Andy's strike temp calculator question?

[RainyLion]

Does that account for pre insulated mash tuns? or is that including a certain amount of the strike water to insulate it?

thanks

[Kev888]

Does that account for pre insulated mash tuns? or is that including a certain amount of the strike water to insulate it?

I think you may have meant pre-heated rather than pre-insulated?

The strike temperature should be the (almost) stable temperature of liquor/water that the grain is just about to be mixed with, and its that temperature which andy's calculator works out for you.

As you realised, unless you pre-heat the mash tun really well then you may need to add hotter liquor initially so that it reaches the strike temperature wanted after warming the mash tun up. Unfortunately Andy's calculator doesn't calculate what that initial liquor temperature needs to be; its quite complex to calculate and everyone's tun will need a different amount of heating, and it will also change according to the batch size (or amount of liquor used).

I have run across calculators elsewhere in the past that help you calculate the heat capacity of your Mash Tun as an equivalent in water - by adding water of known temperature and measuring what the losses are. You can then more simply calculate things, just as if the MT was cold water being mixed with the warmer liquor. I have done this in the past but I find it has limits - big differences in batch size or initial temperature (from what I took my original test readings at) seem to make my calculations inaccurate; I guess as mine is a heavy stainless tank its more critical and I should have calculated it's equivalent heat capacity in various different situations.

Cheers
Kev

[Dave S]

What I usually do these days is, when I know what my strike temp is, (i've used Andy's calculator, which is great) I then heat the liquor to considerably higher, transfer to my mt and leave to fall to the strike temp. Doing this of course warms up the mt at the same time.

[Andy]

Hi, the calculator doesn't account for heat loss in the tun so either pre-heat the tun before adding the liquor or use Dave's approach.

[Martin G]

My liquor consistently drops about 5C when transfered to a cold mash tun. I also let it cool to temp in mash tun, adding 5C and aim to be just over strike temp so it cools to strike temp quite quickly. Of course, this approach only work if your approach adds grain to liquor rather than vice versa.

[guypettigrew]

Andy's strike temperature calculator is wonderful!

When I'm getting set up for a mash the liquor goes into the tun at about 80C. It's then wrapped up and I go off and have some breakfast! After about 20-30 minutes I wander back and check the liquor temperature. It's usually still a bit warm, so I jug some out and replace it with cold until the liquor is at the temperature the strike heat calculator suggests. Lots of stirring is needed here to make sure the temperature is right.

The grain goes in and 'whoopee' the mash is at the right temperature. Again, lots of stirring needed to ensure the cold grain is fully incorporated into the hot liquor.

So, whoever you are 'Andy', thanks for the calculator!

Guy

[Kev888]

So, whoever you are 'Andy', thanks for the calculator!

I wonder..

+1 though; I use it many times around each brew day - its 'very' well proven

Cheers
kev