all grain question

[utvol]

i know i have been asking a lot of questions. I feel like my wife. I promise i have been reading a lot but putting all the pieces together is difficult.

Checked on my all grain mash last night. It has cleared up nicely but the bottom 4 inches of the carboy are very cloudy.

will this clear up? Will it be any issue to run all the wash?

I would hate to lose all of it. I have never had any issues with scorching but i have really just run UJSM in the past.

As always thank you in advance for your time.

Utvol!

[still_stirrin]

How long has it been settling?
I let my last one settle 6 weeks and by then the beer was clear enough to read through it. And the settled yeast and trub was quite compact at the bottom.
So, it will clear better … if you just wait on it.
ss

[jonnys_spirit]

You'll want to discard the trub at the bottom. It hurts to lose it but there's really not that much etoh in there - next time just estimate how much more you need and make that much more Much easier to cut your losses on squeezing and trub than fret too much over it

Cheer!
-j

[Laredo7mm]

Did you ferment on or off the grain? If on the grain, I would siphon off the beer and leave the sediment. Some people distill on the grain, but I don’t. If you fermented off the grain, then I would do like ss said and let her sit to clear. I don’t usually wait the 6 weeks that he mentioned, but a week or two should do it. It compacts quite nicely as mentioned.

[utvol]

This first one i used a bag and i am fermenting off the grain. I think my second batch I will do on the grain just to see the difference.

Wow I didn't realize i would need to wait that long for it to clear. I am used to it stopping bubbling and then running.

I am ok in the patience department, but I am a bit giddy to run this.

Utvol!

[wv_hillbilly]

How long has it been settling. Are you cold crashing, or still at temp?

[Setsumi]

Try to filter it through geotextile fabric. And then wait a few days.

[jonnys_spirit]

I've done both extremes - let it clear for months and rack then run, and run it cloudy. I've had a couple scorches after running it cloudy which is painful because a scorch is about the only way to ruin a batch to where it's unusable.

I recommend experimenting with both approaches so you can find the goldilocks middle ground or stick to what suits your shed best:)

Cheers!
-j

[utvol]

It has only been 2 days. I just googled cold crashing and i don't believe i have the space to do this.

i would hate to scorch the product as i have a decent amount of time and money into it.

geotextile fabric?

[Twisted Brick]

Not sure of where you are, but here are some examples of the geotextile fabric.

http://www.graystonecreations.com/Non-W ... c_344.html

Some of us squeeze our grains into a second vessel to clear and let fines/yeast drop out. After racking the clear off the second vessel, the last bit of clear is impossible to collect without taking some 'custard' with it. If this last bit gets placed in the reefer for a few days, it too will separate allowing one to rack the last iota of clear.

[Demy]

When I distilled "off the grain" I didn't wait too long after fermentation, just a couple of days, all good as long as you don't have a lot of solids.

[Setsumi]

It has only been 2 days. I just googled cold crashing and i don't believe i have the space to do this.

i would hate to scorch the product as i have a decent amount of time and money into it.

geotextile fabric?

Search GA flatwoods, he proposed it.

Where I am we call it underpaving fabric or garden weed control fabric.

[Broken Jug]

Wow I didn't realize i would need to wait that long for it to clear. I am used to it stopping bubbling and then running.

I am ok in the patience department, but I am a bit giddy to run this.

Utvol!

I ferment on the grain. When it’s done fermenting, I usually run it. I don’t wait.

Before I do my stripping run, I strain out all the solids I can, then pour the cloudy mash into my boiler.

I leave the cap off my boiler and turn my burner on high (I use open flame/propane burner, in a very well-ventilated shed). While I’m bringing my mash up to temp, I stir the mash the whole time so that it won’t scorch. Once it starts steaming and I see bubbles start to appear at the surface, I stop stirring and I put on the cap and condenser. Then I sit back and watch the likker start coming out of the spout.
You’ll lose a little likker this way, but not much.

I have never scorched a run doing it this way, and I don’t have to wait weeks to run it. It’s just the way I do it, not saying it’s the best way.

What I leave behind on top of the grains, I don’t worry about. I'm lazy and I hate squeezing grains, so I sometime just throw some sugar and water into the fermenter and make a sugar-head.

[jonnys_spirit]

Wow I didn't realize i would need to wait that long for it to clear. I am used to it stopping bubbling and then running.

I am ok in the patience department, but I am a bit giddy to run this.

Utvol!

I ferment on the grain. When it’s done fermenting, I usually run it. I don’t wait.

Before I do my stripping run, I strain out all the solids I can, then pour the cloudy mash into my boiler.

I leave the cap off my boiler and turn my burner on high (I use open flame/propane burner, in a very well-ventilated shed). While I’m bringing my mash up to temp, I stir the mash the whole time so that it won’t scorch. Once it starts steaming and I see bubbles start to appear at the surface, I stop stirring and I put on the cap and condenser. Then I sit back and watch the likker start coming out of the spout.
You’ll lose a little likker this way, but not much.

I have never scorched a run doing it this way, and I don’t have to wait weeks to run it. It’s just the way I do it, not saying it’s the best way.

What I leave behind on top of the grains, I don’t worry about. I'm lazy and I hate squeezing grains, so I sometime just throw some sugar and water into the fermenter and make a sugar-head.

I’ve done it that way many times and maybe only two or three scorches which yielded unusable product. Well, unusable for drinking. I still burn it by dumping jars on the firepit dancing naked under the stars as a sacrifice shooting up towards the ethanol gods. (The neighbors on nextdoor love us)

I have also cleared and racked multiple times over weeks or months which resulted in zero scorches.

I’m not married to either but it sure does hurt my feelings when it scorches and I lose a batch - I typically go all in on a few big batches back to back so not all is lost. Once I scorch I then am more careful and clear better for a period getting more lax until it happens again. Rinse and repeat the cycle. Maybe that’s an indication of insanity??? Lol.

Sugarheads are a great second ferment maybe augmented with some molasses or jaggery for the rat-bastard-rumski solera.

Cheers!
-j

[Broken Jug]

I’ve done it that way many times and maybe only two or three scorches which yielded unusable product. Well, unusable for drinking. I still burn it by dumping jars on the firepit dancing naked under the stars as a sacrifice shooting up towards the ethanol gods. (The neighbors on nextdoor love us)

Cheers!
-j

That’s hilarious!!

But now I can’t get that image out of my head!

[Bee]

Never heard of a scorch using propane & cloudy mash, even with some bits in it.
From reading here, it seems like it happens most often with chunky mash & electric heating elements.

[Deplorable]

Never heard of a scorch using propane & cloudy mash, even with some bits in it.
From reading here, it seems like it happens most often with chunky mash & electric heating elements.

In my early beginning I scorched cloudy wash on propane more than once and had to scrub the bottom of my boiler. Cloudy, not chunky.
I've yet to have anything stick to my internal element.

Slow heat ups on either configuration will greatly reduce the risk of a scorch when you can't be bothered to properly clear your ferment before running it.

[Almtngoat]

Strain out the grain and run it, stirring often while heating low and slow, I run very rich cloudy mashes often they just need lots of stirring while heating up, scorching happens when it settles, stir, stir, stir. Another of the few good things you pick up watching Moonshiners besides the comedy entertainment.

[utvol]

My last stripping run I ran all the mash from my last HBB. The bottom was very cloudy but not much sediment. Poto attached showing how cloudy the bottom of the carboy was. I strained it as I put in my boiler.

The run came out a bit cloudy. I was thinking this was from running hot and fast. The product did not taste scorched. I have not emptied my boiler y

as i was crazy busy yesterday. If I scorched the mash it would have an off taste right?

thanks in advance.

[Berserk]

If you scorched it you'd know, there's no mistaking it. I scorched an AG bourbon once and it tasted and smelled like an ashtray in a very obvious way.

[MooseMan]

I think you'd benefit from cold crashing to compact that trub on the bottom.

If you don't have anywhere cold to put a fermenter, think outside the box a bit, could you put it into a shallow tray/tub or something with water, and float frozen bottles of water in it?
Drop (Very clean) ice packs actually into it?
Place it on top of frozen ice packs?
Try glycerin that can be like magic and clear a beer overnight.

[utvol]

what type of temperature does it take to cold crash? my lash mash had at least 2 inches of the trub on the bottom after 2 weeks of sitting. I hand strained 20 lbs of grains and ended up with 5 gallons of mash and the bottom 6 inches was just like the above photo.

[subbrew]

On beer I try for 34 to 36F to cold crash. But even into the 40s helps.

[jonnys_spirit]

I’d rack it off that. You’re not going to get much more. Is it really worth the trouble?

Next time consider making more in anticipation of excessive trub if that’s feasible? It would be a lot easier to plan to make a gallon more than to chase 1/2 gallon IMO.

Cheers,
J

[utvol]

Jonny - that was the one that i siphoned off the grain. I got another 6 gallons from squeezing the grain. and at least 1 gallon of it was cloudy as hell like that. I made 12 gallons hoping to get 10. I got 10 but hell at least 2 of them were cloudy as hell.

[bilgriss]

My carboys always look like that after squeezing a finished bourbon type mash. It will compact a little, not a lot, if you let it sit longer. Mostly the top part gets clearer.

I've taken some of that sludgy stuff and run it before with an internal electric element. Very tricky. I've had both success and failures. My general thinking at this point is that it's better to leave more behind, and in the long run I get more by not scorching than I would by getting greedy.

If you have a steam powered pot, you can run anything without concern. And a flame outside the boiler run super slow while heating is a good option if you have the patience. But I don't and sometimes I don't.

[greggn]

I got 10 but hell at least 2 of them were cloudy as hell.

So maybe look into changing your yeast. Look for a strain that has high flocculation.

[Twisted Brick]

My carboys always look like that after squeezing a finished bourbon type mash. It will compact a little, not a lot, if you let it sit longer. Mostly the top part gets clearer.

I've found that the finer the grain is milled the more flour it produces that tends to stay in suspension. It'll eventually settle out but takes a long time, like 7-10 days. Once I switched to a mill screen with larger holes the problem was halved. Larger (medium meal) corn granules take a little longer to gel, but only an hour or two at the most.

[utvol]

I am using for the first time Daddy yeast and except for the corn which i milled more than cracked but less than powder the other grains were just cracked. but from straining it. the cloudy was mostly corn mush. But I did not have any issues with scorching and i had my heat on as high as it would go on start up.