mashing in brewpot question

Okay, so I ordered a Barley Crusher Mill and the Dry Stout kit for my next AG adventure.

After having issues maintaining heat in my cooler, I decided to try mashing/lautering in the brewpot.

So, I used MashWater to calculate the water amounts and temperatures. For mashing, it says to use 2.7 gallons of 172F water to get to 153F using 1.25 qt/lb.

A few questions:
1. Do I need to add 1.8 gallons of boiling water for the mashout or can I just turn the heat up to get to 168F? This would leave me with about 3.2 gallons of water for batch sparging.

2. If I decide to just add heat, do I do a single batch sparge with the total remaining sparge water amount (5.0 gallons)? Or do I break it up into two separate spargings?

TIA.

1) you can use the burner on low, if you keep stirring so the heat is continually distributed.

2) either way. split batches will probably yield slightly higher efficiency.

I would use the burner and do a double batch sparge. However, with the burner, do not use the highest setting, and dont bring it up to 168. If you bring it up to 168 your temp will continue to climb into the 170's. I would bring it up to around 162 and turn off the heat and continue to stir. Give it a few minutes and see where you are at.

I mash in my kettle all the time...almost exclusively. Unless I'm doing a decoction mash, the only infusion I have is the initial one. After that, all steps are via direct heat. Low to medium heat, constantly stirring (if you don't stir, you can get pockets of heat that will denature your enzymes...you may even get burning on the bottom). And like cubbies said, stop short of your target.

I would also split the sparge into two.

Thanks everyone. Add direct heat and double sparge. Got it!

I just bought an outdoor burner from HD tonight. Hopefully I'll be ready to rock on Saturday! :rockin:

Just curious, are you going to use two burners, or just use the MLT on the burner, mash, sparge into some other container and then pour it back into the kettle and put it back on the burner?

cpbergie said:

Just curious, are you going to use two burners, or just use the MLT on the burner, mash, sparge into some other container and then pour it back into the kettle and put it back on the burner?

Click to expand...

No, I only have one burner. So, I plan I using my 10 gallon pot as a mash/lauter tun. I'll runoff into my cooler (ex-MLT). After full sparging, I'll transfer the runoff from the cooler back into the 10 gallon pot. I also have a 5 gallon pot for heating the sparge water. Of course, this all requires a lot of lifting of heavy pots/coolers. I guess this is why people use multiple burners and pumps.

I might plan on getting another large pot (8-10 gallon) to collect the runnoff to avoid usng the cooler.

taking a step back...were you pre-heating your MLT first? pre-heat w/ hot tap water, lid on, then dump it and add the grains, strike water, stir, an put the lid back on?

i pre-heat both my 5 and 10 gal MLT (rubbermaid victory brand coolers) with about 120F tap water for 10 mins prior to dough in. room temp grains. I always hit my mash temp (thanks promash!) and only lose 3 degrees in one hour.

just tossing out ideas & options.

malkore said:

taking a step back...were you pre-heating your MLT first? pre-heat w/ hot tap water, lid on, then dump it and add the grains, strike water, stir, an put the lid back on?

i pre-heat both my 5 and 10 gal MLT (rubbermaid victory brand coolers) with about 120F tap water for 10 mins prior to dough in. room temp grains. I always hit my mash temp (thanks promash!) and only lose 3 degrees in one hour.

just tossing out ideas & options.

Click to expand...

I didn't preheat but increased the strike water to compensate. After about 5 minutes, the water was at the right temp to add the grains. But, after 30 minutes I was down 6F!

depending upon the size of your batch and what you use for a latuer tun I would suggest mashing in the 5gal pot. Preheat your oven to it's lowest setting, turn it off and place the pot in the oven for the duration of the mash. The preheated oven should help maintain the temp of the mash. I usually see only a 1deg drop over an hour using this method. You can then heat your sparge water in either your brewpot or various other pots you have lying around the kitchen.

Of course, the pain in the arse part of it is then transferring the mash to a the lauter tun (currently a 6gal plastic bucket with a phils phalse bottom).