Missed Mash Temperature

[arringtonbp]

Whelp, I did my first all grain batch last weekend, and I have to say it wasn't as difficult as I figured it would be. The only thing I really struggled with was the water temperature. Here's what happened:

• I heated 4 gallons of water to 175-180 degrees
• I put 3.5 gallons of this water into my mash tun (rectangular 52 qt coleman xtreme) to preheat
• I allowed the temperature to drop. At about 165 degrees I started opening my bags of grain to get ready to dump them in. During this time I think I accidently left the lid off and took too long to open the grains.
• I dumped the grains in, stirred, and put the lid on. When I opened the lid back up after 5 minutes to check the temperature, the temperature read 148 degrees.
• After about another 10 minutes, the temperature read 142 degrees.
• At this point, I was already boiling a quart or two of water, and I added it to the mash
• The temperature rose all the way to 155 degrees. I stirred it some and tried to get the temperature to equalize.
• Eventually I think I settled in at about 152-154 degrees. At this point it had been mashing for 30-40 minutes

My main question is how does everyone manage the temperature so well? This was a mess! My second question would be what should I expect from my beer?!

 

[jabba11]

preheat with water other than that you plan to mash with. I just boil a kettle first thing and pour it in my tun put the lid on and shake it then let it sit while my strike water heats..then I pour out the preheat water add the strike water and mash in..also i use beersmith to determine what temp the water should be and check my grain temps etc. I hit my temps really close pretty much every time..

 

[arringtonbp]

preheat with water other than that you plan to mash with. I just boil a kettle first thing and pour it in my tun put the lid on and shake it then let it sit while my strike water heats..then I pour out the preheat water add the strike water and mash in..also i use beersmith to determine what temp the water should be and check my grain temps etc. I hit my temps really close pretty much every time..

I used BeerSmith to calculate, and I was thinking that by heating my water up past the strike temperature, I'd be able to preheat the mash tun too. What if I heated the water for my mash and for the sparge (~8 GAL) to 180 degrees, preheated the mash tun with it, then emptied off the excess water to get the correct amount for my mash?

 

[brewkinger]

First of all congrats on making beer!

Answer to first question is we manage our mash temps just like you did.
My process is the same as yours; I add most of my mash water at around 175 to preheat for about 10 min.
Usually this leaves the water at around 165 and then I dough in and stir "like it owes me money"(footnote included at bottom) and temp is usually around 155 and then I just stir until temp drops to 152 or so.
Cover and then wrap with sleeping bag. Usually check temp after 15 min and then leave for remaining 45min, cuz it stays right at temp.
IMO, the cooler type / insulation levels can play a role in temp loss, but the added blanket or sleeping bag (some use a down filled hunting coat) helps a lot.

As far as question #2: your beer will be just fine. The easy part is over and the hard part of waiting has just begun.

 

[monkeybox]

That sounds a lot like my process the first half dozen batches. Preheat, mash in, add hot water (overcorrect), add cold water (overcorrect), add hot water again, decide it's close enough.

I think (hope?) it's just a matter of getting used to your equipment (and I'm still not used to mine) and refining your process. Figuring out the corrections has helped me tune it quite a bit since I started, but I still need practice. I read that most conversion happens in the first 20 minutes, so if I'm still fussing with it after that long, I just let it go.

But you know what happened with all my batches? They all came out tasting like beer.