Mash temperatures

[Crusader-Rob]

Hi Everyone, as I am still coming to grips with my All Grain Setup. I have partially dialled in my Water volumes (theres still a little way to go yet). However I am trying to sort the temps out on Beersmith, as it tells me to heat my strike water to 75 deg C for a mash temp of 66.7 deg, both times i ended up with 63-64 temperature, adding 1-1.5 litres of water only raises it by about half a degree.

 I have 2 questions: 

1- how do I change the temps on beersmith to reflect the mash temperatures I'm getting so i can heat my strike water correctly and hit my mash temperatures spot on.

2-obviously a higher temperature gives more unfermentables, I tend to like my IPA's a little bit sweeter, and balance it out with hops etc. I was thinking about just heating my strike water to 80 degrees and mashing that way, then I'll probably hit a good temperature of around 69-70 degrees. is this ok?

3- what is the maximum temperature i can mash at before i start removing some bad stuff from the malt?

and finally 4- is there a ratio of unfermentables per degree of increase in temperature? i.e mashing at a certain temperature hgow much will it change my FG?

thanks all.

Rob

[John H]

Gotta love those nanna tips

 

[Druid]

.002 is pretty close - at 4 brews, I was still figuring out my what my mash efficiency was likely to be as opposed to what the software said it should be. It was a pleasant surprise to find I was outperforming it in the end!

I'll bet even the most experienced AG brewers here don't hit their boil gravities most of the time, even when they have a fair idea about how their brew kits perform - which is why they're using refractometers to dial in their sparge on a brew by brew basis.

[Crusader-Rob]

how much is a refractometer? and where can i find one?

yeah i know its close, which is fine, i'm just disappointed i ended up under volume i know not by much but still it'd be great to hit my targets once in a while. the large amount of hops didn't help, i guess i should of accounted for the amount of hops in the boil etc. a hopd bag probably helps. which im sorting out soon., that won't massively change the amount soaked up by the hops, but it'll reduce the material in the kettle...

[Druid]

https://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=719

or

https://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=1135

If you can multiply by 4, save yourself the extra cost and get the cheaper Brix only item.

It's worth repeating that unless you have tweaked the software to reflect your gear, they aren't really your targets - they are someone else's targets that have been used as default values for the software you have installed.

It's only by trial and error that you get to work out what *you* can reasonably expect out of *your* personal gear made with *your* time constraints, *your* attention to detail etc. for a given recipe type.

To increase recipe accuracy in future, you then adjust the params of your brewing software to match.

That way, you get to formulate recipes and know that you will be more likely to hit your gravities and volumes.

[Sam]

DJS brewing supplies has a 32 Brix for $56 including freight (haven't brought there before and don't know what quality it is though) http://www.djsbrewingsupply.co.nz

Are these any good for taking original and final gravity readings as well / how accurate are they? Find the hydrometer a pain to use - bubbles in the way, the liquid being higher against the hydrometer than the beer level, etc.

[Druid]

They're only directly useful for taking gravity readings on solutions in water that has no alcohol in it ie. runnings, boil and original gravities.

There is a tool though in Beersmith 2 which will calculate a partially or fully fermented gravity from a refractomter reading but it does require that you supply the the OG.

Unfortunately, I've never found it matches what my hydrometer says.  Be keen to work out how to make it work though as I hate turfing beer from the hydrometer.

[Grant R Baker]

Trademe $55 .. search on Refractometer, get the Homebrew one and not the Antifreeze one.

Big Note: these are for OG readings only.. not FG. They can be used for FG but there is a long winded calculation to be done to get an accurate reading.

See http://seanterrill.com/2011/04/07/refractometer-fg-results/ for a bigger headache.