Mashing thin seems like a better choice.

[MPBeer]

Hi. I'm new to brewing, and just brewed my second (4th if I include experience with my brew teachers) batch. What comes to my mind is that getting my mash temperature stable is one of the hardest part of brewing, and last time my mash temperature was 149 to 165, I just couldn't control it. However this time, I chose to insulate my mash tun with thick blanket, and it worked pretty well. Mahsed for 45 min and only lost 2F(1C").

So, here's what I think. I heard that people who are brewing bigger batches benefits from losing less heats because of their bigger mash volume. What if I mash thinner, like 1.5~2 quarts per lb (3~4L/kg) to get my water temperature more stable? I read an article about mash thickness, and seems like mash thickness doesn't affect anything to the flavor. If I'm brewing a imperial stout with 20+ pounds of grains, I should go thicker since my 30L mash tun would be full, but else than that, seems like mashing thinner is a better choice. Am I missing something here? What do you guys think?

Cheers.

 

[Smellyglove]

Hi. I'm new to brewing, and just brewed my second (4th if I include experience with my brew teachers) batch. What comes to my mind is that getting my mash temperature stable is one of the hardest part of brewing, and last time my mash temperature was 149 to 165, I just couldn't control it. However this time, I chose to insulate my mash tun with thick blanket, and it worked pretty well. Mahsed for 45 min and only lost 2F(1C").

So, here's what I think. I heard that people who are brewing bigger batches benefits from losing less heats because of their bigger mash volume. What if I mash thinner, like 1.5~2 quarts per lb (3~4L/kg) to get my water temperature more stable? I read an article about mash thickness, and seems like mash thickness doesn't affect anything to the flavor. If I'm brewing a imperial stout with 20+ pounds of grains, I should go thicker since my 30L mash tun would be full, but else than that, seems like mashing thinner is a better choice. Am I missing something here? What do you guys think?

Cheers.

You have more thermal mass with more grains. Bigger beers have more grains and often a thicker mash. So I believe your suggestion would yield you opposite results of what you want. I believe that's the case in my brewery when I think about it. I always have 15 minutes without recirculation after dough in, and the temp drops less in my big beers (thicker mash, I do no-sparge), than smaller beers, If I remember correctly.

 

[btcost]

1.5 quarts per pound of grain is my standard.

I have a traditional flysparge system. All brew vessels are converted kegs.

I wrap my mash tun in the winter. Summer time I usually let it fly naked.
(I live in New England)

 

[Smellyglove]

To be honest I'd try looking at insulating the thing better first. I still believe you need more thermal mass than just water to get less of a temperature drop, by filling the MT more. Your mash thickness is pretty standard.

What I know helps at least, is making an insulation-cap which you place on top of the grainbed. So you don't lose heat to the headspace in your MT.

 

[FunkedOut]

More mass helps stabilize and retain temps; true.
If grist is held constant, then thinner mash has more mass.
Full volume mash (no sparge) is as thin as you can go, assuming you have the volume in your mash tun.
If not, max out that volume to get the most mass.

I’ve read that mash thickness can have an affect on fermentability of the wort, similar to what mash temperature does.
In short, thinner has the same effect as lower mash temp.
I have no experience experimenting with that variable alone and seeing how strong of a dial it is.

Keep in mind that mash thickness changes will change water chemistry considerations as well.

 

[Smellyglove]

I have not noticed any very noticable difference in fermentability when going from 3V to 2V-no sparge. I know it's in the litterature, but IRL on a homebrewscale I have not noticed much of a difference due to mash thickness.

 

[pvpeacock]

I gave up on mash thickness long ago. I just add 5 gallons of strike water no matter the grain bill is and have a few quarts of cold water handy if my mash temperature is too high after I dough in. If my mash temp. is to high, I just add cold water and stir until it reaches the right mash temp. Sometimes that means I add 2 additional quarts of cold water raising the mash volume to 5 1/2 gallons of water. Mash thickness to me is just another issue that I don't have to worry about.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I remember something from years ago that might help you.

An unknown brewer (someone may remember who this was) cut a piece of "form fitted" Pink Panther insulation and set it right on top of the mash to close it off from the air inside the cooler. Before screwing the top on. I think he put it in a plastic bag first (which doubled as a handle) to pull it out easier.

 

[RM-MN]

Hi. I'm new to brewing, and just brewed my second (4th if I include experience with my brew teachers) batch. What comes to my mind is that getting my mash temperature stable is one of the hardest part of brewing, and last time my mash temperature was 149 to 165, I just couldn't control it. However this time, I chose to insulate my mash tun with thick blanket, and it worked pretty well. Mahsed for 45 min and only lost 2F(1C").

So, here's what I think. I heard that people who are brewing bigger batches benefits from losing less heats because of their bigger mash volume. What if I mash thinner, like 1.5~2 quarts per lb (3~4L/kg) to get my water temperature more stable? I read an article about mash thickness, and seems like mash thickness doesn't affect anything to the flavor. If I'm brewing a imperial stout with 20+ pounds of grains, I should go thicker since my 30L mash tun would be full, but else than that, seems like mashing thinner is a better choice. Am I missing something here? What do you guys think?

Cheers.

Quit trying to control your mash temp, it never works out well without using an active system with pump and controlled heating like HERMS. Weigh and measure the temperature of your grains, then use a calculator to determine the proper strike temp. Stir in the grains quickly, put the lid on the mash tun and walk away. You are worrying too much about this. Most of the conversion happens quickly. The mash will be in the proper range during this time.

 

[madscientist451]

I use a round cooler, the strike calculator on the Green Bay Rackers website, usually mash about 1.25 to 1.5 qts/gallon and lay a piece of foil on top of the mash before I put the lid on. I also pre-heat the cooler with hot tap water.
I (almost) always hit the desired mash temp and it drops about 1 degree F over 60 minutes.
If I'm making a small batch, I'll use more water, and try to keep the cooler at least 3/4 full.

 

[00Seven]

I’ve got a rectangular cooler for a mash tun and it holds temp great. I run 5-6 gallons of hot water in it right from the tap and let it sit with the lid closed while I get my water to temp. Drain the water, add the grains, add the water and my temp stays about 1-2 degrees from where it was when I poured from the kettle. Try preheating your vessel then insulating it if it is losing temp too quickly.

 

[YeastHerder]

I used to do partial mashes on the stove top and I got -/+ 1F stability from wrapping the pot in lots of towels (4 to 5 big bath towels). Don't forget to put towels over the top too - heat rises and you lose a lot through the lid if you don't wrap it too. I used to stack all the handtowels on the lid, to about an inch thick of towel material. seriously.

Now that I do AG, I use a 10 gal igloo-style cooler as mash tun -- the one morebeer sells with built-in thermometer. My typical mash-in is on 4 gals water + 10lb grain. After a few trials and errors to dial in how much heat the cooler absorbs, I can now hit my desired temp -/+ 1F and it holds temp only dropping about 1F over a 60 minute mash time. As others have said, its better to err on the side of hotter so that you can add cold water if you need to knock a couple degrees off.

So, relating back to your topic, while mashing a bit thinner can increase total volume, its still critical to insulate really really thoroughly.

 

[gunhaus]

I am going to wager as this goes on you get about a billion suggestions ALL of them absolutely right. There is a bit of learning curve getting comfortable with YOUR gear and techniques and there is no cheating that! I myself am in the 1.5qt/lb crowd more or less. When mashing with my cooler set up my tun is a rectangular cooler with a copper manifold I built a LONG time ago(Back when I finally ditched my bucket in bucket!)I preheat with a couple gallons of boiling water for a few minutes. Long experience has me hitting my numbers pretty close and a smidgen of hot or cold will correct to close enough for who it is for territory. When i made my HERMS set up, I had to spend some time learning my numbers all over again - But not long and nothing drastic. Be patient it'll all come into focus with practice. And you get to drink the mistakes!

 

[Upthewazzu]

I aim for even amounts (i.e. 4.5gal or 5gal, etc) of mash water, generally around 1.4-1.5 qt/lb. Easier to measure that way, I got tired of trying to figure out what 3.72gal of water looked like.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

For minimal impact to volumes a handful of ice will cool the mash 5 or 10 degrees very quickly.

 

[stodds]

I aim for even amounts (i.e. 4.5gal or 5gal, etc) of mash water, generally around 1.4-1.5 qt/lb. Easier to measure that way, I got tired of trying to figure out what 3.72gal of water looked like.

Same here. Using beersmith, I set the water/grain ratio on my mash step until the strike volume is something easy to measure. One of my recent brews was 1.586 qt/lb to round me out. Another was 1.308.

 

[drchris83]

Remember that the buffering capacity of the mash changes when you change mash thickness. I guess most recommendations regarding grain/water ratio come from that concern more than holding the temp.

 

[doug293cz]

Remember that the buffering capacity of the mash changes when you change mash thickness. I guess most recommendations regarding grain/water ratio come from that concern more than holding the temp.

You will have to add more acid to get the pH in the proper range if you mash thinner, but that's just because when you use more water you have more alkalinity to neutralize.

Traditional water to grain ratios are more likely the result of trying to use the minimum amount of water in the mash in order to leave more for fly sparging, which results in higher lauter and mash efficiencies. The chosen thickness is then based on max thickness that is reasonably easy to stir.

Brew on