Brewing Master » Brewery » all grainin' this weekend
all grainin' this weekend
Question:
You right, the focus was to keep dust to a minimum during the grind. And the reason being to keep most of the husk intact to lower astringency and the obvious unstated stuck mash. Someone also made the point that no matter how careful you are, dust will be created. Thus my tip (something I learned here months ago) was to keep that airborne dust (contaminants) down. After rereading my post I see how it could have caused confusion. — Bill http://home.swbell.net/bufkin Alvin, TX
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I think folks are worried about dust from the astringency angle- not the mess angle. Here’s a tip that may help with dust control. My mill is mounted on an old wooden table. The grain goes thru a hole in the table into a 5 gal bucket. The wife cut a cloth skirt (a little longer than the circumference of the bucket) and I stabled it to the bottom of the table around the opening. It’s about 8 inches long and sits inside the bucket so it traps most the dust. I have pixs but they’re not up on the site. Will email if anyones interested in seeing it. I usually grind the grain then wait for the strike water to get up to temp. By the time it’s ready, the dust has settled in the bucket. Then I add just enough strike water directly in the bucket to get all the grain ‘damp’. Then quickly dump the contents into the mash tun before it cools too much. A little more strike water easily rinses the goo stuck on the sides of the bucket into the mash tun… sounds complicated but it only takes a minute or two and there is virtually no dust…
Response:
This is good advice, but I would like to add that you should obviously remember to take into account the temperature correction on the hydrometer reading. I’d hate to see Joey collect only two gallons of wort then stop when the hydrometer reads 1.012, but the runoff wort is actually at 1.020. I also agree that acidifying (presumably) the sparge water is a good practice, though not completely necessary in order to make a good beer. [Of course you must check the pH of the runoff to determine if this is even necessary in your case] I brewed all grain for seven years before I decided to play around with the pH, & many of my beers were quite good. Kelvin – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Joey: Don’t over sparge this beer. quit collecting wort once it reaches a gravity of 1.012. Don’t go any lower or you will start to pull tannins off the grain bed and end up with a astringent beer. You will have to cool the wort prior to reading the gravity with a hydrometer. I used an ice bath when I did this. It takes a while, but the results are worth it. You might want to treat you sparge water to a pH of 5.6 +/- 0.3 to help avoid pulling off the tannins. Good luck and ferment this cooler than you would other ales. Lager too, if you can wait that long. Eric Hey all, i’m doing my 2nd all grain this weekend, wish me luck! It’s only my 2nd time, and I’m doing a light brew, so I’m kinda worried. I’ll try to make you all proud! I’m doing a kolsch, I have a couple of questions. This will be my first time using my new mill. Any words for the unwise? I have german pils (90%) and american wheat (10%, they were out of germ wheat). (thanks for the tip mike..decided to do the 90/10). They are all mixed together in the same bag..so hopefully I dont’ have to adjust for the different kinds? I’ll keep it set so a couple of whole grains fall out once in awhile. That should be cool eh? They were also out of wlp029 yeast….they recommended wlp011 (european yeast). From reading on it, it looks like I should get more of a maltier flavor. What do ya think as far as using this on a kolsch? It’s to late to switch as my starter is goin, but just wanted some input on it. I was thinking of doing 1.2qts/lb for my mash. I’ve heard 1.3 and 1.1 were good, so I split the diff?? Good to go? I went with perle for bittering (thanks mike) and hallertauer for flavor/aroma. I haven’t brewed a batch all winter….I’m geeked!!
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hey all, i’m doing my 2nd all grain this weekend, wish me luck! It’s only my 2nd time, and I’m doing a light brew, so I’m kinda worried. I’ll try to make you all proud! I’m doing a kolsch, I have a couple of questions. This will be my first time using my new mill. Any words for the unwise? I have german pils (90%) and american wheat (10%, they were out of germ wheat). (thanks for the tip mike..decided to do the 90/10). They are all mixed together in the same bag..so hopefully I dont’ have to adjust for the different kinds? I’ll keep it set so a couple of whole grains fall out once in awhile. That should be cool eh? The mill should be set so it does not make dust, rather it crushes the grains from the hulls.
I think it might be better to say that you should keep the dust to a minimum. If you try to adjust the mill to crack all kernals and produce zero dust, you will drive yourself crazy. To get a good crush will a roller mill, you are going to create a little dust.
Response:
To get a good crush will a roller mill, you are going to create a little dust.
Here’s a tip that may help with dust control. My mill is mounted on an old wooden table. The grain goes thru a hole in the table into a 5 gal bucket. The wife cut a cloth skirt (a little longer than the circumference of the bucket) and I stabled it to the bottom of the table around the opening. It’s about 8 inches long and sits inside the bucket so it traps most the dust. I have pixs but they’re not up on the site. Will email if anyones interested in seeing it. I usually grind the grain then wait for the strike water to get up to temp. By the time it’s ready, the dust has settled in the bucket. Then I add just enough strike water directly in the bucket to get all the grain ‘damp’. Then quickly dump the contents into the mash tun before it cools too much. A little more strike water easily rinses the goo stuck on the sides of the bucket into the mash tun… sounds complicated but it only takes a minute or two and there is virtually no dust… — Bill http://home.swbell.net/bufkin Alvin, TX
Response:
I think folks are worried about dust from the astringency angle- not the mess angle. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Here’s a tip that may help with dust control. My mill is mounted on an old wooden table. The grain goes thru a hole in the table into a 5 gal bucket. The wife cut a cloth skirt (a little longer than the circumference of the bucket) and I stabled it to the bottom of the table around the opening. It’s about 8 inches long and sits inside the bucket so it traps most the dust. I have pixs but they’re not up on the site. Will email if anyones interested in seeing it. I usually grind the grain then wait for the strike water to get up to temp. By the time it’s ready, the dust has settled in the bucket. Then I add just enough strike water directly in the bucket to get all the grain ‘damp’. Then quickly dump the contents into the mash tun before it cools too much. A little more strike water easily rinses the goo stuck on the sides of the bucket into the mash tun… sounds complicated but it only takes a minute or two and there is virtually no dust…
Response:
I think folks are worried about dust from the astringency angle- not the mess angle.
That’s true, but controlling grain dust around the brewery is also very important. Lactobacillus is abundant on grain dust and should be kept away from all fermentation equipment. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Here’s a tip that may help with dust control. My mill is mounted on an old wooden table. The grain goes thru a hole in the table into a 5 gal bucket. The wife cut a cloth skirt (a little longer than the circumference of the bucket) and I stabled it to the bottom of the table around the opening. It’s about 8 inches long and sits inside the bucket so it traps most the dust. I have pixs but they’re not up on the site. Will email if anyones interested in seeing it. I usually grind the grain then wait for the strike water to get up to temp. By the time it’s ready, the dust has settled in the bucket. Then I add just enough strike water directly in the bucket to get all the grain ‘damp’. Then quickly dump the contents into the mash tun before it cools too much. A little more strike water easily rinses the goo stuck on the sides of the bucket into the mash tun… sounds complicated but it only takes a minute or two and there is virtually no dust…
Response:
Oh, I just remembered. The recipe says to ferment at 60* for 2 weeks. Since the change in yeast that I mentioned below, should I raise this to 70 or keep it around 60 still? Thanks again gang.
WL yeast can be a little particular about their temps for some reason. The temp on the 011 is listed as 66-71 on the site I checked. I would run it about 66F through until fermentation is over and then lager the brew some. With the Wyeast 2565 I run it at 58F to 60F. Cheers, Mike
Response:
Joey: Don’t over sparge this beer. quit collecting wort once it reaches a gravity of 1.012. Don’t go any lower or you will start to pull tannins off the grain bed and end up with a astringent beer. You will have to cool the wort prior to reading the gravity with a hydrometer. I used an ice bath when I did this. It takes a while, but the results are worth it. You might want to treat you sparge water to a pH of 5.6 +/- 0.3 to help avoid pulling off the tannins. Good luck and ferment this cooler than you would other ales. Lager too, if you can wait that long. Eric
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hey all, i’m doing my 2nd all grain this weekend, wish me luck! It’s only my 2nd time, and I’m doing a light brew, so I’m kinda worried. I’ll try to make you all proud! I’m doing a kolsch, I have a couple of questions. This will be my first time using my new mill. Any words for the unwise? I have german pils (90%) and american wheat (10%, they were out of germ wheat). (thanks for the tip mike..decided to do the 90/10). They are all mixed together in the same bag..so hopefully I dont’ have to adjust for the different kinds? I’ll keep it set so a couple of whole grains fall out once in awhile. That should be cool eh? They were also out of wlp029 yeast….they recommended wlp011 (european yeast). From reading on it, it looks like I should get more of a maltier flavor. What do ya think as far as using this on a kolsch? It’s to late to switch as my starter is goin, but just wanted some input on it. I was thinking of doing 1.2qts/lb for my mash. I’ve heard 1.3 and 1.1 were good, so I split the diff?? Good to go? I went with perle for bittering (thanks mike) and hallertauer for flavor/aroma. I haven’t brewed a batch all winter….I’m geeked!!
Response:
This is good advice, but I would like to add that you should obviously remember to take into account the temperature correction on the hydrometer reading. I’d hate to see Joey collect only two gallons of wort then stop when the hydrometer reads 1.012, but the runoff wort is actually at 1.020. I also agree that acidifying (presumably) the sparge water is a good practice, though not completely necessary in order to make a good beer. [Of course you must check the pH of the runoff to determine if this is even necessary in your case] I brewed all grain for seven years before I decided to play around with the pH, & many of my beers were quite good.
Another note is if you keep the gravity of the brew at or above 1.050, sparge no more than 7 gallons of wort, and have your efficiency calculated pretty close it is hard to oversparge. Cheers, Mike
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hey all, i’m doing my 2nd all grain this weekend, wish me luck! It’s only my 2nd time, and I’m doing a light brew, so I’m kinda worried. I’ll try to make you all proud! I’m doing a kolsch, I have a couple of questions. This will be my first time using my new mill. Any words for the unwise? I have german pils (90%) and american wheat (10%, they were out of germ wheat). (thanks for the tip mike..decided to do the 90/10). They are all mixed together in the same bag..so hopefully I dont’ have to adjust for the different kinds? I’ll keep it set so a couple of whole grains fall out once in awhile. That should be cool eh?
The mill should be set so it does not make dust, rather it crushes the grains from the hulls. The wheat has no hulls, so only the pils will be rolling out. If it is a 2 roller mill it was probably factory set to a good setting. If it is a single roller just run some and look at it until the crush is right. Whole kernels are not doing anything for you, so every kernel should be crushed. They were also out of wlp029 yeast….they recommended wlp011 (european yeast). From reading on it, it looks like I should get more of a maltier flavor. What do ya think as far as using this on a kolsch? It’s to late to switch as my starter is goin, but just wanted some input on it.
I have not used many of the WL yeasts. For a Kolsch I always use Wyeast 2565. Some folks use Wyeast 1007, but it doesn’t give the right character IMHO. In looking at the WL descriptions, 029 would have been my first choice, with backups being 011 (the one you chose), 003, and 036. I was thinking of doing 1.2qts/lb for my mash. I’ve heard 1.3 and 1.1 were good, so I split the diff?? Good to go?
If you are adding water for step infusion, then start thick and go thin. Depending upon the steps it can get quite runny. If I am not adding water (my norm) I usually shoot for 1.25 qt/lb. On certain beers it is good to keep the mash thick the whole time, Scotch and Scottish for instance. Cheers, Mike
Response:
Hey all, i’m doing my 2nd all grain this weekend, wish me luck! It’s only my 2nd time, and I’m doing a light brew, so I’m kinda worried. I’ll try to make you all proud! I’m doing a kolsch, I have a couple of questions. This will be my first time using my new mill. Any words for the unwise? I have german pils (90%) and american wheat (10%, they were out of germ wheat). (thanks for the tip mike..decided to do the 90/10). They are all mixed together in the same bag..so hopefully I dont’ have to adjust for the different kinds? I’ll keep it set so a couple of whole grains fall out once in awhile. That should be cool eh? They were also out of wlp029 yeast….they recommended wlp011 (european yeast). From reading on it, it looks like I should get more of a maltier flavor. What do ya think as far as using this on a kolsch? It’s to late to switch as my starter is goin, but just wanted some input on it. I was thinking of doing 1.2qts/lb for my mash. I’ve heard 1.3 and 1.1 were good, so I split the diff?? Good to go? I went with perle for bittering (thanks mike) and hallertauer for flavor/aroma. I haven’t brewed a batch all winter….I’m geeked!!
Response:
good luck. I’m sure it will go fine Darryl
Response:
Oh, I just remembered. The recipe says to ferment at 60* for 2 weeks. Since the change in yeast that I mentioned below, should I raise this to 70 or keep it around 60 still? Thanks again gang. jz – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hey all, i’m doing my 2nd all grain this weekend, wish me luck! It’s only my 2nd time, and I’m doing a light brew, so I’m kinda worried. I’ll try to make you all proud! I’m doing a kolsch, I have a couple of questions. This will be my first time using my new mill. Any words for the unwise? I have german pils (90%) and american wheat (10%, they were out of germ wheat). (thanks for the tip mike..decided to do the 90/10). They are all mixed together in the same bag..so hopefully I dont’ have to adjust for the different kinds? I’ll keep it set so a couple of whole grains fall out once in awhile. That should be cool eh? They were also out of wlp029 yeast….they recommended wlp011 (european yeast). From reading on it, it looks like I should get more of a maltier flavor. What do ya think as far as using this on a kolsch? It’s to late to switch as my starter is goin, but just wanted some input on it. I was thinking of doing 1.2qts/lb for my mash. I’ve heard 1.3 and 1.1 were good, so I split the diff?? Good to go? I went with perle for bittering (thanks mike) and hallertauer for flavor/aroma. I haven’t brewed a batch all winter….I’m geeked!!