Mash temp. was way to high

I brewed an IPA today and the mash temp. got out of hand. I doughed in and hit my target steep temp. of 150, I watched for 5 min. to make sure the temp. was leveled out. I went upstairs and ate lunch, when I returned the temp had risen to almost 170. I stirred it up in hopes of dropping the temp. down to 150 and couldn't get it to drop below 160 before time was up.

Does anyone know how this will effect the flavor, and final result of my beer?

Thanks,
Scott

When you doughed in did you stir? I'm not sure why your temp would go up. Anyway this is going to depend on how long it was at 170 for. At that temp it'll kill the mash enzymes so you could be dealing with some efficiency problems. Next time you overshoot try adding cold water to get temp down quick. Hope it works out for ya!

Do you know what the O.G. was after the boil? If the temp was down in the 150s for the first half hour it might be ok most of the conversion is done by then.

I had the same problem with my first all-grain attempt. I was attempting an Irish Red Ale. After stirring, I only measured in one place and hit my temp (I believe it was 152). When I came back in an hour I re-measured so I would know how much heat was lost. The first temperature reading was 158. Lesson learned - stir then stir some more and more...

The beer ended up having way too much body for an Irish Red, maybe more like a mild brown. It was still very good, just not to style. RDWHAHB

I doughed in at 160 or so and stirred it until the temp dropped to 150. I was only gone for 30 mins. before I caught it. My target gravity was 1.065 and I hit 1.062 after the boil.

Thanks for the input

OG after boil was 1.062 and I was shooting for 1.065.

if your mash temps were consistently too high throughout the mash then the enzyme that creates simple sugars would be less active, but the counterpart responsible for breaking down large sugars would still work. Sounds like this is the case since your efficieny wasnt affected. You'll have a lot of complex sugars the yeast will have trouble fermenting and end with a higher than desired FG most likely. I've been doing research into the effects of mash temperature and FG, and yours will likely be high for an IPA but will probably turn out to be an interesting, and not necessarily bad, beer. Post back your FG, I would be interested to see it.

I did that with a porter today. I was aiming for 158*, but mashed in low, only about 152. I turned the heat back on to bring it up to temp, but I had a thick mash, and by the time I killed the heat it equalized at about 165*.

My OG going into the fermenter was still 1.064, so I think it worked out OK. Between the first 20 minutes being low and the rest of the mash being high, maybe it will even out.

I did the same thing as well on a scotch ale, mashed way to high on accident, started with a OG of 1.084, and it died in the fermenter at 1.040...not really sure what to do with it now.

jeffencourt said:

I did the same thing as well on a scotch ale, mashed way to high on accident, started with a OG of 1.084, and it died in the fermenter at 1.040...not really sure what to do with it now.

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You could try adding amylase enzyme to the fermenter. But who knows how low it will finish if you do that.

True, i hadnt thought of that, thanks Gstrawn.

I had a similar thing happen and it turned out to be my thermometer. If your strike temp was less than 170 i dont see how it could have gone up higher than that? What was your strike water temp??

splyman said:

I doughed in at 160 or so and stirred it until the temp dropped to 150. I was only gone for 30 mins. before I caught it. My target gravity was 1.065 and I hit 1.062 after the boil.

Thanks for the input

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I don't understand if your strike water was at 160 how you got up to 170? Is your thermometer calibrated?

Did you have the flame on under it? Otherwise, I can't see how your mash could have gotten up to 170, if your water was at 160.
I've overshot by a few degrees - I added a few ice-cubes.

I think you misread your Thermometer the first time because you can't create heat. Also, stir like crazy at the start to make sure everything is mixed well. Cover it up and let it sit for about 15 mins then take the reading in multiple places.

Are you direct fire mashing? It's not really possible for your mash to rise that much.

I noticed on some of my cheaper thermometers if you happen to slightly tap it against something in the midst of taking a reading that will slightly (5-15 degrees) make the arm of the gauge jump up or down, and wont return to the correct position until I run it under cold water to "reset" it. Many times with my cheaper thermo (misplaced my good one) I will take multiple readings but between readings will reset it in a jug of cold water to ensure I have as close a reading as possible...