How much backset is too much for sour mash?

Production methods from starch to sugars.

Moderator: Site Moderator

Post Reply
nesster71
Novice
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:31 pm
Location: Minnesota

How much backset is too much for sour mash?

Post by nesster71 »

Going to try my first sour mash tonight. I am going to make 6 gallons of my regular mash (70/30/10 rye, corn and malt). I have 6 gallons of wort left from my last run. Is a 50/50 mix of fresh mash and backset too much? Plan is for 12 gallons of finished mash. Thanks for any and all help.
User avatar
shadylane
Master of Distillation
Posts: 10363
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:54 pm
Location: Hiding In the Boiler room of the Insane asylum

Re: How much backset is too much for sour mash?

Post by shadylane »

Your gonna need some good pH papers or meter to answer that question. :wink:
50% backset is way too much. Just guessing, I'd use around 10 or 15%
Mix it into the corn the day before cooking it.
User avatar
Stonecutter
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1911
Joined: Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:40 pm
Location: Somewhere within the Milkyway

Re: How much backset is too much for sour mash?

Post by Stonecutter »

Stonecutter wrote: Thu Jun 03, 2021 7:07 pm
Stonecutter wrote: Sat May 29, 2021 11:31 amThe thing that was disappointing is that I only collected about 1 liter of 60%. I usually get double that. I’m not sure what happened?? Maybe it’s due to a low volume or unconverted sugars or both. In the end I’m calling this experiment for making a sour mash with oats a success.
Just came to the realization that 1.5 gallons of my mash was backset devoid of any substantial amount of alcohol this backset also watered down any OG reading I had taken before adding my mash liquid to the fermenter and backset, clearly a mental error on my part not to check my OG after adding backset. All this along with the natural losses incurred by flocculation and it’s no wonder I had a low yield. :crazy:
I hope this info helps. Be sure to account for losses due to the backset that would normally be full of fermentable sugars. If that makes sense
Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.
-Thomas Paine
User avatar
Twisted Brick
Master of Distillation
Posts: 3770
Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:54 pm
Location: Craigh Na Dun

Re: How much backset is too much for sour mash?

Post by Twisted Brick »

shadylane wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 2:14 pm
50% backset is way too much. Just guessing, I'd use around 10 or 15%
+1

I have always made 12.5gal bourbon mashes. Early on I used a gallon of backset, but the mashes grew sluggish since backset from each successive batch grows in acidity. SOP now is a quart for 12.5 gallons. It doesn't take much to get my mash pH into the 'zone'.
“Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite, and furthermore, always carry a small snake.”

- W.C. Fields

My EZ Solder Shotgun
My Steam Rig and Manometer
nesster71
Novice
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:31 pm
Location: Minnesota

Re: How much backset is too much for sour mash?

Post by nesster71 »

I was just thinking about doing it for a different flavor, I am not in any need of adjusting my ph with it. My normal recipe works just great for me. I add about 7-8 lbs of sugar and another 6 gallons of water to the 6 gallons of grain after conversion. I was thinking of adding the sugar and then using the old wort instead of the second 6 gallons of water. Would that much throw off my already good ph level? Too much acid? Guess I'm thinking out load as I type....Thanks again for any and all advice.
User avatar
Saltbush Bill
Site Mod
Posts: 9675
Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:13 am
Location: Northern NSW Australia

Re: How much backset is too much for sour mash?

Post by Saltbush Bill »

shadylane wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 2:14 pm 50% backset is way too much. Just guessing, I'd use around 10 or 15%
Twisted Brick wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 3:32 pm+1
+ 1....way to much
nesster71
Novice
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:31 pm
Location: Minnesota

Re: How much backset is too much for sour mash?

Post by nesster71 »

Understood, I'll back off the amount. Appreciate the help.
User avatar
shadylane
Master of Distillation
Posts: 10363
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:54 pm
Location: Hiding In the Boiler room of the Insane asylum

Re: How much backset is too much for sour mash?

Post by shadylane »

nesster71 wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 5:09 pm Understood, I'll back off the amount. Appreciate the help.
If you use backset to help unravel the starch in corn while it's cooking.
After the corn has cooled to mash temp, add a little calcium carbonate, such as oyster grit.
Then mix in the rye and malt.
Wrap it with insulation and stir it occasionally.
User avatar
Hambone
Rumrunner
Posts: 509
Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2020 7:24 am
Location: MO, just around the bend...

Re: How much backset is too much for sour mash?

Post by Hambone »

To be considered “sour mash” by regulation, it needs to be at least 25%. Of course, we can do whatever we wish.

I’ve gotten away with nearly 50% in a 1st generation UJSSM, but it’s too much. Required quite a bit of oyster shells to moderate the pH.

Now I do about 30%…
Good judgement is the result of experience.

Experience is usually the result of bad judgement..
bluc
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 437
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 12:32 am

Re: How much backset is too much for sour mash?

Post by bluc »

I use 25% going to move to 33% in the future..
Post Reply