Losing a ton of heat during mash in

[iaefebs]

That's a lot of heat loss. But again it's 2.5 gallon in a 60° 10 gallon cooler. I don't know if I would want to put more than 185° strike water in a cooler for fear of warping. Maybe that's why some people pour a gallon of hot water in first and dump. Since you are going to do some tests how about trying 1/2 your strike water @185° wait 5 minutes and add the other half.

 

[Mojzis]

Yeah I know 2.5 is very little, but I do mostly 5g batches. I could always bump my mash back up to 1.3 qt/lb. I've been up to 200 without any warping. I'd rather not have that happen though! I did run another test after the first. My thermo read 120 in the MT, struck at 185 and only lost 13 degrees initially. I'll try using half and half next.

 

[Mojzis]

Brewed over the weekend. Didn't have time to run anymore tests. I estimated I'd lose 27F during the mash in. I lost around 32 15 minutes into the mash. MT was 65F and my strike water was 182. I had the pot of boiling water going and bumped it up to 155 like I wanted. I'm thinking the amount of water for a 5g batch is too small. I'd like to add a piece of exterior, reflective coated insulating styrofoam on the top of the mash or screwed to the inside of the lid. Hopefully that will trap some extra heat in.