I am in the planning stages of brewing a Hefeweizen. I have 7.5 pounds of wheat grain and 2.5 pounds of pilsner grain. I was told to add rice hulls to help prevent a stuck sparge. I went to the little home brew shop near me and bought a pound of rice hulls. On the package it says to add before sparging. My question is do I add the rice hulls with the grain into the strike water at the beginning of the mash or when the mash is completed, dump them in and stir everything up just before the sparge.
Thanks
Brad
I put them in from the very start. Always a good idea with a hefe. I use a RIMS system and actually had to add some to just a plain old helles I was making after my mash stuck. I think I just had the flow too fast from the start instead of a lack of husk material like you get with a wheat beer.
I throw them in with the crushed grains in a bucket before I add them, and give the dry grains and hulls a good mixing. You will have to add a bit more water to your original volume to make up for the hulls but not a whole lot. Just something to be aware of.
Thank you for the replies. My plan was to mill the grain adding the rice hulls into the grain bucket as I went along. After reading the label on the package of rice hulls I became unsure.
I am planning on using 1.5 quarts per pound of grain ratio. I am also going to try an ferulic acid rest at 105 degrees. If the mash seems too thick I’ll add water to thin it out and to bring the mash up to temperature.
Rinse the hulls with water. They can be dirty.
Thanks for the tip! I will do that.
I pre-soak the hulls so I don’t have to worry about any additional water absorption.
When I was brewing ten gallon batches using a 70qt cooler I always soaked the hulls overnight, drained and added them with the grain bill.
Sounds good! I’m going to give them a good rinse, and a overnight soak. On brew day as I add grain, I will ad the rice hulls. Thank you everyone, great advice.
Brad
