Help with PM mashing

Hello all, after doing 6-7 extract kits I did my first Partial Mash yesterday. I did the Speckled Heifer. The biggest problem I ran in to (other then the boil over . duh) was getting a mash temp reading. Even after stirring the grains I would get different reading in different spots. Following the directions I brought my 5qts of water to about 164. Poured my grains in to the bag and put in my kettle. Stirred it up and took my first temp reading. Some spots were high some were low of the 154 the sheet called for. I averaged it out and was with in the ± 2deg. So my question is is that fairly normal?? Thanks!! posting.php?mode=post&f=43#

Yeah, that’s not bad. Likely if you stirred more it would equalize more, but that’s darn close.

I noticed the same problem with the first Speckled Heifer I had done. Started using multiple grains bags. Alleviated the temperature differences slightly, but still had higher tempratures under the grain bags. I’m considering not bagging the grain in the future.