BeerBorg

I brewed an oatmeal stout. I treated the M and B as a biab system. I used a 5 gallon bag inside the grain bin because I was afraid of the grain getting through the bin’s screen and getting on the burner. The bag was high enough away from the elements but it ended up falling into the pot.

I used 4.5 gallons of water. I was shooting for a mash temperature of 154. I used Screwy’s biab calculator. The MB temperature was set at 160. I hit 154.

I set the mash temperature at 150 as per the Williams Brewer’s blog and stirred every 20 minutes. I’m happy to say the mash stayed within a degree of 154. I did a 90 minute mash.

My preboil gravity was 1.043 and the target was 1.048.
I added DME to bring the gravity up but based the correction on the 4 gallon boil volume. I think I should have used the batch volume of 3.5 as a basis for adding dme.

I squeezed the bag to get to Beersmith target of 4 gallons.

The 60 minute boil was gentle but adequate.
Post boil Gravity was 1.077 but should have been 1.059.

I had 2.5 gallons into the fermenter and topped
off to get to 3 gallons. Gravity is now 1.048.

I should of left well enough alone and not added dme pre boil.

Not the greatest first brew but It will get better.
I think I this will be great. I brewed outside today.

I have been waiting for the first post from you guys that just got one. This is all very interesting Banjo and looks like you are very good on improvising. My first time attempt had problems also but now after quite a few batches I have it very close to where I want it and really like brewing with this. I had no bad batches from the start but after some trial and error it is working out real good for me now and good numbers. Can't wait to brew again. I had thought about putting a bag in the grain tube/basket but I'm not sure if needed at least the way I have been using it as a thick mash and sparge. I like it and works good for me...Keep us informed.

I'll be using mine this weekend for a partial mash (6.5 lbs grains).

I used my kitchenaid to crush the grain. Even though I set the crush pretty high, some still ended up almost like flour.

Since Banjo-guy used a bag, I think I'll try that, also, since some of my crushed grains look a lot like flour.

But I think I'll follow the M&B instructions and do a mash with around 2 gallons, then sparge with 1.5 gallons, then continue on.

For my next batch, I'll use my Cereal Killer and do all grain.

I have to get a fermenter or two open before I can use mine. Maybe by this weekend. I've got everything I need to brew a simple pale ale.

I have some round food grade silicon mesh mats that I can put in the bottom of the basket, they fit pretty much perfectly. They are certified food safe at mash temps and more (safe up to 160C, which is... way more then mashing or boiling) - they are meant for steaming Chinese buns and such, so they should be fine. I think just throwing one or two of those in there will increase the filtering to a level to where I don't need a bag. I have a bunch of them, so I could stack them to achieve various levels of filtering if I wanted to.

Anything that's "flour" you can probably remove a good bit of by doing a Vorlauf at the end of the mash (IE just pour out a quart or two of wort through the spigot and pour it back on top. Most anything that isn't heavy like a big hunk of grain should come out that way.

bpgreen wrote:I'll be using mine this weekend for a partial mash (6.5 lbs grains).

I used my kitchenaid to crush the grain. Even though I set the crush pretty high, some still ended up almost like flour.

Since Banjo-guy used a bag, I think I'll try that, also, since some of my crushed grains look a lot like flour.

But I think I'll follow the M&B instructions and do a mash with around 2 gallons, then sparge with 1.5 gallons, then continue on.

For my next batch, I'll use my Cereal Killer and do all grain.

I used a 5 gallon paint strainer bag. It fits around the rim and doesn’t hang far enough to contact the bottom of the bin. The wieght of the grain ke3p p7lling the bag off of the rim. Eventually I just gave up and let fall into the mash. I had clips on the bag but they weren’t strong enough to hold it. I might put a bungee cord around the rim next time. Mash’s screens at the bottom looks like an easier solution. Do we really have to worry about adding extra screening?

The Mash and Boil is the perfect piece of equipment for brewing outside. It’s light enough to carry, my chiller can be hooked up to my spigot and the water drains into my garden bed. It’s really easy to clean.
One of the big attractions of the Zymatic was that it should be so easy to clean. If find the MB much easier to use and clean. I’m tempted to add a pump but I hate to complicate this system. I rather figure out how to work with it’s restrictions. I am spoiled by the total repeatability of the Z but I think once the process is dialed in it could be very consistent.

I found an equipment Beersmith profile for the MB on the Facebook “Williams’s Mash and Boil” group. It’s for 3 and 5 gallon batches.

I haven’t brewed biab in a while. I ran my grain through the mill twice and had the gap set at 45. There was a fairly large amount of flower. How do you guys mill for biab?

Since I've been doing partial mashes, I've been using the KitchenAid attachment and crushing fairly fine. I'll have to figure out what I'll be doing going forward.

Banjo-guy wrote: I found an equipment Beersmith profile for the MB on the Facebook “Williams’s Mash and Boil” group. It’s for 3 and 5 gallon batches.

Ty Banjo, I have been on FB for a long time and never thought of a group on there for the M&B. I joined it today, some good ideas on there. Was happy to find it.

bpgreen wrote:
But I think I'll follow the M&B instructions and do a mash with around 2 gallons, then sparge with 1.5 gallons, then continue on.
.

Their recommended sparge amount has been to low for me everytime to reach my boil volume and corrected it, but maybe the way I am doing it. Say I use a 10 lbs grain batch for 5 gal. which is about what I do most of the time and get around 1.046 -1.048 pre boil. At .30 water per lb = 3 gal strike water, would be very thick and hard to stir in, I add about a third and stir, run some more from the bottom with the pump for a nice soup, keep doing that until all is in. still the original 3 gal that started with then turns to a heavy pudding. I had to drop my strike temp down from the preset 162 to around 158 to hit the target at 150-152 and I think that is because I bring up the hotter water as I am mashing in but makes it way more easy to stir. Also by doing it this way I think getting more absorption on the grains and lose volume there, but when done the spent grains seem fairly dry.

mashani wrote:I have to get a fermenter or two open before I can use mine. Maybe by this weekend. I've got everything I need to brew a simple pale ale.

I have some round food grade silicon mesh mats that I can put in the bottom of the basket, they fit pretty much perfectly. They are certified food safe at mash temps and more (safe up to 160C, which is... way more then mashing or boiling) - they are meant for steaming Chinese buns and such, so they should be fine. I think just throwing one or two of those in there will increase the filtering to a level to where I don't need a bag. I have a bunch of them, so I could stack them to achieve various levels of filtering if I wanted to.

Anything that's "flour" you can probably remove a good bit of by doing a Vorlauf at the end of the mash (IE just pour out a quart or two of wort through the spigot and pour it back on top. Most anything that isn't heavy like a big hunk of grain should come out that way.

Thanks for the info. I think I'll skip the bag and see how it turns out.

Where did you get the silicon mesh mats? If you bought them online, I might pick up a couple of them.

I'll be brewing using my M&B this weekend. I'll do a partial mash with a late extract addition. I could do a full volume boil with this, but I've always done partial mashes this way.

I'll be using more grains than I usually use (since I can) to make a higher gravity beer than I would have made with my old equipment. So I guess this will be a DIPA or IIPA instead of an APA/IPA.

I think I'll try to do this following the instructions. If I crushed too fine, I may need to hit the reset. But I think it makes sense to follow instructions at least once.

bpgreen wrote:

mashani wrote:I have to get a fermenter or two open before I can use mine. Maybe by this weekend. I've got everything I need to brew a simple pale ale.

I have some round food grade silicon mesh mats that I can put in the bottom of the basket, they fit pretty much perfectly. They are certified food safe at mash temps and more (safe up to 160C, which is... way more then mashing or boiling) - they are meant for steaming Chinese buns and such, so they should be fine. I think just throwing one or two of those in there will increase the filtering to a level to where I don't need a bag. I have a bunch of them, so I could stack them to achieve various levels of filtering if I wanted to.

Anything that's "flour" you can probably remove a good bit of by doing a Vorlauf at the end of the mash (IE just pour out a quart or two of wort through the spigot and pour it back on top. Most anything that isn't heavy like a big hunk of grain should come out that way.

Thanks for the info. I think I'll skip the bag and see how it turns out.

Where did you get the silicon mesh mats? If you bought them online, I might pick up a couple of them.

Never mind. I found some on Amazon.

What do you think about fermenting in the M and B? It seems like good idea to me. I’m not really worried about the trub but it could be drained out of the valve.

FYI, I discovered the mats start to float if there is no weight on them, so you will probably need to put a pound or two of grain in the tub before slowly lowering it into the water to keep them in place.

I've got mine full of 7 gallons of water, and am bringing it up to mash temps from 50 degrees, so we will see how long that takes. Then I'll bring it to a boil. Not brewing, this is just a test run to make sure it doesn't explode/light on fire/or otherwise do bad things, and verify the boil off rate.

I saw on the M&B facebook group that folks sometimes have off measurements, but mine are spot on exact.

I ordered a fermenting lid from Williams, I also bought a solid stopper, an open stopper, and a handful of foam stoppers that are meant for making starters (let air both in and out but filter the bugs, and you can autoclave them so you can put them on while boiling.

I might try to use that lid and one of the foam stoppers for no-chill as it should prevent a vaccum even with the sealed fermenter lid attached, yet keep out my brett.

I might use it as a SS fermenter too and/or to make an actual sour mash or kettle sour. It should work great for that.

I never thought about fermenting on the kettle trub, but you do that with a Zymatic don't you? At least with whatever powdery flour like stuff gets into the kegs.

That would make it very easy if it would work, pull the bag, no chill, then in the morning pitch the yeast.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

mashani wrote: I saw on the M&B facebook group that folks sometimes have off measurements, but mine are spot on exact.

I seen you were on there Dave. my markings are right on also have tried it. If you leave the spigot open and start pouring in measured water you will find at 64 oz it will start to run out. Mine is a older one now and maybe they have changed the spigot height IDK. Mine does not have the lid clips.

mashani wrote: I've got mine full of 7 gallons of water, and am bringing it up to mash temps from 50 degrees, so we will see how long that takes. Then I'll bring it to a boil. Not brewing, this is just a test run to make sure it

You are going to a 7 gal boil on this test run too?

Yes, I boiled the entire 7 gallons. Like a "worst case scenario" if I did a 5 gallon batch and sparged it up to that amount, IE maybe something I was going to boil for 90 minutes and I wanted to get 6 gallons out of. Which I determined was fully possible. Hurray.

So, it took ~90 minutes to go from 50 degrees to 163, in my 56-57 degree basement.

It took ~45 minutes to go from there to 212.

I get good enough boiling action with the setting set right at 212, I didn't need to set it at 215 to maintain good circulation of the wort. The burner does cycle but it doesn't drop enough that the water lost circulation.

A 60 minute boil boiled off exactly 1/2 gallon.

There is 1/2 gallon "dead space" below the spigot, I'd have to tip it to get anything out of there.

If I'm doing 3 gallon batches with 4.5 or so gallons of water up front, it's going to take a good bit less time then that, a bit over an hour to mash temps, and probably a half hour to boiling. Even less in the spring/summer/fall when the water/ambient temps are in the 60s or higher. So I'm pretty happy with that.

The outside of the pot was warm, but still not really hot - as in if I touched it I didn't regret it. The double wall insulation actually works. I'm was considering insulating the pot, but I'm not sure I will gain much by doing so. I dunno?