Mash Out

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MX1
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Mash Out

Post by MX1 »

After setting up all my equipment I have more stuff in my 3 gallon mini tun that it will hold.

During the mash out, before the sparge, am I suposed to drain the wort?

Tim
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billvelek
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Drain before sparging

Post by billvelek »

If you want to do a mashout (sometimes I don't bother* and many other folks don't, either), then you add enough hot water to raise your mash to about 170F (going much further could extract tannins from the husks). If your tun doesn't have the capacity for you to add sufficient mashout water, then I would skip that step. After mashout, or without mashout if you're skipping that step, drain your first runnings BEFORE you add any sparge water (that is definite for batch sparging, and I don't believe it would necessarily be much different for fly sparging**). After you have drained your first runnings, THEN you add your sparge water. My sparge water is about 168F to 170F, so it is also like a mashout at that point.

*Mashout is for the purpose of denaturing the enzymes so that they stop cleaving more complex sugars such as dextrose, IIRC, into simpler sugars which can be digested by yeast; in other words, if your wort sits long enough without mashout or boil, I believe you end with a thinner beer -- more alcohol and less unfermentables like dextrose which give a beer 'body'. When I batch sparge, I usually put the first runnings right onto the stove so temp is quickly raised to denature the enzymes, and my batch sparging is very quick, too, which makes a differnce; my first batch sparge, including vorlauf, is usually finished in ten minutes or so, and that is added to the hot wort on the stove, and then my second batch sparge takes probably another ten minutes, and that's added to the hot wort on the stove. Likewise with any third batch sparge (I do that when I have a very large grain bill for a partigyle, which is what I usually do). I use the stove in the kitchen to that point because it is close and convenient to my mashtun which is also in the kitchen. Then I carry my pot outside to my propane burner for the boil. It is my understanding that fly sparging usually takes longer, in which case an actual mashout might be necessary.

**With fly-sparging, I think brewers try to maintain a floating grain bed so that it doesn't compact; with that in mind, I would presume that sparge water MIGHT be added at some point before the first runnings are completely drained -- maybe start sprinkling the sparge water just as the wort level gets down to the top of the grain bed, but I'll let a 'fly'-sparger explain that.

Cheers.

Bill Velek
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MX1
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This summed it up

Post by MX1 »

[quote]After mashout, or without mashout if you're skipping that step, drain your first runnings BEFORE you add any sparge water (that is definite for batch sparging, and I don't believe it would necessarily be much different for fly sparging**). After you have drained your first runnings, THEN you add your sparge water. My sparge water is about 168F to 170F, so it is also like a mashout at that point. [/quote]

Thanks, this is what I was looking for.

I just finished bottling my first brew tonight, and getting ready for my first PM on the 23rd. Using the mash sched, it looks to be a long day, but I really enjoy the "cooking" part of this hobby.

Tim
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billvelek
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Are you 'batch' or 'fly' sparging?

Post by billvelek »

Are you 'batch' or 'fly' sparging? Because that might make a difference; if you are fly-sparging, please re-read my notation about that because you would probably want to begin gently sprinkling your sparge water as soon as the wort drops down to the top of your grain bed, after which I think you should try to match the flow of sparge water to the same rate as your runnings so that you can keep the the mash right at that level. Note also that you need to be sure that you have calculated everything correctly so that you aren't oversparging or else check the pH of your runnings as you near the end. (That is another thing that batch spargers usually needn't worry about.) 8)

Cheers.

Bill Velek
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MX1
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Post by MX1 »

I will be batch sparging.

Just to check my process:

Add strike water
rest
drain - because I can not add direct heat, and I dont think there will be enuff space to add hot water to get it up to temp

sparge.

This sound right?

Tim
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billvelek
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That's correct.

Post by billvelek »

That's correct.

Bill Velek
Visit www.tinyurl.com/bvelek - portal to my brewing sites: 3,100+ members on 'Grow-Hops', and 1,350+ brewers on my 'BrewingEquip' group.
Running BTP v1.5.3 on WinXP 2005 SP3 w/AMD Athlon 64@3800+, 1GigRam, Res 1024x768
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