Another brewzilla question.

[Sozzled Sab]

Hi everyone
I am looking for advice on doughing in on my brewzilla 3.1.1. My normal process is to heat the water to strike temperature with the malt pipe in place then turn off the 1900w element,lower the temperature to 66c and add the grain.so my questions are.
Should I leave the malt pipe out until strike temperature is reached?
Should I begin recirculation as soon as I
start adding the grain. After my research on various threads and you tube I cannot seem to find a definitive answer.
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Rwilts]

Well it wont be the definative answer - But what i do is -
Set the initial temperature to a few degrees above the desired mash temp, as adding the malt pipe and the grain will loose me a few degrees - Normally i just set to 70 as this gives me enough 'headroom' for any mash temp but you can actually work it out exactly.
I actually fill the brewzilla to 30 litres and then remove the excess liquid for sparging later.

I use both elements to get up to 70 . then reset the target temp to the desired mash temperature, still have both elements on.

Leave the malt pipe out until I am adding the grain.

Put pipe in and add grain etc.. the temp will drop and when it gets to (66 in your example) elements will kick in to maintain.

I always leave the mash 10 minutes before starting the circulation to ensure that the grain bed is settled. (yu can either count this towards your mash time or not dont think it makes much of a difference)

The only time i have needed to recirculate whilst mashing in was when i had a large grain bill but for an average 5kg grain bill its not necessary. Consider adding rice hulls if you have them - I add them every time irispective of grain make up.

 

[The Baron]

Very similar to Rwilts
I bring to 2 degrees above mash temp to allow for grain temp drop(i put my grain in a warm room to minimise temp drop) then mash in let it settle for 10 mins and drop the to mash temp and then drop machine heater down to about 45/50% for the mash with re-circ.
Ps I always heat the water with the malt pipe in for 2 reasons further temp drop if it is cols and 2 forgetting to put it in before adding the grain-been there done that

 

[Rwilts]

Having also left the malt pipe out once ! its a good option - for me , i prefer to see the volume of water in the boiler and , although completely unjustified, don't want the malt pipe to remove the water capacity -- I just remember the horror when i realised what I did and make sure it goes in :)

 

[The Baron]

Too many senior moments for me nowadays so always put it in