Two hour mash in??

I am making a Stout tomorrow and the recipe says that it needs to mash for 120 min. This is my 3rd AG and up until this point every batch I have made called for a 60 min. mash. Is there any harm that can come from letting it mash in for 2 hours?

TIA

Zman


Brewing Method: All Grain
Yeast: Nottingham Dry
Yeast Starter: none (may rehydrate yeast)
Batch Size: 5.5 US Gallons
Original Gravity: 1.057
Final Gravity: 1.018 ?
Alcohol Content: 6 %
Total Grains: 12.50 US pounds
Color: 113.1
Extract Efficiency: 76 %
Hop IBU's: 50.3
Boiling Time: 60 minutes
Primary Fermentation: 4-5 Days at 68F
Secondary Fermentation: 10-14 days at 68F

Grain Bill:
#10 2 Row
#1 Crystal 60L
#.5 Roasted Barley
#.5 Chocolate Malt
#.5 Flaked Barley
#1.5 Quick Oats
10 oz. Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa
#2 Frozen Raspberries

Hop Bill
1.5 oz of Northern Brewer 8.5% AA for 60 mins
.5 oz of Willamette 4.2% AA steeped for 2 mins

Usually a lnoger mash makes for a more well attenuated beer (ie lower finishing gravity). Is this a dry stout? Are there a lot of adjuncts or specialty grains?
If you post the recipe you might have better luck with answers.

I posted the recipe. The only adjunct addition is 10 oz of unsweetened Cocoa in the last 10 min of the boil. The raspberries are going to be added to the secondary. I am debating as to whether to make this an oatmeal stout or just adding maltodextrin. to impove head retention and mouth feel.

If I were to go the oatmeal recipe do I need to add rice hulls?

What temp are you mashing at?

These are all adjuncts;

#.5 Flaked Barley
#1.5 Quick Oats
10 oz. Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa
#2 Frozen Raspberries

A lot of time when you have alot of adjuncts you should do a stepped mash. I would NOT say this is a lot.

You should mash until its done. Be that 55, 75, 90 or 135 minutes.

Do a starch test. Its like titrating with iodine. You take a sample of mash-wort and drop it on a saucer then drip some iodine into the mash liq on the saucer. Then watch for a color change.

You don't want to see blue-black color. If you do you need to keep mashing. If the iodine remains the same color then its done. Start the lauter and sparging

I'd suggest going to your local pharmacy and get some iodine or use iodophor. Its the best quick confirmation that its done.

Good Luck!

lol... you are correct sir. Those are all adjuncts. I am a NOOB to AG but I am getting better about it. I am going to mash at 156. I do have the Iodine and I remember seeing that done on the "stepping into All Grain" DVD. So it is safe to assume that if my Iodine test is reddish brown after 1hr. then it is ok. I just want to make sure. So if that is the case after 1hr no more conversion is going to happen?

What about the Oatmeal addition? Yay or Nay?

Thank for all the insight!!!!

how many degrees does your mash tun fall per hour? It seems to me that the high starting temp is to get some non fermentables in the wort and let it fall into the lower 150s for the fermentables.

I am mashing in the Coleman 70qt Extreme cooler. I preheated it with 130 F tap water. I want to say it might have lost 1-3 degrees if that much. It seems to hold the temps really well

zman said:

lol... you are correct sir. Those are all adjuncts. I am a NOOB to AG but I am getting better about it. I am going to mash at 156. I do have the Iodine and I remember seeing that done on the "stepping into All Grain" DVD. So it is safe to assume that if my Iodine test is reddish brown after 1hr. then it is ok. I just want to make sure. So if that is the case after 1hr no more conversion is going to happen?

What about the Oatmeal addition? Yay or Nay?

Thank for all the insight!!!!

Click to expand...

You are corect about the iodine test. Go ahead and add the oats.

Regarding the heat. you can always add more strike water. I preheat my mash tun with boiling water, dump that into a another cooler and save it for sparging.

Try covering the cooler lid with a sleeping bag, seat cushon or blanket and it will help keep the heat in more.

I just use beersmith to find out what temp strike at. If it says 165 for the the mash to equalize at 152 then I heat the amount of water I am going to mash with to say 175 and put that in the cooler to preheat the mash tun. When the water gets down to 165 I stir in my grains and wait till it is at 152 then I put the cover on and wait the amount of time that the recipe calls for.

Hey Zman -

I would go with the oats over the maltodextrin. I use them in a lot of my stouts with good results. I have never had a sparge problem with oats in the percentage of total grainbill that you have (10% +/-), so I wouldnt worry about the rice hulls.

Now, as for the 120 min mash - I (personally) wouldn't go that long. With the FG in the 1.018 range, you can expect a fuller body more than a dry style. So, there is no point in making a more attenuated wort. The 156 mash temp also lends itself to a slightly higher FG. I have never gone over 90 min. for a single temp rest mash. FWIW, I mash nearly all of my stouts for 60 min.

That said..... if you have gotten the recipe from a tried and true source....maybe it is the way to go!

You know the saying about opinions....!

Good luck!

I got the recipe off the internet and modified it so it is hard to say how reliable it is. I am thinking I am just going to place my trust in the Iodine test and go with the quick oats. The oatmeal Stout PM I did turned out really well. I am entering this beer in a homebrew contest so I want to make sure everything is on the money to the extent that it can be.

Thank you all again for the pearls of wisdom

Zman