Using this, I've never been off by more than 1.5°F.
I used a different calculator for strike temp, which was NOT accurate. I'll try this one next time. Thanks.
Also, I don't do step mashes. They're pretty unnecessary with the highly modified grains we used today.
First I've heard that mentioned before. Can you elaborate or do you know of an article that discusses it further?
The only time I step mash is with my Hefe (GABF gold in 2014. bragging again, I know. sorry), and I do that as a decoction mash on a direct fired pro system.
Let's see, where do I start . . .
A) CONGRATS ON THE AWARD!!! That's awesome. Hefe's are my favorite. Do you mind sharing your recipe?
B) Never done a decoction mash before. Sounds interesting.
From
http://howtobrew.com/book/section-3/the-methods-of-mashing/decoction-mashing Decoction Mashing is a way to conduct multi-step mashes without adding additional water or applying heat to the Mash Tun. It involves removing about a third of the Mash to another pot where it is heated to conversion temperature, then boiled and returned to the Mash Tun.
So I get the whole "take a third of the Mash to another pot and heat to conversion temp" but I don't understand what it means by "then boiled and returned to the Mash Tun." If it's at the conversion temp, why then boil it? Wouldn't boiling it, by definition, NOT bring it to the conversion temp that would require the Mash to be at the temp of the next rest?
C) a direct fired pro system sounds expensive . . . don't even know what it is . . .
Aside from that, a cooler with the top on, adjusted for thermal mass of the cooler, temp of the grains, and your altitude and you should be all set.
On paper it always seems easier than in practice (not that it's ever rocket science).
I've generally found that I'm able to either A) maintain a consistent temp with the mash, or B) obtain the desired volume of the finished beer. I'm never able to do both. Between:
1. The mash losing volume as it sits for 60-75 min
2. The mash losing volume from water absorbed by the grains
3. The "side pot" losing volume from boiling for an hour, which the left over becomes sparging water
4. The wort losing volume from boiling for an hour, and
5. Losing volume from the leeds every time I rack (typically twice)
I'm left somewhat guessing on starting volume. It doesn't help that my kettle doesn't have a volume indicator, of course. But I'll often do all my calculations (which change as I'm adding hot/cold water on the fly and typically three beers in, lol), think I'm right, add everything to the primary fermenter to find out my (hope to be) 5 gallon end batch has 4.5 gallons in the primary. To which I need to add water, which decreases my SG and bla bla bla. Or sometimes I'll rack what was 5.5 gallons in the primary and end up with 5.2 gallons going into the secondary (or better yet 5 gallons going into secondary and .2 gallons as taste testing), while other times I'll rack what was 5.5 gallons in the primary and end up with 4.5 gallons going into the secondary (to which I'm scrambling to find a half a gallon of marbles to add but can never find or just say screw it and add a half a gallon of water).
Doesn't make award winning beer. But I like the end result. But I'd also like to grow and get better :)