Technique Questions for Partial Brewing

So I made a good attempt on my last batch at trying to do a mini mash. Ater I was fisnished I realized that all of my reading thought me things about what a mash is, what sparging is, all of the little enzymes that are released and things like that. But I never really learned HOW to do a mash. So my questions are as follow.


1. Mash Temp. Where do I take the temp from? Is it from the center mass of the grains? Is it the water temp?

2. Mash Tuns. Do I need one? I brought my water up to temp in my brew pot, put all my grains into a nylon bag and steeped them that way. I do want to up grade my setup and I hope that will come soon.

I thought I had more questions, but I can't remember them now. The Temp. was one of the biggest that I had.

Thanks

1- Center of the grain bed.

2- If you are partial mashing, an MLT isn't necessary. In fact, Deathbrewer has detailed an easy countertop/stovetop method using a big ol' grain bag.

When I mash, I mix the grains well in the water, and take the temperature in a few places. Stir well, and it should be about the same temperature throughout. If it's higher in the middle, then stir again to equalize it. Just make sure when you use a grain bag that it's big enough for all the grains to be loose in there. You want to thoroughly mix the grains with the water, and have all of the grain wetted well. You can dunk the grain bag and stir it up to make sure. A cooler MLT is handy, but not an absolute necessity.

Sounds like you've got it under control. For a step-by-step reference give BYO's Countertop Partial Mashing article a read. It's a very nice overview of the technique, including the hows and whys.

Chad

DeathBrewer also gives an excellent partial mash demonstration here.

Cool thanks everyone, I really appreciate the help.

Thanks again