using a grain bag for partial mash -vid

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Poindexter

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Just my vids aren't as good as Yuri's. So go watch those again eh ;-)

recipe du jour is Countdown Ale, basically cleaning leftovers out of the freezer.

8 HBU (60)
7 blank
6 HBU (0)
5 # pale LME (
4 th pound malted wheat
3 gallon boil
2 # of base malt
1 thing of yeast, and a half pound of specialty.

There, now maybe that will be stuck in your brain instead of mine.

[YOUTUBE]4UsUL92c7Ks[/YOUTUBE]



Mashing:

[YOUTUBE]ZFK2JkOEgSU[/YOUTUBE]



Lauter and Sparge: I almost have my camera figured out. I go by smell on when to cut the 1 gallon rinse. I get my first runnnigs, get the bag back in there, pour on the one gallon sparge water, and then when the smell changes, pull the grains. Little bit of audio cut off there.

[YOUTUBE]kCXKb8Sw8MQ[/YOUTUBE]
 
Start of boil organization:

[YOUTUBE]LOw165Tz33I[/YOUTUBE]


End of boil chaos:

[YOUTUBE]lZazT1u3fuM[/YOUTUBE]


Whirlpool and pitch:

[YOUTUBE]z1FXmbCuO6Q[/YOUTUBE]
 
Why, oh, why, did they caulk those nice black granite countertops with white caulk?:confused:
 
From my PM box:

Your vids were helpful because I don't have all the equipment that all grain brewers use and I was going to do something like you did in your bottling bucket. My question is you said you get 70-75% efficiency with your setup but you were using 2.75# grains. I did my calculation at 70% efficiency and I would need to mash about 4.75# grains but I also think you said that you lose efficiency points with a higher grain bill so I was just wondering how much lower or is almost 5lbs of grain to much. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


I only have a little help to offer, but I'll try. The good thing about a grain bag is I am using a basic extract brewer's setup, I already owned a 20 qt kettle, and I spent $6.99 for the grain bag.

For the 888RIS that I made with the same technique as the video above I split about 4.5 # of grain into two parts. Two mash events, it was a really, really long brew day.

The difference between grain bag and AG brewing, as I read and have experienced it is this:

AG gets the last few points of efficiency by sparging some more water over the grains and boiling it off in the kettle.

Grainbag users get the last few points of efficiency by diluting the mash from the beginning.

My system limitation for the grain bag is I have a 20qt kettle, my next biggest pot is a 6 quart Dutch Oven. If I had another really big pot I could have more sparge water at temp and ready to go... so I could handle more grain in my 20qt (in a less dilute mash) and sparge with more than 6 quarts of water to drive my efficiency up that way.

If I owned my own home and didn't travel all the time, here is the order I would accumulate stuff:

Basic extract brewer's kit from LHBS, ~$50-100, depending.

20 qt stainless kettle $50-100, very handy in the kitchen.

grain bag, $6.99

False bottom for bottling bucket- I just figured this out, project total $50, video as soon as I can bottle a batch and free up a fermenter.

turkey fryer with big Al kettle. $50 or so at most WalMart's

A 40 qt SS kettle (or keggle) to ditch the Al that came with the turkey fryer.


At this point you can hold hot sparge water in your 20, mash in your 40 (or v/v)and lauter/ sparge in your false bottomed bottling bucket, so next if you don't have one already is a wort chiller....
 
I saw that bag with your grain in it and the little UPC tags on it as well as the little plastic bucket and I thought it sure looked familiar. I wonder if he got that at Home Brew HQ. And then I noticed at your location.
 
dj_van_gilder said:
I saw that bag with your grain in it and the little UPC tags on it as well as the little plastic bucket and I thought it sure looked familiar. I wonder if he got that at Home Brew HQ. And then I noticed at your location.

Yup. On Coit in Richardson. I live about six miles from there in Plano right now. I would characterize HB HQ as a tier one LHBS. If all three were equidistant from my house my first choice would be Culver City Homebrew in Los Angeles, second HB HQ in Richardson TX, and third the home shop of the Maltose Flacons, in Woodland Hills, CA, forgot the name of that joint.
 
The one in Woodland Hills is called the The Home Wine, Beer, and Cheesemaking Shop. Thats my local place they are only a mile or two from my place and there very helpful and they have a great brew club.
 
I also have a 20qt pot and my next biggest one is an 8qt but my water filtration system also has a heater and I can get about a gallon out of that @ about 160F. I was going to mash at a ratio of 1.5 h20 for every Lbs of grain then sparge with about 8-10qt. Really I would just like to know what kind of efficiency should I expect I' m guessing hopefully around 70% but it's probably lower so I can figure how much grain I will need to the addition of 3# of DME. At 70% my total will weight of grain that I will need is 4.75#. So, using the grain bag method can I reasonably expect to have an efficiency of 70 or is that wishful thinking with the estimated 4.75# of grain.
 
theclarkster85 said:
So, using the grain bag method can I reasonably expect to have an efficiency of 70 or is that wishful thinking.

My first time through with my system I got 57%. The second time I got around 80% and then for the third and subsequent batches I have been hitting 70-75%. YMMV.
 
I might be wrong but what your doing in the video is a partial mash. To do all grain you would just need increase your grain bill enough to eliminate the LME and top off water.

Partial Mash is a great way to practice your skills before doing AG.
 
missing link said:
I might be wrong but what your doing in the video is a partial mash. To do all grain you would just need increase your grain bill enough to eliminate the LME and top off water.

Partial Mash is a great way to practice your skills before doing AG.

That is where I am at. I brewed extract only for about 10 years. Started about a year ago with partial, using the late extract method described by Chris Colby in BYO. It is a great way to move to AG. I hope to do my first AG this summer.
 
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