Newbie question - planning my second batch

[pixelboy]

Dunno mate I never check OG or FG

At a guess id say 5%.. a rough guess.

[Danzar]

No worries.

This will be the first time I use grains, or even mash.

Two questions:

1. Is there a good thread here that involves 'mashing for dummies'.
2. May I ask what gear I need? I only have the basics (fermenter, spoon, etc that's used when making basic kit beers). Do I need to buy a new esky (mine's old and a bit dirty) or a special pot? A special thermometer?

I have no idea on mashing but do understand that I need to maintain the right temps.

I know what I need to do with the yeast, fermentables, orange and coriander. Just completely ignorant on the grain.

[rwh]

To do all grain you need some large, expensive equipment. The main ones are:

1. A large pot. 30L or larger. ~$100 aluminium, $200 stainless steel
2. A wort chiller. ~$100
3. A mash tun. ~$50 home made
4. Some kind of burner capable of boiling ~25L of wort. I use my housemate's BBQ which only just has enough heat output. A 4 ring burner would be better, but costs ~$80.

You can get your toes wet by doing a partial if you have a 15L or so pot, or you can do small batches. You do this using a sieve or something, and just live with the break material staying in your beer.

Check out Palmer on All Grain. I'd recommend that you start out with a few all-extract brews (i.e. brews that don't use a kit, just extracts, hops and yeast) to get the hang of doing a full recipe yourself.

[Danzar]

To do all grain you need some large, expensive equipment. The main ones are:

1. A large pot. 30L or larger. ~$100 aluminium, $200 stainless steel
2. A wort chiller. ~$100
3. A mash tun. ~$50 home made
4. Some kind of burner capable of boiling ~25L of wort. I use my housemate's BBQ which only just has enough heat output. A 4 ring burner would be better, but costs ~$80.

You can get your toes wet by doing a partial if you have a 15L or so pot, or you can do small batches. You do this using a sieve or something, and just live with the break material staying in your beer.

Check out Palmer on All Grain. I'd recommend that you start out with a few all-extract brews (i.e. brews that don't use a kit, just extracts, hops and yeast) to get the hang of doing a full recipe yourself.

Ahh, sorry, I should have been more specific - just an outline on how to mash my 500g of Torrefied wheat and the equipment needed. I'm not yet savvy enough to do an all grain mash.

Once I mash my Torrefied wheat it will go in with my kit brew concentrate, yeast and wheat extract.

[rwh]

Ah ok then, you should be able to do it something like this then:

1. add 500g of malted barley (probably J. White ale malt or whatever) and 500g of Torrefied wheat to a pot that you've wrapped with lots of towels or other insulating material.
2. Add 2.5L of water @ 75 degrees C.
3. Check the temp. You're aiming for 66 degrees C.
4. Add hot/cold water and stir to bring temp to exactly 66 degrees C.
5. Put on the lid, and put some more towels on top to insulate it.
6. Check it every 15 minutes, and add some hot water if the temp has dropped to bring it back to 66.
7. After an hour, strain the liquid (now called liquor) into your wort, and then sparge with another 2.5L of water @ 78 degrees C, tip this into your wort too.

Congratulations, you've just done your first partial. You need the malted barley to provide the saccarification enzymes to mash the wheat.

Cheers!

[Danzar]

Ah ok then, you should be able to do it something like this then:

1. add 500g of malted barley (probably J. White ale malt or whatever) and 500g of Torrefied wheat to a pot that you've wrapped with lots of towels or other insulating material.
2. Add 2.5L of water @ 75 degrees C.
3. Check the temp. You're aiming for 66 degrees C.
4. Add hot/cold water and stir to bring temp to exactly 66 degrees C.
5. Put on the lid, and put some more towels on top to insulate it.
6. Check it every 15 minutes, and add some hot water if the temp has dropped to bring it back to 66.
7. After an hour, strain the liquid (now called liquor) into your wort, and then sparge with another 2.5L of water @ 78 degrees C, tip this into your wort too.

Congratulations, you've just done your first partial. You need the malted barley to provide the saccarification enzymes to mash the wheat.

Cheers!

Clear enough. I'm only using Torrefied wheat though. From what I've read here, this particular recipe only involves that (refer a few posts before this, on page 1). Is that right?

BTW - what is 'sparge'? (Sorry, newbie still developing knowledge).

[rwh]

Well, in that case you're only "steeping" the torrefied wheat, not mashing it. You do this by soaking it in 75 degree or so water for 20 minutes, usually in a grain sock, and then pouring more water through it to wash the grain. Then you add this liquid to your brew and continue as normal. Same procedure as for using specialty grains.

Um, sparging is the act of washing the grain with a second batch of water.

Seriously mate, read those links to Palmer from my previous post... at least the one on all-extract with specialty grains. It will answer all your questions so I don't have to.

[Danzar]

No worries. Already started and thanks for the tips!

[Danzar]

Done! Just put this one down.

Fingers crossed. As soon as my blonde beer is finished I'll do a second.

Added some Saaz hops, but used the teabag and only steeped for around 5 minutes.

One thing I couldn't get my head around was the lack of water after steeping the wheat. I guess it's a concentrate.

Will let you know how this one goes.

[rwh]

Done! Just put this one down.

Congrats.

Added some Saaz hops, but used the teabag and only steeped for around 5 minutes.

Sounds like it'll be good.

One thing I couldn't get my head around was the lack of water after steeping the wheat. I guess it's a concentrate.

What do you mean? Did the wheat suck up all the water or something? For 100g of wheat, you really should steep in like two litres of water... it wouldn't be able to suck all that up would it!?

[Danzar]

The recommendation here was 0.5-1kg of wheat - I used 0.5g. Used 2 litres of water (I doubled what the HBS recommended).

Judging from the amount of liquid (the wheat certainly did suck it up) I may double this amount for the second batch.

[Adzmax]

I used 500g of wheeties too. Soaked up a hell of a lot of water, will depend on how long you leave it in for and the temp of the water. I've never tried it before either. I just brought to boil then slowed to simmer. Then I strained into the wort. Should be ok I hope I'll just have to drink and see

[Danzar]

I just steeped in boiled water for 30 minutes.

[Adzmax]

Yeah thats more than enough time for the water to be sucked up, I don't think mine was in that long

Might look at boiling grain next time instead of the wheat puffs. I'll just see how this lot go's

[rwh]

Don't boil grain. Above 82 degrees C you run the risk of extracting tannins.

[Aussie Claret]

Danzar,
After you soaked the grain in boiled water, did you boil the wort? I hope so as grains contain bacteria and if not boiled can infect your brew.

As for boiling grains, you can boil them if cracked without risk of extracting tannins so long as you are boiling in wort which contains the converted starches. This is how decotion mashing is done, (taking part of the mash including the grains and boiling them then returning the lot to the rest of the mash to increase the temperature overall of the mash) having said that I wouldn't be boiling roasted grains.
Tannins are only extracted if there is no sugar and under low pH conditions.

AC

[Danzar]

Thanks AC. I certainly did. Boiled the fermentables (Coopers wheat extract) for 20 minutes then rested for about 15 minutes. The beer concentrate was not boiled.

I was making the very beer that's the subject of this thread, with orange and coriander.

So, what is the best way to approach the Torrefied wheat (I'm not mashing).

Steep in warm water or boiling water and for how long and how much water per kg? Or should I actually boil the wheat (I don't know how it would stand that). I could even chuck it in my large coffee plunger.

[Aussie Claret]

Me bad didn't read the first couple of pages.
Just try steeping the torrified wheat, (which will give you a cloudy wort perfect for a wit) then boil the liquid to kill any nasties. If you add orange rind and coriander only add it toward the end of the boil 5mins should be sufficient. (add the orange toward the end or you will extract too much oranginess, and possibly the oils in the rind which can have an effect on the head retention, I made the mistake of boiling too long).

Steep in 2.5x the weight of grain.
Cheers
AC

[azaj]

WHAT DOES PITCHING MEAN? AND HOW DO YOU DO IT?

[lethaldog]

Pitching is merely adding your yeast to the fermenter, you sprinkle it on evenly for dried yeast and pour in for liquid yeast, its that easy Oh and get the temp down below or around 26*C

By the way, stop shouting we can not hear you anyway