Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Questions on mash tuns and lauter tuns

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Questions on mash tuns and lauter tuns

    I am a senior lecturer in Beverage Operations at a Hospitality Management College

    There are a few issues I wish to have clarified in order to communicate to students who learn about beer production

    Here are my queries

    (I) When mash tun and lauter tun both are used (in sequence) in commercial breweries, how is the mash transferred to lauter tun?
    Would it be right to call it a mash tun as conventional mash tuns did their own filtering of wort which todays mash tuns when used with lauter tuns do not - is it right to call it a mash tun or just a mash vessel or mash kettle?

    (2) Do or did conventional mash tuns have heating facilities or facilities for keeping the mash at required temperature(s)

    (3) Do modern mash tuns when used with lauter tuns have paddles? What would be their use?

    (4) Can a multistep mash (infusion or decoction) be done in an MLT? or is it restricted to single step only? mashing Would such equipment have heating facility or facilities for keeping the mash at required temperature(s)

    Thank you so very much for any help

  • #2
    The terminology has got confused over the years. I'm not surprised people get confused.

    Traditional British style mash tuns, also used widely where people were brewing british style beers have no heating, no stirrers, no cutting knives (rakes) as used in lauter tuns. They use a coarsely ground grist, mixed in with hot water, left to stand for typically around an hour, and then the sweet wort produced in that period is run off, with additional hot water sprinkled over the grain to wash out more sugars. However, increasingly, microbrewers in particular are using the term lauter tun for this vessel. I strongly suspect that this has arisen over the years due to not understanding the equipment used in different breweries and this, what I consider mis-terminology has increased, in part due to forums like this!!

    A lot of Europeans use the term mash tun for what I know as a mash mixing vessel or mash conversion vessel. Here the ground malt is mixed with hot water and stirred to ensure thorough mixing. If desired, and it normally is, he temperature may be raised by use of steam or hot water jackets or occasionally direct steam injection. So the grain may be subject to a number of different temperatures and holding times at each of those temperatures.

    A mash kettle is used to heat up a quantity of grain, such as rice or maize, to saccharify the starch, an or in traditional European operations (decoction mashing) it is used instead of having a mash mixer with accurate temperature control - this being the way to reasonably accurately control temperatures before the days of good thermometer, temperature controllers etc - so you get traditional 2 or 3, or even 4 boi; phase decoction mashes.

    When the starch has been converted to sugars, the mash is then transferred to a separate vessel - normally termed lauter tun. The true lauter tun has cutting knives or rakes, a number of different designs of these exist, but they all serve the same purpose - to cut the bed and help make it more porous and allow efficient wort extraction. Traditional Brit style mash tuns don't need this due to the very coarse grind which creates a porous grain bed. As with the Brit style mash tun, hot water is sprinkled (sparged) over the grain bed to extract sugars entrained in the grain particles. The knives / rakes are not designed for mixing, and there is no heating, just good insulation.

    So a traditional mash tun without rakes / mixers cannot be use for LARGE scale rising temperature mashes such as can be carried out with a decoction mash system, or separate mash mixer and lauter tun. Having said that, it is possible at smaller volumes to recirculate the wort from the bottom of the mash tun and spray it on top, in order to heat up the mash. The results will not be as efficient as a separate mash mixer and lauter, but it can and is done.

    Send me a PM if you want some more details
    dick

    Comment


    • #3
      I can sort out some simple drawings and process diagrams for you if you include your email address
      dick

      Comment


      • #4
        This sorts out a lot of my doubts
        Thank you so much!

        Comment

        Working...
        X