Mash Temp, WTF??

[JLP]

I mashed in on an APA at 160, allowed the temp to settle, added ice, stirred the temp down to 150 after 5 minutes. I just popped open the lid at 1 hour and 10 minutes to find the mash at 158. After my 40 plus batches I have never seen this. I just dropped the temp down to 144, and I plan to set on it for 45 min. Does this sound like it should yield a medium mouthfeel by cutting up enough betas? I on the other hand could just scrap the malt and start all over again, although I am very hesitant at this idea.

 

[unionrdr]

The temp went back up because you obviously have minimal headspace in the mash tun. This helps keep the temp from going down if/when you can maintain the minimal headspace in the tun from my experiences thus far.

 

[Rev2010]

So let me get this straight... you say mashed in at 160. Was your strike water 160 or was that the temp you had when you mashed in then tried to adjust down with ice water?

If I'm reading it right it sounds like you hadn't thoroughly mixed the mash and had hot & cold spots leading to the two different readings. Did you re-stir up the mash after reading 158 to see if it still read 158? And no, after that period of time I don't believe dropping the temp is going to help fix anything. You'll still have a beer though, lower alcohol, sweeter, and fuller mouthfeel.

*EDIT - just re-read your post. You added ice, not icewater. Not a good idea. Ice takes a while to dissolve firstly, then it has to mix and equilibrate with the grains and strike water.


Rev.

 

[JLP]

I've got 3.5 gallons of space left in there. My intent was for a no sparge APA, with a mash out to maximize the malt flavor at 5%. Interesting experience and potential reason. What are your thoughts on the idea of dropping the temp to counterbalance the alphas for mouthfeel?

 

[unionrdr]

Being over an hour & 10 minutes already, the damage is done. Next time get your mash water temp, to, say 152F. Then stir in the crushed grains. That'll drop the temp a couple degrees while still on the heat. Adjust the temp you want to mash at from there. Then pull it from the heat, wrap up the tun (if biab). Otherwise, you'll have to get a feel for what temp the water needs to be to heat the tun & come down to a couple degrees over desired temp before adding/stirring the grains.

 

[JLP]

*EDIT - just re-read your post. You added ice, not icewater. Not a good idea. Ice takes a while to dissolve firstly, then it has to mix and equilibrate with the grains and strike water.

Rev.

That could be my problem there. I no joke mixed the ever loving crap out of it in order to drop the mash temp. I put my thermometer in the center, and to the bottom of the mash tun, and got a reading of 150 for about 5 seconds before I capped it. I don't have a clue at this point other than the ice issue. I will drain it, and freeze if for starter wort. At least I have nothing going on today, and enough malt to start over.

 

[JLP]

Being over an hour & 10 minutes already, the damage is done. Next time get your mash water temp, to, say 152F. Then stir in the crushed grains. That'll drop the temp a couple degrees while still on the heat. Adjust the temp you want to mash at from there. Then pull it from the heat, wrap up the tun (if biab). Otherwise, you'll have to get a feel for what temp the water needs to be to heat the tun & come down to a couple degrees over desired temp before adding/stirring the grains.

Points taken, thanks!

 

[Arrheinous]

You might have had a faulty thermometer reading at the beginning or end of the mash. The temperature isn't going to go back up.

 

[unionrdr]

Well, like I said, it will if there's minimal head space inside the tun. Then the heat & steam inside will either maintain temp or go up. Mine would go up 1 degree every time.

 

[JLP]

You might have had a faulty thermometer reading at the beginning or end of the mash. The temperature isn't going to go back up.

Yeah, that did happen in the sense that it wasn't the actual temp. I was using a mechanical thermometer since it is my tried and true, but the wort may have not stabilized the temp evently. I should've recapped it, waited a couple of minutes, and then rechecked it... Always a learning experience I guess.

 

[b-boy]

I had this happen to me a few weeks back. I have a new rectangular cooler and I'm still trying to figure it out.

I used BeerSmith to calculate my mash water temperature. I dumped it in, stirred it, and was about 8 degrees higher than I wanted to be. Got some ice, stirred it in, took a reading and it came out a little low. I said screw it and put the top on. I took another reading at the end of my mash and the temperature was dead on. I lose ~2F during a 60 minute mash, so I must have been a few degrees high after adding the ice.

My guess was that the ice created some cool spots in the mash and I just happened to get a reading from those spots. Next time I'll wait a little longer before I take an initial reading. I'll probably get into the habit of taking another reading 10 minutes into the mash as a double check.

I like the idea of using ice water as opposed to ice. I'll probably start doing that too. The ice seems to take a while to fully melt.

 

[Rev2010]

I like the idea of using ice water as opposed to ice. I'll probably start doing that too. The ice seems to take a while to fully melt.

Yeah I just use the coldest water that comes out of my faucet which works great in late fall and in winter, but during warmer months the ground water isn't anywhere near as cold so it's good to have some water kept in the fridge the night before. These days though I rarely ever have to adjust the mash temp up or down. Been doing very well hitting my numbers spot on just using the Strike Temperature calculator in the Android app Brewzor Pro (still available and free but no longer developed or supported).


Rev.