Just calibrated my thermometer, after already doing multiple all grain batches, and realized that I've been mashing 10f higher than the actual temp. So instead of mashing at 150-153f, ive been mashing at 140-143f! Could this be the reason for my poor efficiency? I figured it was off because the fg has been far lower than expected, so that answers that question, but how would the low temps affect my efficiency?
Mash temp has been 10f off!!!
- Thread starter trevorc13
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xrisnothing
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http://howtobrew.com/section3/chapter14-1.html
Your efficiency will suffer being that far off. Also, the sugars in your wort are more fermentable, which means your beers will taste thin and dry.
Your efficiency will suffer being that far off. Also, the sugars in your wort are more fermentable, which means your beers will taste thin and dry.
BrewThruYou
Well-Known Member
Ruh roh. Yes, your efficiency will definitely suffer.
OP
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trevorc13
Well-Known Member
LOL! Explains a lot! I actually calibrated by thermometer by the freezing temps of ice water, which indicated being 10F off (43F). After calibrating to 32F, I then double checked this with boiling water. It was low by about 4 degrees (208F). I recalibrated and rechecked the thermometer with ice water. Now it reads 37-38F. Which should I trust? I would assume the boiling temp because it is visibly boiling and the ice water is near freezing, but not frozen. Although I have read that the ice bath is more accurate than boiling temps...
ElevenBrewCo
Well-Known Member
How would you go about calibrating your temp gauge. I use just a 3 inch analog prob. Im wondering if this may be the cause of my thin tasting beer....what if you mash to high say 164? Im sure it has to be better than worse
Same thing happened to me a while back. I had a half dozen thermometers and only one was anywhere close at mash temps. Calibrating at freezing and boiling is useless if the thermometer is not linear. I got a Thermapen and haven't worried about it since.
ElevenBrewCo
Well-Known Member
Edit....just read the chart.
xrisnothing
Member
You really want a thermometer with two adjustments.
Mash temperature is closer to boiling than it is to freezing, so I would calibrate it with boiling water.
Mash temperature is closer to boiling than it is to freezing, so I would calibrate it with boiling water.
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trevorc13
Well-Known Member
Thanks. That's what I thought. If I can't get out to buy a digital one, I'll use that calibration.
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trevorc13
Well-Known Member
I just found another thermometer and did the same calibration tests with that. It read the same, boiling at 212F and the ice water at 37F. Looks like the ice water test is a crock and the boiling water is the best gauge for calibrating a thermometer.
unless you've been having cloudy beers due to incomplete conversion, then unfortunately this isn't the reason.
dcp27 said:
It could be, his sparge water would be 10 degrees low as well. If his sparge water only raise mash temps to 158, there still could be quite a bit of fermentables left in the mash after sparging.
Raising the mash temp to a true 168 during sparge should help your efficiency.
sparge temp is irrelevant to efficiency, the difference of extraction between cold water and 168F is pretty insignificant. I've used cold water without an issue and Kaiser has some data somewhere at his site on this as well. either way, if the sparge was ~10mins @158 then it should have been enough to finish conversion. again, if the beer isn't cloudy, i doubt conversion is the issue
dcp27 said:
I'm not talking conversion, I'm talking extraction. In addition to denaturing enzymes, sparging at proper temps aids in extraction of fermentables of the mash, due to an increase in viscosity.
Conversion may be complete, but if you can't extract it from the mash, your gravity will suffer.
I perused kai's site a the only temp experiment I found involved how mash temp affected attenuation, nothing about how sparge temp affects extraction.
trevorc13 said:
Digital in itself does not equal accuracy. I found three of my four digital thermometers to be close to 10 degrees off at mash temps. They all read perfect at boiling and freezing.
lschiavo said:
+1
I just bought a new analog thermometer and calibrated it at mash temps using lab grade equipment at work.
It's currently reading 82 degrees at ambient, whereas the ambient temp is actually 73. It's now accurate at mash temps, and that's all I need it for, so the inaccuracy at ambient doesn't bother me one bit.
if you think a 10f difference in sparge temp is gunna ruin your efficiency you're fooling yourself. search HBT for cold sparge or read this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/cold-water-sparge-110856/
I am RDWHAHB'n, was just correcting your misinformation. Most people don't realize at these temperatures that the viscosity difference is nil.
trevor: theres many reasons your efficiency could be suffering besides mash temp. i'd take a look thru this for a good run down of most of the major causes and see if anything else might stand out to you: http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Understanding_Efficiency
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