Ruined Mash?

I got called away from my mash when I thought the heat was off - and it wasn't. My mash raised to the high 170's for several minutes - perhaps 5 - probaly reached 180 or more in some parts of the pot bcasue when I got back - there will little mounds bubbling away in the mash. I stirred it and it was at high 170's.

I was only 15 minutes into it.

12lb German 2 row pilsner malt.

Did I kill it off? Not sure whether to continue or just write off the grains.

Any ideas?

Ian

I would complete the mash and see what kind of pre-boil gravity you get. There is some hysteresis associated with the amylase reactions before they are killed off, so you have some 'fudge time' at higher temps before you kill them dead. My guess is you'll get some conversion, but less than optimal. Depending on the ph of your mash you may get some tannins, or not if your ph was low enough.

In any case, I don't see why you wouldn't just finish it out at this point...you might be pleasantly surprised.

Give it a good stir & an hour. Since only part of the mash got too hot, you should be ok. Expect it to be maltier than normal, as if you had done a decoction.

david_42 said:

Expect it to be maltier than normal, as if you had done a decoction.

Click to expand...

And that's not a bad thing in my book. I tasted my dark ESB today that I used melanoidin malt in while racking to secondary. It definitely has a malty character I haven't achieved in other beers, and not syrupy sweet...just good malty flavor. It's got my pondering an attempt at a decoction at some point. Doesn't seem so much difficult as time consuming.

Assuming it doesn't end up astringent I'd say it'll be thicker than usual (FG around 20 or maybe 25) and it'll have a tinge of sweetness. Higher mash temps result in more unfermentable sugars.. I think it'll be ok in the end. I had a high mash temp in one batch as a result of strike temp miscalulations but the brew ended up ok - a bit sweeter than anticipated and a high FG. However, I didn't hit 170's.. my strike temp ended up being about 160 and it took me a minute or two to correct it. Count it as a lesson learned..

If you don't want to brew it then you could sour some for future batches or you could can it and use it for starters.

Thanks - It' already fermenting - I guess I'll find out whee it's done.

Ian