BK
MT
HLT
S P I K E T R I O U S E R G U I D E
21
Brew Day –
Mashing
After setting up, it’s time to mash in.
Since the Spike System uses a constantly
recirculating mash technique, you’ll only
need to mash for 30-45 minutes until starch
fully converts to sugar.
There’s also no need to Vorlauf (a pretty
awesome German word but, in this case, an
unnecessary step). Bypassing this process
will save you about 20 minutes on Brew Day.
1.
Ensure your hoses are properly set up (see
Figure 3
).
2.
Slowly add your grain while constantly stirring to
avoid any dough balls. This will drop your strike water
down to your desired mash temp.
3.
Turn the wort pump back on to recirculate the mash
through the HERMS Coil. Throttle the flow of the MT
recirculation port to a 25% flow rate to prevent grain
bed compaction.
4.
Continuously recirculate the mash until all starches
have been converted to sugars.
PRO TIP:
When reducing flow, always throttle the
valve after the pump - not before. Throttling the
valve on the return port of the kettle gives the best
control and prevents cavitation and any possible
pump damage.
PRO TIP:
If you would like to ‘mash out,’ you
can turn the HLT up to roughly 175°F during
the last 10 minutes of mashing. This will allow
for mashing out at 170°F.
Figure 3
