snottywong
Member
I've done a handful of AG brews so far but I'm still definitely a noob. My biggest problem is that I can't get a consistent mash temperature in my rectangular cooler. In other words, when I stick the thermometer in one spot it might read 158, and in another spot it's 145. Mixing helps a little, but it seems there are always hot spots and cold spots. Is this normal?
All the books say that you need to hit your sacc rest temperature to determine the fermentability of the mash, 145-150 will generally be a dryer beer than 150-155. Ok, that's great, but how will my beer turn out if my mash tun is reading anywhere from 140-160, depending on where I measure? And if I'm going for a maltier batch and I want to hit 155, but parts of my mash are measuring 165, then I start freaking out and putting cold water in because I don't want to denature any enzymes.
I usually let the cooler soak in hot water from the tap before I start the mash, which is at about 135 out of the faucet (and if I'm doing a protein rest, then 135 is about the temp of the first infusion water). The cooler is very well insulated so I'm not losing a lot of temperature, I just have too much variation.
Is there any way to minimize this, or should I just take a handful of measurements and average them out to see where I'm at?
All the books say that you need to hit your sacc rest temperature to determine the fermentability of the mash, 145-150 will generally be a dryer beer than 150-155. Ok, that's great, but how will my beer turn out if my mash tun is reading anywhere from 140-160, depending on where I measure? And if I'm going for a maltier batch and I want to hit 155, but parts of my mash are measuring 165, then I start freaking out and putting cold water in because I don't want to denature any enzymes.
I usually let the cooler soak in hot water from the tap before I start the mash, which is at about 135 out of the faucet (and if I'm doing a protein rest, then 135 is about the temp of the first infusion water). The cooler is very well insulated so I'm not losing a lot of temperature, I just have too much variation.
Is there any way to minimize this, or should I just take a handful of measurements and average them out to see where I'm at?