Mashing Barley/Wheat

[Sam.]

Howdy all, I am looking to do a lot more all grain washes this year in the hope that I can make some awesome whisky.

I have seen a lot of different methods done by people involving different temperatures and rest times.

Just after some ideas before I go ruining a heap of grain ;-)

Anyone that does all grain, could you please let me know your successes (or failures) in regards to how much conversion you have achieved and using what methods. I will be borrowing a mates brew in a bag setup to start with but will probably go to a three tier system down the track.

All help much appreciated. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Hill]

I haven't had a go with any grain spirits yet but have over 200 full mash brews under my belt, in regards to what i know between 60 and 70 deg most of your main conversion will happen the lower the mash temp ie 62 deg, the more fermentables and lower the end gravity, mashing higher ie 68 deg lessens the fermentables and ends in having a higher end gravity which would usually would give more body in a beer. Out side that range you would get different types of conversions ie 40-50 deg is an acid rest which would lower your PH, 50 - 60deg is a protein rest to break down proteins in the mash. I'm reading from harvest to moonshine at the moment which has all types of rests and i can tell you from all the research iv done and experience i have it would make a difference but if you can't get your times and temps exact and you have limited equipment you may not get out anything for the effort you have put in and I don't know how much you would notice the difference once distilled.

If it was me with basic BiAB equipment with limited ability to raise and drop mash temps id boil my starting water to remove chlorine, mash 65deg, Id add a teaspoon of calcium sulphate to lower the PH and at about 60 mins i do a conversion test by putting some wort on a plate and adding a drop of iodine, if the drop disperses quickly or stays dark it would mean it isn't finished conversion and it would need longer.

This wold give you a starting point then you could raise or lower the mash temp based on if you wanted/needed a sweeter or dryer mash.

There's programs out there that help you calculate all your variables, I use Beersmith that has a free 30 day trial but there are others, these will tell you what all your numbers are.

I hope all that makes sense.

[Hill]

Oh and I don't know if you would ever ruin grain. we have stuffed up our beer mash hugely a few times and the end product has been fine.

[Sam.]

Thanks for the reply mate, makes sense.

I would think that the end product would be hardly any different with different mashing schedules but I just don't know. Has anyone here done a side by side comparison? Would be hard with so many other variables.

I assumed the best way would be to start at a lower temp and keep going up in increments and have a rest at each stage to get the max conversion, but talking to one of my all grain mates there is a theory that whatever your strike temp is, is where the majority of your conversion will happen regardless what you do to temp after. Anyone else ever heard of this :think:

[Hill]

Are you talking about raising in 1 run mate?
The best way I think would to be to keep the 1 temp the whole mash then experiment on the next mash.

And when you talk about conversion mate I wouldn't think moving the mash temp around would make too much difference, if you were going to play with it the best way would be 1 temp then lower or raise based on wanting more or less sweetness in the mash.

In the end raising your temp might get you 2 gravity points which will mean bugger all, im guessing it will change the mouth feel and slightly the taste but if you have nothing to compare it to u may as well mash at 1 temp

[blond.chap]

I have this a few shots last year, the first one I did was a single temperature infusion at about 65degC (my esky doesn't have very precise temperature control). This one ended up puking it's guts out, got nothing from it.

The next time I gave it a protein rest at 50degC (30min), then amylase at 62degC (60min). No more puking.

As far as flavour goes, I think it'll be really interesting to get some experimentation going, there's a lot of beer theory that doesn't apply when you put it through a still so to begin with, so my initial thoughts were to get the maximum fermentable sugar by favouring beta amylase, and reduce large proteins with the 50deg rest to prevent major foaming.

Take this all with a grain of salt though, because the whisky didn't end up coming through all that nicely. It was either the crappy pot still smearing too much, or the source of peated malt. I'm keen to give it another shot though.