sparge or how to filter a grain bed....

[dropping_planets]

with my ujsm i stick my racking cane into the corn and let sit right above the yeast... it filters through the corn....

now that i'm attempting all grain mashes this technique doesn't work... the fermenter is at least halfway full of soggy, converted grain and a ton of very fine unfermentable stuff and yeast....if i rack from the top of this i'm looking to get half of whats in there...how much liquid is that fine suspended solids mess and is it worth the trouble to filter out....?
if so.... how do i do it efficiently...my kitchen strainer isnt fine enough... i've read pillow cases clog...

i sparged my first several mashes...than i thought i was leaving sugar in the grain....
try fermenting on the grain... seems like lots do...

now it seems like like i'm going to be leaving more wash in the mess before i charge my boiler than the sugar i may have missed by not fermenting on the grain....

i could mash and ferment twice to charge my boiler for one strip....pretty labor intensive.

recently mashed 14# corn chop, 3#barley malt, 7 gl. water to a sg of 1.073....it's fermenting on the grain now, had i sparged it to fill my fermenter with liquid and remained above 1.050 i would be very happy... gonna try now with millet and see what happens...

any thoughts, comments, or criticism would be greatly appreciated .....

[blind drunk]

I have very little experience but what I do is for the first racking I run it through a really big strainer that sits above another primary container. Over the next couple of days you'll see the clear line dropping and that fine shit gets pretty compacted on the bottom of this new primary. Then I siphon the clear stuff into a carboy for a little more settling. Then I'm ready. I admit this isn't the greatest or easiest way, but so far it's what I do. I'm sure there's a better way. My next trick will be to use food grade burlap like a coffee sack and a perforated pizza pan as a filter and push it to the bottom of the pail and try to filter in reverse by trapping the stuff. I tried a pillow case but I couldn't get it to work. Good luck, bd.

[Dnderhead]

I use a valve on the bottom it had a screen but gone??????????? some use false bottoms ,some are useing a bucket with holes in bottom.
I do off the grain so I drain add that to fermenter,, then add water to pot,,heat ,,drain and save that water to cook the next batch with
it adds about 3%.

[dropping_planets]

thnx for the quick response guys...this place is the best...

just about to attempt this sparge with a racking cane....
tomorrow i'm gonna take one of my fermenter buckets and drill a million holes in the bottom...

in order to use this would i pour everything from my BOP after conversion into a two bucket set up... let the floating brain settle a bit...than pull out the inner bucket with the holes....?
seems like the finer stuff settles on top of the grain and might be filtered by it some...

did a little beer brewing site research just now... apparently the sparge temp is 170f...

would it be a problem to have these floating solids in my boiler.....? i use LPG and a cajun burner...

[Dnderhead]

there is charts to figure out temps, but they heat water hotter than needed ,so that when added to grain it cools to proper temps.
I add cold water then heat to 150f (66c)

[absinthe]

with a corn mash i ferment on the grain then use a bucket with holes in the bottom i pour the wash in there and let it drain as much as poss, then squeeze the last of the wash out hand full by hand full

it takes awhile but you get at least 1/3 more wash this way the skin of the corn just holds so much more wash than barley does

(and to work out the strike temp i use this calculator http://www.grainandgrape.com.au/article ... keTemp.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow )

[manu de hanoi]

u can use ss cloth :

[Hawke]

I use a fine mesh filter bag from the brew shop.
Once I rack off most of the clear liquid, I put the bag in one of my 30L fermenters, scoop out the corn and pour it through a wire veggie strainer over the bag.
The strainer gets the large stuff and the bag will take out a portion of the protien solids when you lift it out.

[eternalfrost]

check out the beer forums. i recommend homebrewtalk.com

my beer/whisky masher is a 15 gallon plastic barrel steam heated. its insulated enough where you can just let it sit at the strike temp for the entire mash time. the bottom is a false SS bottom that is slightly domed shaped to keep it clear. honeycomb pattern of 1/8" holes. in the center there is a barb fitting and a bit of hose runs from that to a valve at the bottom.

works great for both. just remember to run it until it runs clear and add this first bit back into the pot, this sets of a nice grain bed and gets rid of the stragglers who snuck through the screen during mashing.

corn will benifit from a secondary racking, there is lots of super fine floury stuff in it.

[dropping_planets]

run it until it runs clear and add this first bit back into the pot, this sets of a nice grain bed and gets rid of the stragglers who snuck through the screen during mashing.

mr. frost... thnx for that bit of info.... hadn't run across that yet and as obvious as it is..... i never would've thunk it....

i'm after 6 or 7 gl. grain free mash to ferment....i can mash corn chop to a sg of 1.073...but i'm leaving so much of it in the grain... so far my best millet was 1.060 and i cant seem to get anywhere close to that since than...
my bop is 15 gallon... it would seem not quite big enough to do one mashing, sparge, and fill the ferment....

my last mash/sparge was a mess... it was tough... and i ended up stretching the end product with malt extract....again....

anyways.... still experimenting and ready to go again.... and my sanded oar is the best monster wooden spoon on the planet......thnx all for the thoughts

[eternalfrost]

well im still very much learning, but have gotten in a handful of pretty good all grain corn mashes. enough for about 5 gallons of stripped wines, just about ready for a spirit run.

i have a 13 gallon plastic barrel and a steam heating set up, heavily insulated with refletix. mash about 10 lbs of cracked corn with 2 lbs of malted barley. start with the hottest water i can get from the tap add the corn and use the steam to get it up to 180+ for about an hour. leave this sit over night insulated.

by the next day its still warm and use the steam to bump it to 158F. add the barley and it drops to the strike temp of 154.
sometimes have to hit it with a touch more steam. the heavy insulation keeps it at mash temp without having to do much for the full hour.

the water covers the grain about an inch or so. very thick to start but gets thinner quick as things convert. i give it a few stirs every 10 min or so.

then just drain through my false bottom and spray hot tap water over the top until i have about 10 gallons of wash. comes out about 1.060 if im lucky

works pretty well, but i know there is room for improvement