Mashing malted barley with an agitator

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Lawfish
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Mashing malted barley with an agitator

Post by Lawfish »

My efforts at making all-grain beers have been weak at best. Last night, I tried again using the traditional lauter tun and strike water method for a beer I planned to enter in a competition in mid-January. My lauter tun is a 5 gallon bucket with a false bottom. I was trying to hit 152 for a blonde ale, so I started with 162 degree strike water. Temp hit about 148, which was disappointing, but I figured I'd still get a full conversion, just no nice unfermentable long-chain sugars. An hour later, temp was around 130 (yes the bucket was insulated with blankets all around. My OG came out a dismal 131, indicating I'll have a beer at around 2.77% alcohol. Not the kind of beer you enter in a competition.

Then this morning, it hit me: why not use my overhead drill with mud mixer to mash the barley? I've been making corn whiskey from cracked corn using Pintoshine's method for nigh on a year now and have that method down pat. I can do the same method for barley and control the temp precisely. Then I can lauter it through my tun. Anyone else ever done this? Seems like you could get near 100% conversion and exactly the right quantities of long-chain sugars.
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frunobulax
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Re: Mashing malted barley with an agitator

Post by frunobulax »

You lost 18 degrees in an hour? You should probably mash over a heat source, so you can maintain temps, then dump it in your lauter tun. Or get a cooler with
a false bottom,(or manifold), to mash in. 5 gallons of mash doesn't have alot of mass to help maintain temperatures. I wouldn't run a high speed mixer in a beer mash the whole time,
you'll probably shred the husks and extract tannins.
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shadylane
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Re: Mashing malted barley with an agitator

Post by shadylane »

Sounds like you need an electric bain marie to mash in
And the stirrer :lol:
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Lawfish
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Re: Mashing malted barley with an agitator

Post by Lawfish »

Thanks, guys. I spoke with my expert at the homebrew shop and she said the same. I'm going to get a 5 gallon cooler and put the false bottom in from my bucket and adjust strike water accordingly. I ended up adding about 3/4 of a gallon with 3 lbs. of dried barley extract to this blonde ale so I could have something for the competition in mid-January. I was really hoping to have a true all-grain, but live and learn. The owners of the local brew shop both judge the competition and they say most of the entries are done with extract, so it doesn't have to be all grain to win.
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Re: Mashing malted barley with an agitator

Post by frunobulax »

Get a 10 gallon cooler so ya have more room and can make more beer!
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Lawfish
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Re: Mashing malted barley with an agitator

Post by Lawfish »

10 gallons it shall be! Thanks, guys. My wife will hate me, but I've got to do all-grain. Cheaper and you can control so much more.
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Re: Mashing malted barley with an agitator

Post by shadylane »

If you don't mind spending some money, for a mashing pot
Check out the electric Bain Marie pots made for melting candle wax.
Here's a link to what I did to BIG candle wax melt pot
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 38&start=0
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