Changing to a 3 vessel system - Checking I understand things

[Jeltz]

Having up-sized equipment I'm moving to a 3 vessel system and 90 minute from MaxiBIAB with an overnight mash. The reason being is that my beer has tended to be just a touch thin and dry which I understand that could be from long mashes and/or high grist ratios.

Could someone tell me if my understanding of mashing and batch sparging is correct. I'll use an example here using 4.2 kg of grain and wanting to collect about 32L of pre boil wort and my MT has about a little under 1L of dead space. I'm working on an adsorption rate of about 1:1 so a total liquor of 37L

• 1) Heat HLT to 76°C (as calculated by brewmate)
  2) Add 11L to MT (i.e. between 2.5 and 3 times the weight of grain) dough in and check that the temperature of the grain bed is 66-68°C (adjust as needed) mash for around 90 minutes.
  3) Raise the temp of the HLT to 77°C
  4) Recirculate the wort until its clear then drain the MT to the kettle
  5) add 13L of liquor to the MT stir and let it sit for 15 minutes
  6) repeat steps 3,4&5 then start the boil.

Anyway I'll be brewing tomorrow so if someone can tell me if I understand correctly and point out anything that is wrong or could be done better, that would be great.

[FUBAR]

It looks pretty good to me one thing that I would suggest is to preheat the Mash tun or heat the HLT to a higher temp and let the tun absorb the heat until its down to 76c.Plus I wouldn't personally bother stirring the mash between batch sparges because I found there was no advantage when I used to batch sparge,enjoy your brew day.

[Jeltz]

Thanks the 76°C was as I expected the tun to drop the temp a bit. Going from BIAB the element in the vessel does that and I suppose that the lower grist ration will need a higher strike temperature. Something think about further......

[Eric]

Yes, your concept will work. However, as raised, temperatures need more consideration, particularly if you wish to avoid a thin beer.
You might get a quicker start by heating just 15 litres for your mash, then sparge water while the mash is in progress. Heat the mash liquor to maybe even 85C.
In time you should learn what temperatures are right for your system, but it is difficult at first and if you brew outside or using cold grain it will always be a guessing game in the depths of winter. You might want to consider the following.
Drop a litre less into your MT and put on the lid to let the tun warm for a few minutes. Keep the HLT on to heat the remaining water to boiling and also have a litre of cold water to hand. Stir the liquor in the mash tun while you measure temperature but try to avoid using or striking the thermometer. When it reaches about 75C, pour in the grains and simultaneously stir, concern yourself with mixing rather than temperature. In the early stage seek out and destroy doughballs, towards the end as the mash thickens it becomes tough work. Now take a temperature reading, not in the centre, nor the end, but midway between them.
Your mash is a litre of liquor short with a choice of boiling or ambient temperature water at hand. At this time of year you'll probably need the hotter.
As soon as you've tucked up the MT nice and snug, top up the HLT and record all your measurements and observations for next time.

[Jeltz]

Thanks Eric

FWIW I've got the grain and MT in doors and the MT is a 60L thermopot anyone else using this kind of setup?

[daddies-beer-factory]

I agree with Eric, heat to 85 degrees. add an extra 2 litres of water at the start to your hlt (total 39 L) - then 5 mins before you mash pour the extra 2 l into the mash tun for a while to pre - heat, then empty this out.
I only bother with 1 batch sparge - but it seems to work out pretty good !
consider water treatment to reduce alkaline & add salts (if needed)
DBF

[Jeltz]

I must admit I'm not sure why there are 2 batches I just thought that's how I'm supposed to do it. I have also just got a pH meter to check the mash but I use a third tap and 2 thirds RO water.

[Fil]

I just changed to a thermopot after using a smaller cold box. the cold box was easier to preheat with a kettle or 2 of boiling water, the big shiney needs a bit more heat input to pre heat.

Experience with the kit will tell you whats best, but for your first few mashes make sure u have a full kettle of just off the boil water and a 2l jug of cold water so if your strike temp is out one way or the other u can adjust it by adding cold or hot water, while mash consistancy is a factor its no where near as crucial to the end result as a good mash temp, so dont worry too much about that. after a brew or two you will probably know your strike temp.

Im one brew down with my bigger kit now, and my tun prewarm wasnt enough so my strike temp of 72C which was sweet for the smaller kit wasnt spot on and i had to add more HOT water, Next brew i will add more heat by more hot water to pre heat;) and i may have to up the strike temp too,

+1 for 85C as a sparge temp...

if you need 3 batches to hit the target preboil volume use 3, Most brews can be accommodated with just 2 but if u have a huge grain bill or a smaller tun 3 may be needed.

I find it easier to focus on the volumes out of the tun than how much is poured in, i use a graduated FV to drain the tun into and if i get 1/2 my preboil volume out with batch 1 i fill to the same level for batch 2 if i have less i add more and visa versa

stop draining each batch when the flow slows to a dribble. and after the last batch, i tilt the tun back up and drain the last runnings into a jug for tasting and if necessary topping up the boil. this was about 1-2l for a 23l batch..

If u oversparge well just boil a bit longer the only impact is on the brewday length and the lecky or gas bill and if u undersparge - go for a 3rd batch

hope thats useful

[Jeltz]

thanks that's great.

As is dictated by the law of sod, last night when I went to weigh the grain the scales had stopped working so I had to wait until this morning to get some more. So a late start.

There is a kettle of boiled water in the tun and I'm waiting on 15L of water to reach 80°C I have another kettle boiled I've gone half way between Eric's recommendation and Brewmate on the basis of doing a pre heat while the water reaches strike, we shall see what happens and take notes.

[Jeltz]

Woohoo mash temp having doughed in is 68.0 °C

[Fil]

sounds like you hit the sweet spot on brew #1 WELL DONE!!

[Jeltz]

Yep, very pleased, a good brewday and some useful info for next time

My efficiency was 75% which is fine as I'm using Bairds Malt and its not as good as others apparently. The MT lost of 1°C over 90 minutes without any packing on top of the grain bed which again is fine and the liquor collected was spot on. I also have a new kettle too and went from a 75 minute boil with a hop sock to 90 and hops directly in which resulted in a slightly higher loss to hops and evaporation than I'd expected so I need to up the liquor a bit for next time but more of a tweak than anything else.

[Eric]

An excellent start. Well done.