strike temp q's

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
E

eljib

Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2008
Messages
20
Reaction score
1
HELP please,
I'm in the middle of doing an all-grain with a cooler mlt for the first time and i never thought about how to calculate strike temp to hit my mash temp at dough-in.

I've got 11.5 lbs of 80*F grain going into a cooler MLT (pre-heated to 120*F) and i need to mash at 156-158*F

Sorry for the silly newb question, but how can I figure this out?
 
171 F should get you close assuming zero for the MT thermal mass since you preheated it.
 
It also depends on your mash thickness. For the future, here's the formula from How to Brew:

0.2/thickness*(mashtemp-graintemp) + mashtemp

thickness is your water to grain ratio in quarts/lb.
mashtemp is your desired mash temperature in degrees F
graintemp is the temperature of your grain before the mash in degrees F

This assumes your cooler has risen to the temperature of the water, which requires you to add the water at a little higher temperature than you will need.
 
I don't preheat, and 172 works for me. I sparge with two rinses of 185 each. My one hour mash measures 151 after 15 minutes and at the end of my sparges I am at 170.
 
jescholler said:
It also depends on your mash thickness. For the future, here's the formula from How to Brew:

0.2/thickness*(mashtemp-graintemp) + mashtemp

thickness is your water to grain ratio in quarts/lb.
mashtemp is your desired mash temperature in degrees F
graintemp is the temperature of your grain before the mash in degrees F

This assumes your cooler has risen to the temperature of the water, which requires you to add the water at a little higher temperature than you will need.
Click to expand...

Yes, I forgot about the water to grain ratio. I plugged his numbers into Promash as I knew he wanted a quick answer. My default setting is 1.2 quarts/lb. It will make a difference if he's much off of that ratio. Should still be fairly close though.
 
thanks a million, everyone. I found a calculator that came up with 173, so i'm glad we're all in the same range. I think i might go a little high just to make sure my cooler doesn't suck up too much heat. I can just stir out the extra degrees if it's too high right?
 
That much grain does not cool much unless maybe it is real cold where you are. 173 should work anyway. Check your temps after about 15 minutes before adjusting.
 
everything worked great and i hit my marks all around...thanks for the tips.
 

Similar threads

Gadjobrinus
Beer Smith - strike temps way low?
Replies
27
Views
1K
Brooothru
Brooothru
hotbeer
What if you bring the malts slowly to mash temp?
Replies
14
Views
1K
hotbeer
hotbeer
N
Stuck recirculation BM’s Cream of 3 Crops
Replies
10
Views
1K
Niatras
N
PashMaddle
Brew day #2 is done.
Replies
22
Views
1K
lumpher
lumpher
Hunky
What to do with failed brew
Replies
30
Views
2K
day_trippr
day_trippr

Latest posts

Back
Top