I’m doing my second all-grain BIAB. Some sources say to heat the water about 5 degrees hotter than Strike temp, because it cools down when you add the grain.
I heated 7.7 gals water to 158 F in a S/S kettle seeking a strike temp of 153F. I stirred the grain in, put the lid back on the pot, covered it with an old pair of insulated coveralls and waited an hour. I took the lid off, and a digital thermometer read 155 F. Temp. in the garage is about 54 F.
I then took the coveralls off , put the lid back on and measured 10 mins later. Temp now 148 F. I’m going to put the coveralls back on the pot for another 20 mins, remove the grains, take a gravity reading, and start my boil.
Next time, I’ll only heat the water to about 2 F higher than my strike temp unless I’m brewing on a much colder day.
Comments please about heating water hotter than the strike temp when you’re adding grains.
I usually heat about 10-12 degrees above my mash temp (depending on ambient temps) and keep stirring till I am down to my desired mash temp. If you’re using a cooler mashtun its much easier to lower the temp than it is to increase the temp.
[quote=“lazy ant brewing”]I’m doing my second all-grain BIAB. Some sources say to heat the water about 5 degrees hotter than Strike temp, because it cools down when you add the grain.
I heated 7.7 gals water to 158 F in a S/S kettle seeking a strike temp of 153F. I stirred the grain in, put the lid back on the pot, covered it with an old pair of insulated coveralls and waited an hour. I took the lid off, and a digital thermometer read 155 F. Temp. in the garage is about 54 F.
I then took the coveralls off , put the lid back on and measured 10 mins later. Temp now 148 F. I’m going to put the coveralls back on the pot for another 20 mins, remove the grains, take a gravity reading, and start my boil.
Next time, I’ll only heat the water to about 2 F higher than my strike temp unless I’m brewing on a much colder day.
Comments please about heating water hotter than the strike temp when you’re adding grains.
Thanks for your advice.[/quote]
It really depends on the size and temperature of your grain bill, the volume of strike water and your MT. What was the size of your grain bill? Assuming this was a 5 gal batch no sparge BIAB?
Just curious…Why are you mashing for 90 minutes?
I BIAB and use BS2 to estimate my dough in temp. It’s usually fairly accurate. You have to remember that if you cut the flame off at 158 your water temp and kettle could have gained another couple degrees as you doughed in. I’ve seen that happen before.
Plus you may have had variance in temp throughout the kettle depending on how much you stirred. Personally I would have been fine with the 155 temp and just left if wrapped up knowing I’d lose about 1 degree over a 60 minute mash.
It is a 5-gal batch, and I’m mashing for 90 minutes cause I’m a newbie and "sweat the details."More time is supposed to improve conversion and efficiency.
[quote=“lazy ant brewing”]It is a 5-gal batch, and I’m mashing for 90 minutes cause I’m a newbie and "sweat the details."More time is supposed to improve conversion and efficiency.
Thanks[/quote]
Fair enough. Did you hit your OG target? How was your efficiency?
I’m not sure I can calculate my efficiency accurately because I screwed up taking my post-boil gravity reading. I should have taken fit rom the upper portion of the kettle. Instead I took it quite close to the bottom and picked up a bunch of hops debris which I would assume would give a higher reading than normal.
Another lesson learned. The OG for the recipe was 1.042. My post mash/ gravity was corrected to 1.042 for 6.75 pre boil gravity. The post-boil gravity was 1.052 -high but I’m assuming because of measuring it with hop debris in it.
[quote=“lazy ant brewing”]I’m not sure I can calculate my efficiency accurately because I screwed up taking my post-boil gravity reading. I should have taken fit rom the upper portion of the kettle. Instead I took it quite close to the bottom and picked up a bunch of hops debris which I would assume would give a higher reading than normal.
Another lesson learned. The OG for the recipe was 1.042. My post mash/ gravity was corrected to 1.042 for 6.75 pre boil gravity. The post-boil gravity was 1.052 -high but I’m assuming because of measuring it with hop debris in it.
Do you think that would make it read too high?[/quote]
Nope. Only things that are actually dissolved in the wort will affect the reading.
[quote=“dannyboy58”]Sorry to be disagreeable but I’m not buyin’ it!
Do you have any references or data to back that up?
Watery beer? So a longer mash would decrease conversion, leaving you with less sugars in the wort? Don’t see how…
Dry? Drying the beer out has more to do with lower mash temp or pH than length of mash.
Always open to learning but all you’ve stated is an opinion. One that is contrary to most things I’ve learned in my limited experience. Enlighten me![/quote]
I’m in this camp too. There’s a fair number of folks here that do 75-90 minute mashes, and a couple that do overnight mashes, and I’ve heard no reports of thin or dry beers as a result. Matter of fact, if they were getting such results, I’m betting they wouldn’t be doing it the way they are…
?[/quote]
In theory, yes - sort of. It is very temperature dependent. If you are in the range with both alpha and beta amylase are active, you get almost complete conversion within half an hour or less. But extra time allows the beta amylase to chew down some of the more complex sugars to simpler ones that will be digestible by the yeast. This won’t go on forever though because the beta denatures and looses its ability to convert over time. As you raise the temperature, the beta denatures faster and you get less fermentable wort, regardless of the mash time. At lower temperatures, conversion takes longer, but the beta lasts longer as well and makes the wort more fermentable. If you leave the wort for a very long time at the lower end of the conversion temperature, you should eventually get very thin, dry beer. That is one of the reasons why a mashout is recommended when fly sparging (the other being that the sparge flows better at higher temperatures). Fly sparging will typically take one to several hours to complete, and the enzymatic conversion could still be taking place if the mashout isn’t performed.
In practice, I doubt anyone would be able to tell the difference in most situations. I will commonly do long mashes when I can’t get to the sparge on time, and the beer comes out fine with plenty of body.
To the point of the OP question, I think it is best to be as precise as possible, and I like the calculator at brewer’s friend: http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash/
Major factors are H20/grain ratio and starting grain temp. And make sure that the calculated water temp is applied to water already inside (and equilibrated to) the mash vessel, especially if using a cooler, since there will be a drop of a couple degrees from pot into cooler. And of course, make sure that your thermometer is accurate.
I have a brewing app for my Android smartphone, “Brewzor Calculator”. I have great success in hitting very precise mash temps. I mash in the house on the kitchen counter, but do my boil out on the patio. Sometimes I will do an overnight mash, I’ll start it about 11:30pm, get the sparge water in the kettle and on the stove (but not turned on). Go to bed, and fire up the stove when I get up between 5 and 6am. Never had a problem hitting temps, never had an issue holding temps (use a blue square cooler) and never had a problem with ‘watery’ beer, at least as a result of my mash. I’ve had mash temps fall to about 138-140F overnight, from 153-154F
