kettle partial mashing question

For those that do it, do you:

1) put in the grain bag, add water, get it up to your mashing temperature, and then turn off the heat and let it sit for mashing time, perhaps reapplying heat if the temp drops too soon

or

2) add grain and water, get up to mashing temperature, then turn down the heat so it doesn't get too hot

SRFeldman79 said:

For those that do it, do you:

1) put in the grain bag, add water, get it up to your mashing temperature, and then turn off the heat and let it sit for mashing time, perhaps reapplying heat if the temp drops too soon

or

2) add grain and water, get up to mashing temperature, then turn down the heat so it doesn't get too hot

Click to expand...

When doing a PM I heat the water up to about 12 deg higher than I want the mash temp. This will vary depending on your mash vessel and water volume but you should use 1 to 1 1/4 qt of water /lb of grain. When PM I use a 3 gal pot that I put in a cooler and cover it with towels to hold the temp. I then move it to the lauter tun to do the sparge. I do not like putting in a grain bag to do the PM because I want to make sure I mix the grain throughly with the water.

Before I started using a cooler for PMs, I would pre-heat water in a pot just like Warrior said. But instead of using towels to insulate the pot, I would just stick it in my oven at the lowest setting (held at around 150F). If your stove doesn't go this low, just pre-heat it to the lowest it will go (say 200 or 250), and then shut it OFF when you put the pot in.

a secondary question...

ive had trouble getting good temperature readings in the mash - i need a new thermometer for one. I've had to use a sanitized grilling fork that has a thermometer built in. 2-3lbs of grains with about 2.5 quarts of water is pretty low in my kettle...even still, the temperature lower in the mash, almost at the bottom often is 10-15 degrees higher than the top.