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Author Topic: Drainage time  (Read 10156 times)

Offline denny

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Re: Drainage time
« Reply #15 on: February 28, 2011, 06:21:27 pm »
I have no doubt that malt conditioning works.   I also have no doubt that with my equipment it's not necessary.  Personally, I guess I'd rather fix the issue at the source than have to condition malt every time I crush.  I know, I know...it's easy.  But so is assembling equipment, and I rather only do it once than every time.
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Offline oscarvan

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Re: Drainage time
« Reply #16 on: February 28, 2011, 07:33:07 pm »
Agreed. Then again, I think I have it all set up right, and it was still an issue. Having nice whole husks is a beautiful thing....and in the end it only takes five minutes and all you're adding is some water. I'm sold.

But, then again that is one of the beautiful things about beer. Different regions, different eras.... people figgered out what worked FOR THEM and that's how we got some beautiful beers. If everyone would have done it the same it would have been a BMC world a long time ago.....
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Offline euge

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Re: Drainage time
« Reply #17 on: March 01, 2011, 01:36:07 am »
A bit tangential here but with my new 8 qt mash-tun I've had an interest in this subject. The latest sack of Breiss 2-row's kernels are a lot smaller and they flew through my rollers. I ended up with a pretty coarse crush. Inspecting it closely, there was some flour but a decent percentage of the grains were nearly whole with broken endosperm resting within their skins. Could have run it through again after tightening the gap but... Didn't do it. ;) Instead I ran it roughly between my palms to loosen it up.

I mashed for longer hoping to compensate plus there were some chores blah blah. I felt the lauter was very smooth, and my efficiency wasn't impacted at all. All the while I was thinking of the Brewstrong episode about mash efficiency and how you could mash uncrushed grain if you gave it enough time. Don't know if that was unproven extrapolation on their part.

Ultimately it has me thinking that if I back off my gap a bit more depending on the extant malt characteristics, then I can speed up the lauter.
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Offline majorvices

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Re: Drainage time
« Reply #18 on: March 01, 2011, 06:10:37 am »
Big plus one to denny. FWIW I fly sparged for years and years before I gave his method a shot. After I tried it I couldn't understand why any homebrewer would ever mess around with fly sparging unless, possibly, because they had a fully automated system. Its just so easy, and I get close to 80 percent efficiency.

Also, I tried malt conditioning and it just added an extra step that made the crushed malt look prettier but didn't really do anything to improve the finished beer. It did, however, make the malt more difficult for my grain mill to crush. YMMV.

Offline oscarvan

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Re: Drainage time
« Reply #19 on: March 01, 2011, 06:22:07 am »
I tried malt conditioning and it just added an extra step that made the crushed malt look prettier but didn't really do anything to improve the finished beer. It did, however, make the malt more difficult for my grain mill to crush. YMMV.

Hmmm, interesting. I have not noticed that. From what I read it should not be so moist as to create any kind of buildup in the rollers. I sorta like playing with my malt for a few minutes before it goes in the tun...... ;D
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Offline majorvices

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Re: Drainage time
« Reply #20 on: March 01, 2011, 06:44:58 am »
There was no build up on the rollers. It just caused my motor to have to work much, much harder to turn my rollers. With a more powerful motor it would not have been an issue. I also just didn't get an appreciable return for the extra step. That said, I'm more like denny in a lot of ways. I love brewing, but I'm not into spending more more time and energy than is necessary. The rest of you can geek out all you want.  ;)

Offline denny

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Re: Drainage time
« Reply #21 on: March 01, 2011, 09:40:24 am »
I sorta like playing with my malt for a few minutes before it goes in the tun...... ;D

You're a new brewer...you'll get over it!  ;)  Kinda like the guys who use carboys so they can watch the fermentation.  After a few hundred batches the thrill goes away.
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Offline maxieboy

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Re: Drainage time
« Reply #22 on: March 01, 2011, 09:50:54 am »
You're a new brewer...you'll get over it!  ;)  Kinda like the guys who use carboys so they can watch the fermentation.  After a few hundred batches the thrill goes away.

Not here! 11 yrs., 300+ batches all fermented in carboys and still dig it. I liken it to watching a campfire or fireplace...
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Offline Pi

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Re: Drainage time
« Reply #23 on: March 01, 2011, 10:35:22 am »
Not here! 11 yrs., 300+ batches all fermented in carboys and still dig it. I liken it to watching a campfire or fireplace...
[/quote]
Same here. Last night while staring into the malstrom I was thinking "what a great screensaver!".
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Offline majorvices

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Re: Drainage time
« Reply #24 on: March 01, 2011, 02:25:23 pm »
You guys ride the short bus in school?   :P j/k

Offline maxieboy

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Re: Drainage time
« Reply #25 on: March 01, 2011, 03:14:04 pm »
What school?   ;)
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Offline tubercle

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Re: Drainage time
« Reply #26 on: March 01, 2011, 04:37:30 pm »
  The Tubercle drains with the valve full open and picks the end on the cooler up about 8 inches to get it all out. Pours in hot water stirs it up, and starts draining wide open again.

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Offline malzig

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Re: Drainage time
« Reply #27 on: March 01, 2011, 05:03:48 pm »
There was no build up on the rollers. It just caused my motor to have to work much, much harder to turn my rollers. With a more powerful motor it would not have been an issue.
I use the hand-crank and malt conditioning doesn't make it any more difficult.  Perhaps you let it sit too long and the grain got rubbery.  I don't really wait any time after spraying the malt with water, just the time it takes for me to weight out the rest of the malt.

Anyway, it's fine that some people have well tuned systems that don't run better with malt conditioning, but the OP has a problem that has a very high probability of being resolved by the very simple technique of spraying a little water on some of his malt.

Offline majorvices

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Re: Drainage time
« Reply #28 on: March 01, 2011, 06:15:33 pm »
I use the hand-crank and malt conditioning doesn't make it any more difficult.  Perhaps you let it sit too long and the grain got rubbery.  I don't really wait any time after spraying the malt with water, just the time it takes for me to weight out the rest of the malt.

IIRC back when MC became a "hit" there were several people - including Kai - who said the malt was more difficult to crush. The malt was not "rubbery" - my mill just wouldn't crush it as well. Perhaps it has something to do with mill settings. I have mine set very tight.

Offline malzig

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Re: Drainage time
« Reply #29 on: March 02, 2011, 05:25:51 am »
IIRC back when MC became a "hit" there were several people - including Kai - who said the malt was more difficult to crush. The malt was not "rubbery" - my mill just wouldn't crush it as well. Perhaps it has something to do with mill settings. I have mine set very tight.
Perhaps, I can't speak for other people, but I crush quite tightly (85%+ typical mash efficiencies) and malt condition most every batch, now, and I have no noticeable difficulty crushing the grain by hand.  Perhaps it's a difference in the standing moisture level in our grain.  I may be returning my grain to the proper moisture level and you may be at that level, already, and exceed it with conditioning.

I have to store my grain with desiccant because of high humidity, which may have contributed to brittle husks and gradually slower lauter speeds.  Malt conditioning allows me to run the drain wide open and fast, so that I add 1 minute to my process at the beginning and save 5-10 minutes at the end, potentially more.  It sounds like the OP could save an hour.

It's a process that has only upsides, for me, and I even suspect it may be contributing to the improved clarity of my beer, lately.