BIAB - Missed Mash Temp

[DayMoonBrewing]

Looking for some guidance. I'm currently attempting my first brew-in-a-bag batch (technically, a mash-in-a-bag) and I've hit an early snag.

Aiming for a mash of 154, BeerSmith told me to heat the "strike" water in the tun to 159. This seemed low to me, but I followed the instructions. After adding the grain, I hit a decidedly unimpressive mash temp of 130. What happened? How/Why was BeerSmith off? What do I do next time?

Some details -

Mash Tun - 10 gallon cooler
Grain - 10 lbs total
Grain Temp - 72 degrees (this was correctly inputted in BeerSmith)
"Strike Water" Temp - 160
Mash Temp (goal) - 154
Mash Temp (actual) - 130

Is it worth continuing with this beer?

~Desperately Seeking Mash Temp

 

[kh54s10]

You don't have something set correctly in your equipment profile. I would check that.

How long? Still mashing? If not full volume pour in a big pot of near boiling water and stir like crazy. Make up the difference with the sparge.

If not and you get a good OG, I would go with it and hope that you just have a very dry beer.

You may need to extend the mash time.

 

[wilserbrewer]

130 way too low
As said above add boiling water

Or remove a portion of the mash and heat it in your brew kettle.

Do this until you get the mash mid to low 150’s

Take your time, this will likely work out fine, but you MUST raise temp one way or another.

Or transfer mash to your kettle and heat.

Don’t give up, heat that mash gently without scouting

Stir constantly as well

So much for the perceived advantage of cooler vs kettle mashing lol good luck

 

[wilserbrewer]

Next time you need to overheat the strike water to around 170 such that after 5-10 minutes in the cooler it is at 159 strike temp. And preheated the cooler.

 

[mongoose33]

I think there's something wrong w/ a thermometer somewhere, or water volumes. Some--SOME--of the temp variance can be attributed to the temp of the grain (yours is fine), whether you preheated the mash tun or not, how much grain, how much water, the temp of the water. But your 130 is extreme, IME.

When I did BIAB in a 10-gallon kettle, I'd start with 7.25 gallons of water heated to about 162. Grain room temp, roughly 10-12 pounds (varied). That would produce a mash temp in the low 150s.

I also did some BIAB in a cooler, and it was pretty similar, i.e., 162-degree water, maybe 12 pounds of room temp grain.

When I did a separate mash and sparge, typically 4 gallons of strike water, 4 gallons sparge water; strike water would be heated to 170, BUT that was because there was less water and so the cooler and the grain cooled it down more, again to the low 150s.

****

So, 130 strikes me as very low, so low that either you're not using much water, or you have a thermometer issue, or your mash tun is ice cold.

Good luck--if I were you, I'd do some thermometer validation in ice water and in boiling water.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I’m guessing he heated strike water to 159 and added to a room temp cooler.

Lots of heat is lost in the transfer and preheating the cooler...

Best guess ???

 

[mongoose33]

I’m guessing he heated strike water to 159 and added to a room temp cooler.

Lots of heat is lost in the transfer and preheating the cooler...

Best guess ???

I suspect the same, but to drop nearly 30 degrees? That seems extreme....

 

[wilserbrewer]

I suspect the same, but to drop nearly 30 degrees? That seems extreme....

Depends on how he transferred from kettle to cooler...if he moves a bit at a time with a pitcher, then poured the kettle, then got his grain together... and then looked for his thermometer then...

We all forget the cluster that can happen on someone’s first...lol

What seems so easy and intuitive is actually a learned skill

 

[DayMoonBrewing]

Depends on how he transferred from kettle to cooler...if he moves a bit at a time with a pitcher, then poured the kettle, then got his grain together... and then looked for his thermometer then...

We all forget the cluster that can happen on someone’s first...lol

What seems so easy and intuitive is actually a learned skill

Thanks for all the comments and advise! I'm going back and basically starting over with BeerSmith to see if there was some equipment profile issue. Really would like to figure this out.

As for the thermometer, I used the same to check the strike temp as the mash temp. Bummer.

As for the potential heat loss from transfer, I used a bucket heater to heat the water in the mash tun -- full volume (8 gallons). Again, bummer.

At least it's only homebrew - - but a bummer to lose a brew day.

 

[wilserbrewer]

You got a bucket heater???

Could stir the mash w that and make temp adjustments.
Easy

I’m completely stumped that you lost 30 degrees considering the water was heated in the cooler to 159, and the resultant mash temp was 130?

Was your grain in the freezer lol sorry no help.

 

[camonick]

The numbers in your OP seem correct. I just did a full volume BIAB mash in a 13 gallon kettle with insulation today. 7.7 gallons of water and 10.5 lbs of ~68° grain. Strike water temp was 158° and actual mash temp ended up at 154° (my goal was 152°)... something seems very odd with your results. Sorry I’m not much help since I don’t mash in a separate cooler but wanted to verify that your original BeerSmith figures seem accurate. Maybe not using a preheated tun as mentioned could be the problem, but I also agree that a 30° drop seems extreme. Hope you figure it out.

 

[TheMadKing]

Did your stir your strike water before mashing in at all?

If you heated it directly in the mash tun and never stirred it and then measured the temp right at the top of the water, you likely had some temp stratification going on that would account for a large part of the issue.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Did your stir your strike water before mashing in at all?

.

Winner

 

[DayMoonBrewing]

Update - did everything the same (volume, water heated in mash tun with bucket heater, etc) with the only difference being that I stirred and agitated the water with the aim of “dispersing” the heat and took temp readings at different places. Got the strike temp to 159, added 10.5 lbs of grain (at same temp as last batch) and hit mash temp of 154 on the nose. Stirring is the key. Thanks everyone!

 

[HockeyBoy29]

Consider the 130 an unscheduled protein rest