Straining corn mash :( Small small steam injection??

[vqstatesman]

Hi All,

So I have been giving all grain and corn a go for a while now. After a few months and many batches I finally have enough to age 15 litres at 62% on oak. Its taken a long time and lots of work! Like all who have given this a try my bugbear is straining the grain/corn. It's a F*#king nightmare!

I would really like to being scaling up my production/frequency however the straining has really got me beat. It's such a chore!
I'm not really a fan of manually squeezing my mash out. Has anyone come up with a contraption to make this process easier? Large commercial juicer/centrifuge???

So anyway I started googling a little about how some commercial setups might operate. I stumbled across steam injected mash tun stripping stills and instantly fell in love. Essentially these babies are a mash tun and stripping still in one, all powered/heated by steam. This type of setup allows you to mash and then distill on the grain, all in one vessel. The slight problem is I can only locate systems for around $20K which are 100 gallon (380L). All things being equal (which they never quite are) a smaller system of say 100 should cost around $5K which I would totally part with.

Has anyone else managed to find something small scale that meets our needs? Or any other magical method?

[bluc]

Not a fan of the squeeze either I ferment off the grain biab method .

[EziTasting]

One thing I saw in an antique shop was a fruit press. And, like you, I feel squeezing grains is a pita!!

But this got me thinking - what if you could pour the finished wash and grains into a fruit press, let the liquid drain out the bottom and then squeeeeeeeeeeeeeze the juice out of the grain....

I used a bucket to empty our 200L fermenter, poured it thru a strainer and then poured the strained juices into my boiler. I found that the grain ended up self draining at the end and only my impatience was stopping that from occurring!

[shadylane]

I built something like that from a Bain Marie used for melting candle wax.
The water jacket can be used to cook, cool and ferment the mash.
The steam injection lets it boil the mash for steam stripping.

[bluc]

What about a thumper setup, the thumper on a pot still is steam powered. you could put low wines in the primary boiler and your thick mash in secondary(thumper) the thin low wines would heat the thicker mash in the secondary while keeping abv up.
Also no rule saying you have to put a pot still on top of the thumper could use a plate still if you wanted?
Not sure how the intial run would go would using just water in primary boiler flood the secondary? :-B

[bluc]

What if you welded a plate above elements and filled the element section with oil? so it heated the mash indirectky, so you had non exposed elements? would it still burn?

[warramungas]

I know you're keen on a steam powered still. Who wouldn't!!!!
However, have you thought about a double boiler and forget the steam? A lot cheaper and the alcohol/water mix would have a slightly lower boiling point than water in the outer boiler. I've boiled high gravity beers like that (or pretty damn close) before that always burnt on the stove with no issues.
Not sure about boiling with the corn and yeast in the pot but hey, if some pros do it, why not?
Cheers.

[vqstatesman]

Thanks for the ideas and comments guys. I'll have to keep thinking about this one.

[Wobblyboot]

Have seen some are using steam and would like to use it also in a small 50-100l setup. More ideas would be helpful :think:

[vqstatesman]

Have seen some are using steam and would like to use it also in a small 50-100l setup. More ideas would be helpful :think:

+1 +1 +1

[Sam.]

I know it wasn't the OP question but the tangent of putting a thick corn mash in an inline thumper worries me....

[Meatheadinc]

know it wasn't the OP question but the tangent of putting a thick corn mash in an inline thumper worries me....

Inline ???

What about a thumper setup, the thumper on a pot still is steam powered. you could put low wines in the primary boiler and your thick mash in secondary(thumper) the thin low wines would heat the thicker mash in the secondary while keeping abv up. 
Also no rule saying you have to put a pot still on top of the thumper could use a plate still if you wanted?
Not sure how the intial run would go would using just water in primary boiler flood the secondary? 

I think it was a regular thumper with a column on top of the thumper that was suggested.
Its has been done and isnt a bad solution.

[Sam.]

ah righto, read that wrong then thank you for clearing that up :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[bluc]

Sorry should have clarified meatheadinc is right a thumper like used on a pot not an inline thumper, although i gues an inline can be used on a pot also. Seperate steam powered parasitic boiler is what i mean... :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[scythe]

What about using a short fat keg as the jacket for a taller skinny keg, and the water heated by a herms system?

[bluc]

I was thinking a coil of copper like a wort chiller inside the boiler then pump boiling water through inside of copper coil a keggle would do the job. Speed of boil up would depend on amount of copper in boiler.
But I think the double boiler /Bain marie style boiler would be best.

[hillzabilly]

I have put a large straining bag inside a 30lt fermenter taped securely on the outside top,run a hose from the tap into your boiler or other collection vessel,then jug your mash into it ,I do that the day befor stilling and when most has drained through I do a sort of sparge by adding about another 10lt of water.It's not a short process but I was happy with the results and it was less work and mess ,undo the tape and the bag is removed with grain for disposal .If ya corn is ground super fine it may be less effective ,the coarse'a ground grain seemed to drain away much more quickly,this may not give the best coversion tho, it is one of those things that each needs to make their own choice .Easier production versus a small loss of product .Wich a few overcome by bigger brews .cheers hillzabilly

[vqstatesman]

I'm wondering how well a boiler with a concealed element would go? Something like a t500 and a simple pot head for stripping. Then bang all the low wines through the bubbler.

[bluc]

Have had a scorch start with cracked corn in t500 boiler during mashing personally wouldn't put thick wash or grain in the boiler..

[hillzabilly]

At Larks distillery in Tassi snapped a pic of his first still and its inards ,he has electric elements in copper tubes mounted in the boiler,to stop scorching grains.cheers hillzabilly ;-)