Sous Vide Stick Mash Temp Control?

[SmallScaleOperator]

I have been mashing small batches in a five gallon round cooler. Generally around 6ish pounds of grain for 3 gallon batches. I am thinking of getting one of those Sous Vide sticks to help with mash temperature control. Does any one use one? How does it work for you, Do you have issues with clogging or lifespan? I know most of them are designed to just heat water but I remember a while ago a few people here posting that they were using them to heat and recirculate their mash.

 

[Sammy86]

I have been mashing small batches in a five gallon round cooler. Generally around 6ish pounds of grain for 3 gallon batches. I am thinking of getting one of those Sous Vide sticks to help with mash temperature control. Does any one use one? How does it work for you, Do you have issues with clogging or lifespan? I know most of them are designed to just heat water but I remember a while ago a few people here posting that they were using them to heat and recirculate their mash.

Yes, you can! People have had some good success using this method for small batches.

 

[3dB Brewing]

I've used mine on a partial mash several times (generally, 3 lbs grains in 1 gal H2O in a pasta kettle). Works well, but you have to watch for the grain bag getting sucked into the H2O inlet. I plan to make a sleeve of chicken mesh or the like to give the sous vide some space. I thought about drilling holes in an appropriate diameter PVC, but I'm afraid the unit would only circulate the wort inside the PVC -- I'm thinking I need something with structural support but very high permeability, hence the wire cage. When I get one made I'll report back on its effectiveness.

The temperature control is great. I mash in at 163, hold at 152 for 1 hr, and mash out at 168 over the last ~10 minutes. My sous vide unit is Bluetoothed to my phone, so it's super easy to control.

 

[Jhedrick83]

I never tried it as I worried about how the mash would effect the long term life of the Sous Vide stick since its only made to circulate water.

 

[3dB Brewing]

Wort is primarily dissolved sugars in water; just clean it well after mashing. This article mentions several people using Anova sous vides (my brand) for mashing, apparently for a long time and without deleterious effect. At the very end of the article is a tip for cleaning in vinegar.
https://vinepair.com/articles/sous-vide-homebrewing/

 

[Joeywhat]

I would imagine that as long as no particulate gets into the circulator, it should be fine. There are issues when using them in oil, as a lot of them have seals that break down when in contact with oil.

I'm not sure what size particulate would be an issue...I'll probably try it with mine as this seems like a great idea and way easier then how I've been doing it.

 

[Kerry]

I have used a SV to control mash temps in my BIAB test batches. I just clamp open a portion of the bag to allow insertion of the SV and simply put a screen mesh between the bag and the SV machine. I take off the sleeve that surrounds the impeller. Just have to be careful not to increase the temps too much or else you might burn the wort onto the heating element and probably ruin the SV.

 

[SmallScaleOperator]

So I have a nice big hop spyder, and I found a sous vide stick on Amazon for $60 on sale. I’m going to try it out this weekend. Any opportunity to streamline my process, I hate missing strike temps and spending 30 minutes getting my mash temp adjusted. Hopefully this will work out.

 

[ITV]

I used a hop filter with good sucess: Sous Vide with 10 Gallon Cooler Mash Tun

 

[3dB Brewing]

I used a hop filter with good sucess: Sous Vide with 10 Gallon Cooler Mash Tun

Hop filter. Brilliant. Thanks.

 

[Wigglebutts Brewery]

BIAB 5g batches: I use the Inkbird sous vide cooker to bring about 8g H20 up to mix temp (Beersmith) in 10g pot. Dial back to mash temp, add grain bag and cover up with sleeping bag. ACCO fastners hold the bag away from cooker. I'm getting 77-84% efficiency depending on amount of grain. I'm really pleased with process as the cooker is WIFI so I can start the water heating process remotely.

 

[SmallScaleOperator]

How are you all sparging?

 

[ITV]

How are you all sparging?

I heat my sparge water separately in my brew kettle.

 

[3dB Brewing]

How are you all sparging?

I also heat sparge water separately. When my partial mash fits in the pasta kettle, I put the grain bag in a colander over my brew kettle, run the wort through it, then sparge water (after it fell off one time, I made a jig from plywood, routing out a channel on the underside that fits over the edge of the brew kettle). For a larger mash I use a beverage cooler and batch sparge, drawing from the spout on the cooler.

 

[SmallScaleOperator]

For a larger mash I use a beverage cooler and batch sparge, drawing from the spout on the cooler

Oh, that is an awesome idea. I have a small beverage cooler laying around that would be perfect for this.

 

[Saunassa]

I picked up the inkbird one when they had the anniversary sale a while back and wondered how to use it. After reading the posts I will probably use it along with a small hop spider during biab between the bag and the side of the pot place it in the bag to keep the grain out the impeller. I wonder, which would work best or if i should even use the spider if i have it between the pot and bag?

 

[SmallScaleOperator]

I did a brew last weekend with my cheep Amazon sous vide stick. It worked amazingly at keeping my mash temp right where I wanted it. I used it in my hop spider, however taking a look at the size of the impeller, next time I may just put a nylon bag over the assembly to get more contact with the mash. It’s a pretty big impeller, in a fairly large housing. I really would not be concerned with a little bits of grain or husk affect it at all.
planning another brew this weekend, I’ll put up a few pictures.