Description

Rice Hulls

Rice hulls are a natural, easy way to help prevent a stuck mash.

The hard outer layer of the grain of rice. During normal harvesting of rice, the shard-like hulls are a by-product that later find other uses. After extensive boiling and drying to remove flavors and color, rice hulls are often used in the fruit juice industry as an aid to filtration and pressing operations. In brewing, many craft brewers blend them into mash to ensure good wort flow through the mash (or lauter) bed.

Most often used during the production of beers with high percentages of nonbarley cereal-grain adjuncts such as wheat or rye. These grains have higher levels of protein and beta-glucan compared with barley and lack the husks that create needed porosity in a mash bed. Higher protein and beta-glucan levels increase wort viscosity, sometimes forcing the brewer to increase mash bed porosity artificially. Rice hulls are favored by brewers because they do not contribute flavor or color and do not break down in the mash; they remain stiff and act to “open up” the mash bed.

Usage

5% of the total grain bill. Typical dosage is 226g (1/2 lb) in a 19L (5 gallon) batch.