33 replies to this topic

[mead4science]

Hey beer-peers, My boyfriend excited about making a mash rig. I understand this is necessary if you want to extract enough malt from the malt, but I'm not sure exactly how it works. Do you just stew it for a really long time? I kind of assumed that with the word 'mash' some physical shearing of grains would be involved. On the bright side, some undergraduate projects in protein biochemistry have prepared me to watch dripping pipes for hours without a feeling too frustrated. Also, can you use PCV pipes to make picnic cooler thing? Or does it have to be copper?

[BrewerGeorge]

Big Subject, Short answer:Grains are crushed first, then water is added to hit specific temperatures and held for about an hour. In that time, the enzymes in the malt convert starch to sugar and the temperature chosen gives preference to some enzymes over others to determine the final wort composition and fermentability. Home brewers tend to use coolers or converted sanke beer kegs as the vessel for their mash tun, but ultimately anything that will hold 12-15 gallons of grains and water at a relatively stable temp for an hour will work for a typical 5 gallon batch of beer.Draining the resulting wort off the grains and rinsing the sugar is technically called lautering/sparging and commercial breweries often use a separate vessel for this process. However, most home brewers combine both steps into a unified mash/lauter tun by adding a manifold to the bottom. You can definitely use CPVC (not PVC as it's not rated for mash temps) to make a manifold, as well as copper, but many folks have started by using a stainless steel braid.Take a look at Denny's Cheap 'n' Easy Batch Sparge page for lots more info and ideas.

[MolBasser]

I used cPVC in mine, but there are lots of options.Welcome to the board.MolBasser

[MolBasser]

Oh, and batch sparging is for pansies. You don't want your boyfriend to be a pansy do you?Fly sparge, FTW!(actually they both work, I figured that I would get you used to the asshattery here early on..... )MolBasser

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

Oh, and batch sparging is for pansies. You don't want your boyfriend to be a pansy do you?Fly sparge, FTW!(actually they both work, I figured that I would get you used to the asshattery here early on..... )MolBasser

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

Hey beer-peers, My boyfriend excited about making a mash rig. I understand this is necessary if you want to extract enough malt from the malt, but I'm not sure exactly how it works. Do you just stew it for a really long time? I kind of assumed that with the word 'mash' some physical shearing of grains would be involved. On the bright side, some undergraduate projects in protein biochemistry have prepared me to watch dripping pipes for hours without a feeling too frustrated. Also, can you use PCV pipes to make picnic cooler thing? Or does it have to be copper?

Has he been brewing with extract (DME or LME)?Milling the grains can be done by the homebrewer or the grains can be bought pre-milled. In the beginning I would buy them pre-milled.There are a lot of mash tun setups out there. Deciding what kind of mashing you want to do would be a good first step. Setting up a system for batch sparging (versus fly sparging) will be easier to begin with.

[Kremer]

....but ultimately anything that will hold 12-15 gallons of grains and water at a relatively stable temp for an hour will work for a typical 5 gallon batch of beer.

That's a tun sized for 10 gallons batches, but downward flexible for 5.

[BrewerGeorge]

That's a tun sized for 10 gallons batches, but downward flexible for 5.

Not really if batch sparging, where you need to be able to add all the sparge water at once. I regularly use more than 3/4 of a 48qt cooler on a five (well, six) gallon batch.

[ChefLamont]

I made my manifold out of copper before the copper prices went stupid. Plenty of people have made nice ones out of CPVC. If I had to do it over again, I would seriously look at that.If he/yall are interested in this sort of thing, there is a lot of info on this board, but the book How to Brew by John Palmer would be a good read before construction begins.

[davelew]

Hey beer-peers, My boyfriend excited about making a mash rig. I understand this is necessary if you want to extract enough malt from the malt, but I'm not sure exactly how it works. Do you just stew it for a really long time? I kind of assumed that with the word 'mash' some physical shearing of grains would be involved. On the bright side, some undergraduate projects in protein biochemistry have prepared me to watch dripping pipes for hours without a feeling too frustrated. Also, can you use PCV pipes to make picnic cooler thing? Or does it have to be copper?

Most people's first mash is something like this:1. You either buy the grains crushed, or crush them at the local homebrew store. Crushing is the common name for what you call physically shearing.2. You mix the grains with heated water and put them in a container that will hold the grain/water mixture at 150 F for an hour3. You drain the water from the grains, collect it, add more heated water to the grains, collect that, and so on.4. You boil the collected liquid (which is now called "wort" with hops, cool it, add yeast, wait for a while, and you will have beerWhat you call a "mash rig" is the container to hold the grains at a certain temperature and collect the wort. It is also called a mash tun, a mash/lauter tun, or a MLT. The contained is often either a converted keg or a cooler. Wort is collected either through a false bottom (a screen that keeps the grain above the bottom, and lets you collect liquid from under all the grains), through a manifold (CPVC, copper or stainless pipe structure with holes or slots to allow the wort into the pipes but keep grain out), or through a screen (pipes made out of mesh). I personally use a Gott brand orange cooler with a false bottom, and like most homebrewers, I believe that my system is better than everybody else's.In step 3, there are two ways to add water to the grains. You can constantly add 170F water at teh same rate as you are draining wort, which is called "fly sparging," and MolBasser believes is the best way to make beer. You can also add large amounts of water at once, stir everything up, and then drain all the wort, which is called "batch sparging" and Denny believes is the best way to make beer.My suggestion is to read up on sparging in a home brew book. I learned years ago from Charlie Papazian's New Complete Joy of Homebrewing, although these days Palmer's How To Brew seems more popular. You can read some of the information from How To Brew online here:

[Deerslyr]

I made mine out of cpvc. As George said, pvc won't be rated for the temps the mash will get to. On top of that, my copper welding skills stink. CPVC is just easier. I initially batch sparged and then moved to the fly sparge. Glad to see you are interested in his hobby. There are a few of us here that have spouses/significant others that don't really get involved or care (other than when a significant amount of money is involved) about the hobby.As Davelew said, you can go read "How To Brew" online. You can also go to Youtube to see the basic process too. Just enter "all grain brewing" and you will get a number of hits. I don't vouch completely for the method that anyone does, but if you want to visually see the basic process, its ok. I learned the process from a friend who had already been doing All Grain for about 7 years.

[Kremer]

Not really if batch sparging, where you need to be able to add all the sparge water at once. I regularly use more than 3/4 of a 48qt cooler on a five (well, six) gallon batch.

really? I batch/ *pulse* sparge and make 10g+ batches with 34# of grain in my ice cube 48 easily. it takes 2-3 fills of water to get all the volume through.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

I think we've lost her already...

[denny]

Oh, and batch sparging is for pansies. You don't want your boyfriend to be a pansy do you?Fly sparge, FTW!(actually they both work, I figured that I would get you used to the asshattery here early on..... )MolBasser

Good work! You have my blessing and eternal damnation!

[denny]

really? I batch/ *pulse* sparge and make 10g+ batches with 34# of grain in my ice cube 48 easily. it takes 2-3 fills of water to get all the volume through.

You need a bigger cooler so you can do less work....

[MtnBrewer]

Good work! You have my blessing and eternal damnation!

What can I say...haters gonna hate. For the record, I hit 87% eff on a batch sparge the other day. An all time high for me. Not that I really care that much about efficiency, just sayin'.

[chadm75]

Oh, and batch sparging is for pansies. You don't want your boyfriend to be a pansy do you?Fly sparge, FTW!(actually they both work, I figured that I would get you used to the asshattery here early on..... )MolBasser

Why MB, you son of a....!!!! Fly sparging is for posers! So there!

[denny]

What can I say...haters gonna hate. For the record, I hit 87% eff on a batch sparge the other day. An all time high for me. Not that I really care that much about efficiency, just sayin'.

I consistently get 86%...it can be done! I understand what's going on a lot more better grokking Kai's work on conversion efficiency vs. extraction efficiency.

[djinkc]

I consistently get 86%...it can be done! I understand what's going on a lot more better grokking Kai's work on conversion efficiency vs. extraction efficiency.

Would you mind posting that again? I had it, gave it a quick look and lost the link before I could give it a good read. Thanks!

[MolBasser]

No pro brewer batch sparges.... etc. etc.....Whatever.I don't want to scare away a newcomer. Batch sparging works fine in a homebrew situation.So if you want to do it (it is easier in some ways, and harder in others) then go for it.MolBasser