Mash Question

[brew703]

I have the hardest time keeping my mash temps steady. I use a 10 gal kettle and consistently see 5-10 degree drops in mash temp over a 60 min mash. Sometimes I fire up my burner to bring the mash temp back up but that's becoming a PITA.

What would be an acceptable drop in mash temp without having to re-fire the burner?

Does anyone mash in a cooler with a bag then transfer wort back to the kettle to boil? Kinda thinking about doing this to eliminate the temp swings.
Thoughts?
Thanks
Eddie

 

[Gonefishing]

What do you currently mash in? Is it an uninsulated kettle?

 

[brew703]

What do you currently mash in? Is it an uninsulated kettle?

Uninsulated kettle from Colorado Brew Systems. I do wrap with sleeping bags during winter. I still see temp drops during the summer as well.

 

[Frilock]

Does anyone mash in a cooler with a bag then transfer wort back to the kettle to boil?

Yes.

 

[kh54s10]

Uninsulated kettle from Colorado Brew Systems. I do wrap with sleeping bags during winter. I still see temp drops during the summer as well.

An uninsulated pot is going to lose temperature. Use the sleeping bags during the summer also. You want as stable a temperature as you can get. I brew 3 vessel style with a water cooler mash tun and the worst drop mid winter is about 5 degrees.

Since most of the conversion happens in the beginning of the mash I don't feel it is critical to keep a specific temperature. But, if you want repeat-ability you need the mash to react the same from batch to batch.

For BIAB I do 3 gallon batches in a 5 gallon pot. It fits in my oven - preheated to about 150 degrees. I put it in there and only get a drop of a degree or two.

 

[Morrey]

If you are brewing in NOLA as your profile suggests, your climate is similar to mine in SC. If I bring my strike temps to say 153F to target 148F, I'll stir in, cover and wrap a movers blanket around my kettle. I stir again at 30 min, recover and rewrap. I seldom lose more than a degree in the summer and maybe 3-4 in the winter.

I have never been successful applying propane burner heat (eHeat may be manageable) to bring the mash up a degree or two. Next thing I look and it has jumped 7 to 10 degrees which in my opinion is worse than leaving it be.

Several HBT members have done mash tests to find that a large percentage of starch to sugar conversion happens quite rapidly after dough in. One member reported his tests showed near complete conversion in less than 20 minutes. The finer the grind (BIAB for example) the more rapid the conversion. I continue to leave the mash in the kettle for 60 minutes since flavor extraction continues to happen.

The reason I mention this is you may be in the sweet spot during the critical period of conversion, thusly the temp drops are not detrimental to your success. But jacking the temps up if they accidentally spiral out of control can be a real problem.

 

[brew703]

If you are brewing in NOLA as your profile suggests, your climate is similar to mine in SC. If I bring my strike temps to say 153F to target 148F, I'll stir in, cover and wrap a movers blanket around my kettle. I stir again at 30 min, recover and rewrap. I seldom lose more than a degree in the summer and maybe 3-4 in the winter.

I have never been successful applying propane burner heat (eHeat may be manageable) to bring the mash up a degree or two. Next thing I look and it has jumped 7 to 10 degrees which in my opinion is worse than leaving it be.

Several HBT members have done mash tests to find that a large percentage of starch to sugar conversion happens quite rapidly after dough in. One member reported his tests showed near complete conversion in less than 20 minutes. The finer the grind (BIAB for example) the more rapid the conversion. I continue to leave the mash in the kettle for 60 minutes since flavor extraction continues to happen.

The reason I mention this is you may be in the sweet spot during the critical period of conversion, thusly the temp drops are not detrimental to your success. But jacking the temps up if they accidentally spiral out of control can be a real problem.

Yep, I'm outside of NOLA but I experience more than a degree in drops. Last weekend I brewed and it was pretty hot (90 degrees). I didn't insulate my pot as I wanted to see how much my temps dropped and it was right at 8 degrees in 60 min. I do stir every 20 min or so. The biggest temp drop is after the 30 min mark so if most of the conversion is done within 20 min then I may be good. The winter time is even more of a temp drop even with insulating with sleeping bags.
I may still go with mashing in a cooler to see how that works.
I would like to be within 2-3 degrees temp drop in the winter and I don't think I can obtain than unless I mash in a cooler.

 

[popsicleian]

I've been using an Anova sous vide cooker to maintain mash temps--I've been very happy with the results.

 

[Morrey]

Yep, I'm outside of NOLA but I experience more than a degree in drops. Last weekend I brewed and it was pretty hot (90 degrees). I didn't insulate my pot as I wanted to see how much my temps dropped and it was right at 8 degrees in 60 min. I do stir every 20 min or so. The biggest temp drop is after the 30 min mark so if most of the conversion is done within 20 min then I may be good. The winter time is even more of a temp drop even with insulating with sleeping bags.
I may still go with mashing in a cooler to see how that works.
I would like to be within 2-3 degrees temp drop in the winter and I don't think I can obtain than unless I mash in a cooler.

I'd say an 8F drop in an uninsulated cooler is what should be expected. Nicely wrapped with a blanket should cut that by 2/3, plus the residual heat of the burner helps somewhat too.

For sure a pre-warmed mash cooler with a BIAB bag will work and help keep temps stable for you. But now you are moving away from the simplicity of BIAB which is the reason I stored my HERMS kettle and Igloo mash tun in the attic. No matter what, I totally understand your point, and I feel the same way about tight controls.

 

[brew703]

I'd say an 8F drop in an uninsulated cooler is what should be expected. Nicely wrapped with a blanket should cut that by 2/3, plus the residual heat of the burner helps somewhat too.

For sure a pre-warmed mash cooler with a BIAB bag will work and help keep temps stable for you. But now you are moving away from the simplicity of BIAB which is the reason I stored my HERMS kettle and Igloo mash tun in the attic. No matter what, I totally understand your point, and I feel the same way about tight controls.

Yeah the simplicity is why I went BIAB and reluctant to go the cooler route. I may try a welding blanket and see how that works. The sleeping bag I use isn't the greatest and probably needs to be upgraded.
Anyway just wanted to throw it out there to see what others are doing.

 

[RM-MN]

Yep, I'm outside of NOLA but I experience more than a degree in drops. Last weekend I brewed and it was pretty hot (90 degrees). I didn't insulate my pot as I wanted to see how much my temps dropped and it was right at 8 degrees in 60 min. I do stir every 20 min or so. The biggest temp drop is after the 30 min mark so if most of the conversion is done within 20 min then I may be good. The winter time is even more of a temp drop even with insulating with sleeping bags.
I may still go with mashing in a cooler to see how that works.
I would like to be within 2-3 degrees temp drop in the winter and I don't think I can obtain than unless I mash in a cooler.

Every time you open the pot to stir you lose a degree or so. Stop doing that. It doesn't really help the mash.

I mill my grain fine since I BIAB and can deal with the finely milled grain. In my mash the conversion is well done before the 20 minutes, usually in less than 5 minutes. From there on until the 60 minutes is up the grain is just sitting there, giving up flavor but no more conversion. You can check with iodine to see if your conversion is done in less than an hour. No matter how quickly the conversion is over, don't shorten the mash to less than 20 minutes with 30 minutes preferred. You won't get the flavors if you shorten the mash too much.