Mash Time/Boil Time Question

I've done about 6 all grain brews now and all of the recipes called for a 60 minute mash and a 60 minute boil.

I recently got the the Stone Brewery book and notice a number of recipes call for very short mash times and longer boil times. For example the Stone Pale Ale is a 20 minute mash and a 90 minute boil.

What do you gain/lose from doing a shorter mash and a longer boil and is there any relationship between the two times?

Thanks in advance.

The 20 minute mash doesn't sound right. What temperature do they call for? 90 minute and even 120 minute boils are becoming more common, especially on brews with lots of pilsner malt, in order to drive off DMS and for caramelization or beers that call for it.

The pale ale is 20 minutes at 156 F with a mash out at 165 F

The smoked porter is 10 minutes at 157 F with a mash out at 165 F.

The imperial wheat is 30 minutes at 148 F.

Most of the IPA anniversary ales are 60 minute mashes.

These are all from the new Craft of Stone Brewing Co. Book.

I think they are doing a two step mash for a total of 60 minutes.

For the pale ale it says to hold it at 156 for 20 minutes then add water until it comes up to 165. Then sparge with 168 water.

That makes more sense, it's just a little unclear in the book.

My next question is what are the benefits of a two step mash?

lucasweb said:

That makes more sense, it's just a little unclear in the book.

My next question is what are the benefits of a two step mash?

Click to expand...

generally speaking you don't have to worry about mashing out. mash at whatever temperature you need to for 60 min then sparge with your 168 degree (or whatever temperature you want) water. many people never mash out, me included and the beer turns out great. if you are just starting out it's an additional complexity with no real consequence if you don't do it.

Many of todays highly modified malts reach full conversion in very short times, especially at the temps listed above (assuming proper dough in and mash PH). If you're mashing closer to 150F, or aren't confident in your mash PH, or are using home kilned malt, you'll need to mash longer. Many people (myself included) have shown conversion using the iodine test in as little as 15 min. The 10 min for the porter does sound pretty short, but who knows. The others look to me like enough time for complete conversion given proper mash PH. I still prefer to mash for 45-60 min just to be sure, and mashing longer really doesn't hurt anything.

Groo said:

I think they are doing a two step mash for a total of 60 minutes.

For the pale ale it says to hold it at 156 for 20 minutes then add water until it comes up to 165. Then sparge with 168 water.

Click to expand...

That's not a step mash, it's a single rest mash and then a mash out. 156F would be the last/highest rest if it were a step mash.

lucasweb said:

My next question is what are the benefits of a two step mash?

Click to expand...

Depends on the step temperature. Acid rests are done to generate acids to acidify the mash naturally for lighter beers. For wheat beers it can be used to create ferulic acid which reacts with bavarian yeasts to create the distictive phenols. Protein rests help break down proteins and aid in clarity. They are most common when mashing higher quantities of protein rich grains like wheat, rye, and oats.

eastoak said:

generally speaking you don't have to worry about mashing out. mash at whatever temperature you need to for 60 min then sparge with your 168 degree (or whatever temperature you want) water. many people never mash out, me included and the beer turns out great. if you are just starting out it's an additional complexity with no real consequence if you don't do it.

Click to expand...

For batch sparging I agree 100%, and would take it one step further and say that the sparge water temp doesn't matter either. For fly sparging the mash-out is an important step for two reasons. First, the higher grain bed temp aids in getting the sugars to dissolve into solution, resulting in significantly higher lauter efficiency. Second, since a fly sparge often takes an hour or more, the enzymes can continue to work if not denatured, which will result in a slightly more fermentable wort.