Brewing Tips Page


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Brewing with the Mashmate 1600

The following mashing and sparging procedures have been developed and well tested for both convenience and time savings on brewing day. However, we realize that your ultimate brewday procedures will be strongly dictated by your own personal style and final RIMS homebrewery setup. No problem! The following brewing procedures are, however, provided with enough detail to serve as an aid to novice all-grain brewers who are familiar with general terminology and procedures. (If you are just learning the techniques of all-grain brewing, we refer you to the excellent books in the "Really Good Brewing References" section later in this User's Guide.) If you have questions or encounter any trouble, just give us a call. We've probably already encountered and conquered every problem you will face as a new RIMS homebrewer. And, if you come up with your own time savings tips or have clever suggestions as to how we may improve upon the following procedures, we would love to hear from you.

Preliminaries:

DON'T WORRY!
Start Early!
Safety first!!! Read the safety warnings.
Before doing anything, check to make sure that all electrical and tubing connections are secure and tight!!!!! Fix any problems before proceeding.
Oil the pump motor occasionally, but not less than every 6 months, or as indicated on the pump itself.
To avoid exceeding the temperature rating of most food grade liquid pumps, do not exceed a recirculating wort temperature of 175°F.
Recirculate some fresh water and a little white vinegar (or coffee machine cleaning solution) through the RIMS unit to clean it. Do this with tap water at about 100°F and with the RIMS temperature controls at their lowest settings. Drain this liquid, recirculate some more fresh water, and drain again before mashing.
Never turn on your RIMS system unless the heater element if flooded!
Do not attempt to mash gelatinous materials such as pumpkin or large quantities of potatoes, as these materials will likely clog up the mash screen and slow or stop recirculation.

Mashing procedures

Add (#lbs x 1.25) quarts of brewing compatible water to the mash tun, and add additional water to account for your previously determined RIMS and mash screen underlet volumes.
To speed initial heating, the mash water should start at no less than room temperature.
For three tier gravity flow systems, attach a length of tubing between your hot liquor tank and the return manifold. Use a hose clamp or other method to prevent cross flow for the time being. Sparging will be discussed in section 4.3, but make this connection now, as shown in Figure 1, to avoid making a huge mess after you initiate recirculation! (Ask us how we knew to offer this advice! ).
Plug the pump and the heater element into their respective sockets at the back of your Mashmate 1600, and turn it on. Turn the pump control knob fully clockwise for rapid recirculation. Then turn the fine adjustment knob of the temperature control fully counterclockwise and the coarse temperature control knob fully clockwise. The neon indicator light will be constantly on at this point.
Recirculate very rapidly for a few seconds or until all air bubbles have been driven from your RIMS system. Then reduce the recirculation rate by turning the pump control knob to about the middle of its range, or less. From here on, except when increasing the mash temperature, slower recirculation rates are preferred. Also, due to the inertia of the recirculating liquid, you will notice a short lag time between when you adjust the pump speed control and when the recirculation rate stabilizes. This is normal, and is most notable when you wish to increase the recirculation rate.
Slowly begin doughing in your grains, about a cup at a time, until all your grains have been added to the mash tun. You'll have to push the mash tun lid aside a bit, and possibly lift the return manifold slightly, in order to dough in your grains. This is ok and is usually unavoidable. Try to avoid excess splashing around in your mash tun, but don't worry. HSA is not really a factor to contend with at the early stages of the mash when temperatures are relatively low and little to no starch conversion has taken place. Also, to avoid disturbing the grain bed later during recirculation, make sure that the grains settle to about an inch below the top of the mash water, adding water if necessary.
When the mash temperature reaches, for example, 120°F (in roughly 12-15 min. for 5 gallon batches, depending on the starting temperature of your mash water), turn the coarse temperature control knob counterclockwise until the neon indicator light JUST GOES OFF. Then turn the fine control knob clockwise until the neon indicator light JUST BEGINS BLINKING. In a couple of minutes the mash will stabilize at approximately 122°F for a protein rest (see section 9.0 for tips on choosing multi-step mashing temperatures). Make fine adjustments as necessary and record your temperature control settings for future reference.
Continue to recirculate for 10 minutes or so, whereupon the grain may compact. If this rare event occurs, stir up the grain bed with a big plastic spoon and continue pumping for another two minutes or so. You may occasionally need to stir the grains once or twice more, but when a steady recirculation is achieved, hold at 122°F. For example, till the protein rest is complete - typically 30-40 minutes. Recirculate at a fairly slow rate to avoid suction and grain compaction, and always avoid grain beds deeper than 12".
After the protein rest (if you choose to do one), increase the mash temperature to 149-158°F for starch conversion. Generally lower starch conversion rest temperatures result in drier beers, while higher temperatures result in more robust beers. To initiate this temperature jump, again turn the fine adjustment knob of the temperature control fully counterclockwise. Then turn the coarse temperature control knob fully clockwise. The neon indicator light will be constantly on. When the mash temperature comes to approximately 2°F below the desired rest temperature, turn the coarse temperature control knob counterclockwise till the neon indicator light JUST GOES OFF. Then turn the fine control knob clockwise until the neon indicator light JUST BEGINS BLINKING. In a couple of minutes the mash will stabilize at your desired rest temperature. As mentioned above, make a note of your Mashmate 1600 control settings for future reference.
In all cases increase the recirculation rate a bit while heating and reduce the recirculation rate when temperature stability is achieved. Also, always be sure record the temperature control settings for future reference when a new mash rest is used. Then, the next time you wish to perform a rest at the same temperature you have only to adjust the control knobs to their previously recorded settings and walk away - a truly set and forget operation!! Since most homebrewers only use about 5-6 different mash rest temperatures for all their beers, after only one or two batches you will have fully calibrated your system. Though not required, you may wish to pre-calibrate your system by recirculating just plain water and recording the temperature control settings for several different temperatures. And no, the calibration is not dependant upon the grain bill, mash stiffness or style of beer you are brewing. Temperature is temperature is temperature, regardless of all other factors. However, how long it takes to establish a stable rest temperature IS dependant on several factors. Certainly, a stiff mash or one incorporating a large grain bill will take longer to heat to a desired temperature than a thin mash or one calling for a modest grain bill - but you knew this.
During the starch conversion rest you will notice that the recirculating wort will become incredibly clear!!!!

While your grains are mashing:

(#lbs x 2)

(Target pH is 5.2 - 5.4)

(Your wort should be VERY clear before sparging.)

Sparging Procedures:

After starch conversion, you will need to sparge your grains and collect the runoff in the boiling pot. To sparge using your RIMS setup, increase the temperature of the recirculating wort to 168°F for mash-out (Don't forget to turn the temperature down ~2°F early the first time, and record your control settings!), and make sure that the recirculation rate is not too fast. As shown in Figure 1, place the runoff tube attached to your mash tun into your boiling kettle. Then add sparge water (via the return manifold, if this is according to your design) at the same rate you allow wort from the mash tun to flow into the boiler. Note that sparging should not be rushed: adjust your flow rates so that sparging takes a 30-45 minutes, during which time you should continue to recirculate your wort.

Stop sparging when the specific gravity of the runoff drops to 1.006 or the pH increases beyond 6.0 - 6.1, which ever comes first. For more robust beers, the gravity of the runoff can drop to 1.002 - 1.004 and the pH can rise to 6.2 - 6.4. (Note that these measurements should be done with cool 60°F wort for accuracy.)

Later on:

Before boiling, be sure to drain all wort from your RIMS setup (hoses, heater housing and pump), into the boiler. Also make sure to drain into the boiler any wort hiding beneath your mash screen.
If necessary, add water to make 5+ gallons of wort.
While the wort is boiling, clean the grains out of your mash tun and throw them in the trash. When you finish, recirculate some fresh water and a little white vinegar through the RIMS unit to clean it. Do this with tap water at about 100°F and with the RIMS temperature controls at their lowest settings. Drain all this liquid, recirculate some more fresh water and drain again. When you are done, pat yourself on the back for a job well done and safely store your RIMS unit until you need it again.
Boil your wort and proceed as usual.