I think i did my mash wrong

I have been a member of this forum for a while but manly just lurking now that I am brewing on a more regular basis I have a few question. Three days ago I started my third home brew a English bitter (pride of raubsville a recipe ingot from here) and apparently I got really excited and instead of heating the water first for the mash (all grain recipe) I just dumped the grains in a muslin grain bag and stuck them in the cold water and then heated to the 152 mash temp. Also in the last 13 min of the mash I was helping my 15 month daughter eat dinner and left the heat on to long and the temp got up to about 165 it took about two minutes to cool down. I then held it at 152 for the rest of the mash. So my question is how bad did I screw up of at all. Oh I also dumped the yeast in the fermenter and then aerated it it seems to be doing nicely right now but wanted to see what you guys think am I ok or will it taste like poo thanks.

It takes a long time of being at the wrong mash temp for something bad to happen. So your probably fine! Did you take a hydrometer reading?

Everything was just fine. In fact, that late ramp up should have just been held at 165 for 10 minutes and call it a day.

The only potential issue with the cold water ramp up is if it takes a long time. You may stall in the protein rest area and negatively affect head retention. I'm going to guess you made it past that point quick enough that it doesn't matter.

Yeah it was a one gallon batch so it only took a few minutes to heat up. I can deal with head retention problems as long as it tastes good. Thanks for the input puts mind at ease.

No hydrometer reading that is next on my list of must haves.

No hydrometer reading I don't have one that is next on my list.

It will be fine.

Hydrometers are a must have tool, they help to take a lot of the worry away. Let us know how it turns out!!

Yeah I will got one soon I will let you know how it turns out thanks everybody.

If you don't already have a hydrometer, you might as well get a refractometer. It's only cost a little more and is much easier to use. You may still want to get a hydrometer for post fermentation readings, but there are conversion charts you can use.

Hopenstein said:

If you don't already have a hydrometer, you might as well get a refractometer. It's only cost a little more and is much easier to use. You may still want to get a hydrometer for post fermentation readings, but there are conversion charts you can use.

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Do you have a source for inexpensive refractometers?