146 replies to this topic

[Jdtirado]

So I started doing my first AG brew today and have had to battle with several problems:1. The mash tun that I made didn't drain properly even with a long hose attached to it. Fortunately, I figured this out when I put my strike water in it and took a temp which was way to low, so I was putting the water back in the brew kettle to heat it up. In the end I put the braided 10 gallon round cooler with the braid hose that I had gotten with this new system.2. I bought an electronic thermometer (Polder) to measure the temp of the strike water and once I doughed in. This thermometer measured really low when compared to my analog made for brewing thermometer. The Polder had the temp at dough in at 147 and the analog at 153, so I went with the analog (for better or for worse).Note: I am really impressed at how bad the software recommended strike water temp is once you place it in the cooler and add the grain. In the future, I want to over reach the strike temp then use ice if I need to lower the water for mashing.

[Big Nake]

When I was a new AG brewer, I had a small amount of boiling water and also ice at the ready just in case. I now know how to get 'close' and I'm almost always high (LOL) so I use ice to knock it down. No worries, JD. Congrats on this... the first AG brew can be a very anxious brewday. I know I was clutching my notes to my chest and was nervous! What was I so nervous about?? Cheers.

[brewman]

I loved my first AG brew, I was nervous but all in all it went well. All the lessons learned will make be a better brewer.Dan

[MtnBrewer]

Sounds like you need to do some calibrating. The software needs to know what the thermal mass of your tun is in order to figure out what the strike water temperature should be. Given that, it's a straightforward calculation and mine hits the right temps every time.Also I wouldn't recommend mashing in high and then cooling off with ice. The higher temps will start to denature the beta amylase enzymes.

[Jdtirado]

Sounds like you need to do some calibrating. The software needs to know what the thermal mass of your tun is in order to figure out what the strike water temperature should be. Given that, it's a straightforward calculation and mine hits the right temps every time.Also I wouldn't recommend mashing in high and then cooling off with ice. The higher temps will start to denature the beta amylase enzymes.

I think that I gave the wrong impression. Before I mash in but have the water in the tun, the readings are different from each other, so I was going to add ice until the temp got to where I wanted then add the grist. Is this ok?

[HVB]

In the end I put the braided 10 gallon round cooler with the braid hose that I had gotten with this new system.

:DJohn, did you calibrate your themometers before using? I would add the grain in and see what the temp is and adjust with boiling water or ice from there. just my $0.015

[zymot]

I think that I gave the wrong impression. Before I mash in but have the water in the tun, the readings are different from each other, so I was going to add ice until the temp got to where I wanted then add the grist. Is this ok?

Depends on how much ice you add. More ice = more water, more water means you are messing with your water to grain ratio. That will mess with your mash temp. It can spiral out of control pretty easily.It is easy to get wound up and start sweating over a few/couple degrees. "Oh NO! My mash is too hot. I am cooking my enzymes to death!" I have been there, I think all AG homebrewers has been through it.Mashing is more about average temp over a long period of time. If you stick your thermometer into your mash, read it and start scrambling for ice or more boiling water, you aren't doing it right.ETA: I went with the braided hose route. I know everybody seems to be OK with theirs. After a few stuck sparges, I went with something like this. Not a problem since. https://www.williams...-P2372C141.aspx

Edited by zymot, 09 July 2012 - 09:32 AM.

[Jdtirado]

:DJohn, did you calibrate your themometers before using?I would add the grain in and see what the temp is and adjust with boiling water or ice from there. just my $0.015

Yeah I did this. Bottomline, I don't trust my newly bought thermometer and it has no way to calibrate. If only I could find the mercury thermometer that I bought.

[MtnBrewer]

I think that I gave the wrong impression. Before I mash in but have the water in the tun, the readings are different from each other, so I was going to add ice until the temp got to where I wanted then add the grist. Is this ok?

Why not just heat the water to the correct temperature to begin with?

[Big Nake]

Also I wouldn't recommend mashing in high and then cooling off with ice. The higher temps will start to denature the beta amylase enzymes.

I'm always interested in examining something a little closer. If I want to mash in the 151-152 range and my water and grains are in the MT and I'm in the 154-155 range and add 4-6 pieces of ice to cool it down, is there a problem there? I check and adjust mash temp before I do anything else (check pH or whatever) so it's a very short time and also a very short temp span. I don't need to lower it from 170 or anything... I'm just talking about a couple of degrees. Bueno?EDIT: I'm heating water in a pot on my stove and the pot has an analog thermo in it. I know the zip code of where I want to be but I'm never RIGHT on temp... I'm always adjusting.

Edited by KenLenard, 09 July 2012 - 09:35 AM.

[Jdtirado]

Why not just heat the water to the correct temperature to begin with?

Because I'm a ####ing idiot!

[MtnBrewer]

I'm always interested in examining something a little closer. If I want to mash in the 151-152 range and my water and grains are in the MT and I'm in the 154-155 range and add 4-6 pieces of ice to cool it down, is there a problem there? I check and adjust mash temp before I do anything else (check pH or whatever) so it's a very short time and also a very short temp span. I don't need to lower it from 170 or anything... I'm just talking about a couple of degrees. Bueno?

If it's for a short period of time, that's fine. But it takes 10 minutes or so for the temperature even to stabilize. It's not going to ruin the beer but you might not get exactly what you were planning on.

[Deerslyr]

Why not just heat the water to the correct temperature to begin with?

This. The spreadsheet I use takes into account the proposed volume of water, mass of the grain, the temp of the grain, and the temp of the mashtun when telling me what temp I need to heat the strike water to. It's highly accurate.However, I do have a heat-stick in my arsenal to raise the temperature. I agree with MTN that it is better to raise the temp than try to lower it. Here are the instructions. In addition to not denaturing enzymes, you also aren't thinning out the mash right away. IIRC, this guy may have had a brief presence either on the Board of Verde or here.

[Hines]

Deerslyr, can you share that spreadsheet? Seems LIke i saw one posted in the past, but I can't recall where.

[Deerslyr]

PM me your e-mail address.

[Jdtirado]

I've now recirc'd the initial running and have batch sparged with 5.6 gallons of water. The initial mash in was done with about 3 gallons of water.I now have 6 gallons prior to the boil. The specific gravity prior to boiling is 1.032 for Kenlenard's MLPA.I will try to ease up on the boil so I don't loose much more than a gallon in order to make it around 5 going into the fermenter.

[brewman]

Pics??Dan

[Jdtirado]

Pics??Dan

No pics, sorry. I'm doing this alone and wanted to focus on fixing all of my ####ups

[chadm75]

I usually shoot for my strike water being in the 165-170 range. That will get me to my 148-154 mash temp, depending on the beer of course. I remember my first AG. I think I was freaking out because my mash was like 143 and I kept adding hot water to try and get the temps up. In the end, I don't remember it being a bad beer so it must have been good. I only seem to remember the bad beers I make . RDWHAHB

[Jdtirado]

I usually shoot for my strike water being in the 165-170 range. That will get me to my 148-154 mash temp, depending on the beer of course. I remember my first AG. I think I was freaking out because my mash was like 143 and I kept adding hot water to try and get the temps up. In the end, I don't remember it being a bad beer so it must have been good. I only seem to remember the bad beers I make . RDWHAHB

Now this made me feel better