You need to heat your strike water to your “strike” temp, not your mash temp. This temp will vary based on amount of grain and thickness of mash. Calculators exist online, and formulas can be found in how to brew.
As for keeping temp, I loose 1-2 degrees over the span of a 60-90 minute mash in my coolers. Don’t open the lid and you won’t need to worry.
You shouldn’t have to maintain a mash if it is in a cooler. You will have to bring your strike water up high enough to compensate for the grain and cooler being colder. When I use my cooler (10g igloo) I bring my strike water up to mash temp + some and use 4gal of strike water. The amount of the “+ some” depends on how cold the other things are. This time of year (in new england), I can use strike water at 162 to get a mash temp of 152. In the winter, I have to have my strike water closer to 170 to get the same result.
After mixing the stuff together in the cooler, I check the temp and then adjust with hot/cold water to get where I need to be. After doing it enough of them, you will be able to pretty reliably guess within a couple degrees.
Once things are mixed and at the right temp, I put the top on the cooler and might see 2 deg F change in 90 minutes. The cooler certainly shouldn’t be losing 10s of degrees.
Remember, you have to compensate for the thermal mass of the grain and the cooler too (unless you pre-heat it).
Agree with the two previous post. IMO, focus on learning the process and your equipment to dial in these calculations. This being your first couple batches, PH shouldn’t be a priority at this point. My $.02
I found an app for arrow water calculating it ask for mask thickness, how do I figure this out if I have 8lbs of grains?
Mash thickness ranges from 1-2 qts per pound traditionally. Many will play with varying thicknesses and settle where they feel they get the best performance. I like 1.7 qts per pound. BIAB and no sparge Brewers may use a much thinner mash.
I’d start at 1.5 and see what you think.
Thanks for the help.
I usually err on a degree or two hotter than what specific mash temp I am shooting for. It is always easier to cool down a mash with a couple ice cubes/gentle stirring vs heating up a “cooler”…
^^ No joke.
Got the ice cube trick from you and Denny here! I make mine with distilled water so as not to offset the pH too much. Works great.
Nice. I make RO cubes. Same idea !
We are definitely two beer geeks. 8)
wow all the information you guys are giving is great please don’t stop.
Jumping off of the mash temps thread, I don’t OCD about the temp anymore. I used to think I was ruining a beer when it was off a few degrees… (it doesn’t) I just get into range. Low/mid/high. Very good points already made by others, it’s all about dialing your setup in. It takes time and sometimes no matter what s*** happens. ;D Do not OCD about mash thickness either. I use 1.6qts/lb because it usually results in simple volumes of water that are nearly equal to sparge (IE 10lbs is an even 4G) This is important for instance if there is a zombie apocalypse and you are without means to measure accurately. Incidentally, a Cleveland Indians beer pitcher circa late 90’s holds exactly 2lbs of grain… Another method is to buy a nice wooden brewing spoon and add measured amounts of water in kettle (I used gallons) and immerse spoon take out and use a saw to add a band to water level. I also added a double band for 5.5G as it is my intended batch size and use the spoon to assess boil off rate.
While I agree pH is important and it can wait until you get your process sound, you should at least be mindful of your water. Do a little research. Find if your water is treated with chlorine or chloramines. These will give your beer off flavors. Pretty easy to treat with campden tabs.
PS you owe your buddy a beer for the suggestion to reheat (we’ve all done it) Congrats on your first step mash!
I use the crystal Springs bottled water nondistilled. Is there any problem with that stuff.
I would think any spring water is fine. Their water report can be found on their site, which I found below. It’s a good starting point and you can make good beer with no additions. At the very least gypsum is the most widely used addition (calcium sulfate).