MyQul's Brewday

[cheapbrew]

I think its quite easy to do with a few kg of grain for our small batches with stirring to make sure of no clumping of flour, but on a brewery scale it would be much harder to stop clumping and stuck mashes.

 

[Simonh82]

I think I've found the answer to my question with this extract:

"The first rule of milling is to not pulverize the grain. Pulverizing your grains can lead
to stuck mashes. When you pulverize the grain, you destroy the embryo and the husk.
This leaves you without a filter. You also end up with a bunch of flour that will turn to
paste and collect on the bottom of the mash tun, and block the flow of sparge water.

The second rule is to barely crush specialty malts, taking care only to crack open the
grains. These are roasted at higher temperatures, so they'll tend to pulverise during
milling if you aren't careful. Keep your mill settings wide enough to just break them
open. Also, it's best to add them to the mash toward the end of the mash-in to keep
them on the top of the mash."
​

The above came from this article ...

http://byo.com/hops/item/1158-milling-grain-tips-from-the-pros

I think I'll keep my mill at the same settings as before because I use a Mash Tun! :thumb:

However, I can see "flour" clumping together within a BIAB bag and reducing the effects of mashing so it would probably be a "no-no" with BIAB as well. :thumb:

When I make Clootie Dumpling for Christmas I sprinkle flour on the wetted muslin sheet before adding the dumpling mixture.

The muslin is then gathered together around the mixture and tied at the top with string before being boiled in water for three hours. The flour forms an impenetrable skin on contact with water so the inside of the Clootie Dumpling stays dry.

You definitely do not want anything similar to happen with BIAB. :nono: :nono:

BIAB is completely different to the set up that a commercial brewery or even standard 3 vessel brewing system would use. With more standard methods you need the grain husks to create a filter bed to allow for the free draining of the mash. In that case a standard grain crush that maintains the husk integrity is important.

With BIAB you are free to crush the grain very finely to allow for the easiest extraction of sugars. When it comes to the end of the mash, you just lift the bag and squeeze it. The large filter surface provided by the bag means you don't have to worry about a stuck mash.

As homebrewers we are free to do things differently from commercial brewers. There is a lot we can learn from them but we also have the advantage of being able to use methods that they can't.

Brulosophy carried out an interesting experiement on grain crushing which showed both a higher OG and lower FG with the fine crushed grain.

That article has a side by side picture of the coarse crush vs fine crush. Mine is essentially the same as the fine crush. I'm not trying to say that everyone will get the same results as me but I know that crushing fine works very well and has never led to stuck sparges, off flavours, excess trub or anything other than great beer.

If you are concerned about keeping the husks intact but want to crush finer I suggest reading the article on Braukaiser about grain conditioning. I tried it and it certainly works but I didn't find it made a difference for BIAB so stopped again.

 

[Covrich]

My BIAB bag is an expensive one and is pretty thick but big and fits the whole 50L pot.. I crush pretty fine and whilst its not a bag of flour you do see patches of white throughout it.. I dont crush the bag too much now (not that I feel there was anything too negative about it) just let it drain off and prod it down when removing.

I find the wort that comes out is very clear still (except the last few liters unless I let the trub really settle)

 

[Dutto]

I think its quite easy to do with a few kg of grain for our small batches with stirring to make sure of no clumping of flour, but on a brewery scale it would be much harder to stop clumping and stuck mashes.

I deeply suspect that you don't do much cooking ... :lol: :lol:

... and on the basis that a photograph speaks a thousand words see below.

One = Water at 80 degrees and Strong Plain Flour

Two = One dessertspoonful of flour stirred into water.

Three = Sieved water after stirring.

Enjoy! :thumb:

 

[Simonh82]

I deeply suspect that you don't do much cooking ... :lol: :lol:

... and on the basis that a photograph speaks a thousand words see below.

One = Water at 80 degrees and Strong Plain Flour

Two = One dessertspoonful of flour stirred into water.

Three = Sieved water after stirring.

Enjoy! :thumb:

I completely see where you are coming from with your concerns about flour clumping but I don't think they apply in this case. I've tried to get many a flour based sauce smooth and ended up with lumps in it but this has never been an issue with my brewing.

I think there is a big difference between actual flour and what comes out of my mill. The crushed grain is maybe 1-2mm in size where as flour is a small fraction of a millimeter.

My process for doughing in is to add a pint jug full of grain at a time to my heated strike water. As I'm adding the grain I am beating it in with a balloon whisk. This is very effective at mixing the grain into the water and I am confident that I've never had any dough balls.

Your milage may vary but I am very happy with the results of my mashing method.

 

[Dutto]

The photo is my own milled grain size; roughly the same as above and definitely not "flour". :thumb:

When serving dinner my Mum often asked "How much gravy do you want; one lump or two?" :whistle:

 

[cheapbrew]

I deeply suspect that you don't do much cooking ... :lol: :lol:

... and on the basis that a photograph speaks a thousand words see below.

One = Water at 80 degrees and Strong Plain Flour

Two = One dessertspoonful of flour stirred into water.

Three = Sieved water after stirring.

Enjoy! :thumb:

your suspicions are wrong sir :whistle: and one of my hats is as mill manager at our local watermill and I definitely aint making flour like in your pics with my hand mill :lol:

 

[Dutto]

I try to live life with "Murphy's First Rule" ...

"If it can go wrong it will go wrong."​

... at the front of my mind! :lol: :lol:

 

[MyQul]

I've finally got around to doing the last step up of my Fullers yeast strain just notw. I did the last step up as an overbuild. So rather then doing 2L I did 2.5L and will put 500ml in a jar in the fridge. I will then do three brews in a row, just re-pitching slurry from brew to brew. Then build the overbuild up again to pitchable amount (with another 500ml overbuild) to do the same 3 repitchings again. Well thats the plan anyway

 

[Dutto]

...... Well thats the plan anyway

I like it! The joy of a Plan is that you can change it ... :thumb:

... whereas, without a Plan it's hard to decide when to move to an alternative!

I can see no reason why it shouldn't work out if you're careful. :thumb:

 

[Gerryjo]

I've finally got around to doing the last step up of my Fullers yeast strain just notw. I did the last step up as an overbuild. So rather then doing 2L I did 2.5L and will put 500ml in a jar in the fridge. I will then do three brews in a row, just re-pitching slurry from brew to brew. Then build the overbuild up again to pitchable amount (with another 500ml overbuild) to do the same 3 repitchings again. Well thats the plan anyway

So effectively using the one yeast continuosly.I assume that you shall be using the same wort to feed this little devil:thumb:

 

[MyQul]

So effectively using the one yeast continuosly.I assume that you shall be using the same wort to feed this little devil:thumb:

May be. I'll be just using it in whatever Enlglish style/OG I fancy putting it it on. The overbuild will be the same wort of course as that will be a 1.040 starter

 

[Simonh82]

So effectively using the one yeast continuosly.I assume that you shall be using the same wort to feed this little devil:thumb:

Talking of using one yeast continuously, I was reading an article about a Manchester brewery that had been continuously top-cropping and repitching their yeast for nearly 5000 brews.

 

[Gerryjo]

Talking of using one yeast continuously, I was reading an article about a Manchester brewery that had been continuously top-cropping and repitching their yeast for nearly 5000 brews.

I like the idea of that,and it's not for the value of the or it is depending how often you'll be brewing and the fact that you could have a guaranteed goto yeast on tap all time👍

Sent from my Hudl 2 using Tapatalk

 

[Simonh82]

Yep, only really practical for breweries that are constantly brewing. Even then a lot of modern breweries will reculture their yeast every 8-10 brews.

They reculture to prevent the yeast characteristics drifting but I guess if you repitch thousands of times that drift towards a stable top cropping yeast will happen pretty quickly and then it's just reliable.

 

[Gerryjo]

Yep, only really practical for breweries that are constantly brewing. Even then a lot of modern breweries will reculture their yeast every 8-10 brews.

They reculture to prevent the yeast characteristics drifting but I guess if you repitch thousands of times that drift towards a stable top cropping yeast will happen pretty quickly and then it's just reliable.

Yep I like your line of thought and it be great for stability and repeatability 👍

Sent from my Hudl 2 using Tapatalk

 

[MyQul]

Oh man I hate packaging. I packed 6L of Light Steam Lager (mini keg plus 3x330 bottles) yesterday. A blonde ale today (2xmini kegs plus 5x1L growlers) and I have 16L of smoked porter to package Monday eve, left to go :-(

 

[Gerryjo]

Oh man I hate packaging. I packed 6L of Light Steam Lager (mini keg plus 3x330 bottles) yesterday. A blonde ale today (2xmini kegs plus 5x1L growlers) and I have 16L of smoked porter to package Monday eve, left to go :-(

Now that's busy.I bottled 30 *500ml of Chestnut Ale and another 29 of Pale Ale,then transferred 21 litres of stout between 2 fermenters so I can hop one.Never mind packaging but the preparation and cleanup afterwards.Must say it's worth it though 👍

Sent from my ALE-L21

 

[MyQul]

Now that's busy.I bottled 30 *500ml of Chestnut Ale and another 29 of Pale Ale,then transferred 21 litres of stout between 2 fermenters so I can hop one.Never mind packaging but the preparation and cleanup afterwards.Must say it's worth it though 👍

Sent from my ALE-L21

I find it's the prep and clean up the most annoying bit

 

[Gerryjo]

I find it's the prep and clean up the most annoying bit

+1 for that.We think it great with the amount and different types of beer we have on the go at one but then reality kicks in come bottling/kegging.:thumb: