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Effects of insulation on mash temp - charts

Post #1 made 13 years ago
by Epimetheus
The mash temp was dropping quite a bit so I tried towels, a blanket, and finally wrapped the 30L tamale pot with 2 layers of Reflectix, essentially 6mm thick bubble wrap with an aluminized surface. I obtained the data from a $10 USB temp probe from eBay and calibrated against a trusted alcohol thermometer. One of the Siberians shredded an arm of a winter coat, so instead of having 1 1/2 of a vest, I will use it to wrap the kettle. It is not obvious from the chart, but when I wrapped it further in the coat the temp drop was negligable. It also needs an insulated pad on the bottom. A towel folded several times may help.

Over 60 minutes it dropped 3 C / 5 F which is still too much. Near 60 minutes I opened the lid and moved the probe, which probably caused the variations in that region. I will try the coat for the full time and insulate the bottom.
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Last edited by Epimetheus on 23 Jan 2013, 05:22, edited 1 time in total.
I should have thought of that.

Post #3 made 13 years ago
by joshua
Epimetheus, Great job!! Well done Sir.

These charts are good to see, My Scibbles papers are similar, But, I was unable to find the Total thermal loss......The Bottom, I never thought of that....... Thanks.


Actually, my maximum Mash temperature is Near 159F, So the Numbers ARE great!!!
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #4 made 13 years ago
by Epimetheus
A better result with an actual mash on 2013.01.26. The mash was from 60 to 120 minutes on the chart. The overall temp was a bit high so I threw in some cold water at 80 minutes. Then again I was doing a porter which has a wide range of malt vs dry vs hops. We'll see if it survived. OG was a nice 1.046. It is fermenting madly with some harvested yeast.

I wrapped it some of the time in a coat which did not make much diff in the temp loss. Instead of insulating the bottom I slid it onto a smaller electric hob (off of the residual heat of the larger burner) and I goosed it up for a minute here and there.

At the end it swoops up because I continued to measure up to boiling. The cheap probe did not like temps of 212F and it only recovered the next day. It was OK up to 210F. I left the lid on so it would heat to boiling faster and discovered it started to boil over at 210F.

Dang, BIAB makes it much easier.

Conclusions are:
  • Insulation is good. More is better. Duh.
  • a cheap $10 thermocouple from eBay works fine
  • The accuracy is very good after calibrating it against an accurate thermometer
  • you don't have to lift the lid to check temps
  • Pull it just before boiling or the cheap thermocouple pitches a fit
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Last edited by Epimetheus on 30 Jan 2013, 07:27, edited 2 times in total.
I should have thought of that.
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