Strike temp?

[arborman]

Going for my first all grain tomorrow, and I'm wondering if anyone can give me some input on my strike temp. My grain bill weight is just about 13lbs, and my mash calls for 152. I have a 10 gallon Rubbermaid as my tun. I'm coming up with a 174 strike temp, but I am unsure if that equates pre heating my tun or going in at the temp it's at. It will be in the low 50s when I brew, so the tun would be pretty cool. Should I pre heat the tun and then go 174, or not pre heat and go 174 or higher?

 

[deuce40]

http://brew365.com/mash_sparge_water_calculator.php

I use this calculator to figure everything out for my brew day. It does strike temp volumes and takes account loss to trub and equipment losses

 

[arborman]

Thanks for the link. Another question: I'm doing a 5 gallon batch, but my recipe calls for a 90 minute boil. What would be my water totals for my mash and batch sparge? I'm not savy enough yet to work out this calculations on the software!

 

[weirdboy]

With a cooler mash tun you're going to lose about .2 gallons per pound of grain to grain absorption. So 13 * .2 = 2.6 gallons. I have no idea what your boil-off rate is, but mine is about 1 gallon per hour. Assuming that, you'd add another 1.5 gallons on top to account for evaporation. So 5 + 2.6 + 1.5 = 9.1 gallons total water needed.

If you are mashing in at 1.5 quarts per pound, that would give you 13 * 1.5 = 19.5 quarts which is just about 5 gallons of strike water. The rest would then be sparge water (about 4.1 gallons).


That's using rough numbers for my system with my igloo ice cube cooler, which I tilt a bit to aid in getting more liquid out during sparge, and my Blichmann 15 gallon pot for the boil kettle. Your system might be different, so it would behoove you to figure this stuff out a bit so you can make adjustments on the fly. e.g. if you are over your estimated volume you can boil a bit longer, or if you are under you can add a bit more water to the kettle after the sparge. However my suggestion with the sparge in particular is to let your MLT continue dripping into an extra bucket after you finish your sparge. You will then be able to heat up to your boil a bit faster, while still getting the extra wort that you'd otherwise be leaving in the tun...then when the boil is getting close to a start, you can take the contents of the bucket and add it to the kettle. Usually for me this is between 1-2 quarts of extra runoff, depending upon how impatient I am with the initial sparge.

 

[arborman]

With a cooler mash tun you're going to lose about .2 gallons per pound of grain to grain absorption. So 13 * .2 = 2.6 gallons. I have no idea what your boil-off rate is, but mine is about 1 gallon per hour. Assuming that, you'd add another 1.5 gallons on top to account for evaporation. So 5 + 2.6 + 1.5 = 9.1 gallons total water needed.

If you are mashing in at 1.5 quarts per pound, that would give you 13 * 1.5 = 19.5 quarts which is just about 5 gallons of strike water. The rest would then be sparge water (about 4.1 gallons).

That's using rough numbers for my system with my igloo ice cube cooler, which I tilt a bit to aid in getting more liquid out during sparge, and my Blichmann 15 gallon pot for the boil kettle. Your system might be different, so it would behoove you to figure this stuff out a bit so you can make adjustments on the fly. e.g. if you are over your estimated volume you can boil a bit longer, or if you are under you can add a bit more water to the kettle after the sparge. However my suggestion with the sparge in particular is to let your MLT continue dripping into an extra bucket after you finish your sparge. You will then be able to heat up to your boil a bit faster, while still getting the extra wort that you'd otherwise be leaving in the tun...then when the boil is getting close to a start, you can take the contents of the bucket and add it to the kettle. Usually for me this is between 1-2 quarts of extra runoff, depending upon how impatient I am with the initial sparge.

Wow, thanks so much for,this info... It really helps. I'm getting a bit confused on what my strike temp should be. I've come up with numbers between 164 and 174. Any thoughts based on my set up? 10 gal Rubbermaid tun, 13 lb grain bill, 5 gal batch. Mash needs to be 152

Cheers!

 

[norsk]

On my system you'd shoot for 163 degree strike temp. Perhaps a degree or two higher for longer stirring of the mash...

 

[weirdboy]

Wow, thanks so much for,this info... It really helps. I'm getting a bit confused on what my strike temp should be. I've come up with numbers between 164 and 174. Any thoughts based on my set up? 10 gal Rubbermaid tun, 13 lb grain bill, 5 gal batch. Mash needs to be 152

Cheers!

This all comes down to the respective thermal masses of the grain and the liquid, the temperature of the grain, and whether you pre-heat the mash tun. So if you are using 2 quarts per pound of strike water you'll have a much different temp than if you mash at 1 quart per pound, and if the grain it 60F you'll need warmer water than if it's 70F.

On my system, strike temp would probably be around 164ish, but I put the strike water in there hotter than that to preheat, before I add the grain. So, I'd heat my strike water up to maybe 174F, put it in the tun and let it sit there for maybe 5-10 minutes waiting for everything to equalize, then open the cooler up and add the grain when the water temp drops to the 164-165F range. If you are a degree or two high, it's not a big deal because you can stir a bit longer and that will go down. And, in my experience you'll lose a degree or two over a 60 minute mash in your cooler. That is assuming you are using 1.5 quarts per pound of grain.

174F definitely sounds high to me, unless that is also counting the thermal mass of your equipment.


One last thing:


Once you mash in and stir it up really good and you're at your intended mash temp, close the cooler and LEAVE IT ALONE. Don't open it back up until your mash should be over. Every time you open the cooler you'll lose a few degrees otherwise, and it will screw up your mash temp.

 

[arborman]

Thank you guys, this is great information and will really help me out today. Ive got beersmith, but I haven't quite played with it enough to figure it out just yet.

 

[beergolf]

I use this to het my strike temp. I also preheat my cooler before hand and it is usually accurate.

http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

 

[Varmintman]

Keep some boiling water ready to pour in if your temps are low and some ice if they are to high. I figure it is better to hit low and add boiling water to bring the temp up rather than starting out high and trying to bring it down. Also it takes a few minutes for the temp to stabilize after you have mashed in so take your time and stir it well.

Once you get a idea of how your set up functions though it becomes cake to do