Mash separation

[PeteB]

I have been lautering 100% rye for the last 2 and a half years. It is very slow.

I need almost all the solids out because I have a direct fired still.

I have tried a batch centrifuge but even that plugs up and also the solids are too slow to remove.

I am currently thinking of building a fine rotary screen, on a slope. Pump the mash in one end and tumble until it falls out the other end. Put a water sprinkler inside (sparge arm) to rinse the sugars out.

My current lauter screen gets about an inch of solid mash on it then it slows to a trickle.

If the screen was rotating then that solid mash should keep falling off.

It would be fairly simple to build and should be self cleaning.

Do you think it would work? Has anyone seen anything like this?

Thanks

Pete

[fldme]

Talk to Vendome in KY. They have something that may work.

[Jake Holshue]

Getting back to the lautering of your rye, do you use any enzymes? Rice hulls? Do you use any clarifyers to drop solids out of suspension?

[Jedd Haas]

How about building a press to squeeze the liquid out?

[PeteB]

Jedd. I had considered a press, but when the centrifuge built up a layer of packed mash and stopped filtering, I have not pursued it.

I have a wool press that I could drag outside and give it a try one day with some spent mash. It would be a bit messy but if I give it a go I will report back. I suspect I will have the same problem, a layer of solid mash will build up against the filter material and clog.

Jake, I am unable to get hold of rice hulls at an economical price. No rice grown here. I did an oat + rye mash and that ran off really quickly. The oats had the husk still on them and I am sure that increased the speed of runoff. Someone on this forum did suggest some time ago that "even a handfull" of rice husks would speed up the process. I have a bit of an understanding of the science of porosity and I am sure there needs to be quite a lot of husk before there is any increase in porosity.I am continuously experimenting with amount of crushing, strike temperatures and various enzymes.

Enzymes do make the wort thinner but don't seem to speed up lautering very much. The solid inch or so of mash that builds up on the screen is by far the biggest problem.

I am not using clarifyers as I am not concerned about a small amount of solids getting into the still. A small amount of caramelising and charring gives a nice "smokey" note.

[stevea]

No idea about your scale - I wonder if this method would work,

http://www.russellfinex.com/

[Dehner Distillery]

I use a press. It can change the flavor profile. But it works awesome,and it is what I want. Plus it press after it has fermented.

Watch the video.

www.dehnerdistillery.com

Thanks

Joseph

Master Distiller

[PeteB]

Steva, I tried a small version of the inline screw filter but found it ground my grain to flour and pushed it out with the liquid. Only husk came out as a solid.

Joseph, The press sounds promising, the grain should not get ground to flour. Could you please send me some photos of the setup. In the video it appears to be inside a plastic drum.

Thanks

[Dehner Distillery]

I made a screw press but it has a couple of bugs.

I love my press. I grind my grain in a hammer mill. When I use the 1/4 screen the press gets it totally dry. When Ouse the 1/8 screen I have to add rice hulls and the grain is still very damp.

There is a screen in side the plastic tub. The plastic tub is half of a 55 gallon drum. I use a 1/2" uhmw push plate and a giant wood piston. The cylinder is a 2500psi ( I'm going to upgrade it to 3000psi) tie rod. It is hooked to a 10,000psi enerpac hand pump.

I will make a u tube video I you want.

Write me and let me know.

[Swede]

I made a screw press but it has a couple of bugs.

I love my press. I grind my grain in a hammer mill. When I use the 1/4 screen the press gets it totally dry. When Ouse the 1/8 screen I have to add rice hulls and the grain is still very damp.

There is a screen in side the plastic tub. The plastic tub is half of a 55 gallon drum. I use a 1/2" uhmw push plate and a giant wood piston. The cylinder is a 2500psi ( I'm going to upgrade it to 3000psi) tie rod. It is hooked to a 10,000psi enerpac hand pump.

I will make a u tube video I you want.

Write me and let me know.

This would make your work much easier... An electric powered hydraulic pump to run your press piston.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-hp-electric-hydraulic-pressure-pump-46169.html

[Ned]

Just saw this and thought I'd chime in. We use one of the systems on Stevea's link, our's is made by Gerard Daniels and we're very happy with it. There are a couple of videos of it in action on our facebook page if folks would like to see it in action with mash. Generally what you've got is a screen (a wide variety of diff mesh to suit diff mash) mounted between two spacers, the whole assembly has an eccentrically weighted motor mounted to the bottom and it all sits on springs. You fire up the motor, the whole rig gets shaking and then you pump your mash on top. The wash strains through the screen and drains out a port on the bottom and the grain migrates to the outside of the screen where it ultimately leaves through a chute and is collected in 50 gal barrels. We use it for both barley and rye mashes, as you'd expect, the barley drains better than the rye but the rye really doesn't do too bad and we're playing with some ways to improve the rye yield. It may not be for everyone but it works very well for us, it has a significantly smaller footprint than a mash tun, costs about the same (we run a 15BBL brew) and is mounted on casters so we roll it away when we're done. Lastly, a 15BBL mash will lauter in about 2hrs with very little supervision.