Hi all, I've been brewing for close to four years and feel it's about time to consider an upgrade. The pressure point currently for me tends to be hitting the correct temperature in the mash tun.
I have a 10 gallon gatorade cooler that I normally preheat with 180 degree water (that litterly drops to 140 when poured into the cooler) and then I reheat the water and pour it at "striking temp" on top of the grains. The past two times I've hit an issue with this where, even at striking temp, I'm hitting 10-20 degrees short on mash temps and need to reheat the now grainy water in my boiling pot and re-add. This problem doesn't always happen but appears to be an issue with my cooler's insulation randomly sucking out heat from the water.
I have been looking into a stainless steel or keg mash tun and lauter tun with either a HERMS or RIMS system. In your experience which works better, are they worth the upgrade?
All around how can I ensure I will hit the correct temps without the random absorption of heat from my cooler's insulation?
I have a 10 gallon gatorade cooler that I normally preheat with 180 degree water (that litterly drops to 140 when poured into the cooler) and then I reheat the water and pour it at "striking temp" on top of the grains. The past two times I've hit an issue with this where, even at striking temp, I'm hitting 10-20 degrees short on mash temps and need to reheat the now grainy water in my boiling pot and re-add. This problem doesn't always happen but appears to be an issue with my cooler's insulation randomly sucking out heat from the water.
I have been looking into a stainless steel or keg mash tun and lauter tun with either a HERMS or RIMS system. In your experience which works better, are they worth the upgrade?
All around how can I ensure I will hit the correct temps without the random absorption of heat from my cooler's insulation?