Need help improving the taste of my beer

[dhempy]

I also loved the suggestions on pre-heating the mash-tun, and checking the water temp before adding grains. The room-temp grains will absorb and drop the heat a fair amount right? So if I want my step temp to be 154-F, how hot should I have my water in-tun after it settles, before adding grain? 6-10 degrees warmer than 154? I'll definitely keep a close eye on this next round, and see what I can learn.

Thanks again everyone!
==LexusChris

You can get a pretty good idea on temp from Beersmith ... see the strike/infusion temp tool.

One thought for an experiment would be to take a volume of water that is a rough average of what you would typically infuse ... take it to 160, pour it in your tun and then measure the temp every minute or so for the first 10 minutes ... you should see the temp stabilize and the delta would be a great number for your thermal mass measurement. Then with Beersmith, you could leave the tun weight at zero and get the adjustment based on the weight of your grain. So total infusion would be desired temp + your measured thermal mass delta + grain thermal mass. Given that there will be some additional heat loss, I would probably add a couple of degrees in addition to the above. If you want to get an idea of the loss, after the 10 minute mark, start measuring every 5 minutes up to an hour. I've never used a cooler for a mash tun so I cannot comment on how well it retains the heat but I would guess that the initial temp is the most important so concentrate on getting that initial temp withing a couple of degrees of your desired (I would err on the hot side) and then let it settle in to your preferred mash temp. Stirring will also reduce heat so being a couple of degrees hot on dough in should be easily remedied with a little stirring. (Ice cubes also can be used for adjustment )

You can also try the experiment with pre-heating ... pre-heat as per the previous post, THEN run the experiment with your strike water and see how stable it is.

Dan

[Rezzin]

There should be a strike temp tool in whatever brewing software you're using. I still use ProMash so for me I include Total grain #'s, Total water, w/g ratio, Desired strike temp, and Grain temp to give me my strike water temp. There is also an option for the tun but unless your tun is always the same temp, I think it's fairly useless (at least with my experience using a cooler tun). I found it easiest to just add 6d (in the summer) and 10d (in the winter) on top of the strike temp and wait 5-10 mins before stirring and checking again. It's usually very close to what I want. Error on the hotter side as it's easier to keep the lid open and let it cool than to have to add hot water again.

With my insulated tun, I never lose more than 1d over the course of an hour even in winter. Oh yeah, like others have said - make sure you stir well. You'll always have some slight warm spots and cool spots so I would just stir my thermometer and check the average reading. Don't worry about the temps being PERFECT - I doubt anyone would be able to tell that you mashed at 154 instead of 155 in the final product

[brew captain]

Chris - I would agree that your recipe seems fine. With that stated mash temp and the Munich/Melanoidan malts you should have ended up with a definite malt presence, but you didn't. I think Brahn and Rezzin have identified the correct problem (low mash temp), but not the cause. I suspect that your thermometer was/is out of calibration and that you mashed considerably cooler than you meant to. Recently a certain not-to-be-named brewer found one of his bi-metallic thermometers off by a staggering 20'F!! It is very important to remember to calibrate your measuring devices often.

Do a quick check with boiling water to see if this could be the culprit...

Cheers!

[lexuschris]

Another good suggestion! I'll recalibrate before I brew on Sunday!

I'm looking forward to a good brewday, and this time I'll have good temp. control during fermentation! Should be fun!
--LexusChris

[lexuschris]

Greets all,

Quick update. I just sampled AG#2, my Amerian Amber Ale, and it is a huge improvement over my AG#1 beer! Yeah!!! The malty, nutty flavor is very nice. Hop character is pleasing & balanced. No astringency!

So being that the 2 recipes are very similar, I reviewed my notes for AG#2 and compared to AG#1. (n.b. AG#2 was brewed before I got your great feedback on AG#1. Both were tasted at 24 days after bottleing.)

So here are the main differences.
+ AG#2 was made with a calibrated digital thermometer for checking mash temps.
+ AG#2 held mash temps in the mid-150's. It never went below 152.
+ AG#2 was vorlaufed for 1st runnings & 2nd (sparge).
+ AG#2 used a 1.5 litre starter, yeast taken from AG#1 bottle..
+ AG#2 used Northern Brewer (bittering) and Amarillo (aroma) hops

BTW, I had the same fermentation tempature problems with AG#2. Initial fermentation was at 75-F for the first few days, then the temps climbed to the upper 70's (76-78) for the rest of the week.

AG#2 has really lifted my spirits (pun intended) and your feedback about AG#1 was really spot-on. I really think the higher mash temp and vorlauf'ing really helped! My AG#3, an Old Ale had a lot more vorlaufing, and I used your suggestions on pre-heating the cooler tun, and doughed in about 4 degrees hotter than my previous batches. It has been fermenting at 67-F for over a week now... So, I have high hopes for that batch too!

Thanks again all!
--LexusChris

[lexuschris]

FYI ... tried AG#1 again over the 4th weekend. The extra month of aging has softened a lot of the hard edges to this one. Less astringent, and less bitter... Getting more drinkable.. Thanks again all!
--LexusChris