Dough-in temp?

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jmp138

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Im doing my first AG today, and I'm going all out with 10 gallons of Ed's Haus Pale Ale. I'm using a round 10 gallon rubbermaid cooler to mash and was wondering how much higher I should go on my temp when I dough in. Ed calls for mashing at 152. I'll be preheating the cooler and draining in from a keggle valve.

So, simply, what temperature do I need to dough-in at to achieve a 152 degree mash?

Thanks
 
If you preheat your cooler with near boiling water (but not boiling, it'll crack the cooler), then I find that about 14 degrees higher works for me. My grains are at basement temperature, though.

If your grains are at room temperature, about 11 degrees would be right. I'd add some water to the MLT, then some grains, and check and see how you are. The first time has a real learning curve! It's totally dependent on the grain temperature, the cooler temperature, etc. Have some boiling water handy, and some cold water handy, to be able to adjust.

One quick word of caution, though- stir WELL and allow to settle to equalize for a couple of minutes. Too many people add hot, then it's too hot so they add cold, etc. It takes a couple of minutes to get the "real" temperature.
 
It depends on the actual brand of cooler. What I'd do is heat the water 10-12 degrees above your target strike temperature, then fill the tun. Close the lid, wait about 3-5 minutes for the temperature to settle, then measure. Adjust as necessary by stirring (for small temperature adjustments) or adding SMALL amounts of cold water.

Make sure to wait a few minutes between steps while adjusting temperatures. It takes a couple of minutes for temps to settle down, and if you try to go to fast, you'll overshoot your corrections and drive yourself nuts trying to hit temperature.

I made that very mistake on my first AG brewday, and lost an hour chasing my tail trying to get the temperature right. Go slow.
 
Right now with grains typically at freezing temp, we use 170F to preheat the tun, then mash in with 170F to reach 152F on appx. 28lbs of grain with rectangular cooler. But there are alot of variables as stated previously, i.e. ambient temp, temp of grain, size of cooler, kind/style of cooler, etc. It all depends on your setup, just make a good guess and adjust after you stir, with heated or cool water to hit the mash temp.
 
So, simply, what temperature do I need to dough-in at to achieve a 152 degree mash?

If you're doing all grain, you've probably got a fair amount of $ into equipment already. Why not spend about 20 bucks more for the Beersmith program? It'll help with these types of questions, as well as assist with designing new beers.

(I'm looking forward to the Mac version release. :rockin:)
 
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