Hmmm, that’s all a little more ambitious than I am, especially when it comes to keeping brew in a bag simple. Next batch, I’d like to try starting the mash at 154 and just let it naturally drop over an hour mash, do a mashout, and pull the bag. I don’t think a 4-6 degree temp drop over the course of the mash is a bad thing.
If it turns out to have crappy attenuation, then perhaps brew in a bag just maybe isn’t for me. I don’t mind my cooler setup.
I experience a 4 deg temp drop regularly in my 70qt “extreme cooler”. Because I don’t pre heat. So I shoot for a mash in temp 2-3 deg above my target. The initial temp drop happens fast then it stabilizes very close to where I want it. (usually)
With biab your probably loosing temp evenly over the entire mash because of lack of insulation.?
I have been getting really dry beers on the last few batches by omitting pre heating the tuna. Mashing in at 154 and after an hour I’m at 149 - 151. Which has been great. It seems like it’s easy for me to make a really dry beer or make a really malty beer. But dialing in an exact spot in the middle is elusive at times.
mmmm tuna.
I guess I prefer my beers on the drier side, FGs of 1.010-1.014. Hate when the beer stalls out at 1.018-1.020.
I just don’t think losing a few degrees in the mash is detrimental, if bad at all. Maybe someone has some real data to say otherwise…
Either way, I’d be curious to do a brew in a bag batch without messing with the mash at all and see where it falls. Even if I lose 10 degrees…would that be bad?
[quote=“Beersk”]Even if I lose 10 degrees…would that be bad?[/quote]I don’t think it would be an issue if you match the starting temp to the desired attenuation profile - start a malty beer at 160 or a Belgian at 150 and you’ll make beer. But I find that wrapping one or two blankets around the kettle and doing one small heat addition at the 30-min mark keeps the temp within a couple degrees of the target with very little effort.
Okay, I get ya. I’ll give that a whirl on my next brew in a bag batch. I did an oatmeal stout tonight, started the mash at 155ish, dropped to 150-151 over the hour mash. That’s with my rubbermaid cooler. Not great, but I’ll take it.
