How hot can the strike water be?

[Hoont]

I am consistently missing my mash temperature. For example, yesterday I mashed in at 166 degrees to achieve 154 degrees in the mash. It ended up at about 152 degrees. The next time I'll try 168 to get 154. But for those recipies where I want to mash in at 156, can I have strike water at 172-ish and still get predictable conversion? For some reason I thought 170+ would be a problem.

Just for the record, I am using a 10 gallon cooler for my mash tun and do pre-heat it with boiling water while I'm crushing grains and heating the strike water.

Thanks in advance!

[siwelwerd]

The temperature of the water is not what's important, it's the temperature of the grain water mixture. Don't be afraid to add water above 170, as long as the temperature of the mixture is not getting that high you will not be denaturing diastatic enzymes. Be sure to stir well so there are no hot spots and you'll be just fine.

[EL TIZZO]

I don't see a problem with it if thats what you are determining your strike water needs to be to achieve your intended mash temp...everyones system is different and 172 for you might be something else for another guy...once you put the water to the mash it is no longer 172, it will hopefully be 156 because of the thermal mass of the grain and tun
you would not want to mash much above 156 as that is where enzymes will start to denature

did that answer your question?

[Hoont]

Awesome, exactly the confirmation I was looking for... I will continue to raise the strike water temperature until I achieve the desired mash temp.

Thanks and Cheers!

[Kbar]

That is one thing I like about my RIMS system. Yesterday, mashed in at 152F (70F grains, 50F mash tun, 167F strike water), wanted 154F. RIMS system had it to 154F in 2 minutes. I use Beersmith and set calcs to compensate for mash and grain temps. I usually hit with in 1 degree. I was too low on the strike water this time.

It is true, you get to know your system as you go. I know that Beersmith is 1-2F below what I need after the heat loses, pumping to the MLT from the HLT.

Good brewing!

[brew_chica]

When we were brewing with a cooler we would heat our strike water about 5 degrees about the predicted strike temperature and add it to the cooler w/o any grain and shake it around (carefully) so we could pre-heat the vessel. Then we would measure the water temp and if it was at the predicted strike temp we'd add our grains. We started hitting our mash temps right on with this process.

[spiderwrangler]

Hoont, are you calculating this using software or by hand? As was mentioned, as long as the vessel is preheated, all you need to factor is grain and water temp. If it hasn't already been said or done by you, make sure your thermometers are reading correctly. Also keep in mind that the temp of the grain mash can vary wildly within the mashtun if it isn't thoroughly mixed in. I'm sure you've taken lots of this into account already, just thought I'd put it out there.

[Afterlab]

When we were brewing with a cooler we would heat our strike water about 5 degrees about the predicted strike temperature and add it to the cooler w/o any grain and shake it around (carefully) so we could pre-heat the vessel. Then we would measure the water temp and if it was at the predicted strike temp we'd add our grains. We started hitting our mash temps right on with this process.

Same here. Prior to adding the grain, check to make sure that the strike water that is in the cooler is still at or a degree or two above your intended strike temp. After doing this I've hit my strike temps dead on each time.