I'm not sure where I saw it, but I was recently reading an article about mashing and the suggestion was made to use a thin spatula to essentially "slice" the grain bed (every 1-2 inches or so). This is supposed to simulate a commercial brewery's mash tun rake, and increase efficiency. I believe this would be done immediately prior to vorlauf.
Has anyone tried something like this?
"Cutting" the grain bed?
Moderator: Post Moderators
Re: "Cutting" the grain bed?
It's during the lauter to prevent channeling
Re: "Cutting" the grain bed?
Tyler, do you see advantage to this on the homebrew scale? As I said, I'm not sure where I read it, but it was advertised as offering a few extra points efficiency.
Brad
Re: "Cutting" the grain bed?
I think it would be too hard to do on a homebrew scale, something to try at least but I wouldn't do it. The extra amount of eff iciency isn't worth the time and effort in my mind, if you cut it too deeply or too fast it's going to add on extra time and actually lower your efficiency.