KingPellinore

Recipes 

I have this Ikea Probe Thermometer I use to monitor the temperature of my mash. Up until now, it has been very accurate. However, this past weekend, I was brewing a partial mash Belgian Wit and was mashing 2lbs. of Flaked Wheat. The recipe called for the flaked wheat to be mashed at 155 degreed fahrenheit.

During the boil, I noticed that my probe thermometer was reading 230 degrees! Somehow, my thermometer had become very innacurate.

Assuming the boil was actually 212 degrees fahrenheit, that would mean my thermometer was reading about 18 degrees too hot, so I'm guessing I actually mashed at 137 degrees.

What sort of problems (if any) can I expect if I mashed almost 20 degrees too cool?

Gildog

Recipes 

if the temp is too low you will get very little diastic activity from your grains, asuming you are using hte wheat with a diastic malt. If you dont get enogh conversion, youll have a less strong beer with posibly some protien haze problems

__________________
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
Ernest Hemmingway.

"He was a wise man who invented beer."
Plato.

imherb

Recipes 

Don't assume that boiling water is limited to 212 degrees. It can go higher, especially with high output burners. You may consider getting another thermometer from the grocery stores gadget section for comparison, they are fairly inexpensive. I hope your brew turns out O.K.

Donner

Recipes 

did you hit your gravity?

__________________
DonFeitel.com

david_42

Recipes 

No, boiling water cannot exceed 212F except under pressure.

If you were "mashing" flaked wheat with nothing else, temperature wouldn't matter too much, because flaked wheat has no enzymes at all. All you would get is starch.

__________________
Remember one unassailable statistic, as explained by the late, great George Carlin: "Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!"

"I would like to die on Mars, just not on impact." Elon Musk

imherb

Recipes 

Sorry, I should have said boiling WORT. Since we add Maltose(sugar), we are raising the specific gravity, which raises the boiling point of the water, correct? Therefore KingPellinore's thermometer may be correct and his mash temp. reading may also be correct. Correct?

woollybugger2

Recipes 

the boiling point of the water will begin to rise by half a degree Celsius for every 180 grams of sugar dissolved

__________________
Woolly Bugger Brewery

Consumed:#2 Hefeweizen, #3 SoHo Brown Ale, #7 Belgian Wit, #9 Belgian Amber
Bottled: #1 Trout Belgian Trippel, #4 Smoked Porter, #5 Apfelwein, #10 Bell's Brown Ale Clone, #11 Belgian Wit, #8 Wee Heavy
Secondary:#6 Trout Belgian Trippel
Secondary:
Primary 1:
Primary 2:
Primary 3: Empty
On deck: ???

viking999

Recipes 

Donner has the right idea. If you didn't come in low on your original gravity, you should be ok. If my memory serves me correctly, mashing at the low end of the range gives the beer fewer unfermentables, so it may be a bit thinner and dryer. I wouldn't necessarily consider that undesirable in a Belgian Wit.

And if you did come in low on your OG, just drink more of it.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and since it's only a partial mash, the effect of any mashing mistake is diluted (figuratively).

__________________
If you need me, I'll be out behind the woodshed pounding Grolsches.

--------------------

Primary: Maris Otter/EKG SMaSH

Bottle: Deizbeutzervet Dunkelweizen
Keg: Independence Day Strawberry Blonde
Keg: Munich/Mt. Hood SMaSH

KingPellinore

Recipes 

Thanks, everyone for your help and advice! I'm ashamed to say I didn't take an OG reading. Funny how certain things slip my mind on brewday.

I'm sure my forgetfulness has nothing to do with my strict policy of Brewing Under the Influence.