Mashing out in an igloo cooler?

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chefmatt34

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I mash and lauter in an igloo and was wondering if it is possible or necessary to mash out without being able to add heat directly. If so how? Thanks
 
Is this a combination Mash and lauter tun, MLT. Are you batch or fly sparging?


Yes it is possible. You have to add hotter water at the end. Some folks do not bother (especially in the case of batch sparging..
 
I batch sparge using a cooler MLT. I conduct a mashout by adding 4-6 quarts of ~200º water before draining the tun of first runnings. This raises the grain bed to 167º.
 
Yes it is possible.
No it is not necessary but may be helpful.
The technique is called infusion step. You simply add enough boiling or suitably hot water to bring your mash temp up to 168 or 170F.
If you do this then you can use 168F sparge water to keep your mash at the correct temp and insure best lautering. The warmer temps ensures that the sugars flow easily and are dissolved into the liquid quicker.
I usually mash out when using a smaller grain bill. This allows me to use a 1.25qt/lb mash ratio and get my pre-boil volume with 2 additional sparges in my 5gal cooler. With a larger grain there isn't any room for the mashout water.

Craig
 
Or you can pull some of your mash out of the MLT and conduct a fake decoction to get it to mash out temperature. This can be particularly useful if you would overflow your mash tun by adding any more water.
 
Jack said:
Or you can pull some of your mash out of the MLT and conduct a fake decoction to get it to mash out temperature. This can be particularly useful if you would overflow your mash tun by adding any more water.
That's a mash out decoction, nothing fake about it at all. :) I use one every batch. Pull a nice thin decoction of about 50% of your mash (but do include some grains, you need the thermal mass), boil it for 10-15 minutes and add it back in.
 
I always mash out with boiling water. If mashing in my 5g igloo where there's not much extra space, I usually drain just enough wort to fit the mash-out water in there.
 
In order for my mash out Beer Smith tells me to add my water to the cooler at 210 degrees. Is there a risk of increased tannin extraction? Infusion is the only option I have to reach mash out temps with my cooler.
 
In order for my mash out Beer Smith tells me to add my water to the cooler at 210 degrees. Is there a risk of increased tannin extraction? Infusion is the only option I have to reach mash out temps with my cooler.

No- you don't want the grain bed over 170, but adding hotter water is routine to get you to mash out temps.
 
Thanks for clarifying that for me. I was concerned that adding water that high would do some damage.
 
"you don't want the grain bed over 170"

To me this statement negates decoctions altogeter. We're looking to avoid a rise in pH, no?
 
kennyg said:
"you don't want the grain bed over 170"

To me this statement negates decoctions altogeter. We're looking to avoid a rise in pH, no?

Yes, tannins are very insoluble at pHs under about 6. Although the mash out, unless specifically for denaturing enzymes, is not all that necessary for batch sparging. Tests have shown sparging with cold water results in no material loss of efficiency.
 
You could use an electric immersion element.

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First off: Extract brewer here trying to venture into the world of AG. So if I go single infusion/batch sparge when I add my hotter water into to do my batch sparge is that in itself a sufficient way to perform the mashout.

Example: Looking at NB's Dead Ringer AG instructions it calls for 152F for 60mins with a ten minute 170F mashout. Could I do the 60mins, drain my first runnings, then add in my 170F water, wait ten minutes then drain out my second runnings?

(Extract brewing seems so straightforward now) :eek:
 
Since you will be batch sparging you could drain the tun, dump in some cold water, stir like mad to dissolve the remaining sugars into the water and immediately drain. You don't really need to mash out when batch sparging and while hot water will dissolve sugars more readily, the hot grains will heat up the sparge water some and you won't lose much efficiency.

Mash out is more appropriate when fly sparging where you would be keeping the grain bed at mash temperature for quite some time. You would want to stop the activity of the enzymes during that time. With batch sparging, you don't need to spend the time so you can add water, stir, drain, and be heating the wort to boil in less time than what it takes to denature the enzymes with the hot water.
 
While you COULD sparge with cold water, there's really no benefit to doing so. Just drain the first runnings and sparge with 185F water. The benefit to using hot sparge water is that you're that much closer to boiling temps after runoff.
 
If batch sparging with 185F water, don't I start releasing tannins and other undesirables from the grain? Seems like I'm making a mountain out this mole hill I just want to hit the ground running. :)
 
To release tannins you have to have a high pH plus the high temp. Normally your beer is acidic enough that that won't be a problem.
 
If batch sparging with 185F water, don't I start releasing tannins and other undesirables from the grain? Seems like I'm making a mountain out this mole hill I just want to hit the ground running. :)

If your mashing at a normal 148-154 ish range then 185ish sparge water gets your grain bed to about 168-170. Your colder grains pull it down quite a bit.
 
If batch sparging with 185F water, don't I start releasing tannins and other undesirables from the grain? Seems like I'm making a mountain out this mole hill I just want to hit the ground running. :)

If you're batch sparging, the 185F water hits the 150F grains and gets stirred in immediately. The temp sits at 185 for maybe 20 seconds. No problem at all.
 
Heck, I sparge with water that's almost boiling. I acidify it with lactic acid (because my LHBS didn't have phosphoric) at the rate of about 1/4 tsp per 5 gal before I heat it. Haven't gotten any tannic flavors, and think I have gotten an increase in efficiency.
 
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