Well i can't let Jake take all he fun here in the beer blog. So far we have had some good experiences with the all grain method. The one negative is that it is adding a bit of time to the whole process. It seems that it is taking us at least another hour and a half per batch. We are going to have to work on that, I think that we can get the overall time down a bit, once we figure out a better process. We have a lot of time between steps. Maybe even setting all of the gear up in our basement.. Although I am uncertain about burning propane inside. Even with the door open for ventilation, it makes me nervous. The step mash was not all that hard, there are two ways you can bring the temp up, add hot water (200F) or add heat and stir to avoid scorching. I decided that i would just turn on the burner. We had way too much water in there to start with. Oh and this beer is going to be an amber/brown. I was aiming at red, but....
posted by g s at 10:35
For the third straight weekend, We've brewed another batch of beer. We might be getting this all-grain process down now.
Greg tried one of his pet projects tonight, a Rye Ale. Bascially, this means that Rye Malt, as compared to Barley malt, makes up 50-60% of the grist (grain bill, or total grains used) -- this makes it not unlike a Wheat beer, wherein Wheat malt makes up usually 50-70% of the grist.
Rye can be tricky to mash (mashing being, of course, the conversion of protein into sugars, resulting in the "grain water," or mash, which then becomes beer) because of its lack of husk material relative to barley. Greg and Rich used the "step mashing" process to handle this, and also faced some consternation in the sparging process as well.
"Step Mashing" means you soak the grains at different, increasing, temperatures for certain lengths of time, or in "steps." Our previous two batches we used single-step infusion mashing, wherein you heat the water to a certain temp and just keep it there for a while. Step mashing, obviously, is a little more complicated, and this represents another "first" for us.
Anyway, the working title of this beer is Rub You Rye. Look for it in a couple months!
posted by Jake Reeder at 23:17
