Beer Forum

Just made my first mash tun and hooked it up with a ball valve and all... Nice and tight, no leaks. Only problem is I forgot to weigh it before I rigged it out. I would like to plug in the thermal mass of the cooler into BeerSmith. Anybody weigh theirs first?

PS Greetings from NC.... Diggin the BN!

I usually pre-heat mine by letting some hot water stand in it for 20-30 minutes while I heat up the actual strike water... in ProMash, I use a factor of .15 (the defeault is .3, which I always overshot temp with), but I've seen eslewhere where people use even .1. Pre-heating the mash tun basically negates the need to worry about thermal mass anyway. In colder weather, I'll overshoot my strike water temp by 5-10F on purpose, add it to the mash tun and stir it until it comes down to the desired temp, and mash in.

http://www.ogdenmfg.com/pdf/tech9.pdf

Yeah, I suppose I'm just geeking out on the new software. The last time I brewed was my first all grain batch and I did what you did.... well kinda. I added water a few degrees hotter and let it settle all the way down to my mash temp. That was before I added the 60 degree grains What? Grains have thermal mass??? I felt like such a when I undershot my temps by 9 degrees! Yep, I did a decoction on my first AG batch, albeit an unplanned and improvised one! I just hope I didn't t-bag my IPA.... We'll see soon.

Thanks for the pdf Nate.

hu hu hu.... I said t-bag my IPA

No prob

And remember... if you ever build a Gold mash tun, use a factor of .032