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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org


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Contents:
  Re: Rauchbier: smoke grains then grind, or grind first? ("Greg 'groggy' Lehey")
  RE:Rauchbier: smoke grains then grind, or grind first? (Matthew Beck)
  smoking grains ("Peter A. Ensminger")
  Effficiency, again... ("Michael Eyre")
  metal fusion ring burner orifices (Ed Jones)


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Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2005 14:22:58 +0930
From: "Greg 'groggy' Lehey" <grog at lemis.com>
Subject: Re: Rauchbier: smoke grains then grind, or grind first?

On Friday, 23 September 2005 at 15:53:17 -0400, Chris Shenton wrote:
> I'm planning on doing an all-grain Rauchbier this weekend, and smoke
> the grains myself.  I gather 10-20% or the grain should be smoked.
>> From my searches, most folks seem to soak or wet the grains then smoke
> them in a barbecue or smoker for 30-45 minutes on a screen.
>
> This may sound stupid, but would you grind the grain in the mill
> before soaking and smoking, or smoke first then grind? If the latter,
> do you need to dry out the grain completely before grinding?  I've got
> a Corona mill if that makes a difference.

I have almost *no* experience with smoked beers, but I've never heard
of smoking grain after crushing.  German smoked grain is certainly
done during malting, and I'd assume that this is the case elsewhere as
well.  If this is your first attempt at smoking, it makes sense to try
smoking, then crushing.  If you've already done that, it could be
interesting to try smoking the crushed grain instead, but I suspect
the results wouldn't be as good.

Greg
- --
Finger grog at lemis.com for PGP public key.
See complete headers for address and phone numbers.


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Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2005 21:58:44 -0700
From: Matthew Beck <mcbeck at gmail.com>
Subject: RE:Rauchbier: smoke grains then grind, or grind first?

>I'm planning on doing an all-grain Rauchbier this weekend, and smoke
>the grains myself.  I gather 10-20% or the grain should be smoked.
>From my searches, most folks seem to soak or wet the grains then smoke
>them in a barbecue or smoker for 30-45 minutes on a screen.

I recommend dry smoking your grain.  I have my smoker rigged for 5 to
10 lbs of malt.  I soak the wood chips for 15 minutes in purified
water, then put them under the grain and light it up.  I will lightly
mist the grain and stir it.  15-20 minutes produces excellent flavor.

The amount of water you add to the grain depends on how hot your
smoker gets and how close to the heat source the grain is.  I never go
above 200 degrees F and my grain sits about 26-30 inches above the
heat source.

Smoke the grain whole, or you won't have any left when you are done. 
:0)   Make sure the grain is dry before you mill it as well.

Feel free to hit me with any further questions.


CDB
becksbrews.com



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Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2005 01:11:50 -0400
From: "Peter A. Ensminger" <ensmingr at twcny.rr.com>
Subject: smoking grains

I have always smoked whole grains before grinding. Never considered
grinding then smoking. Maybe I should have. I expect that grinding then
smoking would increase the surface area and the smoke (phenol) uptake.
Just my guess.

How much to smoke? Anywhere from 10% to 100% of your grains, depending
on your procedure and taste preference. As I recall, Aecht Schlenkerla
Rauchbier uses 100% beechwood smoked malt but Spezial uses ~50% smoked
malt. In addition to procedure, you should consider the species of wood.
I like hickory or mesquite, both of which can be intense. Others prefer
apple, which is mild. If you like Ardbeg (Scotch whisky), you might try
to make or buy peat-smoked malt.

Try to pick up a copy of "Smoke Beer" by Larson and Daniels. A very nice
reference.

Sincerely,
Peter A. Ensminger
Syracuse, NY
hbd.org/ensmingr




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Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2005 19:58:57 -0700
From: "Michael Eyre" <meyre at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Effficiency, again...

Hey all...

Wanna talk about efficiency again. It's not me, honest, it's my brewing
partner! He's obsessed with efficiency. He say "Mike, we should be at at
least 75% and I calculate we're only at 50% in promash!" So, we walked
through the calculations again, doing it the old fashioned way via
calculator from a formula I found on the web in BYO, and it was spot on
at 50% according to that math. We used 24.5 lbs of grain and came out
with about 11 gallons, post boil, of wort at 1.050 O.G. Let me throw
this out there to you all, if you were using 24.5 lbs of grain in your
particular brew setups, would you get about that same O.G. or would it
significantly different? I follow the recipes and such (mostly just
recipe formulation stuff, not actual recipes in the back...) in the
Brewmasters Bible book by Snyder that I have here. His formulation
tables are all for 5 gallon batch sizes, so we just take everything, for
the most part, and double the average weight of grain he specifies and
everything comes out right on target for the style. Honestly, I don't
know what more you could want, but my partner insists we're missing out.
And when he say "Mike, we should have had a mid 1.060 beer for this IPA"
I'm not sure I can disagree with him much longer.

What do you all think?

Mike



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Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2005 17:54:31 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ed Jones <cuisinartoh at yahoo.com>
Subject: metal fusion ring burner orifices

I recently moved and I'm trying to get back into the groove, and that
includes brewing. The last time I brewed was in early February of this
year. I used to brew in the basement of my old house and had converted
my burners to natural gas. You can see pics of my old brewery here:
http://twistedspine.org/brewery/ I am moving my brewery to the garage
and would like to go back to high-pressure propane. 

Does anyone know where I can buy new orifices for my metal fusion
burners? Since I drilled out the orifices for nat gas, I need to buy
new ones.

Thanks!


Ed Jones - Columbus, Ohio U.S.A - [163.8, 159.4] [B, D] Rennerian

"When I was sufficiently recovered to be permitted to take nourishment,
I felt the most extraordinary desire for a glass of Guinness...I am
confident that it contributed more than anything else to my recovery."
  - written by a wounded officer after Battle of Waterloo, 1815


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