Crown urn question

[welly2]

Have to ask this in preparation for my first BIAB brew.

So I have a Crown 40L urn. I boil the water up to around 70 and a bit C and then add my grain - I've read the grain will bring the temperature down to around 66-67C, which is what you want. I leave this boiling away for an hour an a half or thereabouts and then I can get on with the next stage.

Now what I'm a little confused about is in a number of videos I've seen shows the urn wrapped up in blankets, quilts, etc. as shown in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=A5jKBOkawLc#t=74s

I'm puzzled why he (and others) needs to do that when he has an electric urn that should surely keep the temperature stable? I'm just trying to make sure I've not missed something!

Cheers!

 

[roverfj1200]

You turn the urn off before mash in don't forget the bag. I heat to 67.5 to get 65 with 4.5 kilo of grain.

After mash in and the urn is switched off you wrap the urn to keep the heat in. I loose around 1.5c on a 90 min mash.

After a mash I heat to 78 for a mash out. WARNING the bag must be off the bottom of the urn and the wort stired as you heat. don;t want to burn the bag. I have a cake rack bent in to shape to help keep the bag off the element.

You don't use the urn to keep the mash at temp.

Cheers

 

[pommiebloke]

No, you don't want the urn on while you're mashing.

You mash in at the higher temperature (strike temperature) so that after adding the grain you will be at mash temperature as the grain will absorb some of the heat. You then want to keep to within a degree or two of your mash temperature which is where the insulation comes in. With insulation I only lose about 1 degree per hour which is good enough for me.

Some people do away with the insulation and add a bit of heat part way through the mash whilst stirring to equalise the temperature throughout the grain and with the bag raised so as not to burn it. I use a cake rack to keep the bag off the bottom.

Just to re-iterate - don't have the urn on whilst mashing.

 

[welly2]

Oh ok! Gotcha. That makes sense. Alright, so I'll need to grab a cake rack then. If only this bloody Coopers DIY would hurry up and finish fermenting, then I could get onto the real stuff!

 

[seamad]

There is probably not a real need for mashout with biab and you don't need to worry about a cake rack then.

 

[Truman42]

Read this Welly2.

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/11694-a-guide-to-all-grain-brewing-in-a-bag/

You will learn a lot from this post about BIAB.

 

[Crusty]

Download BrewMate.
It's perfect for Biab & no chill.
I highly recommend a 90min sacc rest followed by a temp rise to mash out @78deg.
Rouse the mash continually when ramping from sacc rest to mash out.
I wouldn't touch the urn during the 90min rest. Just wrap it up well in a doona & leave it alone.