20 minute mash!!

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Boohausen

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Messages
66
Reaction score
0
Location
Norton
I know its been stated by Charlie Papzian, That North American malts only need 20 mins to fully convert. This is due to its state of the art malting process. So during my studies, and many batches i have tried, this process that seemed new and astounding to me, has actually worked very well both times 87% eff!!!!. so moral of this post is. I challenge homebrewers to try this method if you already havent. Also i must state i did 3 iodine tests and gravity checks, due to my skeptism. but all checked out, and a wonderful beer it was!!!!


P.S. feel free to comment:mug:
 
The amount of time that it takes for full conversion is related to the crush of the grain. A fine crush might be complete in 15 minutes while a coarser crush may take an hour or more. BIAB lets you get by with a very fine crush but would make lautering in a conventional tun take forever.
 
The amount of time that it takes for full conversion is related to the crush of the grain. A fine crush might be complete in 15 minutes while a coarser crush may take an hour or more. BIAB lets you get by with a very fine crush but would make lautering in a conventional tun take forever.

Agreed. The crush is important for speed of conversion.

If you condition your malt (see the wiki), you can crush the bejeezus out of it, and still get large pieces of husk. That is what I do. My crush gives me LOTS of flour, but I still get big pieces of husk and have no problems with lautering in my conventional tun
 
I usually bottle another batch during the mash, a 20 minute mash would certainly rush me a bit....
This does illustrate how hitting the mash temp quickly is important and loosing a few degrees during a 60 minute mash isn't so important. (conversion is done in 20 minutes before the lower temperatures come into play)
 
Agreed. The crush is important for speed of conversion.

If you condition your malt (see the wiki), you can crush the bejeezus out of it, and still get large pieces of husk. That is what I do. My crush gives me LOTS of flour, but I still get big pieces of husk and have no problems with lautering in my conventional tun

I also condition my malt and I have no lauter problems. So if the mash coverts in 20 min, is there any real reason to hold it for the 60 min?
 
I don't think so - assuming you are doing a single infusion. I often do step mashes so they take longer as I'm not at the optimum temperature for part of the mash time
 
I don't think so - assuming you are doing a single infusion. I often do step mashes so they take longer as I'm not at the optimum temperature for part of the mash time

Yes so far just single infusions. This makes me think that I need to invest in some iodine and steal some of my kids sidewalk calk!?!
 
I recently just did a 40 minute mash and got 82%, I BIAB. This got me wondering just how low of a mash time I could go, I'm totally trying a 20 minute mash next time!

I dropped my boil to 30 minutes on that run and was fully put away and cleaned everything just before the 3 hour mark. And with more hop bursting, you could get that boil down WAY far...like 15 minutes probably for low IBU beers.

Could under 2 hours be possible for a full all grain? Oh baby!
 
Psych said:
I recently just did a 40 minute mash and got 82%, I BIAB. This got me wondering just how low of a mash time I could go, I'm totally trying a 20 minute mash next time!

I dropped my boil to 30 minutes on that run and was fully put away and cleaned everything just before the 3 hour mark. And with more hop bursting, you could get that boil down WAY far...like 15 minutes probably for low IBU beers.

Could under 2 hours be possible for a full all grain? Oh baby!

I'd be careful dropping boil times, you want to make sure you kill the bad guys and what about hot break, there's some important chemistry happening in them thar boil.
20 minute mashes make more sense, if you hit your percentages then it's long enough. I prefer to take my time but I have a HERMS setup.
 
I have been wondering the same thing. I just got a refractometer and it's interesting to take readings during the mash. I have noticed I don't really get any more conversion, based on SG, after about 30-35 minutes. I still do 60 minute mashes but I am starting to wonder why?
 
I've had great conversions on many 30 minute mash's. If I'm doing double batches I iodine test and dump the first as soon as I feel good. With great results.

As far as shortening the boil, this is a whole different story. I've done a couple 45 minute boils on beers and they were fine. Just adjust for the utilization of hops and make sure it is rolling good. But I have limited experience there.
 
I am intrigued by this as well. I am curious what kind of ratio of grain to water you used for this. Could it impact the overall effectiveness of shortened mash times?
 
Back
Top