New mash tun for corn barley rye whisky

[TheMechwarrior]

Why the quick cool down after gelatinisation? Sounds like a waste of energy to me.
I used a setup much like yours.
1. Heat to as high you can, for me I boiled 50L of water (keg boiler) and dumped it in and repeated with another 50L. From memory it was a 200L esky.
2. Mix your bag-o-corn
3. Close the lid and leave it overnight. Once the corn went in it probably dropped to mid 80's.
4. Starch test in the morning

See how you go.

[domgistimo]

I don't want to wait overnight if I don't have to I had off smell and flavours once when I did it that why I can't remember for sure but it was after I put in barley and rye and left it overnight, to me it smelt like mouldy already but the smell was fine when I first added them, just trying to cut out inconstisities I guess

[TheMechwarrior]

Leave the corn overnight...I didn't mention anything about leaving rye and barley overnight. Fine, don't listen to my experience.

[domgistimo]

Hi I tried my new rims setup I put in 70l cold water and started my boiler, it's a 25l boiler but I put in about 15l water turn it on connected my temp controller, got a reading of 17c at the start and it took around 90 mins to get to 65c as that's what I set my temp controller to then cooled down to 64c with around half an hour or so, I didn't check that part but when the magnetic pump kicked back in at 64 it took 2 mins to get back to temp, not bad I Spose only problem was when the pump wasn't on the boiler was going crazy, shacking because of a very vigorous boil, but when the pump turned on it went to no boil at all, maybe I'll connect my elements for the boiler to the temp controller too

[Peregian]

I have a similar ice box to the one in your picture and made my first all grain mash yesterday, not such a good result first time around.

This is how it went.....................

Ice box is 160 liter and has a drain made from braided stainless steel washing machine hose about 2 meters in length. this has coiled stainless wire inside to reduce collapsing of the braid.
It worked extra well on all grain but a no go for corn.The output was very clear and flowed well down to the last drop.

Used a spare boiler with a mash controller to heat the water in 2 x 45 liter lots as I was doing a large mash, enough for 4 x 20 liter lots. I used gravity to transfer the hot water to the tun.

Heated the water to 70 - 71deg C, this was not high enough as when the 18kg of grain was added the temperature dropped to about 61deg C, should have been higher in the first instance, about 75deg C I am thinking.

The grain bed was rinsed with 75deg C gravity fed water and seemed to work well.

I used no cooling and just transferred the wort to the fermenters via 10 liter buckets.

This morning now they have cooled the SG is 1.040 and this is the big disappointment, should have been around 1.060 .

I am looking at this as a very expensive stuff-up and will be very careful with the next one.

Big mash tuns are great but they can burn a few dollars when you get it wrong.

[domgistimo]

I will have my temp controller set to 70c so it doesn't loose the desired heat then let it cool to 65 then let it sit at that for a while, I will see how that goes this weekend maybe but what grain did you use and I've tried the mesh trick before but it took ages to drain, have you tried corn already

[Peregian]

I will have my temp controller set to 70c so it doesn't loose the desired heat then let it cool to 65 then let it sit at that for a while, I will see how that goes this weekend maybe but what grain did you use and I've tried the mesh trick before but it took ages to drain, have you tried corn already

Grain bill..............

Belle Saison yeast
8kg Briess Pale Ale Malt
5kg Briess Extra Special Malt
1.2kg Gladfield Toffee Malt
1.2kg BestMalz Caramel Dark Malt - Caramel Dark
1.2kg Joe White Chocolate Malt
1.2kg Peat smoked Malt

Don't ask why these grains, just having a bit of fun and trying to make a tasty product.

The tun seemed to drain OK, maybe because the mesh is about 2 meters long and connected in a loop, if anything was slowing it down it would be the restricted ball valve, needs a full bore I think.

Love the corn style product and I have made it in the past but in a very crude fashion. Just steeped the cracked corn in very hot water and when the temperature dropped added the barley malt. It was all tossed in the fermenters and fermented on the grain.

Most say corn is a pain so I am always looking forthat easy method where you can use a large mash tun and drain off the liquid with out blockages. I am happy with the mesh drain for all grain but not for corn.

[Bushy]

What size mash is that going to make?

[Peregian]

What size mash is that going to make?

The grain was added to 90 liters, the grain then absorbed about 20 liters of water so the final hot water flush was 20 liters. The result was 4 fermenters each with 20 - 21 liters.

[domgistimo]

There has to be an easy way to do corn at home, I'm thinking maybe a press that fits in to your esky to squeeze the liquid of of the last bits of grain

[Bushy]

There has to be an easy way to do corn at home, I'm thinking maybe a press that fits in to your esky to squeeze the liquid of of the last bits of grain

Or a double boiler :dance:

[domgistimo]

That would be nice then I could do it all with grain in, but that causes other problems like cleaning inside the still and dont wanna think about the cost of a large double boiler ~x(

[wynnum1]

The boiler part of the double boiler could be made of steel would not need to be stainless only the cooker mash tun would need to be stainless as long as it did not pressurize and turn into a bomb.

[domgistimo]

Sounds good but another expense...
How about a pressurized mash tun with air from the top to force the liquid out the manifold