This will be a real quick post..essentially what I did is brewed my first Oatmeal Stout (Aka "Bumpaddle"), bottled my English Bitter ("Miracle Elixor") and pitched the Stout wort right onto the yeast cake in primary last Sunday (but I did do this on a massive hangover from hitting up the hopleaf the night prior night...so I've got that goin for me..which is nice).You can see my tempory "3 tier" system to the right, also I would like to note that I'm a
knucklehead and have figured out why my mashes have been getting stuck so frequently with the last few batches...I've been batch sparging (which I prefer) but I have also been opening up my drain valve all the way..which obviously (well now anyway) has been compacting the grain bed and not maintaining the inch or so of liquid I should have over the grain bed when sparging. Needless to say this time it went great by allowing 30 minutes to sparge.
knucklehead and have figured out why my mashes have been getting stuck so frequently with the last few batches...I've been batch sparging (which I prefer) but I have also been opening up my drain valve all the way..which obviously (well now anyway) has been compacting the grain bed and not maintaining the inch or so of liquid I should have over the grain bed when sparging. Needless to say this time it went great by allowing 30 minutes to sparge.This is the second time I have re-pitched onto an existing yeast cake, the first was with my Barley Wine (onto a American Ale yeast used for a pale ale) which worked out well. With this batch I am able to say it worked just as well, if not better.
Primary fermentation was pretty much wrapped up within 3 days, which still amazes me. I plan on sitting this guy down in Secondary for at least a few weeks as it did come in a little heavy (1.068OG-above style guidlines..border line "imperial stout") before bottling..and then an additional 3-4 weeks to bottle condition might be necessary.
So this was a pretty full brew day, not only did I bottle my English Bitter (which is amazingly well balanced I must say) but I also brewed up an Oatmeal Stout, and finished the morning off by dropping 2oz of American Oak chips into my Belgiam Wild ale, which has be
en in tertiary for 4 months and will continue to be there for at least another 8 months prior to bottling. To the right you will see a close up on this batch in tertiary close up, you can somewhat make out a chunk of oak floating in there...just thought it was kinda cool looking..
en in tertiary for 4 months and will continue to be there for at least another 8 months prior to bottling. To the right you will see a close up on this batch in tertiary close up, you can somewhat make out a chunk of oak floating in there...just thought it was kinda cool looking..This weekend I plan on JUST bottling my Saison...well thats the plan anyway....I will say I do have the grain and hops on hand for a pretty kick ass all cascade APA..which of course is a hop that will likely not exist in 2009.
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6 comments:
Yes! Reuse that yeast! Dude you have some irons in the fire. Rock on!
Quick question on your batch sparges and "stuck mash": From what I understand of the stuck mash is that it is only supposed to happen with fly sparges because you want to maintain the 1-3" of liquid above the grain bed. This causes the grains to be in suspension and the sugars to be floating around in the liquid. The stuck mash occurs when the liquid is being run off faster than it is being run into the mash tun.
With batch sparges you should add your "mash out water" to get the temp up to the desired 168f, run off your liquid and refill with the sparge water. You let it sit for 10-15min and repeat. There should not be any "stuck mashes" because you are just running things out. If you are getting grains built up and clogging your false bottom, you might want to look at how it's setup and make sure it can handle the process (I had this problem a few times myself).
Hope that helps, cheers!
Hey Guys!
Travis-maybe I should use "clogged mash" instead. I believe the case to be that with running off (batch sparging) with the valve completely open (and top off) I am creating to quick of a flow in there and sucking more of the smaller pieces of grain through and compacting the grain a bit more, which in turn is both clogging up my false bottom, and reducing the flow to an absolute minimum..by chocking down the flow rate there is not so much of a rush inside the tun if that makes sense.
I do agree with you that stuck sparges do pertain to fly sparging, so maybe my problem has just been being a knucklehead :)
You're not a knuckle head unless you are from Georgia :-)
The reason I brought that up was that when I was batch sparging I had the same problems. That was why I rebuilt my false bottom. When I was batch sparging, I was having problems (related to the connection between the false bottom and the spout) and my flow would cut off completely. It sucks cause you have a whole cooler full of 150f wet grains and the clog is all the way down at the bottom.
I feel your pain.
Cheers!
Thanks, I do appreciate the feedback and while its on my mind I have thought about the rate of water when I pour into the mashtun to begin the mash, usually I just dump it in there and mix..but I do believe by doing that I'm lifting my false bottom and letting that crap get down there and gum up the works.
Guess I should brew this weekend afterall to further delve into this problem :)
Cheers!
Brian,
Travis' advice is sound. Rebuilding your false bottom is a good idea. I went with the "vacated SS hose reinforcement" route. Check out a photo at this url:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/65423964@N00/1579451946/
I never have a clogged or stuck mash.
Bad Ben
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