stikolaboloni
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- Jan 10, 2012
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I usually just do single infusions, but over the weekend was in the mood for a summer beer so I brewed a Belgian Wit. With the wheat in the grain bill figured I should try my hand at a beta/protein rest for the first time. I used Palmer's formula which I'll paste below, and long story short when I infused to raise the temp from 120 up to sacc rest, I came in quite a bit high (like 170!).
So if you see anything I missed below, or if maybe this formula is outdated, please let me know.
I'm guessing part of the issue can be attributed to a hot spot when taking the temp, but 5 mins after the infusion and not seeing much of a change, I didn't want to chance it any further so added 2 cups cold water and 2 ice cube trays and stirred, and within about 10 mins it was in the 152 range.
I imagine I denatured the beta, but just going by the heavy airlock activity in these first 48hrs it seems at least there were sufficient fermentables. So, looking at the formula I used, I found that for whatever reason I added about 2G of boiling water instead of around 1.5G needed to raise the temp.
Aside from that, I'm questioning whether I should've accounted for some grain absorption (for the initial 2.5G I infused with for the first rest)? Also, I noticed a bit of warping in the cooler -- is it generally accepted to use boiling water for stepping up the mash temp? Or should I adjust the calculation for something like 190deg infusion water?
As always, I appreciate any feedback so I can try and learn from what I did wrong
Mash Infusion Equation
Amount boiling water added (in Qts) Wa = (T2 - T1)(0.2G + Wm)/(Tw - T2)
where:
[[my values -- (152 - 120) (0.2(10) + 10)/(210 - 152) ]]
*came to 6.6 qts of boiling water to raise the temp from 120 to 152
R water/grain ratio (Qts/lb)
Wm total amount mash water (quarts)
T1 initial mash temp
T2 target mash temp
Tw actual temp of infusion water
G amount of grain in mash
So if you see anything I missed below, or if maybe this formula is outdated, please let me know.
I'm guessing part of the issue can be attributed to a hot spot when taking the temp, but 5 mins after the infusion and not seeing much of a change, I didn't want to chance it any further so added 2 cups cold water and 2 ice cube trays and stirred, and within about 10 mins it was in the 152 range.
I imagine I denatured the beta, but just going by the heavy airlock activity in these first 48hrs it seems at least there were sufficient fermentables. So, looking at the formula I used, I found that for whatever reason I added about 2G of boiling water instead of around 1.5G needed to raise the temp.
Aside from that, I'm questioning whether I should've accounted for some grain absorption (for the initial 2.5G I infused with for the first rest)? Also, I noticed a bit of warping in the cooler -- is it generally accepted to use boiling water for stepping up the mash temp? Or should I adjust the calculation for something like 190deg infusion water?
As always, I appreciate any feedback so I can try and learn from what I did wrong
Mash Infusion Equation
Amount boiling water added (in Qts) Wa = (T2 - T1)(0.2G + Wm)/(Tw - T2)
where:
[[my values -- (152 - 120) (0.2(10) + 10)/(210 - 152) ]]
*came to 6.6 qts of boiling water to raise the temp from 120 to 152
R water/grain ratio (Qts/lb)
Wm total amount mash water (quarts)
T1 initial mash temp
T2 target mash temp
Tw actual temp of infusion water
G amount of grain in mash