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Mash and boil times

Post #1 made 14 years ago
by Ivesy
When I first started biab i was doing a 60 minute mash and 60 min boil but now the norm seems to be 90 and 90. What does the extra half hour do? Is it just about getting more points out of your grain or something else I have missed?

Post #2 made 14 years ago
by hashie
Ivesy, there are probably as many reasons as there are brewers, this is mine.

A 90 minute mash ensures the best efficiency. Pistolpatch has some figures on how the mash continues over time. You could, theoretically, mash for hours. However it becomes a problem of efficiency/time and most people don't have the time.

A 90 minute boil eliminates DMS precursors, it also boils off more liquid. Longer boil = more boil off, makes sense. This means you need to start with a greater volume of water for your mash. The greater the volume of your mash the more liquor comes into contact with your grain, extracting as much maltose as possible. Again there is a limit to how much starting volume you can get away with, because the more you have the longer you need to boil. Again, it becomes a volume/time equation.

A 90 minute mash and 90 minute boil gives you a more efficient extraction of maltose from the grain with less likelihood of having bad beer at the end of the day.
"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."

Post #3 made 14 years ago
by Ivesy
Sounds simple and reasonable. Just near the end of brew day now and have been trying to work out why i have a bad couple of batches recently. I was going through my method and what i have changed in my method that may result in inferior beer and i didnt even know why i extended my schedule by an hour, it sort of just went that way. So thanks for the response, will keep it that way and keep trying to nut this thing out. Sorry to go off topic but is relevant to work out my problem, can a bag of 25kg pilsner, uncracked, stored in something like a 60l fermenter be ruined if exposed to heat and light, maybe even direct sunlight? Just a thought.

Post #4 made 14 years ago
by PistolPatch
Nice sum up hashie!

Ivesy, the most likely reason you are getting bad batches after good ones is due to some hidden infection. If there is no infection in your system it is quite hard to brew bad beer with all-grain. Here's some not so obvious things to look for...

1. Ball-Valves: Pull your kettle tap and any other ball valves apart completely and smell them. Yum or not so yum?

2. Use both basic and acidic chemicals: You can't just use something like napisan to clean / sanitise. PBW followed by Starsan is a safe method that stops a mineral layer that can contain bacteria building up.

3. Keg Welds: Unlikely but it happened to me and took ages to find. Some newer kegs coming on the market have crap welds.

4. Not an infection issue but have you started using new finings or maybe yeast nutrient? SOmetimes these will cause flavour problems.

Good luck and hope you find this.
PP
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Post #5 made 14 years ago
by Ivesy
Thanks for the detailed responses. Pistol, as soon as i read your post last night i could not wait to get home from work todat and pull my tap apart. I have not even given it a thought that this could be the probem, the pot gets a good clean and all the water and detergent goes through the tap, in my mind enough to give it a decent clean. Anyway, pulled up in the driveway this arv and went straight to my pot, pulled the bugger apart and bingo, about a years worth of build up going on in the tap! What an idiot! Never even crossed my mind. Even when i started doing a form of BIAB years ago, i was getting great results from a simple set up, well simple meaning no tap on my pot, so i knew there was something wrong now.
Well, figers crossed that is it. Our tap now was just a cheap one from bunnings, we thought it was brass but looks like its not the case, so i will have to start looking for a shiny new stainless tap and rip into the brewing once again.
Thanks for the tip Pistol, there is no worse feeling than not knowing what is going wrong, it was eating away at me!

Post #6 made 14 years ago
by stux
This is the main reason I'm not planning on putting a tap on my brew kettle. I have a stainless steel siphon starter, and with that, I don't really see why I'd want to put something on my kettle which is just going to require continual maintenance
Fermenting: -
Cubed: -
Stirplate: -
On Tap: NS Summer Ale III (WY1272), Landlord III (WY1469), Fighter's 70/- II (WY1272), Roast Porter (WY1028), Cider, Soda
Next: Munich Helles III

5/7/12

Post #7 made 14 years ago
by PistolPatch
So glad that was it Ivesey. You'll have to give everything after the kettle a good pull apart now as well to be safe - eg keg dip tubes etc.

A stainless steel ball valve will make no difference though. What happens with ball-valves is that the ball is actually inside a square if that makes sense. So, there is always liquid left on the valve. Opening and closing the ball-valve several times while running will help a bit but you are really only diluting the wort trapped inside. One good trick is before you brew, put a hose on the valve and open and close several times while 'snorting' the other end of the hose. You'll usually be able to smell a staleness or infection with this method.

:peace:
PP
Last edited by PistolPatch on 04 Jul 2011, 18:17, edited 5 times in total.
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