The Averagely Perfect American IPA Project - Poll #11- Recommended Mash Temp

Opinions are like a-holes, this one could turn into a shit storm.

I voted for 152 based on my system taking all previous factors into account.

 

It will be interesting to see what the range that people report is. I'm not sure what conclusions we'll be able to draw from it, though. Some people know their system behavior well, others, not so much. Take me for example: My last two beers that were most similar to this both dropped from 1.062 to 1.010. One was mashed at 148F and the other was mashed at 152F. Ironically, I'm on my way to the LHBS to get a couple new lab thermometers for my mash (because misplaced mine, not because I don't trust it).

 

You have a LHBS? Or, is it still that market that has "some" homebrewing supplies?

 

It's the convenient market/liquor store (They also get the New Glarus Fingerprint beers ) with some homebrewing supplies. They do have a surprising assortment of basic equipment. Imagine a small grocery store with about 16 feet of shelving devoted to equipment, and about 4 feet of shelving devoted to ingredients. If all the beers I brewed were with extract w/ specialty grains, some basic hops, and dry yeast, I could get by. The lack of base malt grains and yeast is the big downer. If I wanted to brew a beer based on ingredients in the store today, I would have been stuck with S-33 or Nottingham. They don't get regularly resupplied. But I was able to pick up two cheapo glass thermometers for $6 a pop. Now I need to calibrate them for mashing in tomorrow.

 

This is where it gets tricky for me, this will be my first all grain batch, so I have no idea what my efficiency is. I'm planning on just following the recipe and seeing how it comes out.

 

I am sorta in the same boat. Mainly, I'm just lazy, and haven't bothered to calculate. It hasn't mattered much tho, the beer I make comes out tasty even without checking the math on efficiency.

 

For mash temp you don't pick it depending on efficiency , temp has to do with how fermentable the wort will be. Efficiency would be you might have to use more or less base malt than I. Which opens another can of worms. Some say that you only need to adjust base malt, so possibly not everyone will have the same percentage of malts.

 

I get what you are saying, my point was that I have no way to accurately predict my gravities, I'm at the mercy of my processes, which I have no experiences with.

 

How are you going to be mashing? If you're doing Brew in a Bag, you can probably expect something in the low 60s. If you're using a cooler with a manifold/false bottom/steel braid, you can probably expect something between 70 and 75%. If you're recirculating your mash, you could possibly get into the 80s or higher.

 

I'm using a cooler with a steel braid.

 

I use a rubbermaid cylindrical cooler with a steel braid and I batch sparge. I can usually expect about 75% efficiency with a beer of this size.

 

That's what I'm planning on doing, thanks for the info.

 

Same system I use. 75%. Check. Now I've done the math.

 

Thanks

 

If you know your boil off rate it's easy to fix. You can always add in DME if too low. If too high add in water.

I've been doing all grain for a while and I just got a new MT and I've been playing around with trying to use only first running. I've had to add DME in a few times. It's not a crime to miss your numbers. I think people normally just roll with it. This effect being different.

 

I figure most will take the 150, with some wanting to go to 148 or so that feel that they won't get it down low enough. I suspect that majority will do 150-152.

 

Definitely not suggesting people use my numbers, just trying to give a new person some idea of what they can expect.

 

Of course I understand. It's just that I haven't been focusing on efficiency yet. Truthfully, it's probably varied somewhat as I'm still trying to dial in the volumes and temperatures for mashing and sparging. Getting closer tho!

 

Looks like 151° may be the winner (150.7245° average right now)