Oven Mashing

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AdamCanFly

AdamCanFly

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I want to move up to all grain soon. One thing I've been thinking about is mashing in the oven. I have a really nice oven that will hold the correct temperatures, and is calibrated. The inner dimensions are 22x17x13(ish), which is about the size of 21 gallons of water. I figure it will easily hold a 10 gallon container, but the problem is finding something that is made out of a suitable material, and is the proper dimensions. Anyone know of anything that would work?
 
I have never seen an oven that will go below 170F, how low does yours go? Why not just use a cooler?

You would need a SS or AL pot that you could install a lautering device into I suppose.
 
I'll go see how low I can get it to go...Ok, It has a "keep warm" option which will take it down to 145F, it also has a "drying" option which it let me set 100F. The "drying" option is under convect and is used to dry fruit (I wonder if I could make beef jerky) . I just got out the manual to see exactly what I can get it to do. Yeah it looks like 100F is the lowest.
Its a Jenn-Air JGS9900.
 
If you can set 150-160F and maintain the desired temp within 2F, then it would work for you.
 
I have heard of this on a small scale for making starters. Like with a 8-16 qt dutch oven with water and crushed grain in a painters bag. I have actually thought of doing this but haven't yet.

I am with POI on the brew idea though, it seems easier just to use a cooler. I know it can go that low for temp, but how accurate is it and how well can it maintain that temp?
 
When I used to do a partial mash, I would pre-heat the oven to its lowest setting. Do my strike on the counter top. Put the lid on the pot and put it in the oven. Then, turn the oven off. The mash would stay spot on exactly the same temp that it was at when I put it in the oven for the the entire mash period. So long as you hit your temp correctly to begin with, this will definitely work for you.
 
The way I see it is that if you do oven mashing, or a cooler MLT, you still need some sort of false bottom, manifold or braid to sparge. If you build a vessel like this, it would be just as easy to dump in hot water.

Now that I think about it, oven mashing would work well for the BIAB method if you could hold a consistent temperature in the right range.
 
Just find the largest pot that will fit in the oven. I've got the 30 qt SS pot that came with my turkey burner that fits in my new stove, but the stove can't hold below 170F. The old stove's minimum was 250F, so I built a cooler mash tun when I moved to Oregon.
 
Definitely do a little testing to see how accurate the temp is, and how consistent. My oven has a "keep warm" setting that goes from 140-170 in 5 degree increments, but when I tried it, it wasn't really workable. The mash temp was way off the oven setting, and constantly changing.
 
Ovens are typically not very accurate or precise... they dont have to be to bake a lasagna. Mashing is a completely different animal where 5F will make a HUGE difference.
 
Seems like a lot of people here like to poke holes in every idea I have. I wasn't asking if my oven can hold temperature or not. I was asking if anyone could think of a container that would work.
 
I did this last night. My oven was set to 170, but I kept monitoring the temperature of my mash and it held steady at 152. Got great efficiency.
 
How much clearance do you have from the bottom rack to the top of the oven? You can't just put a pot on the bottom of the oven and let it sit there. While it is a good idea, especially on a smaller scale, if you are going to have to buy the equipment anyway, it may end up being cheaper and easier to make a cooler MLT. Al and SS pots are expensive and require that you put in a spigot. Add into the fact that anything you are mashing in get pretty heavy when filled with 10+lbs of grain and 7gallons of water. It gets hard to move that in and out of the oven rather quickly.

I'm guessing that you have a pot for making extract brews? I would recommend using that to mash with in your oven (see the Brew in a Bag thread) with a few partial mash brews. If you decide to keep on with the oven idea, there are options for pots with the capacity and clearance:http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/15-gallon-megapot.html
 
I used to do partial mash beer in my oven. The oven will hold an even 155 perfectly. Howevever, when I upped the grain amount, the temp wouldn't hold steady. I had to turn the oven up, then it was too high, then turn the oven down, then it was too low, etc.. This was with about seven pounds of grain.

just something to think about...
 
IMO your oven will work fine for holding the mash stable. Again IMO the oven does not need to be a perfect 152 plus minus two degrees...that's bunk! You will need to get your strike correct and have the grist at the correct temp prior to putting it in the oven. The mass af the grain and strike water will be pretty stable IMO if your oven is merely reasonably close to that temp....say 5-10 degrees.

AdamCanFly said:
Seems like a lot of people here like to poke holes in every idea I have. I wasn't asking if my oven can hold temperature or not. I was asking if anyone could think of a container that would work.
Click to expand...

Any large pot will work for mashing...best if you can lauter and drain as well. All this being said, coolers work real well. If you feel inclinded to try the oven, go for it!
 
To echo the previous comment and give more info:

What people are missing here is that the oven thermometer is a single spot in the oven, the mash is a several quart pot of water with several pounds of grain - a giant thermal mass that will *not* swing temps very easily.

If you can hit your strike temp the oven is every bit as good to hold the mash at proper temps as an insulated cooler.

I have been using the oven method for a few years now. After 60+ minutes in the oven my mash rarely drops a degree.
 
Actually, what I was missing (if this is the case) is that the OP was talking about using the oven just to hold the mash, after achieving a good, accurate strike temp some other way. I thought he wanted to use the oven to achieve the strike temp, i.e. put it in there at room temp.

Use the oven to hold temp? Absolutely! An uninsulated pot in a chamber 5 degrees off where you want it to be can't be worse than a cooler in a house 90 degrees off.
 
AdamCanFly said:
Seems like a lot of people here like to poke holes in every idea I have. I wasn't asking if my oven can hold temperature or not. I was asking if anyone could think of a container that would work.
Click to expand...

Sure. Lots of metal pans and pots would work. You'd have to modify them and it might not be as cost effective as just building a MLT out of a cooler.

Don't think anyone was poking holes in your ideas, just letting you know the limitations of what you were trying to do and offer up more affordable and easier options.
 
McKBrew said:
Sure. Lots of metal pans and pots would work. You'd have to modify them and it might not be as cost effective as just building a MLT out of a cooler.
Click to expand...

1 large pot and there is no need to modify the pot at all.
 
It's just hard to find a large pot that is shallow enough to fit in the oven. Most stock pots are too tall. Would a "hot-dipped galvanized" tub work? I can find a lot of different size tubs, but I'm not sure about the material.

I brought up the whole thing just to throw the idea around. If I don't end up finding the perfect container for a reasonable price I'll probably just go with the round rubbermaid cooler. I just like to try different things. Thanks for all of the input.:mug:

Heres a picture of a 15.5 gallon tub I found online.
208060805.jpg

Think something like that would work?
 
AdamCanFly said:
Would a "hot-dipped galvanized" tub work? I can find a lot of different size tubs, but I'm not sure about the material.

Negative on the galvanized anything when applying heat to a food product. It might be okay to feed a horse grain out of, but ask any metal fabricator about the toxins released when you heat up or weld on galvanized metal.

You might look on Amazon.com or something for a restaurant grade stainless or aluminum pot that is the low-rider design your looking for. My bet is that it will be cost prohibitive though compared to the beverage cooler option. They really do hold the temp pretty good once you get it preheated
Click to expand...
 

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