Enzymes denatured with too hot of a mash-in?

I'm doing my first all grain. I calculated the strike water to be 168 so I would get a mash temp of 152 with 8.5 pounds of 65 degree grains.

I pre-heated my igloo, and it worked too well. The mash settled at 165 for 3-5 minutes. I checked it and added cold water to bring it down to 154.

Did I kill off (de-nature) any enzymes? You think it will still work? Is noon too early to RDW and HAHB?

Also, do you find that your temp in the cooler goes up when you shut the lid?

Thanks
Beehive

I think it takes longer that 3-5 mins to fully denature your enzymes.

This is a lesson in why to keep a bowl of ice at your side during the mash...

everything I have heard says you have just about 10 minutes to get your mash temp adjusted I do partial mashes so I mash high so most of my body doesnt come from the grain, but I still keep some cold water on hand and purposely use less strike water to compensate for the water I add to cool the temp a bit.

You probably knocked down the beta, but the alpha would still be ok.

I'm suprised you settled at 165 degrees. All the numbers look like it should have settled at the right temp or very near it. Was the mash properly mixed prior to the temp reading. I have also found you must move the thermometer around after mixing to get a solid average reading.

It takes about 5 minutes for grain to pull the heat out of the water. There's no way a 168F infused settled at 165F unless you used something like 3qts/lb. It breaks the laws of thermodynamics. What was your water to grain ratio?

Bobby_M said:

It takes about 5 minutes for grain to pull the heat out of the water. There's no way a 168F infused settled at 165F unless you used something like 3qts/lb. It breaks the laws of thermodynamics. What was your water to grain ratio?

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Bobby is right, it does take a little while for the mash temperature to equilibrate. The formulas calculating infusion temp are pretty accurate, as long as your thermometer is accurate, you have nothing to worry about.

How hot was the water you used to preheat your cooler? You may have overheated your cooler, and it transfered its heat back to the mash, pushing the mash temperature higher than you expected.

Thanks for the input guys. Reading your replies, I think I might not have given the mash enough time to settle.

I was reading 165 about 3 minutes into it. This got me worried, so I kept the lid off and stirred in about .5 quarts of cold tap water. I'm guessing that the grain absorbing the water brought the temperature down (as the equation said it would), despite my thinking the cold water I added was solely responsible for the temp. drop.

More stirring and it settled at 154. I left it there with the lid off and once it was at 152, I put the lid on. The mash didn't lose a degree for the rest of the hour.

Bobby, my water to grain ratio was 1.16:1. Thebull might be right. I may not have mixed it up enough and not taken enough readings.

AiredAle, you might be right as well. Aiming for 168, I figured I'd heat the water to 172, pour it in the cooler and stir in the grain once the temp dropped to 168. When the 172 degree water went in the cooler, the temp dropped into the 150s. So, I figured I'd just put the lid on, pre-heat the MLT, and then return the water to the HLT to re-heat it. When I finally re-added 168 degree water, the MLT was pretty warm.

Professor Frik, I used two thermometers to back each other up, and they both read the same. I assumed they were right.

I hit 79% with a batch sparge and was right on with my boil gravity. I guess time will tell how this turns out.

Thanks
Beehive