Mash Temperature issues

[BigDog007]

Hey All.

I am having a hell of a time hitting my numbers using my new setup.

All electric BK. I heat strike water in BK then transfer to a 15 gallon Chapman insulated MT. Today I started with 170 F strike water and after pumping to the MT it was at 140. I cross checked temps with manual thermometers and everything was working right. Basement is cold but I was surprised by the 30F difference just from transferring to a cold kettle.

I moved the strike water back to BK and heated it to 180, transferred it back and now the temp in MT was 170F. I mashed in and am at 156F. Higher mash temp than I wanted but it should be ok. I was expecting heat loss but I am surprised by what I am seeing. I have a RIMS but this seems kinda crazy and I really wanted to skip the RIMS now that I have an insulated Tun.

I use BeerSmith and am trying to dial it in so I can have strike water at the right temp for mash in. Any thoughts? I don't want to have to preheat the tun if I can help it.

Thanks All.

RP

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I use BS2 and hit my target mash temperature within 10ths of a °F, on two different setups (one for 5g batches and another for 10g).

It's all about your equipment setup and taking accurate measurements of MLT and grain temperatures to set your strike liquor temperature. And if there isn't a canned equipment profile for your specific rig it can take a few batches to manually dial yours in...

Cheers!

 

[hottpeper13]

With a rims system can't you circulate thru the tun and pre heat it with the strike liquor? If not, what I do is (in winter) go 10* hotter then required and let it cool down to strike temp. I used to pre heat but that took longer.

 

[Oginme]

Like day_trippr, I use BS2 over three different set ups (10L, 14L and 20L) and come within a few 10ths of my target temperature. Keys in addition to what day_trippr has commented on is to make sure that you have the box for adjusting temperature for equipment is checked, get the weight of your MT as accurate as you can into your equipment profile. Make sure you are accurate in your water measurements. Most important of all, be consistent in your measurements: take the temperature in the same location of your MT and BK, record temperatures, water volumes and grain weights to the best your accuracy will allow. Once you have this down, take the readings you get and adjust the specific gravity in your equipment profile until BS matches your actual values.

 

[BigDog007]

Thanks for the feedback all.

The MT holds temp incredibly well so I was trying to avoid using my rims (less to clean). If I can get it down without it will make brew day a little easier.

I will check beersmith, I don't remember checking a box and that could be the problem.

Thanks Again!

 

[tsl346]

It's amazing how much heat a cold mashtun will suck up. My best guess is that your mashtun was cold which is why you saw such a temp drop, then the second time your mashtun was preheated causing the lower drop. I always preheat my cooler mashtun with as hot of tap water as I can get, about 130 degrees. With a heat capacity of grains at about 0.38, and a temp loss of about 3% from transferring/the amount my mashtun still needs to heat, i usually aim my strike water about 15 degrees above my mash temp.

 

[BigDog007]

I did some tests today while brewing an Irish Red Ale. I recirced through the pump back into BK and then when I got to temp I transferred strike water to MT. It appears the reason I was losing so much temp was both related to not preheating the pump and hoses as well as the MT. Hit my temps perfect today, 148F for 75 minutes in the insulated MT.