Recirculating mash and rice hulls

[Rcbandl]

Just started using my new pump and rims sytem for the last few brews and have been experimenting with some techniques.

First one is underletting when mashing in. This has been very successful and is a much easier way to mash in compared to pouring in the grains or water from the top. Minimal dough balls if any and the mash seems to stay very fluffy.

The next technique is when using rice hulls I have been putting them in the mash tun first before the grain, creating a bed over the false bottom. I am recirculating the mash and figured some of the rice hulls will mix with the grain but alot of it is staying right on the false bottom especially around the edges of the domed false bottom helping keep a nice flow going during the whole mash time. Not sure how much of a benefit it is having but it sounded logical.

 

[thekraken]

So you don't do any stirring at all? Have you noticed any difference in your mash efficiency? What are your efficiencies?

 

[Rcbandl]

Yes after underletting I do stir but just enough to check for doughballs which in 4 batches there only have been a couple and they were golf ball sized. You can feel the bed of rice hulls and it feels sort of compact even though it allows pretty much a free flow. I noticed alot of the rice hulls still on the false bottom when cleaning out the mash tun. And my mash efficiency's have been 92%, 89%, 89% and 82% but that one was a hefeweizen and i had some issues with too fine a grind. Wheat is a ***** with a rims system I have found out.