what about those of us who are using a 15.5 gallon sanke as a mash tun? How are you keeping your mash at temp for 60 minutes?
Heat loss will be dependent on the percentage of the volume filled in the cooler...for smaller batches I feel a smaller cooler is better.
Fwiw
Cheers
.opiate82 said:So I had a big styrofoam box out in the garage. I cut a circle out of it big enough to fit snuggly inside my 10gal Home Depot Cooler Mash tun then wrapped it up in a food-safe bag and zip-tied it shut. The circle is probably about 2" thick and it is your typical white styrofoam used for packing or as disposable coolers. Brewed a Blonde with just 9lbs of grain. Grain + Water took up less than 1/2 of the space in the tun. I had recently discovered I was losing a lot of heat on small beers like that (9 degrees on my last one). With my styrofoam circle resting just above the grain bed I lost less than 1 degree. Nothing changed in my pre-heating or dough-in methods, everything was exactly the same other than the, I guess you would call it a false-top.
I have been brewing for years and have since gone to AG a few years ago but have never been able to hold my mash-tun AT temp. In the pas I have just accounted for the 2-3 degrees that I lose so if I need to hold 153 I'll mash at 156. I am using a cooler as my mash-tun and thought of using a fermentation band(for a bucket) or even plugging in a heater blanket and just wrap it like a baby. That just gave me another idea, heating pad under the cooler should help too... I might try the heating pad and heated blanket this weekend and see how it does. I'll keep you posted on the outcome. BTW, I'm talking about when it gets cold outside(as I brew in my garage that isn't heated).
How do you keep your temp. close?
Thanks for any ideas!
Don't forget, as I have stated before, pour your strike water at 5 to 10 degrees warmer than your target temperature and then let it cool to your target before adding grains.
I just shoe-horned a Bayou Classic kettle into a round cooler.*
Last few batches I did I may have lost from .5F-1.0F in a 60 min mash.
* idea from member Ben the Brewman
EDIT: I really don't understand how these cooler manufacturers aren't considering this idea of going with a stainless liner. If I thought I could buy a 15 gallon cooler, round or rectangular, with a stainless liner, I'd buy right now.
What size cooler and pot did you use?
The cooler is the typical Home Depot 10 gallon. The pot was a Bayou Classic. It's just a generic kettle with no volume markings, etc. I drilled the hole for the spigot. I believe the pot model is the 1044.
If mash tun has not been preheated all of that cold surface will pull temps down several degrees. Learned from experience ( the hard way).
I appreciate forum discussions with lots of constructive ideas and support. I, too, have struggled with maintaining mash temps in my 5 Gal Gott MLT, but I am starting to realize/wonder that my anxiety to maintain mash temp over 60 min is born more from my competitive nature and tendency to conform to convention than based on what is really necessary.
FWIW, I too preheat my MLT to 110-120* with hot water while I bring my strike water to temp. This serves to give my HLT & MLT one more rinse and I use this time to prepare other steps or processes. I, too, keep grains inside close to 70* and wrap my MLT after dough in. Foil and Styrofoam seem like they would work well. I do agree that dough in should be done as quickly as possible. I also think overshooting strike water temp into MLT and allowing to cool to strike temp is a good idea as water will cool during transfer from HLT to MLT from hoses, air, and MLT absorbing some of the heat from the strike water.
My last brew day, I made a Nelson clone and pushed my MLT to it's limit with a fine mill and a thick mash. I intentionally overshot initial strike by 1*, but at 15 min intervals stirred and noticed rapid temp loss (1-1-1/2* every 15 min).
As Zymurgist suggested previously, and as demonstrated by the poster in the link below, conversion of today's modified grains actually takes place in the first 5-15 minutes of the mash assuming proper crush and water to grain ratio.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f244/mas...5/#post6750563
The real issue regarding maintaining mash temp, as I see it, is not about fully converting starches to sugars to hit predicted OG targets, but breaking down the correct sugar branches to hit target attenuation and FG while still obtaining the right body and flavor for a given recipe. So the question I'm struggling with, after the first 15 minutes at target temp, what is happening the remaining 45 min during mash, and how necessary is this to conversion, flavor, and body?
More and more, I am beginning to question the time my typical brew day takes and looking for ways to be both more efficient while reducing time for certain steps. I think the first 15 minutes of Mash temp is crucial, but the remaining time is just there to vex our never ceasing desire to tinker and fuss over 1* to 2*.
I also have struggled with reliability of thermometers. I have 5 different thermometers (2 digital, 2 glass, 1 bimetal) having calibrated the digital and bimetal. I have done tests where all 5 report different temp +/- 2-3* at various temp ranges. So here is another variable where despite my need to control, I am at the mercy of my equipment. Don't know if I can justify the $100 for the Thermopen, which is supposed to be the best. Don't know if $100 investment would even matter...
I just shoe-horned a Bayou Classic kettle into a round cooler.*
Last few batches I did I may have lost from .5F-1.0F in a 60 min mash.
* idea from member Ben the Brewman
EDIT: I really don't understand how these cooler manufacturers aren't considering this idea of going with a stainless liner. If I thought I could buy a 15 gallon cooler, round or rectangular, with a stainless liner, I'd buy right now.
1. i heat my strike water to around 175-180 then pour it in my mash tun and close the lid. I let it sit for a while to preheat.
2. Then i open the lid and stir the water around until it settles at a degree or two above what beersmith tells me my mash in temp is.
3. mash in and stir until I am at my mash temp
4. Then i put a piece of aluminum foil on the grain bed. Close the lid and cover with a blanket.
My cooler is a typical run of the mill cooler that I bought off craigslist for 15 bucks. The lid is hollow and not insulated, in fact it has a little door built in to the lid that you can use to reach in and grab a brew.
I don't even lose a degree over a 60 minute mash this way.
However, truth be told I generally gain only 2 degrees over the course of a 60 minute mash by doing absolutely nothing extra.
I hope you mean lose 2 degrees. If you are saying you gain 2 degrees you must have flunked your science class. It is impossible to gain temp without some source of energy. If you are gaining temp without energy you should call the government because you have just found a new source of energy. Maybe you can cure global warming.
You just are not stirring enough before you take your temp. Then when the temp stabilizes that is the true temp.
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