Homebrew Experiment - Reiterated Mash for a Russian Imperial Stout - Hit that Starting Gravity!
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
- www.brew-dudes....
No one likes having too small a mash tun.
When you want to make a beer bigger than your mash tun allows, you have two options. You can mash with less water, which makes for a thicker than desired mash. This method might lead to prolonged mash times, incomplete starch conversion, and/or lower efficiency.
Another option is to perform a reiterated mash.
Reiterated mashing is done by splitting your big grain bill into two smaller grain bills as if you were making two beers.
You mash the first grain bill as normal with whatever water-to-grain ratio you normally use to mash.
You then run off and sparge as normal.
From there, you then start the second mash, but instead of using new mash water you use the wort you generated in the first mash as the brewing liquor.
In theory, you can then nearly double the starting gravity of the wort at the expense of running a second mash and a longer brew day.
We put this process to the test to overcome the Russian Imperial Stout mash issues John has had in the past. Check out this video to see how this homebrew experiment turned out.
BREW ON!
Cool to see you guys posting brewing videos again. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy your tasting notes videos and SMaSH series, but the first few videos I watched of yours were in this style.
Great content as always, guys. Brew on!
Thanks Nicholas - we'll be doing more of this kinda stuff this year. - John
I love experiments like this. In Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher he talks about how back in the day some breweries would do something similar where they would take the first runnings and sparge with it. I like what you guys did here. Well played.
Thanks - it was fun to try. - John
Good cautionary tale guys. I have made some magic with my little 15 gallon mash tun over the years... I have gotten 13 gallons of 1.12 barleywine out of a single grain-addition by basically doing a second mash after first runnings, then a proper sparge to 1.012, then boil to desired gravity. It would be like parti-gyle except you combine the worts into the long-ass boil to get a lovely caramel-malty beer at the end. Oddly enough it saves time compared to reiterated, but it uses more propane (about $3-4 worth)
Interesting way around the limited space situation. I'll have to remember that. Cheers! -Mike
Awesome video guys. Love the channel. Sparging does get more sugar out of your grain but it is diminishing returns. You may be better off doing it parti-gyle style. Maybe increasing grain and splitting into 3 mashes with out a sparge for your RIS wort and then coming back and rinsing the once mashed grain for a 2nd lower abv beer.
Essentially what I was going to chip-in with I think. Do 2 separate mashes with no sparge and join together. Sparge both batches into 3rd container and add as much of that as you need to get the desired gravity or volume. Any of the sparge batch left over could be used for another lower ABV batch or for making yeast starters etc. Keep up the great videos. Cheers.
Thanks guys - I will try it again.
Either way loved the video.
Good videos guys. And nice first attempt. Looking forward to the final beer video. Have you considered mashing the first batch then transfer wort to second mash, then Mash out. Sparge first batch then Sparge with those runnings to the second mash. If you had a gravity tier system you could run them in series and collect in your boil kettle. One more option.
Thanks Patrick - I will take this method and put it somewhere safe for the next time. - John
Totally love the idea of this. Nice ones chaps.
Hope it turns out well 🍺
It should be ready soon! - John
When you added the additional 6 gallons of water at 175° is it possible that the high heat denatured the grains?
Many homebrewers have come to the conclusion that the "mash out" step in not needed. It is one of those processes that commercial brewers use that homebrewers thought they should mimic but then turns out that on the homebrew scale it has little if any benefit. It is not uncommon now for homebrewers to sparge with tap temperature water.
You denature the enzymes to an extent but not the grains. And in reiterated mashing it doesn't matter because the wort from mash 1 is being introduced to new grain, hence fresh enzymes, in mash2. You have to make sure the mash 1 wort has cooled to strike temp before you add it to mash 2 or yes, you'll deplete the enzyme needed from the second mash. Cheers! -Mike
Nice try guys! I made a similar mistake a couple years ago. The theory is an reiterated mash is additive, where mash one gravity + mash two gravity is predictably the same as 60 + 60 = 120, or 1.120. I believe the mash one gravity, with sparge, should be 1.060 @ 7.5 gallons, and the total volume be used for both mash and sparge for the second mash, and maybe a little extra sparge water, to achieve a 7.5 gallon kettle of 1.120 wort. I know you wanted 1.090 at 7.5 gallons, just using 1.120 as an example. That’s the theory anyway... I may get around to trying it again later this year. Cheers!
Thanks Tony - was trying to get a pre-boil gravity somewhere in the 1.080s at 7.5 gallons but didn't get there but the extended boil helped. - John
So... It's this the infamous John's equipment? Bahahaha!
Nicely done, Brew On!
I'm curious to try this. Are you sharing the recipe? I'd like to try the additional rinse in the first mash to see where it all comes out.
Hey - I resemble that remark. Yes, I will post the recipe on the blog on 2/2/2018 - John
I would perhaps consider taking first runnings of the first batch, holding that aside and using the second+ runnings and using that for the second mash. Idea being that it might be easier for the sugars to dissolve into not as thick solution. Combine in the boil kettle.
Thanks Kalen - I'll give it a try. - John
You guys are awesome! I tried my first reiterated mash this past weekend... and failed miserably for reasons undisclosed. I still need to send you fellas some beer, what's your address again? 😉
HI Chris - sorry to hear about your mash try - check out our email address on this page: www.brew-dudes.com/contact
'Boil Off' rates are much higher on a windy day than a still day, although the burner would need wind protection.
Yeah, I only boiled for 75 minutes only 15 minutes over what I originally planned and 15 minutes less than I secondarily planned. - John
Brew Dudes. I've boiled during very windy conditions and lost nearly half of the liquid and had to rehydrate.
Maybe you could sparge the first mash and boil down the sparge runnings while doing the second mash.
That's a good idea too. It's worth trying. A longer boil did help too. Ended up at 1.092 - John
What did the og come out too? Suspenseful.
1.092!
Brew Dudes - nice!!!!
Hope it helps past issues ... cheers
Thanks - I think we got to where we needed to be.
Anyone else drooling?
The double roasted crystal malt was outstanding in the mash. - John
wouldnt it be simpler too have a finer crush or buy a cheap cooler mash tun setup
Yeah, just trying something to see if I didn't have to do those two things. - John
Wow so much work with "tiny equipment"....where there's a will there's a way. Glad I have a 175L (46.2 US GAL) mash tun now....lol...
Yeah, that would make things easier. - John
1:27 lol
Mike is always helpful - John