Forgot to preheat my tun question

I dumped my grains into my tun before thinking about the fact that I should have preheated it. How should I adjust my strike temp ?

If it helps

9 pounds of grain
Target mash 152
164 is the current strike temp

Thanks in advance.

It completely depends on the mash tun you are using and the ambient temperature.


What you ought to do is heat the strike water to, say, 8-10 degrees above strike temp. So, about 174F.

Add all of the strike water to your mash tun, cover it up and let the temperature equalize for 5-10 minutes. Open it up, stir the water around well to make sure it's distributed well, and when the temperature is at 164-165F, start stirring in your grain to dough in, adding a bit at a time so you don't get huge dough balls.

Depends on the ambient temps, temps of the grist, and such... If you use BeerSmith, you can plug in those temps and it will tell you what temp you want your strike water to be.

IMO, you're better off a little high on the strike temp, stirring to get it lower, than going low and trying to increase it. Of course, that all changes when you go with a direct fire RIMS, HERMS, or other system where you can change the temperature of the mash without adding more water.

Thanks for the replies. I am just using a 10 gallon home depot/Coleman round cooler. I will shoot for 175.

BTW, I never did pre-heat my mash tun (coolers)... I would just use the calculator to figure out how high to heat the strike water. Once I measured the grist temp, and factored in ambient, I could hit them pretty well. I don't think I would let it sit for 5-10 minutes before doughing in though. IMO, better to get rid of the dough balls ASAP, then see what the temp is. Once you're within a degree (or so) of your target, let it rest. Just be sure to mix as best you can (completely) and check the temperature in more than one spot/depth...

Golddiggie said:

I don't think I would let it sit for 5-10 minutes before doughing in though. IMO, better to get rid of the dough balls ASAP, then see what the temp is.

Click to expand...

You totally misunderstood my post. I said let the strike water sit for 5-10 minutes, after having added it 8-10 degrees over target strike temp.