Mashed in at 164...shooting for 156, ARGHH!

[gatorforty]

Guys,

Would appreciate any feedback or advice here. I have been missing mash in temps by 1-2 degrees, and I thought it may be because of how Beersmith calculates strike temp based on water+grain+mash tun temps. I decided to just get the strike water into the tun and measure temp there...

Somehow I mashed in WAY above my 156 target for my RIS, and hit 164. I quickly threw in a few frozen water bottles and got it setting nicely at 156 after about 10 mins.

Question:

- How do you think this will affect my brew? Should I add 10 mins or so to the mash time?

Thanks, always appreciate the help and advice from you guys.

Ron

 

[sandyeggoxj]

You should be fine. It isn't ideal to dough in so warm but you have a small window of time to adjust the temperature before all the amylase denatures. What was your grist ratio?

 

[j1n]

I use the brew 365 mash calculator. Its very accurate as long as you put the right temps. Only time i'm off by more than a degree is if i forget to put the right grain temp. My biggest miss on temp was when i added pumpkin to the mash, and was off by 5 degrees. Id assume most mash calculators are the same. Just make sure your temps are right.

 

[Natdavis777]

I use the brew 365 mash calculator. Its very accurate as long as you put the right temps. Only time i'm off by more than a degree is if i forget to put the right grain temp. My biggest miss on temp was when i added pumpkin to the mash, and was off by 5 degrees. Id assume most mash calculators are the same. Just make sure your temps are right.

2nd this. I've used this for a few years and it has served me very well


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[troy2000]

I'm too lazy (and maybe too cynical) to do all that calculating. I just preheat my Igloo-cooler mash tun with hot water at about 180-190 degrees fahrenheit that I pour it slowly into a quart of cold water, hoping to not shock the plastic and encourage cracks.

I stabilize the temperature at about eight degrees fahrenheit over my target mash temp after a few minutes, stir my freshly-milled grain in, and adjust as necessary with a little hot or cold water. It may not be scientific, but as a rule of thumb it works fine for me...

 

[j1n]

I'm too lazy (and maybe too cynical) to do all that calculating. I just preheat my Igloo-cooler mash tun with hot water at about 180-190 degrees fahrenheit that I pour it slowly into a quart of cold water, hoping to not shock the plastic and encourage cracks.

I stabilize the temperature at about eight degrees fahrenheit over my target mash temp after a few minutes, stir my freshly-milled grain in, and adjust as necessary with a little hot or cold water. It may not be scientific, but as a rule of thumb it works fine for me...

Yeah, same here. That's why i use the online mash calculator. The grains i store at 70 degrees so that's the grain temp and all i need to do is put my grain amount, water volume, and desired mash temp into the calculator and it will tell you what your strike water temp will needs to be to reach your mash temp. I just heat my strike water up and put it into my cooler and usually a couple degrees above where it needs to be and mix and wait til it reaches the strike temp and then dough in.

 

[gatorforty]

Thanks guys, appreciate all of the feedback. It looks like the biggest impact was that I missed my pre-boil gravity by a lot...1.042 instead of 1.057. I didn't really think temp had THAT much impact on gravity but maybe there was something else at play. Normally with the same gear / process I'm withing 1-2 pts of my target, and actually have been a bit over target in my last 2-3 mashes.

Oh well. I've got in in the fermenter now and it's going like crazy, so I'll end up with beer, and maybe something new!

Ron

 

[johngaltsmotor]

That's quite a bit off on OG. Are you sure your grain weight was right? Too little grain would result in high temps and low OG.
Normally the OG isn't as affected by mash temp as the FG. As long as you have full conversion you'll get the sugars into solution (OG), but depending on temp more or less of them will be easily fermentable (FG).
Once you find the right adjustment factors you can just plug them in all the time. For my setup I need about 5deg extra on 20lb grain and 7 on 24lb. Keeps notes on what you did so you can adjust next time.

 

[blizz81]

That's quite a bit off on OG. Are you sure your grain weight was right? Too little grain would result in high temps and low OG.
Normally the OG isn't as affected by mash temp as the FG.

I suppose too high of temp and you'll denature pretty much anything. Limit the exposure and you'll still end up with something. Would be what I'd think happened here.

 

[gatorforty]

I suppose too high of temp and you'll denature pretty much anything. Limit the exposure and you'll still end up with something. Would be what I'd think happened here.

That's my assessment too. Given that my strike water was 179 degrees based on my screw up, and I measured it at 179 in the Mash Tun before I doughed-in.

 

[BreezyBrew]

I'm too lazy (and maybe too cynical) to do all that calculating. I just preheat my Igloo-cooler mash tun with hot water at about 180-190 degrees fahrenheit that I pour it slowly into a quart of cold water, hoping to not shock the plastic and encourage cracks.

I stabilize the temperature at about eight degrees fahrenheit over my target mash temp after a few minutes, stir my freshly-milled grain in, and adjust as necessary with a little hot or cold water. It may not be scientific, but as a rule of thumb it works fine for me...

Yup, 8 degrees is where I'm at too.

 

[BobBailey]

If you have everything set up properly in Beersmith you should be within a degree or 2 at most. I rarely miss by more than 1 degree. Sounds like you entered something wrong this time if you usually only miss by a few degrees.