First All-Grain Brew questions

Okay so I am going to brew my first all grain batch. I was wondering what should I heat my strike water to so that it settle down to the 150-155 range that I want

Depends on your system... But I would say 164-167 will get you close

There are actually a lot of nice calculators out on the internet as well.

Just google "Mash and Sparge water calculator."

Depends on if your mash tun is inside or outside(cold). I go about 5-7 degrees hotter than what the software calls for, pour in the water at say 168 deg and put the lid on for ten minutes. The cold mash tun should absorb about 5 degrees or so. Once the tun absorbs all the heat it can you should be near 162 or so, then add grains and it will drop another 5-10 degrees to your mash temp. If its too high stir or add ice. Too low and you have a problem, unless you can heat your mash tun. Good luck, experience will tell you what works for your system.

i'd suggest getting a program like beersmith.. i've done all my all grain batches with its help.. you can put in your equipment and it'll autoadjust what is needed to hold mash temps for you

If you don't want to do the math yourself, there are a TON of speadsheets and brewing apps out there.

But for fun, here's a little trick I've heard quite a few times.

Use your desired mash temp, plus grain weight in pounds, plus 5.

Say 152F + 10 lbs + 5 = 167 should get you close. I believe that's for a room-temp mash tun.

You could play around with that, but I'd just find a calculator. It's very rewarding to see your mash temp fall right in line almost every time.