[ccarlson]

Yeah, probably not to much to be learned from them. 

That's not what I said.  I said that what they do doesn't necessarily apply to what we do.

Please note smiley face.

[oscarvan]

I stir at mash in..... whatever the draw backs are, the lumps in there certainly can't be good.

[Slowbrew]

It will help your efficiency just a bit, but at some heat loss, if you're batch sparing. Just remember, stir, not wisk.

It may help your efficiency, but it didn't help mine at all.  Maybe I was stirring in the wrong direction....

In the northern hemisphere, stir clockwise; southern hemisphere, counterclockwise.  

I only stir at dough-in and mash-out. Like others have said, I just lose heat stirring any more than that.

I thought you stirred up to raise your efficiency and stir down to lower it.   

[tschmidlin]

Yeah, probably not to much to be learned from them.  

That's not what I said.  I said that what they do doesn't necessarily apply to what we do.

When you're mixing 3 tons of grain with 2000 gallons of water on a 100 bbl system, I think a constantly running mash rake would be really beneficial to make sure it is all well mixed and to break up any dough balls.  Is that not what you're doing Denny?

[ccarlson]

Yeah, probably not to much to be learned from them.  

That's not what I said.  I said that what they do doesn't necessarily apply to what we do.

When you're mixing 3 tons of grain with 2000 gallons of water on a 100 bbl system, I think a constantly running mash rake would be really beneficial to make sure it is all well mixed and to break up any dough balls.  Is that not what you're doing Denny?

Sure they have to have it to mash in, but why do they keep it going throughout the mash?

[denny]

When you're mixing 3 tons of grain with 2000 gallons of water on a 100 bbl system, I think a constantly running mash rake would be really beneficial to make sure it is all well mixed and to break up any dough balls.  Is that not what you're doing Denny?

Not for every brew, Tom....

[denny]

Sure they have to have it to mash in, but why do they keep it going throughout the mash?

Because they're not lucky enough to be homebrewers who don't have to mess with foolishness.

[ccarlson]

Sure they have to have it to mash in, but why do they keep it going throughout the mash?

Because they're not lucky enough to be homebrewers who don't have to mess with foolishness.

If they were only smart enough to realize that they don't need to stir and they only need to sparge with cold water, their life would be void of all foolishness. Maybe they do it so they don't get bored.

[denny]

If they were only smart enough to realize that they don't need to stir and they only need to sparge with cold water, their life would be void of all foolishness.

If they were homebrewers, that would probably be true.  But as I keep trying to point out, not everything needs to be the same for homebrewers and commercial brewers.  One of the many reasons I'm grateful to be a homebrewer.

[ccarlson]

If they were only smart enough to realize that they don't need to stir and they only need to sparge with cold water, their life would be void of all foolishness.

If they were homebrewers, that would probably be true.  But as I keep trying to point out, not everything needs to be the same for homebrewers and commercial brewers.  One of the many reasons I'm grateful to be a homebrewer.

I agree, as home brewers we can skirt by without doing a lot of things.  It's not like we have to meet a bottom line or anything. However, what keeps it interesting to me, is to constantly improve my system, and using efficiency as a benchmark, is a good way to tell if I'm improving or not. If that's not important to you, then I don't think you should do it either. .

[denny]

I agree, as home brewers we can skirt by without doing a lot of things.  It's not like we have to meet a bottom line or anything. However, what keeps it interesting to me, is to constantly improve my system, and using efficiency as a benchmark, is a good way to tell if I'm improving or not. If that's not important to you, then I don't think you should do it either. .

It's not that it's not important.  It's that since my efficiency is plenty good already, I'm not concerned about increasing it.  After 402 brews, my system is pretty well established and functioning well.  And since I don't brew on the scale of commercial brewers, I don't have to do it like they might.

[ccarlson]

I agree, as home brewers we can skirt by without doing a lot of things.  It's not like we have to meet a bottom line or anything. However, what keeps it interesting to me, is to constantly improve my system, and using efficiency as a benchmark, is a good way to tell if I'm improving or not. If that's not important to you, then I don't think you should do it either. .

It's not that it's not important.  It's that since my efficiency is plenty good already, I'm not concerned about increasing it.  After 402 brews, my system is pretty well established and functioning well.  And since I don't brew on the scale of commercial brewers, I don't have to do it like they might.

As I said, you probably shouldn't do it, but there are those of us that are never satisfied and we keep trying to improve. It's all part of the challenge.

[tschmidlin]

Sure they have to have it to mash in, but why do they keep it going throughout the mash?

It's powered, so no one has to physically do it and it insures good mixing by the end of the mash.  The cost for the power is very likely to be less than the cost to fix problems created by incomplete mixing.  I don't know that that's why, but it seems reasonable.

If frequently mixing your mash consistently improves your efficiency and makes you happy then keep doing it.  I'm fine either way.

[ccarlson]

Sure they have to have it to mash in, but why do they keep it going throughout the mash?

It's powered, so no one has to physically do it and it insures good mixing by the end of the mash.  The cost for the power is very likely to be less than the cost to fix problems created by incomplete mixing.  I don't know that that's why, but it seems reasonable.

If frequently mixing your mash consistently improves your efficiency and makes you happy then keep doing it.  I'm fine either way.

Thank you. 

[tubercle]

Because they're not lucky enough to be homebrewers who don'thave to mess with foolishness are pragmatic.