worst brew day ever - wheat beer!

[aeddon]

Well i guess its time a sh**ty brewday came my way, they seem to be going for too well smoothly.

Having a beer festival in may and have been brewing once or twice a week, cramming them in. I have got it all down to 4hrs start to finish, including setting up and the cleaning at the end. I've done a few bitters, a stout and a porter, some lager stlyles with us05, kolsch, IPA, and summer ales and they have all been pretty hassle free. I was losing up to 3c without using any blanket insulation on the mash tun so used a snowboarding coat and had .5c lose in 1.5hr mash, effiecency was creeping up, got to about 78. Then i tried a wheatbeer!!!!!

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.00 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (4.9 EBC) Grain 60.00 %
2.00 kg Wheat Malt, Ger (3.9 EBC) Grain 40.00 %
35.00 gm Saaz [3.29 %] (90 min) Hops 11.4 IBU
13.00 gm Saaz [3.30 %] (15 min) Hops 2.0 IBU
1 Pkgs safbrew (DCL #WB-06) Yeast-Wheat

EOG: 1.048 - 25L, ending up with 23l at OG: 1.042.

So i used a big hardcore sleeping bag as it was to hand, but when i removed it the mash tun was blazing out heat and measured a 6c drop!! almost like the bag was drawing the heat out. Drained first time no problem, bu then stirred up and refilled and used the jacket again, after half an hour only had .1c drop in temp! But the the dam mash got stuck and nothing was shifting it, no matter how much i stirred and restirred, wiggled and giggled it wouldnt drain and only made it worse, ended up sieving out the grain to get some wort. what a pain in the ****, mega trub and low efficiency at 65%(ish)

any adivce on why and how i managed to dodge it up greatly appreciated. only positive is its wheatbeer and cloudy dont matter

 

[jonewer]

Its strange. My previous mash also lost about 6C..... I dont have a clue why. Normally only lose about 1C. Maybe the way I/you wrapped it up?

Now I also had a stuck sparge on my last mash. I can only think its because when doing my first runnings I accidentaly moved the tap from the "just open a crack" mark to "full blast" when I had intended to close it. Possibly you tried to run-off too quickly?

 

[unclepumble]

I tend to find
stiff mash= holds temp well
loose mash= looses temp like buggery

therefore did you add it bit more mash liquor to your original mash

UP

 

[aeddon]

I use a cruddy 20l mega cheapo coolbox as a mash tun and havent really tried to insulate it any further as a bit too lazy so my own fault. Upgrading to a 38l nordic soon so hope for better results then.

I will reduce the mash volume next time to see how it goes. I should rename myself the artful bodger as wing it most of the time and has seemed to work. I fill the tun to max capacity, mash for 90mins and drain fast, then re-fill again and this usualy gives me the required 30(ish) liters of pre-boil wort i need. So you recommend reducing the mash volume, do you sparge twice, top up mash after certain time or top up water at boil?

 

[State of the mind]

But the the dam mash got stuck and nothing was shifting it, no matter how much i stirred and restirred, wiggled and giggled it wouldnt drain and only made it worse, ended up sieving out the grain to get some wort. what a pain in the ****, mega trub and low efficiency at 65%(ish)

any adivce on why and how i managed to dodge it up greatly appreciated. only positive is its wheatbeer and cloudy dont matter

Yeah witbiers are realy prone to stuck mashes due to the wheat malt. Not sure what it is about the wheat malt. Maybe a high protein level (don't quote me) :hmm: Your efficiency seems to be similar to many who have brewed with the addition of wheat malt.

I did a wit bier last September and it was a hassle from the very start. I think that Wit biers are not really worth it unless you have an extremely efficient sparging system. And I understand how frustrating the trub removal is. I lost 4 litres of beer from a 14l batch to trub throughout the process. :shock:

However when you crack open that first bottle and try it you will find out if the haste is worth it. When you get a wit bier brewed well, you wander why you would ever brew anything else... Then you remember the frustration of mashing/sparging. :rofl:

 

[jamesb]

Yeah witbiers are realy prone to stuck mashes due to the wheat malt. Not sure what it is about the wheat malt. Maybe a high protein level (don't quote me) :hmm:

It's because the wheat has no husk whilst barley does. The husk traps all the small particles that otherwise lead to a stuck mash.

 

[aeddon]

mmm, maybe get hold of some rice husks to compensate. I've seen a really useful decoction mash vid on youtube, might give that a go at some point. Not going to give up and will definitely gona keep trying

 

[rickthebrew]

how did your kolsch turn out aeddon?

 

[aeddon]

arrr the kolsch, that opened up a whole style of brewing for me without the having proper temp control for lager.

It took a while to mellow out, but after three months and about 5 liters left it was absolutely brilliant, a bit like lowenbrau. I carbonated at 25psi at about room temp and it came out stunning, held its carbonation with a small head to the end. Havnt got a clue what it was supposed to taste like but it was tasty for sure.

I have done a few more us-05 brews since. My lager malt brews have been the best so far, incredibly clear runnings and great efficiency at about 75/80%. Just done one with 4kg lager malt, 500g vienna malt and 500g of flaked maze, hopped with challenger and 15g of bobek for 15mins, it doesnt came out like a lager or an ale, nice mix of the two, almost like leffe. And last month 4kg lager malt and 750g maize, hopped with saaz, 90mins and 15mins. very drinkable now but gona leave it for another month for the beer festival.

I really do recommend brewing lager malt and us05

 

[danny]

mmm wheat beer!

http://www.stonehousebrewery.co.uk/ston ... appers.php

Awesome pint!

:

hic

 

[unclepumble]

You could always get hold of some oat husks and give em a good wash and add them to the mash, that will help stop a stuck mash wont add any flavour or anything it will just work as a filter media, failing that add some rolled oats to the mash and it will give you a nice creamy mouthfeel.

UP

 

[aeddon]

I kegged this two weeks ago and filled a corny and had a bit left over so bottled a few primed with medium spray malt. The Corny beer doesnt taste right, I thought it was a bit too young but cracked open a bottle and it tastes great. I think wheat really does benefit from being primed in bottles with the complexity of the extra yeast and doesnt suit being forced carbonated in a keg. Thinking about letting the pressure out of the keg and letting it go flat to transfer into bottles, makes a huge difference.