I have been busy improving my set up among getting married and navigating COVID lock-downs.
Previously I had been using a converted pressure cooker for distillation of mostly sugar washes purely to build a level of experience and understanding of the process, but ultimately I am hoping to produce a Whiskey, so needed to familiarize myself with the mash process.
After talking with a Home brewing buddy of mine, I've inherited and constructed a mash set up and have performed a trial run, and I thought it would be a good idea to come here and ensure that this process is appropriate and complete!
The set up is two vessels (Beer Kegs), one working as a Kettle and the other as a Mash Tun, both as full as they can be.
The Kettle has a worm running through it, with ball valve outlets through the Keg sides, and piping routing through a pump and into the Mash Tun through some more ball valves.
There is an RTD temperature sensor on the worm Input to Kettle, and another on the Mash Tun Input, which input to a PID controller that maintains a constant temperature through an immersion heater in the Kettle.
Diagram to supplement my awful description -
The process I followed on my trial run is as follows;
- Heat water to 67c in Mash Tun (Both sensors reading 67c)
- Add 5.2 Stabilizer to Mash Water in appropriate dosage, confirming with PH test strip
- Add Grains to Mash Tun
- 90 Minute Saccharification Rest, using Mash Paddle for 5 Minutes every 10 minutes
- Transfer to Fermentation Vessel with some Grains for Fermenting on Grain
- Top up volume with Cool water (Lots of volume lost in Grist Absorption)
- Left to cool in Fermenter to 22c before adding yeast
I feel that the water/grist ratio may have been too low, however I am happy with a potential 5/6% ABV mash.
Also, I am not sure what effect "Topping up" my final mash volume will have, I felt I needed more volume to ensure a healthy charge for the stripping run.
I'm looking for opportunities to improve this process, or if there's anywhere that i've gone very wrong or have missed something etc.
Please advise!