Strike water temp

I'm getting ready to do my first all grain batch. I have 8.5 #'s of grain and a mash temp target of 154

I will be doing a single infusion with 3.5 gallons for the mash and 3 gallons for the sparge

any advice here is welcome

blowmax10 said:

I'm getting ready to do my first all grain batch. I have 8.5 #'s of grain and a mash temp target of 154

I will be doing a single infusion with 3.5 gallons for the mash and 3 gallons for the sparge

any advice here is welcome

Click to expand...

I'm assuming you're using a cooler for an MLT (not that its gonna be different for anything else), you're going to want to warm up your MLT to 1 to 2 degrees higher than your mash temperature (about 156 F) for about 5 to 10 minutes so that you don't lose temperature to equipment. Get your grain temperature. Then go to a strike temperature calculator to figure out what your strike temp needs to be for dough in based on the amount of water you have.

When it comes to batch sparging, you're going to want to get your mash bed temp and figure out your sparge temperature (from what i understand you want to keep it between 170 and 180 (over 180 you release tannins from the husk which produce an off flavor).

Then figure out what your sparge temp needs to be to bring the temp to your desired range after your 60 minute sach rest. I think I did close to 202 degrees two times. to bring me to 175 for the sparge and mash out.

I'm fairly (read: really) new at all grain so I probably shouldn't be telling you what to do.. so if I'm wrong someone please correct me. This was the most confusing part for me to starting my all-grain brew.

blowmax10 said:

I'm getting ready to do my first all grain batch. I have 8.5 #'s of grain and a mash temp target of 154

I will be doing a single infusion with 3.5 gallons for the mash and 3 gallons for the sparge

any advice here is welcome

Click to expand...

Hey Blowmax, a single infusion with 3.5 gallons for the mash is calculated at 1.65 quarts water per pound of grain, my calculations have you losing 1.25 gallons of water to the grist during mashing, if you sparge with only 3 gallons of water your preboil volume will only be 4.25 gallons, of that is your target preboil then great, but if you are shooting for a preboil volume of 6.5 gallons then you will need to use more sparge water to get your 5 or 5.5 gallons in the fermenter, hope this helps, good luck.

jagg said:

Hey Blowmax, a single infusion with 3.5 gallons for the mash is calculated at 1.65 quarts water per pound of grain, my calculations have you losing 1.25 gallons of water to the grist during mashing, if you sparge with only 3 gallons of water your preboil volume will only be 4.25 gallons, of that is your target preboil then great, but if you are shooting for a preboil volume of 6.5 gallons then you will need to use more sparge water to get your 5 or 5.5 gallons in the fermenter, hope this helps, good luck.

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yeah I found that out the hard way - had to add a gallon into the brew pot - o well

My biggest concern was a thermometer issue - I used a brand new thermometer for my hot water tank and had a temp of 154 there but my old thermometer was giving me a reading of 142 in the mash

So I put the new thermometer in the mash and got a reading of 152 which is what I was targeting

So one of the thermometers is wrong - either the one I have been using for two years or the new one - I kind of think the old one is messed up

Time to go out and buy a high dollar one I guess

blowmax10 - Welcome to all grain, I remember clearly it was a steep learning curve for me.
You can see which one is wrong by measuring ice water and boiling water. I am still looking for that perfect brewing digital thermometer that will not get wacked by the steam, and me dropping it by relaxing too much during a session here or there.

my digital thermometer is a 10 inch stainless steel probe about 3mm diameter, on a 3 feet lead back to the box and display, had it for years, gives sterling service. Bought it from the thehomebrewshop.co.uk (farnborough UK) they have a dedicated "thermometer" department - ask for Adrian.