I'm going to be brewing my first all grain beer (BIAB method to start) in the next week or so when my new equipment arrives. This will be my first time using the new pot I ordered, 15 gal megapot. I'm trying to use brewcipher for the first time and it recommends starting with a strike water temp of only 156°, target mash temp is 149°. From everything else I've read you should be at least 10° above target mash so I just wanted some opinions. My guess is that brewcipher is going lower because it recommends starting with 7.77 gallons of water which would be more than would be used with the more traditional all grain methods, does that sound right? Recipe kit malt bill is: 10lbs Belgian Pale Malt, .75lbs Caramel 20. Thanks, Tim
Your theory is correct. Because there is typically no sparge in BIAB there would be a higher liquid to grain ratio and a subsequent lower strike temp.
Sounds right to me. You might also want to pay close attention to the mash temp you actually hit on your first batch, then adjust the "Mash Tun Initial Heat Absorption Value" parameter so that the predicted temp agrees with what you got. From then on, you should be golden with your strike water temps as long as you keep using the same kettle.
Thanks all for the assurances. Additional thank you to you VikeMan for sharing the awesome tool that you have developed with all of us.
Brewcipher: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/brewcipher-4-0.294104/ I'm not sure how helpful it will be to you since (if I recall correctly) you like to do all the math by hand. But it's great for the rest of us.
Thanks! I tried to download it to take a look at it but couldn't figure out how. Edit - I might have managed to download a copy of it in a round-about way. I'll take a look at it.
Quick follow up, since this is my first time with this equipment and brew method should I start with a little less water than BrewCipher is recommending, with adjustments to starting temp, and then top off with RO if I'm low? If I end up with a significant amount more than planned and have to boil longer that would increase IBUs. Or will that most likely have other impacts I'm not thinking of?
I don't think I would do this. Using less water is going to hurt your mash efficiency. If you're concerned about an increase in IBUs caused by a potentially longer than planned boil, just delay adding your first hop addition until there are the original (planned) minutes left in the boil. If you don't know your exact boil-off rate, you'll have to guestimate when you're at that point, but I think I'd rather do this than start with less water.
I don´t know why , but I have different numbers in regards water strike. As I have read I need to strike water to grain at a temperature of no higher than 172 F to avoid risk of tannins extraction. The point is : starting from a grain temperature of 70 F after striking I get just a mash temp of 145 F , so I need to heat the mash tun to reach the target mash temp.Why such a huge difference?
My understanding is that if you lower the PH of your strike water (under 6), you can increase the temperature, and there will be little risk of tannin extraction. Decoction brewing subjects grain to boiling temperatures without any notiiceable tannin extraction, because the decoctiion mash is at a lower PH level.
One thing I keep hearing about with BIAB and such thin mashes is the mash pH. If you've got hard water, you may want to thin it out with distilled water. I've heard some pretty bad pH readings for very pale mash profiles like yours when people are using tap or well water that is pretty hard. Just something to keep in mind moving forward.
I checked the free water report that our water company puts out but I didn't see any of the values BrewCipher needed to make adjustments. We are hopefully moving soon so I don't want to spend money on a water report, not sure how expensive or how long it takes. I will probably order a PH meter off of Amazon and have it by the time I brew so I can see where I am. I can also do 1/4 RO water and the rest tap. We do have hard water but don't think it's extreme. Water Report
It seems this water report is oriented to show numbers regarding health and corrosion matters but not the complete mineral content
I have recently bought this Phmeter , http://www.adwainstruments.com/site/component/content/article/132 previously I had a Hanna (I broke it trying to calibrate it), the good thing is this model auto-calibrate itself
Just FYI, a pH meter (measuring the actual mash pH) will tell you after the fact if your mash pH is within a good range, but it won't help you predict the pH results of adding salts and/or acids. That's because starting water pH isn't directly related to mash pH. The water values you need in order to predict mash pH are Calcium, Magnesium, and Total Alkalinity.
