The All Grain Brewing Process
There are plenty of sites out there that probably describe all
grain brewing better than I can, but what I'd like to offer is my
personal perspective and why I do what I do. Most of what you'll
find here is things I've said many times already on the homebrewtalk
forum when trying to help new brewers who have trouble with the
process. Since a few folks have asked me for a more portable version
of this page, I created
a PDF for you to
download and/or print.
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What is All Grain Brewing?
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I want to back up just for a moment and mention that all beer is
technically "all grain". The fermentables in beer, with the
exception of cane sugar/honey type adjuncts, all comes from grain. When you buy
malt extract (dry or syrup) from a homebrew shop, it was produced by
condensing wort that was extracted from various grains. All grain
brewing simply takes out the middle man. Just a quick note before we
go further, steeping a pound or two of grain as part of extract
brewing isn't the same thing.
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The Mash
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Without getting too technical, mashing is simply mixing
crushed/milled grain with warm/hot water. The water hydrates the
starches in the grain and activates enzymes that convert the grain's
starches into sugar that yeast can consume. Of course there are a
lot of variables involved like how much water and at what
temperature, how much grain, for how long, etc. that affect the
overall performance of the mash, but you don't have to understand it
all to make it work. Again, many texts will get further into the
science of every step involved but let's get into some things you'll
need to consider at a high level.Vessel/Container/Mash Tun
Just where are you going to mix the grain the water together?
This "thing" is call a mash tun (sounds like ton and rhymes with
fun). There are a few trends you'll find in homebrewing as to which
containers are used but the truth is, you can use just about
anything that will hold liquid. Two attributes that we like to see
are the vessel's ability to hold heat (insulated) and/or its ability
to be heated directly. Some examples are pots, beverage coolers, and
buckets. As you can imagine, there are sometimes tradeoffs.
Pots/kettle can be heated directly if necessary but don't hold heat
well. Plastic beverage coolers hold heat well but can't be directly
heated.
Mash Temperature
I mentioned "warm/hot" water being used to create a mash but the
temperature does have to be slightly more exact. Basically the
equalized temperature of the mash should be in the range of
148-158F. There are more temperatures that are used in more complex
processes but I'm avoiding them on purpose. The temperature at which
your mash settles will have an effect on which enzymes are most
active and ultimately on how fermentable your wort will be. Mashing
lower near 148F will cause a lower final gravity (dryer beer) while
mashing high near 158F will cause a higher FG (sweeter beer). Many
all grain recipes will quote a "sac rest" mash temp and it will
likely be somewhere in the middle of this range at 152F or so.
It is important to note that if you're trying to hit a temp of
152F, you will NOT be using 152F water. There will be a temperature
exchange between the water and grain that will lead to some other
equalized temp. This is somewhat complicated but predictable and a
lot of software and web applications have been developed to help you
know what temp the water needs to be based on the volumes and grain
weight you use. For example purposes only, I normally add about 168F
water to room temp grain in order to equalize at 152F.
Rest Time
Now that you've gotten your mash temp to where it needs to be, it
has to be held there for a while because it takes time for the
enzymes to convert starch to sugar. You don't want the temperature
to fluctuate to a point where the enzymes become inactive. Ok, so
how long then? Like everything else, it depends. In general, 60
minutes tends to work for most situations. Warmer mashes tend to
convert faster while cooler temps convert slower. Note that brewing
speed is NOT a good reason to alter your mash temp. This is just a
general guideline that suggests you might be able to get away with a
30-45 minute mash if you already decided to mash high at 156F for
example. 90 minute mashes at 148F are not unheard of. There's two
ways to tell if you're fully converted. The first is a taste test.
Sure, it's not exact science but a quick taste should yield sticky
sweet wort. The second more exacting method is to do an iodine test.
If you mix a little of the mash wort with iodine on a white plate,
purple means there's some starch left to convert.
If you stick to an average temp as you likely will, 60 minutes is
usually plenty but this also leads well into the next topic of:
The CRUSH
How coarse or fine the grain is milled will have an effect on how
accessible the starches become to the enzymes. In a very coarse
crush, it's going to take a good deal longer for the conversion to
happen. It will also be harder to rinse the sugars from the grain
during the sparge/lauter which we'll get to later. Realizing it's
difficult to change the crush if you're not milling it yourself,
it's important to realize that a longer mash rest time could be
beneficial if you're stuck with a coarse crush. A "good" crush is
generally regarded as a mix of flour, coarse endosperm (the interior
white part of the grain at about the size of coarse sea salt), and
halved husks (not pulverized). You certainly don't want to see any
whole kernels intact. The crush has a huge affect on efficiency
which we'll also cover later.
Grain to Water Ratio
This attribute is also known as mash thickness. In general,
you'll use about one to two quarts of strike water per pound
of grain (strike water is just the term used for the water
initially added to your grain). Thicker mashes are down near 1
or 1.25qts/lb have a similar affect as using a hotter mash temp.
Thinner mashes near 1.75 to 2qts/lb tend to act like cooler mash
rests. Many brewers, myself included, target around 1.25 quarts per
pound which is a good compromise between fermentability and
efficiency. Don't forget that your ratio is going to affect how hot
the strike water will need to be so your software will help you with
this.
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Lautering/Sparging
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| After you've held your mash to achieve starch to sugar
conversion, you're left with a sweet sticky wort that is just full
of spent grain particles. You've probably been told not to boil
grain in the kettle because of the nasty tannins you'll extract so
you're going to need to separate the wort from grain. This
separation is called lautering and can be done in a few different
ways.
By far the most common way home brewers perform a lauter is by
installing some kind of screen/filter in the bottom of their mash
tun that ultimately leads to a drain spigot. If this type of device
is installed, the vessel is actually referred to as a mash/lauter
tun (MLT for short) because it performs this dual purpose.
This filter can be a stainless mesh, a perforated sheet
called a false bottom, or a manifold of copper or CPVC tubing that
is drilled or slotted in many places. It is important to note that
although these materials are used to stop grain husks from flowing
out of the vessel, it is the mesh of husk material itself that
creates a filter bed at the bottom of the tun.
Note: The top two pics on the right show one version where a
stainless mesh or braid was taken off a sink water supply hose and
affixed to the drain bulkhead in a picnic cooler. The third pic is a
similar design inside a keg based MLT. The concept is the same.
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Vorlauf
I guess this is a German word and I think the best literal
translation is "fore runnings". What is means practically to the all
grain process is "recirculate". The moment you open the spigot/valve
in the lauter tun, you'll notice the first wort that streams out
will be carrying bits of grain particles and flour that were small
enough to make it into the holes of your filtering medium. For the
same reason you don't want to literally boil the grain, you don't
want these particles in the kettle. An easy way to vorlauf is to
collect the first 2 quarts or so and carefully return it to the top
of the mash. You should see the wort clear up a bit after this
process, but it won't be crystal clear. Some brewers actually pump
the wort from the MLT output back to the top of the mash during the
entire mash procedure in which case a separate vorlauf step is
unnecessary.
Sparging (Basic)
Let's assume you've figured out how to separate your sweet wort
from the mashed grains (this is called "first runnings" by the way).
While the wort you drained out will be a very high gravity, it will
also be a relatively small volume of liquid. Meanwhile, there is a
lot of sugar still left sticking to the grains in the MLT. The term
"sparge" is fancy brewer's jargon for RINSE. If you add some more
hot, clean water to the grains and run that water out of the MLT
through the same separation medium, it will come out sweet also.
This additional wort is combined with the first runnings and is
ultimately the whole volume of your boil. Up until this point, I've
been able to generalize the concept of sparging but now we have to
get a bit technical and recognize there are a few different sparging
philosophies and processes. Before I can explain them and list pros
and cons of the methods, we have to talk about mash/lauter
efficiency because the term is going to be used often in that
discussion.
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Efficiency (Mash, Sparge, Brew house)
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This is
one of the most seldom understood concepts for new all grain brewers
(frankly I know a few who have brewing all grain for many years who
don't quite know what it means).
The first thing I want to do is get the general concept
understood. Efficiency is the ratio of how much sugar the grain has
available to how much sugar you ultimately extract. Efficiency is
literally "bang for your buck". Why should you care what your
efficiency is anyway?
| An analogy I like to use is making tomato
sauce using canned tomato paste. Let's say a given recipe
calls for 50 ounces of tomato paste and they come in 10oz
cans. A high efficiency would be like emptying five cans
completely. A poor efficiency is like leaving a lot of paste
sticking to the sides of the can to the point where you have
to open a sixth can in order to get 50 ounces total.
Basically, poor efficiency means you get a lower gravity for a
given amount of grain used. Again, bang for your buck. |
It's important to note that efficiency is really an effect, not a
cause (or choice). However, You can measure what your efficiency WAS
on a given batch and it can ultimately become predictable if you
keep your process consistent. You can also do things to your process
to increase it.
The answer to the question begins with first knowing just how
much potential sugar the grain has to offer. It does vary from one
variety to another and even from one crop to the next. This isn't
that tough for a brewer to figure out though because these figures
are well published.
Once you know how much it has to offer, your brewing process will
affect just how much of it you can extract. There are different
points in the brewing process for which efficiency can be measured;
Mash, Lauter/Sparge, and Brewhouse.
Mash (Conversion) Efficiency - How much of the available sugar was
actually converted from the starch during the mash. This says
nothing of your ability to separate that sugar during
lautering/sparging. It is difficult to measure this and can be
basically ignored if you're sure you've gotten good conversion
(starch test).
Mash + Lauter/Sparge Efficiency - Assuming you converted all the
starch to sugar, this is how much of the available sugars you were
able to collect during the lauter/sparge function. Using a
separation and sparge method that rinses "best" will yield higher
efficiency. This value is easily measured by noting how much wort
you've collected pre-boil (volume) and measuring its specific
gravity (using a hydrometer or refractometer). These numbers will be
compared against the theoretical maximum gravity.. More later. Note
for you beersmith users: this type of figure is also called
"efficiency into the boiler".
Brew House Efficiency - This measurement/figure takes into
account your entire process and is the most indicative of how much
your wort "costs". The volume/gravity measurements are taken post
boil, or most accurately in the fermenter itself. This number will
be lower the previous efficiency measurement because it takes into
account any wort you may have lost in your tubing, absorbed into hop
sludge, or spilled between the MLT and Kettle or the Kettle and
fermenter.
Calculating Efficiency by hand:
We already know that there are software packages and online
calculators that will help you figure out your efficiency at various
stages but its a good idea to understand where the numbers come
from. I suggest you figure it out on paper (or with a calculator) at
least once and compare it to what the software told you. In order to
show you how, we'll work on a practical example. Let's say you're
brewing a simple 5 gallon pale ale using 10 pounds of American 2-row
malt, and 1 pound of Crystal 40L.
We'll look up the specs on these two malt types in the
HBT
WIKI to find out what their maximum sugar potential is. This is
rated in Potential Gravity Points Per Pound Per Gallon (PGPPPG) or
just PPG for short. I know, just hang in there :-)
2-row is rated at 1.036 PPG or 36 gravity points per pound and
40L is rated at about 1.034 PPG. So the math:
| Fig. 1
(Malt #1's PPG x actual pounds) + (Malt #2's PPG
x actual pounds) + ETC = Total Available Sugar or Gravity
Points.
(36ppg x 10pounds = 360) + (34ppg x 1pound = 34) =
394 gravity points available |
Now that we know the maximum gravity for this grain bill, we have to
actually measure the dilution. If you accurately measure the volume of wort
you've collected, you will know what the maximum gravity would be. In this
example let's say you collected 5 gallons into the fermenter.
Fig. 2 Gravity points available / Collected
Volume in Gallons = Maximum Original Gravity 394 / 5 = 78.8
or an maximum SG of 1.079. |
So with the above calculation, you've figured out
that at 100% efficiency, your 5 gallons would measure 1.079 SG. Of
course, no one ever gets ALL the sugar out. This is just a
theoretical maximum. The last piece of the puzzle is to actually
measure your SG/OG with a hydrometer or refractometer and compare
(divide) that figure against the maximum. Let's say for example
that you measured 1.065 OG:
Fig. 3 Measured Specific Gravity in Points / Maximum
Specific Gravity in Points = Efficiency 65/79 = .82 or 82% efficiency |
Note that you might see this calculated using a different order
of operations. In the first calculation we figured out the total
theoretical points for those grains at 394. You could have also
figured out your actual total points by measuring your OG and
multiplying that by how many gallons you had. That would be 65 x 5 =
325 total points. Now you use the percentage formula from figure #3
above (actual total points/max total points) or 325/394 = .82 or
82%. It's just two different ways to get the same number.
What is a "good enough" Efficiency?:
This is highly debated in the home brewing community. What number
is practical? In my personal opinion, anything over 75% is good
enough. I'm happy to be consistent in the high 80's. Any higher than
95% would be risking extraction of undesirable flavors due to
oversparging. With the price of grain on the rise though, aspiring
to pick up 5 or 10% more is probably worth thinking about.
The Factors that Most Affect Efficiency are:
Grain Crush - You might say that finer crushes ensure more
complete conversion. Effeciency begins by making sure you're fully
converted. It is possible that your crush is so coarse that you
don't get full conversion even after 90 minutes of mashing. Even
further, the sugar that is converted is highly guarded from the
sparge water.
Mash Rest Time - This is tied in to the previous factor.
If your crush was coarse and you didn't mash for long enough, your
mash efficiency suffers.
Sparge Technique - (Continuous/Fly, Batch, No Sparge)
Hopefully without promoting a heated debate, various sparging
techniques are generally accepted to yield slightly higher or lower
efficiency. In some cases, higher efficiency is traded for a simpler
process or other desirable outcomes. We'll discuss this more when we
return to the sparge section.
Lauter tun Design - For the most part, the lauter tun
design is highly coupled to the sparge technique the brewer is
using. Across all designs, dead space or places where wort can
become trapped will lower efficiency.
Sparge Temperature - Sparge temperatures that raise or
maintain the grain bed's temperature up near 170F or at least 165F
will always yield a higher efficiency. Sugar becomes more soluble in
water at higher temperatures. If the grain gets any hotter than 170F
however, you might extract unwanted flavors along with the sugar.
Sparge Volume - The more water you use to sparge with, the
more total sugar you will extract. Think about rinsing soap off your
hands. If one quart is enough to get all the soap off, a pint would
probably leave some residue. There is however a point of diminishing
returns because the more diluted wort you collect, the longer you
have to boil it down to your desired finished batch size. It's not
economical spending $8 worth of fuel to save $4 worth of grain.
Batch Target Gravity - This is another factor highly tied
to sparge volume. As your desired batch OG goes up, the ratio of
grain to total sparge water goes up. This will always drop
efficiency down a certain degree. It can become predictable once you
dial your process in however.
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Sparging Techniques
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Disclaimer. Use this
information at your own risk. If you state any of this stuff as fact, dogmatic
brewers will beat you into submission. Also, in full disclosure, I have only
used ONE of the techniques below and will explain why later. The
three different sparging methods I'm going to describe are No Sparge, Fly
Sparge, and Batch Sparge. Many people will mix certain aspects of each and call
them hybrids of some kind but in many cases, I fail to see the benefit in
theory. The benefits may have been indirectly cause by an unknown modification
of the previous process (but we'll see).
The "No Sparge" - Ok, it does seem counterintuitive to describe this
here but it's a valid process. Not sparging means that you'd drain the wort out
of the lauter tun and use that as your final volume of wort without doing any
sparging (rinsing) of the residual sugars. Why would you do that? This volume of
wort is extremely high gravity (concentrated). Any wort that is runoff as part
of the sparge is of significantly lowered gravity. If you're trying the brew the
big barley wine, this is one way to do it. The drawback to this process is a
significantly low efficiency (40-50% typical).
Continuous or Fly Sparging - This technique requires the brewer to
deliver sparge water to the top of the grain bed at the same or similar rate
that sweet wort is lautered out. It helps to picture a horizontal plane of water
slowly draining through the grain bed, incrementally picking up more and more
sugar before it get pulled into the separation medium. Therefore, you can say
that the liquid at the top of the tun is low gravity and by the time it gets to
the bottom it is of higher gravity. The sparge water is to be placed gently onto
the top of the grain bed so that about an inch of water remains (the grain does
not run dry) and so the water does not violently drill into the grain bed. The
rate of sparge and drain is done very slowly over 45 to 90 minutes to ensure
maximum sugar is pulled into the passing water for the highest possible
efficiency. This sparge continues until the maximum desired preboil volume is
reached or the runnings gravity becomes 1.010 SG or lower. The benefit to this
technique is usually quoted as providing the highest possible efficiency given
the ideal equipment and process is used. The possible downside is the
requirement to match inlet and outlet flows (requiring gravity or pumps) and the
slightly longer time invested. That said, once the flows are matched, the entire
sparge is hands off. The lauter tun MUST be designed such that the wort is
collected from the bottom as evenly as possible.
Batch Sparging - This technique uses bulk infusions of sparge water as
opposed to the constant inflow of fly sparging. Sweet wort is not drained as the
sparge water is infused. It happens in "batches" so it's not just a clever name.
The biggest distinction in the technique is how the sugar is pulled into the
sparge water. In fly sparging, drops of water pick up sugar on it's way through
the grain. In batch sparging, the water is thoroughly mixed in so that the
gravity of the entire volume is the same. Then it is fully drained out (similar
to a no sparge). Batch sparging can be done in multiple infusions in order to
increase efficiency and/or account for smaller sized mash/lauter tuns that
cannot accept the full required sparge volume. Although batch sparging is said
to provide lower efficiency than fly, many brewers, myself included have proven
this to be incorrect. While the sparge itself will take less overall time than
fly, it is a bit more hands on or labor intensive. We'll talk more about the
differences next.
Which to choose? - I admit that many brewers will stick with the
method they first learned similar to the way people stick with the religions of
their parents. In some cases, you'll stick with one of them until someone shows
you a real benefit to the other technique. Anyone can use either one and still
make great beer as long as they give that particular process the attention it
requires. If someone says their way is better, it really just means that they've
found a method that works better for them. It might also work better for you,
but you'll have to try it.
I'll always suggest new all grain brewers try batch sparging. The reason is
that the equipment is usually cheaper and easier to build and the process is
slightly more forgiving. It doesn't require two streams of liquid at the same
time so you don't necessarily need tiered vessels. You can also get away with a
single pot/burner and not need to keep water hot by other means.
Pitfalls
In fly sparging, one of the important details is the separation medium. False
bottoms work really well because it encourages the wort to drop straight down
through the grain bed and discourages channeling. Channeling is when wort will
find a path of least resistance and avoid a LOT of the sugar leading to low
efficiency. The other potential pitfall in fly sparging is letting the sparge
water cool off too much over the hour or so. If you don't use a dedicated hot
liquor tank with its own heat source, you must keep it in an insulated vessel.
In batch sparging, many people will take the "it's easier" approach too far
and get sloppy with sparge temps, stirring, and overall attention to detail. If
you have a large MLT, it's easy to be lazy and try to sparge in one big batch.
Unfortunately, this is probably why many people think this method is inherently
less efficient.
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My Way or the Highway - My Method = N.M.O.D.B.S. - No
Mash Out Double Batch Sparge
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I spent at least two
hours typing everything that precedes this section when I really meant to just
type the following. Ok, all the basic theory aside. Here's how I
brew all grain and get a consistent 88-92% efficiency using the Batch Sparge
Technique. First, the key points I like to stress about my process are:
Fine Crush - The picture of crushed grain above is actually a little more
coarse than I use. I like to see a bit more flour in the mix. If you find that
you're getting a lot of slow runoffs or "stuck" sparges, you might have gone too
fine. This is hard to control when you buy your grain pre-milled. This is one of
the reasons I bought my own mill. Thicker Mash - We discussed this
earlier on but a mash of 1.25 qts/lb or slightly less leaves a ton of extra
volume for sparging. I like that. Some people have success with slightly thinner
mash ratios (up to 1.75qts/lb) so you may want to experiment. This factor
doesn't have all that big of an impact. Stir Well - You must stir well at a
few stages of the process. First is when you dough in, any dry spots will NOT
convert. No dough balls! You also must stir well after every sparge infusion to
fully diffuse the sugar into the water. No Mash Out Infusion - A mash
out is a carry over from fly sparging. In the case of a cooler MLT, many brewers
will add a small amount of very hot (sometimes boiling) water to the mash just
prior to the sparge to get the grain bed temp up into the high 160's F. I have
not found this to be beneficial given my technique and in two test cases it
dropped my efficiency 4%. Leave more water for discrete sparge infusions and
just drain the first runnings before adding new water. Hot Sparge -
Given that I skip the mash out infusion, I still want to raise the grain bed
temp up into the 170F area. In most cases this means sparging with 180-185F
water. Double Sparge - If you need to sparge with say 4 gallons to
reach your desired pre boil volume, instead of adding 4 gallons at once, add
half, stir, vorlauf and drain. Then do it again with the remaining 2 gallons.
Think of washing a glass in the sink. Which gets more soap off; filling it all
the way, swishing it then dumping or filling it half way, swishing, dumping and
repeating? Goofy analogy but it really works. Now, if you'd like to read a
little more on why I think this happens, wikipedia has an article on
diffusion
(which is the principal at work in sparging). No Long Boils -This isn't
really a technique for maximizing efficiency per say. It's actually the
opposite. What I'm getting at here is that although sparging more, collecting
more and ultimately boiling down the wort over a very long boil will eek up your
efficiency, I just don't like it. Time and fuel offset the slight benefit and
all the other points above make this method of jacking up efficiency
unnecessary. Just say no Nancy. The Single Kettle/Burner Method
with a simple picnic cooler MLT:
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First you're going to figure out
based on your grain bill, how much water you'll need to make the ratio
1.25qts/lb. Example, if you have 12lb of grain 12 x 1.25 = 15 quarts or 3.75
gallons of "STRIKE" water.
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Heat strike water in your kettle to
ABOUT 185F and dump it into your cooler, then close the lid. Wow, doesn't that
seem a bit hot? Your cooler is going to absorb quite a bit of heat in the first
5 minutes. Leave it alone with the cover closed to let it warm up. After 5
minutes, open it up and stir the water, then test the temp. You're going to want
it to cool to about 168F. Remember, software will help you figure out exactly
what temp to use. Once you reach your ideal strike temp, dough in (mix the
crushed grains in thoroughly) then close the lid.
-
After 5 minutes, open the cooler,
stir once more and check the temperature in various places. Again, you want it
to settle to ABOUT 152F. If it's a degree or two high or low, it's OK. If it's
off by more, you might want to compensate with a little cold or boiling water.
Once you're satisfied, close the lid and wait 60 minutes.
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After about 20 minutes, you'll want
to start heating your sparge water in the kettle. You'll need ABOUT the same
volume as your intended finished batch. If it's a 5 gallon batch, heat up 5
gallons of sparge water to 180F.
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After the full 60 minute mash, open
the drain valve on the MLT and collect 2 quarts of wort into a pitcher.
Carefully return this back on top of the mash (this is vorlaufing), then drain
the entire MLT into a bucket. If the bucket has graduation marks, take note how
much wort you collected. You're going to find that you lost a good percentage of
liquid to grain absorption. In our example, it's likely that you only got out
2.5 gallons from the 3.75 strike volume. Here's where you have to decide
ultimately how much wort you want in the kettle to start with. You will boil off
about 1.25 gallons in 60 minutes of vigorous boil so you'll want at least
6.5gallons to start with. To figure out how much to sparge with, take this pre
boil figure (6.5) and subtract it from how much wort you collected out of the
MLT for first runnings (say 2.5). This leaves you with 4 gallons. This is
exactly how much you'll need to sparge with.
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Assuming you got the sparge water up
to 180F, pour about HALF of the required sparge volume into the MLT (in the
example it will be 2 gallons. Stir it well for a couple minutes, vorlauf 2
quarts again, then collect it in the same bucket the first runnings are in.
-
Repeat step 6 again with the
remaining sparge volume. At this point, you should have about 6.25 gallons in
the bucket. You can also split this amount between two buckets to make handling
them easier.
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Remove any excess water from the
kettle and carefully transfer all your wort from the buckets into the kettle.
Stir this wort up and draw off a bit to measure your pre-boil gravity and take
note of it. You'll also need an accurate measurement of how much volume you
collected. Once you have these two numbers you can figure out your mash/lauter
efficiency as explained earlier on this page.
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Proceed as you normally would for an
extract batch. You've just made your own wort without "instant beer".
The DOUBLE Kettle/Burner Method with a simple picnic cooler MLT:
The process is VERY similar but saves about 30 minutes
overall. I'll note the differences with color.
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First you're going to figure out
based on your grain bill, how much water you'll need to make the ratio
1.25qts/lb. Example, if you have 12lb of grain 12 x 1.25 = 15 quarts or 3.75
gallons of "STRIKE" water.
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Heat strike water in your kettle to
ABOUT 185F and dump it into your cooler, then close the lid. Wow, doesn't that
seem a bit hot? Your cooler is going to absorb quite a bit of heat in the first
5 minutes. Leave it alone with the cover closed to let it warm up. After 5
minutes, open it up and stir the water, then test the temp. You're going to want
it to cool to about 168F. Remember, software will help you figure out exactly
what temp to use. Once you reach your ideal strike temp, dough in (mix the
crushed grains in thoroughly) then close the lid.
-
After 5 minutes, open the cooler,
stir once more and check the temperature in various places. Again, you want it
to settle to ABOUT 152F. If it's a degree or two high or low, it's OK. If it's
off by more, you might want to compensate with a little cold or boiling water.
Once you're satisfied, close the lid and wait 60 minutes.
-
After about 20 minutes, you'll want
to start heating your sparge water in the smaller of your
two kettles. You'll need ABOUT the same volume as your intended finished
batch. If it's a 5 gallon batch, heat up 5 gallons of sparge water to 180F.
-
After the full 60 minute mash, open
the drain valve on the MLT and collect 2 quarts of wort into a pitcher.
Carefully return this back on top of the mash (this is vorlaufing), then drain
the entire MLT into the larger of your two kettles. Get
this wort onto a low to medium flame on your second burner and get it
boiling. Take note how much wort you collected. You're going to find that
you lost a good percentage of liquid to grain absorption. In our example, it's
likely that you only got out 2.5 gallons from the 3.75 strike volume. Here's
where you have to decide ultimately how much wort you want in the kettle to
start with. You will boil off about 1.25 gallons in 60 minutes of vigorous boil
so you'll want at least 6.5gallons to start with. To figure out how much to
sparge with, take this pre boil figure (6.5) and subtract it from how much wort
you collected out of the MLT for first runnings (say 2.5). This leaves you with
4 gallons. This is exactly how much you'll need to sparge with.
-
Assuming you got the sparge water up
to 180F, pour about HALF of the required sparge volume into the MLT (in the
example it will be 2 gallons. Stir it well for a couple minutes, vorlauf 2
quarts again, then collect it in the larger kettle that is
already on the flame. You can use an intermediate vessel to move the wort to the
kettle if it's easier.
-
Repeat step 6 again with the
remaining sparge volume. At this point, you should have about 6.25 gallons in
the kettle.
-
Remove any excess water from the
kettle and carefully transfer all your wort from the buckets into the kettle.
Stir this wort up and draw off a bit to measure your pre-boil gravity and take
note of it. You'll also need an accurate measurement of how much volume you
collected. Once you have these two numbers you can figure out your mash/lauter
efficiency as explained earlier on this page.
-
Proceed as you normally would for an
extract batch. You've just made your own wort without "instant beer".
Notice that the only change is that you collect into a
kettle while continuing to heat and hold sparge water in another kettle. The
benefit is that you can start heating your wort runnings as you collect them
which shaves some time off the day. In the first method, you can't start heating
the wort until you've emptied all the sparge water from your only kettle.
Here are a few sample schedules I screen captured out of Beer Tools Pro Beta
1.5.9 that show the infusion ratios for two different gravity beers using a mash
out or not.
 |
MID GRAVITY: MODBS This first schedule shows a
Mash Out plus Double Batch Sparge (MODBS) on a mid gravity beer (1.058 OG)
using a little over 11 pounds of malt. Notice after the mash out and first
runnings, the batch sparge infusions are 2gal and 1.75gal respectively.
The infusion rate is down to .72 qt/lb and .63 qt/lb which may be a little
too stiff to stir appropriately. Efficiency may suffer a bit. |
 |
MID GRAVITY: NMODBS (My Preferred Method) This is
the same beer but with the mash out infusion removed. The batch sparge
infusions go up now to 2.75 and 2.5 gallons which equates to 1qt/lb and
.9qt/lb infusion rates. These are easier to stir. |
 |
HIGH GRAVITY: MODBS I tried the same schedule on
a 1.080 OG beer. The batch sparge infusions go all the way down to 5qts in
15 pounds of grain. That's .33 qts/lb and VERY STIFF to stir. |
 |
HIGH GRAVITY: NMODBS Without the mash out, the
infusions go up to 9qts for 15lbs or .6qts/lb. It's not great but it's
certainly easier to stir than the MODBS version above. |
If you have any questions about what I wrote here, the best way to get to
answers is to log on to
www.homebrewtalk.com, post a new thread to the all grain forum and
copy/paste the part of this article that you'd like more clarification on. I'll
probably find it and post my 2 cents, but the best part is that you'll have a
whole lot of other experienced brewers weighing in on the topic as well. |
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