Preheating strike water

[blacklabbrewer]

Anyone Biab brewers out there preheat their strike water the night before? It takes me a little over 45 minutes to set up my kettle, measure water and get to strike temp, but every bit counts when you're trying to brew during the week. I figure if I get home and it's a little low I can just apply more heat. If it's a bit high I can stir for a few minutes or even hit it with an immersion chiller. I haven't ran any tests yet but I'm thinking 190-200 degrees to start would get me close to 160 after 10 hours

 

[TexasWine]

I've never done it the way you're thinking about doing it, but plenty of folks heat their water while away from the kettle.

If I were simply looking to be able to pre heat the water, I'd get one of these:

http://www.ink-bird.com/products-outlet-thermostat-c206t.html

Combined with some type of 120v heating, like a Hot Rod from Brewhardware, you could heat your water to exactly the temp you want. Of course without some sort of agitation it won't be exact, but it'll get you in the ballpark.

 

[wilserbrewer]

There is a long thread on this "I love waking up to hot strike water"

Basically any immersion type element and a cheap timer will work.

Little trickier and more money the more precise you want it to be.

Another option is to mash in and go to bed and boil the following morning. Perhaps even more time efficient as your mashing and sleeping simultaneously lol.

 

[NSMikeD]

There is an advantage to boiling your strike water in advance. I watched a recent BS prodcast that a scientist explained that tap water is high in oxygen and that some off flavors can be attributed to the oxygen in the strike water before it's boiled off. Not sure how quickly you would need to chill to strike temp and how you would seal off air and still be able to open the lid from that vacuum. But I would think the longer you can hold your strike water warm, the less O2 would be present.

 

[lebucheron]

Brewing during the week after the kids are in bed is kinda my only option too. Great idea. I'll have to experiment a bit with how hot to make the water so It'll be close to strike temp when I'm ready to brew.

 

[schematix]

There is an advantage to boiling your strike water in advance. I watched a recent BS products that a scientist explained that tap water is high in oxygen and that some off flavors can be attributed to the oxygen in the strike water before it's boiled off. Not sure who quickly you would need to chill to strike temp and who you would seal off air and still be able to open the lid from that vacuum. But I would think the longer you can hold your strike water warm, the less O2 would be present.

This is the premise of the LoDO brewing (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=580532). However it has been measured that even after 5 minutes of boiling, then immediately chilling to strike temps, that you'll still get too much O2 pick-up in the mash because diffusion from the atmosphere happens quite quickly. The solution is to boil, rapidly chill, and then add an oxygen scavenger in the form of sodium metabisulfate.

I've switched all of my brewing to this process (its a lot more work - not for the wary), but it makes a noticeably more vibrant tasting beer.

 

[NSMikeD]

This is the premise of the LoDO brewing (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=580532). However it has been measured that even after 5 minutes of boiling, then immediately chilling to strike temps, that you'll still get too much O2 pick-up in the mash because diffusion from the atmosphere happens quite quickly. The solution is to boil, rapidly chill, and then add an oxygen scavenger in the form of sodium metabisulfate.

I've switched all of my brewing to this process (its a lot more work - not for the wary), but it makes a noticeably more vibrant tasting beer.

Thanks for the information.