Temp loss in a Mash Tun

[fluffhead]

Ive been brewing extract for about 10 years with some sucess. Silver in a local comp. (toot) I'm collecting pieces to move to all grain. I just picked up an Igloo 5gal cooler for a mash tun and was wondering what the best way is to figure out the strike water temp, mash temp, heat loss, thermal mass of the grain etc. without actually wasting money on grain to find all that out. Will filling up the cooler with heated water as per beer smith get me close to what to expect without the grain, or should I bite the bullet, buy grain, and see what happens?

[Elbone]

If you're planning to batch sparge, which I recommend, Go to Brewheads.com and look at their batch sparge calculator. It's pretty spot on for me. I always pre-heat my cooler mash-tun so I can enter 0 for thermal loss and am always within a degree high or low. It calculates strike volume and temp, a mash out, and sparge volume for you.

[fluffhead]

Thanks, good site with lots of good info and calculators. I guess the only way to find out, is to just do it. I hate wasting money though

[snowcapt]

It isnt a waste of money. It is valuable experience and research.
Its the only way to learn your system and process.
Nothing to it really. Once you begin to trust what you read, hear, and do, its a breeze.
Do a stout or something else small.
Probably cost you 12 big bucks.

[Ozwald]

I like to use a simple blonde recipe to dial things in. All 2-row, no specialty grains. 1.038-1.044 OG, 12-18 IBU's. It'll make that $12 stout look pricey

Whatever you choose as your first batch, don't think of it as wasting money - your first batch will very likely be drinkable & enjoyable even if you miss every number on your recipe. I'm assuming you dialed in your cleaning/sanitization/fermentation with your extract batches. The best thing I could recommend is brewing the same recipe a few times in a row until you're reasonably comfortable hitting within a point or 2 of your numbers.

Congrats on making the AG step. 3 batches from now, you'll be laughing at yourself for worrying about it. It's easy.

[spiderwrangler]

Hitting your temperature spot on plays a relatively minor role in the long run, compared to the other aspects of your process you've already mastered. In other words, if you are already making good beer, getting your mash anywhere between 140-160, you'll still make something you can drink. Shoot for a number, but don't stress to the point that you actually DO end up fucking your batch up trying to correct if you don't make it. To pay attention to what you did and when, and take notes so that you have an idea how your system treats you, and after a couple goes, you'll know what temp and volume you need to strike with to get yourself to the desired mash temp.

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

Ive been brewing extract for about 10 years with some sucess. Silver in a local comp. (toot) I'm collecting pieces to move to all grain. I just picked up an Igloo 5gal cooler for a mash tun and was wondering what the best way is to figure out the strike water temp, mash temp, heat loss, thermal mass of the grain etc. without actually wasting money on grain to find all that out. Will filling up the cooler with heated water as per beer smith get me close to what to expect without the grain, or should I bite the bullet, buy grain, and see what happens?

Yes, the first time it will get you close, if you have set up your equipment first. So bite the bullet and buy the grains. Something simple so you can learn your process. THEN you can start fiddling around with the recipe.

[Kbar]

Good question. We all go through this when making the transition to AG. This is one of the reasons I use a RIMS system. Self correcting, repeatable temperature control. Do miss the old days of less worrying about stuck sparges though.