Starting out with brooklyn brew shop starting kit

Question

So I recently purchased a home brew kit from Brooklynbrewshop.com and I have a question on the mashing process defined in the instructions. So it says that I am to place the malt into a pot of 170 degree water, mix and then keep it between 144-152 degrees. It says to take the mash on and off the heat in order to keep the temp. However I feel like whenever I take the pot off the heat, the mash has an inconsistent temperature throughout and I can never seem to get the temperature even. How much are you allowed to stir the mash while in this process? How do you keep the temperature consistent?

I am also doing all of this on a stove and in an apartment. I have literally just started as well so I only have the equipment from the starting kit and I don't want to dive in too deep right off the bat and then lose interest too quickly. Lol. Any tips would be appreciated

Answer 1

The trick here is to stir almost constantly when you're heating to get the temperature as evenly distributed in the pot as possible. Only then will you get accurate readings. This is a bit easier if you don't heat too fast, but of course in a step infusion you want to get to the right temperatures and not extend the previous temperature's rest too long.

Eventually it boils down to get to know your setup / system, and find out through experience how you need to set your stove at which step of the process, when to put on a lid and when to leave it off, when you need to stir more and when you can relax a bit.

Good luck, and don't worry: you will end up with beer, even if you don't hit all the numbers perfectly fine. Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew.