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Thank you Thank you Thank you!
From a worn out masher!

I hear ya kegster. I'm really really glad that it helps you and so many people. Anything I can share to help people reduce workload and achieve same results I will. No lazy man ever made liquor, but only an ignorant one makes his last one with the same sweat as his first.

This is a huge help. Will definitely be giving this a go. Will be starting out like suggested with the 32g brute inside the 55g and go from there. Thanks for sharing.

bilgriss wrote: ↑Sun Apr 02, 2017 4:06 am RD - Respect.

I think we should take a poll on how many members' significant other would let them wrap up a 50 gallon ferment in their living room.

Haha first thing I thought of.
Never happened here where I dwell.

LWTCS wrote: ↑Sun Jul 26, 2020 5:31 am

bilgriss wrote: ↑Sun Apr 02, 2017 4:06 am RD - Respect.

I think we should take a poll on how many members' significant other would let them wrap up a 50 gallon ferment in their living room.

Haha first thing I thought of.
Never happened here where I dwell.

I could do it...

Heck, I could go ahead and use 2-3 barrels in my living room. It would be MY DECISION!

Right after she left me, that is...

Hehe. I tried this already but in the bedroom. Truth is I may have gotten away with it but the apples put off a horibal sulfur smell for the first 3 days and she made me put it back in the garrage... We are arguing right now about how many apple trees I can fit in the front yard. I say 15. She said 0. But... A mans got to take a stand sometime right? Ill die on this apple hill if need be. Bout to go strain 50 gallons of corn and oats and get ready to strip. She just told me if I plant all those trees she is turning the garrage into her she shed. May be worth it. I'll just put up another building for me and my still.

Good job ace as always.

SCD & posters, thanks for the insights. After catching a bit of flak on another post about the length of time my mashes take, I did some research and wound up here. This past weekend I got to try out some of the techniques discussed here. More of an Easy Medium in terms of size, but much was the same.

I started out middle of last week and mashed a lb of corn with some malt to get about 3 quarts to propagate some yeast for pitch. Then I made 4 batches of invert sugar (10 lbs each) for my gumballs to ferment on the leftover grain, put them in fermenters and got ready for the mash. I'm using a 20 gallon pot with a false bottom, and wanted to avoid the problem I had last mash which was a stuck sparge and manually processing 35+ lbs of beer logged grain.

My recipe is 20lbs corn, & 8.5 lbs barley and rye.

First step was to set up my filter bed using rice hulls. I'll post up details on that process in a separate thread.

Using rolled corn and SCD's 1/3 method, I boiled about 4 gallons, added about 7 lbs grain, and then added 2 ml of SEB Star high temp amylase. A good bit of stirring to start conversion, and into the brew pot. I wrapped it with insulated cover and let her settle to mash-in temp. Stirred a half dozen times over the next couple of hours, during a spirit run.

Next morning, I got about 11 gallons of clear beer out of the pot, drained all the way down. Squeezed another 2 or so gallons out of the grain, with final gravity of 1.066 Divided the grain into the 4 buckets for my gumball, pitched about a 1/2 quart of starter into each small fermenter and a quart into the 60 l with the beer, and 12 hours later I've got about 35 gallons of happily fermenting product. The Spiedel has the beer, the others plus one in the garage are the gumball. I also threw a marble tile into the all-grain beer to see how that would work.

Drifter

Looks like success to me . Good job.

Thank you sir. Not perfect, but a giant step forward compared to the last batch.

I am getting the equipment together that I'll need to move up to larger scale mashing. My question has to do with pouring boiling water into HPDE containers.

I've done enough nosing around on the forum to know that even saying "Plastics, Ben" can cause blood pressures to rise. But in the beginning of this thread, SCD is pouring boiling water into a blue HPDE barrel. I take it there are many others who do the same. I've been pouring boiling water onto corn meal inside 30 l. fermenting buckets and not thinking twice about it.

To quote another Dustin Hoffman movie: Is it safe? That HPDE containers are fine for fermenting, no one seems to seriously dispute. But there are folks who really cast doubt upon the safety of pouring boiling water into plastic containers. Any kind of plastic container. So did I miss the thread where this was deemed kosher, or do we just figure our livers will give out before the carcinogens get us? Or should I do my mixing and mashing in metal and wait for it to cool to pitching temps before moving to plastic (what a pain).

IMO as long as you keep an eye on the condition of your HPDE vessel, be it a Brute or repurposed drum you'll be fine. The temp crashes quickly to below 200°f when you add the grain to the water.

You could keep an eye out for stainless steel drums, they pop up every now and then...

I did find this:

HDPE or High Density Poly Ethelene plastic has an amazing temperature range, and is considered safe for short periods up to 248°F (120°C) or for long periods up to 230°F (110°C.) Since boiling water never gets above 100°C, this means that anything boiling and below is safe for a food grade bucket.

That is reassuring.

I'm about to get started on a couple of firsts here this morning. I'll be using this method for a 25 gallon mash of CROW bourbon. 35# BRM cornmeal, 2.5# toasted oats, 5# Rye malt, and 10# wheat malts. (SCDs 5 gallon batch recipe multiplied ×5)
This will be my first bourbon, and first time gelling a large volume of corn.
I intend to use HT enzymes to help convert the corn and oats on the way down to 150f prior to adding the malts. Another first.
Should I add enzymes to the first half of the corn just prior to adding the 2nd half of corn and water, or dough in the 2nd half, and wait a few hours for it to gel, then add a full tbs and stir in, cover and wait for 150?
Temps in the garage this time of year are swinging between a low of 42 and high of 59 over the course of the day. Insulation in the form of a reflectix wrap, wool blankets and sleeping bag wrapping should keep the brute toasty long enough to thoroughly gel the corn, I hope.
Just wish I had a stilling hand to help mix while I dough in.
I dont have the ability to get my boiler over the top of my brute, so I'll be pailing 5 gallons of boiling water at a time into the brute, mixing in some corn, and repeating.
Anybody see any glaring flaws in this plan?

Deplorable wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 7:55 am I'm about to get started on a couple of firsts here this morning. I'll be using this method for a 25 gallon mash of CROW bourbon. 35# BRM cornmeal, 2.5# toasted oats, 5# Rye malt, and 10# wheat malts. (SCDs 5 gallon batch recipe multiplied ×5)
This will be my first bourbon, and first time gelling a large volume of corn.
I intend to use HT enzymes to help convert the corn and oats on the way down to 150f prior to adding the malts. Another first.
Should I add enzymes to the first half of the corn just prior to adding the 2nd half of corn and water, or dough in the 2nd half, and wait a few hours for it to gel, then add a full tbs and stir in, cover and wait for 150?
Temps in the garage this time of year are swinging between a low of 42 and high of 59 over the course of the day. Insulation in the form of a reflectix wrap, wool blankets and sleeping bag wrapping should keep the brute toasty long enough to thoroughly gel the corn, I hope.
Just wish I had a stilling hand to help mix while I dough in.
I dont have the ability to get my boiler over the top of my brute, so I'll be pailing 5 gallons of boiling water at a time into the brute, mixing in some corn, and repeating.
Anybody see any glaring flaws in this plan?

Not sure if it is an option, but a sawhorse table (two saw horses and a piece of plywood gets my keg drain to almost the right height to go into my 55 gallon barrel. Used scrap wood to get the rest of the way. Might be some stuff you have around. Make sure the sawhorse can handle the weight. I used 2 that are rated for 200 pounds each. 15 gallons of water and the keg will be under 150 pounds. Your gear is different, just want to be sure the setup can handle the weight. I stood on s step ladder to hold the hose while filling the keg.

I'm a noob so my experience is very limited, but when I did this started the water draining, added the corn and kept mixing while the rest of the water drained in. Once the first round of corn and water was in, I added the enzymes and it all turned smooth. Repeated when the second round of water came to a boil. The enzymes worked almost instantly.

There is a post earlier in this thread where the enzymes are added twice and then and ice block is added to speed up the temperature drop. Here's that post:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=65703&hilit=easy+la ... 0#p7495939

Good luck.

The valve is a little higher than I'd like, but after moving my barrel, and clearing my bench some I can make this work.

Problem solved. Added an 18 inch donkey dick to my valve to direct the boiling water to the center of the brute during dough in.

Nice idea. Hope it mixed up well for you.

Deplorable wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 10:55 am Problem solved. Added an 18 inch donkey dick to my valve to direct the boiling water to the center of the brute during dough in.
20201226_105449.jpg

Hows the mashing going I'm on hold till I rebuild

Done for now until the temp drops. Working on rebuilding the master bathroom shitter now. Need to go get a new hose. The old CSST like sprung a leak.

That sucks man I'm working save for my condenser I've got cherry pie filling and sugar for a run and some more corn wheat and barley that way I can strip on my little head now and do cleaning sac and spirits on my new stuff

Seeing how this old CSST line sprung a leak, I won't be using it to make a reflux condenser.
Back on topic, the just stirred the corn at the 2 hour mark. I added 1 TBS of HT amylase after the 2nd dough in. Its still thin and 178°f

Pics and smells welcomed

Durhommer wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 3:23 pm Pics and smells welcomed

Any further updates on this mash will be in the CROW bourbon thread since thats what I'm making.

Once fermentation is complete, are people using pumps to get the mash into the boiler? Thinking of going this route, but just want to work out the logistics first. Filling the 55g barrel seems easy. Emptying it seems a little more complicated.

A cheap $20 dollar pond pump in a paint strainer bag will pull the clear off the top. Once it gets down to the point it won't pull any more, scoop it out and strain/squeeze the grains to recover the rest.
Most are using a mop wringer bucket and paint strainer bags from the big box stores for this task.
Some rack this cloudy beer into buckets to clear, some run it cloudy. Personally, I clear my beer and rack it off the custard into the boiler.

bilgriss wrote: ↑Sun Apr 02, 2017 4:06 am RD - Respect.

I think we should take a poll on how many members' significant other would let them wrap up a 50 gallon ferment in their living room.

I could convince my other half no problem... as long as i gave a reasonable time...say 4 months... might get away with two if one was for her..

In response to the idea of a poll:

I've got (2) 24 gallon fermenters of my high oat high rye bourbon going in the living room right now, about 44 gallons of wash. My wife isn't happy about it but she also doesn't want to spend the money right now to build out my indoor brew room in my basement (it's perfectly set up to ventilate, run natural gas burner, and put wash tub for cold condenser water or hot water). It's all right there.

So she gets to see the beauty of all grain working big time on the main floor of the house. I've fermented at least 200 gallons of stuff in there that past year.

Maybe the trick is that I told my wife when we were dating: "I never ask permission. I will hunt when I want. I will make booze when I can. I'll ask if we have plans, and if not, I'm going to do what I want. If you can't handle that, then go find another man."

It might help she's from the Midwest and that I rub her back just about every night, and have remodeled every house we've had, plus I always encourage her to go spend time with her girlfriends and I'll gladly watch the kids... So it works for some, but I've seen my mother control my dad my entire life and I told myself I will never let a woman control me.

We'll see if I'm still married in 10 years .