Can anyone suggest or give tips. I use a homemade grain bag in a baby burco 7 gall, and normally gently pour grain in,stopping now and then to stir up. But I noticed I still had a fair few lumps last time out,and took a while to break them up losing a couple of degrees c,so boiler had to go back on.
Any tips
preventing doughballs
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timbo41
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preventing doughballs
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Beer O'Clock
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Re: preventing doughballs
Pour the grain in slowly while constantly stirring and you shouldn't get any clumping. No great science to it.
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timbo41
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Re: preventing doughballs
Yep..its just the pouring in of 5 kilo of grain I struggle with.. might seperate into smaller loads
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boingy
Re: preventing doughballs
A few folks use paint mixing paddles attached to power drills like this:
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Hand+To ... 140/p92433
You'd have to be careful not to catch the bag and you do have to worry a bit about the material it's made of. Ideally you'd have a stainless one but I'm not aware of a sensibly priced one. Definitely avoid the painted ones!
Alternatively, splitting the grain into smaller containers will allow you to pour and stir manually in a more controlled way.
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Hand+To ... 140/p92433
You'd have to be careful not to catch the bag and you do have to worry a bit about the material it's made of. Ideally you'd have a stainless one but I'm not aware of a sensibly priced one. Definitely avoid the painted ones!
Alternatively, splitting the grain into smaller containers will allow you to pour and stir manually in a more controlled way.
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Beer O'Clock
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Re: preventing doughballs
I hold a bucket with 5 Kg in one arm (resting on my hip) without much bother. And I'm a fat wimp 
It just takes a bit of practice (so far circa 50 BIAB brews).
It just takes a bit of practice (so far circa 50 BIAB brews).
I buy from The Malt Miller
There's Howard Hughes in blue suede shoes, smiling at the majorettes smoking Winston cigarettes. .
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gnutz2
Re: preventing doughballs
A drill and paddle can make short work of mashing in, i made a stainless paddle to go on the cordless but like boingy says, paintmixers seem to do the job.
It takes a couple of minutes to mash in 12kg of grain but i dont use a bag so you'll have to take a little care there.
Cheers.
It takes a couple of minutes to mash in 12kg of grain but i dont use a bag so you'll have to take a little care there.
Cheers.
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timbo41
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Re: preventing doughballs
Well I used to use the paint stirrer trick to aerate kits a la ditch method. Never considered it for mashing in. Nice one folks will give it a go. Gonna get messy...love it!
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Aleman
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Re: preventing doughballs
Grain in mash tun dry, Run mash liquor in via tun outlet . . . Stir once all water added
Underletting . . .great technique
Underletting . . .great technique
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timbo41
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Re: preventing doughballs
cheers aleman. Doesnt work with my set up( full volume biab) unless people consider it ok to do this then bring temp up to desired mash temp..sort of doughing in i guess really? and bit hard then to know pre boil volume due to grain displacement of water. I really must calibrate my burco.. 5 litre increments to 20 litres then litre additions should work.
Just like trying new ideas!
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Beer O'Clock
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Re: preventing doughballs
Buy a steel ruler.timbo41 wrote: I really must calibrate my burco.. 5 litre increments to 20 litres then litre additions should work.
If you know the diameter of the Burco, look at the BIABrewer Calculator. It will give the required volume in centimetres.
I buy from The Malt Miller
There's Howard Hughes in blue suede shoes, smiling at the majorettes smoking Winston cigarettes. .
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Bribie
Re: preventing doughballs
BrewMate (free software) http://www.brewmate.net/has a BIAB mode you can click on and it will calculate your strike water (around 33L for the "normal" 5k brew) - once you get going then you can eventually just put a mark on the sight tube right there 
and you'll be sweet. Some urn brands are wider and squatter than others so boil off is different, after a few brews you can fine tune things.
I use a paint stirrer that looks like a giant potato masher, and a big kitchen spoon. I dough in out of a 10L Mayo / Yogurt bucket, trying for a thin stream and stir with the kitchen spoon, then pump up and down with the paint stirrer to make sure everything's blended.
and you'll be sweet. Some urn brands are wider and squatter than others so boil off is different, after a few brews you can fine tune things. I use a paint stirrer that looks like a giant potato masher, and a big kitchen spoon. I dough in out of a 10L Mayo / Yogurt bucket, trying for a thin stream and stir with the kitchen spoon, then pump up and down with the paint stirrer to make sure everything's blended.