Layering Your Mash for Better Filtration

Do you have problems with stuck mashes or difficulties getting that crystal clear wort? Layering your mash may be the answer. The concept behind a layered mash is that you want your best husk material on your false bottom. What grains have the best husk material? Typically malted barley that is dried at cooler temperatures and exposed to minimal kilning or roasting has husk material that is less brittle, and therefore stays more intact going through the mill. In most cases this is going to be your base malt (pale 2-row). The easiest way to layer your grain is simply by color… Layer your grains from light to dark with the lightest colors at the bottom of your mash tun and the more highly kilned or roasted dark grains at the top. Furthermore, I like to add grains that don’t have any husk material such as wheat, oats and pearled grains last. I’ve even had good success with not using rice hulls on recipes that typically would require it by layering. But you stir it all together anyway, right? Yes, when you mash in you still need to stir the mash as you normally would to homogenize temperatures and break up any dry clumps. I do find that even though I thoroughly rake and stir during mash in, that the bulk of the layers actually stay fairly intact. In order to do all of this practically I think of it in reverse… I typically mill my grain into one or more 7 gallon buckets. I actually mill the darkest grains first and then move onto lighter grains with my pale 2-row going in last (or sometimes into a second bucket altogether). By reversing the order during milling, when I add the grains to my mash tun the lightest grains (top of the bucket) actually go in first getting that precious husk material down on the false bottom before anything else.