Another mash screwup. Strike water temp...

is driving me crazy. I'm only two brews in to homebrewing. First brew turned out great, IMO. It was a Mild partial mash. 4.5lbs of grain with 1.5lbs of extract added late in the boil. I was aiming for a mash temp of 155F , but underestimated how much the temp would drop with the 50F grain. Ended up mashing at 150F. No big deal, right.
So, Saturday night, I brewed an Amber recipe I created with Brewtarget, using some other amber recipes as a guide. 8lbs of grain, 1.8lbs of extract, late addition in boil.
This time, I actually looked up strike water estimated temp, 168.9F. Strike water was right between 168 and 170 on my thermometer. I poured the water into the mash tun, checked the temp....162F!!! I rolled with it.
Now, I'm worried that my beer is ruined. I do have fermentation (S-05), but is my beer going to be too sweet because of the high temp?

162F!!! I rolled with it.

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Nothing wrong with dropping a few ice cubes in next time. It's not 'ruined'.

You did use 8 lbs of grain when calculating strike temp right? You don't factor in the extract.

That temp is fine. The grain brings the temperature of the water down anyways.

Also, be sure to really mix the grain and water together thoroughly. It's surprising how it actually takes a few minutes for the grain to become fully saturated with water and for the mixture to equalize in temp. Before you start tossing in frozen water bottles or boiling hot water, mix mix mix some more, wait a few minutes, and take a couple of temperature readings. Sometimes your thermometer hits a hot/cold spot. A few minutes at too low/high a temp won't ruin your batch.

next time just add some cold water or ice cubes. Stir and recheck. Mash temp accuracy is really important and will change your beer greatly one way or the other. I use the tool on Brew365 (google it). Make sure to preheat your mashtun or mashing vessel so it doesn't lose a bunch of heat initially. Stir it up real well. take a temp. if its way off adjust with hot or cold water. If its close, put the lid on for 5 mins and then check the temp again 5 mins later. If its close after 5 mins, leave it be.

BendBrewer said:

Nothing wrong with dropping a few ice cubes in next time. It's not 'ruined'.

You did use 8 lbs of grain when calculating strike temp right? You don't factor in the extract.

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Didn't factor extract. Just the grain.

I did mix well, but only took one reading at the very beginning. Dang. What a newb!
I had two guys "helping" me brew, so I was busy talking to them. I don't remember taking a reading after mashing either. Oh well, I'll wait and see. Its a learning process.

Yeah I hear you. Nice to have company on brew day.................... except for when you are actually brewing. Then they just seem to be in the way and a distraction. Let alone them chugging all your beer while you work.

BendBrewer said:

Yeah I hear you. Nice to have company on brew day.................... except for when you are actually brewing. Then they just seem to be in the way and a distraction. Let alone them chugging all your beer while you work.

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Agreed.

Company is helpful when they know a thing or two about brewing on your rig. Cleaning out emptied mash tuns, rigging up the chiller etc really can shorten a brew day. The rest of 'em end up underfoot or neglected by the brewing host, unfortunately.

They're good guys, but I couldn't trust them with the boil. They did come in handy with the manual Corona Mill!

This time, I actually looked up strike water estimated temp, 168.9F. Strike water was right between 168 and 170 on my thermometer. I poured the water into the mash tun, checked the temp....162F!!! I rolled with it.

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What do you mean you looked it up? 162 before you add the grain, probably dropped you to 154-156 which is good for an Amber. I see most people took you to mean your mash temp was 162, but from what I read, your pre-mash water in the MLT was 162.

My mash temp was 162. My strike water was about 168-170.

pkeeler said:

What do you mean you looked it up? 162 before you add the grain, probably dropped you to 154-156 which is good for an Amber. I see most people took you to mean your mash temp was 162, but from what I read, your pre-mash water in the MLT was 162.

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I used an online strike water calculator and a chart from one of my brewing books. That's how I "looked it up."

bstacy1974 said:

I used an online strike water calculator and a chart from one of my brewing books. That's how I "looked it up."

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One more thing to clarify. And maybe this is where my ignorance will really show. I put the grain in the mash tun before I add water. Should I add grain to water instead? Does it make a difference?

bstacy1974 said:

One more thing to clarify. And maybe this is where my ignorance will really show. I put the grain in the mash tun before I add water. Should I add grain to water instead? Does it make a difference?

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Yes, yes it does!!! Pre heat your tun with your strike water. Start an extra gallon or so of water boiling now so it will be there if ya need it. If I am shooting for 150-152, I usually heat my water to around 170-172. Pour that into the MLT (10gal Gott in my case) and let it warm up the plastic for 4-5 minutes. Add the grain slowly, carefully breaking up dough balls and stirring like mad for about 4-5 minutes. Check temp. If high, stir. If really high, add cold water/ ice. If low, add boiling water. When you hit desired temp, toss the cover on and wait. 60 minutes for most, 90 minute if the grist has a bunch of pilsner or partially modified malt. Vorlauf, drain, start to boil. Add sparge water, stir for 4-5 minutes, wait 15 minutes, vorlauf, drain, add to boil.

rinse and repeat

See, that's why I love this forum. Thanks for setting me straight.
My boss is part owner in a local brewery and I never get advice this good from him!

I didn't figure out how to get my strikes correct until I'd done 5-6 batches... the calculators get you in the ballpark but then your individual equipment can change it by a few degrees.

I always have a brita filter in the fridge to cool it by a degree or two and I have one of those electric tea kettles I fill with dechlorinated water and set to boil in case I need to raise temp... it goes from tap to boil in about 2min.

bovineblitz said:

I didn't figure out how to get my strikes correct until I'd done 5-6 batches... the calculators get you in the ballpark but then your individual equipment can change it by a few degrees.

I always have a brita filter in the fridge to cool it by a degree or two and I have one of those electric tea kettles I fill with dechlorinated water and set to boil in case I need to raise temp... it goes from tap to boil in about 2min.

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Ditto. Cold filtered water standing by and boiling filtered water standing by.

Its been a week. Everything seems t be okay. Gravity check today came out at 1.013. OG was1.048. Tasted fine, not sweet at all. Overalll, I'm happy. I'll let it sit for another couple weeks to clear a bit.

You probably weren't at 162. I would always stir, wait five minutes, then check. If I don't, I end up overshooting a correction. Chances are your calcs were fine and you measured a hot spot.

BendBrewer said:

Yeah I hear you. Nice to have company on brew day.................... except for when you are actually brewing. Then they just seem to be in the way and a distraction. Let alone them chugging all your beer while you work.

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My last brew day help put his hand through my tile in my bathroom trying to catch himself while we were giving the wort a ice bath. Needless to say im glad that he works construction and fixed it for me or i would be one less friend (jk):cross:

bstacy1974 said:

See, that's why I love this forum. Thanks for setting me straight.
My boss is part owner in a local brewery and I never get advice this good from him!

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Yeah well, I bet the local brewery doesn't mash an ice chest with a braided toilet hose.

Some of what I'll list has already been covered, but here goes anyway, since this was the one thing that bedeviled me for my first 3-4 AG batches.

1. First off, don't assume that any brewing software or online calculator is going to hit your particular situation; it sure wouldn't for me. I think the proper term for what you'll get is "ballpark." There are simply too many variables, and what I found necessary was to get the proper temperatures, volumes of H2O, etc. for my particular system. Then, everything was smooth.

2. If you're using a static temperature mash setup (like I do, e.g, a converted cooler MLT, where there's no external system to control the mash temperature), preheat your cooler. This is a big help, and will make stabilizing your desired mash temperature much easier. I preheat with 170 F water, then reheat the preheat water for use as sparge water later.

3. Make sure you're using an insulated cooler. If not, drill some holes and inject that "Great Stuff" spray can insulation into it. it will expand and fill the space. The lid of my cooler wasn't insulated (and why should it have been, it's a cooler), and injecting it with spray insulation was a big help in maintaining my mash temp (I now lose <1 degree F in an hour's mash).

4. If your grain bills vary widely, be sure to compensate with the strike water temperature. This usually isn't huge, 3-4 degrees at the most. If you keep careful records, you will know exactly what the strike water temperature X has to be for amount of grist Y into MLT preheated to temperature Z.

5. Don't expect to keep your grist in a freezing cold garage in winter, or a warm one in summer, and not have varying results. Bringing the grist indoors the night before brewday reduces this variable to near zero.

6. It may still help to throw some insulation over the MLT while mashing (I use a furniture pad), and also insulate the ball valve (if that's what you're using), since it's a great conductor of heat away from your wort (I use a block of foam stuck on the ball valve during the mash).

7. If you're consistently off, and don't know why, shoot a bit high. A few ice cubes is a much easier way to hit the sweet spot, in my experience, than trying to come up to temperature with additions of boiling water.

8. Stir. When you think you've stirred enough, stir some more. It takes longer than you'd think for the temperature of the mash to equalize throughout, so that you can get reliable temperature readings.


9. Be experimental in finding things that work for you. Some people will swear that mashing only works right if you stir the grain gradually into the strike water. I dump my strike water directly onto the grist, stir, and get no doughballs or other issues.

mrk305 said:

Yeah well, I bet the local brewery doesn't mash an ice chest with a braided toilet hose.

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You don't know my boss!!&#58389;

What was the temp at the end of the mash? Odd's are you're good. You definitely want to let the grain sit in the strike a water a little while before taking the temp.

Try it again. What bad could happen?? You'll just have more beer to drink.

I preheat my mash tun with 160F water for 15-20 minutes, covering the top with a couple of old towels to keep the heat in. I then dump this water out and our in about half of my 170F strike water, then stir in the grains and finally stir in the remaining strike water. Stir, stir and stir adding a bit of cold or hot water if/as needed to hit my target temperature.

I do use a strike water calculator what asks for the mash thickness, temperature of the grains and the my target mash temperature. I've always hit my target temperature within a degree or so and I've come to rely on the calculations.

It seems like this one is wrapping up, but I don't have nearly the troubles you guys are describing hitting the mash temp (I don't preheat the MT or anything). I have a 15G Blingman MT.

I use brewsmith and I nail mash temps each time. All I do is put my stuff in the program and it spits out my strike temp based on grain bill for the recipe. I repeatedly hit my mash temp. If you haven't tried it, give it a try.

Be sure to constantly stir your mash for 3-5 minutes to even out the temp after dough in. I know when I dough-in I always freak out for a few minutes when the temp reads 4-6 degrees on the high side. After stirring, etc. the mash evens out to the correct temp.