Sweetwort-Hopkins
Well-Known Member
Good morning, HBT'ers.
I've been brewing for just over 1yr. Started with all-grain right off the bat. I use a 10gal Igloo as a mash-tun - initially fitted with a sink hose but recently upgraded to a false bottom ($44- at my LHBS, well worth it! I saw an increase from 69% to 79% efficiency).
I use Brewersfriend.com pretty much exclusively for calculations, including the strike water calculator. Here's where one of my processes had previously been sketchy; I would always pre-heat the Mash Tun by adding strike water a few degrees higher than the calculator suggested (I think I saw something about pre-heating the MLT on Youtube or something and it sounded like a great idea). In doing this, I would then wait for the strike water to drop to the suggested dough-in temp but 95% of the time my mash would end up being 4 or 5 degrees higher than my target rest temp. Zoinks!! Now, no matter how much stirring, my grain would effectively be converting at a higher than desirable temp for a solid 10-15mins. When the mash finally hit the desired temp, I would seal the tun and set a timer for about 45-50mins considering the amount of time the grains sat at a too-high temp.
My OG would always be a handful of points lower than what I was aiming for and I kinda just 'blamed' it on the Igloo MLT. The majority of my beers would finish drinkable and I was even highly impressed by a few batches - hate to mention that I dumped two batches along the way due to uncontrolled fermentation temps -- that was remedied quickly by building a fermentation chamber.
Now, here is what I'm really getting at: pre-heating the MLT does not jive with the strike water calculators!!!
The calculator assumes that you will add the strike water at the suggested temp and then dough-in immediately.
For my last few batches, I did just that. Woohoo! No more stirring like a mad man. No more crappy conversion. No more gravity woes.
I have been able to seal the tun and set my timer pretty much instantly after doughing-in the grains. I have had the temp land exactly at my target twice, and that's immediately after putting down the mash paddle. I only lose about one degree F during the rest. My OG has been spot-on three times in a row. All of these improvements I am damn sure result from NOT pre-heating the MLT.
Just figured I'd share since I've learned so much from HBT in the past year or so.
Happy Brewing!!![Mug :mug: :mug:](https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/smilies/sdrinking-100-154.gif)
I've been brewing for just over 1yr. Started with all-grain right off the bat. I use a 10gal Igloo as a mash-tun - initially fitted with a sink hose but recently upgraded to a false bottom ($44- at my LHBS, well worth it! I saw an increase from 69% to 79% efficiency).
I use Brewersfriend.com pretty much exclusively for calculations, including the strike water calculator. Here's where one of my processes had previously been sketchy; I would always pre-heat the Mash Tun by adding strike water a few degrees higher than the calculator suggested (I think I saw something about pre-heating the MLT on Youtube or something and it sounded like a great idea). In doing this, I would then wait for the strike water to drop to the suggested dough-in temp but 95% of the time my mash would end up being 4 or 5 degrees higher than my target rest temp. Zoinks!! Now, no matter how much stirring, my grain would effectively be converting at a higher than desirable temp for a solid 10-15mins. When the mash finally hit the desired temp, I would seal the tun and set a timer for about 45-50mins considering the amount of time the grains sat at a too-high temp.
My OG would always be a handful of points lower than what I was aiming for and I kinda just 'blamed' it on the Igloo MLT. The majority of my beers would finish drinkable and I was even highly impressed by a few batches - hate to mention that I dumped two batches along the way due to uncontrolled fermentation temps -- that was remedied quickly by building a fermentation chamber.
Now, here is what I'm really getting at: pre-heating the MLT does not jive with the strike water calculators!!!
The calculator assumes that you will add the strike water at the suggested temp and then dough-in immediately.
For my last few batches, I did just that. Woohoo! No more stirring like a mad man. No more crappy conversion. No more gravity woes.
I have been able to seal the tun and set my timer pretty much instantly after doughing-in the grains. I have had the temp land exactly at my target twice, and that's immediately after putting down the mash paddle. I only lose about one degree F during the rest. My OG has been spot-on three times in a row. All of these improvements I am damn sure result from NOT pre-heating the MLT.
Just figured I'd share since I've learned so much from HBT in the past year or so.
Happy Brewing!!
![Mug :mug: :mug:](https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/smilies/sdrinking-100-154.gif)