Kettle mashing

I'm gearing up for my second AG and I'll be mashing in the kettle this time because my mash temp was way off last time mashing in the MLT. My question is, when mashing in the kettle, should I bring the water to temperature and then add the grains and adjust or should I combine grains and water and then bring the temperature up?

I'm concerned about scorching or caramelizing so I assue it is better to bring the water up first and then add the grains but I'm not 100%.

As always, your input is appreciated!

either way! As far as I understand, Juat do not go over 170 deg. and you will be ok! Up or down if you add at a high temp or add low and the temp goes high ...it' still the same.. I am not that good at changing the temp yet so Iass the grains at about 170 mabey a little higher and then pour all in to my MTL....$15 bucket! anf wait 60 min...then sparage to my kettle! But I am new so it it is what its worth!

hoplobster said:

I'm gearing up for my second AG and I'll be mashing in the kettle this time because my mash temp was way off last time mashing in the MLT. My question is, when mashing in the kettle, should I bring the water to temperature and then add the grains and adjust or should I combine grains and water and then bring the temperature up?

I'm concerned about scorching or caramelizing so I assue it is better to bring the water up first and then add the grains but I'm not 100%.

As always, your input is appreciated!

Click to expand...

If you undershoot your mash temp, just take a gallon of wort out, toss it in your kettle, boil it, and put it back in your MLT! Seems a lot easier that way.... and lower on the propane bill, and far less prone to error.

There aren't a lot of fun hobbies out there for someone who tries something once, fails, and then moves on to something else... Sorry to be an EAC about it...

hoplobster said:

I'm gearing up for my second AG and I'll be mashing in the kettle this time because my mash temp was way off last time mashing in the MLT. My question is, when mashing in the kettle, should I bring the water to temperature and then add the grains and adjust or should I combine grains and water and then bring the temperature up?

I'm concerned about scorching or caramelizing so I assue it is better to bring the water up first and then add the grains but I'm not 100%.

As always, your input is appreciated!

Click to expand...

Just so I understand your idea, you're going to use your boil kettle as a direct fired MLT, sparge out into another container, clean the kettle, then add the wort back in for the boil. Ok, sounds doable but a lot of work. One thing I haven't resolved about this though, is how you'll heat your sparge water. I'll assume you have another pot.

You'll want to get your mash water up to about 160, throw the grain in and mix, then check the temp. If it's below your mash temp target, apply a LITTLE heat. Most direct fired MLTs that I've seen actually use a pump to recirculate the water to help stop scorching and to keep the entire mass of mash at the same temp. You can acheive the same, I suppose, by mixing well anytime you have heat applied. I would only apply just enough heat to correct any heat loss from your target mash temp.

If you want to do a mash out, just apply the same low heat towards the end of the mash time and wait until it hits 168F then flame off.

Did you actually calculate the strike water temp? Or did you just heat it up to an arbitrary temp (like say 160) and add your grains?

The final temperature after adding grains will vary depending on ammount of grains, grain temp, ammount of strike water, if you pre-heated your tun, how thoroughly you stirred the mash (more getting everything even and preventing doughballs and hotspots)

I do have a few other large pots to heat sparge water and yes, last time I did calculate my sparge water temp beforehand, but that didn't seem to work too well.

I'm just trying to better my process and make things go that much easier. I'm up for a bit more work if the day goes smoothly and I am not struggling to make up for an error or two.

I gave up on calculating strike temperature. My garage can run from 45F to 105F. I pre-heat the tun with very hot water and adjust the temperature after adding the grain.

Until quite recently, I used to mash in a spare kettle on the stove top. I added the grains to hot water and stirred, then applied heat to bring the mash up yo the right temperature.
While heating with the grain added, I found it necessary to stir to prevent the grain burning. By adding the grain to hot water, it reduced the amount of stirring required.

-a.

I'd heat the water to 165 erso and add the grains. I think then you'll need some more heat.

But I think you'll figure out why everybody else uses coolers- get it right and go sanitize stuff while it mashs, vs watching,stirring, crank it up, turn it down. Repeat. But certainly doable. Don't use a mercury thermometer. The colored ones wont hurt anything if they break, the glass will settle out, and the alcohol boil off later, even if it is methyl alcohol.

My first couple batchs I mashed in one of those electric roasters. Not good temp control, +/- 15 degrees. But it worked. Next couple in a rectangular cooler were tough, until I learned to pour the 170 water into the cooler first, then add the malt, It warmed up the corners that way, got lots better consistency of temp.

Worst headache was the time I read the C side of the thermometer, off by 100, so what I thought was 155 (55 C) was only 130 F. My 170 sparge was only 157. Pretty poor efficiency that trip.

Keep us posted, even the worst screw up is an excellent bad example, and often good for a laugh.

I'm brewing first thing in the morning, getting my setup partially cleaned up tonight... I'll probably just mash in the cooler again but I'll be more careful to to keep temperatures consistent to my estimates and mashin in wiht 168 degree water, keeping my fingers crossed that my preheated tun will help stabilize the temp to 152 or so.

Thanks for all of the feedback, I'll keep you posted.