anybody every use something like this ^^^ to stir the mash and raise temps for step mash?
curious if its effective without scorching if you are submersing it into mash and stirring with it until you get to desired temp…say from 145F to 159-160F.
I haven’t used it, but I don’t know how much different it’d be than using an element that’s already in the kettle like many electric brewers. I guess maybe they’re recirculating while heating…
right- I don’t have that setup using my cooler. re-circulation with a stationary element would seem necessary, but wondering if with stirring the heat stick if that’s a feasible solution.
I think it could work. You’d have to be pretty careful in a cooler, to keep it off the walls and bottom. Other tuns it’d probably work great.
yeah I read reviews on people who use it in plastic buckets of water (farmers) and as long as it wasn’t resting against the plastic, no issues melting. figuring I would be keeping it in motion in the mash, there shouldn’t be any risk of melting my cooler :o
I wouldn’t use it for direct heat with grains. That to me screams scorching.
might also come in handy for single temp mash when you accidentally under shot your target temp.
sure that’s what I’m interested in ascertaining. my though is that that constant motion it wouldn’t ever really be in contact with the same portion of mash, and perhaps scorching isn’t an issue. with a stationary element, the wrong element for sure could cause scorching.
they sell this one on amazon and at brew stores:
You should look into the Hotrod heat stick.
I use a homemade heat stick (1500 W element) to heat water and to boil wort. I do 3G batches, so 1500W is enough. I have never tried to heat my mash with the heat stick. I have read about people doing so. But, I can speak intelligently about scorching.
PS. 1500W is the highest you can go on a 15A breaker/14AWG wire. 15A is the most common circuit type in homes.
The comments indicate that it gets rusty. I’m not sure if that is systematic or one off thing. If it gets rusty, I wouldn’t use it for heating the mash.
maybe this would be a better route and only $69. use steam under pressure so no oxygen introduced, and heat the mash through steam entering the mash tun outlet valve and through my manifold into the mash bed. at 210-212F shouldn’t take long to raise 15F.
I, too, have used heatsticks (information on their construction) and occasionally to directly heat up a mash. Once in a while, a grain will stick to the heatstick but as for scorching the mash, nothing.
Using the heatsticks to heat up wort, I found on the first set that the wort will build up on the elements, eventually leaving a burnt taste in some worts. By this point the sticks broke down and needed to be replaced. Since then, I clean the sticks to prevent buildup. Thus even here, no scorching tastes in the beer.
Going back to the original question, other than the occasional sticking of the grain, there should be no scorching as long as their is liquid in the mash
I’m leaning towards the steam option. From what I’m reading and how it’s used for mash, you can expect around 3F temp increase per minute of steam. For my two step that’s about 5-6 minutes from step 1 to 2. Cheap, efficient and no scorch.
There was a user on the NB forum (beerider) who used to heat his mash with steam. If I remember correctly, he used a pressure cooker and a copper manifold.
As I lamented in a previous thread, NB recently changed their forum, and posts from before 2013 no longer seem to be accessible. It’s unfortunate, because he had posted pictures of the whole setup over there.
I found a similar guy online who uses same contraption. He drilled hole in pressure cooker, threaded it, and added an outlet that he could hook copper tube and shutoff valve. The device I found for $69 bucks seems easier and no additional work …just run hose to outlets on mash tun. I’m going for it and ordering tonight, and hope to test it out next weekend.
Sounds really interesting. I like the idea a lot. As you say, cuts out the scorching scenario.
Yeah and the expensive fixed element electric options!
Hers the article I found where he uses pressure cooker. I think that’s cool but like I said, that $69 steam generator seems a really good way to go.
http://morebeer.com/brewingtechniques/library/backissues/issue2.4/jones.html
Might be able to try it this weekend. Just got it on amazon for $77 delivered and get it Friday.