Mashing now...
I greatly under estimated how much the grains would cool the strike water. Consequently I had the add about 2 gal. of boiling water to get it up to mash temp. The yield after sparging is going to exceed my pot. The only thing I can think to do is start boiling the 1st runnings maybe reduce the amount of water for the sparge a bit.. I am sure this will effect my efficincy... oh well! I think I will need to drain the sparge water into the HLT to get it off the grains.
Heated 3.75 gal. to 160°
After adding 12# of grains the temp. was 147°
Added 1 (about) 1 gal. of boiling water the temp. raised to 150°
Added another (about) gal. of water and it got it up to 158°.
I knew there would be challenges doing my 1st AG beer. The boil is going to be fun!
In retrospect obviously the initial strike water should have been hotter.
What temp. do you guys strike with?
More importantly what temp. should the water for the sparge be?
Cheers!!!
Chris
I greatly under estimated how much the grains would cool the strike water. Consequently I had the add about 2 gal. of boiling water to get it up to mash temp. The yield after sparging is going to exceed my pot. The only thing I can think to do is start boiling the 1st runnings maybe reduce the amount of water for the sparge a bit.. I am sure this will effect my efficincy... oh well! I think I will need to drain the sparge water into the HLT to get it off the grains.
Heated 3.75 gal. to 160°
After adding 12# of grains the temp. was 147°
Added 1 (about) 1 gal. of boiling water the temp. raised to 150°
Added another (about) gal. of water and it got it up to 158°.
I knew there would be challenges doing my 1st AG beer. The boil is going to be fun!
In retrospect obviously the initial strike water should have been hotter.
What temp. do you guys strike with?
More importantly what temp. should the water for the sparge be?
Cheers!!!
Chris