Noob all grain on his second try

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boomguy

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Started down the path of all grain and decided to go small to try it out, 1 gallon brewing. I picked up a small 3 gallon cooler that I have converted to a mash tun, 20130128_155330.jpg

20130128_160557(0).jpg I have put two batches through it so far and the first try I hit my dough in of 150, held even for an hour, missed my mash out, only 162 with 180 water but no stuck sparge. This time I hit the dough in as before but raised the mash out temp to 185, then again to 195 and again to 205 but could not for the life of me get anywhere near 170 for a proper mash out. Yes I tried sparging three times, 1/2 gallon at a time and still hit my preboil target. Grain bill was about three pounds of grain with a preboil volume of 2.5 gallons. I am just not sure why the little cooler will be fine at 150 for an hour with no noticeable warm spots but as soon as I try to sparge it wont get over 164. Any thoughts or tips would be helpful.
Here is a link to the recipe little-dipa
 
A nice warm temperature around 165ish will help get the surgars more fluid. I have done sparge temperatures between 155 and 175; I have been everything but consistant as a newb of only 6 batches of all grain. The only thing that suffered was low effeciency at the low temps but otherwise made great beer. Today I brewed BM CB and mashed at 151. The grain bed was 142ish after first run. I added 4 1/2 gal of 188 deg water and raised the temp to 172. I hit my OG on the nose and was very happy.
 
I was wondering if not hitting the mash out temp what would the effect be on the brix? Is there a way to estimate what the brix should be after mash out so that you are in the ballpark for the for the og post boil?
 
I am not familiar with brix. My understanding is that mash out is used to stop the enzymes from working to perserve the work that has already been done. I do not think the average homebrewer needs to do this for two reasons.

1. Grains are well modified these days (I just take this at face value because I have read it)
2. Most homebrewers will be raising the temperature for their boil rather quick compared to the big brewers.

The proccess of heating the grain bed for the sparge does give better effeciency; this I know.
 
I too have hard time trying to "mash out," and I did exactly what you did - I came on here and asked about it. The general consensus is, its not needed. I just heat my water up to 170-180 and throw it in. Evidently you are not supposed to go over 170. Hope this helps, and cheers!
 
I tend to skip the mash out, but I split my batch sparge into 2 additions. The first I try to get piping hot so it raises the grain bed to around 170F. This addition is normall something like 2.5 gallons of 185-190 degree water. The second addition I add hangs around 170F.

To do this I will heat up about 3/4 of my sparge water to 190, add 2/3 of that, then add some cooler water to the kettle/lauter tun to get to my 2nd sparge addition volume while my first sparge is sitting and this brings the second addition down to 170F ish. A little complicated and maybe not entirely necessary, but to each their own.
 
I tried to get my mash temp up to 170º but the tun just wouldn't go there for some reason, I would have thought that with the grain bed just being at 150º that adding 185º would have at least brought it into the mid 160º area... maybe there isn't enough grains since these are for one gallon batches. The surface area is only about 12" x 12" though.
 
I have a hard time hitting 170 too. I have noticed the grain bed dropps in temperature about 5-10 degrees when I drain it. I tried 200 deg once and over shot it by 10 deg. Go figure
 
I'm sorry if I caught this late. Bug are you using software to calculate the infusion needed to get to 170? Mine usually (when I mash out) calls for a surprisingly high addition of boiling water.... That is Beer Alchemy.
 
No just going off what works for the initial mash in. Question, if you add too much water at mash in does that affect your efficiency or sugsrs converted?
 
Using too much sparge water should increase efficiency. It may also increase tannin extra if carried to far (I've read) and will require longer boil time to boil down from your pre boil gravity to original gravity. Efficiency is just a measure of the percent of possible sugar you extracted.
 
Thanks Eric, I think that I have been using to much strike water so I will reduce it a bit so the mash isn't so thin. I am not sure where I found this link... probably here... but this fellow has put together a very concise description of the all grain process and most importantly the "why" is answered as well. Grain article
 
Outstanding write up, you will do well following these instructions. The one subject I didn't see addressed that is relevant to your thread is a discussion of mash temp vs. fermentability. This is the part of thinking about why you would choose to mash at 149 vs 154 for example.

Short answer is the lower mash temp will make your wort more fermentable, leading to a drier finished product. The higher temp makes less fermentable sugar, leading to a heavier bodied, sweeter finished product. For lower OG beers you are probably safe either way. But high OG beers that have been mashed too high can end up way too sweet/cloying.
 
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