Just started my first mash! BIAB 10 gal!

Just started my first mash!
I am sitting at the max capacity of my keggle. It was a bit of a squeeze getting 23 lb of grain as well as 12 gal of water into my keggle but it fit(less than an inch to spare!) I under shot the temp by five degrees but it was simple enough to turn the heat on and raise the temp. I think that my problem was that I had the crushed grain siting on the basement floor so it was colder than I had accounted for.

I will try to update this post as I go.

Richard

50 min into the mash and the temp has not moved! :rockin: I put a pizza pan on for a lid and wraped the keggle in a towel.

Time to grab a cup-o-Joe before I mash out

First possible whoopsie

It was taking a while to bring the temp up to mashout and I was still a little worried about burning the bag on the element. So i decided to lift the bag away from the element. While doing so it seems that I did not gather the whole top of the bag and I spilled some of the mash into the wort. I will not be able to tell how much split until I drain the bag.

Also the temp had dropped in the mash near the top. the middle and bottom of the mash were still at temp but the top was quite a bit cooler. I am not too worried about this as most of the conversion takes place in the first 20-30 min and With the mashout The mash will pass through that temp range again.

Another note to self

Don't use a cheap plastic rope for lifting the mash. They don't hold knots and slip through your hands if they are at all wet. I had forgotten about he rope for mu pully system and grabe the first bit of rope I found, It was the floating line from my canoeing kit. I trhink I will replace it.

You can use a strainer to get the grain out if you spilled some in there. I have a small one that I use for straining soups, and a large one for bigger items. If you have one, that can make life easier when it comes time to get ready for the boil!

First major fail!

It looks like the bag snagged on something. Most likely the thermometer probe It looks like I may have to drain the keggle and filter the wort through something. I may snag one of SWMBO's nylons and tie it over the drain.

Should I cool the wort first to avoid "hot aeration" ?

Richardwhittaker said:

Should I cool the wort first to avoid "hot aeration" ?

Click to expand...

I would not bother, that would take hours.

Richardwhittaker said:

50 min into the mash and the temp has not moved! :rockin: I put a pizza pan on for a lid and wraped the keggle in a towel.

Time to grab a cup-o-Joe before I mash out

Click to expand...

I use a water heater blanket to wrap mine. Works great.

OG 1.054 right on the money with 10 gal finished wort this gives me a Brewhouse efficiency of 70%. I'm happy with that for a first go.