though not perfect, inaugural PM. Only time will tell, I guess. A special thanks to DeathBrewer for his excellent sticky and Marc0 for answering some of my questions offline.
