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!!
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!!