What to do when mash is not passing iodine test?

I had this as a second post in my floating thermometer thread, but maybe this is entitled to a separate thread.

Long story short my shiny new floating therm gave incorrect readings, and I think I mashed at 130-140F, instead of 150F; my iodine tests are very poor right now with complete purple/black.

This is my first brew (third total) that I am using a custom recipe and not from a partial-mash kit. This is a Hefweisen (easy I know, which is why I'm a little bummed), and I am just not seeming to get conversion.

I did a final iodine test after sparging for 45 minutes and then bringing to a near boil. This test proved the bad results, so I let it cool and I'm re-mashing; is this ok to do and the best way forward?

I just added more two-row to aid in enzyme activity in case bringing the mash/wort to full boil, and then cooling, would have destroyed any enzyme activity left. Doing the second mash now.

Grain Bill:

3.5 pounds of organic White Wheat Malt
6 ounces of organic German Munich Malt
3 pounds of organic DME (partial mash-extract)

I added another 3 ounces of two-row (the munich malt), for this second mash.

Once you got that wort to near boiling, the addition back into the mash may haven't overheated everything to a point where enzymes are denatured. Did you measure the temp after that?

Are you sure that wheat is really malt or could it be raw unmalted wheat?

My mash and wort pot are the same.

My process is:

1) Mash in 8 gallon pot for 60-90 minutes with 2 gallons of water until iodine test passes.
2) Sparge in 5 gallon pot for 15-30 minutes (45 this time) with 1.5 gallons of water.
3) Combine mash and sparge water together in 8 gallon pot, and top off to 5.5 gallons.

This time, after combining the mash and sparge water (but before adding top-off water) I took the iodine test and it failed worse than with just the mash. At this time the temps were at 200F so I cut the propane and let it cool to 165F, added the 3oz of two-row, and am mashing currently at 150F.

The malt is Gambrinus White Wheat Malt.

The recipe is located here: http://www.kamprathbrauerei.com/blog/files/organic_hefeweizen_recipe.php

If there is that much starch left unconverted, adding 3 oz of basemalt won't be enough to get the job done. I'd throw in at least a pound or two and mash longer than usual to give the lower concentration of enzymes enough time to convert. They sell amylase enzymes that you could keep around in case this happens again.

Hmm... I only had a 1 pound bag of two-row (this was my first time doing a non-kit and it required 6 oz so I bout a 1 pound bag); now I only have about another 7 oz left but I suppose I'll dump that right in!

Learning experience

And 165 is going to be too high. Id do upper 150s.

I really need to read up on what actually happens during the mash. I had a very hard time controlling mash temp today due to the lower overall ambient temps coupled with 35mph wind, so it changed from 140F to 160F.

seabass07 said:

And 165 is going to be too high. Id do upper 150s.

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That's too high for a strike temp (I think that's the correct term)?

Oh...nevermind. I thought you were re-mashing it at 165. 150 is fine for mashing it.

Geez! Iodine tests?

I just mash, it works... keep it at ~65 ish degrees C and life is good..

Produced gold medal winning beers (local brewclub comps) by just chilling...

But if there is a problem, it could help you identify it immediately. For example if you accidentally mash way too low or way too high, an iodine test will tell you that you still have a bunch of starch in the mash.

My last brew, an iodine test would have saved me a good amount of headache.

seabass07 said:

But if there is a problem, it could help you identify it immediately. For example if you accidentally mash way too low or way too high, an iodine test will tell you that you still have a bunch of starch in the mash.

My last brew, an iodine test would have saved me a good amount of headache.

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Exactly; I knew I didn't control my temps well due to the ambient temp and 35mph winds, so I look at the iodine test as a good indication of where I'm at right now and what I need to rectify to turn this brew into a potential success.

cyclogenesis said:

Geez! Iodine tests?

I just mash, it works... keep it at ~65 ish degrees C and life is good..

Produced gold medal winning beers (local brewclub comps) by just chilling...

Click to expand...

It would be helpful to know what you do to keep the temps constant. I had no problems during my first two brews, but the conditions today proved much more difficult and I find as we get cooler (it gets negative here daily), how I should best control the temps in a garage. I had better success on my second brew to keep the mash pot on the propane and adding heat as needed to keep at 150F versus taking it off the burner and wrapping the pot in sleeping bags (the first batch).

Well I think I'm going to go ahead and start boiling the wort.

It's 9:55 now and I started at 5pm, so I have a lot invested in this.

The best green light is that after this second mash, it tastes like a lactating nipple (sorry if that's inappropriate or offensive, but this is exactly the case and my wife laughed and said congrats), which means it must have converted a good amount of the starch to sugars.

Maybe I'm giving to much credence to the iodine test, as if I put a bit of the wort on the white plate and drop a few drops of iodine, it stays yellow/red, but as I swirl it all, it becomes purple/blackish.

Insight helpful!

This batch just may well turn into something amazing, something terrible or in-between (insightful I know).

I thought for sure I ordered scale on my last order, but I put the items in the shopping cart 5 times and never ordered and probably didn't put the scale in on the actual order.

So now since I only have a pocket scale that errors out on any weight over a couple pounds, I cannot effectively weigh out my DME (3lbs) from a 5lbs bag. So I eye'd it and hopefully I'm close!

First time using DME... is the wort supposed to look so thick and creamy?

The only time I have used DME, the wort was very creamy until it eventually settled out. It takes it a little while to dissolve, I imagine.

djfriesen said:

The only time I have used DME, the wort was very creamy until it eventually settled out. It takes it a little while to dissolve, I imagine.

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Yep! Definitely settled out after 10 minutes of rolling boil; thanks