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Mashing Question

Dogsboll Ox

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Mar 30, 2018
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So.....Add strike water to the grains or grains to the strike water when doughing in? I've seen both and does it really matter?
 
The reasons why I do grain into strike water.  (1) I can pour the grains in as I stir to make sure I don't get dough balls, (2) I don't have to worry about grains on the bottom not wetting out and sticking to the bottom of the kettle or mash tun and lowering efficiency, and (3) it is easier to life a bucket of grains and pour than a full kettle of very hot water and pour (though I suppose if you have an HLT and gravity or pump the hot water in, that point would become moot).

Reasons that I can see why people may want to pour the water into the grains: (1) grain temperature comes up slowly (instead of the first grains being overheated and the water volume slowly cooling down to mash temperature), and I am sure there are other reasons but it really doesn't seem apparent to me right now.
 
I add grains to strike water mainly to ensure I have the right strike temp.  If I manually add water or pump it, I lose temp and both methods have a different loss rate. I can raise or lower the strike water temp easier than mash temp.
 
My strike water comes out of a boil kettle with a ball valve delivered to the tun via 3/8 hose. So for me it is water into the grain at a nice slow pace. Stir it really well after all the water is in. Palmer recommends water into the grain, but i don't know if he has a scientific reason for it.
 
Adding water first will help heat up your mash tun. One less area of heat loss you need to account for.
 
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