Average mash temps and time?

I am a mini mash extract brewer at this time as i do not feel that I have the expierience to do AG just yet. I was wondering if there was a general rule as to mash temps and time spent mashing grains for specific types of beer.ie: 148 degrees for ales, 155 for lagers, and so on. Also what does time spent mashing do to diff grains? I've done brews that call for 35 min and brews that call for 60 min. And last but not least, sparging with 170 seems the norm but does this release tannins into your brew? Thanks for all info. cheers

Most modern malts will convert completely in 20 minutes, but waiting longer allows for the maximum removal of sugars and starches. Sparging at 170F doesn't dissolve many tannins. If you want to be extra careful, use pH 5.2 in your sparge water. I haven't had a tannin problem since I started using it.

There are different temps that bring certain characteristics of your brew. I would think that 148 is a little low. Most of the recipes I see are in the 152-156 range. Grains that need starch conversion usually call for a 60 minute mash. Speciality grains that do not need conversion or steeped grains do not need that much time. All grain brewing is really not that difficult but you need to do full boils and need at least an 8 gallon kettle and a wort chiller. Read this link for easy batch sparging. http://www.hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

The reason i'm writing this is because I mashed 3lbs of vienna, 1 lb of munich, and .5lb weyermann carahelles at 155 for 45 min on a lager recipe (my own)yesterday. So I was not following a specific recipe but my own knowledge or lack there of.

Lower temperatures create a more fermentable wort, higher less. The latest BYO has a nice article about this from the fine folks at Stone Brewing.

This is a great pic and the associated chapter does a good job of explaining it.

http://www.howtobrew.com/images/f79.gif

Also it is the temperture of the grain bed that you don't want over 170f, not nesessarly the sparge water. I've started sparging with 190f water to get my grain bed up to 168f on some of my brews and also I use a little gypsum in the sparge water for the second runnings.

wow, 190? I haven't done my first AG yet...but I have never read anything over 170. But I guess that just translates into 170 for your final brew in the kettle...prior to adding heat.

I rest at 152 degrees for an hour and a half.


I leave nothing for fate.

cgcaudle said:

wow, 190? I haven't done my first AG yet...but I have never read anything over 170. But I guess that just translates into 170 for your final brew in the kettle...prior to adding heat.

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I'm saying that 170f temperture of the actual grain bed is the max you want to go to avoid tannins being extracted into the wort. What ever temperture of your sparge water is to get to around 168f grain bed temps is what you want. If you have a lot of grain to contend with than you'll need higher sparge water tempertures to get it to 168f than if you had less grain mashing.
BTW I mean these tempertures are used at sparging, not for mashing temps.

for most brews, partial mashes the average temp is like what? 155 for 45 min?

what is the minimum amount of water recommended per pound for a mash - I only have a pot large enough to hold 3 lbs of grain and maybe 2 gal. of H2o - at some point will the water become saturated and not accept any more sugars?

NEPABREWER said:

what is the minimum amount of water recommended per pound for a mash - I only have a pot large enough to hold 3 lbs of grain and maybe 2 gal. of H2o - at some point will the water become saturated and not accept any more sugars?

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You could probably get by with 1qt/lb, at least in my full AG experience. The water will absolutely become saturated at some point...that's the whole point of sparging: to get more sugar into solution and into your kettle.