Ss brewtech mash tun temp problems

[Beenym88]

Does anyone brew with the electric ss brewtech system and have temperature problems with the mash tun. I just switched to this system it’s 3 vessel with the 2v controller. My first brew on it I had to put boiled water in to get the temp up. This time around I did strike water of 170 with 10.5 pounds of grain it dropped to 155. Now with it recirculating after 30 minutes it’s at 148. I was shooting for 152. It’s in my basement so I get that it’s cold but I’m just in sweat pants and a sweatshirt and it doesn’t feel cold. I don’t want to set the strike water ridiculously high.

 

[Maniacmcgoo]

Are you recirculating with a HERMS or RIMS or batch sparging?

 

[McKnuckle]

Is the mash tun heated? If not, then recirculating is going to cool the wort. Don't recirculate unless you are also heating. It's not truly necessary to recirc until you vorlauf. This is one of the odd things about the SS system; it seems to use the Infussion mash tun which does not have any kind of direct heating capability.

If you are using RIMS for the mash tun, then I guess it's just not tuned to keep up with the heat loss in your situation. Maybe you can run an auto-tune algorithm on it.

 

[Beenym88]

Yea you can not hit it with heat and I don’t have the rims set up. Starting to think it wasn’t worth the money.

 

[Maniacmcgoo]

I've been using the 10 gallon infussion mash tun for a while and noticed that if I preheat the tun before using it you'll have an easier time maintaining mash temp. I'm waiting on the delivery of my 20 gallon set up with RIMS so I hope that the rims will also help prevent mash temp issues.

 

[Jtvann]

It’s a very good insulated mash tun. It holds temp very well. That’s true for cold temp as well. It’s a large thermal mass to heat or cool, but once it’s there, it maintains very well.

You’ve got to give it time to stabilize. You need to preheat the mash tun, or the tun itself will suck up the heat. If you miss your temp, it’s difficult to make it up. Rims and herms do a good job in making that difference up.

You can run a test to see how much your losing to your equipment. Dump in 170 degree water ... or any hot temp that you want. Let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes. See what your temp is after waiting. If it dropped by 10 degrees, most all of that went into heating the mash tun itself. It will probably level out at say 160 and hold that temp very well for an hour.

I brew in my garage which is sometimes below freezing. I normally mash in in the 160s. This time of year I’ve had to mash in in the 170s and I’ve still undershot. I’ve been under letting my grain, and the tun wasn’t preheated. Same problem as you. My rims will bring it up though, so no problem. I’ve considered going back to heating via rims to strike temp in the mash tun and dumping the grain in that way.

 

[Hammy71]

Yea you can not hit it with heat and I don’t have the rims set up. Starting to think it wasn’t worth the money.

I came to that conclusion a couple of years ago when I bought the 20 gallon MTL from SS. As stated above, your best bet is to pre-heat the tun with about 3/4 full of 180 degree water. Then, I don't recirculate until about 15 minutes left into a 60 minute mash. On a side note, be careful saying anything bad about SS Brewtech stuff....you'll be crucified by their disciples.

 

[Beenym88]

Well one thing is I’ve been having good efficiency even with the temperature problem. When you don’t recirculate until the end do you have good efficiencies? I will definitely try pre heating the tun. I was going to do that today but I really thought I’d be good with the strike temp I used but clearly I wasn’t.

 

[Hammy71]

Well one thing is I’ve been having good efficiency even with the temperature problem. When you don’t recirculate until the end do you have good efficiencies? I will definitely try pre heating the tun. I was going to do that today but I really thought I’d be good with the strike temp I used but clearly I wasn’t.

I'm usually in the high 70s. Is that high for my system? I have no idea. But for me, knowing what I consistently get is what helps you make a good recipe/beer. On a side note, I, like many have replaced the cheap flimsy false bottom that lets grain through with a Blichmann. It fits and is a world of difference. If you aren't having a problem with grain getting through the false bottom.....good for you!

 

[Bobby_M]

You can't recirculate for the whole mash without any kind of heat input. The recirculation sheds heat through the tubing and pump so it doesn't matter how good the insulation in the tun is. Preheat well and leave the mash static unless you're ready to put a HERMS coil in the HLT.

 

[Spartan1979]

I'm usually in the high 70s. Is that high for my system? I have no idea. But for me, knowing what I consistently get is what helps you make a good recipe/beer. On a side note, I, like many have replaced the cheap flimsy false bottom that lets grain through with a Blichmann. It fits and is a world of difference. If you aren't having a problem with grain getting through the false bottom.....good for you!

Just to clarify, you are using a 10 gal Blichmann False Bottom in a 10 gal SSBT Infussion MT? I've been wondering about that as I'm not thrilled with the amount of grain the SSBT False Bottom lets through.

 

[Hammy71]

Just to clarify, you are using a 10 gal Blichmann False Bottom in a 10 gal SSBT Infussion MT? I've been wondering about that as I'm not thrilled with the amount of grain the SSBT False Bottom lets through.

I have a 20 gallon MLT from SS and I'm using the Blichmann 20 gallon. Fits perfect and is not prone to bending.

 

[Beenym88]

I haven’t had a problem with grain getting through its much better then my old cheap all in one

 

[Uke733]

Does anyone brew with the electric ss brewtech system and have temperature problems with the mash tun. I just switched to this system it’s 3 vessel with the 2v controller. My first brew on it I had to put boiled water in to get the temp up. This time around I did strike water of 170 with 10.5 pounds of grain it dropped to 155. Now with it recirculating after 30 minutes it’s at 148. I was shooting for 152. It’s in my basement so I get that it’s cold but I’m just in sweat pants and a sweatshirt and it doesn’t feel cold. I don’t want to set the strike water ridiculously high.

Not sure if this is your issue, but I have a 15 gallon SS Brewtech and I was getting a large temperature gradient across the grain bed. So I started looking a little closer and was surprised at the restriction in the SS Brewtech false bottom, the fitting/tubing on the false bottom (elbow) has an internal diameter of <3/16 of inch in diameter. I ran an "All Water" test and when I removed the false bottom connection the flow rate doubled......

I ended up getting a Spike Brewing 10gal center dip tube, it fit perfectly in my 15 Gal SS Brewtech false bottom (and new bulkhead fitting). The larger opening solved my temp problems.