Newbie question about MLTs

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bendit

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Hey guys,

I've done a few extra+steep batches and I am now moving on to AG brewing.

I splurged and bought two Blichmann 10g Boilermakers: one as an MLT, and one for boiling.

My question is: Is there any reason why I can't just fill my MLT with all my mash water and heat it directly? Every recipe/instruction set I find talks about heating strike water and adding it to the MLT. Why wouldn't I just heat up my HLT to maintain temperature?

Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance for the help guys.

Ben
 
Couple reasons. You don't want to heat it with the grains in there as it could burn them, and also you have to account for the temp variance from the grains anyway.
 
If you are talking about heating your mash water before you dough in then that is ok. You could heat it from the bottom but you would have to be extremely careful not scorch the grain once you have doughed in. You could solve this problem by recirculating with a pump or even recirculating via a pitcher, and also by stirring constantly.
 
To clarify, I was planning on filling my MLT, getting it to the right temperature, and adding all the grain. Followed by the rest, drain the wort, and sparge the remaining sugars.
 
To clarify, I was planning on filling my MLT, getting it to the right temperature, and adding all the grain. Followed by the rest, drain the wort, and sparge the remaining sugars.

That's the way I've been doing it for a very long time and it works for me. I find it much easier to hit my target temps at dough in with this method. It eliminates the uncertainty with the MT thermal mass, pre-heating etc.
 
I think you might have a hard time maintaining your mash temp in an uninsulated Blichmann MLT. That is why most people use coolers. If you are going to use the Blichmann you will need some sort of heat source to maintain your mash temps. I have a keggle MLT and I have to add heat to keep up my mash temps.
 
Hey guys,

I've done a few extra+steep batches and I am now moving on to AG brewing.

I splurged and bought two Blichmann 10g Boilermakers: one as an MLT, and one for boiling.

My question is: Is there any reason why I can't just fill my MLT with all my mash water and heat it directly? Every recipe/instruction set I find talks about heating strike water and adding it to the MLT. Why wouldn't I just heat up my HLT to maintain temperature?

Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance for the help guys.

Ben

Absolutely no reason why you can't do that, but many people use a cooler as an MLT. I would not recommend putting a cooler on the stove. :)

-a.
 
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