Strike water first, then grain?

[spiderwrangler]

I believe that Tasty has said that he doesn't even usually have to stir... if you pour in gently, it will hydrate as it drops into the water...

[BarefootLion]

Water then grain here too, used to do grain 1st I feel like it is much easier with water first.

[Bugeater]

I put in about half the water and then half the grain. Stir with my giant wire whisk and repeat. Never have any problems with doughballs.

Wayne

[CRBrewHound]

I believe that Tasty has said that he doesn't even usually have to stir... if you pour in gently, it will hydrate as it drops into the water...

Just a little anal thing due to once finding a large clump that was completely dry when emptying my tun. Now I make sure it is mixed throughly.

[jimlin]

Thanks guys. Will try water first on next batch and see if I find it easier. Also see if my efficiency changes at all. Right now getting about 70%.

[TheDarkSide]

I put in about half the water and then half the grain. Stir with my giant wire whisk and repeat. Never have any problems with doughballs.

Wayne

Same here....except for that whisk thing.

[foomench]

a. Easier to stir.
b. Easier to insure I hit my desired mash temperature. I put water in my mash tun and check the temperature there after letting it sit a while. Basically I'm preheating the mash tun. What is the thermal mass of your cooler? What temperature was the cooler at before you started? I don't know the answer to these, and the second can change from brew day to brew day. Instead, I just add a bunch, but not all, of water to the mash tun. If the temperature doesn't settle where I want it to, I add hot or colder water as necessary.

[tfidler]

b. Easier to insure I hit my desired mash temperature. I put water in my mash tun and check the temperature there after letting it sit a while. Basically I'm preheating the mash tun. What is the thermal mass of your cooler? What temperature was the cooler at before you started? I don't know the answer to these, and the second can change from brew day to brew day. Instead, I just add a bunch, but not all, of water to the mash tun. If the temperature doesn't settle where I want it to, I add hot or colder water as necessary.

This is the reason I'm swithcing from grain first to water first. I just brewed a DIPA that filled my mash tun. I got sloppy with the strike temp and overshot my mash temp. Because the thing was filled to the brim I had no flexibility to lower the temp. At least that I thought of without removing some grain, but then I would have different issues. Going forward I plan on doing what foomench does. Allows for more options to correct temps and removes some of the guesswork out of the MT preheating calculation as well.