Using a Bruheat boiler as a mash tun

guildofevil

Here is what I do:

Go down to Hickeys, or similar sewing shop and buy 2 meters of muslin.

This cost about €4 and gives you plenty of material for your mashing screen and to cut buts off for use as a grain/hop bags, which I use when I throw fruit or spices into the secondary.

You will also need one of those bungee cords, with hooks on the end. The kind used for strapping things to the back of bicycles, motorbikes, etc. I got mine in one of those little hardware and nicknack shops on Mary street.

Put the water into the boiler and start it heating to strike temperature.

While the water is heating, drape the muslin over the opening of the boiler and stretch the bungee cord around the top, hooking the ends together to secure the muslin in place. I started out using two bungee cords to make sure it was secure, but have since discovered that one is enough.

Next, gently push the muslin down into the water, feeling for the element. (Careful. This will eventually get hot!) You will have to fiddle with the muslin and bungee cord at this stage, in order to allow more muslin through as you need it.

The object here is to create as large a space as possible for the grain to occupy, while keeping the muslin from directly contacting the element, so you'll have to pull a bit of cloth through under the muslin, here, then there, smoothing it against the sides and seeing how it hangs.

I find that this procedure is a lot easier if you get the muslin above the water line, but inside the boiler, nice and wet, as it sticks to the sides of the bucket, slightly.

By trial and error I have discovered that, if I can just touch the element with my hand, by pushing down on the submerged part of the muslin sheet, it leaves plenty of space between the element and the bottom of the muslin, once the grain is in.

Next, wait for the water to reach strike temperature and add the grain. Mash as normal, adding heat as you need it to maintain temperature.

I find that I need to fire up the element for about five minutes every twenty, stirring well during and after, to maintain a reasonably constant temperature.

I have been using this method for a couple of years now and I find it works very well. The muslin can take quite a bit of punishment, so don't worry about stirring the grain.

You can fly sparge with this setup and I have done so many times with much success, but you are probably better off batch sparging, by vorlaufing and draining the system, using the spigot and then filling it with the sparge water, stirring, etc.

I collect the wort in a clean 25l bucket and remove the grain filled muslin from the boiler.

You will notice wort at the bottom of the boiler at this point and the temptation will be to add it to the wort you have just collected. DONT. While removing the grains, you have effectively squeezed the grain bag, extracting tannins which can cause an astringent flavour in the finished beer. Pour it down the drain and give the boiler a quick rinse.

You can now syphon the wort back into the boiler and boil as normal.

I usually split my brew day by setting the wort aside, at this point and doing the boil the next night. It is important to use a well sanitized bucket and lid if you plan to do this.

By the way. If you are going to use a bruheat boiler for your boil, get one of these Hop Strainers:
http://www.hopshopuk.com/cgi-bin/browse-no-frames.cgi?view=item&item=eq078 they save SO much hassle by preventing the hops from clogging the spigot. If you're handy with copper piping you could even make one yourself.

Séan

bigears

Great instructions, I'm starting to get a feel for how this is going to work.

This cost about €4 and gives you plenty of material for your mashing screen and to cut buts off for use as a grain/hop bags, which I use when I throw fruit or spices into the secondary

When you refer to the mashing screen is this a separate piece of equipment (like a false bottom) or do you mean the muslin will act as a screen for mashing?

You can fly sparge with this setup and I have done so many times with much success, but you are probably better off batch sparging, by vorlaufing and draining the system, using the spigot and then filling it with the sparge water, stirring, etc.

I think I understand the basics of sparging and I imagine a batch sparge to be less time consuming so I'll go for that. What is vorlaufing?

noby

bigears wrote:

I think I understand the basics of sparging and I imagine a batch sparge to be less time consuming so I'll go for that. What is vorlaufing?

When you're ready to sparge, pour off a jug full or wort, and pour this back in to the tun. Repeat a couple of times until the wort clears. Then continue sparging.

oblivious

Vorlaufing, my understanding is a process by which you take the first running (a liter or so) a pour back on to the grain bed to help compact it and allow to filter the wort

Here is a link to Denny Conn, a very well know home brewer on the west coast of America, he favor batch sparing and can achieve result as good or better the fly sparing.

http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

guildofevil

Yes, I simply meant that the muslin acts as a screen and the vorlauf stage is simply the initial part of the spagring process, where you draw off some of the wort and pour it back onto the grain bed.

Batch sparging isn't really any quicker than fly sparging, but it is more forgiving of any quirks in your system.

When fly sparging, you drizzle the sparge water over the grain bed, trying not to allow it to compact, by maintaining a blanket of water over the top of the grain bed. You do this while draining the wort out of the bottom of the boiler, so it can be a little tricky to get the speed of run-off right. You can get a rotating sparge arm for the Bruheat boiler, to assist with this process. However, a poorly arranged muslin cloth could cause channelling, meaning an uneven sparge, hence poor efficiency, resulting in fewer fermentable sugars than you should have.

When batch sparging, as soon as you are finished mashing, you simply vorlauf, then drain the entire system of wort, as fast as you can. You then fill the system with sparge water, stir the grains to assist in rinsing the sugars off them, leave it for a few minutes to settle, then vorlauf and drain again.

With a well designed and built system, fly sparging results in slightly higher efficiency. With a system prone to quirks, like this one, batch sparging is, in my opinion, the better option.

Séan

oblivious

I have yet to do an all grain, how long does it lake to fly sparge? Look like you have a good bit of experience with it

oblivious

Hi all

Would anyone know what Lovibond is the crystal malt that grape and grain sells? I am presuming some were around 50-60L, but am not sure.

noby

50-60 is probably a good presumption, but why not ask G'n'G themselves?

oblivious

Hi Noby, thanks for that. I asked a few months ago, but they did not seem to know.

noby

British Crystal Malt is often quoted as 55deg, so I usually stick with that figure for calculations.

bigears

Just to confuse matters further....

I got some grain from Hop & Grape (www.hopandgrape.co.uk) earlier in the year when a mate was driving back from the UK. Lovibond is used as the measurement in the States and what you'll see in most recipes but as always US/Europe are different. In Europe EBC (European Brewing Convention) is used which is what was listed on my grain.

For what it's worth the Crystal I ordered was 120 EBC which is about 46 degrees L. They also stock a lighter Crystal which is 70 EBC or 27 deg L. I'm guessing the HB shops use a small number of big suppliers so chances are G&G are stocking one or other of these.

There is a formula for conversion which you'll find if you google EBC to Lovibond.

oblivious

Yea, I suspected that it was medium crystal malt. Where American crystal can go as low as 5-10L and special B is up at the other end of the scale 133-220L, it just my beer was turning out slightly darker than the recipe suggested

guildofevil

Grape N Grain are winemakers themselves, not brewers. I discovered that when I tried to get the %AA for their hops.

Mind you, while I make sure of my bittering calculations, I just fly by the seat of my pants when it comes to colour. Can make for some interesting brews and as long as you make sure to note all of your measurements you can make it again if it's nice.

“So what's this brew then?”

“Well it was supposed to be an ESB, but it turned out a little dark, so... a Porter, I suppose. Might put some unmalted roasted barley in it next time and maybe some oats; turn it into an oatmeal stout, maybe even...”

“Look, I was just asking to be polite. Nice beer though.”

I'm not really sure how long it takes me to fly or batch sparge. Seems to take about the same time. About half an hour, maybe?

I'll be brewing at some stage over the next few days and if I think of it, I'll take note of the time it takes me. Mind you, I do plan to batch sparge, so it won't really be the answer your looking for.

Séan

bigears

I'm starting to wonder if it's a good idea to use my 10 litre boiler as a mash tun as the element will disperse the heat quite a lot in such a small area. I may use the bigger boiler when I make the move to all grain but for now I'm thinking along the lines of a picnic cooler mash tun. I've seen these for sale for approx. STG 45 but the link below shows how to make one. Argos sell a cooler for about 20 euro so I may have a go at this. I'm useless at DIY etc. but this looks manageable even for me.

http://www.18000feet.com/coolbox/cool_box_mash_tun.htm

noby

Not to be too pedantic, but a picnic cooler on it's own is essentially a mash tun. Adding a tap and a copper manifold is making it into a lauter tun also. You could just mash in the cooler, and build a lauter tun. It may reduce the DIY skills slightly, and you still have a picnic cooler that can be used for, er, picnics.

Some simple lauter tuns would be the bucket-in-bucket design, or if you have a fermenting bin with a tap, just add a braided hose filter to the inside.

oblivious

I agree with Noby Cool box works of me

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/0198486/Trail/C%24cip%3D42222.Sports%2Band%2Bleisure%3EC%24cip%3D42223.Camping%2Band%2Bcaravaning%3EC%24cip%3D42234.Coolboxes%2Band%2Bthermos%2Bflasks.htm

bigears

Good point guys. I do have one of the 12v electric coolboxes but I didn't want to butcher it. I might try it out and see how it performs as a standalone mashtun. I guess I could add the braided hose to the inside of the boiler tap and use that as the lauter tun.

Hendrixcat

I've used the picnic cooler that hop and grape stock and found it very easy to use from a practical point of view. I have always had doubts about the brew heat boiler method because many books I've read have suggested it but noted that it can be a bit awkward and judging from what guildofevil has said it does indeed seem overly complicated. No doubt it could be mastered and used very effectively but the picnic cooler is so much simpler, also you get the chance to do a good old traditional boil in a kettle which I always enjoy. I'd love to get a copper kettle to boil in, but they're rare and prohibitively expensive (it's an indulgence, really and not required at all)

Not to be too pedantic, but a picnic cooler on it's own is essentially a mash tun. Adding a tap and a copper manifold is making it into a lauter tun also.

This point is very important because I believe the ease with which these coolers can be used lies in a good manifold and tap. Sparging and lautering is a piece of cake with the one I have. The books warn of the possibility of a stuck sparge but I've never had one and it's easy enough to fix if it occurs.

Should I be starting my own thread espousing the benefits of a cooler mash system.......

bigears

The more methods we see the better as far as I'm concerned. 'twould be boring if everyone did everything in exactly the same way.

So.... How do you measure the efficiency of your mash. I've followed a couple of mini mash recipes where I use a couple of kilos of grain plus extract. I know my efficiency with the mash is bad because my OG is about 5 to 10 points too low - this is due to bad technique on my part - of course I only realise this how low once I've added my water to reach the full volume. Is there a way of calculating what the efficiency of the mash is before going any further? (Even a ballpark figure would do). This would allow me to increase/decrease the amount of extract I add.

Hendrixcat

Is there a way of calculating what the efficiency of the mash is before going any further?

This is a bit of a problem, alright. This cropped up with the wheat beer I mini mashed. I have some software called 'Promash' which is extremely useful. It performs every possible calculation that a brewer can need. One of the calculations is temperature adjustment for hydrometer readings and also dilution factors for the problem that we're having. I must confess I don't fully understand how it carries out the calculation and I think I might be giving the wrong information to the program. It is designed for full micro brewers as well as home brewers and can bit a little tricky.

I think the picnic cooler mash method is extremely efficient if carried out correctly. The blurb that came with it from hop and grape says as much and they suggest you reduce the grain in the recipes and save yourself a few quid. As I said before my last brew was a stout and I couldn't utilise all the wort because my kettle was too small. The gravity just would not come down enough during the sparge (I favour a batch sparge, by the way) I had used Promash to formulate the recipe and factored for 75% efficiency. It appears that the efficiency was far better than that.

For a full grain batch this would mean that you could use only the very best run of wort and not worry about flushing tannins into the wort. Or alternatively you could go all Victorian and brew some small beer for your womenfolk with the remaining wort.

bigears

Maybe I'm opening a can of worms here:

Water Treatment.

Does anyone bother with this and does it make a difference?

This is an extract from Palmer's howtobrew:

Table 14 - Influence of Brewing Water

City Ca+2 Mg+2 HCO3-1 Cl-1 Na+1 SO4-2

Pilsen 10 3 3 4.3 4 -

Dublin 119 4 319 19 12 53


The other beer to consider is Guinness, the famous stout from Ireland. The water of Ireland is high in bicarbonates (HCO3-1), and has a fair amount of calcium but not enough to balance the bicarbonate. This results in hard, alkaline water with a lot of buffering power. The high alkalinity of the water makes it difficult to produce light pale beers that are not harsh tasting. The water does not allow the pH of a 100% base malt mash to hit the target range of 5 - 5.8, it remains higher and this extracts harsh phenolic and tannin compounds from the grain husks. The lower pH of an optimum mash (5.2-5.5) normally prevents these compounds from appearing in the finished beer. But why is this region of the world renowned for producing outstanding dark beers?. The reason is the dark malt itself. The highly roasted black malts used to make Guinness add acidity to the mash. These malts match and counter the buffering capability of the carbonates in the water, lowering the mash pH into the target range.

The fact of the matter is that dark beer cannot be brewed in Pilsen, and light lagers can't be brewed in Dublin without adding the proper type and amount of buffering salts.

Now I don't know if the figures given for Dublin are accurate and I've done a search on Dublin City Council's website (you can guess how much info I found there). Secondly I don't know if this makes much difference to me if I'm mini mashing.

I've done a couple of lagers and I haven't been overly happy with them. I'm still trying to track down what it was that I did wrong and I'm wondering if I should start looking down this alley. Of course I may just be complicating matters...

Hendrixcat

The Central Lab in Dublin city does the water anaylsis for the Dublin area. I got them to post me out a mineral content breakdown for the water in Swords. It was a bit vague on the most important aspect - the bicarbonate - stating is was between 200 and 300.

The bicarbonate is very important for mashing, even mini mashing. When the malt is mashed it releases phosphoric acid which lowers the pH to around 5.5 in alkaline water allowing the activity of the various enzymes to break down the starch to maltose. As I stated earlier I tried to mash some pale wheat malt in water with a bicarb of 300. Complete disaster. The bicarb buffered the acidity from the phosphoric acid and the mash didn't work. I then tried a stout mash in water with a bicarb of around 150 and it worked very well. Dark malts are more acidic and can overcome the buffering from the bicarb. Stouts are by far the easiest to mash in Dublin because the water is very alkaline and pale mashes won't work without considerable help from either lactic acid, an addition of acid malt or dilution of the water with distilled water to reduce the bicarb concentration.

I want to brew a decent pale ale with the mini mash method and need to reduce the alkalinity of the water, so I'm considering a dilution factor with distilled water becuase I can it from the lab I work in.

I have spotted bottled water than is far less alkaline and could help out in a pale mash but it always seems to be sold in small bottles. Lidl do a bottled water in 500ml bottles with a bicarb of around 50 which would be super for a pale mash. Volvic is also suitable but far too expensive to buy in large quanities.

oblivious

There are two solutions to our hard water problem,

The first is to add 1 teaspoons of calcium carbonate per 2.5 gallons mash. The second and is the traditionally used in the brewing of German lagers is the addition of acid malt, which contain lactic acid that will lower the ph of the mash, some time called sour malt. I think Wexford brewing company has it.

Hendrixcat

The first is to add 1 teaspoons of calcium carbonate per 2.5 gallons mash.

Did you mean calcium sulphate?

bigears

palmer suggests using bottled water. wouldn't work out too expensive if buying the 5 litre bottles. what about using the brita-style water filters? i have two pale ales on the go at the moment, one with tap water, one with filtered water (brita job).

oblivious

Yea sorry I should have posted calcium sulphate (Gypsum), calcium carbonate (chalk) will increase the ph of the mash!!!!!

I some times buy 2 gallons of bottled water for Dunne’s stores; I generally put this in the fridge and use it to cool my wort. But it’s cheap enough if you wanted to use if instead of tap water.

Just be care full with brita filters, they will remove chlorine and may allow bacterial growth, which is why the water is stored in the fridge. I am also not sure if it will remove minerals require for yeast growth, but bigears brewed a pale ale with it so it seam that it’s not a problem.

Hendrixcat

I have always used bottled water, mainly from Lidl where it is cheap but the point I was making that was that any water that I have seen that is low in carbonates seems to be less economical because any I have seen is either in small bottles or is a brand name.

I have never chanced tap water because a number of books I've read warn against chlorophenols giving off flavours when they react with wort ingredients. I don't know how much of a risk this is, but bottled water is so cheap and easily chilled in the fridge for a crisp cold break that I saw no reason to risk the tap water. Anyway, any percieved risks with tap water that I feel I am avoiding by using bottled is easily undone by a poor rinse here or there of any sanitised equipment.

Yea sorry I should have posted calcium sulphate (Gypsum),

I tried using gypsum to lower the pH of my wheat mash but it's just impossible unless you are doing the last very fine tuning of a mash that's in the general pH range you require. Palmer says that too much sulphate can cause diarrhoea (anyone fancy a wheat beer...........?) but he's talking about levels above those found in Burton-upon-Trent ie. above 700ppm.

oblivious

The hop and grape sell lactic acid that could be use to reduce the ph of the water, here is the link

http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/admin/catagory.asp?cat=WAT2017092&froot=BEE2125434&broot=BEE2115536&path=%2Froot%2FBEER%2FBeer+Ingredients%2FBeer+Additives&rcode=@root@BEE2147466@BEE2115536@BEE2125434&name=Water+Treatments&pagesize=0&page=1

Northern brewer also sells Phosphoric acid, which I think can also be used
http://www.northernbrewer.com/beer-additives.html

Hendrixcat

The hop and grape sell lactic acid that could be use to reduce the ph of the water, here is the link

I had a chat with the bloke at hop and grape a few weeks ago and he suggested lactic acid for the mash but he also said he has some apparent wonder stuff coming from the US that can make any water suitable for mashing by the action of various ions. He says he's a little dubious about it but offered me a sample when he gets it.

I just made a call to a company called Crystal Clear who provide the self service water purifying systems in Quinnsworth and the like. The water is much cheaper than buying off the shelf but it is not de-ionised as I hoped it would be. But it is ultrafiltrated and consequently very good for brewing. It is chlorine and bacteria free but unfortunatley retains all the minerals that the local supply has. So it's still packed full of bicrabonates, sadly.

oblivious

Just something of interest, some brewers add lactic acid to a wheat beer mash to simulate the lactic tones found in Berliner Weisse

bigears

Must check out that Lidl bottled water. Bicarbonates of 50 mg/L sounds like a much better match for Pale Ales. As far as I can remember their water is from Austria or Germany so that explains the difference. I mentioned that Palmer recommends using bottled water but I guess the caveat is 'unless it's still high in bicarbonates' which would appear to rule out the 'local' water. I checked two different brands and found the following:

Ca 240, Ca 47
HCO3 334, HCO3 261

which is a pity as one of them is about 2 euro for 5 (sometimes 6) litres in Tesco.

Now if I may ask another dumb question: do these numbers matter when I've finished my mini mash, I've added my extract and I want to top up my fermenter to the full volume? I would presume any bottled water would be fine for that purpose?

oblivious

I hope this helps

It will matter for the woth ph as it influences hop utilization, hop flavor, wort color development, beer flavor, and the susceptibility of wort spoilage by microorganisms. But pH 5.3 is not the optimal pH for hop utilization. However, don’t adjust your wort pH to 8 hoping to optimize hop utilization.

Hops contain more than alpha acids. Some of the other components, such as tannins, are astringent. If you have a high-pH wort and add hops to the boil as you normally would, the resulting beer is likely to taste very harsh. This is because these undesirable flavor compounds are more soluble in high pH conditions. The higher-pH wort boil would also lead to significant wort darkening due to the Maillard reaction (browning). Many brewers actually reduce wort pH during boiling to give a "smoother" bitterness at the sacrifice of hop utilization

bigears

I had a chat with the bloke at hop and grape a few weeks ago and he suggested lactic acid for the mash but he also said he has some apparent wonder stuff coming from the US that can make any water suitable for mashing by the action of various ions. He says he's a little dubious about it but offered me a sample when he gets it.

This stuff? (Carbonate Reducing Solution)

http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/admin/catagory.asp?cat=WAT2017092&froot=BEE2125434&broot=BEE2115536&path=%2Froot%2FBEER%2FBeer+Ingredients%2FBeer+Additives&rcode=@root@BEE2147466@BEE2115536@BEE2125434&name=Water+Treatments&pagesize=0&page=1

I found a link that discusses using Brita filters to reduce carbonates and it seems it's worth a try for a mini mash - actually the Brita blurb does talk about reducing temporary water hardness...

http://www.brewery.org/brewery/library/FiltBrita0596.html

oblivious

The Brita filters look like an interesting option. You can also boil you water for 30-60 minutes let cool and this will remove the temporary hardness as a precipitate ,similar to that found in you kettle’s. But you will still have to lower the ph if doing pale beers as the water will be still contains permanent hardness