Did not Lauter/Recirculate

Lautering is the process of separating the wort from the grain. Vorlaufing is the process of running the wort through the grain bed until the grain bed filters it clear. Vorlaufing mainly helps remove bits of grain husk from the wort before you run it off into your boil kettle. My gut wants to say that boiling grain husks can lead to astringency + tannin extraction, but then again decoction supposedly doesn't result in astringency + tannin extraction so I'm not quite sure to be honest.

 

Actually, all kinds of extreme effects could potentially happen if you fail to recirculate the first part of your mash. Really terrible things. They could replace your favorite show with reruns of Get Smart. Then, since your woman knows your show ain't on anymore, she could force you to watch What not to wear every fucking day from now till the time you finally stab yourself with an icepick in the forehead just so you don't have to watch another episode. Or if you're single, you could have your photo taken and posted to peopleofwalmart.com, and your hott date for saturday night could see that you went shopping at walmart wearing nothing but your spongebob squarepants slippers and a fluorescent lima=bean green bathrobe. Your dog could leave a nice fresh pile of doo right where you have to step to get your morning paper. The entire US government might even shut down over this.

Oh wait...

Ah, I wouldn't sweat it. A small amount of unfiltered first runnings probably won't make any noticeable difference at all. Although my pallet has certainly improved over my time as a craft beer enthusiast / beer reviewer / home brewer, and I can certainly detect and identify lots of flavors now that I couldn't in years past, the sensitivity is probably not good enough to detect such a small change. I wouldn't expect for myself to be able to detect a tiny amount of astringency caused by not vorlaufing a partial mash (IF there is even an effect to be detected at all). I really doubt that most of could detect such a small faux-paus, even if it was actually there.

Don't over-think it. Missing the vorlauf on this one won't be a ginormous mistake. However, the government shutdown may in fact prove to be exactly that. I suspect those bastards on the hill don't drink enough homebrew, or they wouldn't be such a bunch of miserable, argumentative cretins, bent on spiting each other at all costs, even if it sends us all to hell in a bucket, without passing go, without collecting $200.

I think we should all mail some beer to washington. It's the only way to end the moronity, get everybody drunk.

 

When you forget or coudn´t vorlaufing , it would be useful to make a ´SKIMMED´, just use a skimmer to take out the foam produced at the beginning of the boil, it last about 10 minutes.This foam contains a big part of those grain bits that weren´t filtered during the missed recirculating process.

 

I always spoon off that nasty looking gunk that forms at the top during the boil anyway. There's usually not much, but something told me on my first batch that this gunk should be skimmed and removed from the beer.

 

Since you are talking about partial mashing, I wouldn't expect a real problem. However, you will notice a lot more debris on an all-grain batch, especially if it a bigger beer.

When you see all the husks, etc. going into your kettle on an all-grain batch, you will know when you really want to recirculate.

 

“When you see all the husks, etc. going into your kettle on an all-grain batch, you will know when you really want to recirculate.”

But what are the consequences to the quality of the beer if there is ‘stuff’ in the wort? My understanding of the Brew in a Bag (BIAB) – Australian method is that those folks simply lift the bag out of the wort and boil (they do not lauter/recirculate). Does the ‘stuff’ result in a bad beer (e.g., an astringent beer?)?

Cheers!

 

My guess is that a LOT of 'stuff' probably would decrease beer quality. A little bit won't. Even vorlaufing and the bazooka tube doesn't COMPLETELY get rid of all debris in the boil. But as was already mentioned, you can also skim off the gunk from the top during the boil. So everything is relative. Einstein said so, and has since been proven right. That's proof enough for me.

But do try to remember the vorlauf.

 

I've never had a problem doing BIAB. In fact, I do more BIAB because I like to make session ales. I suspect that tannins are not extracted in this due to the pH of the wort (similar to decoction). Tannins are extracted as the pH goes up more than just boiling (as in boiling the thick mash in a decoction).

This is all as far as I understand and is in no way scientific.

 

The often cited reason for vorlaufing is to minimize astringency derived from husk materials. Jack's BIAB comment is a nice counterpoint. Brew in the Bag seems to run contrary to homebrewing dogma on several levels. Perhaps because this is a no-sparge approach, some normal, minor astringency that is derived from the sparge is avoided, and so minimal astringency from not vorlaufing goes undetected?

My only BIABs have not been by design (I used the approach to recover a few stuck sparges, discussed in other threads). In the last instance, a saison, I did get some noticeable astringency, but a lot of things could have contributed to the astringency in this beer. I also sparged the bag to recover my extract because the recipe was not designed as a BIAB. I hardly have enough evidence to fault BIAB.

Low levels of astringency may be hidden by hoppy or roasty beers, so not vorlaufing may matter depending on what kind of beer you are brewing. Fortunately, I don't find the saison undrinkably astringent (although I might enjoy it more if astringency were absent). Which gets me to my final point: ultimately, we should be brewing beers that we like to drink, so if you are picking up some astringency and you don't like it and you are not vorlaufing, try vorlaufing and see if it helps; if you are sparging, try a no-sparge approach (such as BIAB) and see if it helps (or play with water chemistry).

 

BIAB doesn't require vorlaufing because the bag strains all the grain husks out of the runnings when you remove it.

 

I have read more than one post from BIAB folks who report that their wort has lots of stuff (i.e., grain husks). The bag does not keep all of the grain husks within the bag.

Cheers!

 

I suppose it depends on the mesh size and the crush.

 

They must be getting some cheapo bags with big pores

In all seriousness, I noticed that when I did BIAB, I had to recirculate/vorlauf back through the bag to clear the beer, which then resulted in a batch that was just as clean as a normally brewed batch.

 

I don't honestly know if there are significant flavor implications, as I have never allowed an unlimited amount of solids into the brew kettle to begin with. For me, it has always been obvious when a lot of particulate matter is flowing out of the mash tun with the wort. I simply vorlauf into a glass pitcher and recirculate until I see it clarifying a bit. When it is running reasonably clear, I know the grain bed is set and won't allow a lot of solids into the kettle.

I don't want a lot of solids in the kettle because I don't have a screen for the brew kettle, and I figure the hop debris I am going to add during the boil will be enough trub to deal with later on its own. Arguably, the debris that drops with the first runnings is not going to hurt the flavor of the beer any, but a relatively quick vorlauf is an easy way to avoid excessive gunk that is not going to be beer from ending up in the fermenter.

 

Your efficiency might go up drastically as well with vorlaufing.

 

Really? I have never not done it, so I had no idea.