Yeah, no kidding. Malt wants to become beer !
My question is how anyone knows for certain exactly what their mash temperature is, and that said mash temperature is entirely consistent throughout the mash. Granted my experience is limited to about a dozen brews since I finally was able to get back into this a few months ago, but every mash I’ve done I can get substantially different temps in different parts of the tun, or with different thermometers. The variability in different areas of the tun was much greater when I was still mashing in the BK, especially during re-heat, but it exists in the cooler also. And I’m not talking one or two degrees, even in the cooler tun there can be as much as 10 or 15 degrees difference in areas only a few inches apart, although usually it’s closer to 5 or so degrees. And yes, those differences exist after substantial stirring of the mash [which I’m aware increases the risk of oxidation from HSA].
Unless the rest of the homebrewing world knows some secrets about temp control that I haven’t yet stumbled across, I suspect there is a healthy dose of guestimating and assuming when it comes to mash temps. I would love to be able to control mash temps to 1 or 2 degrees, but have no realistic expectation of that happening any time soon.
Again I question how much any of this even matters. Why do we concern ourselves with things that probably do not matter much if at all? But of course we do. No mash tun is perfect. We could try, but I really don’t think it matters when it comes to final beer flavor, which is all that DOES matter.
If you batch sparge, you get to a boils as soon or sooner than you have if you held mash temps for 20+ min. to do a mashout. A mashout is just not necessary in batch sparging.
You should be able to get that down to 1 degree or less with enough gentle stirring.
I am not quite at the point where I am doing full all grain. Until I move into a bigger place, I’ll be doing biab.
But, I am kinda of the mind of dmtaylor. It doesn’t matter all THAT much so long as you enjoy what you brew. I’m a very technical person so I enjoy the intricacies of brewing and trying to make the best that I can make. But if it’s good in the end, I’m happy. I’ll consider what I can do better next time, but by the second or third beer, I don’t really care anymore about trying to figure out what I could do better. I just enjoy the beer 
I’ll get better as I go, but so far, I haven’t made a batch I didn’t love.
Well there was one. But I ignore that one. I steeped a chipotle pepper wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too long. Lol.
FWIW as far as mash outs are concerned, I don’t bother with trying to do one either. As Denny said, you can be up to a boil in the time it would take to do one, especially if you sparge hot. I use 185-190F sparge water which speeds up the process.
Yep. I don’t have trouble getting a uniform mash temp. I wonder about Visor’s thermometer.
For Deadpoetic 0077 - I would say that BIAB is full all grain brewing (plenty of guys here do BIAB and make fantastic beers that way). I agree with you on the fun side of things - its gotta be fun or it shouldn’t be done that way. As to the peppers (and many other spices or seasonings) - a little (sometimes surprisingly little) goes a long way in beer.
Oh I’m not say g it’s bad to do biab. Not in the least bit. I would just like to get to the point where I’m using a 3 kettle system. Kinda experience everything in the whole brew. I did my first biab for my most recent brew. Still fermenting now but the flavor from my samples for Gravity tests are AWESOME. I used brulosophys (m)Oktoberfest recipe. This is also the first time I really paid a lot of attention to fermentation temps so that could be part of it. Just glad to be getting better at this!
I did a real short step (uber hochkurz ;D) 15m per step and even then I noticed the foam improvement too. Is it necessary? I don’t know but it was noticeable and pretty cool. I use 5% flaked wheat in my infusions to achieve similar results.
It’s pretty much like anything, try things and find out for yourself and enjoy the ride. Dare I say this but I would say there is probably only a 10% difference in all various mashing techniques. I remember at one time worrying a 3 hour decoction mash would result in a super malty sweet beer and then it basically the same results as an infusion… Going back to pH, I find higher to be more malty and lower drier and the flavor impact far more than temp. That said, the grist still is king.
Of course, you can use any equipment you want to. But lemme tell ya, there’s nothing magical about a 3 kettle system that will make better beer. I have used a very basic system for 19 years and over 500 batches and I have no intention of changing. Not to mention that I’ve won a lot of awards with it. Take a look at www.dennybrew.com for how simple it can be to make great beer and have a great time doing it. And as you say, fermentation temps are what makes the difference. If you can’t control your fermentation, all the other work you’ve done is wasted.
I actually just checked that out on my lunch break! Pretty informative!
And I know the differences are minor. It’s more of a desire to give it a try to see how I like it. I should prolly check out a local brew club to actually witness a 3 tier setup. Who knows. I may like it better than Biab. But I enjoyed Biab more than extract so far. At least for this one time I have done it. Not knocking on extract, I just felt like I was a little more in control of the process.
Start simple and work up to it. That was my plan. I figured I’d use that equipment for while then get a big fancy setup. But I never found a reason to do that! If you start with a setup like mine, you can start doing AG easily and inexpensively. And nearly everything there can also be used for a bigger setup if you decide that’s what you want to do.
Never found a reason to upgrade either. I love the simplicity and consistency of cooler mashing (and dennybrew.com, too).
FWIW, I had a full PID controlled electric setup, and switched to Denny’s method. It isn’t as precise, but the beer is just as good and it’s much easier for me to setup/teardown, and clean.
One of the people who convinced me to switch to batch sparging in 1998 stopped using a full blown Sabco Brew Magic and went to batch sparging in a cooler. I had so much respect for him that I decided I needed to try it myself. I was hooked.
+1 I am 100% confident that I would not be here without trying the batch sparge. OMG the 6-8 hour brew days in the day…
The 3 tier systems seem dangerous to me and I am a pretty laidback dude.
Couldn’t agree more. I remember those long, frustrating brew days (former fly sparger back in the day). Now brew days are so much smoother and easier.
Maybe I’m getting mixed up on my terminology. I’m talking like using the dennybrew setup. That looked like what I would like to get to eventually. But for now, BIAB seems like a lot of fun and really easy to do. Who knows, I may just stay with Biab. My efficiency for my first go around was 72% and the flavor so far is good. I mean I don’t have much of a reason to change as of now.