I am in the process of getting into all grain brewing, been doing mini-mash previously, and I bought some keggles, along with all the other equipment.
Last weekend I got a 5 gallon recipe from my local homebrew store and got started brewing. Right away I ran into an issue with my keggle. The keggle I am using has a false bottom for mashing. But due to the height of the false bottom the amount of strike water in the recipe did not even fill the keggle past the false bottom. So if I had but my grains in they would not be wet at all. I believe the recipe called for 2 or 3 gallons of strike water. So I would probably need a total of 6 gallons to cover the grains.
I spoke to the previous owner and he said this a common issue with keggles and I need to use a higher volume recipe or just add more water and adjust for the missing sugars, etc.
Is this true? Is there some easy formula for how adding more water?
It seems that your problem could be fixed if you used a different false bottom. The false bottom does not have to cover the entire bottom such that there is less volume under the false bottom. I don’t use a keggle for mashing so I don’t have any recommendations for false bottoms.
I assume by “soft plumbing” you not being welded in place? This might work for me but I will need to see if I can connect the false bottom to the tap currently used on my keggle.
^^ Only issue I see with this is ability to clean adequately. Mine has silicone tubing and while it is flexible… It allows me to scrub everything beneath the false bottom before and after brewday.
Depending on your budget: you may want to invest in a Rubbermaid Cooler design with Spigot (you could always drill + attach yourself) and False Bottom. I believe they are ~$150.
I use a domed false bottom from Morebeer which runs about $30 and then have a ss diptube that fits down through it. However you will always have some dead space with a false bottom that you will need to adjust for. Also, 2 or 3 gallons of strike water doesn’t seem like nearly enough even setting aside the FB issue. Seems like that would not account for grain absorption.
2-3 gallons doesn’t seem like nearly enough strike water. You’d only run off about a gallon of wort with that. FWIW, I use a total of 9 gallons of water on average for a 5.5 gallon batch. I mash in a cooler and have minimal dead space. Usually I’m around 6 - 6.5 gallon of mash water. The rest to sparge. Depends on the recipe. After grain absorption, hop loss, boil off, and kettle/tun loss, I end up with about 5.5 gallons into the fermenter. Which usually allows for me to get a full 5 gallons of finished beer into the keg.
I did my first brew this weekend and I am not sure it was super successful.
I was following the recipe to calculate my strike water. the calculations came out to about 4 1/2 gallons of strike water. I put in 6 since I cannot empty my keggles 100% due to the location of the valve.
I also followed the suggestion of adding extra water to the mash until it was below the false bottom. (3 gallons). I mashed for an hour, per the recipe, then sparged.
By the end of sparging I had a little under 6 gallons in boil keggle. I did the boil then chilled the wort and added it to my primary. I ended up with about 3.5 to 4 gallons of wort in my primary. Per the recipe I added water to get it to 5 gallons.
I checked on my primary this morning and found no activity. Along with the water issues I also incorrectly read the temperature for the mash, so instead of 150F I was close to 180F. Also the liquid yeast I used had be left out for a day, then put back in the fridge, and pulled back out this weekend when I brewed.
So not the ideal start to my all grain brewing experience but I am learning what not to do.
You might try replacing the false bottom with a bazooka screen. As you probably know, mashing at 180F can’t be good. But I’m always an optimist, so give it another day to see if you get yeast activity.
With 3 gallons of deadspace. Say you have a 13lb grain bill and you want to mash at 1.25qt\lb of grain. You would need 4.06 G of strike water. Add the 3 G and you’re at a little over 7 G. Did you mash in at 180 or was that the temperature after you got all stirred in. You denature all enzymes at 172. If your mash was 180 then that would explain for no conversion and your lack of activity in your airlock.
One more thing I would add. The 2-3 gal left in the mash keggle includes some of the converted sugars. You should compensate for that by bumping up your grain bill. Maybe by as much as 25% for a 5 gal batch
Looking back at his post a little more closely, it doesn’t appear that he is unable to drain the last 2 or 3 gallons of fluid but rather that he needs to add 2 or 3 gallons before it gets above the false bottom. So, assuming he adds the extra strike water, I’m not sure what effect it would have on his efficiency.
I brew on a system that is similar. After adding the water under the false bottom, I then calculate the amount of water needed for mashing above it. The total amount of water is used to calculate the strike temperature, so if you figure 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain, but have an additional 4 quarts under the false bottom this increases the percentage of your calculation for accurate mash in temperature.
Using a fly (continuous) sparge and assuming the dip tube (pick-up) is at the deepest part of the keggle, the liquor drawn off to the kettle should be fairly efficient.
I was under the impression that 2-3 gallons remained in the mash tun. If that’s not the case then you are correct, efficiency would not be affected and there’s no need to modify the recipe.