Mashing in the Oven?

So this weekend I'm going to give DB's stove top AG technique a try. I'll be boiling with my turkey fryer but that's about the only difference. I hear that some people warm up the oven and put their pot in there while letting it mash.

Just wondering if someone could share some details on what they've done with this oven technique? My oven gets down to 170 and that may be close to mash-in temps but don't know if it will need to be kept there to maintain temps in the pot. I'm guessing it's a little high but just a guess.

Any advice from others that have done this would be welcome.

I have never mashed using the oven, but I have read it works well. Rather than insulating the mash pot, or applying direct heat to maintain temperature, you basicly just put the pot in a warm oven to aid the heat retention of the mash,

I would just preheat your oven to 170, insert the mash pot and turn off the oven. There will be enough heat present to maintain a steady temp for an hour or so.

I use the oven-mash technique for starters, as it's only around a pound of grain. You can regulate the temp by opening and closing the oven door too. My oven goes down to 175F, but i run a temp probe into the mash, cuz that's the important part. I throw a 5gal pot in the oven with the top rack removed, so there's plenty of room.

People would be really surprised at how easy this way of mashing is.

I did it once in my extract days. I think my problem was just lugging the kettle in and out of the oven. Remember that ovens don't maintain a steady temp so you should watch it with an electric temp probe if possible. Personally I think it's easier just to get your range dialed in and do it on there.

Until my last batch, this is how I did my partial mashes.

What I did was just get a regular oven thermometer that sits on the rack. Heat my water on the stove, mash in, make sure I'm right on my mash temp, then pop it in the oven and set it for the lowest setting. When the oven thermometer hits my mash temp, I shut the oven off. It'll creep a few degrees higher before it levels off, but that seems fine.

Then, I check it every 15 minutes or so and if the temp drops to about 10-15 degrees below my mash temp, I turn the heat on until the thermometer starts to creep up again.

If you hit your mash temp before putting the pot in the oven, then you don't really need to be precise on the oven temp. Just be in the ballpark so your pot doesn't loose heat as fast.

ChshreCat said:

If you hit your mash temp before putting the pot in the oven, then you don't really need to be precise on the oven temp. Just be in the ballpark so your pot doesn't loose heat as fast.

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+1 on this. My oven goes down to 150, so get the temps right, throw the pot in, and the temp barely moves by the end of the hour.

It may move around a bit during that time -- I don't open to check -- but it's a lot less than my old methods of wrapping some blankets around it or trying to use bursts from the stovetop to reheat.

Here's my approach after reading some suggestions. Since convection ovens are designed to be variable temperatures anyways, I'm going to let it hit 170, turn it off and pop in my pot to mash. Maybe check 2-3 times for temps and stirring and see how that works.

I'll make adjustments on my future process as observations and measurements are made during the maiden attempt.

Thanks for the input.

I have used the oven mash technique for my last 10+ batches and am confident in my process.

Preheat oven to 175*, when temp is reached turn off the oven.

Open oven and place pot with mash at desired temp in, the door opening will knock the temp down ~15-20 degrees or so, IMO the thermal mass of 5-6 lbs of grain and over a gallon of water is sufficient that exact oven temp is not critical, achieving the mash temp prior to this is though. We do have a relatively new and high end oven that is very well insulated, thus is able to maintain the temps over the hour plus mash time. An older or low end oven may have problems here.

I used to use a remote probe thermometer, but after consistently boring and constant temps I have since stopped. The oven stays in the ~150* range, the mash typically stays exactly where I started, at most fluctuating 1-2 degrees. 1-2 degrees IMO exceeds the precision the majority of homebrewers can achieve anyway, so I call it noise.

That is how *I* do it, right or wrong, it works for me.