Strike and Sparge Water Temp Questions

[panka16]

AG noob here...first run is Thursday. Paulie's Porter! I'm having a hard time connecting the dots on water temps for sparging. My target mash temp is 154, and will be batch sparging with a home made rig from a 40 qt cooler. I used the brew365 calculator (http://www.brew365.com/mash_sparge_water_calculator.php) and it produced a strike temp of 164. The more reading I do, the more I realize that these temps have a significant impact on the final product. I guess my question is...is the target mash temp the temp I want it to be when I begin draining? Or is that the temp I want it to be while the grains soak? Or both?

This may be a stupid question...but what is the reason for a higher strike/sparge temp than the target mash temp? Heat loss in the tun?

Also, how important is it that the wort from the first run stays at that temp while the second run is going?

Cheers!

 

[wegz15]

I use a cooler as well. My strike water is heated to about 175°. I add 10° for heating of the mlt and 10° for heating of the grains. My temp is between 153-157. As for the higher sparge water I believe it is to stop the conversion of sugars. And I believe mash out is 170.

 

[ajf]

In answer to your first question, both.
The reason coolers are so popular is that they minimize the temperature drop during the mash. I typically lose about 1 degree during a 90 minute mash.
Be aware that the calculator assumes that the cooler is pre-heated to the mash temperature before the strike water and grains are added. A simple way to do this is to heat the strike water about 10 degrees higher than required, and add it to the cooler, then wait for the cooler to warm up to the required strike temperature. This is usually a little bit hotter than the calculator assumes, but the difference is too small to make a noticeable difference.
As for the second question, if you mix hot water with cold grains, the temperature of the mix will be higher than the temperature of the grains, but lower than the temperature of the water, so you add a certain amount of 164 degree water to a specified amount of grains at a certain temperature, and mix really well in a vessel that is preheated to your required mash temperature, the hot water loses some heat which is absorbed by the grains, and when everything is stabilized, the temperature of the cooler, water, and grains is your mash temperature.

Hope this makes sense

-a.

 

[panka16]

Thanks for the info!!