Tempratures???

rickyboyg · Apr 20, 2012

Hi

Doing my first 5 gallon AG Ale Brew tomorrow, will post pics, don't worry!

I have my idiot sheet ready but not sure on temperatures for certain parts during the brew.

Please could someone tell me the ideal temperatures for:

strike water?
mash temp?
mash out temp?
temp to add the yeast?

many thanks in advance, Ricky

artiums_enteri · Apr 20, 2012

Strike water temp will vary with your system. With my system I heat 12 gallons of strike water to 180F. I know I will loose 10 degrees F from the hot liquor tank, through the copper heat infuser, through the pump, and back through the sparge arm before it hits the mashtun. If my mash temp is 151F, and I'm using 6.5 gallons of water with 18 pounds of grain I know that heating the 6.5 gallons of water in the mashtun to 160F. After dough-in and mixing in the grains the mash temp is 148F. Now that my hot liquor tank is at 180F recirculating the mash through the hot liquor tank the mash temp becomes 151F. This way I never over shoot my mash temp, but I can still raise the temp within minutes to my target.

The point is no one can tell you what temps will work on your system. Only you can figure that out after 20 or 30 brews on it. In time you will become consistent; of course until you decide to upgrade one piece of the brewery, then it's back to square one. A good ballpark figure is to heat your strike temp 15 degrees higher than your target mash. Have plenty of cold water on hand though in case you overshoot your mash temp.

The yeast should be pitched after a starter has been sitting for 18 hours at 65F. The wort should be as close to the temp the yeast starter has been sitting as to not shock the yeast. Usually 70 degrees is what most folks shoot for, but for some styles that might be a bit warm.

Mash out is straight forward. The enzymes stop converting at 168F. This temp should be held for 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes I start my sparge (usually 90-120 minutes.) I keep one gallon of sparge water above my grain bed as to not create channelling through the lautertun.

rickyboyg · Apr 20, 2012

Ok

Well my system is the simplest of the simple in simpletown, i.e. massive pan, homemade mash tun with filter.

Also was just planning to mix the yeast in, not do a yeast starter. Do I have to do a yeast starter and if so, how?

Ricky

graysalchemy · Apr 20, 2012

As the above says you usually lose 10c dropping your liquor into the mash. So strike temp of 76c and mash at 66c. Now to sparge you need to raise the temp to 76c so you need to add hot water at about 80-82c so that it drops back when it is put in the mash.

One thing to do is warm up you mash tun whith boiling water first and also keep your grains at room temp over night. If you don't hit your mash temp you can cool it down with cold water or add boiling water to raise it, however I have always found it is easier to lower temps than raise them. :thumb: