Todays Brew is..

[EziTasting]

First attempt at using our new secondhand mashing system (mash tun & HLT) doing a BIAB & mash at the same time. Single malt using only Pilzner Malt...

IMG_8965.JPG

Let's see what comes of it! :D

[bluc]

Sounds interesting what are the inner details ezi? Grain bill mash thickness rest temps :-B

[Fishleg]

Fishleg what is your total volume. Half cup yeast sounds like a lot i doubt i put 1/4 cup in 200l mash, and i dont rehydrate (for sugarheads)..

Oh :oops:

Total volume close to 30l was just going off bwko recipe- says 1/4 cup lowans. Did not measure, hence the term "a good sprinkle" as per cfw recipe. It would be somewhere between 1/2 and 1/4 cup. Is that bad ?? I've never really been a whiskey drinker but after doing some cfw I was hoping this would come out ok, and am keen to start producing a bit of bourbon style whiskey.

[bluc]

What i understand worse to under pitch than over. Just 1/2 cup in 30l seems like a lot maybe not... where did the 1/2 cup from? Mac, or someone else? For 30 l i prob would only use 2 tbls..

[TasSpirits]

First attempt at using our new secondhand mashing system (mash tun & HLT) doing a BIAB & mash at the same time. Single malt using only Pilzner Malt...

IMG_8965.JPG

Let's see what comes of it! :D

Way to go Ezi, nothing more satisfying than sipping that first AG Whisky :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Fishleg]

What i understand worse to under pitch than over. Just 1/2 cup in 30l seems like a lot maybe not... where did the 1/2 cup from? Mac, or someone else? For 30 l i prob would only use 2 tbls..

Bwko says 1/4 cup. In future I'll keep that in mind. I've used various amounts of yeast In rum washes but it doesn't seem to affect taste too much. Whiskey is different :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Thx bluc, your new mentor status is well deserved :handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Clickeral]

Over the weekend I picked up a 50L MLT and a 70L BK so along with my milkcan I have a 3v system still dialling it in but made 26L of a smash ale and 28L of a midnight oatmeal porter that ill add vanilla to in secondary.

The grain from both mashes has had sugar added and is sitting in other fermentors for sugarhead whisky :)

I used stockfeed steam rolled oats in the porter and didnt have any issues apart from a slight reduction in effiency but I suspect thats more due to mistakes on my end

Planning on doing 50L of All grain traditional ale based Whisky next weekend once I clean out a fermentor. Then look into an oat whisky. I also have some stock feed wheat and barley that I need to use

[EziTasting]

Sounds interesting what are the inner details ezi? Grain bill mash thickness rest temps :-B

Ok, you have me at a disadvantage, first time me doing it like this. First time using this mashing set up!
Essentially we bought this of a beer Home brewer who's upgraded to a Braumeister. So manual system (as per pic above) to a virtually fully automated system. We asked if he would come over and show us how to work it, and he was happy to do so. Yesterday we spent around 4-4.5 Hrs working it.

We bought a 25 Kg bag (actually 3 different bags of malted barley - didn't trust our self malted stuff, yet!), took out 4Kg and ground it to his specs (grain nicely ground, hulls in tact - he emphasized that that was important). Measured out 12L of good quality water and brought it up to 68*C (there's a term they use - meaning 'pitching the grain' :teasing-tease: striking temp?) temperature with grain dropped to 63*C and we brought it up to 65*C for 90 minutes. That's for the smaller cettle on the left. It has a motor on top and some paddles that stir the mash continuously.

The cettle on the right is what he used to use as a HLT so he can heat the water for sparging, but in order to save some time we used it as another mashing pot using the BIAB method. NB: until yesterday, I've only read about either of these systems! Because the HLT is around 30L (mash tun is only 20-25L) we put 5Kg grain in the bag (same malted barley, same crush) - did the stirring manually every 10-15 mins.

After each mash tun finished its 90 mins, we increased the temp to 78*C for 10 mins before draining it into the FV. We then manually sparged each grain bed with 80*C water, first 6L followed after with 3L.

NB: before sparging, we pulled out some grain and wort and put some iodine drops into it test for conversion. Both came up as fully converted.

We ended up with a volume of 40L and SG of 1.040 using our trusty hygrometer. Left it overnight to cool down and added 11.5gs of Safal05 yeasty boyz.

Followed Home Beer Brewers sterilization protocols and are using an airlock. Again, being new to this, we wanted to remove any chance of a Fuff-up!

Will repeat soon, as we want to get to a place where we have a min of 45L volume to go into our 50L keg boiler and a target SG if around 1.070 (?!? I've read elsewhere). Oh, the FV is a 60L jobby...

Way to go Ezi, nothing more satisfying than sipping that first AG Whisky :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Fingers crossed! And I sincerely hope so! Think I'll be researching AG Whisky recipes and ideas. While I enjoy the sugar heads, I got involved here to do the real McCoy! Forgive me, if that sounded judgemental!

Peace-out! :music-deathmetal:

[EziTasting]

A further note:- we used grains, water and yeast only!

"No added Sugar!"

:laughing-rolling:

[TasSpirits]

Where are you from Ezi, we call em Kettles not Cettles :laughing-rolling:

[EziTasting]

Where are you from Ezi, we call em Kettles not Cettles :laughing-rolling:

Haters will hate... :D

Ich komme aus Deutschland!

Well, my parents do. I was born in Sth Africa amongst tha Zooloos in a Kraal... but now I'm an Ozzy, mate :teasing-neener:

[EziTasting]

To be honest, I wasn't all that sure that they're even Kettles....

[bluc]

Whats the fv? How did you raise the temp. With boiling water or did you recirc past an element :-B striking temp is "strike water" temp very important so you dont kill enzymes. Seems you did a two stage mash. With two rests. Cool hope it goes well :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Edit fermentation vessel :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Lowie]

You're all over it mate. Welcome to the world of AG brewing. Hardest part is reaching that elusive OG of 1070. I'm still chasing it for some of my beers...

[Lowie]

Did you nick that fancy table cloth from your local when the waitress wasn't watching?

[Lowie]

I ran a lemon wash on the weekend, not exactly the taste I was expecting - more like metho. Might leave it for a while and see if it improves. Put down 2 x 25L Macrums and a 25L Teddys FFV at the same time. I'm going away end of the week for a couple of weeks - Thailand to thaw out. Should have plenty to do when I get back :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[TasSpirits]

Ezi, you don't need to mash out for Whisky, raising the temp too high will kill of the enzymes, we want them to keep working, also the sparge water was a bit hot IMHO, I sparge to a maximum of 75' remember for Whisky you don't want to kill the enzymes and when you sparge you only want to flush the sugars out. Higher temps will introduce tannins, which will produce off flavours. There are a few subtle differences between Whisky and beer making. I would recommend you invest in a cooling coil, the less time your wort stays hot the better. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[EziTasting]

You're all over it mate. Welcome to the world of AG brewing. Hardest part is reaching that elusive OG of 1070. I'm still chasing it for some of my beers...

How close did you get?

RE: tablecloth, it's a heavy duty plastic. Not sure where it's from, It's at Bugburners house....

[bluc]

You're all over it mate. Welcome to the world of AG brewing. Hardest part is reaching that elusive OG of 1070. I'm still chasing it for some of my beers...

Are you chasing higher effeciency? If so what do you currently get..

[Lowie]

Around 1050-1060, depending on the grain bill. I'm running a herms setup and a 2 stage mash. I regularly get a stuck mash, even after throwing in a handful of rice husks and end up blowing in the tube to get it flowing again. I run the HLT on gas which can be inconsistent so I've just changed that to electric. I've never used iodine to check if I have full conversion - always relied on beersmith time recommendations (maybe I should test?) Next step is to replace the thermometer on the output of the herms with a thermocouple and control it that way. I'm still making great beer, just chasing the perfect beer. That's the beauty of these hobbies isn't it, constantly learning and trying something new. Any suggestions mate?