Mash Times

[crackers]

JM

i tried your overnite mashing at the weekend for a simple pale ale.
it worked a treat.
4.5 kg of JW trad ale malt
250g of caramalt
had a gravity reading of nearly 1.080 from the mash tun. converted 26L esky.
started the temp out at 72 deg C and 12 hrs later it had dropped to 55 deg C.
i would got there sooner but slept in.

i started the temp a bit high expecting the temp to drop.
can you think of any problems with the starting and finishing temps.
it tasted very sweet from the tun
and got the expected OG after the boil

anyway, i may do this a bit more often.
a few hrs friday night after work, and then again sat morning.

cheers
crackers

 

[Goat]

Interesting stuff crackers.

Did you do a mash out prior to sparge?

 

[crackers]

i still havent got my system fully biult,
missing the hlt.
but with a bit of mon=ving around i can do full mashes.

i heated up 10L of wort to 80+ deg C and poured it back into the tun.
mash temp rose to 65+ deg C
i then boiled up 12-15L of water, let it cool to 78deg C
and getly poured this over the grain bed as the wort was draining to the boiler.
not disturbing the grain bed too much.
draining was a bit faster than i was pouring.
did this until the wort comming out was about 1.010 and i had 28L in the boiler.

i only boiled up small amouts of sparge water until i get my hlt going.
almost there.

my ag brewing takes a little longer, but it works.

cheers
crackers

 

[Batz]

Overnight mashing is a great timesaver, will be doing it with my doppelbock/bock double decoction monster brewday.

Really cover the mash tun very well, if you have a lot of airspace (tun only half full) cover the top of the mash with an inch of uncrushed pale (or use styrofoam wrapped in plastic sheeting)

Next morning, do a Viennese decoction: run out all the wort (use a higher water/grain ratio) bring that to the boil and pour back over the top of the grain. Voila! Mashout and the start of recirculation in one go, and the grain bed has not been disturbed (good when your tun is fullto the brim)

heat the spargewater the night before and cover your kettle/HLT with several blankets and it won't take long to reheat in the morning. With a nice early start you can be done by 9 or 10 am, so your brew is done in the coolest part of a hot day if you are brewing in summer

Theoretically, the beta amylase is chewing up higher sugars etc all the time overnight, but there are alpha and betal limit dextrines so it isn't going to end up as thin dry beer (which I hate, gimme dextrines!) and the enzymes may just denature eventually anyway. In any case, the beer resulting from an overnight mash are just as good as those mashed for an hour





Jovial Monk

JM,
You pour boiling wort back in the grain bed ?

 

[wessmith]

Hey JM, whats all this about Galaxy being mashed in 20 mins? What do you think is so different about the malt?

Wes.

 

[wessmith]

Hi All,

Some hints for doing an Iodine starch test. Tincture of Iodine as purchased from your local pharmacy is too strong and too dark to give an accurate reading. It also contains a fair degree of ethanol that can skew your observations - it causes a zizzing ® at the wort interface as the alcohol is assimilated into the larger volume of liquid. (Zizzing is the term given by me and owned by me - whatever that means...).

Dilute the tincture 1:1 with distilled or DI water and always pull a representative sample of your mash - ie including some of the mashed grains. I have seen reference recently that sugests you will never get "full conversion" of the grains - rubbish, it all depends on the crush. This lack of conversion will only occur if your crush is too course and the enzymes have not been able to access all of the free starch. Put your sample to be starch tested in a saucer or other white porcelain container and add an equal amount of your Iodine solution - you dont need much of either. Use your "digital pinky" stirrer to "mash" the sample" and see what the result is. If the Iodine turns black you obviously have unconverted starch. Try testing just the mash liquid - if you dont get an Iodine positive reaction proceed to the runoff, but please understand you are leaving behind available starch.

Wes.

 

[Jovial_Monk]

Yes I pour boiling wort back over the grain bed, for really big beers where the mash tun is full to the brim and I have mashed overnight.

Brings the mash right to mashout temp.

Galaxy has a high DP, Wes I refer you to a discussion on the OCB, though I have received that info from other and more reliable sources. I am going to get some to experiment with some old style, high brown/amber non-diastatic malts mashes where the high dp will allow me to substitute the least amount of diastatic pale malt.

Jovial Monk

 

[wessmith]

JM, I think there is some confusion here about the so-called high DP of Galaxy. As you may know, we introduced Galaxy to the Aussie HB and Micro market a couple of years ago. The DP is no higher than any other Aussie lager/ale malt. What is unique about the malt is the higher than normal levels of the enzyme Beta Glucanase - not to be confused with Beta Glucan. To make the Beta Gluconase work for you , you will need a rest at around 40C. This is very usefull where high levels of starchy adjunct are being used - like in a classic dry stout with a heap of flaked barley.

Galaxy is also a naturally high attenuating malt - it was developed originally for the Japanese market - and can make an extremely dry finishing beer. We used to always recommend mashing at a couple of degrees higher than a normal pilsner malt to achieve a better level of dextrins. Great for dry stouts, Koelsch or any style requiring a dry finish.

Actual DP (Diastatic Power) of the last three shipments we received were 298, 278 and 300 WK (Windisch-Kolbach units). As a reference point our current Export Pilsner and Traditional Ale malts are in the 300 to 320 WK. The "standard Aussie pale" as used by the mainstream breweries is usually around 250 max WK - they certainly dont want a high attenuating malt!

We always have Certificates of Analaysis for all the malts we sell - you only need to ask and we provide.

Wes.

 

[Jovial_Monk]

OK, I was told crap again. why am I not surprised? Galaxy does not sound like my kind of malt at all, gimme dextrines, gimme FG 1035 beers!

Is there a very high diastatic power malt around the place? Still want to do those old time beers. . .

Yeah not just starchy adjuncts need a betaglucan rest:- my bock/doppelbock mash I did a 30/40/50/67 schedule. It had 5K Dark Munich and highly kilned malts are deficient in betaglucanase.

Jovial Monk

 

[big d]

:blink:
struth ive got more stuff to learn.
this ag caper is getting more and more interesting.

cheers
big d :unsure:

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

So Wes, as I understand it Galaxy is useful when brewing with high adjuncts and the Barrett and Burston Pale is a good all malt barley?

Cheers and bollocks
TDA

 

[wessmith]

JM, all Aussie malts are high DP. You wont find anything much above 300 WK in barley anywhere in the world but wheat malt can go up to 400 WK
"Is there a very high diastatic power malt around the place? Still want to do those old time beers. . ."
English floor malted malts are MUCH lower in DP - try 140 to 150. Even these can still cope with 10% or even 15% starch adjunct, but you need to be aware that conversion will be slower - hence the 90 min mash.

TDA, BBM Pale malt is exactly that - an Aussie pale. A bit too dextrinious to be a pilsner malt and insufficient colour and maltiness to be an ale malt. That is one of the reasons we moved away from BBM as a supplier as they had nothing else to offer us and we needed a true ale and pilsner malt for our markets.

Wes.

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

TDA, BBM Pale malt is exactly that - an Aussie pale. A bit too dextrinious to be a pilsner malt and insufficient colour and maltiness to be an ale malt. That is one of the reasons we moved away from BBM as a supplier as they had nothing else to offer us and we needed a true ale and pilsner malt for our markets.

Wes.

Thanks for the info Wes.

TDA (aka Mark)