Technique to add grain to strike water solo

[BrunDog]

I have an issue with this: “You want to add the water to the grain, not the other way around. Use a saucepan or a plastic pitcher to pour in a gallon of your strike water at a time and stir between infusions. Don’t try to pour 4 gallons of hot water into the infusion all at once. You don’t want to thermally shock the enzymes.”

The whole point of heating your strike water to a temperature that is higher than your grain is that once they mix, they land at your mash step temp. So my beef is two-fold: When adding water to the MLT, you have to compensate for the temp of the MLT, making it even harder to land upon your desired mash temp. Obviously software like Beersmith helps, but its still a larger difference... hence your water has to be hotter than when the MLT is preheated or the water is recirculated/heated in the MLT before the grain is added.

Second, you will not thermally shock the enzymes by pouring all your strike water in at once. If calculated correctly and combined quickly, the resulting net temp should land right at your mash temp. How will it end up hotter? Perhaps the small area of grain which receives the stream of hot water will, but that's no different than adding it in batches really.

In my system, the water and MLT are at strike temp. I pour the grain in out of a bucket in one hand while stirring quickly with the other. Rarely a DB and I always land right around at my intended mash temp. Seems like a solution looking for a problem, lol.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I do the same, I have a herms and heat the hlt to 162f, add the dry grain to the mash tun and slowly let in the water from the hlt from the bottom of the mash, the temp equals out to roughly my mash temp usually then start the circulation to get it to the exact temp, I get 85% brew house usually so I guess it works

 

[schematix]

John Palmer says to add the water to the grain, so that’s what I do. He doesn’t say why, but he says it so definitively that I wonder, who am I to argue?

If you don't know "why" it sure sounds like a good reason to question the process....

 

[nmenninga]

I have always scooped water by the pyrex quart pitcher out of my HLT (a big pot of water on the stove) onto the dry grain in my mash tun (a Gott cooler), stirring with each addition (to avoid having too much grain in contact with HLT temps), until I hit my mash temp. The first gallon or so is like stirring thick oatmeal, and I am careful to get to the bottom with my spoon to avoid dry spots. Generally my HLT temp is about 15 df higher than my first rest target, although that can vary depending on how thick I want the mash to be and the initial temperature of the grain (ie, winter vs summer). It takes a few tries to get comfortable with this technique, it helps to have a little boiling and cold water on hand on your first couple tries. Efficiencies in the 80s are typical, but mash thickness can be somewhat imprecise.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Underletting is an amazing technique and IMHO should be the one recommended to all. It's simple and incredibly effective.

1. Crush directly into MLT. Alternatively crush into bucket then dump into MLT.

2. Fill with strike water from below. This also back flushes your false bottom.

3. When all the water is in, give a good stir to loosen the bed.

I think most would be shocked how few dough balls you get this way and it doesn't require 5 minutes of stirring to break them up because there are so few. It's mostly just mixing up the dense areas. It takes a few minutes to dough in but it takes 30 seconds of stirring to homogenize.

Can't say enough good things about the technique.

I think this sounds like a great technique for those using a false bottom. I'm not sure it would be as effective with a bazooka screen like I use.

 

[schematix]

I think this sounds like a great technique for those using a false bottom. I'm not sure it would be as effective with a bazooka screen like I use.

What would be your concern?

 

[triethylborane]

Originally Posted by bleak
John Palmer says to add the water to the grain, so that’s what I do. He doesn’t say why, but he says it so definitively that I wonder, who am I to argue?

If you don't know "why" it sure sounds like a good reason to question the process....

As someone who has used protein shaker cups for a long time, I can tell you that YOU ALWAYS PUT WATER IN FIRST THEN ADD THE SUPPS! Holy smokes, that stuff turns to concrete if you put water in second.

/end irrelevant post

 

[lslbrew]

I have an issue with this: “You want to add the water to the grain, not the other way around.

I am with you on this one. Starting cold my mash tun absorbs 4 degrees. Instead of preheating the tun I increase my calculated strike temp by 4 degrees. I drain from the HLT to the MT then wait a minute or two. By then the temp is at the strike temp and I add the grains. If I did this the other way around I would have 171 degree water going directly onto the grain. That sounds more like a shock than pouring all the grain in at once and stirring into the mash temp.

 

[Cavpilot2000]

+1 for underletting.
I mill directly into my MT, then add my strike water through the bottom ball valve (from my kettle's ball valve). It can be done via gravity like I do, or by pump if your setup doesn't allow for gravity to do the work.
It is less work than any other method I've tried.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

What would be your concern?

Just that the water source would be one small point rather than basically rising up from underneath the entire grain bed. That really wouldn't be much different than pouring it from the top.

 

[brewbama]

I add hotter water than required and set an alarm a couple degrees higher than strike water target temp to heat the tun. Once it rings, the minute or so it takes to get out there and get set up to add grain is enough time for the strike water temp to hit my target temp. Then I add a little grain at a time and swish it with a whisk until all the grain is added. The key to hitting the desired mash temp is to get an accurate grain temp and plug it into a calculator. Works every time.

 

[Nmnbrewer]

All the grains at once and then a stir with a 24 inch French whisk off of amazon. Way better than any paddle.

 

[schematix]

Just that the water source would be one small point rather than basically rising up from underneath the entire grain bed. That really wouldn't be much different than pouring it from the top.

It may not be as even as if you had a full FB, but the water will in fact rise from the bottom just like with an FB...

Underletting has advantages beyond just getting the grain wet and hot.
-If done slow enough (~1 Gpm), it gives the grain time to hydrate and starches to get into solution before the beta amylase temperatres are reached and the enzymes start to degrade. This process actually works better at lower temps.

-The peak temperature isn't reached until *all* of the water is in the tun (after all, that's your heat source). When water contacts the grain the temperature will immediately drop as the grain absorbs heat from the water. So the risk of denaturing some enzymes while the mash comes to thermal equilibrium is essentially zero.

-Since you are filling the void space between the crushed grain it will better contact the pieces and hydrate them as well. There will be no dough balls.


IMHO pouring crushed grain into the water is the least preferred method
-Highest potential for thermal shock
-Highest potential for dough balls
-Dusty (!)
-Dry grain floats.

In the end all these methods will get you mashing so it's a matter of nuance really.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

It may not be as even as if you had a full FB, but the water will in fact rise from the bottom just like with an FB...

Underletting has advantages beyond just getting the grain wet and hot.
-If done slow enough (~1 Gpm), it gives the grain time to hydrate and starches to get into solution before the beta amylase temperatres are reached and the enzymes start to degrade. This process actually works better at lower temps.

-The peak temperature isn't reached until *all* of the water is in the tun (after all, that's your heat source). When water contacts the grain the temperature will immediately drop as the grain absorbs heat from the water. So the risk of denaturing some enzymes while the mash comes to thermal equilibrium is essentially zero.

-Since you are filling the void space between the crushed grain it will better contact the pieces and hydrate them as well. There will be no dough balls.


IMHO pouring crushed grain into the water is the least preferred method
-Highest potential for thermal shock
-Highest potential for dough balls
-Dusty (!)
-Dry grain floats.

In the end all these methods will get you mashing so it's a matter of nuance really.

I'm convinced. I think I'll give this a shot next time.

 

[GHBWNY]

I mix my grains in the mash tun like you would mix cement in a wheelbarrow. I fill bottom of mash tun with about 1/4 of the strike water and shut the lid for 10 min. to warm up the tun, keeping the rest of the water in the kettle up to temp. Then dump all of the grains into the tun, slowly add the rest of the strike water and stir. Never had a problem with doughballs.