Mash Tun Preheating Question

[ASpeedyGTO]

Hi and thanks for reading my post. I just got a 10G Ss Brewtech Infussion mash tun and will be using it for the first time this Saturday. My question - is there a heuristic or formula that will tell you by how much extra you need to heat your strike water to compensate for a non-preheated mash tun? BeerSmith has this feature, but since it's my first time considering this, is the compensation from the software accurate?

Seems logical enough to be able to do this......are there unforeseen pitfalls?

 

[Vale71]

deltaT = (Weight_vessel * 502.4 * (Target_temperature - Vessel_temperature)) / (Volume_water * 4186)

Weights in kilograms, volumes in liters, temperatures in °C.

This should work well with a simple kettle but since the Infussion is double walled and has insulation and hence will not warm up uniformly this formula will give you some overshoot in practice. I would do some trial runs starting at 50% of the calculated deltaT.

 

[ASpeedyGTO]

deltaT = (Weight_vessel * 502.4 * (Target_temperature - Vessel_temperature)) / (Volume_water * 4186)

Weights in kilograms, volumes in liters, temperatures in °C.

This should work well with a simple kettle but since the Infussion is double walled and has insulation and hence will not warm up uniformly this formula will give you some overshoot in practice. I would do some trial runs starting at 50% of the calculated deltaT.

Wow, thanks! This is helpful. The only other thing i could think of as another check is to heat ~4-5G of water to usual strike temp and pour it in, noting the vessel temp, and see how many degrees it loses before it settles. Thanks again for your help!

 

[Qhrumphf]

With my cooler, I've gotten the most consistent results filling it to the top (or mostly) with water a good bit above strike temp, letting it sit for a few mins, then draining to strike volume and letting cool (or blending in cold water to cool) to strike temp. Software predictions never got it right for me.

It's worked for me and my old cooler. Others might overshoot temps this way. YMMV.

 

[Soulshine2]

depending on time of year 15-20 degrees above mash temp to preheat , allow to sit 10 minutes with closed lid, lift lid or add more hot water to hit mash temp +15 degrees, add grain(will cause temp to fall) , stir, add more hot water if necessary.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

http://jansson.us/mashcalculator.html

 

[mattdee1]

Empirical data speaks louder than formulas for stuff like this. Just do a few trials and dial it in. Keep detailed notes.

My first few batches I did the step where I'd fill my MT with warm water and wait to pre-heat it but eventually I realized I can just skip that and land at the same temperature. Brew days are long enough without steps like that. The key is being relatively consistent with the starting temperature of your MT and grains. I once made the mistake of following my normally-reliable process and undershooting my target mash temp by several degrees because it was winter and I had left my grains out in the garage overnight. Oops. Now, I make sure to keep my MT and grains at roughly room temperature and I can hit mash temperatures within 2 degrees every time just by pulling the MT off the shelf, dumping in the grains, and adding strike water. It's an Igloo cooler MT and I brew 10 gal batches, usually in the 1.045 to 1.060 range. A strike water temperature of 170F lands me in the safe range of 150-160F for just about any beer I would brew, so I adjust up or down from 170 based on experience depending on amount of grains and target mash temperature.

 

[kevin58]

Nothing in Beersmith will be "right" if you don't first create an accurate and customized equipment profile. Don't even accept the profiles that come loaded with the software or the add ons. They were created by someone else and will only fit their brewing process not yours.

Here are a couple of tutorials. I like the one from Short Circuited Brewers best....


The Brulosophy tutorial is the one I used setting up my first equipment profile years ago and has some good info in it....


Also on the Brulosophy Youtube channel are some mash profile setup tips you might want to look at as strike temps are also factored in with this tool. Once you get Beersmith dialed in with accurate profiles it will be your best friend. Don't and your brew days will be nothing but a guessing game filled with frustration. Good luck.

 

[Rev2010]

I have been using the Ss Mash tun for 5 months now, made 10-11 beers with it. I preheat mine using 5 gallons of 170 degree water. Been working flawless this way. In the beginning I tried less water like 4G and lower temps like 160 but I found some small temp loss in the mash. Preheating with 5 gallons of 170F water let me tell you.... the temp holds so incredibly stable its crazy. I never lose more than 1 degree over an hour. I thought their advertising of the temp stability was probably marketing hype until I got one and compared it next to my Rubbermaid cooler. Holds temp way better.


Rev.

 

[MSAstoria]

If your setup has pumps and you're heating strike water in a separate vessel, you can skip the math. As the strike water is heating, pump it into the MLT, then pump back into the HLT. The MLT temp will rise with the strike water, and should be just about equivalent by the time you're ready to dough in. This is what I do and it works great.