So bout Stabilizing the mash Tun Water Temp BEFORE adding Grain Technique

So you add your water to the mash Tun PRIOR to adding the Grain. All of it. You stabilize the temp, maybe 2 degrees over your desired Strike temp. The you add your grain. Sound about right?

RLinNH said:

So you add your water to the mash Tun PRIOR to adding the Grain. All of it. You stabilize the temp, maybe 2 degrees over your desired Strike temp. The you add your grain. Sound about right?

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2 degrees? umm I generally set strike temp 14-17 above desired mash temp (depends on weather outside and how cold the grain will be) 10-20 is more like it for AG, 2 may work for a small partial.

it also depends on what your tun is made of metal keggle or plastic cooler. for my 5g cooler i go bout 5-10 over then let it settle before adding grain

In my 48qt maxcool, during the winter when my garage is like 45F, I throw the water in at 185F and close the lid. In about 5 minutes, the cooler pulls the heat down to 170F, then I dough in. This usually gets me to about 153F. If you want to go with a 150 mash temp, you'd want to stir until the water hit 168 or so before doughing in. This is something you'll get with practice. Go with a slightly stiffer mash in case you need to add 2 quarts of boiling or cold water to compensate.

and to throw one more monkey wrench in it for you- I preheat my MLT. Then I add the strike water (just about 2-4 degrees hotter than my desired strike temp). I use a 10 gallon igloo round cooler, and usually 10-12 pounds of grains. I brew indoors, and my grain temperature is around 60 degrees when I start.

I guess we're all saying that it really depends on YOUR system and your equipment.

I have a 48 qt Rectangular Coleman Cooler. So If I figure the water temp to stablilize at 12 degrees above the intial strike temp, I should be good. Eh?

I did my first AG batch today using a 7.5 gal round cooler MLT. I had googled "strike water temperature calculator" and used what I found to nail my mash temp. In this case, I preheated the MLT, used 10.5 lbs of grain at 75 degrees, and the strike water temp (@ 3.5 gal) was 164 for a mash temp of 152.

I add my water to my grain and let ProMash tell me what to bring my strike water up to. That works pretty well once you get that mash tun thermal mass number dialed in.


TL

That's exactly what I do. I calculate my strike water temp based on ideal conditions and increase it about 2 degrees for extra heat loss due a number of factors and dough in. Good luck.

You need to test your equipment out, make notes, so that next time it comes out right.

even using the same cooler as someone else...only gets you a ballpark.
if you preheat with 135F water, and they only use 120F water, you'll exceed the dough-in temp.

if that's the same, but his grain bill is 8 lbs and its at 80F...but yours is 14lbs and only 55F, you'll fall short of your dough-in temp.

You've got to learn how your system operates, including temp swings.

You also have to know what ratio of water to grain you're using and the temperature of the grain before you strike. In my rig, based on converted kegs, using a ratio of 1.25 quart of water per pound of grain and assuming a pre-strike grain temp of about 70 degrees, I generally heat my strike water (and the tun itself) to about 161 degrees to settle at 150.

malkore said:

You need to test your equipment out, make notes, so that next time it comes out right.
You've got to learn how your system operates, including temp swings.

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Exactly!!! And this goes for EVERYTHING about your system. Learn it, love it, trust it.

I record data every time I brew and draw graphs. It makes it easier to predict results.

You've got it. That simple. I like to strike a little high, as my brewery can be rather cold much of the year and it is much easier to cool the mash a few degrees than warm it.

I use a 48 qt Coleman cooler also. I started out preheating the cooler with hot water from the sink. I quit doing that. I later put the water in first, and then added grains... too messy. Now I put the cold grains in a cold cooler, heat water to 164, add and stir and I hit 151/152 after 15 minutes, and that will hold for the rest of the 1 hour mash time.

mrk305 said:

I use a 48 qt Coleman cooler also. I started out preheating the cooler with hot water from the sink. I quit doing that. I later put the water in first, and then added grains... too messy. Now I put the cold grains in a cold cooler, heat water to 164, add and stir and I hit 151/152 after 15 minutes, and that will hold for the rest of the 1 hour mash time.

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And I used to heat the water to 178F to get a mash temp of 154F

It depends on the cooler temp, the grain temp, the thermal mass of the cooler, and the mash thickness.

-a.