Doughball killers

[DEMPSEY]

Get yourself one of these,they are dough ball killers. I would use it in a mash tun and 2 minutes later no dough balls left.

[Leann ull]

Under letting also stops dough balls completely, don't ask me how it's black magic.
I bought a metal spoon from mr lard as the monster stainless mash paddle I bought from mybeerandwine is just too big even for 12kgs of grain, I'll save it behind the door for intruders though


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[auralabuse]

Underletting?, that's my next Google search. Seeing as I visited dough ball central yesterday

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[DEMPSEY]

If you stir you sometimes push the dough balls around without breaking them up but I found that by using the strainer I was scooping them up and flushing the liquid through them. Works a treat.

[Shanna]

Any of the underletting proponents care to add a thread on how it works & what is involved with a brew bag or false bottom? Would like to try it out but don't want to experiment & end up running a brew day without having a good idea of what I an doing. I have a pump & a bottom drain in my mashtun so I think it should work. Just not sure whether it's as simple as dumping the grist in to the mashtun and then pumping n litres of water out of the hlt in to mashtun.

Shanna

[Leann ull]

It is that simple!
You need to be certain that you have factored in vols for your hose and pump but I do that by pre filling them.
It's impossible to screw up.
Your grain will rise as it floats but will then mix as grain absorbs the water, a stir or 2 and away you go.
Personally I always give it a good stir but am yet to find a dough ball unlike filling the same vessel from the top
I challenge you to find a dough ball if you do it

Do mods want to create a new thread "dough balls" with these last posts so we don't spoil bargain alerts?

[molc]

I'm going to be doing this next brew as I'm planning on setting it all up the night before and using the timer function on the hlt If it works it means I wouldn't need to touch the brew until mash out, which would be ace!

[Leann ull]

Cheers mods

On very big beers I use oat grain husks rinsed which do prevent stuck sparge but I think they also minimise dough balls as well.

[Shanna]

I'm going to be doing this next brew as I'm planning on setting it all up the night before and using the timer function on the hlt If it works it means I wouldn't need to touch the brew until mash out, which would be ace!

Intrigued are you automatically timing the heating of the water & automatically pumping the water in to the mashtun. This makes me think you have motorised ball valves that are opening & closing based on certain events e.g. strike temp reached, mashin water volume transferred, mash completed etc.

Shanna

[SkiBeagle]

Intrigued also!
CH: do you underlet with water at strike temperature (e.g.  66C) or do you underlet with water below gelatinisation temperature (~50C) and then ramp to mash temperature?
If underletting works at mash temp, then it could save some setup time. Fill the mash tun with grain, and kettle with water the night before. In the morning, heat the water to mash temp, then pump up to mash tun. Bingo!
Thanks for this information- Ski

[molc]

I'm going to be doing this next brew as I'm planning on setting it all up the night before and using the timer function on the hlt If it works it means I wouldn't need to touch the brew until mash out, which would be ace!

Intrigued are you automatically timing the heating of the water & automatically pumping the water in to the mashtun. This makes me think you have motorised ball valves that are opening & closing based on certain events e.g. strike temp reached, mashin water volume transferred, mash completed etc.

Shanna

I should have been a bit more precise. Eventually yes with the motorised valve pumping, using the brewpi, but for now I'm using the timer function on the ardbir.

Here's the process: The night before, I'll fill the hlt, crush the grain and add the water treatment plus grain into the mash tun. Then connect all the pumps ready to transfer the mash in water and also setup to run in herms mode.
I'm the morning the ardbir will start to heat the water and beep when it's ready, then holding it as mash in temp. At this point I go up, turn on the pump and then connect the mash tun out to the herms pump. Give it a quick stir and then go off and have breakfast while it runs through my mash program. When it's finished mash out, then batch spare and start into the boil.
If it all works it's technically the same time as a normal batch, but I only need to spend 3 hours with it, basically babysitting the boil while cleaning up after the mash tun, then the usual boil procedure. If I got my breasts down to that time, it would make brewing a hell of a lot more pleasant!

[Leann ull]

Does it wash socks!
I'm thinking out loud her about grain sitting over night in water and then running the full thermal cycle up to Mash temp?
I know it works and it sounds soon easy!

@ski no I set the hlt to the factor in the heat loss so say 70 if I remember correctly beersmith tells me to hit 66.
I'm usually a degree or half under depending on ambient and grain temp and then I get the herms going to control to my a. rententive 0.1C within about 5 mins it's locked in

[Shanna]

I'm going to be doing this next brew as I'm planning on setting it all up the night before and using the timer function on the hlt If it works it means I wouldn't need to touch the brew until mash out, which would be ace!

Intrigued are you automatically timing the heating of the water & automatically pumping the water in to the mashtun. This makes me think you have motorised ball valves that are opening & closing based on certain events e.g. strike temp reached, mashin water volume transferred, mash completed etc.

Shanna

I should have been a bit more precise. Eventually yes with the motorised valve pumping, using the brewpi, but for now I'm using the timer function on the ardbir.

Here's the process: The night before, I'll fill the hlt, crush the grain and add the water treatment plus grain into the mash tun. Then connect all the pumps ready to transfer the mash in water and also setup to run in herms mode.
I'm the morning the ardbir will start to heat the water and beep when it's ready, then holding it as mash in temp. At this point I go up, turn on the pump and then connect the mash tun out to the herms pump. Give it a quick stir and then go off and have breakfast while it runs through my mash program. When it's finished mash out, then batch spare and start into the boil.
If it all works it's technically the same time as a normal batch, but I only need to spend 3 hours with it, basically babysitting the boil while cleaning up after the mash tun, then the usual boil procedure. If I got my breasts down to that time, it would make brewing a hell of a lot more pleasant!

Major saver there is having your strike water for mashing in preheated but you still have to switch from mashing to herms recirculating manually. I would not trust the herms to run unchecked for prolonged periods. The nature of compression seals gives me visions of leaks, burn out etc. On occasion I preheat the water but I have found the herms has made things easier but slower if you know what I mean. Still working out the optimal way to get the pic/herms used with the recirculating. My current solid state thermometer used by the herms is flaky & gives inconsistent temps. I am going to have to replace it once I receive my replacement. CH description for underletting sounds straight forward. I have a bottom drain & will try this.

I have had problems with getting the pump running smoothly with the herms due to the strong draw of the chugger. I added in a ss colander into my mashtun to increase the amount of liquid available to draw off the mash without having to worry about the pump being too strong. The colander supports the grain & gives some dead space. I also added in the brewing bag that has been a revelation in terms of cleanup. I wonder with the underletting would I have enough liquid in contact with the grain with the colander in place or would I end up with dry grain. I might try & squash the colander down to compromise on the dead space that it introduces. Ideally would like to use the underletting & herms without having to use the colander but I having had two initial stuck mashes (read failed brewdays) while breaking in the herms I don't want to start having the came problems again as they were ball breaking.

Shanna

[Shanna]

Does it wash socks!
I'm thinking out loud her about grain sitting over night in water and then running the full thermal cycle up to Mash temp?
I know it works and it sounds soon easy!

@ski no I set the hlt to the factor in the heat loss so say 70 if I remember correctly beersmith tells me to hit 66.
I'm usually a degree or half under depending on ambient and grain temp and then I get the herms going to control to my a. rententive 0.1C within about 5 mins it's locked in

Sounds like you nailed it CH. You also save time on not having to fill water & crush grain on brewday as that can be done the night before. Mixing water/grain would also give you time saving but I personally found it slower to get up to mash temperature using this approach as my herms boiler has a lower wattage than my hlt. I just did a Weiss bier like this to calibrate my PID after upgrading my herms heating coil from 1.5kw to 2.7kw. I would also not trust my rig to recirculate without serious manual intervention.

Cheers guys for the tips by the way. Beginning to feel like the brewing equivalent of a magpie

Shanna

[Leann ull]

Sorry Shanna my crushing and boiling all done morning of
30-40 mins with lids on hlt to get 50 litres up to temp temp and I'm weighing water adds grain hops and getting whirlfloc during that
It's molc I'm envious of having said that I'm usually pottering setting up mt boiler etc as mines of no fixed abode.