Dougan
Well-Known Member
So I made a lauter tun using the standard picnic cooler conversion method, and figured I'd do a partial before I jumped right in and bought the bigger pot and all that stuff.
Anyway, my efficiency was terrible which did not surprise me. I had extra DME lying around that I used to make up for the lack of success in the mash.
So I have a few things to throw out there and see if you guys can help me out...
1) I got a 10 gallon cooler because I intend to do a lot with it. I used ProMash to figure out my strike temp, and according to my crappy thermometer my mash temp was significantly lower than I wanted it to be. Could the huge size of the cooler vs. the 2 or 3 gallons of strike water throw off my expectations and cool down the water more than expected? Is there any good way to compensate for this?
2) When I realized that my mash was in the 140's, I drained a quart of mash water at a time, heated it to nearly boiling, and returned it to the mash (and stirred a lot) so I would not alter the amount of water in my mash. Is this the best technique for such a situation?
3) What kind of thermometer would you recommend for the picnic cooler setup? I used a crappy $5 meat thermometer. I didn't expected this to be adequate in the long term, and got about the accuracy I was expecting. It definitely did not get me a consistent reading... what sort of thermometer would you guys recommend for using with my mash?
I tasted the wort that got out of it and it was sweet, so I think I had limited success with the mash. I'm not demoralized and am trying to figure out what supplies I'm going to get for the all-grain step. I just want to make sure I'm prepared when I get there!
Thanks in advance!
Anyway, my efficiency was terrible which did not surprise me. I had extra DME lying around that I used to make up for the lack of success in the mash.
So I have a few things to throw out there and see if you guys can help me out...
1) I got a 10 gallon cooler because I intend to do a lot with it. I used ProMash to figure out my strike temp, and according to my crappy thermometer my mash temp was significantly lower than I wanted it to be. Could the huge size of the cooler vs. the 2 or 3 gallons of strike water throw off my expectations and cool down the water more than expected? Is there any good way to compensate for this?
2) When I realized that my mash was in the 140's, I drained a quart of mash water at a time, heated it to nearly boiling, and returned it to the mash (and stirred a lot) so I would not alter the amount of water in my mash. Is this the best technique for such a situation?
3) What kind of thermometer would you recommend for the picnic cooler setup? I used a crappy $5 meat thermometer. I didn't expected this to be adequate in the long term, and got about the accuracy I was expecting. It definitely did not get me a consistent reading... what sort of thermometer would you guys recommend for using with my mash?
I tasted the wort that got out of it and it was sweet, so I think I had limited success with the mash. I'm not demoralized and am trying to figure out what supplies I'm going to get for the all-grain step. I just want to make sure I'm prepared when I get there!
Thanks in advance!