G'day All,
My goal since before joining AD was to make a decent all grain whisky out of malted barley. Over the last few months I have probably put on 7 different ferments and have been refining the process as I have been experiencing and learning. I began using an old esky as a mash tun and some muslin for straining grain with remarkably reasonable results (could just be luck) but very low efficiency. Since my first attempt I believe I have come some way and am now using a mash tun cooler with false bottom with a rise in efficiency and ease in production.
I thought I would post a couple of pics to assist other noobs like me. I am sure the more experienced folks on here are far more advanced in terms of process and efficiency, but am pretty proud of the steps I have made and hope that this will go some way to assisting other learners like myself to picture the process.The process I use is very simple. My grain bill for the pictured mash is 100% Bairds heavily peated malt. I am using 11kg to 40l strike water. Then sparging with 6l. After the grain soaking up some water I end up with between 40-42l of wort at 1.063-1.068 SG (temp corrected). Also important to note all my equipment is washed and sanitized prior to use.
Mash process:
1. Heat water to 71c
2. Place cooler mash tun under boiler tap. Insert brew bag into mash tun. I use a brew bag as it makes removing spent grain easier.
3. Fill mash tun to 40l with strike water form boiler at 71c.
4. Pour in 11kg of grain. I add this in 2 lots and stir in well after each time ensuring that there are no clumps.
5. With my grain and mash tun setup the temp after adding grain is 64c. I screw the lid on and leave for 90mins, stirring every 30mins.
6. Heat remaining water in boiler to 75c.
7. After 90 mins I remove the lid from the mash tun and ensure the hose is fitted to the drain tap on the mash tun. Place my bucket under the hose and open the tap and allow the wort to drain. It is important to note that the hose is essential to draining the wort from the grain. The hose will cause a rapid draw down affect (vacuum) and essentially sucks the wort through the grain.
8. Before the wort is completely drained I pour the 6l of pre heated sparge water over the grain to allow this to rinse the remaining wort through the grain.
9. I do not have an immersion chiller so I pour the wort into the fermenter. I wrap them in wet towels and point a fan at them. Given that it is also winter I am usually able to pitch my rehydrated yeast before I go to bed on the same day of mashing.
Vessels.jpg
Grain bed.jpg
I am now at a point where I am ready to experiment with different yeasts and am playing around with US-05, M-1 & belgian ale yeast.
Hope the pics help.
G.
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