Another first ag attempt

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glorifiedbusdriver

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I was making a simple APA for my first attempt. I was mashing in my brew pot and for the first 10 minutes it seemed that the temperature was holding very well. After this, the temperature started to drop so I turned on the burner and started stirring. Well, I guess I had the burner on to strong and the temp started to rise to about 160 so I poured some cold water in there. Finally I kind of got it kind of stabilized but it took constant tweaking with the burner.

I did an iodine test after an hour and I thought it indicated that I should continue mashing, so I did. I did an iodine test every 15 minutes and it indicated the same thing. Finally after a torturous 2 hours of mashing (I know, I know) I finally just said screw it and starting sparging.

It actually turns out that my efficiency was 67% (ok for the first time I guess).

A few questions:

Should I be worrying about a iodine test or just start sparging after an hour?

How often should I be stirring the mash?

Will my beer have any problems since I mashed for 2 hours?



Thanks for any advice.
 
I have one thing to say. Relax. A 2 hour mash is torture, don't do it again. At about 155F you will have full conversion in about 20 minutes, it is fast. Do you have tincture of iodine? I have never done an iodine test, just 60 minute mashes and average 78% eff.
Id stir the mash once every 10-15 minutes...
This is the deal, pots are tough to mash in if you want to keep a constant temp without hassle.... that is why I have a 10 gallon cooler system, I lose about 1-2 degrees during an hour mash.

AG rocks, you will learn so much so fast! This place is great for questions.

Pol
 
also I would mash in at about 2 to 3 degrees higher that you would think because the pot will take some heat saturation too and pull the heat from your mash. you will also want to insulate your mash tun with something. I never touch my mash for at least 15 to 20 min after I mash in unless its REALLY high then I will just stir and stir and stir.
good luck youll get it. just take really good notes of things like ambient temp, temp of your grist, strike H2O temp, and it will come
JJ
 
I can see now why you guys have the cooler for your mash/lauter tun. I am using a plastic bucket msh/lauter tun and have some small temp changes but have had conversion in about 45-50mins. so not too bad. i am doing this inside also. Wife
wants me outside and I agree It will be better that way. i'm going to build a stand and do the cooler thing. I have half of the stuff already to do this right.

Gregg
 
Gregg Meyer said:
I can see now why you guys have the cooler for your mash/lauter tun. I am using a plastic bucket msh/lauter tun and have some small temp changes but have had conversion in about 45-50mins. so not too bad. i am doing this inside also. Wife
wants me outside and I agree It will be better that way. i'm going to build a stand and do the cooler thing. I have half of the stuff already to do this right.

Gregg

The cooler takes a lot of worry about losing temps away. I do a iodine test for giggles anyway after 60 minutes of mash time. I have never had one not look right so it isn't really nessesary, but what the heck.
 
Thanks guys for all of your replies. I have read in books to do an iodine test but I need to learn what to take out of the books I read and leave some comments alone.

There have been suggestions that I use a space blanket, I am assuming they meant on the outside. I think it would work alot better lining the inside of the kettle, obviously not using heat this way. Does anyone think there would be any problems with the material making my beer taste funny? Thanks.

glorifiedbusdriver
 
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