Mash pH and water composition

[beerboymark]

+1 for CRS to reduce the alkalinity & I'd be tempted to keep it as simple as that for the first brew and adapt & improve your methods once you've tried the beer.
I like the look of the recipe - can't go wrong with cascade -are you going to dry hop as well?
10% dark crystal is quite a lot IMO and you may want to use a bit less in the 1st brew and add more next time if you think it needs it.

Dare i say it but given the price of grain I may do a small scaled down mash to see where the pH ends up to see how much CRS to add for the full mash. Then discard the test batch. Wasteful I know but may pay off for the full batch.

The recipe for reference is based on one of the Greg Hughes recipes - Cascade single hopped.

I have changed hop quantities to comply with the AA% hops I have access too. The original recipe calls for 5% AA and I plan on using ~9% so reduced to meet the same IBU. While im on hops - do high AA hops have a high "quantity" of flavour to impart. So should I reduce the quantity of late addition hops since they are higher AA? I have currently scaled down all hop additions.

The reason I spec'd a reasonably high level of dark malt was to reduce mash pH and suit my water profile without need for massive water treatment - not primarily not dark malts are for. So I will likely revised the dark malt quantities. Do you have a malt suggestion for darkening pales and complying with the dry flavour of a hoppy pale? Crystal seemed middle of the road for me - not too dark and toasty but enough to darken without adding too much.

 

[MyQul]

Carbonate reducing solution, a blend of acids used for reducing alkalinity you can buy it from most of the homebrew shops online. Other acids such as lactic or phosphoric can also be used.

In my experiments I didn't see a jump in efficiency but in theory this can happen and is certainly reported by others such as TS, since I started stirring a couple of times mid mash though I have seen about a 5-6% jump but cant be sure whether this is also aided by the treatment. Cant be arsed doing another test to find out either!

I would say it was the stirring rather than the CRS. When I first started AG I had really low efficiency (about 60% iirc) so looking into all the ways I could up it. One of them was stirring the mash which of course I tried out and it really seeming to boost efficiency. I still stir half way through and at the end to this day

 

[beerboymark]

As for dry hopping my plan is to brew 23L of this recipe as is. If it turns out OK, brew the exact recipe again to judge reproducibility then try a 3rd time with some dry hopping to see what effect it has. I'm swaying towards sticking to hoppy pale ales for my homebrewing since OTS bottles are quite expensive as a day to day drinker whereas there are lots of reasonably priced malty beers - hobgoblin, broadside, bishops finger etc. Especially if you go to Lidl

 

[Bunglebrewsbeer]

My efficiency seems to have declined of late. Not doing anything different that I'm aware of. And stir ever 20min within the hour. I do BIAB. Would a longer mash be better?

 

[Covrich]

My efficiency seems to have declined of late. Not doing anything different that I'm aware of. And stir ever 20min within the hour. I do BIAB. Would a longer mash be better?

You have the same setup as me, do you do full BIAB / no sparge?? also do you crush your own grain?

also what efficiency do you get?

 

[Bunglebrewsbeer]

I do full BIAB no sparge. Grain I've had recently I've got from Malt Miller. And you can request BIAB crushed which I've done.

 

[MyQul]

I do full BIAB no sparge. Grain I've had recently I've got from Malt Miller. And you can request BIAB crushed which I've done.

Might be the grain then, as crush can effect efficiency (the finer the better). You could also do some sort of sparge too as that was the other thing that I discovered can really boost your efficiency

 

[Bunglebrewsbeer]

Yeah I get it crushed fine rather than just normal.

 

[Covrich]

Yeah I get it crushed fine rather than just normal.

I don't know then.. Could be the grain itself I crush mine myself pretty fine..

dough into about 32 L of water mash now I mash for about 60-90 minutes.. I am sure I heard full volume BIAB can benefit from longer mash.. I don't normally stirr mid mash but intend on trying it. when done fire the burner up until about 75ºc.. turn of burner (grains and bag in the pot the whole time) rest for 10 mins then remove grains and on to the boil.. thats about 70-75% I haven't quite got my water numbers yet.

But without a sparge and I do not stir yet thats working for me andits pretty easy.

 

[Bunglebrewsbeer]

What volume of beer are you making starting with that volume of water?

 

[MyQul]

A longer mash definately can improve efficiency but I don't know what timings would correlate to what percentage increase. As I mentioned doing an overnight mash,about 11 hours, definantely seemed to improve my efficiency but not all the time. It seemed to improve my efficiency when I have very thick mashes,when my pot was at or near it's maximum grain/water capacity. But no so much when I had a thinner mash when I was doing beers of about 1.038 OG

 

[Bunglebrewsbeer]

Will try a 90min mash next time see what happens. What's the worst that can happen. I just make stronger beer. I don't see that as a downside really.

 

[MyQul]

Will try a 90min mash next time see what happens. What's the worst that can happen. I just make stronger beer. I don't see that as a downside really.

None really. If you've got the time try 2 hours, because when I was investigating/reading up on overnight mashes I read that most of the conversion is done in about 10 minutes then everything else will be done by 2 hours. Any extra time is just the mash sitting there waiting for you to get back to it.

I noticed the grain certainly "plumps up" as it absorbs the mash liqor and the first time I did an overnight mash I didn't realize this would happen and the extra volume of the swelled grain displaced some of the sweet wort which then overflowed the top of the pot so I was greeted by a small pool of wort on my kitchen floor the next morning - dont think this has anything to do with efficiency btw just an observation

 

[Covrich]

What volume of beer are you making starting with that volume of water?

TYpically aiming for 23L Like I said above I haven't quite got my numbers right and my last few brews were pellets not leaf which also threw the figures out.

But if we go 32L dough in I am normally probably around 27-28L pre boil then its probably 24 post boil (although I have had about 25 on my last one) I try and allow for 1L at least for losses..

How do you do it? and do you mashout?

 

[Bunglebrewsbeer]

I just hear water to about 72. Lob all grains in stir. In about 35l of water. Insulate leave an hour wig stiring along the way. Pull grain bag up. Heat to around 80. Lower grains back in. Stir. Leave for 15min. Then remove allow to drain over pan and start bringing to boil.

 

[Covrich]

I just hear water to about 72. Lob all grains in stir. In about 35l of water. Insulate leave an hour wig stiring along the way. Pull grain bag up. Heat to around 80. Lower grains back in. Stir. Leave for 15min. Then remove allow to drain over pan and start bringing to boil.

Yeah that is pretty much the same as me then to be honest :thumb:

 

[Bunglebrewsbeer]

God knows then.

 

[Covrich]

What efficiency do you think you get? try a 90 minute mash or even a little less water I find at 33 L I am putting in too much water.. I know it depends on grain bills and what not but 33L is based on about 5KG.. I am finding I have perhaps a little too much water as it is with that.

 

[cheshirehomebrew]

one way to sparge for BIAB is to raise the temp to 75 and hold it there for 10 ish minutes, then pull the bag out and leave to drain somewhere, I put it on a large collander on the FV to drip drain then add what i collect back into the boil

Like the recipe but 10 crystal is a bit much for me; i would go with 5% personally, love cascade hops too

 

[Bunglebrewsbeer]

I have beersmith set at 70% when I've planned recipes. And my SG had come short of the predicted by 3-4 points really.