I did a test run on my new MLT last night. 36qt. Rubbermaid Xtreme cooler with a homemade copper manifold. I heated 3.5 gallons of water to 182F and dumped it in (I did not preheat the MLT). After 5 minutes, the temp. was 172F. As a rough guideline, how much more heat can expect to lose when I mash-in 11 pounds of grain? Not looking for a rule here, just rough estimate. Thanks!
AG temp. question
- Thread starter KayaBrew
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Trubadour
Well-Known Member
Beer software will tell you what temp your strike water should be for a desired mash temp based on equipment and temp of grains. My strike water is usually about 11* higher than mash temp
Brewsmith
Home brewing moogerfooger
Once the temp equalizes, you wont lose more than 2 degrees in an hour with the mash.
I'm assuming in your test you strtes with a room temperature mash tun. The temp drop you saw was from the cold cooler.
If you pre-heat your cooler before you mash in, you will not see any temp loss at dough-in.
I have a 10 gal cooler, and I preheat it with about 6 gallons of water at 165. After that sits in there while I heat my strike water, the tun is in the 150's and allows me to nail the mash temps with the grain and strike water. I end up using the preheat water as sparge water later.
I'm assuming in your test you strtes with a room temperature mash tun. The temp drop you saw was from the cold cooler.
If you pre-heat your cooler before you mash in, you will not see any temp loss at dough-in.
I have a 10 gal cooler, and I preheat it with about 6 gallons of water at 165. After that sits in there while I heat my strike water, the tun is in the 150's and allows me to nail the mash temps with the grain and strike water. I end up using the preheat water as sparge water later.
WorryWort
Well-Known Member
+1 on brewing software.
But for reference - on an average batch i lose about 12-13 degrees (strike water temp minus mash temp). that may be due to a difference between my two thermometers though, but I'm used to it now.
But for reference - on an average batch i lose about 12-13 degrees (strike water temp minus mash temp). that may be due to a difference between my two thermometers though, but I'm used to it now.
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This helps: Green Bay Rackers--Mash Calculators
I've lost anywhere from 10-20*F depending on grain temp, air temp, etc.
I've lost anywhere from 10-20*F depending on grain temp, air temp, etc.
I'm using BeerTools Pro. It tells me to heat my stike water to 166-167. From the replies I'm getting on this post, that strike temp. assumes that I have pre-heated my MLT. According to the software, my mash temp. should be 154F. So it all makes sense now. I was experimenting with a room temp. MLT to save time and gas, but it sounds like pre-heating is the way to go, so that's what I'll do. Thanks for all the patient replies. I go AG on Saturday! Woo-hoo:rockin:
Do exactly what you did in your test. Go in hot at 182 and let the cooler soak up the heat until you hit the 169ish area, then dough in.
However, since you're using BTP, you can perform the calibration by testing just what you did and recording the initial temp, ambient temp, temp at 5 minutes, and temp at 60 minutes. That will then tell you from now on exactly what temp to go in at. It takes the whole preheating thing out of it.
However, since you're using BTP, you can perform the calibration by testing just what you did and recording the initial temp, ambient temp, temp at 5 minutes, and temp at 60 minutes. That will then tell you from now on exactly what temp to go in at. It takes the whole preheating thing out of it.
becksbolero2
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i lose about 18 degrees to the grain
Thanks Bob. I used your YouTube BeerTools tutorial to figure it out so far.
Trubadour
Well-Known Member
I've never found the need to preheat my MLT (10g round Gott cooler) - Beersmith tells me what temp to heat my strike water and it accounts for temp loss to the cold cooler. It really is amazing how accurate it is. I use a digital thermometer that measures to the 10th of a degree, and I've it my mash temp to the 10th more than once.
Bobby, I just added the calibration figures to the "Vessels" in the BTP drop down. When I went back and looked at the schedule, nothing had changed. BTP still tells me to heat my strike to 166.5. If my MLT absorbs 10 degrees in 5 minutes, that puts me at 156 before I dough-in. What am I doing wrong?
I'm pretty sure there should be a little "caution" yellow triangle icon if you open up the mash in details. It's the software's way of saying, "hey, something changed in the backend calculations". If you click it, it should recalculate the temp. Oh, another possibility is that you don't have the vessels set correctly. In the mash in details, make sure you have the mash vessel selected (the one you setup the calibration for) and that the heating vessel is set to something other than your mash vessel. If you still can't get it to tell you to strike at a higher temp, delete the mash in step and add it again. Also, make sure you save that recipe file as either a template or set it to default so you don't have to fill it in later.
I just tested it out. I created two new vessels called MLT w heat loss and MLT no heat loss. In the calibration figures, the "with heat loss" vessel got 6 gallons of 160f water and at 5 minutes, I set it to 150, then at 65 mins I set to 148. For the no loss MLT, I left all figures at 160f.
When I create a mash in step in the schedule with a desired temp of 152F and ratio of 1.5qt/lb;
If I select the no loss MLT as my mash vessel, it wants 162F strike. If I select the MLT with heat loss, it wants 176F strike.
I just tested it out. I created two new vessels called MLT w heat loss and MLT no heat loss. In the calibration figures, the "with heat loss" vessel got 6 gallons of 160f water and at 5 minutes, I set it to 150, then at 65 mins I set to 148. For the no loss MLT, I left all figures at 160f.
When I create a mash in step in the schedule with a desired temp of 152F and ratio of 1.5qt/lb;
If I select the no loss MLT as my mash vessel, it wants 162F strike. If I select the MLT with heat loss, it wants 176F strike.
