I use an igloo cooler. I measured the temp after mixing the grains and I got 154F, my target temp. However, 45 mins later I decided to take a temp reading and it was at 148F. I have never seen this before. What did I do wrong?
Yeah it's about 20 degrees colder than normal. How much do you think body is going to be affected by this?Colder where your mash tun is? You probably didn't do anything wrong. Pre-heat, insulate by wrapping in blankets.
Hopefully all is well. Bet might be thinner than planned.Conversion happens fairly soon based on milling making starch bits more readily available for gelatinization. By 45min things are very likely done and the critical temp hold period is long passed.
Normal because it's colder than usual outside?That's normal. Aim a few degrees higher next time. Then on the average your mash temp will be where you wanted it. That's what I do.
Normal because it's colder than usual outside?
Yeah, it's usually 80 here. It's possible I didn't allow the mash ton to warm up enough. I'll try to be more careful next time.Normal because unless you preheat the mash tun to mash temperature, it probably started at 60-70 F, then you added grains stored at 60-70 F and hot water, then stirred well, but the mash tun and grains still take a few extra minutes to warm up... and then the mash tun is NOT a perfect insulator and will lose some heat on its own as well, assuming you are not living in a 150 F environment or thereabouts.
Have been working my way through Palmer and Zainascheff's Brew Strong podcasts, and one of the common themes is to not get hung up on mash temp - if you are reasonably close then don't worry about it.I remain totally and completely unconvinced as to the importance of mash temperature related to taste. There are scientifically measurable differences between 147 and 164 degree mash temps. In fact one beer finished 16 gravity points higher than the other in brulosophies study at those two temps. One was 3.3 abv and the other 4.9 abv. Turns out that only 12 in 33 who tatsed it could reliably pick the odd beer out. This is the second time they did this test with the first yielding the exact same results.
Yet, I have had people here or in bars tell me they can taste 1 degree difference in mash temps. Others build systems, expensive systems to recirculate becuase they feel there is value in maintaining mash temps. So you are free to use this info as you like. I use this data to mash lower because if they are going to taste the same anyways (minus confirmation bias) more abv seems the way to go so 148 to 150ish sounds perfect to me.
colder ambient temperature ?...maybe you forgot to preheat the mash tun?I use an igloo cooler. I measured the temp after mixing the grains and I got 154F, my target temp. However, 45 mins later I decided to take a temp reading and it was at 148F. I have never seen this before. What did I do wrong?
I didn't forget to preheat the may tun, I don't think I preheated enough. It was ambient temperature was colder than usual, so I didn't adjust for it correctly. I'll be more careful next time.colder ambient temperature ?...maybe you forgot to preheat the mash tun?
I usually pour in about 2/3-3/4 of my intended mash water ,stir well,and check temp , if its low I wait a few minutes to check/wait for the temp to stabilize and pour more ,hotter water in until its 2 degrees higher so during the mash it'll lower into a decent range. If im higher than that I just raise the lid to cool it off and proceed.
I took a final gravity reading and I'm currently at 1.014. I was shooting for 1.016. Since it's only been fermenting for a week, I'm sure gravity will go down a bit more. For sure this lower than expected gravity is due to lower mash temp.
I try to crush as fine as I can with my Corona Mill. I didn't realize it can take as little as 5 mins to convert.Not for sure at all. Yeast has a range of expected attenuation but that is just expectation. It can attenuate far more than expected too...as well as less than expected. That is one reason we suggest taking at least a couple hydrometer readings before bottling to verify that the yeast are done.
The mash temperature matters while conversion is happening and in your case that temperature drop may have happened during the conversion which definitely could have caused you to get a more fermentable wort but we don't know that for sure because the conversion speed depends on how fine the crush of the grain is. For some the crush is so coarse that conversion is still happening at 60 minutes and to get completion requires 90 to 120 minutes. In my case with a very fine milling, conversion is done in about 5 minutes.
I try to crush as fine as I can with my Corona Mill. I didn't realize it can take as little as 5 mins to convert.
Havent seen those, cool, I love listening to palmer. It feels accessible and practical.Have been working my way through Palmer and Zainascheff's Brew Strong podcasts, and one of the common themes is to not get hung up on mash temp - if you are reasonably close then don't worry about it.
Havent seen those, cool, I love listening to palmer. It feels accessible and practical.
Just to be annoying, my step mashes sometimes go over an 60 minutes plus if I want a highly fermentable wort.
I've done a 90 minute step mash with decoction just for fun. Once.
I just took another gravity reading and it is sitting at around 1.011 - 1.012. Very far from 1.016. Is it for sure from low mash temp now? Luckily this is an IPA.Not for sure at all. Yeast has a range of expected attenuation but that is just expectation. It can attenuate far more than expected too...as well as less than expected. That is one reason we suggest taking at least a couple hydrometer readings before bottling to verify that the yeast are done.
The mash temperature matters while conversion is happening and in your case that temperature drop may have happened during the conversion which definitely could have caused you to get a more fermentable wort but we don't know that for sure because the conversion speed depends on how fine the crush of the grain is. For some the crush is so coarse that conversion is still happening at 60 minutes and to get completion requires 90 to 120 minutes. In my case with a very fine milling, conversion is done in about 5 minutes.
I definitely reused yeast from previous batch. But I'm sure the low mash temp also had a big effect.IMO the variance from predicted FG in a normal range is about .003 +/-. So what I would expect as a FG for a prediction of 1.016 would be anywhere between 1.019 to 1.013. Usually it is closer but I don't get concerned until well outside this range. You are just outside that range. The low mash temperature could be the culprit. The chance you notice much, unless you are have a very discerning taste, is not likely. Maybe just a tiny bit.
I have seen it reported and also experienced that if you re-use yeast, either from the last batch very fresh, or make a starter from a previous batch, the next generation will attenuate a little more than the first. Energized? healthy yeast? I don't know but it happens.
I just took another gravity reading and it is sitting at around 1.011 - 1.012. Very far from 1.016. Is it for sure from low mash temp now? Luckily this is an IPA.
Do you think I'll notice that it will lack body or maltiness as compared to 1.016?
Interesting, never heard of hop creep...Well, what yeast did you use, and what was the OG? Perhaps your target of 1.016 was unrealistic based on selection of the yeast alone. Or, yeah, could be low mash temperature. Or both.
Hops also contain enzymes. Dry hopping can convert some complex sugars to simpler ones. This is an effect commonly referred to as "hop creep" or "the freshening power of hops". Since you said this is an IPA, it's likely this is happening as well.
US05
So grind is that key to conversion. It is to efficiency to right? I know you have told me before. Maybe its time to get a mill. The lhbs grind seems to suck for some reason. Why cant they grind it fine for me?I bought a pint (smallest bottle they had) of Iodine a few years ago so I could test for conversion. I don't think you could tell that is has any used from it as it only takes a drop to do the test. I went to the wrong store because others have smaller bottles. For instance:
https://www.target.com/p/povidone-i...bYzW1LO14hVBfkYSJw0aAmmXEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
https://www.shopmedvet.com/product/...AfT1v07ULPuUTEifD7ZPJtZZPkcinr1EaAojkEALw_wcB
It wasn't very expensive and a real eye opener when I started testing to see how long conversion took with my very finely ground grain.
So grind is that key to conversion. It is to efficiency to right? I know you have told me before. Maybe its time to get a mill. The lhbs grind seems to suck for some reason. Why cant they grind it fine for me?
Maybe its time to get a mill. The lhbs grind seems to suck for some reason. Why cant they grind it fine for me?
You don't think mash temp affects US05 attenuation?I thought you might say that. For me, US-05 averages 83% attenuation over many batches and recipes. So, from 1.058, I'd expect FG to be about 1.010. So your expectation of 1.016 was unrealistic.
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