mash sat for ~2 hours before I could boil...

So, my buddy was over brewing on my equipment. To cut down on time, i thought i'd mash while he made his extract brew.

Long story short, I collected my runnings into a bottling bucket, because he was still cooling/racking/scrubbing (he added LME to the pot while it was still on the burner - that stuff burns real good!). Anyway, my runnings sat in the bucket (un-mashed-out) for about 2 hours, then i racked and boiled.

anyone see a source of off flavors in this thing?

Two hours should be ok - not enough time for any bacteria to impart any detectable off-flavors.

well, i boiled after anyway.

i'm more concerned that since i didn't mash-out, the enzymes kept working and i'll end up with a very dry bitter.

but i'm still very new at all this, so....

I suppose that's possible. You can track the SG of the beer throughout fermentation, and if it looks like it'll undershoot your desired FG, you can crash cool the fermenter for a few days and rack the beer off the yeast, maybe onto some gelatin. That should convince most of the yeast to quit.

I think you'll probably be fine.

Correct me if I'm wrong,

The enzymes for conversion are only active between 140F and 160F. So unless you held the temp, you stopped the conversion when it dropped out of the range. Also, if you fully converted, then it wouldn't matter if you held the temp.

Also, if you mashed out at 170F, doesn't that stop all enzymatic action? If it doesn't, I think your only risk might be too acidic of a mash if it spent too much time around 95F.

again, i didn't mash out.

Beernik said:

The enzymes for conversion are only active between 140F and 160F. So unless you held the temp, you stopped the conversion when it dropped out of the range.

Click to expand...

this is what I was thinking, just wondering if it was accurate.

You're fine. I've mashed for up to 5 hours (maybe more) on occasion. Often I'll mash in when I get home and then go out for drinks and dinner, before returning to sparge and boil.

What temp(s) did you mash at?

153 fahren10chars

Beernik said:

Correct me if I'm wrong,

The enzymes for conversion are only active between 140F and 160F. So unless you held the temp, you stopped the conversion when it dropped out of the range. Also, if you fully converted, then it wouldn't matter if you held the temp.

Also, if you mashed out at 170F, doesn't that stop all enzymatic action? If it doesn't, I think your only risk might be too acidic of a mash if it spent too much time around 95F.

Click to expand...

The wort probably sat at a temp where the enzymes could still work (even if not in their ideal range), but you're right, when the starches are fully converted, there's not much else to do. The enzymes might continue to break down some of the chains to more fermentable sugars, but I doubt there would be much effect. Like DeathBrewer, a lot of guys have used unusually long mashes with good results.