How critical are rice hulls in a mash? I use them in my wheats and oatmeals, but I feel some of you think the risk of a stuck mash is overrated. Thanks.
“How critical” depends on your grain bill, crush, equipment and method - not necessarily in that order. I can’t easily get rice hulls here, so I’ve learned how to make things work without them. And that doesn’t stop me from brewing beers with heavy concentrations of wheat, rye or adjuncts while still keeping high extradition efficiency. You just have to experiment and see what works for you.
Rye and oats, and also corn, are very sticky. Wheat isn’t quite so bad until you exceed 50% of the grist. Experiment to see what you can or cannot get away with. It will never hurt to use rice hulls; they are cheap insurance.
I have brewed 480 batches, some with large amounts of rye, and never had a stuck runoff.
You can get by without using rice hulls, but I have found that I have an easier time draining the mash and sparge when rice hulls are used in beers with a high percentage of wheat and rye. It’s possible that shape of the mash tun plays a role (cylindrical vs rectangular). I use a round beverage cooler.
I use an ounce or two of rice hulls per pound of wheat or rye. I used to rinse them before using, but I stopped doing that and do not notice a difference. Also, they absorb very little water.
I don’t think rice hulls do anything. I have used them on batches with higher levels of adjunct, not used them with higher levels of adjunct, and I notice no appreciable difference in performance. Run off is a function of your set up, at least that’s my humble two cents…
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I disagree, they can be helpful. They can help the tun drain better if other factors are suboptimal and thus can prevent stuck sparges in some cases. But critical? No. If your process is tuned in well you don’t need them.
^^^^^^words of wisdom
I disagree, they can be helpful. They can help the tun drain better if other factors are suboptimal and thus can prevent stuck sparges in some cases. But critical? No. If your process is tuned in well you don’t need them.[/quote]
Fair enough, that’s reasonable. I have used them quite a bit now, and I just don’t see a difference when I don’t use them. I am a RIMS guy too. Do you have a situation where rice hulls saved the day?
I just wouldn’t want new brewers to look here first for drainage issues. Rice hulls address a symptom at best. The hardware will be the problem more times than not, if I was a betting man.
I disagree, they can be helpful. They can help the tun drain better if other factors are suboptimal and thus can prevent stuck sparges in some cases. But critical? No. If your process is tuned in well you don’t need them.[/quote]
Fair enough, that’s reasonable. I have used them quite a bit now, and I just don’t see a difference when I don’t use them. I am a RIMS guy too. Do you have a situation where rice hulls saved the day?
I just wouldn’t want new brewers to look here first for drainage issues. Rice hulls address a symptom at best. The hardware will be the problem more times than not, if I was a betting man.[/quote]
I agree with that. But yes I have had situations (years ago) where the grain repeatedly packed tight around the filter and I was only able to compete the sparge after adding a bunch of rice hulls. So even though I now have things dialed in so I don’t need them, I like to have them on hand. Just in case.
I should add, I finished up my stock of rice hulls a couple months ago, when I brewed a Grodziskie which had a grain bill of 5 lbs smoked wheat malt and nothing else. I was worried enough about the sparge that I added my entire stock of rice hulls (about 5 oz) upfront. No problems at all, to the point where if I do this again I will try it without any.
it is an urban myth that rice hulls help anything sometimes they even make your sparge worse.
Well, today I brewed a Grodziskie again, and without any rice hulls. Again, no problems at all with the sparge. I’m starting to wonder exactly how it is that I’ve ever got those stuck sparges in the past, and I have had some. Just none recently…
By the way, for my back up plan I saved the spend grain from the blond ale I brewed earlier today to mix in with the Grodziskie mash if it stuck. But there was no need.
I recently brewed a gluten free beer with malted millet and was very strongly advised to use rice hulls. I did and am pretty sure that it would have been a problem without them as malted millet is really small.
I’ve had stuck runoffs in the past and used rice hulls with good results, but in my system, I have come to the conclusion that I don’t need them as long as I don’t run off too fast.
I say that because I can now brew the same recipes that gave me trouble in the past with the same equipment and no hulls as long as I’m conservative with runoff rate so as to avoid the risk of severely compacting the grain bed around the SS braid I use in my cooler MLT setup.
I crush even finer now than I used to, but still no problems at all lately.
