I've done exclusively overnight mashes and/or 3 hour mashes since I found out it was possible. Here are some basic findings through 5-6 batches:
Mashing at 153 will produce a beer so dry it will nearly hit 1.001 with an aggressive yeast like US-05. I got 95% attenuation on this PA.
Mashing at 156 produces a medium-to-dry bodied beer. This is kinda the cutoff point. Below this and you'll dry out from not denaturing enough beta.
Mashing at 158 is what you want for more full-bodied, malt-forward beers.
The last two mashes I did were in the 3 hour vicinity and my efficiency was the same, 80%, just like every brew I've done overnight/3+hours. My equipment did not change and previously I was in the low 70% range.
In my Coleman Xtreme 70qt cooler I lose about 10* overnight, ~8-9 hours. It keeps temps for the first few hours without much drop at all. It seems to lose temps near the end of the mash.
I detect nothing different about my beers, but you must adjust your mash temps accordingly, as per above or your experience. A recipe that calls for a 150 mash, do 153. 154, do 156. 156 do 158-160.
The Pale Ale I made that dried out to 1.001 was fantastic. It was dry (6%) but not alcoholic at all and the hops shone through wonderfully. It's in my recipes.
Lastly, this can be used as an "all day mash", too. Get up early, strike and dough-in, cover it and do what you gotta do. Come back at 4PM and finish up the sparge/boil while you have a few homebrews.
Mashing at 153 will produce a beer so dry it will nearly hit 1.001 with an aggressive yeast like US-05. I got 95% attenuation on this PA.
Mashing at 156 produces a medium-to-dry bodied beer. This is kinda the cutoff point. Below this and you'll dry out from not denaturing enough beta.
Mashing at 158 is what you want for more full-bodied, malt-forward beers.
The last two mashes I did were in the 3 hour vicinity and my efficiency was the same, 80%, just like every brew I've done overnight/3+hours. My equipment did not change and previously I was in the low 70% range.
In my Coleman Xtreme 70qt cooler I lose about 10* overnight, ~8-9 hours. It keeps temps for the first few hours without much drop at all. It seems to lose temps near the end of the mash.
I detect nothing different about my beers, but you must adjust your mash temps accordingly, as per above or your experience. A recipe that calls for a 150 mash, do 153. 154, do 156. 156 do 158-160.
The Pale Ale I made that dried out to 1.001 was fantastic. It was dry (6%) but not alcoholic at all and the hops shone through wonderfully. It's in my recipes.
Lastly, this can be used as an "all day mash", too. Get up early, strike and dough-in, cover it and do what you gotta do. Come back at 4PM and finish up the sparge/boil while you have a few homebrews.