Partial Disaster

[Maxt]

Hi all, have been watching this forum for a while, and after years of kits have decided to try a partial. What a disaster. The strike water was 70deg to start, and I waited until it was at 66 before adding the grains, but soon after, and throughout the mash, it remained at 50deg.
Problem 2: I tried to get out of making a manifold by putting a mesh filter over the tap I added to the esky. result..stuck sparge. I then had to manually tip the sparged wort through a sieve into the kettle. Very messy with hot side aeration a likely candiate with all the splashing.
My problem was that after the 1 hr boil and the chilling of the wort in the bath, the OG was off the chart ( my hydrometer only goes to 1050, and it was poking up above this!). I used 2kg of Pilsner malt. 1 kg of Munich and a can of Copper's Bavarian Lager. Is this normal?

 

[pint of lager]

Hi Max, welcome to the forum.

Not a good positive start to your mashing.

You want to mash the grain at 64-68 degrees C, ideally 65. You need your mash water at about 75 degrees C (known as the strike temp), add the grain, stir for a few minutes, then take a reading. Because the grain is cold it brings down the temperature of the the mash water.

Mashing at 50, not sure what your brew will end up like. At different temperatures, different enzymes come into play. Once you eventually bottle, watch the bottles carefully for overcarbonation or bottle bombs. Mashing at 60-65 makes the end result thinner and drier.

You need a large area for the wort to drain through, a small bit of mesh over the tap won't work.

DRaining through a fine colander will work in a pinch as you found out. Don't fret about hot side aeration with your first partial. Do start worying after five partial mashes. By this stage you will have a decent manifold and your strike temp worked out and can pay attention to the finer details of brewing.

Get a better hydrometer, your homebrew shop should have one that reads from 0.990 to 1.100, much easier to use for higher og brews.

Using 3kg of mashed grain plus a regular kit could easily push you over a starting gravity of 1.050

Have a search of the forum for Cubbie's post on partials. It has step by step instructions clearly laid out. Search on his nick Cubbie and the word partial. If this is double dutch to you, ask again and I will dig up a link for you.

Don't give up. The perfect partial is just around the corner.

 

[Bizarre]

Hi all, have been watching this forum for a while, and after years of kits have decided to try a partial. What a disaster. The strike water was 70deg to start, and I waited until it was at 66 before adding the grains, but soon after, and throughout the mash, it remained at 50deg.
Problem 2: I tried to get out of making a manifold by putting a mesh filter over the tap I added to the esky. result..stuck sparge. I then had to manually tip the sparged wort through a sieve into the kettle. Very messy with hot side aeration a likely candiate with all the splashing.
My problem was that after the 1 hr boil and the chilling of the wort in the bath, the OG was off the chart ( my hydrometer only goes to 1050, and it was poking up above this!). I used 2kg of Pilsner malt. 1 kg of Munich and a can of Copper's Bavarian Lager. Is this normal?

Hi Maxt this is a link to another post (with recipe and basic method) I made elsewhere in this forum. Now I am no expert - but I have done quite a few partials. If you have a big enough pot mate you could actually do your mash in it and control the temperature with gas - only reason I suggest this is if you have a big esky and not much grain, you might find holding your mash temps in a big, fairly empty esky could be a pain. Temp control in a pot by gas is pretty easy mate - you could hold your grains in a grain bag (if you have a big enough one) or leave them floating in the mash (like I often do) and pour everything into a grain bag (to separate grains from wort).. If there is anything else you needed a bit of help with I dont mind if you message (or post).

Edited - because like a moron I forgot the link!!! http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...rtial&st=30

 

[pint of lager]

Partial mashing is great for sorting out the ag process. With the smaller volumes and the extract component, even if you majorly stuff up, the process is fairly forgiving.

 

[ACTbrewer]

Ah, the joys of learning! Thanks guys. I think you might be right about the big (mostly) empty esky being a problem. Next time I will try with a grain bag and a pot. I use gas, so getting good quick temperatures is a bit easier.
As for the OG, I will wait and see if the yeast can bring it down to something readble!
Thanks for all the advice. Onwards and upwards!

 

[pint of lager]

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