[denny]

I used to preheat my mash tun until I realized it was another step I could avoid and save time and effort.  I just figured out how much hotter my strike water had to be to hit mash temp without preheating.  I've done that for many years and hundreds of batches now, and al;ways hit my strike temp right on.

[HoosierBrew]

I used to preheat my mash tun until I realized it was another step I could avoid and save time and effort.  I just figured out how much hotter my strike water had to be to hit mash temp without preheating.  I've done that for many years and hundreds of batches now, and al;ways hit my strike temp right on.

Same here, Denny. If I bring my cooler in from the garage a day or two before brewing to equalize with house temps, I get a pretty reliable strike temp differential from whatever the target is. Lots of ways to get there though

[denny]

I used to preheat my mash tun until I realized it was another step I could avoid and save time and effort.  I just figured out how much hotter my strike water had to be to hit mash temp without preheating.  I've done that for many years and hundreds of batches now, and al;ways hit my strike temp right on.

Same here, Denny. If I bring my cooler in from the garage a day or two before brewing to equalize with house temps, I get a pretty reliable strike temp differential from whatever the target is. Lots of ways to get there though

I leave mine in the garage all the time, knowing that if I heat to 12-14F above my mash temp I'll be right on.

[Kevin]

Do you measure the temperature of your grain before you start? It makes a difference.

[ynotbrusum]

Maybe the opening of the mash tun multiple times/for an extended period of time may have more to do with the temperature drop than the vessel, itself?

[brewinhard]

Maybe the opening of the mash tun multiple times/for an extended period of time may have more to do with the temperature drop than the vessel, itself?

This^^^^?

[Philbrew]

My target mash temperature was 152 for my last 2 batches. Hit it right on for the first 10 minutes. At the 30 minute mark I'm down to 146. I'm using an 10 gallon igloo cooler, 5 gallon batches. Ive been adding2-4 quarts of 170 water to bring temp back up to 152. My question is it even needed? Is that an acceptable drop? Or should I be adding it even earlier to keep it right at 152 for the whole mash.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

On some coolers, sometimes water/wort can seep into the cooler's insulation space via a poor seal at the valve and cause ineffective insulating.  Pull the valve and check for liquid in the insulation space.

Also the cheaper orange Igloo coolers are not insulated as well as the spendy yellow ones.

[syncopadence]

Yeah that's quitea drop. I'd be looking for cracks/openings on your mash tun. I used a rectangular cooler for a while and it held temp great.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk