Mash Out

I’d like to be able to mash out for all the wonderful and controversial benefits it brings, but it never seems to work. Meaning, my mash temp never gets anywhere close to the 168-170 I’m shooting for.

My mash temps are typical: 148-154, and I add two gallons of boiling water and stir. I get about a 5 or 6 degree boost. Adding a lot more water isn’t always an option for me since I’ve got a 10 gallon stainless steel MLT and I do like to do bigger beers, and in those cases the 2 gallons of additional water already takes me to the brim.

So… I’m considering applying heat to the MLT to get the mash to the upper 160’s. But I know I don’t want to scorch, so to avoid that I’m also considering re-circulating while I apply heat. I achieve the benefits of vorlof AND mashout all in one genius step!

Anybody tried this before? Anybody heard of anybody trying this before? Anybody have any reasons why I shouldn’t try it? Can it be possible that I am NOT a genius for some reason?

I don't mash out, but rather batch sparge twice using half of my targeted pre-boil volume minus my first runnings. My efficiency varies between 70%-80% depending mostly upon the size of my grain bill. How big are your batches? Can you give us a run down of your typical mash size and thickness?

Green Bay Rackers--Mash Calculators

10lbs grain mashed at 154 requires 4.6qt boiling water to go to 168.
Add and stir well, it will work because math and physics say so.

I think there are a few small commercial brewhouses that use heated mlt's and rakes to obtain their mash out temps.
As for reasons that you shouldn't, none come to mind. Be careful with the heat ( these commercial guys have steam jacketed tanks )

If you have a heated MLT and can recirculate I see no reason not to do it your way, except if you want to do a decoction. I usually do a infusion from the green bay rackers calculator to get it to 165-168.

I usually add about 6 to 7 qts of boiling water for mashout and I rarely get above 165F. Never to 168, even though the math seems to suggest I should. Who knows. I stopped caring about it.

you could always go with a rims/herm system. To ghettofy this I put some copper coils into a cooler with 2 water heater elements in it. Now I just turn on my pump and run the wort through the copper coils and back into my sparge arms. I also added a second ball valve to the cooler and I can use it for sparging as well. total cost was about 60 dollars.

z987k said:

Green Bay Rackers--Mash Calculators

10lbs grain mashed at 154 requires 4.6qt boiling water to go to 168.
Add and stir well, it will work because math and physics say so.

Click to expand...

I guess I need to have a talk with these guys 'math' and 'physics'.

Judochop said:

I guess I need to have a talk with these guys 'math' and 'physics'.

Click to expand...

For some strange reason, the math and physics part works for everyone in this reality.

What is the size of your grain bill and what is the thickness of your mash? Put that in the calculator and see what comes up. If you're mashing 40 lbs of grain at 2.0 qts/lb, then 8 qts of 212° F water will raise the temp 5 degrees.

It just struck me... I've got 1.5 gallons space under my false bottom, and I've never considered that volume of liquid in the calculations for raising mash temp for mash out. The calculator asks for lbs of grain and mash water, but surely an additional 1.5 gallons of 152 degree wort in the tun changes things a bit.

Does that make sense?

With a metal tun, you should be heating to mashout anyway. You can pump recirculate or do it manually. While the heat is on, every 3 minutes or so, drain a gallon and pour it back on top.

I always mash out, and I always decoct to do it. I don't know why, when I started flysparging I just started doing it. It adds a bit of time to the brewday, but not a whole lot. And it's kind of fun...

I drain about 2 quarts from the mash tun and bring it to a boil on the stove top.
It isn't a decoction, as such, because the grain stays in the MLT.
It's less of a mess that way.
It counts toward vorlauf, if I'm careful when I stir in back in.
Each batch of 2 quarts seems to raise it about 5F.

z987k said:

Add and stir well, it will work because math and physics say so.

Click to expand...

That's what i keep thinking, but real life typically gets in the way for me. I batch sparge and always have trouble hitting 170. The problem, i've determined, is my process. After vorlaufing and draining, my grainbed couldn't possibly still be at mash temps, so there's temp loss prior to my sparging (mashing out).

For anyone who's having trouble hitting those temps for sparging/mashout, i'd suggest examining your vorlauf and water handling process first. I know with me, i collect first running into a pitcher sitting on the gound prior to vorlaufing. Additionally, i'm transferring batches of sparge water to the MLT from the boilkettle via spigot & pitcher. Both are processes susceptible to heat-loss.