First Mini Mash Attempt

[Hoppkins]

I did my first mini mash yesterday (im too embarrased to post pics) and was a bit freaked out by its colour in the demijohn.

I used only pale malt (1.1kg) and fuggles.

The resulting wort was a kind of well....pale murky colour and not the brownish i was expecting. Also there was LOTS and LOTS of sediment at the bottom of the demi john...like 2 inches of it.

I kept the oven at a pretty much constant 66~ degrees and mashed for 90 mins.

My sparging was a bit unsuccessfull as well. The wort took FOREVER to come through the holes i made. I guess they were a bit too small. After an eternity it drained through though i did have to agitate it to come through.

I boiled for 90 mins, stirred in the hot break material, added fuggles for the whole boil and the last 15 mins and some irish moss 15 mins before the end.

Put in a sink of cold water until it was about 30~ degrees.

SG was ~1.040

Fermenting now. GUess ill find out in a week if its awful or not.

Ok fine have a pic of the wort

[tubby_shaw]

That looks exactly as I'd expect from a pale malt only mash
Don't panic, everything will be fine

[Andy]

Looks OK to me - did you recirculate the initial runnings after each sparge addition ?

If you follow DaaB's minimash instructions for building the "tun" from the two buckets and use the same drill bit size he gives to make the holes then runoff should be fine. The secret is to drill LOTS of holes!

[Hoppkins]

Great!

Yeah i took run offs and returned. I dont understand what you mean by the run off should be 1.010 gravity :/

I didnt understand so i carried on. The final wort after boiling was 1.040.

I figured out the stirring part I haved LOTS of holes but i think they are too small. I'll rack the sediment out tonight i think. I'll end up with less wort right though? :/

[Glamrox]

I found my first mini mash was a slow drainer, to the point of giving up with the tun and using a sieve! Next time I set to the bucket with the drill and a nice sharp fresh drill bit, now it has more space than plastic in the bottom Now works a treat, IMO worth trying the more holes route next time

[Hoppkins]

Here it is this morning



Heres a (blurry) picture of my setup now

Top demi john is mead made with Australian honey (taste like raisins), below is my mini mash, to the right is turbo cider.

Below left is a keg of Coopers Bitter, to the right is Coopers Special IPA and in front hidden by a blanket is my Geordie Lager kit with Hops and ale yeast experiment

[delboy]

Looks good, one bit of advice though because you have used whole hops (i presume you have) you should stick a black bin bag over it otherwise its going to get lightstruck.
I had to dump a corny of my Haus Ale at the weekend because it was lightstruck in a plastic fermentor which was sitting in a spare room with the slide curtains pulled.
I had orginally thought it would be ok if i chucked some lemon in it but i was kidding myself and lifes to short to drink beer that smells/tastes like farts

[bitter_dave]

Looks good, one bit of advice though because you have used whole hops (i presume you have) you should stick a black bin bag over it otherwise its going to get lightstruck.
I had to dump a corny of my Haus Ale at the weekend because it was lightstruck in a plastic fermentor which was sitting in a spare room with the slide curtains pulled.

I wouldn't assume that your beer was light struck - it could have been any number of things - sanitation, fermentation temperature etc. etc. oxidation.

I keep plastic fermenters in my study, which has no curtains, and I can't say my beers have ever tasted like farts. It's possible they were light struck and I never noticed, but it must have been quite subtle because I'm overly critical of my beers. In any case the flavour of lightstruck beers is supposed to be subtle - to the extent that we get used to it in commercial beers - not tasteing like farts!

I'm just saying this because I don't want loads of people to panic because they've got fermenters without black bags on them.

On the other hand, it may be advisable to make sure that glass demijohns are not exposed to light - this sounds reasonable, but I've not made beer this way.

[delboy]

Its not conclusive i suppose but it was the only all grain brew that i have left denuded in a see through fermentor and it came out bad.
I have tested the plastic fermentors transmissibility to U.V light on a U.V transilluminator and it leaked like a seive (this was one of the youngs fermentors).
I describe it as farty for comic reasons, but it was a definite mercaptan smell (i work with these compounds and have a bit of a nose for them).
As i said though its an N of 1 and not conclusive, but i think he is running expt number 2 (i sure as sh*t won't repeat mine), IMO why sink a ship for a happenth of tar (stick a bin bag on it, better safe than sorry).

Edit: Out of interest Dave what type of fermentors were you using, ive used the H&G heavy duty fermentor (non-see through) under the same conditions and it was fine (haven't tested the transmissibilty of this but im guessing it would be very low.

[bitter_dave]

Edit: Out of interest Dave what type of fermentors were you using, ive used the H&G heavy duty fermentor (non-see through) under the same conditions and it was fine (haven't tested the transmissibilty of this but im guessing it would be very low.

I usually use a youngs fermenter as well (a 33 ltr jobby)

I understand you having reached the conclusion you have - and I'm not ruling out that you might be right, especially if you were describing your beer as tasting like farts for comedy purposes

I'm just trying to stop people freaking out, and giving my observations - just because you ferment in a youngs bin in natural light does not mean you will taste lots of off flavours in your beer and need to throw it away (or at least I haven't).

Having said that, no need to take uneccesary risks, as you say. Funnily enough my most recent brew was done in a fementer which blocks the light more - if I notice an obvious improvement in my beer perhaps I'll stick to that.

[delboy]

Dave you''re right that i can't rule out infection and its not like i go to mercaptan appreciation evenings so i can't claim that it was definitely prenyl mercaptan.

I don't wish to cause any panic and its good to hear that people are fermenting in see through fermentors and not encountering probs.
I just know that i won't be taking the chance again with lightstrike even if it could have just been an infection last time.

Be sure and report back on how it tastes compared to other brews, i'd also be interested to hear feedback from hopkins esp if he would take one for the team and leave it like that for the whole fermention.

[Hoppkins]

I am leaving it on the shelf like this. To be honest even if this brew turns out like crap i need the practice of the actual mashing more than anything.

It's beginning to clear a bit now...a BIT. It looks less loathsome

I'll post pics sometime when i come to bottle.

[delboy]

Good man!!

Don't forget to do a taste test when bottling if its light struck you'll know about it even at that stage.

[Hoppkins]

I doubt it, i probably made so many little mistakes that it was doomed to begin with

I'll let you all know when i come to bottle how it tastes.

[Hoppkins]

Here it is 4 days on