Partial mash in a sleeping bag

[progmac]

I am new to brewing. For my second batch, I want to make something like https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f62/incredible-mulks-american-cream-ale-177151/ and I notice a lot of the cream ale recipes require a partial mash.

I'm brewing on an electric stove with a 4 gallon pot and can't afford any more equipment right now. I can float grains in water, but I was a little concerned about temperature stability, so last night I ran an experiment with water.

I heated 3 gallons of water in an aluminum pot to 161.0 degrees. I covered the pot, took it off the burner and set it on the floor. Then I covered it with my sleeping bag, which is a $60 backpacking type bag. I came back forty minutes later and the temperature dropped just over two degrees to 158.8.

Partial mash, here we come!

 

[Eckythump]

Sounds like it's gonna work for you. Putting a towel under the pot may also help. This keeps the pot away from the cold floor (unless you have in-floor heating!).

 

[wilserbrewer]

You can also set the pot in a warm oven...might be easier, either will work well.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I did my first 2 PMs in a SS brew kettle. Put the lid on and it maintained temps for 30 minutes.

 

[progmac]

I did my first 2 PMs in a SS brew kettle. Put the lid on and it maintained temps for 30 minutes.

so maybe the sleeping bag is overkill? i'll run a control with no bag and see what temp drop i get.

 

[bobbrews]

I let my 3 lb. minimashes rest in a cheap 2 gallon stainless pot with a tight fitting lid.

No sleeping bag, no cooler, any of that... I experience 2-3 degree temp loss every 30 minutes. To correct this, add a bit of boiling water. Do not reheat the pot by flame. If you're really worried, you could probably use some heavy duty tin foil to wrap the pot as well as cover it with a heavy lid.

In any case, partial mash temps do not matter as much as all grain mash temps. when 50% or so of your grist comes from extract. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[motlekj06]

I went to walmart and bought a 2 gallon water cooler for like $12, cheap and effective

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Sleeping bag is a good idea! If you did a full mash it probably wouldn't be necessary as larger volumes of water hold heat better.

But personally I use a big thick blanket on my MLT, but then again it's a (probably) 10+ year old 12gal Coleman cooler I got from Savers for $5. The blanket comes in handy when I do batches with small grain bills that won't fill up the cooler that much.