High Gravity Mash

I want to make a my first high gravity beer. I would like some help with the mash. I am shooting for 19 lbs of grain, OG 1.095, FG 1.020, efficiency 70%. I am taking a recipe I have made a few times, and multiplying it by 1.5 to make it a bigger beer. I usually mash at 154 for this beer, and it comes out fantastic. For this higher gravity beer, should I mash at 145 to get more fermentable sugars out and then raise it to 154 after 45 minutes? I got that idea from a Brew Strong episode. Or should I just do my normal water to grain ratio of 1.33qt per lb, and do my normal mash temp and time?

It really depends a bit on what your grist is, what style of beer you are brewing, and what your end goal for the beer is. If you are making a beer that you want to have a good amount of body left in, say like an imperial stout, then you would not want to mash for an extended time in the 140's. On the other hand if you were trying to make a Belgian Dark Strong, you might want to get more of the sugars fermentable by spending some time in the 140's. You can also add sugar to dry your beer out a bit more. Once you tell us what you are brewing, we should be able to advise you better on if a low temp mash is appropriate. Either way, I might still bump my temp from 154 down into the 150-152 range at that gravity. Bear in mind that if you have a lot of specialty grains such as crystal malts, that they are going to remain largely unfermentable no matter what temperature you use.

Also, you should expect a drop in efficiency compared to what you usually get on a heavy grain volume mash. It is just harder to get all the sugars rinsed from a larger volume. Exactly how much efficiency you will lose is dependent on your process. You won't know until you have a couple large grist batches under your belt. The best way to deal with this on the fly is to have a fair amount of DME or LME on hand that you can add in the boil to compensate for any short fall in efficiency.

I am making a Black IPA. My current recipe for this beer is very drinkable and does not have a super big body.

IMO, I would brew the beer the way you brewed it previously but as mentioned, expect a slightly lower efficiency due to the larger grain bill. If you mash lower you will wind up with a more fermentable wort even if you raise at 45 minutes because most conversion will have already occurred. The lower mash temp may make the beer thinner than what you like with greater attenuation as well.

Ok, lets say I mash like I usually do at 154. At preboil, if I am under my preboil gravity, I could just boil longer to meet my OG right? I may loose a gallon or so from the boil, but I am ok with that.

slackerlack said:

Ok, lets say I mash like I usually do at 154. At preboil, if I am under my preboil gravity, I could just boil longer to meet my OG right? I may loose a gallon or so from the boil, but I am ok with that.

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Correct!

Be sure you dough in slowly and thoroughly and mix really well. I would also stir the mash a couple times as well and possibly use hotter sparge water than normal to really get a good rinse.

Maybe I am doing this wrong, but it seems to work for me so far. I do batch sparging. I heat my water to around 164 or whatever I calculated, dump 4 gallons into the mash tun, and add my grain. That takes it down to my mash temp of 154. I let it sit for an hour then pull off a gallon to get any grain out of the wort and pour it back in the top slowly. I then drain all of the wort I can out of the mash tun. Then I dump the rest of my water in (sparge water) into the mash tun at about 160 to bring the grain temp back up to 154 for 20 minutes. Then pull my final runnings.

Is this the correct way to sparge?

slackerlack said:

Maybe I am doing this wrong, but it seems to work for me so far. I do batch sparging. I heat my water to around 164 or whatever I calculated, dump 4 gallons into the mash tun, and add my grain. That takes it down to my mash temp of 154. I let it sit for an hour then pull off a gallon to get any grain out of the wort and pour it back in the top slowly. I then drain all of the wort I can out of the mash tun. Then I dump the rest of my water in (sparge water) into the mash tun at about 160 to bring the grain temp back up to 154 for 20 minutes. Then pull my final runnings.

Is this the correct way to sparge?

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Go to: http://www.dennybrew.com

The first step of your process is fine for the mash and your vorleuf as well. But, then you just drain the tun completely. Then add water for sparge. For the batch sparge you want water hotter than 170 and you dump it in, stir like hell to knock all the sugars loose, vorleuf again until clear running and then drain. Some people will do steps to sparge, some just one, either way the process is the same. There is no need to allow for temp drop as the mash is complete, all you are doing is rinsing the sugars through.

duboman said:

Go to: http://www.dennybrew.com

The first step of your process is fine for the mash and your vorleuf as well. But, then you just drain the tun completely. Then add water for sparge. For the batch sparge you want water hotter than 170 and you dump it in, stir like hell to knock all the sugars loose, vorleuf again until clear running and then drain. Some people will do steps to sparge, some just one, either way the process is the same. There is no need to allow for temp drop as the mash is complete, all you are doing is rinsing the sugars through.

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I read the site and your comments. Am I understanding this correctly?

1. Mash at 154 as normal.
2. Vorleuf and drain mash tun.
3. Add water to bring up to about 170, stir, and vorleuf again.
4. Drain tun completely
5. Start boil

slackerlack said:

I read the site and your comments. Am I understanding this correctly?

1. Mash at 154 as normal.
2. Vorleuf and drain mash tun.
3. Add water to bring up to about 170, stir, and vorleuf again.
4. Drain tun completely
5. Start boil

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That is absolutely correct.

slackerlack said:

I read the site and your comments. Am I understanding this correctly?

1. Mash at 154 as normal.
2. Vorleuf and drain mash tun.
3. Add water to bring up to about 170, stir, and vorleuf again.
4. Drain tun completely
5. Start boil

Click to expand...

You got it, but for #3 you are not bring any mash up to temp, you are just adding the 170+ water to sparge, the grain temp is irrelevant at this time.

duboman said:

You got it, but for #3 you are not bring any mash up to temp, you are just adding the 170+ water to sparge, the grain temp is irrelevant at this time.

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Will this not pull out tannins?

Tannin extraction is not instantaneous. Only if you keep the temp over 170 will you be risking noticeable tannin extraction.

After initial vorleuf then drain, your grains will be somewhere in the 150-ish degree area. Your secondary sparge water can go into your mash tun somewhere in the 180-185 degree area depending on water volume and grain volume. Once stirred you should settle in the 165-170 area for temp in the grains.

When I used to batch sparge I usually targetted about 165-168 as my grain bed temp after stirring in the second sparge water. Keep a pitcher of cool water nearby and if you hit it a bit high add in some cool water to bring it down. It is much easier to tweak your mash tun temp down a couple degrees than up a couple.