old iodine

did a mini infusion mash yesterday for my hefeweizen.

used .25 lbs of Munich Malt and a 1/2 a pound of flaked wheat. Plus 6lbs of dry wheat malt extract at boil.

mashed at 158° for about 2 hours sparged with 170° water... tested with iodine at several points in the process registered dark purple every time... even after 2hours.

I noticed my iodine expired in 1995. yes 1995 the last time I did a partial mash! anyway with the iodine being that old, would it work for starch conversion?

Runnings tasted sweet, very sweet. and the final gravity came out at almost dead on recipe (got 1.056 recipe stated 1.057).

So did I get a conversion? was my iodine too old to register the conversion?

I'm doing a Partial mash using 3 1/2 lbs of american 2-row with another 1/2 lb of crystal malt, next batch . larger volume of grain and no adjuncts might make a diiference, right?

starrfish said:

So did I get a conversion? was my iodine too old to register the conversion?

Click to expand...

Yes you got some conversion. But not complete. The reason for that was the low enzymatic power of the mash. The Munich you used has some enzymes but not much more than it needs for itself. The flaked wheat has no significant enzyme content. So you ended up converting some of the starches but not enough to reach a negative iodine test. Next time throw in a pound of 2-row to fix the enzyme problem. Good thing that the beer is supposed to be cloudy as the unconverted starches create a haze that is difficult to remove from the beer.

Kai

Thanks Kai

I was hoping to add to the cloudiness. I think I did get close to my conversion as the og from the recipe and the og from my actual wort was only .01 off.

next time i'll be using a lot more 2-row malt (3lbs) and a 1/2 lb of crystal malt.

how long should the conversion take two hours or less?

The time depens on the temperature, but at 155F it should take only 30 min or less.

Kai