Pilsner Malt Questions

[Semper Sitientum]

Those that do this, are you just using tap water? I’ve been conditioned to remove chlorine, but I guess it’s so minimal that there won’t be any negative affects?

 

[Craigerrr]

I use the RO water that I use for brewing,but that is a very good point

 

[Bigbre04]

I am not above this, but many of my recipes use whole bags of grain(up to around 195lbs). i am not sure how i would go about dampening that quantity of grain evenly without having a giant plastic tub to spray it all down and then mix it and leave it. not to mention moving it around and such.

 

[Brew Cat]

not sure you gain much to be worth it
from my understanding it keeps the hulls more intact so you can crush finer and not get a stuck sparge
on a small scale rice hulls work for BIAB not really needed

 

[Dave Y]

Yeah, that can happen. You just have to be careful not to go wild with the amount of water. I usually spray on a predetermined amount of water and wait 10 minutes let in soak in evenly, then mill. It has increased my extraction rate and the flow is better as well.

I'm going to play @Bigbre04's ... Devil's advocate here.

When you say it's increased your extraction rate, are you saying back to back, identical mash bills, process, ingredients; IOW, all other things being equal?
Or a superficial observation that recently you'd gotten some better extraction, or somewhere in between?

The premise makes sense, but I can easily see this leading to a bunch of trouble in my garage

 

[Brew Cat]

well it is documented that the finer the crush the better extraction
like I mention the problem with crushing to fine is the dreaded stuck sparge
you can alleviate that some with rice hulls
so I believe the intact hulls from wetting the grain will help in the same way
it all depends on the time you want to invest vs $1 more grain or a few cents worth of rice hulls

 

[Bigbre04]

as i said above, i am not against trying it, but i am just not sure that the gains would be worth the logistics headache for my size.

I generally mill my grain the day before i brew so it would be sitting sealed in a bucket for roughly 12 hrs.

also i am already hitting 87-91% brewhouse eff. i dont know that i really need to add a really complicated additional step to each brew.

I also am brewing atleast twice a week at this point. so it would add a significant time to my prep day.

i also use 16 scoops of rice hulls per batch. which is roughly...4.4lbs of RH

maybe i just leave my pils malt outside in the south georgia coastal humidity for 24 hrs. that would probably hydrate them nicely! also the birds would fucking love it!

 

[Brewer #425155]

So I am consuming a lot of pilsner malt these day. I have access to a bunch of brands. I am looking for opinions/experience with these malts. All are fairly similar price wise.

Chateau -- Pils 2 Row --- Belgian --- 1.7-2.1SRM
Great Western -- Superiour Pils --- US --- 1.3-1.7SRM
Canada Malting Group -- Superior Pils --- Canadian --- 1.3-1.7SRM
Best Malz -- Pils Malt --- German --- 1.6-2.3SRM
Tchecomalt -- Pils --- Czech -- 1.7-2.2SRM
Durstmalz -- Pilsen malt --- Germany -- 1.5-2.3SRM

I can also order briess, TFandS, Epiphany, bairds, etc.

I have made good beer with both CMG and Tchecomalt.

I currently have the Tchecomalt on hand. My biggest complaint with it is that it is very very friable, my mill damn near powders it and it has given me problems with flow rates even with my heavy handed enzyme use. I like the beers that it has produced. the bags piss me off and the friability sucks.

the CMG was fine, but was boring, it is very cheap and it will make decent beer. these are the only positives i have found for the CMG.

I am somewhat leaning towards the Chateau pils, but it is relativley expensive compared to the others.

Bestmalz is the most expensive on this list by far.

I usually choose a malt from the country of origin based on the beer I am brewing, i.e. Czech, Belgium, German, England etc.

 

[Dave Y]

My inclination right now is between rice hulls and beta glucanase I am getting good extraction and not sticking - even at 55% rye malt. Maybe it's something that could help, but I also process the grains the night before brew day.

 

[Bigbre04]

i ended up going with 20 bags of the chateau pils. i also changed my 2 row from Canada malting 2row to Great western 2R to give it a swing.

hopefully the pallet will be here on thursday!

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

I'm going to play @Bigbre04's ... Devil's advocate here.

When you say it's increased your extraction rate, are you saying back to back, identical mash bills, process, ingredients; IOW, all other things being equal?
Or a superficial observation that recently you'd gotten some better extraction, or somewhere in between?

The premise makes sense, but I can easily see this leading to a bunch of trouble in my garage

Sorry to take so long to reply. I saw a small uptick in extraction overall. I was already high anyway (not intoxicated, mind you), but it went from the mid to high 80's to the high 80's-low 90's.

 

[Hawkbox]

Almost all my grain is from a local craft maltster so I have no real opinion on the brands. I use a brewbag in a Grainfather so I've long mostly powdered my grain into almost flour when brewing.

 

[Dave Y]

Almost all my grain is from a local craft maltster so I have no real opinion on the brands. I use a brewbag in a Grainfather so I've long mostly powdered my grain into almost flour when brewing.

do you get any better extraction vs. say "credit card depth" milling?

 

[Hawkbox]

I do but maybe 3-4% so it really probably doesn't matter. I used a Corona mill for years so it just powdered everything but I got a Barley Crusher cheap and I eyeballed the gap on it. It isn't as good but it's close enough.

 

[Craigerrr]

i ended up going with 20 bags of the chateau pils. i also changed my 2 row from Canada malting 2row to Great western 2R to give it a swing.

hopefully the pallet will be here on thursday!

Was the Canadian malt the OIO product? I used their 2 row product earlyon, was never happy with the results, but my knowledge and brewing skill were not such that I could say with confidence that it was the fault of the grain

 

[Bigbre04]

Was the Canadian malt the OIO product? I used their 2 row product earlyon, was never happy with the results, but my knowledge and brewing skill were not such that I could say with confidence that it was the fault of the grain

nope i have used OIO, but not their pils, just thier flaked products. i think at the time they were using paper bags which i absolutely hate. They tear if you look at them funny and they are a pain in the ass to cut open and get all of the grain out of.

this is CMC 2R.

@Hawkbox @Dave Y your mill gap is the width of a credit card? or is that paying someone to mill it for you?

 

[Dave Y]

@Hawkbox @Dave Y your mill gap is the width of a credit card? or is that paying someone to mill it for you?

I have a spike mill, I'd say credit card gap-ish. erring on the smaller side for BIAB. On that mill I use setting ~2.24 for rye, and ~3.75 for more standard grains.

 

[Bigbre04]

I have a spike mill, I'd say credit card gap-ish. erring on the smaller side for BIAB. On that mill I use setting ~2.24 for rye, and ~3.75 for more standard grains.

i cant confirm this, but i want to say that the "0" setting on my mill is roughly a creditcard setting or maybe the 1. that is damn near powder i would assume.

I have not yet gotten to use the new pils malt. i am brewing a double of my golden lager next week so i will get it into rotation.

 

[Hawkbox]

nope i have used OIO, but not their pils, just thier flaked products. i think at the time they were using paper bags which i absolutely hate. They tear if you look at them funny and they are a pain in the ass to cut open and get all of the grain out of.

this is CMC 2R.

@Hawkbox @Dave Y your mill gap is the width of a credit card? or is that paying someone to mill it for you?

It's close to a credit card, suppose I should go measure it. I mill my own but I don't pay that much attention to it.

 

[Donoroto]

i cant confirm this, but i want to say that the "0" setting on my mill is roughly a creditcard setting or maybe the 1. that is damn near powder i would assume.

I have not yet gotten to use the new pils malt. i am brewing a double of my golden lager next week so i will get it into rotation.

A credit card is 0.036 inches or so.