Recent content by ewsaemann

It could be stratification within the grain bed, but another variable could be the thermo's aren't reading the same. I may put them both in a small glass of water to eliminate that variable. Though I was an engineer, I don't do the calcs. Last batch I heated MT water to mash temp and threw in...

yeah, that's what I have. temp probe is a little below mid point of MT. I also have a floating thermometer in the MT. They are about 6 degrees apart, so I figure midpoint.

Oh actually, it may be the manifold you are talking about that I have.

high temp (thick) hose is 3 ft from HLT to MT. It's the minimum it can be for my setup. It enters MT at the top (cover is on MT), hose inside MT sitting on top of the liquid on top of grain bed. I have a distributor that can sit on top of the bed which I could use, but there is at least an inch...

Do it myself. I use the grain mill from SS Brewtech. I'd have to check on the setting. I think its pretty coarse.

I tried it both wide open and slowed down. Wide open is when the pump ran into problems, cavitating. Slowed down is when the mash wasn't heating up.

Ah, so I'll turn down the knob on the pump and will put on a smaller restricter and hoses to avoid air bubbles; cut it down to 2 gal/min. Sound like a possibility? Saved me from hunting for or making an auto stirrer. Thanks.

Tracer, I hadn't really thought of that, as I thought just a slow flow rate would mean the hotter water in HERMS tank isn't flowing fast enough to raise the temp - though more time in coil should raise temp more. Yes to raising temp on HERMS. I just know that when I opened the valve all the way...

Thanks for the responses. Yes, I reduced the flow with a valve at the far end, where it comes back into the mash tun, and the mash temp won't rise to the temp in HERMS kettle. Temp drop is not a problem, because the tun is insulated. I do use a couple handfuls of rice hulls in my mash. Been...

I use a HERMS. My grain bed compacts enough that the flow cannot keep up with my pump - cavitation. So I stirred the mash, which solved the problem. For about 5 minutes. When I throttle back the flow, so as to minimize pulling the bed down and compacting it, the temp doesn't rise, so I need to...

Hey, guys. I'm also curious about the high mash temp. Has anybody tried this yet. The response I got was FG will be relatively high, 1.012; this is high? He also said the mash temp doesn't affect FG. Is there any truth to that? Rather, yeast pitch rate determines FG. How to Brew has a chart of...