Yes.
Thanks for the reply. Yesterday I did hit 152 at start of mash and 149 at end. Pretty tight range I think. Preboil SG 1051 and post SG 1060. About right in line with my recipe. I think my primary problem was caused by mashing too high. If the lower mash temp solves my problem then I probably won't mess with any of my other parameters. Was still making good beer even before but any chance to improve is welcome... ChipIf you're on a well, just keep using RO and add proper minerals...or maybe get it tested because maybe you're lucky. If you're on municipal water, there has to be a report - probably quarterly - that'll tell you the important numbers.
PS...stick to the US-05 for your temp ranges. All the fuss about Kveik being good for higher temps misses the point. It's good for over 90 which takes temp control and heating, in most environments. If you have a constant 72 ambient, you can get good fermentations with very minimal additional infrastructure.
Interesting. I've been following instructions that I used to get when buying kits from My Brew Supply (I make my own recipe's now). It called for heating sparge water to 170. Although I've been heating to 185-190 so that my "batch" sparge temp will be 170 when the drained mash and sparge water are mixed. I then allow it to sit covered for ten minutes, stir, and then drain into my boil kettle. What changes to this "batch" sparge method would you recommend? Thanks for the input... Chip
S-05 is half the price of Voss at least on Amazon. And I don't have any way to keep the fermentation numbers that consistently high for Voss. Fermenting at 72 F with S-05 seems to be working fine for me. I believe my problem was mash temps too high... Chip
Don't change a thing. A mashout/sparge temp of 168 is useful in making sure you're getting the most from the sugars that your enzymes converted. Lots of BIAB brewers tell you that you don't need to bother but they seem happy with conversion efficiency in the 75% range or even lower. I do a slow fly sparge and mashout. When I skimp on either in terms of temp or time, I can see slightly lower efficiency. I haven't made a careful study of it but I trust the process.
Check out RiteBrew for yeast prices. It's $2 to $$4 a packet rather than $5 to $8 like most places.
Yeah, that's a good price. I've been buying by the brick but I use the Apex yeasts that are much cheaper than the Fermentis stuff. It ends up being maybe $1.50 for 11 grams. That only works if you brew a lot and have a vacuum sealer.
Yup! When I got my first all in one, I missed a SG a couple of times in a row, did some reading, and calculated my efficiency at around 63%. At first I worked around it by adding a pound or so more base malt. This was before I was using brewer's friend. A local convinced me to try a 'mini-sparge' so I gave it a shot and sure enough, got a few more efficiency points. I slowly modified my process to get things closer in efficiency to what recipes quote.
Yeah, repeatability in the process helps a lot. As I've seen posted here many times - It will still be beer and probably be pretty good to boot.
I did a 70 minute mash yesterday. Pre boil SG came out 1051 which I thought was pretty good. I may routinely go with at 75 minute mash in the future. Thanks for the input... Chip
Interesting. I had not thought about doing that. My cooler is large enough to to with 8 gallons plus grains in one swoop. But I have always though that it was important to drain the 152 degree wort and then "kick it up a notch" adding hotter water to the drained grain bed to wash the goodies off the left over mash? As is it is much easier for me to start with 5 gallons of strike water at 164, dump in 13 pounds of grain, stir, check the temp, and then close up. Mixing is a breeze. I've read where others try and mix that amount of grain in three gallons of water! Forget about it, that doesn't work for me. I to use a bag inside my cooler. For me it is the only way to go... ChipFor BIAB brewers:
Why sparge at all? Forget the fact that BIAB is designed for simplicity and sparging defeats the one kettle process. I get that sparging can increase efficiency, so there’s that. But why not just mash with that water already? Now, if you have a small kettle, maybe full volume mashing isn’t possible. Fair enough. But with BIAB, I’ve found without question that the more water in the kettle, the better the conversion efficiency. So if I were to withhold some of my mash water to use as a sparge, my kettle efficiency would drop and then only make it back to where it would have been after I sparge to hit pre-boil volume. Maybe I’m thinking about this wrong, wouldn’t surprise me.
As a BIAB brewer, I set my recipe efficiency based on gravity. I use 3 different efficiencies, kind of a sliding scale…72%, 75%, 78%. The bigger the beer, the lower the water:grist ratio, the worse the conversion, and vice-versa. The best thing I ever did to increase my BIAB efficiency was simply to grind my grains finer. Set my mill for as tight as she goes. I simply can’t be trusted with sparging anyway. I’d have water all over the place and probably burn myself.
I have a vacuum sealer but do probably two or three five gallon batches per month. I'm already sealing my specialty grains with oxygen absorbers and un-crushed to keep them fresh. Standard two row pale I order in 10 lb bags already crushed and usually just a couple months worth at a time... ChipYeah, that's a good price. I've been buying by the brick but I use the Apex yeasts that are much cheaper than the Fermentis stuff. It ends up being maybe $1.50 for 11 grams. That only works if you brew a lot and have a vacuum sealer.
It's not going to hurt anything, just not necessary
Your process is not problematic, just not completely necessary. Call it a “rinse” and don't sweat the exact temperatures.
