Temperature Question

[pers]

I have brewed a few batches over the last few days and am a little worried I ruined them all.

All started fine with correct mash temperatures. After about 10 minutes they started to lose a degree or two so I played around with the gas burner to try and keep the temperature stable. Some required low/med or med gas to keep the temperature stable. The temperature probe was kept in the middle of the grain in my aluminum pot.

When they all finished the mash time, I removed the grains and the bag. To my surprise the wort by itself had jumped 10-20 degrees without the grain in it. I have done a couple of batches before but they never required playing around with the burner because the house was warmer. Temperature probe has been tested and is accurate.

Has anyone seen this before? Did I just screw up all these batches?

 

[m00ps]

Nah once you remove the grain, any temp fluctuations shouldnt matter, you are starting to heat it up to boiling anyway.

Even if you went up 10-20deg near the end of the mash with the grains, it wouldnt hurt the beer. This is actually called "mashing out" and I do it for all my beers. It supposedly locks in the sugar profile so theres no additional enzyme conversion going on

 

[pers]

Nah once you remove the grain, any temp fluctuations shouldnt matter, you are starting to heat it up to boiling anyway.

Even if you went up 10-20deg near the end of the mash with the grains, it wouldnt hurt the beer. This is actually called "mashing out" and I do it for all my beers. It supposedly locks in the sugar profile so theres no additional enzyme conversion going on

Great! Thanks so much, was really worried I had just ruined 4 batches.

 

[doug293cz]

If your OG's came out anywhere near where you expected them to be, then your batches are fine. If the OG's came in way low, then you effectively mashed out too soon, and your beer will be weaker than planned. In any case you will have beer after fermentation.

Brew on

 

[wilserbrewer]

I would only advocate taking a temperature after stirring well. I prefer a hand held digital that can be move around the kettle to check for variation. Leaving a probe in the mash sounds nice in theory, but isn't really needed or practical.

Best IMO to reach a stable temp, wrap the kettle in a blanket and not futz with it...

 

[DurtyChemist]

After you pour in the grains and stir let it settle for 10 minutes THEN check the temperatures. Stir after 30 minutes and check temperatures and see how much they change. I've found after stirring and waiting the temps can increase a few degrees.