First partial mash!!!

Hi everyone..

I just finished my first partial mash..I have been brewing for a few yeas now with steeping grains ext. with very good success. I finally converted a 5 gallon cooler to a msh tun and got a larger kettle. The process went very good, I need to get a burner for outside becasue my stove had a hard time with 6 gallons to boil. I made a stone IPA clone, OG of 1.066, I ended up with 1.058. I was a bit off, but all is good. It was going crazy thias mourning so Im excited to see how much my beers imrpove now. I think my mash temp was a bit low, I started at around 58 and it dropped it 48 by the end..

Jay

Good on you! I hope it turns out well. (I assume that you meant 158 and 148 right? Good!)

Yep 148 I just didnt put the 1..Also how do I estimate my efficiency of the mash? from my OG. I have never done this any htreads?

Jay

I know that it is not too complicated, but I have never bothered to figure it. I have found a good explanation at this link.
http://byo.com/mrwizard/738.html

Congrats man!

One question tho...if you can boil 6 gallons, why aren't you all-grain???

get a $30 propane burner for a turkey fryer setup...6gallons will boil like a champ.

A drop from 158 to 148 is pretty significant. i dont think you should see that much of a drop from your cooler. Anything unusual going on?

A ten degree drop does seem high. If your thermometer is accurate I would think about wrapping the cooler during the mash.

You can determine efficiency based on volume,actual gravity and how much grain was used in the process.
Lot of people making Stone brews these days.

In retrospect I would have put the cooler in the garage..My house is kicking AC..oops. I have the capabilaties to boil 6 gallons but not to mash that much grain so maybe soon. I know I need a burner..Im looking into this now.

jay

Are you keeping the lid on the mash tun nice and snug?

You have the capability to boil 6 gallons, but you need a burner? I am confused. Oh well! As long as you know what you are doing!

Did you preheat the cooler? Preheating made all the difference for me.

I did pre-heat and wrap the cooler..the problem with the boil was that it was weak and needed the lid on. It was not a nice rolling boil so I need a burner to get this.

jay

cheezydemon said:

You have the capability to boil 6 gallons, but you need a burner? I am confused. Oh well! As long as you know what you are doing!

Click to expand...

I can see what he's saying. I can boil six gallons on top of my stove but it takes forever (1.5 hours) and I can forget about ever getting a rolling boil. With my LP burner, I can get to a rolling boil in less than half that time.