Hi Mash Temperature Question

Hi All,

I'm making a 3.5 gallon Rye beer.

BIAB method.

3.5# American 2-row
2# White Wheat
2.25# Rye

I was looking for a 152* mash temperature.

I put all grains into kettle as I was heating up the water.

I turned off the propane burner at 154*, but the temperature went up to 159*. After 35 minutes the mash temperature is at 156*.

Am I OK, or is this going to have a negative impact on the wort/beer?

Thanks,

Chris

There will not be any negative effect on the beer (From a technical perspective). It will likely make a slight difference in the fermentability(slightly lower alcohol) and will also likely result in a more sweet finish (more grain sugars will remain).

The "negative" effect is based on your opinion. If you like it, then there is no negative effect.

Thanks, I think I can live with that.

Maybe SWMBO will like it better.

Chris

goybar said:

I put all grains into kettle as I was heating up the water.

Click to expand...

I just had a double take at this statement. How long did it take you to get up to temp?

If you started heating the grains in the water, then you started converting long before settling at your final temp. It may even been enough to counteract some of the effects of having gone up a little too high (which as was said isn't a problem anyway). It's generally considered better to heat up the water and then add the grains (heat up the water higher than the mash temp so that adding the grains brings you down to the desired temp).

It didn't take long to heat up (that was the problem) at all, as the volume of water (5.4g) was not that much.

Grains were in Freezer up until about an 1 before I put in kettle. 30 hour after I milled.

I started with 5.4 gallons, ended up with 4.75 gallons after mash.

I actually added the grains around 95*F. My thought was I could get a lot of the lower temperature grain conversions if I put it in at that point.

According to my refractometer I'm at 11 Brix or 1.044 Starting gravity.

How do I calculate my efficiency?

Thanks

Chris

To calculate your efficiency, get the extract potential in points per gallon for each of the grains you use in points per pound per gallon. See https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Malts_Chart
The extract potential in points is the potential from the chart -1.000, and multiply the difference by 1000. i.e. (1.036 - 1.000) * 1000 = 36
Then multiply the points by the number of pounds to get the total points for each grain
Add the points for all grains together, and divide by the gallons. This gives you the theoretical maximum points per gallon.
Convert your gravity to points (as above), and express your actual points as a percentage of the theoretical maximum.

i.e.
American 2-row = 36 points per gallon
White Wheat = 40 points per gallon
Rye = 30 points per gallon. (It isn't in the chart, but it is in Promash)

3.5 * 36 = 126
2 * 40 = 80
2.25 * 30 = 67.5

(126 + 80 + 67.5) / 4.75 = ~ 58

You got a reading of 11 Brix which is actually 1.042, not 1.044. Translate that to points = 42
42 * 100 / 58 = 72.4% efficiency, which is perfectly acceptable.

-a.

Thanks, I found that wiki after I asked the question.

The xls spreadsheet from morebeer calculated 11 brix to 1.044. How are you calculating it?

edit: following the hbt wiki formula

SG = 1.000898 + 0.003859118 * B + 0.00001370735 * B2 + 0.00000003742517 * B3

I get 1.04505670025127 if my math is right

I used Promash, which I have always found to be accurate.
It actually came out to 1.04243 and I rounded it down.
Using Beersmith, 11 brix converts to 1.043
I suspect Beersmith uses a slightly different algorithm, and rounds up. The actual difference is so small as to be negligible.

I'll check out the hbt wiki formula when I have time (later tonight), and let you know what I find.

-a.

Sorry I didn't get back to this last night. I had to go out unexpectedly, and didn't get back home until the early hours.
There are a large number of conversion formulae for converting brix to SG, and they all give slighly different results, (although they are mostly very close).
I think there are a number of reasons for these very small differences.
From the Promash help:
"A Brix refractometer reading is based on the known values for percentage sucrose solutions. However, wort contains many substances other than sucrose, and many of them have different refractive indices than sucrose. For this reason, it is necessary to use a correction factor to convert from a Brix refractometer reading of raw wort to the actual gravity of the wort. The literature suggests this factor is between 1.02 and 1.06, with 1.04 often used as a default value."
The wiki formula does not appear to use this correction factor, so if it works correctly for a pure sucrose solution, it would read a bit high for wort.
If you apply the correction factor to the wiki formula, it reduces the gravity to 1.043
Then there is the fact that brix readings are calibrated at 68F, whereas US hydrometers are usually calibrated at 60F. This temperature difference accounts for the .000898 in the wiki formula.
I have no way of accurately determining the exact SG with a resolution of less than .001, but I have found that the Promash calculator has always given me the right answer within the limits of what I am able to measure.

-a.

Hey-
I have a similar question. This is my first BIAB after a lot of automated eRims brews.

My rest was supposed to be 155F. It held 155 for about 20 minutes. Then, I applied heat. Due to not stirring vigorously enough, I heated my mash for way too long and ultimately hit about 168F.

I turned the burner off and after about 15-20 minutes it was back down to 155 or so.

My question is-
Is it possible to salvage a mash that goes to 168 by bringing the temperature back down to amylase ranges?

Cheers!

Chances are that with today's malts the starches would be converted within 20 minutes. If that did happen, you will probably end up with a rather more dextrinous beer than you intended (i.e. it will probably have a high FG, and a bit less alcohol), but it may taste good, and probably doesn't need to be salvaged.

-a.

Why not add some more malt?

ajf-
thanks. my OG was indeed 9 points overshot. First time with BIAB so I factored in only 70% efficiency. I'll run numbers on actual efficiency later.

goybar-
a ride out to the brew shop wasn't an option