last minute... rice hulls and cascades?

grub · Post by **grub** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 2:50 pm

hey... eric and i are doing some last-minute brewing this weekend, and once again i'm stuck with how abysmal the supplies are here in ontario... last minute shopping just doesn't happen...

anyone know where i can get some rice hulls? i've called a few places around town (brew kettle, soda center) and nobody even knew what i was talking about. only place i've found them online is mashingheads in london, but $8 to ship $1.58 worth of hulls seems silly, and they don't have anything else i need.

i'd also REALLY like a pound of cascade (well, 14oz anyway) for the batch i was considering, but i can't seem to find anyone who has more than an 4oz. i can always change up my recipe, but i was really hoping to do that gonzo clone...

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 3:06 pm

have you tried bulk barn for rice hulls?

cant help with the cascade, sorry.

grub · Post by **grub** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 12:06 pm

looks like mashingheads is gonna hook me up. they said the order would definitely go out today, and even managed to find me enough cascade. woohoo! the selection is on the small side, but they're quite helpful and had what i needed. check 'em out!

LarryKress · Post by **LarryKress** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 7:36 am

I Know this won't help you now but for future consideration, Gilbertson & Page in Fergus sell rice halls in 50 lb bags.

Cheers

Larry Kress

grub · Post by **grub** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 12:07 pm

hehe, thanks larry - i figure the 3 lbs i bought from mashingheads should last me a good while. i think a 55kg sack from G+P (where i buy all my base malt) would last me an eternity.

for anyone curious, the brewday went well. 10.5gal of imperial porter and 10gal of double-decocted dunkelroggenweizen are happily fermenting away. in fact, the dunkel is the first beer i've had that managed to blow off in my 13.5gal fermenters - made one hell of a mess too!

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 2:04 pm

If you're looking for a source of non standard ingredients closer to home, homebrew supplies in Brampton lists rice hulls as a standard shelf item in stock and ready to ship.

http://www.homebrew-supplies.ca/viartsh ... gory_id=57

They also carry Blichmann false bottom kettles....mmmmmm some day, some day

grub · Post by **grub** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 3:15 pm

thanks pootz, another place i'd never heard of. looks like a pretty decent selection too.

those kettles look nice, but i'm pretty happy with our setup. two 13.5gal kettles like that and i'm looking at putting the same setup in one of our 7.8gal kettles for those rare small batches.

jcc · Post by **jcc** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 4:38 pm

Hey Grub,

you talked me out of using rice hulls last year when I tried my first all grain batch. I've gone up to 60% wheat without any problems. At what point do you look at bringing rice hulls in? Just curious as there doesn't seem to be much consensus if and when they are necessary.

grub · Post by **grub** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 7:37 pm

if i talked you out of them, it was probably a fairly small wheat percentage. i'd only really consider using them when you get over 30% wheat/rye.

i don't think there is a consensus. i've done a few batches with a bunch of wheat or rye and either little or no hulls. it's more of a safety measure than anything. if you're careful about keeping your temp up when you're sparging, you shouldn't need to worry about it too much. even with hulls our previous wheat beer got stuck once because we weren't paying close enough attention. this one (41% wheat and 15% rye) had hulls and ran just fine - but considering we were going to have an extra long brewday due to the double decoction i didn't want to start adding hours due to stuck sparges.

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 7:55 pm

grub wrote:thanks pootz, another place i'd never heard of. looks like a pretty decent selection too.

those kettles look nice, but i'm pretty happy with our setup. two 13.5gal kettles like that and i'm looking at putting the same setup in one of our 7.8gal kettles for those rare small batches.

These are aluminum keg conversions no? Is that an insulated tun?

Why the rice hulls? Get a stuck mash from gristed wheat ? What type of manifold do you use?

Re: the Roggen-weizen ale....lemme know how that recipe turns out. I was playing with the idea for a rye saison with some alternate spicing but a rye dark lager sounds interesting. Mybe next spring. Too busy getting the grain bill for this fall's imperial vienna together

Prosit dude!

grub · Post by **grub** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 9:35 pm

pootz wrote:These are aluminum keg conversions no? Is that an insulated tun?

stainless keg conversions, not insulated. in the warmer months it generally holds temp pretty well, and even when it loses a few degrees it's pretty painless to toss it back on the heat for a few minutes.

pootz wrote:Why the rice hulls? Get a stuck mash from gristed wheat ? What type of manifold do you use?

yeah, with the rye and wheat in this one we were up over 55%, so i wanted some hulls to make sure we didn't get stuck. the manifold is a slotted copper 4-bar system in a converted cooler (slots on the bottom). photo here. generally works pretty well, but i didn't want to worry about stickage.

pootz wrote:Re: the Roggen-weizen ale....lemme know how that recipe turns out. I was playing with the idea for a rye saison with some alternate spicing but a rye dark lager sounds interesting. Mybe next spring. Too busy getting the grain bill for this fall's imperial vienna together

the bruery out in LA does a really nice saison with rye. actually, pretty much all their stuff is really good.

the roggenweizen smells pretty damn nice, so i'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out. i'll keep you posted.

jcc · Post by **jcc** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 6:41 am

grub wrote:if i talked you out of them, it was probably a fairly small wheat percentage. i'd only really consider using them when you get over 30% wheat/rye.

i don't think there is a consensus. i've done a few batches with a bunch of wheat or rye and either little or no hulls. it's more of a safety measure than anything. if you're careful about keeping your temp up when you're sparging, you shouldn't need to worry about it too much. even with hulls our previous wheat beer got stuck once because we weren't paying close enough attention. this one (41% wheat and 15% rye) had hulls and ran just fine - but considering we were going to have an extra long brewday due to the double decoction i didn't want to start adding hours due to stuck sparges.

I think I was between 50% and 60% wheat. Had no problems with it. Since I had no rice hulls, just drained slowly and made sure I did a mashout. I'm sure I may have done otherwise if I was trying for 2 brews in a day.

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 1:22 pm

The need for hulls mostly depends on your tun and manifold design, as well as your runoff flow.

I recently did a hefe, a wit and an imperial wit (50% malted wheat in the hefe, 45% flaked wheat + 5% quick oats in the wits) without hulls. No problems whatsoever. I use a rectangular cooler with ss braided hose and batch sparge. I didn't open the valve as wide as usual, but I was still done the runoff in about 30 minutes.

A couple guys in our club bought a 55lb sack of hulls last fall for $27. I can't imagine them ever running out.

Pootz, I didn't know you were brewing? Right on!

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 9:35 pm

markaberrant wrote:
Pootz, I didn't know you were brewing? Right on!

Have been brewing for 30 + years. What started me was I couldn't find a decent Munich amber or dunkel. I just came off an unwanted 4 yr. sabbatical when I had to sell the old place and sold off my equipment (mostly hand made) because I had no place to brew big in the new place.....but now me and another foam head have set up in his new fully equipped garage and I'm assembling some dream equipment with the ultimate goal of brewing the world's best imperial Vienna.

BTW the best manifold system I have found to minimize or end stuck mashes or wort flow clogs is the 1/2" tubular stainless screen like the easy mash system. I had them on my old mash tun and brew pot and I intend to use them in my new temp/PH controlled system. Never had a stuck mash and I made a S-load of weizens and boiled a lot of whole cone hops.

http://schmidling.com/empp.htm

You are correct that reduced out flow (particularly during sparging) is also a factor in clogging a manifold.

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:02 pm

pootz wrote:
markaberrant wrote:
http://schmidling.com/empp.htm

You are correct that reduced out flow (particularly during sparging) is also a factor in clogging a manifold.

Yep, that is basically what I use for a manifold, but it is closer to this:

http://brewing.lustreking.com/gear/mashtun.html