Slow is always better. I get by with s single stir at the beginning of the mash after all of the strike water is in. I do full volume mashes.
Are you taking into consideration the heat absorbed by the cold mash tun?I'm going to underlet for the first time tomorrow, I use beersmith3 and find that I have it dialed in with my system and grain temp and all that. So according to beersmith I want my strike water at 163f to hit my 152f target. I'm brewing a 15 gallon batch my grain weight is 30lb and my strike water volume is 10gal. Does this all sound good for using the underlet technique?
Good call, it was set st a default of 72f and my basement temp is 55f so made that adjustment and it changed my strike temp to 165fAre you taking into consideration the heat absorbed by the cold mash tun?
I had to tweak my 13 gallon converted cooler mash tun's specific heat to 0.95 Cal/gram °C to end up with the correct mash temp when underletting. It sounds high but it works.Good call, it was set st a default of 72f and my basement temp is 55f so made that adjustment and it changed my strike temp to 165f
do you give it a couple minutes for the mash to absorb water before you stir?
I do slow underlets and do see some bubbles when I stir. There are so many pockets in the grain where air can get trapped even with underletting. Not that it is a concern for everybody.A well-done underlet should push all the air out of the grain bed - it's the whole reason for underletting! Never any dough balls as well...
Cheers!
I had seen this question asked early on in this thread but didn't see an answer until your post. I use a Brewzilla so that is what my strike water is heated in and the mash is performed in. With the strike water already in the vessel, the only way I could see to underlet would be like you said - fill the grain basket while it is raised and then slowly lower it into the strike water. I would assume that accomplishes the same goal as pumping it in from the bottom? Other than reducing oxygen in the mash and reducing/eliminating doughballs, are then any other benefits of underletting?I just did 2 batches on my Klarstein AiO system... I haven't run too many batched through it yet, so I'm still tweaking my process. But for the first time, I "underlet" by heating my strike water then slowly lowering the grain in my bag-lined malt pipe into the kettle...
I didn't go glacially slow, just a gentle lowering at a consciously slow speed . The malt pipe on the Klarstein only has bottom perforations, so the water has to percolate up through the grain bed and can't come in through the sides like it could there were only a BIAB bag. I let it sit a minute or two to fully saturate, then gave a gentle stir... No doughballs.
This is probably my new dough-in method from now on.
Other than reducing oxygen in the mash and reducing/eliminating doughballs, are then any other benefits of underletting?
I do the same, but for me it doesn't work as slick as many claim: despite lowering the basket very slowly, the grain usually starts floating and the entire dry grainbed usually would float to the top of the malt pipe if I allowed it to. Also, I don't want the hotter water interacting with the little amount of grain it's in contact with for that long, so I usually just drop the basket in and start stirring so as to get everything to temp ASAP. It doesn't seem to work that well, but I continue to do it, as it's better than just dumping the grains into the basket already in the system with strike water in it. On bigger grainbills I still actually get dry spots, despite stirring what I think is a sufficient amount, often 2-3 times during a 60min mash.I use a Brewzilla so that is what my strike water is heated in and the mash is performed in. With the strike water already in the vessel, the only way I could see to underlet would be like you said - fill the grain basket while it is raised and then slowly lower it into the strike water.
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