Wild temps in stainless steel mashtun

[fatmike1968]

For those of you that use a stainless steel mashtun, do you have problems with the mash temp going berserk? or do you have difficulty maintaining the desired temp? If you have had these problems and have ideas to right the situation, could pass them along? Any input would be greatly appreciated, as it's been two batches in a row now that have lower than expected OGs due to the mash temps not being where they should be.

 

[WBC]

1. Wrap the boiler with a radient heat foil insulator. Look in the pictures on this web site. This foil is available in home improvement stores. This also helps boilers to not loose heat so badly from prevailing wind. You need to put up a wind breaker of some sort too if you are outside. A very slight breeze will cool the vessels a lot.

 

[menschmaschine]

I've had some problems with keggle MLT mash temps, but really only with direct heat step mashing. Here are a couple recommendations based on what I did to alleviate this:
-Like WBC said, make sure it's well insulated. I put a blanket on top of the lid as well and found that to make a difference. Depending on the outdoor temperature, I don't lose that much heat anymore.
-Heat the strike water directly in the mash tun.
-If you have an installed thermometer, calibrate it frequently (I do every batch) and use an additional hand held thermometer, taking measurements at several points in the mash.
-Upon strike-in, increasing temp for step mashing (or decoction), and mash-out, stir well. Then let it rest for 5 minutes and take your temperature.

Using Beersmith's temperature calculations (entering my equipment as "Brewtree") and doing all of the above, has significantly improved my temperature accuracy.

 

[fatmike1968]

Thanks for the info - this should help. Do you have a link to the temperature calculations? or know them off the top of your head?

 

[mrk305]

If you are doing a partial mash in say a 3.5 gallon pot you can heat your water, add your steeping grains and put it in a preheated oven. For me that was better than trying to maintain temperature on the stove.

 

[menschmaschine]

Thanks for the info - this should help. Do you have a link to the temperature calculations? or know them off the top of your head?

No, I've always used software for temp calculations. Both Beersmith and ProMash have these built in and they have a free trial offer, so I would check one of those out.