Never undershoot your strike temps!!!

Post here whats not safe to do or use.

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miletwo
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Never undershoot your strike temps!!!

Post by miletwo »

Haven't AG brewed in a while and did a mash tonight... undershot my strike temp and had to bring it up. Note to future self: ALWAYS have a back up HLT at least a couple gallons deep WAY over your strike in case you need to raise it... or overshoot a bit and add some cold water to lower it.

Total dummy move, but hey... live and learn.
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miletwo
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Re: Never undershoot your strike temps!!!

Post by miletwo »

Despite the bumbling managed to hit target SG of 1.061. Whew.
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still_stirrin
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Re: Never undershoot your strike temps!!!

Post by still_stirrin »

You could pull a decoction to raise mash temperatures. Sure, it’s work and takes time. But the benefits will be more melanoidin (caramel/toffee) flavors in the mash. These will come over to the product as a rich grain flavor. And it will be enhanced in the cask with oak aging.

If you don’t know what a decoction step mash is, look it up on a homebrew website. I like to use them periodically if I’ve got the time.
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miletwo
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Re: Never undershoot your strike temps!!!

Post by miletwo »

Yea, I had room in the tun to add more so I let it protein rest where it was about 130° while I boiled more water and was able to hit my temps by topping it off. The temps held well and after an hour I had full conversion, so mission accomplished.

Dummy move... I made a mistake on the volume of strike water I put in the calculator. Because of it I under shot the temp and didn't have a backup HLT ready. If I had overshot I might have been closer.

Lesson learned.

I home-brewed about 10 years before getting into this hobby but stopped because beer made me too fat. I had a nice RIMS system back in the day. Now that I'm picking back up with distilling I'm finding my way back to AG and building my system back.
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still_stirrin
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Re: Never undershoot your strike temps!!!

Post by still_stirrin »

miletwo wrote: Thu Jun 17, 2021 7:48 am I home-brewed about 10 years before getting into this hobby … I had a nice RIMS system back in the day. Now that I'm picking back up with distilling I'm finding my way back to AG and building my system back.
Nice.

RIMS helps with the mash appreciably … set the temperature rest temperature and time and let it circulate. No reason not to do the appropriate temperature steps to maximize extract efficiency.

And if done well, you can even lauter before runoff to the fermenters. If you pump through a chiller, you can even add oxygen to the “cold side” as it goes to the fermenter. The ferment will take off “like a rocket”!

For a high corn ratio grainbill, I suggest a shallow grain bed, or a horizontal lautering vessel. Corn can be a PiTA to lauter … I lauter my bourbon recipe (50% corn) and it can be tricky. But if you’ve mashed it good (with good conversion), it will drain. Just be patient with it.
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My LM/VM & Potstill: My build thread
My Cadco hotplate modification thread: Hotplate Build
My stock pot gin still: stock pot potstill
My 5-grain Bourbon recipe: Special K
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miletwo
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Re: Never undershoot your strike temps!!!

Post by miletwo »

still_stirrin wrote: Thu Jun 17, 2021 8:09 am For a high corn ratio grainbill, I suggest a shallow grain bed, or a horizontal lautering vessel. Corn can be a PiTA to lauter … I lauter my bourbon recipe (50% corn) and it can be tricky. But if you’ve mashed it good (with good conversion), it will drain. Just be patient with it.
ss
Yea, since I used the brew in a bag method I did the "hang it like a deer, wrap rope around, and twist a stick to squeeze the begeezus out of it" method. Definitely need to invest in a real mash tun again with false bottom to make my life easier.

Which reminds me... I have a 5 gallon bucket in the garage full of spent grain I better get rid of soon before it stinks up the garage and my wife smells it. :shifty:
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