Woops

[jbowers]

Hey,

So for whatever reason, after checking my temp, thought it was at 68 like planned - obviously water didn't mix properly and I just checked after 40 minutes and it was mashing at about 74. I've added cold water and its now donw to the right temp and I've taken the blankets off. Am I kind of screwed or will a 90 minute mash with the second half at the correct (or lower) temperature remedy this somewhat?

 

[pk.sax]

lose a little efficiency but will still be OK. this is just from personal exp since I've done this a few times now trying to adjust for the heat conducted back to mash by my keggle tun.

 

[jbowers]

So will having it at a lower temperature for the rest of the mash help a little with getting reasonable attenuation?

 

[pk.sax]

yea mate. So far, they've all attenuated well despite the temporary temperature mess ups. I think as long as you're within mashing range upto 75C and don't get to mashout temps, the mash still happens. Might've killed some enzymes tho, I suppose conversion will be a little lower, but it'll still happen.

Use a good attenuating yeast to make sure?

 

[jbowers]

Yeah I'm going to pitch two packs of US-05 and aerate the crap out of it. Cheers, hopefully I'll still end up with halfway decent beer. No spec grains and it's an IPA so it should be pretty forgiving if it has a little sweetness. If it's too sweet, atleast I know why...

 

[jbowers]

This being said, how long is it recommended to leave your strike water sitting before assuming it is being measured at the correct temp? I only left it a minute and obviously the water at the bottom was much much hotter...

 

[RetsamHsam]

This being said, how long is it recommended to leave your strike water sitting before assuming it is being measured at the correct temp? I only left it a minute and obviously the water at the bottom was much much hotter...

I find it always helps to give it a good mix before checking the temp..

 

[jbowers]

Also, there seems to be a drastically different temp reading between whether I have had the sleeping bag covering hte pot or not. I leave the bag off for 10 minutes, very low temp, and with it on the temp is much higher when I take it off to check. That seems odd.... right?

 

[bignath]

This being said, how long is it recommended to leave your strike water sitting before assuming it is being measured at the correct temp? I only left it a minute and obviously the water at the bottom was much much hotter...

I find it always helps to give it a good mix before checking the temp..

I have one of those small brown hot water pumps that recirculate my HLT so i know my strike water temp is accurate and i don't need to get up on my little stool and give it a stir. I can sit back, wait for it to get to temp, then transfer immediately.

I used to find (before i installed the little pump) that when the temp was at strike temp, i'd give it a stir and the temp would instantly drop anything up to 5 or 6 degrees. Can make a big difference....

 

[Yob]

I have one of those small brown hot water pumps

linky?

:icon_cheers:

 

[Bribie G]

You may well have killed most of the Beta Amylase that converts the starches into fermentable sugars, whereas the Alpha Amylase would have had a field day converting starches into dextrins, so the beer could end up with heaps of mouthfeel and body but not too alcoholic. Way to check this is to measure the FG. If it's really high (say around 1022) then that's what happened. I'd slip in a half kilo of dex myself to bolster the alc up a bit and bring it more into balance, if the ABV is a concern to you. I have made full bodied low alc beers using that exact method so I know it happens.

Happened to me earlier this year, I was doing a stepped mash with a (full strength) Pils and got completely side tracked by something, and overshot to buggery at the first step, and ended up with a mash that was 74. So I dragged it down but slipped in a kilo of extra grain to restore any beta I'd killed.

Thankfully I'd rescued it and it turned out well B)



for a really good stir/pump I'd recommend spending <$20 on one of these.

 

[bignath]

linky?

:icon_cheers:

Whilst this is not where i got mine from, it's basically this pump but mine has threaded input/output so you can fit standard fittings to it, like hose barbs, clip ons etc...

I did get mine off ebay, but i reckon it was from china. If you search for 12V Hot water solar boat pump or combinations of these you should be able to dig it up. Reckon mine was only around $25. Can't seem to find the threaded ones at the moment though.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12-Volt-Hot-Wat...=item4cfb60333a

 

[jbowers]

Cheers Bribie, the dex sounds like a good idea - was thining of adding that myself if I got really bad efficiency. Looks like my preboil volume is 1.051 though, right on target.

Any thoughts on the weird temp fluctuations between putting the thermometer in different spots/sleeping bag vs no sleeping bag? Seems strange to me... You'd think after 45 minutes the water temps would have equalised between top and bottom etc.

 

[Bribie G]

Are you talking about strike water temperature or mash temperature? I can picture hot spots and cold spots in a mash as it's quite stiff compared to plain water, are you using an urn or a "plain" pot? If it's thick based it could go on heating the mash at the bottom for a while yet. a good manual pump up and down with a paint tool is about 100% effective after doughing in, then lag the pot.

 

[jbowers]

Talking about mash temp. Might try to get my hands on a paint thingy for my next brew. Im thinking the entire mash temp wasn't as high as I read it first - just was sitting in a hot spot. Must try to even the temp out better next time as I'm sure that's not good.

 

[jbowers]

Alright, so I was 2 points under my target gravity of 1.064 - primarily because I added too much water through trying to cool the mash. If it doesnt get below 1.018 then I'll add some dex.

Cheers for all the help guys, really appreciate it.

 

[jbowers]

Seems to have already dropped down to about 1.014-1.015. Far out, im stoked. I reckon I must have just measured a hot spot in the mash. MUST STIR NEXT TIME.

Tasting murky and trubby but has a pretty outrageous hop flavour/aroma pushing through all that. Three cheers for All Grain beer making!