RIMS Mashing

[Ironheadchop]

Hello all.

Usually, I run a UJSSM mash. Have ran several of those up to around 10-13 generations of it and had great success and good tasting stuff. So after about a year into it I figured I would try my hand at an all grain recipe so I ordered 2 5gal Jeptha Creed mash kit from NGS. I followed the directions to a tee and when it was done my starting ABV was only like 5%, which I ordered the extra 5Lb bag of dextrose sugar to help bump the ABV up. So with that addition I was still at 5% ABV. I asked around and seems like even following the directions spot on I still did not get enough conversion of my starches. I was told I needed to keep my temps up and go longer on the time. So that got me thinking.. back some years ago when I made beer, I built a 3 keg electric brew setup that used a RIMS tube for mashing and I could hold temps to within a degree for however long I needed.

So I thought...well why couldn’t I use that to mash with? With a RIMS setup I wouldn't think I would need to stir my pot, and the only time I think I would need to stir is when I added the Amylase's. With that I could hold my temps and I should be able to get great conversion, I mean it works for mashing in on a beer why wouldn't it work for a likker?

If you don't know what a rims setup is, below is a link to a video of when I was building my setup. It’s a heating element inside a tube where the liquid is constantly circulated and heated. It is controlled by an RTD in the tube and set by the PID controller. The keg has a false bottom screen in it that keeps the grains from coming through to the pump. In beer you want to try and not disturb the grain bed and stir it up so it has a sparge arm that trickles the water back in.

[NormandieStill]

I tend to find that the volumes I make when brewing for distillation hold their temperature better than the smaller volumes that I need. But there's no reason that a RIMS tube wouldn't work. Unless you're making bourbon or high rye whisky where the mash is going to be too hard to filter to work with RIMS.

If you've already got AG brewing experience, I wouldn't bother with kits. The recipes in Tried and True here will get you far and probably cost considerably less.

[howie]

wow, $60usd for 15lbs of grain and a few bits.
seems a bit steep?
can you post the instructions so folk can make any suggestions.

[greggn]

I ordered 2 5gal Jeptha Creed mash kit from NGS. I followed the directions to a tee and when it was done my starting ABV was only like 5%,

Please tell me the corn didn't look like the photo NGS posted to Amazon:




I'm hard-pressed to believe that you got anything usable from that mess.

[Zacher]

I tend to find that the volumes I make when brewing for distillation hold their temperature better than the smaller volumes that I need. But there's no reason that a RIMS tube wouldn't work. Unless you're making bourbon or high rye whisky where the mash is going to be too hard to filter to work with RIMS.

If you've already got AG brewing experience, I wouldn't bother with kits. The recipes in Tried and True here will get you far and probably cost considerably less.

Agree with this 100%. RIMS will not work for high corn or high rye porridge but is awesome for all grain. And for the kits. Do a little research, make them up yourself and save the money...