Hsa

[Belly G]

G'day fellow brewers. I've been lurking here for a while now and finally decided it was time to start contributing to a resource that has helpt me so much.

One question though, is there a hot side aeration concern when collecting the run of from a mash? I am looking to start all grain soon and was hoping someone here could clairify this for me.

Cheers

[ray m]

I just a had a nightmarish experience on an all-grain batch where hot side aeration was a big concern for me. Mind you, I'm not trying to scare you away from all-grain...it's fun as hell, but on a recent batch I really rushed things and got a stuck sparge. Long, long story short (see "brew day from Hell" post from a couple weeks ago), I had to strain my wort 3 times to get all the grain particles out of my wort before boiling. Dumping it back 'n' forth from pot to pot really got it aerated before the boil. I bottled/kegged it tonight and all was well---no detection of off flavors at all. In other words, go for all-grain---it is not hard, just a considerable amount of additional time is required---and worry not about HSA!!! One side note---take your time and don't rush the process---you just create headaches when you try to create shortcuts.

[Belly G]

Thanks Ray M.
I have every intesion to go all grain at some stage no matter the obsticals. The main reason I asked this was because I want to do an experimental mash where it will me done in a esky (Ruber Maid drink cooler) without a false bottom or manifold. I was thinking of just having the wort run through a new clean stocking or grain bag and filter the grain that way.

[Tweek]

When sparging your grains you want that process to be slow and even. Your sparge time should run around 45+ minutes. you could run into trouble gettting all the sugars out of your grain without a false bottom setup. Although perhaps what you are suggesting will work, I am having trouble visualizing what you are talking about.

The other thing to note about aeration from your mash tun is that the wort coming out of your mash tun is pre boil, so aeration, infection ect are not huge issues yet.

All grain is definately the way to go if you have an extra bit of time in your brew day (which brewing takes all day no matter what usually). The beer you produce will be cleaner and you will have a far greater level of control in how your beers turn out.

Cheers!