Any tricks to keep mash at 154?

We use a 15.5 keggle with a false bottom as our mash tun. We preheat the mash water to about 170 and then add the grains. We then take the keggle off the burner, put it on my concrete patio and then wrap it with a quilt and secure it with bungees around both the top and bottom. We have even gone as far as to put a couch cushion on top so less heat will escape out of the top. We have such a hard time keeping the mash temp at the typical 154 degrees. Please, any tips to help us dial in at 154 for the hour would be great! Thanks!

If the concrete is cold you probably are losing heat through the bottom. Set the keggle on something to get it off the concrete.

Yah I've thought of that also. However, I thought that putting the 170 degree kettle on the concrete it would warm up the concrete fairly quickly because I thought the ground would be a fairly decent insulator. Next time though, I plan on sandwiching a piece of rigid foam insulation board in between two pieces of OSB and setting the kettle on that.

Thanks for the reply!

Also, wondering other than a quilt, what would be a better insulation blanket? Do water heater insulators fit kegs?

I would insulate the bottom as mentioned. You would never be able to "heat" a solid slab of concrete with a keggle. The heat would continue to dissipate.

think about it like this, if you stand barefoot on a cool concrete slab, does your body heat warm the concrete or does the concrete make your feet cold?
there's all sorts of types of insulation people use for their MLTs. search around in the DIY section of these forums to find what type would work for you.

Do like i did- flip your keggle upside down and load up the bottom with expandong foam. Let it harden and shave it off flush with the bottom lip with a hand saw and glue a round piece of concrete board. (Wonder board or durock) works great for insulating the bottom side!

Why not just monitor and direct fire when necessary...I've seen many 3-tier systems where firing the Mash Tun is common practice.

get a stock pot lid and put a lid on it. Sounds like you are just putting cushions and blankets on top. Air is a pretty darn good heat buffer and if you can trap the air inside you shouldn't lose too much temp. blankets and cushions still allow too much air to escape

Also, look into reducing your mash times. generally 20 min is all the time necessary to convert your sugars. You might also think about using an old immersion chiller as a HERMS in you HLT... recirculating through that to keep temps right. You''l probably pick up 5 to 10 points of efficiency by recirculating as well.

helibrewer said:

Why not just monitor and direct fire when necessary...I've seen many 3-tier systems where firing the Mash Tun is common practice.

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I would like to do this. However, I would hate to monitor for the entire hour. Is there a auto controller I can hook up to the propane?

dmbnpj said:

I would like to do this. However, I would hate to monitor for the entire hour. Is there a auto controller I can hook up to the propane?

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An hour is probably longer than you need, and you really only need to check it a few times.

If you're into the automation thing, search the forum for automatic temperature control - there are a variety of solutions out there.

used, old wetsuits help insulate pretty well! I keep my old wetsuits to make coozies for my bombers and growlers as well What is the temp outside if you are losing heat that fast? I simply leave mine on the stove(flame off) and moniter the temp 2 maybe 3 times per mash.

dmbnpj said:

I would like to do this. However, I would hate to monitor for the entire hour. Is there a auto controller I can hook up to the propane?

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I had the same problem as you. Mashing was very frustrating and my beers were suffering consequently.

This has been a godsend:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/rims-dummies-114997/

cheers