Mash Lingo?

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Chemkreation

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When an all grain recipe says "Mash at 154F for 45 minutes. Ferment at 68F."

What does that actually mean?

Do I need to figure out a Pre-Boil volume?
Do I need to Sparge on top of all that?
 
That means you'll mash your grains, i.e. convert the sugars in the grain in 154F water for 45 minutes.

Then you'll have to sparge, or rinse out that grain with an amount of water to get to your boil volume.

Boil the wort and do your hop additions, cool and transfer to primary fermenter

Store at 68F in ferm chamber or swamp cooler during fermentation.
 
Google for a calculator for strike water (that is the water that you put in your mash tun before mixing the grain.. mixing water and grain to start the mash is.called doughing-in.)

For instance, if my grain temp after crushing is 78°, then I will need to have my "strike water" At about 164° to "dough-in". Once mixed, the mash should be at 154°.

The calculators will give you the correct #s to use as the idea is cold grains + hot water will equalize to the desired mash temp. There are several variables to consider, and many calculators will ask for the following in order to give you accurate figures:

-Grain temp

-Grain:water ratio (pound of grain:quart of water). I generally go 1:1.35, meaning for each pound of grain, I use 1.35 quarts of water. I have a keggle mash tun with a false bottom. YMMV depending on equipment being used as mash tun/process. I also fly a sparge.

-Mash tun dead space

-Desired Mash Temp (154 in your case)

The results should give you the volume and temperature that your strike water needs to be.

Hope this helps!
 
It means you let the grist take a soak in a mineral water hot tub for 3 quarter hours then cool down the au jus and force a yeast infection.
 
Im using Beersmith to calc my strike. (Still learning the program)

I have used 177 as a Sparge before but the recipe outlined that.
This is the 1st time I'm try to venture out.
 
i would suggest reading some more on this. i had all the same questions when i was looking to switch from Extract to AG.

Read, read, and read. and when your tired of that, get on YouTube!!
 
To build on Twister25's post, the first thing you'll do is add in a given quantity of water to make the mash. This can range anywhere from 1 qt water per pound of grain to 1.5 qt/lb (other ratios are possible, but this is the most common range). What you are shooting for is to get the grains plus water to the given mash temp, but you have to keep in mind that the grains are cooler than the water so mixing water and grains will result in a cooler combined temp. Therefore you'll need to heat the water (the "strike water") to something higher than the given mash temp. I know my system needs between 8 and 10 degrees F more than the desired mash temp (learned through trial and experience) to hit my strike temp when the grains are added in. No idea what your system is, what the thermal efficiency of that system is, what the ambient temp is, etc., so your temps may vary. Experimentation is the best way to learn (imo).

After you mash (which in your recipe is for 45 minutes), then you have a choice of sparging methods: fly sparge or batch sparge. Expanded discussions of both methods can be found on these boards.

In the instructions you quoted above there doesn't appear to be any kind of "mash out" temp difference, so I'd heat the sparge water to the same temp as the strike water. You'll need enough to hit your preboil volume (the volume of liquid wort you start the boil with). Again, you'll need to know the specifics of your system to figure out how much preboil volume you need (I know on my system I need about 6.8 gallons of wort to end up with 5.5 g of post boil wort). The reason for the additional liquid is that you lose some volume to boil off, some to trub in the boil kettle, some to dead space loss in the BK, and some to trub in the fermenter. Again, trial and error is probably the best way to figure this out for your particular system.

After you boil (which is probably for an hour, but check the recipe), you will want to cool the wort before pitching the yeast. If you are doing an ale (likely since the ferment temp is 68 F), you'll want to chill the wort down to at least 75 F before pitching. Higher temps can stress the yeast (leading to off flavors) or even stalled fermentation. There are various methods of chilling - ice bath, immersion chiller, chill plate, etc. A search of these boards will tell you all you need to know about this.

Once you get down to pitching temps, you'll want to keep the beer as close to 68 degrees as possible. Again, you have choices - swamp cooler, fermentation chamber, cold basement (if you have one) etc. Significant variations in temp will lead to different flavors as temps impact yeast performance. Of course, yeast strain will also contribute to flavors, attenuation, etc., but that's another post.

Do your best to keep the beer at the proper ferm temps until fermentation (and conditioning if you do this - and it's generally a good idea to do it) is complete.

That's a very basic overview of the process - there's much more detail that could be delved into on these topics, but hopefully this will help. Welcome to the obsession.
 
Have some very hot water and very cold water handy, to adjust your mash tun temps if you need to. Sometimes my strike plus grain comes out a bit hot, sometimes a bit cool...
 
Woo hoo! nicwe job!

I did my 3rd AG batch yesterday. I have learned that my system loses heat fast so I always start a fre degrees warmer w my strike water than calculated.
Trial and Error! Trial and Error.

Brewersfriend.com has a simple water needed calc that will tie into your recipe that I use.
 
Good job. I usually keep a pan of ice cubes and try to aim a bit high. It's easier to cool quickly with a few ice cubes than to try and add hot water or have to drain some wort and heat it up.
 
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