Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

After the collective knowledge you have all gained please. Looking to try my hand at all grain and was alerted to the fact I have a brew in a bag, (keep it off the bottom ) , 35 litre hidden element boiler, and a temp control device. These should get me started. The question is would spending $52:00 on a small magnetic pump to recirculate the water while mashing in really make much of a difference. Obviously the pump would find other uses once I got it but at this stage it would just be to help the mash in process. Similar to what a lot of the 500:00 mash urns will do.

Short answer is yes, should help drive more efficiency. Main thing is to not run the pump too fast and be able to not disturb the grain bed when returning the liquid to the top

Open tap fully, hook up pump, have valve on pump output or a clamp on the hose to reduce flow etc

Some form of dispersing option at the top also helps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_M-NEOl8Bo

Thanks Clickeral

Honestly, I'd hold off on the pump for now until you've got your brew in a bag right. It's just an added complexity you might not want at your early venture into All Grain. I'd save some coin and buy yourself a trivet for the bottom of your pot before buying a pump. You'll get a lot less bag burns!

Disclosure: I circulate my wort.

i saw a clip recently that suggested that if you are using a BIAB, you can mill your grain a lot finer, thereby increasing the efficiency without the need to recirculate.
i recirculate through a mash tun, but i need to have a particular size grain mill so the husks form a filter bed.
the theory seemed to make sense to me, but maybe one of our experienced chaps could throw some light on it.

Thanks guys, seems like the short answer is “ whatever works for you “ lol
Thanks for the video link, that is an important consideration if I go this path.
Got 200 kgs of Barley yesterday and will be following Bryan’s lead in malting my own grain. I will also look to get some specialist whisky yeast to give it a real crack at getting the best possible result. With a 30 litre boiler the batches will be small but I will experiment with double ups after a day, and just using multiple fermenters.
All suggestions and advice most welcome.

howard wrote:i saw a clip recently that suggested that if you are using a BIAB, you can mill your grain a lot finer, thereby increasing the efficiency without the need to recirculate.
i recirculate through a mash tun, but i need to have a particular size grain mill so the husks form a filter bed.
the theory seemed to make sense to me, but maybe one of our experienced chaps could throw some light on it.

You can end up with a stuck sparge if you mill too fine .. ends up like concrete..

quidjibo wrote:

howard wrote:i saw a clip recently that suggested that if you are using a BIAB, you can mill your grain a lot finer, thereby increasing the efficiency without the need to recirculate.
i recirculate through a mash tun, but i need to have a particular size grain mill so the husks form a filter bed.
the theory seemed to make sense to me, but maybe one of our experienced chaps could throw some light on it.

You can end up with a stuck sparge if you mill too fine .. ends up like concrete..

you can still mill finer with a bag/basket then if you are using a manifold or a false bottom

Also re the trivet comment I find an upside down colander or sieve works as well

Re circulation helps with a few things

[list=]Helps with a more consistent temp throughout the vessal
Allows liquid that isn't as saturated with sugar to remove more from the grain (hope that makes sense) [/list]

As you are BIAB you are generally not sparging (this will leave sugars behind) and using the whole volume of water at the start, making sure you move the liquid around will help with efficiency

Re malting, ive done it with about 5kg of wheat and it was a pain in the ass, I used a dehydrater to dry it. How are you planning to go?

quidjibo wrote:

howard wrote:i saw a clip recently that suggested that if you are using a BIAB, you can mill your grain a lot finer, thereby increasing the efficiency without the need to recirculate.
i recirculate through a mash tun, but i need to have a particular size grain mill so the husks form a filter bed.
the theory seemed to make sense to me, but maybe one of our experienced chaps could throw some light on it.

You can end up with a stuck sparge if you mill too fine .. ends up like concrete..

only milling fine with a BIAB not a mash tun.
does using a BIAB involve sparging?
i thought it was a no-sparge method

You can pour water through suspended biab containing grain it will bump sugar content a bit. How much depends on lots variables.. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Welsy recirc pump can help but has pros cons your mash can block(barley malt is pretty easy unmalted grains are a pain in the ass as are cereals eg corn oats rye) you can loose to much heat then you add a rims heater holds temp up but if wort in mash tun gets blocked then the rims tube will scorch the mash. Pros and cons for everything. I went for complex gave up now use simplist method avail..

Wellsy with a single malt barely mash I wouldn't even bother with the bag and go a tad under 3 litre a kg of malt, I have a put a handy calc for strike water on this forum before and it is handy. Just preheat the water to the strike temp then chuck all your malt in while a paint stirrer is mixing it up preventing dry clumps. I just wrap mm mash tun up with blankets and when the temp drops to 63C the blankets come off and I put the gas burner on below the tun while mixing the whole time to prevent scorching.

Now you have the refractometer you can see when the conversion has started and when you think it's done just do the iodine test to check it is finished, then seal it backup so it can cool down a bit. Then transfer the lot to a fermenter and seal it up so the final cooling can take place and when it's down to temp put in the yeast. I just use US-05 yeast and do find it does keep going for the generations too which is a nice bonus.

To transfer the finished ferment to the boiler siphon out as much water as you can then the BIAB come into action along with a bucket to squeeze enough liquid for the run.We want to leave a few litres in the fermenter so the yesties can survive and not end up in the boiler.

Try it mate and i'm sure you like the end result :handgestures-thumbupleft: like the sniff test on my run I swear I could smell macadamia nuts :scared-eek: and for the taste mate it will knock ya socks off :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Too late to edit but here is the link for the strike water

https://www.brewersfriend.com/mash/

Hey clickeral, I will be using a small portable greenhouse to dry out the malt. Will be growing it in an old worm farm I have.
I will be able to move the worm farm and the hothouse to keep them all in the sun.

Thanks Bryan
I don’t have a vessel to put on the gas rings. Hence using the electric boiler to try and maintain the temp and pump was an option to keep everything nice and even. Just trying to use what I mostly have here already. Been thinking about this for too long and it is time to start doing mate