Stirring the Mash Question

You only need to stir the grains in the beginning of the mash. The concept is you need to ensure adequate mixing (e.g., no dough balls) and even temperature throughout the mash. In my homebrewery I find I only need to stir for 5 minutes to accomplish this.

Cheers!

 

Frequent/constant stirring (or recirculation) can increase mash efficiency under some circumstances. Mash Efficiency is the product of two other efficiencies: Conversion Efficiency and Lauter Efficiency. Stirring during the mash doesn't affect lauter efficiency, but it can affect Conversion Efficiency, if mashing without stirring has been producing something less than 100% conversion efficiency over the course of an hour (or whatever given time period). The reason is that stirring during the mash can increase the conversion rate (speed). But if you're already getting 100% Conversion Efficiency, extra stirring won't increase conversion efficiency.

 

Stirring only helps if your grains aren't milled hard enough. With good milling, skip the stirring. I don't stir after the first couple minutes.

 

I think it’s all up to the brewer. I have stirred just at the beginning of the mash and have about four times during the mash. Not much of a difference.

 

If I want a real clear beer I don’t stir and just let the mash recirculate. It gets the wort real clear. If the clarity is not an issue I tend to stir in hopes that I’m getting better efficiency.

 

I used to stir again around 15 to 20 minutes into the mash mainly to double check that I got rid of all the doughballs. Outside of that, I didn't bother. If you batch sparge, you need to stir well again when you add sparge water, just to get everything distributed properly, and then let it settle once more. Osmosis can always use a little help.