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Squeezing in a monster mash
So I formulated this recipe for a monster IPA, should be about 9% ABV or so- hit 21P to start with. I guess I got carried away and didn't realize I was up to 36# of grain, and my mash tun is 15 gallons. I have mashed 34 before and it was super tight, and I didn't want the mash to be over thick, so I just maxxed the tun out. The only issue was I had no room left for the sparge arm, it would have been completely submerged, so I had to rig up a little "hanger" to keep the arm elevated and still have some water on top of the grain bed. At one point the water was even with the rim and ready to spill over, had to keep a real close eye. on it. Got it all done, but dumping the tun was not fun, I think my handtruck was ready to snap in half as I wheeled it across the yard to dump.
This beer also got 4oz chinook at 60, and 4oz at 30, with another 6 oz of cascade and amarillo to finish, should be a big one!
Wow! I am trying my hand today at a Russian Imperial Stout that will bring with it a little more than 20#s of grain and I thought that was huge. 36 pounds! I'd have to upgrade all of my equipment for that...
That's crazy.......but it sounds really good....The most I've mashed with was for a holiday ale, and that was just 12Lbs......
Another option would have been to simply mash all your base malts, then steeped the specialy malts (with a grain bag) in the base wort as you filled the kettle.
This saves on mash tun space and the results are the same.
Several times in the past I have maced out my tun with base malt, then made two very different beers by simply steeping specialty grains in the two seperate kettles.
My mash tun is ~12 gallons and I made one batch that used 36#, along with 1 qt for strike water. Mine was completely full as well. I don't use a sparge arm. What we did was put tin foil over the top and poke a few dozen holes in it, then sparge. There was little/no bed of water over the top, but it worked.
I never steep my specialty grain anymore. Since steeping temperatures are often that of mashing, I combine everything in my mash tun. But brewchez did raise a good point. I just like to do everything once.
Hey Rick... wait until you brew 10 gallon batches! My smallest grain bill was around 16#. The majority are 22-24 for a standard gravity ale.
cubx wrote:
I never steep my specialty grain anymore. Since steeping temperatures are often that of mashing, I combine everything in my mash tun. But brewchez did raise a good point. I just like to do everything once.
But if you are fly sparging you can toss the steeping bag in the kettle before you start filling and you'll be done steeping before you are done sparging.
I don't do this too often either, but it is a great way to mash 12 gallons of base malt wort then make two very different beers.
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