ski36t

Recipes 

I am planning on doing a Hennepin clone and I am going to use a step mash, but instead of doing it in my cooler I am going to do it in my brewpot on the stove. I have attached a SS braid and I think I am ready to go.

Any advice or tips for my first direct heat mash on a stove?

__________________
Up Next: thinking another Hefe
Primary 1: empty
Secondary 1: Fat Tire Clone
Secondary 2: Cider experiment
Kegged: #9, Circus Boy Hefe Clone,
Bottled: CBC Nut Brown Clone, SN Pale Ale Clone, , Two Beagle Dry Stout, Mill Run Stout (first AG), Belgian Tripel
Aging: Hennepin Clone, Blue Ridge Mountain Cider, Maple Syrup Mead
Come and Gone: Nut Brown Ale, Old Man Winter Ale, American Premium Lager, California Ginger Steam Beer, Bavarian Weizenbier

Ó Flannagáin

Recipes 

I hear wrapping some sort of insulation (padded aluminum?) around the pot would help, that way your temps won't really drop much and you don't have to worry about adjusting the heat constantly to keep your temps steady.

The Pol

Recipes 

Is this an AG on a stove? What sort of stove do you have? Id worry about BTUs and not being able to change temps very quickly?

Pol

ski36t

Recipes 

It is a relatively new electric stove. I was thinking that I would give it a try on the stove first and if that wasn't working than taking it out onto the propane stove. I just thought the kitchen stove would work better for producing a small amount of heat to keep the temperature constant.

__________________
Up Next: thinking another Hefe
Primary 1: empty
Secondary 1: Fat Tire Clone
Secondary 2: Cider experiment
Kegged: #9, Circus Boy Hefe Clone,
Bottled: CBC Nut Brown Clone, SN Pale Ale Clone, , Two Beagle Dry Stout, Mill Run Stout (first AG), Belgian Tripel
Aging: Hennepin Clone, Blue Ridge Mountain Cider, Maple Syrup Mead
Come and Gone: Nut Brown Ale, Old Man Winter Ale, American Premium Lager, California Ginger Steam Beer, Bavarian Weizenbier

ski36t

Recipes 

I have some insulation that is sealed in plastic, but I figured it would probably melt if I tried to wrap it around.

__________________
Up Next: thinking another Hefe
Primary 1: empty
Secondary 1: Fat Tire Clone
Secondary 2: Cider experiment
Kegged: #9, Circus Boy Hefe Clone,
Bottled: CBC Nut Brown Clone, SN Pale Ale Clone, , Two Beagle Dry Stout, Mill Run Stout (first AG), Belgian Tripel
Aging: Hennepin Clone, Blue Ridge Mountain Cider, Maple Syrup Mead
Come and Gone: Nut Brown Ale, Old Man Winter Ale, American Premium Lager, California Ginger Steam Beer, Bavarian Weizenbier

Ó Flannagáin

Recipes 

Yea, wouldn't use plastic, go to lowes and ask what they would recommend, could handle the heat and all.

perry

Recipes 

Something to think about: pull your mash off the heat at a few degrees below your target temp at each step and keep stirring. The temp will continue to rise as the hotter mash from the bottom gets stirred in, and you don't want to overshoot your target.

Also, if your mashing an all grain batch (5 gal or bigger) just put a lid on your kettle and throw a couple of heavy blankets over it... you won't lose more than three or four degrees in an hour... If you don't mess with it.

I do direct heat mashes only; it's a great way to go. cheers -p

mew

Recipes 

If you're mashing in a 5 gallon pot you can heat it up on the stove and then throw it in a preheated oven for insulation. I did it and it worked as well as a cooler.

__________________
Primary: Pilsner
Secondary: Empty
Keg 1: Dunkelweizen
Keg 2: Empty

Lil' Sparky

Recipes 

When you're heating your strike water, you don't need to heat it as high as you would for a cooler. The initial heat loss will be less. The first time I mashed in my converted keg I overshot the mash in by a good bit. If you're a few degrees low, it's easy to just apply some gentle heat while stirring to get it where you want.

ski36t

Recipes 

Thanks everyone for the input.

Everything went great and I had perfect temperatures at every step. I was hoping this would bump up my efficiency, but I only got 65%. I think I know what the problem is. My pH strips suck....

__________________
Up Next: thinking another Hefe
Primary 1: empty
Secondary 1: Fat Tire Clone
Secondary 2: Cider experiment
Kegged: #9, Circus Boy Hefe Clone,
Bottled: CBC Nut Brown Clone, SN Pale Ale Clone, , Two Beagle Dry Stout, Mill Run Stout (first AG), Belgian Tripel
Aging: Hennepin Clone, Blue Ridge Mountain Cider, Maple Syrup Mead
Come and Gone: Nut Brown Ale, Old Man Winter Ale, American Premium Lager, California Ginger Steam Beer, Bavarian Weizenbier