Yes! Finally nailed my mash temp!!!!

[kicknbrew]

I'm brewing an American all Chinook IPA right now, and FINALLY, a handfull of batches into AG - NAILED my mash at 154! It's been stable for 15 mins now, I'm in the clear!

I'll post the recipe in a bit. So happy.

 

[coypoo]

What has been giving you trouble? Too high or too low? I find its easiest to heat the strike water about 10*F greater than the calcuated strike temp and then add it to my MLT. The MLT will take a lot of that heat out, and then I will just stir it until I'm at my needed temp.

 

[Kaz]

Congrats....I had the same experience yesterday with my 2nd BIAB all grain. I was shooting for 154F and landed at 153 and held it for 60mins. After that, all my gravity numbers and volumes fell right into place. Its a good feeling

 

[kicknbrew]

Okay, the final story from the day is this:

Mashed 10# American 2 Row and 2# Crystal 20 @ 154 Degrees
Lost 3 Degrees over the hour (I need a better cooler)

Boiled an hour to get my 7 gal down to 5.5 gal for the hour boil
Added 1oz chinook pellet (11%) at 60
Added 0.5oz chinook pellet (11%) at 30
Added 0.5oz chinook pellet (11%) at 15
Added 1oz chinook leaf (13%) at 5 with whirlfloc

The wort is cooled and I'm waiting for the trub to fall, I took my hydro, and only got to 1.044! WTF!?!?!

I'm going to check again just before I pitch, but WTF? My calculations at hopville.com at 65% gave me 1.066, but I'm around 43% at 1.044... this drives my IBUs up to 83, INSANE!

Anyone who can help, please do!

 

[user 57668]

How much water did you use for your mash and sparge?

I've discovered that it takes a surprising amount of water for maximum efficiency.

 

[kicknbrew]

How much water did you use for your mash and sparge?

I've discovered that it takes a surprising amount of water for maximum efficiency.

I used 3.75 (12#*1.25qt/#) for mash
Mashout with 1 gal
First runnings with 3.0 gal
Second runnings with 1.0 gal

The mash absorbed .75gal, so I was left with 7 gallons, and ended up with a 5gal batch.

 

[user 57668]

Do you have your own grain mill, or is your grain crushed at the LHBS?

 

[BoxofRain]

Mashed 10# American 2 Row and 2# Crystal 20 @ 154 Degrees
Lost 3 Degrees over the hour (I need a better cooler)

Did you preheat your cooler? What was the air temp?

 

[kicknbrew]

Did you preheat your cooler? What was the air temp?

The 154° was after stabilization of grain temp, cooler temp, and water temp. I added 170 ° water to the cooler, which cooled down on contact to 160°, then stirred until 154.

 

[kicknbrew]

Do you have your own grain mill, or is your grain crushed at the LHBS?

I grind at home. I use a corona style mill and am constantly monitoring during my grind to balance on the line between too much flour and uncracked grains.

Thank you for the help! We'll get to the bottom of this!

 

[BoxofRain]

The 154° was after stabilization of grain temp, cooler temp, and water temp. I added 170 ° water to the cooler, which cooled down on contact to 160°, then stirred until 154.

Interesting. I haven't lost more than a degree. On colder days I've mashed indoors, though.

 

[iaefebs]

Okay, the final story from the day is this:

Lost 3 Degrees over the hour (I need a better cooler)

How many times did you open your cooler in that 1 hour?

 

[kicknbrew]

How many times did you open your cooler in that 1 hour?

Only once to add hot water to try and bring the temp up a bit around 40 minutes into the Mash. I have a digital thermometer with a wired probe so I can basically keep tabs on the temp throughout the hour.

Is that three degree drop costing me 20 points or are we getting side tracked? (That's an honest question, no attitude intended.)

 

[cadarnell]

almost had to be the crush ... I just bottled my B.E.P.A .. bad efficiency pale ale ... it was supposed to ba an IPA but I had 45% eff and made apale ale out of it ... what I did do tho that it looks like you didn't is take a pre boild gravity check .. I just took some wort and cooled it to 80* and checked as my wort was coming up to a boil .. after a few choice words for the dude that crushed it ... I made adecision to boil it for 90 mins instead of 60 and adjusted my hops for a pale ale ... I really like doing the pre boil gravity check .. and it's easy to get that small amout of wort cooled ... but my prob was the crush for sure ... it could be yours too ... good luck .. you still have beer and thats not a bad thing ...

 

[iaefebs]

Only once to add hot water to try and bring the temp up a bit around 40 minutes into the Mash. I have a digital thermometer with a wired probe so I can basically keep tabs on the temp throughout the hour.

Is that three degree drop costing me 20 points or are we getting side tracked? (That's an honest question, no attitude intended.)

Good, I found that opening the cooler is like opening the grill while cooking. The less the better. I also use a small electric blanket I throw over my cooler when it's cold out. I lose less heat that way. I personally don't worry about a 3 degree drop when it's cold outside. I try to learn my equipment so I hit my mash temp and hold it for as long as I can.... which it sounds like you did. Congrats. Summer is on it's way. As for your 20 point drop... nah that's not mash temp you are describing.

 

[kicknbrew]

almost had to be the crush ...

Yeah. Maybe I'm trying too hard to minimize flour in my crush. Next time I'll definitely tighten up on that. Good thing there's a next time.

Also, I did take a preboil, which is when I started to get concerned. I was at 1.036 and knew off the bat I was in trouble, so I took my five and a half gallon batch and made it a little under five with an extra 30-45 mins on the boil before hops.

I also learned that I'm way under efficiency on my sparge when I - out of curiosity - threw an extra gallon through the grain bed at the end and it tasted sweet still. I need a bigger brew pot, or a more efficient mash. I'm hoping the latter will be accomplished with the grind mod.

I'm still going to be around 4.5% ABV, so it's no tragedy. I'll tweak my crush and see what happens with my next one.

 

[CTownBrewer]

I've been doing a lot of research because I'm going to attempt my first all grain batch in a couple weeks. According to Palmer's How To Brew, he says he opens the lid twice to stir, once at 20 minutes & again at 40 minutes. He says if you lose 5 degrees or less during the hour mash, your efficiency should still be fine.

Is this a good rule of thumb to go by, or should I just leave the lid closed and forget stirring twice? It seems like most people mix well at the beginning & leave the lid on to minimize temp loss.

 

[cadarnell]

i stir once at 15 mins and ck temp when I'm using my cooler ... but I tell you what ... I used the bag the other night and I think I'm going back to that ... now that I've leared to get a very fine crush and I CAN squeeze the bag ... I get just as good eff. with the bag as I do the tun ... one less thing to clean and it's much easier to adjust temps in the kettle ... just my 2 cents ... cheers !!

 

[cadarnell]

Yeah. Maybe I'm trying too hard to minimize flour in my crush. Next time I'll definitely tighten up on that. Good thing there's a next time.

Also, I did take a preboil, which is when I started to get concerned. I was at 1.036 and knew off the bat I was in trouble, so I took my five and a half gallon batch and made it a little under five with an extra 30-45 mins on the boil before hops.

I also learned that I'm way under efficiency on my sparge when I - out of curiosity - threw an extra gallon through the grain bed at the end and it tasted sweet still. I need a bigger brew pot, or a more efficient mash. I'm hoping the latter will be accomplished with the grind mod.

I'm still going to be around 4.5% ABV, so it's no tragedy. I'll tweak my crush and see what happens with my next one.

so you did adjust on the fly ... great !!! ... i think one of your two hydro readings is wrong though ... and hopefully it was the second .... if you had 1036 preboil and took it from 7 to a little under 5 during the boil then you should have got a reading of about 1052 or so post boil ... so maybe it's not as off as you think .. i hope so ... the math is like this ... 36 times 7 divided by 4.9 .. that's how I got to 1052 ... good luck ...

 

[r8rphan]

Mashed 10# American 2 Row and 2# Crystal 20 @ 154 Degrees
Lost 3 Degrees over the hour (I need a better cooler)

I pre-heat my tun with 180 degree water from the HLT, heat the mash water, and dump the pre-heat water just before I do the mash...

Once I mash in, I wrap my cooler with a sleeping bag... Temp will not drop even one degree in more than an hour... even in subfreezing temps...

 

[r8rphan]

almost had to be the crush ... I just bottled my B.E.P.A .. bad efficiency pale ale ... it was supposed to ba an IPA but I had 45% eff and made apale ale out of it ... what I did do tho that it looks like you didn't is take a pre boild gravity check .. I just took some wort and cooled it to 80* and checked as my wort was coming up to a boil .. after a few choice words for the dude that crushed it ... I made adecision to boil it for 90 mins instead of 60 and adjusted my hops for a pale ale ... I really like doing the pre boil gravity check .. and it's easy to get that small amout of wort cooled ... but my prob was the crush for sure ... it could be yours too ... good luck .. you still have beer and thats not a bad thing ...

I was getting efficiencies in the 50-55% range with LHBS crushed grains... I just did my second batch with my new C&S 3 roller mill... Both of those batches have had efficiencies of 80% or over.. The beer is better tasting, clearer, with less sediment... and ferments sooner... The whole brew day is faster and smoother and more enjoyable..

Buy your own mill....
You'll be soooo glad you did...

 

[cadarnell]

I was getting efficiencies in the 50-55% range with LHBS crushed grains... I just did my second batch with my new C&S 3 roller mill... Both of those batches have had efficiencies of 80% or over.. The beer is better tasting, clearer, with less sediment... and ferments sooner... The whole brew day is faster and smoother and more enjoyable..

Buy your own mill....
You'll be soooo glad you did...

yea .. I will someday ... but I do think I know now what I am looking at ... I've really just started this hobby and when I saw that crush I knew it didn't look like the others I had from them, but like a NOOB will do, I brewed on ... I am picking up equipment slowly, with the money I used to spend at the beer store ... it's a great thing this brewing .. great for the wallet and unfortunately the belly ... haha .. I love it ... cheers !!

 

[r8rphan]

yea .. I will someday ... but I do think I know now what I am looking at ... I've really just started this hobby and when I saw that crush I knew it didn't look like the others I had from them, but like a NOOB will do, I brewed on ... I am picking up equipment slowly, with the money I used to spend at the beer store ... it's a great thing this brewing .. great for the wallet and unfortunately the belly ... haha .. I love it ... cheers !!

Had I known what a difference it would make in every facet of brewing (including taste) I would have made it more of a priority much sooner... It will pay for itself in 10-12 batches when I consider all the grain I was just 'wasting'...

BTW, download a copy of Brew Target here on HBT... It is free (shareware.. make donations if you like it).. It has also helped me dial everything in... I'm hitting every target now spot on, from temps, to gravities, volumes, etc.. all right on the money..

 

[kicknbrew]

So can we take this thread into crush size? I'm sure there's some out there, but what do those who've been monitoring this thread crush to? AKA: How much flour is acceptable, how fine, etc.

I did a search on this before but didn't come up with much.

 

[iaefebs]

I pre-heat my tun with 180 degree water from the HLT, heat the mash water, and dump the pre-heat water just before I do the mash...

Once I mash in, I wrap my cooler with a sleeping bag... Temp will not drop even one degree in more than an hour... even in subfreezing temps...

I just use my mash water heated to around 12° higher than beersmith calls for. Depending on final mash temp this means I heat my water to between 175° to 183°. I pour that in the cooler and let it sit 10 minutes, this will drop the temp to what beersmith calls for. Then add my grains and stir. I hit my mash temp pretty consistent that way.

 

[iaefebs]

So can we take this thread into crush size? I'm sure there's some out there, but what do those who've been monitoring this thread crush to? AKA: How much flour is acceptable, how fine, etc.

I did a search on this before but didn't come up with much.

Yeah should probably start a new thread. The subject was happy to finally hit mash temp. If you are now wanting to know about efficiency that would be another thread.

 

[kicknbrew]

Thanks everyone. I'll call this a successful thread.

 

[r8rphan]

I crush at 0.35.. Was thinking it was 0.40... but it was 0.35"..

That is with the C&S 3D though.. 2 rollers are rougher on the husks than 3 rollers...

It also varies with what method of lauter you use... I use a copper manifold with the 3 roller mill set to 0.35"... Not even close to a stuck sparge.. There's a good 1/2" or so layer of flour sitting on top of the grain bed after lautering...

With the LHBS crushed grain, there was no flour sitting on top at all afterwards....