Mini Mash temp - what happens if too hot

Curious.

I did a Mini Mash and the temp started at 160 - rose to 170 and then pretty much stayed there.

Are you sure it was 170? You should have been mashing in the 150 range. I dont think you can convert the starch to sugar at that high of temperatures.

In short the mash isn't going to be able to work correctly at those temperatures. At that heat range the malt's enzymes will begin to denature and lose their ability to convert starch. You probably got some conversion and will have soaked out some existing sugars but you do need to better control the temperature when mashing. The beer's OG will wind up short of the expected number but it will still be beer. If the mash temp is too hot don't be afraid to dump in some cold water to correct it.

Double post deleted

results were actually OG was a little higher then expected - but I get your drift - I hate my stove.

One of those flat glass ones. Worse the coils!

I was thinking I would get to 170 and it would drift down!

You want to start at the 145-154 range, and stay there.
Being a PM you will still get good beer, you just not extracting all of the sugars from the malts.

If you manged to get a higher then anticipated FG then most of the sugar you extracted at that temperature range will be mostly unfermentable. What was the grain bill like?

It was a AHS Kit

2.5lb 2-Row
0.75lb Munich Malt
6oz Crystal 90L
6oz Caraunich
4oz Chocolate Malt

Damn it!! grrrrr

High mash temps contribute to mouthfeel and residual sugars that are harder to ferment or unfermentable.

High as in 155 - 160. Much higher than that ends up ending conversion and could be considered a mashout.

Brew it up and see what you get. Since it is a minimash, you'll have fermentable sugars from the LME/DME for the yeast to work with. Sounds like you could end up with a low gravity, high flavor session beer which are actually pretty hard to make.

low gravity, high flavor session beer which are actually pretty hard to make.

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Let me interrupt this and tell me if I'm wrong.

low-gravity = higher alcohol??

high flavor = well . . .nuff said

session beer = lighter quaffing style (I'm still trying to find what "session" actually means)

mmb said:

High mash temps contribute to mouthfeel and residual sugars that are harder to ferment or unfermentable.

Click to expand...

I believe this is what happened with my AHS Oktoberfest kit. My mash temp was a bit too high so I ended up with a high FG.

It's still lagering, but it tasted good when it went into the secondary, so I've got high hopes anyway.

-Joe

I'm getting a good education on what happens when things are a little off LOL

Grinder12000 said:

Let me interrupt this and tell me if I'm wrong.

low-gravity = higher alcohol??

high flavor = well . . .nuff said

session beer = lighter quaffing style (I'm still trying to find what "session" actually means)

Click to expand...

Low gravity usually refers to the starting gravity, but also can be used to describe the alcohol content of the drink as being lower.

Session beer would be one that you could down a few pints without too much of a buzz.

Grinder12000 said:

low-gravity = higher alcohol??

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No. Low-gravity means it has a low starting Original Gravity, which means that it only has a small amount of fermentable and unfermentable sugars in solution. Low-attenuation means that OF the sugars that the wort contains, most of them are unfermentable, and thus results in a high Final Gravity.
OG minus FG = Points of gravity attenuated.
But since it's already a low OG, there's not very far "to go"... so if it ferments from 1.040 down to 1.009, you are down 31 points. According to BeerSmith, this results in 4.0% ABV, or 3.2% ABW.

Grinder12000 said:

session beer = lighter quaffing style (I'm still trying to find what "session" actually means)

Click to expand...

Google's a good friend: http://beeradvocate.com/articles/653

Beers low in alcohol content that are intended to be drank over a period of many pints and hours. English origin, because when you went to the pub with your friends, you sat down "for a session".



To actually address the issue of high-temp mini-mash... I would recommend using software to estimate your dough-in temperature..... heat your water in a seperate vessel.... then pour into your pot with your grains. Measure your "dough-in" temperature, then cover with a lid. You can keep heating it if you want, that's up to you -- but I wouldn't even recommend it unless you find it necessary. Instead cover the lidded pot with a thick towel or a small blanket or something, insulate it with cloth and just keep it covered for the duration of the mini-mash. Check after 30 minutes to see how close to temp you are... if you need to apply a little heat to keep temp, do so, but just do so gradually and carefully.

Ahh - but my starting Original Gravity was actually slightly high at 1.057 instead of 1.055. (and thus I was confused)

But as you guys are saying I have a lot of unfermentable sugars so my ENDING gravity might be higher the the 1.015 predicted!

I had 1/2 cup of Maple Syrup at the end of the boil.

What happened is I reached 160 - turned burner off and put in the mash - then a looked back and the temp is at 170 and NOT lowering but getting hotter because of the stupid stove. I took pot off burner completely and it stayed at 170ish for the rest of the 1/2 hour basically.

Correct - You had an OG that was just fine, but since your FG was high, you wound up with a low-attenuation/lower-alcohol beer. I doubt it's going to be "weak" per se. Just lower-than-intended-alcohol.

Still can be considered a "session" if you like to, as it's the ABV that counts, not only the OG.

I understand re: the stove. Probably always best to move it to a hot pad underneath with a towel over the top.

Either way, I bet this is gonna be just fine!