| All Grain Brewing - All Grain (cont.) |
Page 2 of 2 Add the grain slowly continuing to stir for a few minutes after the grain has been added to make sure that the entire mash is a consistent temperature and that all dough balls have been eliminated. Letting the mash sit for 60 minutes at 148-160° generally results in full enzymatic conversion of the starches to sugars. Make sure that the lid is placed on the mash to retain heat. Consider insulating the vessel if you are brewing outside in really cold temperatures but the large thermal mass of the mash should hold its temperature. If the temperature doesn't hold just add hot water or cold water to move it a few degrees but do not add flame under the vessel because it is easy to scorch the grains causing off flavors. Recirculate the wort by removing some from the spigot below the false bottom and add it back to the top of the grain bed. Do this until the runoff is nearly free of visible debris, then start the sparge. The Sparge rinses out the sugars from the mash. Use 1/2 gallon of water for every pound of grain used in the mash. This is a simplified calculation that will allow you to be sure you have more sparge water than you actually will need. There is a chart in The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Third Edition (Harperresource Book)
To begin the sparging process open the Hot Liquor tank valve and allow the water to flow onto the grain bed. A simple hose will work for this process however a stationary sparge arm is a time saving addition. Connect a piece of tubing onto ball valve on the mashtun and allow it to run into the boil kettle. Open the valve on the bottom of the Mashtun allowing the hot sparge water to flow through the mash. Try to get the same flow of water coming into the mashtun as wort flowing out of the mashtun and into the boil kettle. Keep at least a two-inch layer of water on top of the grain bed to keep incoming sparge water from channeling through the grain. The sparge should take 45-60 minutes to insure that there is plenty of time for the sugars to go into solution . Sparge until you have collected 1-2 gallons of wort over the final amount you want which is dependent upon the batch size and boil off rates. A good boil-off amount is 10% of the starting volume. You want the additional gallons because you will be leaving some liquid behind in the break and hop matter. Add hops and any other ingredients as the recipe calls for. It is generally a good idea to add Irish moss or Whirlfloc with 20 minutes left in the boil to aid in hot break separation. |
which gives pound to water ratios that is very helpful.Adjust the pH of the water to 5.5-6.5. By acidifying the sparge water you help to insure that the tannins from the husk don't get absorbed into solution during the sparging process, and carried into the boil kettle. Temperature also plays a key roll in sparging. Keep the temperature as close to 170°F without going over. At this temperature you will dissolve the sugars without leaching tannins from the grain husk. As always, it is better to filter the water.
