Recovering from too high strike temp?

I had a little problem with my brew yesterday on my eBIAB kettle. I was making a Columbus IPA with large grain bill of 13.5 lbs (for a 5 gallon recipe).

My target mash temp was 153F. I mashed in as usual at 160F. However, after mashing in, my temps kept going UP, I think because PID was set to manual(?!). My temps went all the way up to 166 before I turned off the element and started frantically stirring to cool things off. I then started adding ice and eventually, after about 15 minutes, brought the temp down to 154. I guess it was at 165 for at least 10 minutes.

My research tells me that even a few minutes at 165F or higher will significantly reduce fermentability and will make it hard to hit my OG (1.060 to 1.065, according to the recipe).

My pre-boil gravity was 1.045. During the boil, I added all of the DME I had on hand (about 170g). Post-boil I ended up with a gravity of 1.055.

My guess is that I've made beer, but maybe not the beer I was expecting.

Is there anything else I could have done, or could do, on the fermentation side? Thanks!

Not much you can do now. I made a similar mistake recently, but only got to 158 deg and my fg was 1022 (I make the recipe often and hit 1014). Still tastes good though!

See how it turns out, and learn from it.

I would worry about a sweet, cloying finished beer. I would make sure you raise the temperature of your fermentation gradually up to 68 - 70 degrees, to see if you can get the final gravity as low as possible.

michiganhomebrewer said:

I would worry about a sweet, cloying finished beer. I would make sure you raise the temperature of your fermentation gradually up to 68 - 70 degrees, to see if you can get the final gravity as low as possible.

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I do have control over ferm temps. I'm using WL San Diego Super Yeast in a 1L starter. Any recommendation on starting temp and finishing temps?

Woodbrews said:

I do have control over ferm temps. I'm using WL San Diego Super Yeast in a 1L starter. Any recommendation on starting temp and finishing temps?

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San Diego Super Yeast is a good strain. Try starting at 66 and finishing at 70 degrees F.

It's a good idea to keep some diastatic enzyme powder around for just such situations. Sometimes the mash temp can get away from you, so adding some powder after the temp settles back down can really help. The reason is that alpha and beta amylase will become progressively denatured at higher temps, which is the reason some folks mash out... e.g. to kill the amylase enzymes, thus locking in the ratio of more complex starches to simple sugars (e.g. maltose, glucose, etc). However, since you've already finished the mashing and boiling, there are likely no enzymes left to convert the starches (oligosaccharides) you obtained from the grain into simpler sugars.

Your fermentation will likely be less than ideal, although it is worth trying to ferment and seeing what you end up with. If you are not satisfied with the result, you can either throw it out, or try "Beano." Beano contains an alpha galactosidase that can convert oligosaccharides into simple sugars that can then be converted by the yeast into alcohol. However, you have to be careful with the Beano, since there is no way to inactivate it once you add it short of boiling the fermented beer, which would destroy its flavor profile. Keeping it cold would certainly limit the enzymes, so if you chill it, it could be kept for a short period before turning too dry.

This response may sound silly (coming as it does from a rank raw beginner) but if the higher temperatures basically destroy the enzymes in the grain bill you had why wouldn't adding enough additional grain to make enough for, say, one more gallon and re-mashing the entire batch at a lower temperature not provide enough enzymes to convert the sugars into less complex fermentables - and then dividing up the wort into two three gallon carboys rather than one five gallon fermenter. I guess behind my response is the question: how many lbs of diastatic grain does it take to produce enough enzymatic action to convert say, 10 lbs of grain to its maximum fermentable gravity?

Woodbrews said:

During the boil, I added all of the DME I had on hand (about 170g) . . . Is there anything else I could have done, or could do, on the fermentation side? Thanks!

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You would have been better off adding a simple sugar instead of DME. DME cantains a fair amount of unfermentables where something like dextrose, cane sugar, turbinado . . . are completely fermentable. Even honey or maple syrup at the end of the boil might have been nice in an IPA.

AnOldUR said:

You would have been better off adding a simple sugar instead of DME. DME cantains a fair amount of unfermentables where something like dextrose, cane sugar, turbinado . . . are completely fermentable. Even honey or maple syrup at the end of the boil might have been nice in an IPA.

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You could certainly add DME if your main concern was to improve the final ABV of the beer, but you would not be impacting the mashing of the extracted oligosaccharides. In the end, adding DME to an underconverted mash will give you a higher ABV, but you will still end up with a sweet and/or thick final beer.

bernardsmith said:

This response may sound silly (coming as it does from a rank raw beginner) but if the higher temperatures basically destroy the enzymes in the grain bill you had why wouldn't adding enough additional grain to make enough for, say, one more gallon and re-mashing the entire batch at a lower temperature not provide enough enzymes to convert the sugars into less complex fermentables - and then dividing up the wort into two three gallon carboys rather than one five gallon fermenter. I guess behind my response is the question: how many lbs of diastatic grain does it take to produce enough enzymatic action to convert say, 10 lbs of grain to its maximum fermentable gravity?

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Actually, this could be done, and is sort of the basis for docoction mashing. The issue would be having enough enzymes to fully convert the remaining oligosaccharides into simple sugars. Moreover, you will be changing the recipe by doing so. Adding some diastatic powder gives you a means to restart enzymatic activity after denaturing the original diastastic enzymes during the mash.

There's some great advice in this thread - thank you to everyone. One question - where can I find diastatic enzyme powder? Thanks.

One thing I noticed, is you said it would be hard to hit your OG. Mashing too high shouldn't impact your OG, only your FG. Leaving you with a sweeter tasting beer.

Woodbrews said:

There's some great advice in this thread - thank you to everyone. One question - where can I find diastatic enzyme powder? Thanks.

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There are plenty of places online such as:

https://www.midwestsupplies.com/amy...zmDSh-4t061vQDh6xXmMlqxt_NrV7JdmDsaAoBM8P8HAQ

Also, your LHBS likely has some. It's great insurance for just this issue and is relatively cheap.

How much powdered enzyme do you typically add?

I have a 5 gallon batch of BM's orange kolsch that pooped out at 1.024 due to a too-hot mash. I'd like to shave ten points off of it.