When to use rice hulls and how much?

[beerman123]

I recently brewed an American wheat ale (my first all grain batch) and wS told to use rice hulls to improve speed of lauter. It was a 10 gallon yield and I had no idea how much to use. I ended up just throwing a handful in and calling it a day. Based on the speed, or lack thereof, of my lauter- I should have used much more. Who knows how much to use and should they be used only on wheat beers? I


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[JonM]

I throw in a handful in every 5 gallon batch, but a little more in wheat beers and beers with sticky stuff like flaked oats and flaked barley.

I learned the hard way to mix them in with the grain. If you throw them in first, they tend to sink and clog up the false bottom.

 

[govner1]

I recently brewed an American wheat ale (my first all grain batch) and wS told to use rice hulls to improve speed of lauter. It was a 10 gallon yield and I had no idea how much to use. I ended up just throwing a handful in and calling it a day. Based on the speed, or lack thereof, of my lauter- I should have used much more. Who knows how much to use and should they be used only on wheat beers? I


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I usually use the same volume of rice hulls (not weight) as I have in wheat, rye, oats, or anything else that can become a gelatinous mess at the bottom of my tun & cause a stuck sparge.


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[chriscraig]

I've taken to using rice hulls in all my beers regardless of style. It helps with the speed of the sparge if nothing else.

I use 250g for 20L and 500g for 40L brews.

I use Beersmith to work out the difference in the strike water, but if you don't use that software, just soak the rice hulls for 10 minutes before tossing them in the mash tun.

 

[beerman123]

Thanks for the advice everyone


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[heckler73]

funny, I was just wondering the same things for my first AG Hefeweizen...

Google told me they are not the rice you cook, but the hulls around that, so I have to buy from the brewstore...

What I'm not sure of - do they go through the mill with the grains, or not?

 

[PastorofMuppets]

I only use hulls in wheat beers with over 30% wheat.

I use a half pound in that instance and I soak them in very warm water which allows them to soak up water that wont cut into your pre boil volume.
In my system I dont really need them for non wheat, rye, or oat filled beers.

 

[chriscraig]

funny, I was just wondering the same things for my first AG Hefeweizen...

Google told me they are not the rice you cook, but the hulls around that, so I have to buy from the brewstore...

What I'm not sure of - do they go through the mill with the grains, or not?

No, they just go in the tun.

 

[RM-MN]

When you use a conventional mash tun you depend on the grain hulls to for a filter bed to keep the grain out of the kettle. Grains like barley have a hull that works fine for this. Wheat and rye have no hulls so when you add any larger amount of these you need to provide something to make that filter bed. Rice hulls are cheap and easy to obtain so they work well for that. They add no flavor or sugars so you don't have to account for them in the recipe, just dump some in.

 

[Zepth]

They add no flavor or sugars so you don't have to account for them in the recipe, just dump some in.

I have not yet needed them, but shouldn't you use the weight of them in your strike temp calculations? Sure they won't effect the efficiency or flavour but don't they soak up some of the heat in the tun?

 

[RM-MN]

I have not yet needed them, but shouldn't you use the weight of them in your strike temp calculations? Sure they won't effect the efficiency or flavour but don't they soak up some of the heat in the tun?

Sure you should. Have you weighed a "handful" of rice hulls? I doubt that their addition would affect the strike temp much.

 

[djt17]

But they soak up a lot of water. I pre soak my rice hulls in warm water.

 

[govner1]

I honestly haven't noticed any appreciable loss of water. They're mostly cellulose & not very absorbent.


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[bigken462]

As I sit here and watch the trickle of wort come through the tube from an American Wheat, I wished I would have researched when to use rice hulls sooner. I will not make this mistake again.

 

[seabass07]

I'll use somewhere between a quarter pound to a full pound of rice hulls in beers with a lot of wheat or rye. I also pre soak them. I did a roggenbier with I think 70% rye and I used a pound of rice hulls. The runoff was slow, but didn't stick.

 

[bigken462]

I've got a 50% pale/wheat mix. I'll be putting some on my next shopping list.

Second batch for today, the back is gettin sore and the prolonged lauter is getting to be a PITA. lol

 

[Beernik]

I put enough to cover my bazooka screen. Then I heat my strike water. Pour it into my MT to prewarm it and presoak my rice hulls. Then I drain the MT. Heat the water back up to strike temp and dough in.

I use more when using a lot of wheat and/or rye.

 

[bigken462]

How exactly do they work? Do they stay mixed in with the other grains, or somehow settle down first to make a base layer for the other grains to settle on?

 

[ajdelange]

1. You don't put them through the mill. To do so would defeat their purpose
2. You don't worry about how much heat they absorb as you add them to the lauter tun, not the mash
3. They work by separating mash particles much the same way vermiculite separates soil particles. If what you scoop out of the lauter tun is fluffy you have used enough.

 

[northcal]

Don't overthink it! Just throw a half pound or more into your mash.

You don't need to adjust water temps or water volume.

Good luck,

 

[RM-MN]

I've got a 50% pale/wheat mix. I'll be putting some on my next shopping list.

Second batch for today, the back is gettin sore and the prolonged lauter is getting to be a PITA. lol

Instead of that prolonged lauter, when using significant quantities of wheat or rye you should just do those batches BIAB. No problems with the sticky beta glucans then, if the wort doesn't want to come out on its own, you squeeze the bag and force it out. Your wort will be cloudy but the beer will still turn out clear.

 

[bigken462]

Sadly, I even had those tools at my disposal. Complete BIAB system just arms length away. Just one of those times where you don't have the experience until shortly after you needed it. Lol

At what % of wheat would you guys suggest to start considering rice hulls or BIAB over a typical lauter session?

 

[govner1]

Don't overthink it! Just throw a half pound or more into your mash.



You don't need to adjust water temps or water volume.



Good luck,

I agree. I don't crush the rice hulls w/ my grains but I do add them to the crushed grains before I mash in. Temp loss is not a concern & total water absorption is less than 5%. They definitely help avoid stuck sparges when you use wheat, rye, oats, or flaked corn.


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[processhead]

I am a subscriber to the "mix the rice hulls in with the rest of the grain" camp.

If you just randomly throw them in the bottom of your mash tun, the glutenous stuff above the hulls can plug things up just as bad as with out the hulls.

When you mix the hulls with the wheat/oats/rye grist, you are more closely replicating an all-barley malt grist.

 

[DylanTO]

1. You don't put them through the mill. To do so would defeat their purpose
2. You don't worry about how much heat they absorb as you add them to the lauter tun, not the mash
3. They work by separating mash particles much the same way vermiculite separates soil particles. If what you scoop out of the lauter tun is fluffy you have used enough.

Hi AJ! So do you mean to say that you should just mix them in before beginning the vorlauf? Seems obvious but I haven't heard this before. Good call!

 

[Fishin-Jay]

There is no need to develop a special technique for using rice hulls. Half a pound in with the mash for a 5 gallon batch works perfectly fine. No pre-soaking or heating required. I simply include the rice hulls in my recipe in Beersmith and follow the instructions the program spits out for strike temps and volume. As far as I'm concerned it's just another mash ingredient. There is nothing magical about them and no need to treat them different that the rest of your mash ingredients.

 

[ajdelange]

At what % of wheat would you guys suggest to start considering rice hulls or BIAB over a typical lauter session?

It depends more on your equipment than on the % wheat and for me the answer to your question is 0%. I lauter in a 55 gal SS drum and if I use say 60 pounds or more of grain (and I typically use 80 -110) I will get a stuck mash becase the grain bed is too deep. The guy I bought the system from says to split the mash into two portions and lauter/sparge half at a time. That just makes an already long brew day longer and isn't necessary if I use rice hulls. With a gelatinous mash (wheat) I use more but I always use some.

 

[ajdelange]

Hi AJ! So do you mean to say that you should just mix them in before beginning the vorlauf? Seems obvious but I haven't heard this before. Good call!

Yes. I add foundation water, dump the rice hulls on top of that and then pump the mash in on top of the rice hulls mixing as it enters the vessel. You probably do want more at the bottom than at the top as the hydrostatic pressure will be higher there but you do want them dispersed throughout the mash.