Leaving on heat during MASH

[brewgasm135]

I see most people turn off the heat and wrap their pot/kettle with a towel. What is the adverse effect of leaving the heat on low to maintain mash temp? Don't you have to worry about burning/scorching your towel when wrapping your hot kettle?

 

[BargainFittings]

Leaving the heat on you will probably scorch the malt in the kettle.

I would not wrap anything around it you are adding heat.

 

[RobWalker]

A few amateur books I have recommend checking the temp halfway through and adjusting as neccessary with boiling water from your home kettle. Not a great technique really, but the solution to your problem no doubt!

You'll also want to aim a few degrees above your required mash temp as adding the grains will cause it to drop.

 

[brewgasm135]

Thanks for the replies. If I do turn the heat off for a mash of around 153 F, will a towl scorch or burn wrapped around the pot at that temperature?

 

[terrapinj]

it would be really hard to try to maintain a specific temp by leaving it on the burner and you'd need to be constantly stirring while you check

dep on the size of your kettle and oven you can try to put it in the oven on very low setting ~150° to help minimize heat loss - best to get the temp ~150 then turn the oven off so it doesn't keep heating to try to maintain the temp

i do biab and wrap by mt/bk in a sleeping bag - no risk of scotching or burning at all if you are in mash temp ranges

 

[djfriesen]

Assuming the thermostat on the oven reads 150* and your mash is at 150* the mash won't get any hotter. The element on the oven will just kick off an on to maintain that temperature. My oven only goes down to 170* so it's out of the question for me. But if your oven goes to 150* I would use it in a heartbeat.

 

[brewgasm135]

Cool! Yeah, I've had pretty good success maintaining mash temperatures with a gas stove set on low, sometimes slightly higher. It wasn't until two batches were done that I noticed people weren't using heat after it had reached desired temperatures, and was curious if I was doing it all wrong. I wasn't sure if 150 F was too hot for a towel to be wrapped around either. I'll try the oven trick if it goes that low. Thanks again!

 

[JuanMoore]

Thanks for the replies. If I do turn the heat off for a mash of around 153 F, will a towl scorch or burn wrapped around the pot at that temperature?

No. It takes way more heat for fabrics to scorch or burn. It gets well over that inside a car on a sunny day.