How do you strike?

[NickW]

Morning all,

Currently I heat my strike water up to temp (calculated by some online software on brewers friend I think) then add to my preheated mash tun. I add the grain in a couple of stages and stir thoroughly for 30 seconds each time.

But at the minute I'm struggling to get the temperature up to target. E.g. when I'm aiming for a 66c mash I seem to only reach 64c! So the next time I brewed I added a couple of degrees to the strike temp but had the same issues.

I have taken to having a couple of kettle fulls of boiled water on standby so I can correct the temperature.

Is there a more efficient and accurate way I can be doing this? How do you guys do it?

Cheers :thumb:

 

[bobsbeer]

You need to know the temp of your grain. That's where the heat loss is. If you keep it in a cold place such as a garage you will need a higher strike temp to overcome the heat loss. I use Beersmith and that calculates the temp of the strike water if you input the temp of the grain.

 

[graysalchemy]

I am having the same difficulties. Are you recirculating your water whilst heating it up? I empty a few buckets of water from the bottom of the HLT and put back in the top. I also have my temp probe low down.

Last time I had my strike water up to 82 and still only reached a mash temp of 65. Going to go for 90c next time. With overnight mashing I want a higher mash temp as I think you get some conversion of non fermentables to fermentables as the MT cools.

 

[NickW]

Yes bob I input my grain temperature into thecalculator too. It's strange.

Perhaps if I get my strike to a high temp then dump it in the mash tun and wait until it lowers to the desired temperature. .. then start doughing in?

 

[NickW]

GA - not exactly. I stir it well in the HLT before I take a temp reading though. I've just got a small handheld probe.

 

[Hawks]

Are you preheating your MT before you start? I chuck a kettle of boiling water in mine 20 mins or so before I am ready to dough in. As the kit is all kept in the garage I find this helps hugely :thumb:

 

[NickW]

Are you preheating your MT before you start? I chuck a kettle of boiling water in mine 20 mins or so before I am ready to dough in. As the kit is all kept in the garage I find this helps hugely :thumb:

Yep preheated for 10mins or so waiting for strike water to get to temperature

 

[abeyptfc]

I heat my water to 80 degrees, run into the MT then put the lid on for 10 mins to heat.then when it gets to 10 degrees above mash temp I add my grains in stages, giving a good stir. most of the time this gets me bang on mash temp. I keep my grains in the house so they are normally at room temp but I don't recirc my water..

 

[morethanworts]

Do you retake the water temp in the tun, before adding the grain? That seems a more consistent point of reference going forward. Up to that point, the temp of the tun and even the amount of splashing and air temperature could have some effect.

I've been pretty close and sometimes spot on in my first 5 grain brews, though I have ended up adding a touch of cold (doesn't take much cold at all - I overdid it and had to decoct once!) or stirring for longer than I wanted a couple of times. I go slightly on the high side, then stir the water in the tun to get it just right, before adding the grain. Once the grain is in, I find it's difficult to get the temp down quickly at all without adding cold, so I've quickly learnt not to be at all over at the point the grain goes in.

 

[NickW]

So... get the strike water in the mash tun and make sure it's the correct strike temp and THEN add the grain. I will try this on my next brew :thumb:

 

[beermaker]

Its a bit of a conundrum this one! When it comes to strike temp, I don't per heat my tun, I use a calculation I learnt at brewlab which factors in grain temp, desired mash temp, volume of liquor, mass of grain and the thermal coefficient of the tun which I guessed at over several brews. This works out the temp of the strike liquor which I heat in the HLT and then dump the whole lot into the tun. After that I get the malt doughed in as soon as possible by pouring in the malt and stirring with a stainless mixer. Usually gets the average mash temp within a degree of what I was aiming for. Will post the calculation up when I get home from work :thumb:

 

[morethanworts]

So... get the strike water in the mash tun and make sure it's the correct strike temp and THEN add the grain. I will try this on my next brew :thumb:

Yes, as said, works or me. I work pretty quickly once the water hits the tun though. It will quickly lose a degree or two without the grain in and lid on. You might overshoot the calcs first time, but it's still a better point of reference for me and if it's dropped more than expected getting in, I just pour back to HLT and start again.

 

[nobyipa]

what i do is

heat tun
release some liquor to heat up hlt tap
add liquor to tun minus a litre

pre heat my grain over night in brewing fridge weighed out

once liquore in tun is about 8 to 10C over addd my grain salts etc

then if needed add 1 or 2 litres of hot or cold liquor to get desired temperature
seems to work for me
:thumb:

 

[Diggerg]

Not sure on beerSmith but I use biabacus on biabrewer and it adjusts your strike temp dependant on grain temp.

 

[danb]

I seem to have beersmith just right I used to need boiling water before.
I don't preheat and underlet at the temp beersmith gives me and the last 2 brews have been on the dot.

 

[dennisking]

Underletting gives you a lot more consistency with temperature. Very rarely out by more than one degree by the time the grain bed is covered.

 

[NickW]

Dennis, excuse my ignorance but what is under letting?

 

[Runwell-Steve]

Dennis, excuse my ignorance but what is under letting?

You put the dry grains in the Mash Tun first. Then add the hot liquor in through the tap of the Mash Tun, ie you are lettting the liquor in from under the grain.

One big benefit is much less stirring is necessary.

 

[dennisking]

Putting the grain into the mash tun and filling from the bottom via the tap. The tap is connected to the HLT with a piece of tube and fed by gravity or a pump. You get very little clumping and after very little stirring it's ready to go. I pre heat the mash tun with 2 kettles of boiling water and now can fill with confidence that if the strike temperature is spot on the mash temperature will be right. Professional brewers underlett.

 

[dennisking]

Steve beat me to it.