My adventures in mas tun-ing

[BlackDuck]

Sounds like things went well for you Ron. It usually only gets better as you figure out the little things and make adjustments from there. Good looking gravity sample for sure.

[RickBeer]

As far as the lifting my kettle sits on my burner as I fill it. I have my mash tun on a hydraulic table.

Of course you do. What a great solution!

[Kealia]

Mas tun-ing.

Mas is Spanish for more, right?

LOL, yeah. Since I posted that from my tablet and embedded images I can't edit the title now.

[Kealia]

Congrats on your first brew on the new setup. Looks like it's a winner, that hydro sample is beautiful. What did you brew?

A clone of Deschuete's Fresh Squeezed IPA. It's a very orange/citrus IPA that's pretty easy to drink.

IF* you are looking for a few more gravity points, here's a few things to consider:
1) What is your water to grain ratio?...I have found thinner mashes help efficiency some. That may do it for you.

It was 1.25. That's a good lever to pull next time, thanks.

2) Do you do a mashout before draining the first runnings?...The temp increase to 168* can give you a few more gravity points.

I did not, but can look at doing that next time.

quote="MadBrewer"]
3) Are you at the stage of checking mash ph?...Getting your mash ph in the correct range 5.2-5.4 can lead in an increase in conversion.[/quote]
I do adjust my water (both strike and sparge) using EZ Water Calculator but I do not have a tool to specifically check/verify the mash once it's going.

Just a few things you can look at for a few more gravity points and lock in your system if you are looking to do so. But on the other hand you did do a double sparge if I read your post right, so you might not be able to get much more unless you look to your crush.

Correct, I did do a double sparge. Thanks for your thoughts. I'm making note to add a mash out before I drain the first runnings along with increasing my water/grain ratio.

[Kealia]

I started using a bag in my mash cooler just for ease of cleaning, but found it is keeping more debris out of the boil kettle than before with just the manifold. Since you already have the bag it couldn't hurt to use it along with your false bottom, and could prevent stuck sparge.

Interesting. I found I had very little debris in the first drain (vorlauf) and think I'll hold off adding the grain bag unless I have a problem in the future. But that's a good tip to keep note of, thanks.

[Kealia]

On a side note. I would be leary of doing a full boil inside my house. I might be way off base on this but my "When in doubt take the safest course of action" mentality kicks in here. That gallon to gallon and a half of boiled off water has to go somewhere. I would be afraid of warping cabinets or creating mildew somewhere.

I appreciate the thought. I've been doing full boils (albeit smaller batches) for years now along with making soups, etc. so I'm not concerned about this now becoming an issue.

[Kealia]

Sounds like things went well for you Ron. It usually only gets better as you figure out the little things and make adjustments from there. Good looking gravity sample for sure.

Yeah, no complaints about that for sure!

[ScrewyBrewer]

Mash tun pro tip:
Place a piece of foil (or SS lid) atop the grain bed to reduce heat loss into the dead space during the mash.

Vorlauf pro tip:
Place a piece of foil atop the grain bed to prevent gouging when the wort is returned to the tun.

@HerbMeowing, I noticed too that the screw on lids of the coolers are a major source of heat loss. You provided a good tip I wouldn't have though of. Instead I used 2 large beach towels to cover my mash tun, which really cut down on the heat loss.

Really? How much heat are you losing? My cheapie 5 gallon cooler holds temp surprisingly well.

@Pudge when I touched the side of the 5 gallon cooler is was just a little warm, but the lid was real warm. After draping the large towels over the top and sides of the cooler the mash temperature dropped just a little, and the towels facing the cooler were warm to the touch.

[HerbMeowing]

I also set the tun on a blanket to keep it off the cool floor and wrap it in blankets.
Every little bit helps.

Most of the time .... the 5G tun is no more than half full (2.5G batch size).
My once-a-year barleywine is the exception.

Mash tun pro tip:
Place a piece of foil (or SS lid) atop the grain bed to reduce heat loss into the dead space during the mash.

Vorlauf pro tip:
Place a piece of foil atop the grain bed to prevent gouging when the wort is returned to the tun.

@HerbMeowing, I noticed too that the screw on lids of the coolers are a major source of heat loss. You provided a good tip I wouldn't have though of. Instead I used 2 large beach towels to cover my mash tun, which really cut down on the heat loss.

[Pudge]

Yup, didn't think of potential headspace. My tun is basically full with each brew.

[Kealia]

My typo in the title is killing me....can one of our super-powered mods fix it?

[BigPapaG]

My typo in the title is killing me....can one of our super-powered mods fix it?

Darn it... Can change one post but it doesn't stick for the next one...

Oh well!

[Beer-lord]

My typo in the title is killing me....can one of our super-powered mods fix it?

Darn it... Can change one post but it doesn't stick for the next one...

Oh well!

For some reason I can change the typo on all but your first post and am getting an IMG error and don't know why. But, at last you can rest a tiny bit easier.

[Gymrat]

This morning it was 30 degrees when I started my mash at 152 degrees. An hour and 45 minutes later it was still 151 degrees. It was 47 degrees when I took my first runnings. I didn't put a blanket on the lid. It is a ten gallon cooler. I used 4.5 gallons of water and 9 pounds of grain.