Grain to strike water, or strike water to grain?

[guildofevil]

I have always added the grain to the strike water, because everything I have read has told me to do this.

Is there any reason why you couldn't do it the other way around and put the grain into the mash tun, then add the strike water?

Just wondering.

Séan

[toneyc]

Supposedly, you'll end up with more dough balls if you add the water to the grain.

:)
Toney.

[haaseg]

hmmm...

Lately we've taken to using the sparge arm to rain the strike water in and pour the grain in at the same time.

Just have to make sure you account for a couple of things:
1.) There approx. 1 qt left in the bottom of the cooler that the sparge arm is attached to, so put an extra qt of water in
2.) You'll loose a bit of temp in the transition, so we always shoot a couple of degrees high.

Actually, we seem to be hitting our target temperatures better this way. I think it's because we get a much better water/grain distribution - no hot and cold pockets.

[Vienna Lager]

Most of the brewers I know have rectangular coolers for mash/lauter tun and put about 1 gal. strike water in bottom then start adding grain which seems to prevent stuck sparges. The initial water in the bottom of the mash tun acts like a cushion so the grains can't get jammed up and stuck in the manifold slots as easily. If you put all the grain in and then the water the weight of the water acts as a driving force that can push the grain into the manifold.

As you continue to stir add quantities of both grain and strike water till all the grain is doughed in. After all grains are in adjust mash temp up or down as need be.

[haaseg]

Originally posted by Vienna Lager
After all grains are in adjust mash temp up or down as need be.

Be slightly careful about this if you are planning on doing multiple steps. The amount of boiling water needed to bring the mash to the next temperature is dependent on the current temperature, the amount of grain, and the amount of water in the mash. If you keep adding hot water to the mash to get it a desired temperature, then you will need proportionally more water at the next step.

The danger is running out of space in the cooler. There have been two occassions where this happened to me. I just decocted 2 quarts or so out of the mash tun, brought it to boil, and circulated it back in to get to my final temperature. Beer came out fine both time this happened, but it's a bit of a pain to do an unplanned decoction mash.

[Vienna Lager]

Haas

Good recovery to what could have been a stressful brew session. You got to admit it was kind of satisfying to pull it off and end up with a good if not great beer?.

I think that is kind of the allure to us brew folk: taking some water, grains, fire and producing beer (simpflied of course) under a variety of conditions, warm, cold, snow, rain, wife, kids etc. and be creative with our ingenuity.

I have a 54 qt. 'thermos' brand rectangular cooler and what I have done for a two step temp mash is to use 1.25 qts srtike water to a pound of grain so with a 10 pound 5gal batch I am at 3.125 gals strike water for 122 degree step. Then I add about 2 gals. boiling or near boiling water to reach my target temp of 152-155 degrees. When I sparge I do a combination batch with about 2-3 gals of water then the remaining 3-4 gals I fly sparge by trickling it into the mash now turned lauter tun.

The first time I did a two step I also batch sparged and was within about 2" of the top of my cooler/tun and was a bit concerned. Now I just settle on the 122 degree step with a little stiffer mash and combo sparge. My S.G.'s are right where they should be so it must be working.

[guildofevil]

Well, I don't actually use a cooler at all.

I use a, 30 litre capacity, plastic mash tun/kettle, with electric element. I thought it was a good idea when I got it, but now I just think it's a pain in the ass.

I'm looking at building an insulated mash tun from a 25 litre cooler and using a bazooka T as a manifold. The existing set-up would be my HLT and boiler.

Séan