Brewing all-grain beer Continued from Page 1


chests are common containers that can be converted into mash tuns. This probably is the cheapest option available but fully-built mash tuns can be purchased. Because of the popularity of coolers, there are plenty of choices in hardware available to convert them into mast tuns. Northern Brewer has a cooler conversion kit that will add a ball valve and standard fittings to most coolers (make sure you get stainless steel). Inside the cooler, there needs to be something separating the grains from the liquid and here is where you have a few choices. With the round coolers, a false bottom screen will fit nicely inside and makes for easy cleanup. For rectangular coolers, a round false bottom won’t work so a mani- fold can be built from CPVC pipe or a stainless steel mesh tube attached to the ball valve (both of these could be used in the round coolers as well). Designs for such are widely available in brewing books and homebrew forums on the internet. How much of a DIY effort you make will likely depend on your tools available and the time you want to spend constructing the mash tun.


Now that you have two necessary pieces of equipment, your options in grain are no longer limited – Pilsner, pale, Munich, Vienna, rye, amber, aromatic, brown and wheat malts need to be mashed in order to extract the sugars. Now you can use these malts to brew even more styles of beer and brew more creative and unique recipes. So what are you waiting for? Make the switch to all-grain if you’re looking for more variety, more control over the brewing process and a lower cost in ingredients per batch. Things might not go as planned your first time but it will be a learning experience. Just remember, in the words of Charlie Papazian, “Relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew.”


All-grain techniques by Sam Tierney


or the simplest mashing tech- nique, you’ll want to do a single-infusion, which is perfectly suit- able with modern malts. You need to heat your mash water up to a calcu- lated temperature (refer- ence a book or calculator program for this), add it to your mash tun and


F


then mix your crushed grain in. If your calculations are correct, your mash will stabilize at your targeted temperature. You then simply let it rest at this tempera- ture until starch conversion is complete – usually about an hour. Once your mash is converted, you have several options for lautering. The simplest option is batch sparging, which only requires that you have another pot to heat up your required amount of sparge water. I’ve found that five gallons of sparge water is usually the maximum for a five gallon batch, and your old ex- tract brewing pot will probably work well for this. Once the mash is done, you recirculate your wort over the top until it is free from bits of husk and then drain it to your kettle until it is dry. Next, you add your sparge water to the mash, either all at once or in a couple batches, and mix well. Repeat your recirculation and runoff to the kettle and if your calculations are correct, you will have the proper volume of pre-boil wort that you can then bring up to boiling. The other common type of lautering and sparging is called continuous or fly


sparging. Using this technique, you recirculate and then start running off to the kettle, but at a slower rate than with batch sparging. When the wort level is just above your grain bed in the mash tun, you start sprinkling your sparge water over the top. You are shooting for a balance of wort draining to the kettle and sparge water being added to the mash tun, so that there is always a little liquid over the top of the grain. This is a slower process and typically takes 60-90 min- utes for the best extraction. This is how most commercial breweries operate. If you want to continuous sparge, you need a container (another cooler or pot) that can hold your sparge water at the appropriate temperature for the duration of the sparge, and a means to deliver it somewhat evenly over the top of your grain bed. It’s a little more complicated than batch sparging, but a drink cooler with a ball valve, tubing, and a manifold that rests over the top of your mash tun to sprinkle water are all you need to get it done. You are also more limited in your mash tun design, needing either an even manifold across the bottom, or a false bottom. If you use a wire braid, the limited surface area will cause the wort to channel through your grain, leading to poor rinsing of much of the mash and a drop in extract efficiency. Which of these two methods is better? Well, it depends. Continuous sparg- ers have often claimed higher extract efficiency with that method, but the two methods are often close enough to make it a non-issue. Both methods typically produce nearly identical beers in the end. With batch sparging, you need less equipment and in the end this makes it easier for beginners to get into. Most high-end homebrewing systems like those from More Beer, Blichmann, or Sabco are set up for continuous sparging - so if you have the itch and the cash, you’d might as well go that route. Either way, you will enjoy the increased flex- ibility and control that moving up to all-grain brewing provides.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17