Stupid question from a newbie

[ngillman]

Hey everyone, glad to be a part of this board... I've just gotten into homebrewing, and I'm hooked! I jumped right into all grain, simply because I don't mind the extra challenge and I like the "authenticity" of it. I am currently Brewing 1 gallon, but would like to invest in a 5 gallon setup to make my time spent Brewing more cost productive.

My local brewshop sells ready made igloo 5 gal mash tun kits with the false bottom.. I want to get one but I'm just a little confused on how it works.

Are the coolers insulting properties supposed to keep the mash temperature steady during the mashing? I'm confused how I would adjust for heat loss since I don't have a heat source big enough for a 5 gal cooler, nor do I understand how you're supposed to add heat to a plastic cooler aside from adding more hot water, which would skew the recipie temps.

So do I just add the grain to the hot water and assume the cooler will keep it at the desired temps throughout the mash process, however long it is?

Thanks in advance guys, I'm trying to learn all I can.

 

[bigbeefy]

cant help you but just need to say theres no such thing as a stupid question

only stupid answers

 

[stesmi]

Yip that's how they work. Add your strike water (3 or 4 degrees higher than mashing temp - plenty of strike water online calculators) to the cooler then add your grains and stir. Top on and if it's a good one it'll hold the heat for an hour give or take a degree. Wrap with a quilted blanket or something and you're sorted. I'd get a good thermometer. If you feel temperature's getting too low, then boil some water and add to the mash until it's where it should be. :drunk:

Ps. A thicker mash will hold its mash temperature better

 

[badgerbrewer]

Hi I am returning to brewing after a long lay off but i used to brew all grain mashes and it was always my understanding that the mashing process only last about 1 hour and in that time the sugars released in the process generated enough energy to create enough heat within the mash itself to keep the temp stable to within a degree or two. As previously posted a quilted jacket will help.

 

[ngillman]

Hmm it's all making sense now.. Thanks fellas!

 

[johnnyboy1965]

You need your strike water needs to be a lot higher than 3-4oC. More like 10-12oC depending on the temp of your grain. The thicker the mash...etc. not really correct, but not incorrect...Head space in Mash Tum, Heat loss of Mash Tun. A thicker Mash will hold more heat, but not if youre loosing it through the sides.

 

[Dads_Ale]

My strike heat is 72c and once I add 5kg of grain this drops to (generally) 66c. This depends on the temp of the grain and you may to do a few brews to get it right for your equipment.
Be careful adding hot or cold water as temp can change suddenly depending on where you are taking the temp reading (stir well)

 

[Slid]

I don't particularly want to start an argument here, given that brewing is about what actually works, but the temperature of the strike water has to factor in the relative heat capacities of water (set arbitrarily at 1.00) and malted barley (on this scale around 0.38).

This means that it takes only 38% as much heat to warm a kilo of malt by 1C as it takes to heat a kilo of water by 1C. Water has a pretty impressively large heat capacity, BTW.

Perhaps this might account, in part, for the difference of arithmetic solutions expressed?

 

[stesmi]

Yip, 3 to 4c strike works for most of my profiles, but others may be more. You'll work it out yourself ngillman. Good luck

 

[crescent city Mike]

I used a false bottom for years but switched to a bazooka screen. It really works better and the wort clears faster.

The one hour mash I believe is a fallacy. Much of the conversion is done after one hour but the sugars also need to break down to give you a balanced wort. Mash for a minimum of 2 hours. If you read just a sampling of the old commercial brewing literature, that's what they did then. "Time is money" was true back then too. Try it on your next batch and you'll see a difference. If not, it only cost you an hour and you can blame me for leading you astray.