HomebrewandBeer.com forum

brew no9.

made the jump to all grain yesterday. made a plan and a step by step walk through of what i was going to do. estimated 3 hours.... took 6.
i had a few unexspected things happen and just wanted someones oppinion.
firstly the grain behaved totaly difforent to water in terms of heat, almost like insulation the temp got up to 70degrees in some places and 64 in otheres, and this was with vigourus stirring to keep it all mixed will this be ok or is this a problem i need to adresss in future brews, eg. make a better heat spreadder for the bottom of the pan.

secondly, i got some iodine to check the starch conversion but forgott to check it at blast off to get a refrense, i checked it at about 30mins in and it seemed to go red/brown, can all the starches be converted this fast?.

thirdly wat the f$#k id that brown skum all about???? lol

and i would just like to say that i have become a bet more relaxed as far as sanitatin goes in respect to my paranoid beginner self (not to say i sanitise less but i just worry less), i just was horrified to think of the much incresed thrett to infection from all graining


ps smells loverly.

Yeh, they do smell good.

I do an infusion at a constant temp using a cooler so I don't have to worry about adding heat. You dough in, and mix every 15 so that eliminates the heat issue.

Not sure about the brown stuff

Yes it can happen that quick. If your Iodine test says you are free and clear, drive on

Dogger

Check out http://zymo.homemail.com.au/beer.htm for a description of a RIMS (Recirculating Infusion Mash System):

After much reading of the internet, I decided I wanted to make a RIMS , or Recirculating Infusion Mash System. I wanted to do this after having such large temp gradients in the mash tun from top to bottom. No matter how much I tried, the temps were all over the place. The other thing about RIMS is of course the amazing clarity of the liquor after it has circulated for about 15 minutes. The grain bed acts as a filter and traps all the hazy particles suspended in the liquor. No need to vorlauf here! Another factor that led me to want to make a RIMS is the ability to control and repeat the mash. Temperature plays a very important roll in making beer. With some of today's highly modified grains being an almost instant converter, 15 minutes can see all the starch converted to sugars. In this case then, you had better make sure you strike the right temp first up and have no temp gradients. The difference between say 65 degrees C and 70 degrees C can be a thin beer or a beer with body. The higher temp making more unfermentable dextrin sugars.

It continues with a very geeky all grain brewing setup. I'd love to try this when I get some space.

the brown stuff when you boil. you know the crap.... there was tones of it. ha ha ha was like .......well....... you know the stuff.

and the rims heater looks like i could have fun making it i have an old washing machine heating eliment kicking about and a pump but i dont know if the pump would take the temp and also i could see it all going wrong and pumping the liquid gold all over for the dogs to drink... lol

iv been thinking and looking and iv desided to use the f#%king obvious choice..... the oven.

would just like to ask that iv read that its harder to exstract the goddys from the hopps when your wort is condensed but have know idea if this is a major issue or just another one of those preferental and hardly negligable things.

thanks
mark.

right just kegged this baby, and had a sneeky taste, it was crystal clear but my first thoughts were it tasted a bit watery, but the flavour was sertanly there hopps tasted butifull but just no substinanse to back the creamy flavour and floral aromas up.

used 7lb mars otter (brittish 2 row)
5oz crystal malt
5oz brown malt (wanted to use buicuit malt but this is all the hbs had)
1.6oz fuggles @60min
0.6oz fuggles @15min
1.4oz goldings @end

og was 1.040 in 19lieters
finnished at 1.008

used safale s-04 and fermented at around 20degrees C

was thinking of putting some oats in the next batch to increce body and creamy full mouthfeel.

any suggestions???!!!

thanks

mark.

ps this brew is the holy grail..!!!!!!!!!