Judging Mash Temp in a Large Tun

[Jekster]

Hey everyone,

I'm using my friends 10 gallon cooler mash tun to do a Belgian Dark Strong today. I am used to using my little 5 gallon setup and noticed right off the bat that I get a much more consistent temperature in my 5 gallon tun. When I doughed in today I overshoot my temp and added some cool water to bring it down. However, depending on where I put my temperature probe I could be anywhere from 157 down to 140 despite stirring the crap outta everything. I also noticed that when I bought up grain from the bottom and didn't just test the water on top it was around 147. So, my question is, how do you know what actual temp that your mashing at in such a large vessel?

 

[Jekster]

I may answer my own question. It seems like in the larger vessel there is much more disparity between the top and bottom temps. At first I was going off the temp at the top which made me think I was way over my temp. I then added a ton of cold water to try and compensate in my moment of fear. Now, pulling up grain from the bottom I get a pretty consistent 147 which means I'm way low on my temp and will have a much dryer Belgian Dark strong than I wanted. =(

 

[IrregularPulse]

Get a longer temp probe that will get down into the grain bed after stirring everything. Some people say to stir for like 5 minutes or more to get it all even! I just stir till it looks good and mixed. But I've also only done 2 AGs so take with with a GoS

 

[Beerthoven]

I noticed the same thing in my 7 gallon round cooler MLT. I found that thoroughly pre-heating the whole cooler helped produce a more consistent temp.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Hey everyone,

I'm using my friends 10 gallon cooler mash tun to do a Belgian Dark Strong today. I am used to using my little 5 gallon setup and noticed right off the bat that I get a much more consistent temperature in my 5 gallon tun. When I doughed in today I overshoot my temp and added some cool water to bring it down. However, depending on where I put my temperature probe I could be anywhere from 157 down to 140 despite stirring the crap outta everything. I also noticed that when I bought up grain from the bottom and didn't just test the water on top it was around 147. So, my question is, how do you know what actual temp that your mashing at in such a large vessel?

I had the same experience in my cooler tun. Now I stir for 3 minutes after doughing in, shut the lid for 5 minutes for the temp to stabilize and then take the temp. It's usually a degree or two one way or the other from target. I learned the hard way too to be patient, one batch I didn't wait and I did the same thing you did only to have to heat it back up with my heatstick later.

- Eric

 

[blacklab]

Preheat, I just do it with hot tap water, and stir like a mother. I stir until I get consistent readings from several spots in the MLT.