Circulating during mash

[Craigerrr]

Yep. Adding 168 degree sparge water only heats to 160 or so, at least in my setup.

For no scientific reasons whatsoever, and likely just from thumbing the plumb, I have always heated my sparge water to 180F

 

[Craigerrr]

Great thread subject there Dogwood, looks like you are new here, welcome to the fold. A lot of good people here on Brewer's Friend, glad to have you aboard!

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

Maybe I am a fanatic for wanting to be within a degree or two with my mash temperatures?

I watch my temperatures like a hawk. My PID overshoots and undershoots the set point like it's programmed to do, then it settles into a consistent temperature. If you can tune it correctly and you have good flow through the mash, you can hit +/- .25-.5 degrees F. Toward the end of the first step, it's not unusual to see the temperature vary about .1 degree F.

Consistently maintaining your temperatures goes a long way in be able to replicate batches and make same beer again and again. It's obviously not the only factor, but it's a big one in replicating batches consistently.

I recirculate the entire mash, start to finish. The first 5-10 minutes of the mash can be a little "doughy" and may require a stir after strike to keep the flow going. After the first 10 minutes or so the enzymes have broken down enough starches that the grain bed flows free. Some mashes don't do this and others do and I believe my grain crush is a little too fine sometimes. If the crush is too fine or if I'm using rice, it becomes a nuisance. If this happens in your case, 4-6 ounce of rice hulls per 5 gallon batch will cure this.

I have recirculate the entire mash on all my beers and have been using this method for 10 years and I'm not going back to a static mash, ever.

 

[J A]

The first 5-10 minutes of the mash can be a little "doughy" and may require a stir after strike to keep the flow going. After the first 10 minutes or so the enzymes have broken down enough starches that the grain bed flows free.

That's a great point. When I dough in, milling directly into the circulating liquor, I'm starting pretty thick and I don't stir at all and just let things sit for a few minutes, Sometimes I'll turn off the flow if it gets too sluggish to give the enzymes a chance to get started loosening things up. I don't do the first stir until I start raising temp and adding extra liquor to get to my main rest temperature and thickness.

 

[Dogwood]

Great thread subject there Dogwood, looks like you are new here, welcome to the fold. A lot of good people here on Brewer's Friend, glad to have you aboard!

Wow!! great responses and info. This is the best brewing site I have found. Great to be a member! Since starting brewing, I have been told, by fellow brewers and on line info lots of things that havent made sense such as never stir the mash after breaking up the mash. Become a better brewer I will (said in yoda speak), thanks to you all!

 

[Ward Chillington]

We stir for 2 reasons.....It was a stated best practice on one of the podcasts I was listing to...most likely Brulosphy ...since it is a good way to encourage conversation but also to prevent a compacted grain bed before. While I have never had a conversion problem, I have had a stuck sparge due to compacted mash. My experience is that different grain bills seem to behave differently in the mash even though I have been using the same strike water to grain ratio since I figured out how to compensate for that whole loss calculation thing for my rig.

 

[Head First]

Good thread for basic mashing practices. I stir because i can and for lack of other words the viscosity change in the mash. If i mash in recirculate a few minutes then stir the mash is hard and stuck together. After stiring just once it permanently changes the mash to a thinner feel. After trying this a few times it became obvious to me that what has been stated by several brewers in this thread that stiring 2 or three times during a 60min mash improves efficiency and end result with recirculation is clearer more consistent wort. So I stand on the stir 2 or 3 times at set intervals , recirculate constantly and mashout at 168f before draining to kettle or removing grain in my all in one system.

 

[56 Firedome]

Yep. Adding 168 degree sparge water only heats to 160 or so, at least in my setup.

Since you are heating the mash to 168 rather than adding Sparge water, do you include the Sparge water volume in your Strike water? Otherwise wouldn't your Kettle volume be to low?

 

[Nosybear]

Since you are heating the mash to 168 rather than adding Sparge water, do you include the Sparge water volume in your Strike water? Otherwise wouldn't your Kettle volume be to low?

No, after heating the mash to 170, I do a 170 degree batch sparge.

 

[56 Firedome]

No, after heating the mash to 170, I do a 170 degree batch sparge.

So, use RIMS to heat Mash from 156 to 170, add 170 deg Sparge water & hold for 15 min before draining into Kettle.
Per previous posts do you plan on stirring during/before draining into Kettle?

 

[Nosybear]

I haven't tested not stirring but I think there's no difference, aside from potential compaction, in moving mash through water or water through mash and my inner quality geek says fewer steps is better.