30 minutes into mash-in and missed temp!!

[jbb3]

I'm 30 minutes into mash-in and decided to double check with another thermometer. The second thermometer is reading 10 deg higher than the first.

Target mash-in temp 154

first thermometer reading 154 (i'm thinking this is the bad one??)

second thermometer reading 164

If my mash-in temp is in the 160s, what effect will it have? Anything I can do to correct it other than add cold water to cool it down??

 

[jbb3]

And for mash-out/sparge should i still raise the temp to around 175??

BTW, I'm using the stove top/BIAB type method

 

[JonM]

You might just have hit a warm spot in the mash. (Or you could have hit a cool spot when you first checked, but if you were making your strike water calcs with beersmith or greenbayrackers or something similar, it's unlikely that your mash was off by 10 deg F) Was it stirred really well?

 

[freisste]

Unfortunately, I don't have good news. Mashing high will result in a les fermentable wort (best case) which will yield a high FG. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it depends on the beer. Worst case, you denatured enzymes which means you will not turn starches to sugars and your yeast will have nothing to eat. If you were at 164 after half an hour, I would be worried.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. How do you know the first thermometer is the bad one?

 

[JonM]

Got a means to do an iodine test? Otherwise, taste it. If it's sweet, you might be okay.

 

[jbb3]

Got a means to do an iodine test? Otherwise, taste it. If it's sweet, you might be okay.

No iodine but it does taste sweet

 

[freisste]

Mix cold water with some ice and give it about a minute to come to equilibrium. Then test both thermometers to see which is correct. (You can test both is boiling water later, but that usually takes a little longer.)

 

[Bamsdealer]

Yep... water and ice or boiling water will tell you which one is correct.

An hour in and all you can do is go with the punches and see how it turns out. You may want to leave the mash go for a couple hours. That might help the fermentability of the wort when you're done.

 

[govner1]

Unfortunately, I don't have good news. Mashing high will result in a les fermentable wort (best case) which will yield a high FG. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it depends on the beer. Worst case, you denatured enzymes which means you will not turn starches to sugars and your yeast will have nothing to eat. If you were at 164 after half an hour, I would be worried.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. How do you know the first thermometer is the bad one?

^^^^This, unfortunately! You've definitely denatured both the Beta & Alpha amylases so you'll get next to no fermentable sugars.
Probably better to start over. Hopefully you have a LHBS nearby.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[IslandLizard]

Not much you can do to change the mash now.
Find out which thermometer is correct or closest. Maybe the first one is fine and second one is way off.

If the batch was indeed mashed very high, you could mash some more and very low, then mix some of the 2 together. You'd reduce the amount of unfermentables proportionally to the mix.

 

[jbb3]

Oh well... I'm just going to forge ahead now... 60min mash-in, 10min mash-out, waiting to come up to boil temp now.

It does taste sweet and is sticky as hell. Hoping the second thermometer is the one that was wrong. Guess I'll find out when it starts boiling...

I was attempting to do an AG English Pale Ale, KingBrianI's Common Room ESB https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f64/common-room-esb-83878/

Guess I'll see what happens...

 

[jbb3]

At boil;

1st thermometer read 210

2nd thermometer read 220

Woo hoo!!! I think I might be good after all!?!? :rockin:

20 minutes to go with boil...

 

[Tarks]

Go buy yourself a Thermapen!

 

[jbb3]

Go buy yourself a Thermapen!

$80-$90 for a thermometer?? Maybe one day when I scale up to production...

For now, I need a wort chiller, a burner, larger brew pot, mash tun....................

 

[jperry]

or check out the CDN DTQ450X quick read thermometer for $15 on amazon.

 

[insanim8er]

$80-$90 for a thermometer?? Maybe one day when I scale up to production...

For now, I need a wort chiller, a burner, larger brew pot, mash tun....................

Ya, because dumping beer is way less expensive. Buying crappy thermometers to replace other crappy ones is also less expensive.

I went through a few crappy $10-20 thermometers. They were never accurate. I'd calibrate them and it was a PITA. I would've saved money getting the thermapen right away.

 

[jbb3]

Target OG for this recipe is 1.054

Out of the pot it measured 1.060. Added 1/2 gal top off water, re-measured after top off at 1.053.

Now it's all up to the yeasters...

 

[JonM]

Thermapen is pricey, and I'm not a gadget person, but it is probably the best brewing/cooking gadget I have ever used. I love it so much that for Christmas this year (and thanks to a big sale at Thermoworks) I got one for my parents, my in-laws, my brother and his family, and my sister-in-law and her family - they all love them too.

Watch for sales at Thermoworks. When they pop up, someone on HBT usually posts about it.

 

[Komodo]

Thermometer may be the #1 most important piece of gear you have. I've got a 12" probe Thermoworks and can't recommend it enough. I can probe way down into the mash tun, different areas in the wort when it's cooling, etc. I never feel like I'm wondering about temp pockets, and you learn stuff about your vessels and bow they heat or lose heat.

It's pretty hard to screw up a mash, it equalizes in temp and Ph. It may not be exactly what you aimed for, but I can't imagine dumping mash or beer. Too many people are quick to dump and I just can't understand that.