How to build a Mash-Lauter-Tun

If you have brewed all-grain batches then you know what I’m talking about and should already have this equipment. However, if you are looking to move to all-grain then this could be helpful. All-grain brewing allow you, the brewer, extra control when creating your beer. You can add body to your beer (without using chemicals like maltodextrin) by mashing at a higher temperature, such as 156F, which creates lass fermentation for the yeast to eat. You can also dry our beer out by mashing at a lower temperature, such as 146F, to create more food for the yeast to eat.

I’ve now successfully built two Mash-Lauter-Tuns (MLT), using two different ways to lauter the wort. The first model I built was a simple cooler conversion using plastic tubing, ring clamps, and a stainless steal braid from a water drain hose. The basic concept behind that model involves removing the drain plug from the cooler and routing the plastic tube (3/8in) through the whole. You then take the stainless steal braid, which you have cut the ends off of and removed the rubber hose from the inside, clamp one end with a ring clamp and then take the other end, place it over the plastic tube and use the other ring clamp to seal it off.  The final step is creating a valve to stop and slow the flow of the wort, I used a plastic clamp from my old siphon. It worked well enough but when I built one for myself I wanted a nicer one.

The second MLT I built was a little more complicated and required more effort, but I personally think it will last longer and do a better job. Here is picture of my new MLT in action mashing my saison.

Materials

1. 1/2 in ball valve
2. 8ft of 1/2in copper tubing
3. 4, 1/2in copper elbow joints
4. 5, 1/2in copper T-joints
5. 2, 1/2in copper threaded joints
6. Cooler (size will determine amount of copper tubing needed and maximum amount of grain that can be mashed)
7. Aquarium silicone sealant
8. Drill or miter saw
9. 1/16in drill bit
10. Brass nipple
11. High temperature resistant hose

The cooler I chose was a 48qt rectangular cooler. The reason I chose my cooler was because it was big enough to do large or high gravity batches and I could find a place to put in my apartment. A 10 gallon round cooler would have been ideal, but it was more expensive and I didn’t have room for one.
Step 1 - Remove the plug from the cooler

 Step 2 -Measure the copper tubing for cutting

I arranged the joints to get a rough estimate of how much copper tubing I needed.
Step 3 - cut the copper tubing to connect the joints. Once the tubing it cut, connect the tubing and place it in the cooler to see if you did a good job. Re-measure and cut if necessary.

As you can see my measuring was a little off at the T-joint that connected the pipe that exited the cooler. Ideally I would not wan the tubing touching the walls of the cooler and you want about an inch between the wall and the tubing. I was too close on the upper left corner. I decided to leave it since it is such a small amount and I don’t have holes there anyway.
Step 4 - Drill drain holes (or cut gaps)

Depending on your equipment you could either cut holes, like I did, or if you have access to a miter saw, you can cut slits to drain the wort through. Either process will work, just make sure that the slits or holes are small enough to prevent kernels from going through. Place your holes/slits about a centimeter apart (more advanced techniques will involve difference distances between cuts to allow for even draining speeds, but I wont go into that). The advantage of a miter saw is speed, it took me about 2 hours to drill all of the holes and I broke 4 drill in the process bits. I don’t have a picture of the holes because I for got to take one. Just make sure, with either design, to cut or drill on all of the tube sections. Some people even cut on the joints, but I chose not too.

Step 5 - Clean and de-bur the tubing
There will be bits of copper that are still attached to the edges of the holes or cuts that need to be filed off so they don’t end up in your beer.

Step 6 - Connect all of the tubing and leak test
Reconnect all of the tubing and place the tubing through the drain hole of the cooler, attach the ball valve using the threaded copper connectors.

Close the valve and add water to your cooler, verify that there is no leaking around the drain hole of the cooler. If there is leaking proceed to step 7, if there is no leaking, congratulations, skip step 7 and proceed to step 8.

Step 7 - Add silicone sealant around leaks

Use a sealant that can with stand high temperature and is safe for humans. I recommend aquarium sealant because it is about $4 for a tube and it is dishwasher safe and does not release any harmful chemicals. It takes 24 hours for the sealant to dry, so plan ahead before you use it.

Step 8 - Add a drain hose or extention

This is to make it easier to drain or lauter your wort into a kettle.

I used the remaining copper tubing

Step 9 - Start mashing!!

The process is not that difficult and allows you to switch to all-grain.  Make sure you place your copper manifold with the holes or cuts facing the bottom of the cooler. I had a higher efficiency using this model then I did using the stainless steal braid version. Update: I have since replaced the copper extension with a brass nipple and a vinyl tube to avoid hot side aeration. So far I've been using this mash tun for over a year and the only problems I've incurred have been pumpkin and accidentally knocking my manifold loose. Initially I had a problem with leaking around the valve but I solved that with a little aquarium sealant.

Homemade Belgian Candi Sugar

The recipe I created for my Saison included 1 and 1/3 pounds of light Belgian candi sugar to add fermentables = more alcohol but not add the body (aka dry out the beer). I didn’t want to pay $5 for a pound at my LHBS so I did a little research. I’ve read about people using table sugar and it doing the same thing. Yes the yeast will eat it and I’m not opposed to table sugar (I used it to prime my porter and it turned out perfect). The only problem is that table sugar is sucrose.  Yeast need to first split the sugar into fructose and glucose, this in essence adds an extra strain to the yeast and could produce off flavors. Belgian candi sugar is inverted sugar, which means the sugar has already been split and the yeast can start munching away.  Instead of buying the candi sugar at $5/lb you can make your own, which is more fun anyway. Update: This is to make light candi sugar. The process is more involved for making dark candi sugar and involves more ingredients.For more information on that subject check out Ryan Brews.

All you need to make candi sugar is:

Ingredients/ materials

1. Plane table sugar
2. citric acid (I just used lemon juice)
3. water
4. A sauce pan
5. wax paper
6. a baking sheet
7. High temperature thermometer (as a homebrewer you should already have one)

(the thermometer in the picture was what I was planning on using until I noticed it only measured up to 212F, I had to switch to my insertion thermometer that measures up to 500F)

Procedure

The procedure is pretty simple and quick unless you want dark sugar. First step is to add the amount of sugar you need (in my case it was 1 and a third pounds) into the sauce pot and cover with water. Mix the water sugar solution until it become syrupy. Only use enough water to make this solution, it wont hurt anything if you use more it just takes longer to boil off the excess water.

(Above: Sugar-water mixture)

Add a touch of citric acid (1 Tbs lemon juice per pound of sugar), this is what inverts the sugar from sucrose to fructose and glucose. Start to bring the mixture up to a boil and keep an eye on the temperature.  Once the water has evaporated the temperature will start to climb above 212F (or 100C for our non American readers). When the solution has reached 260-275F keep it in that range for at least 10-15 minutes to convert the sugar. This is between the hard boil and soft crack in candy making terms. If the temperature begins to approach 275F start to slowly add in water, this will lower the temp and keep with in the desired range.

(Above: The sugar-water-citric acid mixture starting to boil)

(Above: after the water has boiled out the and sugar is in the desired range)

I needed light candi sugar so I only held it in the 260-275F for about 10 minutes, but if you want to make dark or amber sugar you need to keep adding water and hold it in that range for longer. The longer you hold it there the darker it will become as the sugar caramelizes. Once you hit your desired color stop adding water and raise the temperature up to 300F (hard crack) and pour it onto the wax paper you have already placed in a baking sheet.

(Above: freshly poured candi sugar)

Allow for the candi sugar to cool, which will cause it to solidify.

After it has formed a solid structure remove it from the wax paper and break it up into pieces.

And voila! There you have it, homemade Belgian candi sugar. Cheaper and more fun then buying it at your LHBS.  If you want to save it for a later brew date just throw it into a ziplock bag and toss it in the freezer it should keep for a few months at least.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Add the yeast to the 3 table spoons of warm water in a mixing bowl and let the yeast hydrate for about 5 minutes, or until dissolved. After the yeast has been re-hydrated mix in the egg, the milk, the warm melted butter (make sure the butter is not too hot), the sugar, and the salt. After all of the ingredients are well mixed, add in the flour and kneed until stretchy but not sticky. If needed add in more flour or water.  Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a damp rag or plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for one hour.
After 45 minutes add the raisins to a pot and cover them with water. Heat the water to a boil and let the raisins boil for 3-5 minutes, or until they have re-hydrated.  Strain the raisins and let them cool to about room temperature. When the dough has finished its first rise place it on a floured surface and roll it out into a rectangular shape about 8X15inches or until it is about half an inch thick. When the dough is flattened out, brush on melted butter and spread the sugar and cinnamon mixture over the surface, making sure to leave some sugar and cinnamon for the outside of the bread.  After the sugar mixture is placed on the dough spread out the raisins evenly.

Start to roll the dough by starting at the shorter side and rolling itself up like a burrito. As the dough is being rolled pinch the sides in to close them off. Once the dough has been rolled up, rub butter on the edge and pinch it together to seal the dough. Place the dough in a bread pan and let it rise for another hour. After the bread has risen brush on an egg wash (to make the egg wash mix an egg in a small bowl) over the top. Sprinkle on the remaining sugar and cinnamon over the top of the dough.
Place the dough in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees F for 40-45 minutes. The bread should sound hollow when thumped. Place on a cooling rack, then slice and enjoy.

Ingredients for Milk Bread:

• 3 table spoons of warm water
• 2 1/4 teaspoons of dry yeast
• 1 cup warm milk
• 5 tablespoons of melted butter
• 3 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups bread flour
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour

Ingredients for Raisin Bread:

• 1 cup of raisins
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1 table spoon of ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons melted butter
• 1 large egg

Recipe based off the cinnamon bread recipe from the Joy of Cooking.

Ineffizient Weizen

This was my first attempt at an all-grain beer.  I used a 48 quart cooler converted into a mash tun. I decided since I was going to make a wheat beer that I was going to do a decoction mash. Well this was all great in theory. When we first got started I noticed that I forgot to bring my hot liquor tank with me. I initially wanted to do a step mash and then a decoction for the last step of the mash. In order to accomplish what I wanted to do I needed two pots. I need one for my step mash and the other to heat sparge water while I preform my single decoction. Well instead of doing things the easy way with a step mash I had to use my mash tun and preform a quadruple decoction mash.This was the mash schedule I used

Mash schedule:
——————————————————

• 4 vinyl guaiacol 15 min @ 113 (Infusion) 1.5 qt/lb at 119F heat up (this step produces the molecule the yeast use to produce a clove aroma)
• Protein 10 min @ 126 (Direct) 1/3 gallon ~ 1.2qt
• Sacch Rest 1 40 min @ 144 (Direct) .75 gallon ~ 3 qt added 4 qt of water
• Sacch Rest 2 40 min @ 161 (Decoction boiled for 20 minutes) ~1 gallon ~ 4qt decocted
• Sparge with 4.75 gallons of water heated to 170F

To calculate the amount of wort to decocte from the mash I used the equation
Wa = (T2 - T1)(.2G + Wm)/(Tw - T2)
where:
Wa = The amount of boiling wort added (in quarts).
Wm = The total amount of water in the mash (in quarts).
T1 = The initial temperature (F) of the mash.
T2 = The target temperature (F) of the mash.
Tw = The actual temperature (F) of the infusion water.
G = The amount of grain in the mash (in pounds).

Each time I would measure my temperature and then plug it into the formula and drain off the amount of wort I needed. I would slowly heat the wort to a boil and then add the boiling wort to the mash when it was time for the next temperature step. Everything was working fine, my temperatures were a little lower than I as shooting for, but that is OK.  I vorlaufed into my mash tun and then lautered into my kettle.  Once the first runnings were finished I dumped my sparge water into the mash tun, stirred and then let it sit for about 10 minutes.  Recirculated and lautered into my kettle until I had 6.5 gallons. The rest of my recipe is as follows

Stats:

• Anticipated OG: 1.051
• Anticipated FG: 1.013
• Anticipated SRM: 20 (light brown to med brown)
• Calculated IBU: 18.8
• Estimated ABV: 5.1%
• Boil time: 115min
• Boil volume: 6.5 Gallons
• Batch: 5 gallons

Grain Bill:
————————-

• German Wheat Malt Dark – 5 lbs
• German Two-row Pils – 3 lbs
• Munich Malt 10L – 1 lbs
• Belgian Special B – 0.5  lbs
• Chocolate Malt – 2 oz

Total Grist: 9lbs 10oz

Hop Schedule:
——————————-
60min Spalt Select -  1 oz

Yeast:
————————-
WLP300

The problems with this beer came from my very low mash efficiency. I think I ended at around 54% or something like that.  My reasons for a low efficiency are probably from the fact that I lautered too fast and I didn’t stir the mash enough during the different rest to extract as much sugar as I could.  For my next batch I’ll try these techniques and I will use a double sparge technique and hopefully it will increase my efficiency. My OG ended up being 1.031 and my FG was 1.006.
I made a starter 3 days before burew day using a half a cup of light DME and about a cup or water and pitched the yeast I harvested from my Hefeweizen.  It fermented at abour 70 degrees in primary for two weeks and then was bottled using about a half of a cup of table sugar for priming. I let it condition at 70 degrees for two weeks.

Tasting
———————-
Appearance: Light brown with yellow hues when held up to the light and an off white head about two fingers worth. The head retention is not where I would have liked it and it fades to a ring around the glass.
Aroma: Banana, a small amount of clove, and roasted malt. Very nice and a lot better than what I was expecting especially since the yeast was almost 3 months old.
Taste: Banana and sweat roasted malt. Again better than I was hoping for with all things considered.
Mouthfeel: Effervescent like I wanted and not nearly as light as I figured it would be with such a low FG. It is pretty dry but that makes it really refreshing and easy to drink.
Overall: A lot better than I thought it it would turn out. It was not what I wanted but it is still good. I would like to brew this recipe again, maybe after I can nail down my all-grain technique.

Flip top vs. Bottle cap

Way back on March 20th, 2011 I brewed a dunkelweizen with my Dad in Austin.  This was our first attempt at an all-grain beer.  I’ll post the details on the recipe later and describe what happened during the brew day.  I don’t normally like to brew in Austin and prefer to brew where I live. The only problem with my location is that I live in an apartment and my space is limited.  Well since its an hour and a half away from where I live I trusted my Dad to bottle our beer.  I wrote up instructions for bottling and sent it to him.

In the past we had discussed the difference between flip top (the bottles used are Grolsch bottles) and bottle capped bottles.

My theory on bottles is that caps are superior to flip tops.  My reasons are

1. Flip tops can allow air to enter the bottle faster than a bottle cap can. This is because the rubber gaskets will dry out or wear out from usage.
2. If the rubber gaskets wear out you need to replace them, thus, in my father’s case, defeating the purpose of saving money.

I have told him this before but non the less, when he came down to visit he brought an entire case of home brew in flip top bottles. At first I was a little annoyed by this since I told him not to bottle with flip top bottles. But I got to thinking, he ran out of flip tops and had to use regular bottles too…experiment time!!

I plan on keeping a log on the development of the flip top bottles and comparing them to bottles with bottle caps.  I plan on comparing a few things, head retention, appearance of carbonation (bubbles running up the sides), and perceived mouth feel (carbonation). I have other home brews that were bottled before this beer, but to try to keep things uniform I will only compare my dunkelweizen.  Since I have less bottles with caps, I will drink those less frequently.

The beers were from the same batch. They were equally primed using about 1/2 cup of table sugar poured into a bottling bucket. Part of the beers are in regular 12 oz bottles with caps and part of the beers went into 16oz Grolsch flip top bottles. They are stored in the same box in dark conditions under my stair case, giving them the same cellar temperature. I will use cleaned prior to drinking Jester King glass for each test.

Log
Type: Bottle cap

Date:  4/28/11                                             
Appearance: Moderate head retention, poured with two fingers worth of head which faded into a thin lacing on the top of the beer.
Mouth Feel: Effervescent with high carbonation.
Observations: Strong banana aroma and a hiss from the bottle when opened.
————————————-
Type: Flip top
Date:  5/9/11                                             
Appearance: Poured with about a fingers worth of head, it did not take long of the head to fade into only a ring around the edge of the glass. There was no lacing on the top of the beer.
Mouth Feel: Still highly carbonated. No apparent loss of body carbonation.
Observations: The banana aroma was more subdued and there was a small amount of metallic aroma imitating form the glass. When I popped the top there was a weak hiss, which worried me, but the carbonation seemed to be there still, although the head retention was not there.

Wheat bread

This is the basic recipe that I used for the herb bread.  In fact it is the same recipe that I use for the herb bread; however, I don’t add the herbs. For instructions and ingredients follow the link above. Just remember to leave out the herbs and nutmeg. Personally I think the herb bread was better, but the basic wheat bread is good for simple sandwiches.

Herb Bread

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 and 1/8 teaspoons of yeast
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup table sugar, or light brown sugar, or syrup
• 2 table spoons of melted butter
• 1 tablespoon of fresh Rosemary
• 1 tea spoon of fresh dill
• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 1 cup of warm water
• 2 cups of wheat flour
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour

Instructions
Place 1/4 cup of warm water* in a mixing bowl.  Stir in 1 and 1/8th teaspoons of yeast.  Let sit to rehydrate for at least 5 minutes or until dissolved.

*My technique to get warm water is to hold my finger under the faucet until it feels warm to the touch. If it feels hot it might kill the yeast, but warm should mean the water is around your own body temperature.
After the yeast has been re-hydrated, mix in one large egg, 1/4 cup of table sugar, or light brown sugar, or syrup (I prefer to use maple syrup), and two table spoons of melted butter. Make sure the butter is not too hot so you don’t kill the yeast.  Now add in your herbs and spices. I used about a tablespoon of fresh Rosemary, a tea spoon of fresh dill, and a teaspoon of nutmeg.

Add 1 cup of warm water. Then mix in 2 cups of wheat flour and 2 cups of all-purpose flour.  Kneed with a stand mixer on low or by hand for 15 minutes. Add flour as needed, until dough is elastic and does not stick to the sides of the bowl. The dough should be tacky but not sticky.

Place in a cover and oiled bowl to rise for an hour.  After an hour move to a oiled loaf pan, cover and let rise for another hour.

After the bread has risen for a second time, place in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes. To test pull the bread out and give it a thump, it should sound hollow if its done.

Mom's Olde Fashioned Robot Oil Robust Porter

Based off of Founder’s Porter.

• OG: 1.073
• FG: 1.028
• 6.8% ABV
• 44.8 IBU
• 50 degree SRM

Ingredients
        %       LB OZ         Malt or Fermentable

• 66%   7   4     Light/Pale Malt Extract Syrup
• 11%   1   4     Chocolate Malt
• 9%     1   0     Munich Malt
• 6%     0  10    Cara-Pils/Dextrine
• 3%     0   6     Crystal 120L
• 2%     0   4     Black Patent Malt
• 2%     0   4     Malto-Dextrin

         use            time       oz       variety        form       aa 

• boil          60 mins   0.75    Nugget        pellet   13.0 
• boil          20 mins   0.75    Hallertau     pellet    3.1 
• boil          20 mins   0.75    Willamette   pellet   5.5 
• post-boil  45 mins   0.25    Willamette   pellet   5.5 
• post-boil  45 mins   0.25    Hallertau     leaf      3.1

Yeast

• White Labs California Ale (WLP001)

Extras

• Last 15 minutes of boil add 1tsp of Irish moss
• Last 15 minutes of boil add 1tsp of Yeast Nutrient
• 0.5 cups of table sugar for priming

For this beer I employed a mini-mash technique.  I took the specialty grains and placed them in an insulated (blanket wrapped around) bottling bucket and mashed 155 degree F.  This is before I had built my MLT (mash, lauter tun) cooler.  The mash step ended up mashing at a much lower temperature some where in the 140s, which ended up giving me more fermentables.  This made me worry that I wouldn’t have the body that I was hoping for in the finished product and it would finish too dry.  My initial sparge technique wasn’t much better. I used a strainer that I  had purchased a while ago and attempted to pour the wort through the strainer and into my kettle.  It sort or worked but I’m sure I ended up pouring a lot of proteins and some grain into the kettle. Meanwhile, I was simultaneously heating my sparge water to 170 degrees F. I poured that onto the top of the grains let it sit for another 10 minutes and attempted to lauter (pour through strainer) again. I ended up with around two gallons of water, brought it up to a boil, followed my hop schedule and added the extract in the last 15 minutes. This time I was able to use a wort chiller, which really helped speed up the cooling process. I poured it through a funnel and strainer into my carboy and topped off with water up to 5 gallons, aerated and pitched my yeast. I let it sit in primary for 3 weeks and then bottled. I let the beers condition for 2 weeks, but initially they had an issue with fusel alcohol, but that has long since faded as they yeast in the bottle are cleaning things up.

Tasting notes
I’m really happy with the way this one turned out. The only thing I would change might be my mash technique, so I don’t extract as many tannins. This was before I constructed a mash tun so I worked with what I had. There isa lot of dark chocolate in the aroma and a little bit of roastiness. The mouthfeel is very nice. Thicker then anything I have brewed before with moderate carbonation. Its pitch black, with a nice thick tan head. The head retention is not what I prefer, but it does last a little while and eventually die down to a thick lacing on the top of the beer. The taste is chocolatey, roasty, and a small amount of tannins. Overall I’m very pleased with this one.  The FG finished at around 1.020 which is higher than I had calculated but better than I thought it would finish. The OG was 1.071, thus, giving me an ABV of 6.8%

Pay Day IPA

A little background first. When I finally got a new job I used the first pay check I received to go buy home brew ingredients to brew my second ever batch. This is origin of the beer’s name.  This beer was brewed using the steep method.  I also used hop pellets. I wanted to use whole hop leafs for the dry-hopping; however, my local homebrew store (LHS) did not have any of the hops I needed in whole form. (based on Surly Furious)

• OG:1.067
• FG:1.017
• 6.7% ABV
• 80.4 IBU
• 16 degree SRM

Ingredients
         %   LB  OZ       Malt or Fermentable

• 68% 6    8    Muntons Light Liquid Malt Extract
• 16% 1    8    Golden Promise
• 8%   0   12   Crystal 60L
• 7%   0   10   Belgian Aromatic
• 1%   0    2    Roasted Barley

            use           time          oz             variety   form    %aa

• first wort   60+ mins    0.5           Ahtanum pellet    6.0
• boil            60 mins      1.25        Warrior    pellet    15.0
• boil             1 min         0.25        Ahtanum  pellet    6.0
• boil             1 min         0.25        Simcoe     pellet    13.0
• boil             1 min         0.25        Amarillo    pellet    7.0
• boil             1 min         0.25        Warrior     pellet   15.0
• dry hop      7 days        0.25        Amarillo     leaf      7.0
• dry hop      7 days        0.25        Simcoe      leaf     13.0
• dry hop      7 days       0.125       Magnum    leaf     14.0
• dry hop      7 days        0.25        Ahtanum    leaf     6.0

Yeast
Wyeast British Ale II (1335)

Extras

• boil 30 min 1tsp Irish Moss
• boil 15 min 1tsp Yeast Nutrient
• 2.8 oz corn sugar for priming

Instructions
Steep the grains in a grain bag for 45 minutes at 152 degrees F. After the grains have been steeped bring to a boil and follow the hop schedule. In the last 15 minutes add in the liquid malt extract.  Cool to 70 degrees topped off with 3 gallons of water to bring the total to 5 gallons and pitch yeast onto wort. Then I shook the carboy to aerate. Allow for primary fermentation for about two weeks then rack to a secondary and dry hop for a week. Rack to a bottling bucket and add sanitized priming sugar, then bottle or rack to a keg if you have one. Allow for two weeks of priming, then enjoy. 

Tasting notes
A little grassy and a little magnum hop forward. Next time I will probably add the finishing hops earlier and at different times to maybe add a little hop complexity. I think I also left the buttering hop in the kettle too long, since this was before I had a wort chiller. The beer is gorgeous looking though, dark red with brown hues. It has crazy head retention, which is an off white color. It is a little over carbonated, since I didn’t measure the priming sugar and used a whole pack (about 5oz, oops), laziness (thinking back I can’t believe I was lazy when I spent all this time brewing it). The mouthfeel is very effervescent. It’s not a bad beer by any means and it should be much better now that I have a larger kettle and am doing all-grain beers.

First Post

Seeing the world one pint at a time. This blog will follow my exploration through the world of fermentation. From beers to bread and other things in between.