I just started with partial mash/all-grain brewing and ran into a problem with temp. control. I find it a pain to maintain a consistent temp. under a gas stove. Any suggestions on techniques or even technologies to look into to make this process a less stressful one?
Thank You,
Mash in a cooler. It’s very simple
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Same here, I mash in a cooler (5 gallon water cooler) and it keeps me within a degree or two if I’m doing a single temp for an hour+. Obligatory beer porn attached…
Since I cannot put the cooler on the heater, would I just start it in a kettle then transfer to the cooler once it is ready for the wait? Would I even use the nylon bag?
Heat your water in your pot (you will have to go somewhere between 10-15 degrees warmer than your target mash temp) and then add it to the cooler with the grain.
You may or may not need the bag depending on your filter/lauter setup. I use a screen as i learned from http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/ and never looked back.
Yes, heat the water in the kettle, then transfer to the cooler and add the grain(or add the water to the grain, whatever your preference is). You can still use the nylon bag inside the cooler, or look into converting the cooler with a stainless steel braid or a manifold for lautering. Dennybrew.com is a good place to start to get ideas for a cheap and easy ss braid setup.
I mash ^^^ in a 5 gallon cooler too. i went the nylon paint strainer bag route rather than braid. works great. During a 90min mash, I might lose 1F.
Nylon paint strainer bag for grain in 5G cooler.
Inner lid
Outer lid filled with low expansion foam.
:cheers:
You know, I was thinking about this. It should not be terribly hard to maintain a consistent temp on a gas stove. Just don’t over-compensate too much when heating. I bet once you brew this way a few times, you will have no problems.
I do love my 5 gallon cooler setup, but even with that, it takes some practice to hit the temps.
[quote=“Wahoo”]You know, I was thinking about this. It should not be terribly hard to maintain a consistent temp on a gas stove. Just don’t over-compensate too much when heating. I bet once you brew this way a few times, you will have no problems.
[/quote]The problem I see with that is that you’d have to be constantly stirring to keep the temperature even and prevent a hot spot in the bottom of the mash. I’d rather not stand there baby sit a mash for an hour. If all I had was a pot to mash in, I’d mash in and wrap the crap out of it with blankets or a sleeping bag.
