indyspirits Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Anyone here using a grist hydrator for their grain-in mashes? I've never heard how (if?) the work with ground-to-a-flour-or-near-flour grain. Edit: After wielding a bit of google fu perhaps the better question is to ask if anyone uses or has anecdotal (or otherwise) information on a Steele's masher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natrat Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Near flour makes it tough to use standard grist hydrators. They are for grist, not microparticles, which can resist hydration for a variety of reasons to do with surface tension and static charge. But you can use a commercial high speed emulsifier. A used one will set you back $2500-4000. Yields usually improve, but it's another piece of equipment to maintain. If you are mashing over 500 gal a day, it might be worth the investment Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indyspirits Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 Our new mash cooker is 2500 liters which splashing at the manway is about 675 gallons. At this point I don't believe either is in the budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffw Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I have a grist hydrator on my new mash cooker. I don't know if it is ideal or not compared to an emulsifier, but it seems to work fine. I have gotten some dough balls, but just at the side manway (might have been a bad idea to get one...) and quite minimal. This is running at 2.5# per gallon on bourbon mash. Pretty new system so I haven't run an other mash bills yet. I have been feeding my grain in pretty slow right now though, so we will see as I go up to 30# per minute how it does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indyspirits Posted January 19, 2017 Author Share Posted January 19, 2017 Our plan is to make both single malt (lautered) and bourbon in the same cooker. Looks like it's mash paddles for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natrat Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 If you really are at "near flour," get one of those huge (almost joke size) ss whisks at a discount restaurant supply store. Works way better than flailing at mounds of floating flour with a canoe paddle :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silk City Distillers Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 13 minutes ago, Natrat said: If you really are at "near flour," get one of those huge (almost joke size) ss whisks at a discount restaurant supply store. Works way better than flailing at mounds of floating flour with a canoe paddle :-) I'm glad I'm not the only one flailing with the canoe paddle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertS Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Safety tip: Do not use a whip (giant whisk) with your agitator running! Any fiddly bits on an agitator may grab the wire and rip it out of your hands. Working in an industrial kitchen with open kettles, one managed to whip around and hit a guy in the head. Cooking tip: Back and forth is more effective and easier on your wrist than stirring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silk City Distillers Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Broken mash paddle hall of shame... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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