Experimental Mashing Technique - Needs Further Testing!

[ShredMaster]

So I can can count the number of AG brews I've done without taking my shoes off but I'm thinking I may have accidentally discovered a magnificent mashing technique which may help or harm almost ANY brewer...

Firstly, my setup is not all that amazing and is a hand-me-down version of a bucket-in-a-bucket full volume mash setup, kinda BIABucket and meh, it works... So last night I set up my mash bucket at around 66-ish, wrapped it in this wierd reflective insulated foam thing (some delicate packing material at some point with a finish like a windscreen protector) and a good ol alfoil lid with my trust cappuccino thermometer nearby to take "accurate" readings when needed. It makes beer, usually. For space reasons, my "brewery" happens to be on an old rack-unit cabinet on wheels about 1m off the floor so I can wheel it around the place but traditionally it lives right in the centre of the garage dividing my guitar/amp setups and the horse-feed/motorbike parking. The "ManCave" (with exception for the horse stuff, washing machine, dryer, ironing board and kitty litter).

So last night, in my mashing euphoria, I happened to grab another beer or so, sit down next to my mashbuckets and realised I was in front of my guitar setup. So I did what anybody else woud do: plugged in my guitar and start playing.... And it just came to me.... I jammed, and went on and on and around and around and it just flowed out of me, I WAS ON FIRE!! Even my cat didn't run screaming this time!! I probably sounded like a squealing fan-belt but at the moment, in all the gloriousness of the situation and with the mash there to lap it all up with me, I was a rock star...

So somehow this has affected the mash considerably from some of my previous attempts with things such as:

• The mash did not drop more than 1.5'c over the hour and a bit, my cappuccino thermometer confirms what I thought when I touched it and went "**** thats hot!".
• The plastic tap in the bucket did not pop out or become loose at all during the mash, it waited until the mash-out phase for me to knock it and spit farking hot mashjuice all over me.
• I did not drop, break, discolour or crack one glass container of any description this time and maintained that through to the following morning.
• I did not burn myself during the boil
• I did not boil over
• No objects were unintentionally dropped during the mashing or boiling process
• I didn't even stand on the cat

I hereby ask for more help in this discover process: we need to determine several factors in how this has happened and how to replicate it..




Firstly, I propose some type of testing system where some brewers introduce different music towards their mash. Take note of what style of music as well as what artist or may never discover such wonders like if Willie Nelson's reggae album was actually serious or not...


For last nights mash, I played a fair bit of "old skool metal", a couple of Iron Maiden riffs, some chug-chug style Metallica-esque riffs, throw the odd bit of Sabbath. It was a renaissance of my teenage tape collection. I will try the next one with more of the cool swing/jazz style with some more bluesy tones, I wonder how that will go.

The real questions are:

• How will this affect the attenuation given a standard variable of yeast such as US-05 and 18'c ?
• Do the bittering hops benefit from more of an aggressive style (think, deathmetal, punk, grindcore, Slim Dusty) or mellow out given lighter styles (reggae, classical, jazz, new-Metallica)?
• Is there more body produces mashing to Aussie-rock at 66'c as opposed to British invasion at 64'c?
• Is it more fermentable?
• At what point does playing music where the band has changed singers affect which rest during the mash? ie: Bon Scott during protein rest vs Sammy Hagar during mash-out ??

This could be a pioneering technique! We need to investigate!!




Cheers,

Shred.

 

[ShredMaster]

TL;DR: What odd or superstitious stuff do you do when mashing? What are the strange personal tendencies that you just HAVE to do when mashing?

 

[Steve@PMF82]

I find the enzymes in the mash prefer classical music, i usually get 5 - 10% rise in mash efficiency when listing to classical as opposed to metal.

 

[///]

Did the mash all the way to 11? (said in HRH Tuffnells voice)

 

[mh971]

You are not serious surely. Sure you didn't mean to post this on Aussie Home Psychics forum?

Was there not any Lysergic acid diethylamide used in this experiment of yours. That may very well affect your mash.

Not wanting to encourage you at all, but on music and mash interactions;

I would suspect at the very least that perhaps dance music with bass at the right frequency may have a similar effect to a concrete vibrator and result in a stuck mash.

I'd just stick to jazz personally, it wont affect the mash but will make your shed much cooler

 

[Rowy]

I think that your choice of music will have an absolute effect on the mash. For example 'Stairway to Heaven' will make for a slower start but a full on fermenation in the middle with a tapered off finish. Now................**** I can't comment anymore.............. I don't know enough yeasts...........10 tallies......fail

 

[theb00f]

I find that playing a few tunes on the old butt trumpet helps to make the brew day smoother. That is, of course, as long as you don't follow through...

It could be a factor of the post brew sweetness that I am currently finding as my farts do indeed smell like fairy floss.

I also recommend both brewing and tooting be done outside or not in similar confines to the missus or you might get more than one dirty look!

 

[fawnroux]

I crank Black Flag and Bad Religion when I'm doing my Punk IPA clone.

 

[manticle]

This is not the new sound, it's just a song about the new sound.

 

[jyo]

I reckon it was because you were sitting on your arse shredding away and not piss farting around with anything that it all went smoothly! :lol: This would have had a direct impact on achieving at least the following:

[*]I didn't even stand on the cat

 

[donburke]

i find if i play some sarah vaughan, in particular the song "take the bitter with the sweet" through a tube amplifier during the boil, i get a real smooth bittering

there is definitely scientific reasons ... the combination of even order harmonic distortion created by a single ended triode and the silky smooth vocals of one of the best jazz singers of all time resonates the alpha acids in contact with the wort, ensuring they isomerise at a frequency that cannot be produced by boiling alone

 

[Malted]

So somehow this has affected the mash considerably from some of my previous attempts with things such as:

• I did not burn myself during the boil
• I did not boil over

I didn't even stand on the cat

I hereby ask for more help in this discover process: we need to determine several factors in how this has happened and how to replicate it..

Given that you didn't burn yourself or boil over I would suspect that you did not apply enough heat, or you had a thicker cushion on your seat. Do not put the burner under your seat, put it under the pot you wish to boil your wort in.

Wait for the cat to face away from you as the arrogant bastards commonly do, it is easier this way to stand on it's tail.

 

[Thefatdoghead]

TL;DR: What odd or superstitious stuff do you do when mashing? What are the strange personal tendencies that you just HAVE to do when mashing?

I do heaps of odd shit when im mashing like go to the beach for a surf or walk the dog or have breakfast. Strange I know...ah the joys of a Braumeister.

 

[sponge]

Did the mash all the way to 11? (said in HRH Tuffnells voice)

Why dont they just make 10 the maximum mash efficiency and not worry about 11?

 

[going down a hill]

I crank Black Flag and Bad Religion when I'm doing my Punk IPA clone.

My girlfriend asked me which one i like better

I hope the answer don't upset her

 

[iralosavic]

Shred: I take it you're pro-legalisation of marijuana?

 

[ShredMaster]

Shred: I take it you're pro-legalisation of marijuana?

h34r:

 

[ShredMaster]

I just ordered some more grains to do a batch of Amber Ale (Mark^*******'s recipe) so being it's a darker beer, I'll try using a double-humbucker through a tube 1/2 stack with darker bluesy stuff, perhaps merging into a bit of metal towards the end to compact the grain bed a little more for the vorlauf (? the filtering?).

 

[ShredMaster]

i find if i play some sarah vaughan, in particular the song "take the bitter with the sweet" through a tube amplifier during the boil, i get a real smooth bittering

there is definitely scientific reasons ... the combination of even order harmonic distortion created by a single ended triode and the silky smooth vocals of one of the best jazz singers of all time resonates the alpha acids in contact with the wort, ensuring they isomerise at a frequency that cannot be produced by boiling alone

Now THAT is the type of research results we need!! Good to see!

I have a couple of different tube amps to use, should I go single-ended EL84 or the push/pull 6L6's in the 1/2 stack? I'll be using Willamette in the next brew, 4.7% AA in pellet form.

Cheers,
Shred.

 

[iralosavic]

Now THAT is the type of research results we need!! Good to see!

I have a couple of different tube amps to use, should I go single-ended EL84 or the push/pull 6L6's in the 1/2 stack? I'll be using Willamette in the next brew, 4.7% AA in pellet form.

Cheers,
Shred.

You need to get a stratocaster running through a vintage fender twin reverb tube amp to get more balanced warming notes. Unscrew the back plate of the amp and try to get the tubes to match the desired EBC of the wort - you should be able to reach amber with some darker blues, but I'd be careful not to mash-out with too much metal or you could end up with a burt aftertaste.