I have an orange igloo cooler (10g) for a MT. The same for a HLT, but with a 1500W element inside. The HLT is new and i've done two batches so far with it with poor results.
At first I was using a 5g pot to dump in my mash/sparge water all at once. Now that I have the HLT I drain with a hose/ball valve into my MT. These last two times I lost almost 30F in the mash-in. The first time I didn't pre-heat (I never did before, just raised my strike water temps instead). So I pre-heated with 150F water for 20 minutes this time. Grain temps are around 64.
This batch was 8g, 19lbs 2-row and 0.57lbs aromatic. I calculated 6.5g @ 175 to mash in. I did this and hit 147, I needed 155-154. It sat at 147 for 20 until I got a few gallons drawn off and heated, then went up to 164 for another ten when I put it back in. What a pita, this hasn't happened to me since I first started.
My process: open ball valve, drain 6.5 g, stir like hell for a few minutes, close and tie down lid. I usually lose 1-2 degrees an hour. My guess is that draining then stirring is taking to long and the water is rapidly cooling. However I have seen other people take their sweet time while doughing in and no problems. I hit a poor 70% for efficiency (usually in the low 80's), who knows how it will ferment. So what gives? What is everyone else's experience with doughing in and what temps do you use?
At first I was using a 5g pot to dump in my mash/sparge water all at once. Now that I have the HLT I drain with a hose/ball valve into my MT. These last two times I lost almost 30F in the mash-in. The first time I didn't pre-heat (I never did before, just raised my strike water temps instead). So I pre-heated with 150F water for 20 minutes this time. Grain temps are around 64.
This batch was 8g, 19lbs 2-row and 0.57lbs aromatic. I calculated 6.5g @ 175 to mash in. I did this and hit 147, I needed 155-154. It sat at 147 for 20 until I got a few gallons drawn off and heated, then went up to 164 for another ten when I put it back in. What a pita, this hasn't happened to me since I first started.
My process: open ball valve, drain 6.5 g, stir like hell for a few minutes, close and tie down lid. I usually lose 1-2 degrees an hour. My guess is that draining then stirring is taking to long and the water is rapidly cooling. However I have seen other people take their sweet time while doughing in and no problems. I hit a poor 70% for efficiency (usually in the low 80's), who knows how it will ferment. So what gives? What is everyone else's experience with doughing in and what temps do you use?