Cold Weather Mash Did Not Go Well

I did my third all-grain batch this past weekend and it was about 20 degrees outside. I could not hold temps in my mash at all. I use a Coleman Xtreme cooler, which I know can hold temps, but I guess it was just too cold outside. Has anyone else run into this problem?

I am guessing that using either a RIMS or HERMS system would cure this problem, but I don't know if I am ready to move to that yet cost wise.

The beer I did is a Belgian Dark Strong Ale. The OG was a lot lower than I was going for, and I already added 2 lbs of clear candi sugar to the boil, so I am worried if I add more sugar after primary fermentation has finished, that I will overly dry and thin out the beer. If I added 2 lbs of sugar to the fermentor, that would push my adjunct fermentables to 19%. Would it be better to just accept a lower gravity and lower ABV instead of messing with it?

Why not just do your mash/sparge indoors and boil outside?

I just had the same issue. I heated my liquor and preheated my MLT. But by the time I was done stirring I was qt 148, and was supposed to hit 152. I was able to get the temp to 150, but after 80 minutes I was at 146. So, I'll be a bit drier than I was hoping for. Fortunately my efficiency didn't suffer, hit 89%.

I don't know what your recipe looks like, but 20% sugar seems high. That would probably make the brew pretty cidery. I used 2 lbs in a triple and that had a little bit of an apple taste that took some time to age out. I would just go with what you have and chalk it up to experience.

I think next brew I will move the MLT inside during the mash, or wrap to cooler in a blanket to help out.

148 is fine, no worries. Have you tried heating your strike water just a little hotter to compensate for the cold outdoor temps? Instead of mashing-in at 170, try 175. Or as Earwig said, mash inside. But I'm guessing your MLT was cold and your grain was cold. Hotter strike water. Good luck and report back.

I intentionally overshot my strike water temps during the last brew day (temp never got above 25 that day) and still came up 2 degrees short of my target (152 vs. 154). I use an old, very battered igloo water cooler and only lost 2 degrees over an hour. I don't open the lid after dough-in and still manage 82% efficiency consistently. I just wish I could figure out my initial temp loss factor based upon outside temp. Brewpal for the iPhone doesn't help me in that category...

MikeRoBrew1 said:

148 is fine, no worries. Have you tried heating your strike water just a little hotter to compensate for the cold outdoor temps? Instead of mashing-in at 170, try 175. Or as Earwig said, mash inside. But I'm guessing your MLT was cold and your grain was cold. Hotter strike water. Good luck and report back.

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Tun was pre-heated inside and grain was at 72 degrees, sitting in the house until I put it into the Mash. Is there some way to calculate in ambient to compensate for it?

Mashing inside might be an option, but I use a keggle for my HLT and BK, so I would have to add the water then haul the mash tun inside, let it rest, then haul it back out to finish sparging.

I'm sorry I assumed too much. I heat the strike water on my stove and pour it in. I do it all indoors except the boil... But I only use a cooler system.

I think until I have some sort of recirculating/heating system, I might just go simple and do some extract brews during the cold months. I can get a boil going just fine. If I had a pot to heat mash and sparge water, I would do it indoors, but I don't. I started off with a keggle, never progressed to it.

beerrepository said:

so I would have to add the water then haul the mash tun inside, let it rest, then haul it back out to finish sparging.

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Yep, Not that hard. Or you could try wrapping the mash tun. I've used a heavy duty sleeping bag before in the winter. Helps. That was with a 52Qt igloo cube though, not the giant xtremes.

IrregularPulse said:

Yep, Not that hard. Or you could try wrapping the mash tun. I've used a heavy duty sleeping bag before in the winter. Helps. That was with a 52Qt igloo cube though, not the giant xtremes.

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I think my cooler is a 52qt, its not one of the 70 qt versions. Insulating is actually a good idea. Might have to look into some options for that. Or suck it up and hull that thing inside.

If carrying it inside and back out is too much strain....well, you might benefit from the work out anyway

I mash in the basement and boil right outside the back door. That works really well for me. Once it gets Michigan cold up here, there's no way I can keep my temps stable mashing in a cooler in a detached garage.

IrregularPulse said:

If carrying it inside and back out is too much strain....well, you might benefit from the work out anyway

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its not the strain, but the potential for diaster I am worried about. i like to limit any unnecessary risk I can when it comes to brew day. But the loss in efficiency might be worth the risk.

I am in CT and brewed this past Sunday. I don't think it got above 20F. I've been mashing inside and bring the wort out to the kettle in 5gal buckets. I fire the kettle after the first runnings and have had three great brew days this way! I've also been doing FWH which I think I really like!