Mash in temp

[danhe]

Hi,
I'm just starting with all grain (BIAB) after extract brewing for a few years. I just joined beersmith and found a NEIPA to brew. The mash in temperature is listed as 171.3 which seems a bit high. The actual target mash temperature is not listed. A step temperature of 154 is also listed with a time of 45 min. This is probably just an issue of terminology but I thought I'd ask before ruining a lot of grain. I'd appreciate an explanation. Thanks.

 

[BOB357]

Welcome Dan.

While there's a lot of good information out there on homebrewing, there's a lot more garbage. Recipes can be misleading too. Unless the recipe comes from a known good source (brewer), you're usually better off to pass on it.

 

[GigaFemto]

The mash in temperature is the temperature of the water before adding the grains (sometimes called the strike temperature). It is generally 5-7 degrees higher than the first mash step temperature because the room temperature grains bring down the temp when they are mixed in. In order to calculate the correct temperature for the water you need to know the mass of both the water and the grain and you need to know the temperature of the grain. With BIAB you don't need to know the temperature and mass of the mash tun because the mashing vessel is heated already. A temp of 171.3 to reach 154 would require some very cold grains and a low ratio of water:grain. Without more information it is hard to say whether this is an error or not, but it does seem quite high. My temperature drops are usually closer to 4 or 5 degrees, not 17 degrees.

--GF

 

[danhe]

The mash in temperature is the temperature of the water before adding the grains (sometimes called the strike temperature). It is generally 5-7 degrees higher than the first mash step temperature because the room temperature grains bring down the temp when they are mixed in. In order to calculate the correct temperature for the water you need to know the mass of both the water and the grain and you need to know the temperature of the grain. With BIAB you don't need to know the temperature and mass of the mash tun because the mashing vessel is heated already. A temp of 171.3 to reach 154 would require some very cold grains and a low ratio of water:grain. Without more information it is hard to say whether this is an error or not, but it does seem quite high. My temperature drops are usually closer to 4 or 5 degrees, not 17 degrees.

--GF

The recipe I was looking at was the Treehouse Julius Clone dated 14 Jan 2017 by brewer Jimmy. Looking more closely, his mash has a grain temp of 34.2 F! As you said, his grains were quite cold. Recalculating for a grain temp of 70F would require a much lower strike temp. Thanks very much.