Hey all, I've been brewing for about four years now and have fallen into a routine. Sometimes routines are good, but other times you end up practicing the wrong thing over and over! I was hoping a few folks could comment on my process to identify any major flaws and to check my thinking on my processes:
I have a 15 gallon, 3 vessel system with a HERMS coil in my HLT. I use a 5500w heating element in my HLT and a 5500w element in my boil kettle. It's controlled by an Auber Cube 2E, and I run two food grade pumps.
Water:
- I fill up my HLT with plain old tap water and do not use this for any other purpose than to provide temperature for the HERMS coil
- 4 stage RO filtration system. I add the full amount needed for brew day to my MLT and build the appropriate water profile.
Mash:
- Begin recirculation within the HLT for temperature consistency (water drains from lower ball valve, passes over an in-line temperature probe hooked up to the controller, goes through the pump and returns to the top of the HLT to create temperature stability
- MLT goes from tun to pump, to HERMS coil inlet at the bottom of the HLT to HERMS coil outlet at the top of the HLT, back to the MLT via a silicone tube that lays on top of the grain bed. This is nearly identical to Kal's method.
- I set the temperature controller to 2F above my target grain bed temperature to account for temp loss and begin recirculating.
- Once temperature is reached, I take freshly crushed grain and add it to the MLT. I recirculate for anywhere from 1 to 4 hours, depending on how busy I am. My mash temp is always a little lower than my target since I'm doing a single infusion, no sparge, constantly recirculated mash.
- After the mash, I drain the full contents of the mash tun into the boil kettle and reach my preboil volume.
Boil:
- I boil at about 55-70% power depending on batch size and ambient conditions, and reach a rolling boil quickly.
- All hops are added to a hop rocket.
Chill:
- During the last 15 minutes of the boil, I hook up my plate chiller to the pump an begin pumping the boiling wort through it to sterilize it and back into the boil kettle. I do not have the water supply running through the plate chiller at this point
- At knockout, I shut off the heating element and turn on the cold water supply. This creates a whirlpool that simultaneously chills in the boil kettle. I have a temperature probe on my plate chiller outlet line to let me know when I've reached pitching temp.
Transfer to Fermenter:
- I disconnect the return to the boil kettle once pitching temperature is reached and begin pumping the chilled wort into a sanitized Fermzilla, creating a lot of splish-splash in the process (I do not yet use oxygen). The fermenter then goes in to an Inkbird-controlled chest freezer, where I follow style-specific fermentation schedules. I almost always use a spunding valve with the pressure set to as low as I can get it. I then do a closed transfer to a keg when it's finished and put it on tap.
NOTES AND CONSIDERATIONS:
*My process is based on time saving measures. I have 2 young kids and can't dedicate 4-5 hours' worth of attention to my system at a time. I usually mash during naptime and begin my xfer to the boil kettle once the kids go to bed. My cumulative hands-on time in the garage is probably about an hour, with the remainder of the brew day spent inside with the fam'.
*I almost never boil for longer than 60 minutes, even with all Pilsner Malt batches based on the exBEERiments showing that modern, modified pilsner malts don't produce DMS like they used to.
*My chilling method allows me to step away and not babysit the flow through the plate chiller. I usually fire it up and go inside for 15-20 minutes.
*I can fly or batch sparge, and I know it's more cost-effective to, but single infusion/no sparge requires no babysitting, and I'm content with my consistent 80% efficiency with this method.
------
What do you all think? Can you see anything in my process or thinking that is flawed and might result in poorer beer quality? I tried to make timesaving adjustments that wouldn't affect the end product or couldn't be compensated with by more grain, etc. Thoughts?
Thanks for reading!
Hey all, I've been brewing for about four years now and have fallen into a routine. Sometimes routines are good, but other times you end up practicing the wrong thing over and over! I was hoping a few folks could comment on my process to identify any major flaws and to check my thinking on my processes:
I have a 15 gallon, 3 vessel system with a HERMS coil in my HLT. I use a 5500w heating element in my HLT and a 5500w element in my boil kettle. It's controlled by an Auber Cube 2E, and I run two food grade pumps.
Water:
- I fill up my HLT with plain old tap water and do not use this for any other purpose than to provide temperature for the HERMS coil
- 4 stage RO filtration system. I add the full amount needed for brew day to my MLT and build the appropriate water profile.
Mash:
- Begin recirculation within the HLT for temperature consistency (water drains from lower ball valve, passes over an in-line temperature probe hooked up to the controller, goes through the pump and returns to the top of the HLT to create temperature stability
- MLT goes from tun to pump, to HERMS coil inlet at the bottom of the HLT to HERMS coil outlet at the top of the HLT, back to the MLT via a silicone tube that lays on top of the grain bed. This is nearly identical to Kal's method.
- I set the temperature controller to 2F above my target grain bed temperature to account for temp loss and begin recirculating.
- Once temperature is reached, I take freshly crushed grain and add it to the MLT. I recirculate for anywhere from 1 to 4 hours, depending on how busy I am. My mash temp is always a little lower than my target since I'm doing a single infusion, no sparge, constantly recirculated mash.
- After the mash, I drain the full contents of the mash tun into the boil kettle and reach my preboil volume.
Boil:
- I boil at about 55-70% power depending on batch size and ambient conditions, and reach a rolling boil quickly.
- All hops are added to a hop rocket.
Chill:
- During the last 15 minutes of the boil, I hook up my plate chiller to the pump an begin pumping the boiling wort through it to sterilize it and back into the boil kettle. I do not have the water supply running through the plate chiller at this point
- At knockout, I shut off the heating element and turn on the cold water supply. This creates a whirlpool that simultaneously chills in the boil kettle. I have a temperature probe on my plate chiller outlet line to let me know when I've reached pitching temp.
Transfer to Fermenter:
- I disconnect the return to the boil kettle once pitching temperature is reached and begin pumping the chilled wort into a sanitized Fermzilla, creating a lot of splish-splash in the process (I do not yet use oxygen). The fermenter then goes in to an Inkbird-controlled chest freezer, where I follow style-specific fermentation schedules. I almost always use a spunding valve with the pressure set to as low as I can get it. I then do a closed transfer to a keg when it's finished and put it on tap.
NOTES AND CONSIDERATIONS:
*My process is based on time saving measures. I have 2 young kids and can't dedicate 4-5 hours' worth of attention to my system at a time. I usually mash during naptime and begin my xfer to the boil kettle once the kids go to bed. My cumulative hands-on time in the garage is probably about an hour, with the remainder of the brew day spent inside with the fam'.
*I almost never boil for longer than 60 minutes, even with all Pilsner Malt batches based on the exBEERiments showing that modern, modified pilsner malts don't produce DMS like they used to.
*My chilling method allows me to step away and not babysit the flow through the plate chiller. I usually fire it up and go inside for 15-20 minutes.
*I can fly or batch sparge, and I know it's more cost-effective to, but single infusion/no sparge requires no babysitting, and I'm content with my consistent 80% efficiency with this method.
------
What do you all think? Can you see anything in my process or thinking that is flawed and might result in poorer beer quality? I tried to make timesaving adjustments that wouldn't affect the end product or couldn't be compensated with by more grain, etc. Thoughts?
Thanks for reading!
*Sometimes routines are good, but other times you end up practicing the wrong thing over and over!
Does that mean that in the four years you have been brewing beer you haven't been sure of things? That is not bad! I was into it for a few more years before I realized that maybe I was chasing rabbits down holes.
*Can you see anything in my process or thinking that is flawed and might result in poorer beer quality?
The single infusion method produces extract that is sugar and chemical imbalanced and unstable. Also, the richest starch in malt, amylopectin, is thrown out with the spent mash.
*I set the temperature controller to 2F above my target grain bed temperature to account for temp loss and begin recirculating.
Depending on how high the mash temperature is, the low temperature activated enzymes that produce ale and lager, rapidly, denature. Beta is one of the enzymes. Beta is responsible for conversion, which occurs at 60 to 63. During conversion Beta converts simple sugar, glucose, which Alpha releases from amylose during liquefaction, into fermentable, complex types of sugar, maltose and maltotriose. Maltose and maltotriose are the types of sugar that produce ale and lager. Glucose only makes the alcohol in beer. When conversion occurs, secondary fermentation takes place. Conversion, dextrinization and gelatinization steps are skipped in single infusion.
*All hops are added to a hop rocket.
Hops should be added into the boiler after hot break is skimmed off and stops forming. Leaf hops should be used in the hop back to filter out any pellet hop silt from entering the chiller plates. Attach the pump to the outlet of the process side of the chill plate, the pump runs cooler. Boiler, to the Hop Back, to the plate chiller, to the pump, to the fermenter.
*I recirculate for anywhere from 1 to 4 hours, depending on how busy I am.
Mother Nature doesn't care how busy we are.
When hot extract recirculates through a grain bed for a long period of time over sparge occurs, which extracts tannin. For instance, let's say that 1L per minute of hot extract flows for one hour through a grain bed sized for a 20L batch of beer. That adds up to 60L of hot extract flowing through the grain bed. That is over sparge. Multiply that by four. Tannin extraction is based on time, temperature and pH, that is why vorlauf is kept within 10 minutes using a small volume of hot extract.
*I follow style-specific fermentation schedules.
What is a style-specific fermentation schedule? The single infusion method only makes one style of beer. Beer that is made from simple sugar and sweet sugar. The only things that can be controlled in the brewing method are the amount of glucose and the amount of sweet sugar that forms during liquefaction. The less glucose, fermentation occurs quickly. Whatever style-specific fermentation temperature is it is based on very simple beer produced with a very simple brewing method. Secondary fermentation doesn't occur because conversion is skipped.
*exBEERiments showing that modern, modified pilsner malts don't produce DMS:
There are two types of malt, modern, high modified, high protein, malt and under modified, low protein, malt, one makes ale and lager, and one doesn't. Under modified, low protein, malt is used for producing ale and lager. The malt is used with the step mash method, which produces pseudo, ale and lager and with the decoction method, which produces authentic, ale and lager. Modern, high modified, malt matches the single temperature infusion method where only one step and one temperature are needed. The starch only needs to contain enough enzymes to liquefy starch. The higher the modification, less amount of enzymes. The higher the protein content, less amount of starch/sugar. To use more expensive, under modified, malt with single infusion is a waste of money because less expensive, high modified, malt will produce the same beer, glucose is glucose.
Since grain distillers and ale brewers are both brewers, both types of malt are considered Brewers Malt. The only way to know which type of malt is in a bag is with a malt spec sheet. A malt spec sheet comes with every bag of malt, they are online.
