steelerguy
Well-Known Member
This has been a very frustrating day. My first all grain batch did not go as planned...but then again I was kind of planning on that. My mash temp was a few degrees low and the crush I got from the store I got my grain at was really bad...barely crushed. So my OG suffered a bit, but I simply added a little DME to get it where I wanted.
So I did more planning, more reading, and had directions all written out for my brew day today. Was doing a simply APA and and doing a thick mash of 1 quart per pound as per Designing Great Beers. I preheated my MLT and then put all the water in there and waited until it cooled down to 170. Stirred in the 13 pounds of grain but instead of the temperature dropping to 154 like I was expecting, it only went down to 160. Added 2 quarts of room temp water, waited 3 minutes, only dropped 2 degrees...was expecting more. Added another 2 quarts (taking my mash to 1.33 to 1) of the same room temp water, waited 3 minutes and then my temp was 144. At this point, I just gave up and tossed it.
Has anyone had a thermometer stick or be inconsistent? I am using one of those generic you get with a kit thermometers. I really don't understand how my temperature could have only dropped from 170 to 160 after adding the grain (at 70 degrees). Just does not make sense and from there on out my temps were all over the place and I could not nail it down until I had too much water and just gave up. Any thermometer recommendations? Preferably one where I can read what the temp is while the probe is submerged.
So I did more planning, more reading, and had directions all written out for my brew day today. Was doing a simply APA and and doing a thick mash of 1 quart per pound as per Designing Great Beers. I preheated my MLT and then put all the water in there and waited until it cooled down to 170. Stirred in the 13 pounds of grain but instead of the temperature dropping to 154 like I was expecting, it only went down to 160. Added 2 quarts of room temp water, waited 3 minutes, only dropped 2 degrees...was expecting more. Added another 2 quarts (taking my mash to 1.33 to 1) of the same room temp water, waited 3 minutes and then my temp was 144. At this point, I just gave up and tossed it.
Has anyone had a thermometer stick or be inconsistent? I am using one of those generic you get with a kit thermometers. I really don't understand how my temperature could have only dropped from 170 to 160 after adding the grain (at 70 degrees). Just does not make sense and from there on out my temps were all over the place and I could not nail it down until I had too much water and just gave up. Any thermometer recommendations? Preferably one where I can read what the temp is while the probe is submerged.