Water temp?

[Steveruch]

I'm giving BIAB a shot tomorrow. I'm brewing a 3 gallon batch in a 5.5 gallon pot. I'm using 8 pounds of grain and plan to mash at 152f in 3.5 gallons of water. What temp should the water be to start?

 

[Sunfire96]

~162F, assuming your grain is around room temp

 

[hamachi]

I do MIAB, and this calculator always gets me within a degree or so of the target mash temperature. I dump too-hot strike water into the cooler and let it cool to the strike temperature before dough-in.

 

[Steveruch]

Thanks.

 

[RufusBrewer]

How hard is it to raise the temperature on your rig?

One option:

Take your mash temp, add a 3-4 degrees, get your strike water to that temp. Then add your grains, stir. Wait for things to settle down a few minutes, then add heat to reach the desired mash temp.

Measurement over calculations.

 

[Monmouth00]

I've never really gotten that scientific about it. If I want to mash at 152 degrees, I generally just set the PID to 154 or 155 until it hits that temp, then dial it back immediately before mashing in.

It sometimes drops to 150 or so before coming back up. But it usually returns to my desired strike temp relatively quickly.

I know there's a problem with strike water being too hot, but is there a problem with it being too cool?

Thanks,

Monmouth00

 

[BrewZer]

@Steveruch how did your mash temp go?

I usually heat my water to 162-165, and when I add my grains, it usually drops to about 155. A couple wraps of Reflectix and a towel on the lid keeps it between there and 150 for an hour.

 

[Steveruch]

@Steveruch how did your mash temp go?

I usually heat my water to 162-165, and when I add my grains, it usually drops to about 155. A couple wraps of Reflectix and a towel on the lid keeps it between there and 150 for an hour.

I did 165 and ended up with 154 after mixing in the grains and it dropped to 152 after 35 minutes.

 

[Biggz1313]

I've never really gotten that scientific about it. If I want to mash at 152 degrees, I generally just set the PID to 154 or 155 until it hits that temp, then dial it back immediately before mashing in.

It sometimes drops to 150 or so before coming back up. But it usually returns to my desired strike temp relatively quickly.

I know there's a problem with strike water being too hot, but is there a problem with it being too cool?

Thanks,

Monmouth00

I would say if you have the ability to bring the temperature back up in a timely manner then no, can't really be "too cool." If you can't bring the temp back up then yes you could have some unintended consequences if you're wanting say a 160 mash temp, but your temp drops to 150-152 the amount of unfermentable sugars will decrease quite a bit at that lower temperature so you'll likely have a lower FG than expecting at the higher mash temp.

 

[cubalz]

For that mash temperature I would heat my strike water to 160, mash in and you should be really close to 152. If anything, you may be a couple degrees low which can be remedied with the application of heat. If you go to hot, it is a pain to keep stirring to bring the temp down to the desired range.