mash tun results

[clwestphal]

I'm a very small distillery and use a 330 gallon SS tote sitting on its side for a mash tank.  I cut a rectangular hole in what is the top now and put in a slow agitator for mash mixing and a  fast agitator for mixing the mash as I put it in.  It all works out good.  I have screens on the bottom and take the liquid off of the grain for fermentation. (can't distill on grain as I use a steam heat exchanger.)

I'm routinely getting between 6 and 7 percent potential alcohol when I'm done.  I use the appropriate enzymes at the right temperatures.  I use 400 lbs. cracked corn, 100 lbs. barley, 50 lbs. rye and 60 lbs. barley malt in my bill.

I'm wondering if that is the best that I will be able to obtain using this set up.  I would love to use a store bought mash tun but really can't afford to spend 18K or so on a 350 gallon tun.

Would appreciate any and all feed back.

 

 

[Roger]

how many gallon beer ?

[iskiebaedistillery]

How much water are you adding? What are your starting and final specific gravities? If you are getting 7% then what you are doing is extremely efficient or your ABV calculation is off.

[PeteB]

For a craft distillery the most important question is "are you getting the flavor you want?" 

Then start looking at yield.

7% with no other measurements means nothing.

eg if you only got 100 gallons of ferment at 7% than that is very poor but if you got 1,000 gallons at 7% then you would have a world record at the brewing Olympics. (but with very little flavor )

[clwestphal]

I use 315 gallon of water in the tank.  The ending SG is 146.  I heat the water to 205 or so and add the corn and rye.  Wait two hours.  Lower the temp. to 150 and add barley and barley malt.  I use a triple scale beer and wine hydrometer to arrive at the 6% potential alcohol.  Hope that helps.

[Blakeson]

Hey Man,

go to http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator/

Type in all your ingredients (flaked corn will work). But this will give you a ball park estimate of what you should be hitting with your batch size and amount of grains. ITs for beer brewing but works just the same. 

Other advice would be only bring your corn/rye up to 185/190f (starch conversion is usually above 180f) that will save you time in cooling. Also only rest for 1 hour. I have not seen any benefit for resting longer than that.