Should I stir or not?

[walther]

Hi,

During mash I have heard that you should not stir the grain ?

Why is that? is it oxygenation? (not a very efficient way of adding oxygen)

Normally if I wanted to extract something I would create as much movement as possible,..

Thank you,
walther

 

[BarleyWater]

It's to make sure that the temperature stays even throught the mash and create a bit of turbidity to help wash the sugars from the grains. Some people don't stir, others say it helps efficiency, I stir.

 

[Brewsmith]

Stir until the strike water is completely mixed in and there are no dry spots. I usually stir every 10 minutes or so for the first half hour of the mash just to make sure the temperature is where it needs to be. After that I leave it alone. I'm not saying don't stir after that, I'm just saying I don't need to.

 

[agentgonzo]

From what I have heard, people say not to stir the mash as then you get a lot of the flour out of the grain which can settle at the bottom and cause a stuck mash. This is probably if your manifold/false bottom is not very good. I always stir and have never had a problem since I modified my manifold to add more slots.

I vigorously stir my mash about half way through as I have found that without this, the dissolved gases in the water come out of solution during the mash, cling to the grain husks and make the grain bed float rather than compacting down into a filter bed.

 

[Sigafoos]

Do you lose any heat if you open the top of your MLT to stir? (I'm obviously thinking of a converted cooler in this scenario) It seems like it'd be harder to keep the temperature up if you were exposing the water and grains to air and then stirring it around.

 

[bradsul]

You lose heat every time you open the lid and you lose heat any time you stir. For what it's worth I was definitely in the 'stir often' camp when I started AG. Eventually I stopped stirring except at dough-in and just before vorlaufing, I had no change in my efficiency so I don't worry about it anymore.

 

[maltMonkey]

I didn't used to stir, but now I have a HERMS and whenever I recirculate I have to stir or else one part of the mash will be at 170° while the thermometer reads 149°. I always lose a few degrees when I open the lid but the HERMS quickly counteracts that. My efficiency hasn't changed since I started stirring.

 

[TexLaw]

I just stir when I mash in or add water to the mash.


TL

 

[jezter6]

+1 to the only stir when needed camp.

I stir when I mash, and I stir when I batch sparge.

 

[user 574]

I only stir at mash-in. Heat loss...

 

[Tankard]

I've been wondering about this same thing. Palmer recommends stirring every 20 minutes or so (so around 3 times during the mash) to avoid cold spots.

However, isn't it more important to keep the heat stable during the hour long mash? If there are cold spots, wouldn't these get fixed during the sparge? (especially if you let the sparge water sit for 10 minutes or so before draining?).

 

[bru-er]

I only stir at mash-in. Heat loss...

+1 I stir the heck out of the mash initially to distribute the temp. Once there are no hot/cold spots I button it up until sparge.

 

[walther]

ok,

thank you all for the replies,...

cheers,
walther

 

[ClutchDude]

+1 stirring. I stir like woah to break up any clumps of grain that might have formed.

 

[Beerthoven]

I stir really well when I mash-in, then close the cooler and leave it alone until it's time to mash-out. Add the mash-out water, stir, vorlauf, drain; add the strike water, stir, vorlauf, drain. Boil.