Mash in procedure?

freeflydude · Jul 3, 2012

Can someone explain whether to add the grain to water or water to grain when starting the mash? I've seen Palmer says to add water to the grain but no explanation why. I have a sense it has something to do with not thermally shocking the enzymes. I would like to know a little of the science behind this and how it affects mash efficiency. My first AG batch I added the grain to the water and had really low efficiency (for several other reasons too) but I think this might have also contributed.

theveganbrewer · Jul 3, 2012

I don't see how this could effect your efficiency unless you weren't able to stir and properly hydrate all of the grains during the mash. You have to stir it really good and thoroughly and get all the corners and to the bottom. How does pouring hot water onto grains shock them less then pouring the grains onto hot water? If you want to go hybrid, dump 1/4 of your grains on the water, stir, another 1/4 dump, stir, and so forth.

The reasoning behind this is that if you're pouring 200 degree water on the grains, you're going over the ~170 degree temp threshold which effects the grains.

Beezer94 · Jul 3, 2012

Should have no effect. I definitely have always added the grain to the water, and no problem with 80%+ efficiency.

Like theveganbrewer said, stirring is a must. It very easy for the grains to form a ball that is bone dry on the inside and can stay that way through the entire process. In this case the dry grains contribute nothing.

Adding the grain to the water a little bit at a time while stirring is the best way to keep dough-balls from forming. Also the enzymes are not alive, they just begin to breakdown at 170F+ and it is not an instantaneous process.

user 98891 · Jul 3, 2012

I also go grain into water. The reason why is simple. I use a cooler for mashing and if my strike water ends up too hot, I can stir it and let it sit for a few minutes to drop down into my mash in temp. Likewise if it's too cold I can return it to the kettle for a warm up.

duckredbeard · Jul 3, 2012

I use my sparge sprayer to preheat my mash tun until about 1 gallon. Then I switch to my recirc tube (attached to the same fitting) and slowly add water to the top while I stir in the grain. I shoot for thicker initial mash, then continue to add water until the temp and consistency are where I want them.

I'm using a march pump to move the water and my fittings are swagelok SS-810-11-8 bulkhead fittings with 1/2 SS tubing inside the tun. I had previously pumped the water in at the mash tun drain fitting, but found recently that the grain tended to float on the water. This gave me an inaccurate assessment of how much water I had in the tun.

Pilgarlic · Jul 3, 2012

Water to grain here, no problems.

krenshaw · Jul 3, 2012

for most brews i'll heat up 11 or 12 gallons of water in my HLT.. 1 gallon will go into my cooler and i stick the lid on for about 10 min to preheat before i work with the grains.. i'll dump out that water.. put in about half of my mash-in water, then dump in the grains, stir a little, add the rest of the water, then stir like made for a couple min to get it all.. i have a CPVC manifold at the bottom so i try very carefully to not knock it around too much so i'm sure the bottom doesn't get stirred as much as it probably should.. but that seems to work well for me..