Mashing

Hey everyone

Attempting a partial mash next week to brew in IPA.. I will have 3.5lbs of grain that will need to be mashed. 2.5 pale ale malt 10 oz crystal 60L and 8 oz crystal 20L... How long would you recommend mashing and at what temp? 45 min at 155 sound about right?

With only crystal malts there's really not much need to even do a partial mash, you get everything you need from them by just steeping. With that said, I'd probably mash lower, like 152. You'll get enough unfermentables from the crystal and whatever extract you're using.

If you're looking for heavy body, then 155 will work. If you want it to be a bit more dry then lower that to 148-150. 45 minutes will likely be enough time for conversion, but you should really keep mashing until you get a good iodine test. Put some of the wort from the mash in a bowl and drop a few drops of iodine tincture in. If the iodine doesn't change color, then the sugar has been converted. If the iodine turns black/dark purple then let it mash longer.

ChessRockwell said:

With only crystal malts there's really not much need to even do a partial mash, you get everything you need from them by just steeping. With that said, I'd probably mash lower, like 152. You'll get enough unfermentables from the crystal and whatever extract you're using.

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The OP is using Pale Ale Malt which needs to be mashed...

ChessRockwell said:

With only crystal malts there's really not much need to even do a partial mash, you get everything you need from them by just steeping. With that said, I'd probably mash lower, like 152. You'll get enough unfermentables from the crystal and whatever extract you're using.

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Mashing Crystal will get you more fermentables. Crystal does have starch that needs mashing to make it fermentable. If you steep Crystal, you might get 18 points/lb, but with mashing, you can get 30 points/lb with good efficiency.

Mashing crystal at lower temperatures makes it more fermentable than steeping too.

Don't dismiss the advantages of mashing crystal. However, it does not have any enzymes, so needs to be mashed with some base grains.

Stauffbier said:

If you're looking for heavy body, then 155 will work. If you want it to be a bit more dry then lower that to 148-150. 45 minutes will likely be enough time for conversion, but you should really keep mashing until you get a good iodine test. Put some of the wort from the mash in a bowl and drop a few drops of iodine tincture in. If the iodine doesn't change color, then the sugar has been converted. If the iodine turns black/dark purple then let it mash longer.

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I used iodine for my first mash. Never used it since then; too much hassle. If you get the temperatures correct, you will get conversion. 30 minutes is all that is needed.

Calder said:

I used iodine for my first mash. Never used it since then; too much hassle. If you get the temperatures correct, you will get conversion. 30 minutes is all that is needed.

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I agree! I no longer test for conversion. I did a few experiments in the past, and a lot of times I had reached conversion by 15-20 minutes. For a new all grain/PM brewer it's a good idea to check for conversion, though. Until you get used to the process, there can be other issues that hinder conversion aside from temps...

And you do need a base malt with diastatic ability to gain any benefit from mashing a crystal malt...

Stauffbier said:

The OP is using Pale Ale Malt which needs to be mashed...

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I'm aware that base malts need to be mashed. Partial mash recipes include them to help with conversion of other specialty grains that NEED to be mashed. Since crystal malts are the only specialty grain here and don't need to be mashed, I was just saying the whole partial mash process isn't completely necessary in this case. To me a couple gravity points wouldn't be worth the added time/effort in the brew day when this recipe could just be done as an extract w/steeping grains. Just my opinion though, to each their own!