explain to me: mashing temps!

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red96jeep

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so i feel as though i should start this off with the statement that i am not an all grain brewer, but i am looking to become one. i'm in the process of gathering as much info about brewing as i can so as to make good beer when the time comes. that being said, i have a question. i would like to know about mashing, i have gotten a feel that a common temp for mashing is around 150 F, but why? i've read the wiki page about mashing and i realize that beta amylse is produced best around 140-150 F, and alpha amylase is produced best at 162-167F. i guess what i'm trying to ask here is if both of these sugars are important why is it common to mash at a temp where it only extracts one of them? would it not be best to extract them both? and how would you do that? fill in the newb here______
 
closer to 150 = drier beer, lower FG.

closerto 158, higher FG more full feeling beer. sweeter also. because a lot of the sugars extract are unfermetntable

I don't know specifics that's just a rule of thumb I try to remember
 
Actually, most beers are mashed at a temperature that falls between those ranges -- usually 150-158. This allows both enzymes to be active but in different proportions. The lower part of that range produces more fermentable sugars, the high part more non-fermentable (body) sugars. For different beers you want either a light body so you'd mash on the low end 150-152, whereas others you want a heavier bodied beer, so you would mash higher. It's slightly more complicated because you also have to consider how high gravity of a beer you are brewing, but for now, that may get you close enough.
 
Mash temperatures on the lower end seem so popular because that is the current trend. At least in the U.S. (and mostly on the west coast), folks are brewing these very dry beers that emphasize hops.

I highly recommend reading New Brewing Lager Beer by (the very recently deceased) Gary Noonan, as well as Dornbusch's Bavarian Lager and Richman's Bock for great information about mashing and mash temperatures. While all deal with lagers, the mashing information applies to any all-grain brewing. Noonan is especially good (but also a good bit technical).


TL
 
pick up a couple of homebrew books. David Millers Guide is great and Randy Moshers radical brewing also has great info and diagrams about mash temps. I wouldn't get into all grain before reading several books on the subject as there are a lot of factors that don't come into play in extract and partial mash brews.
 
pick up a couple of homebrew books. David Millers Guide is great and Randy Moshers radical brewing also has great info and diagrams about mash temps. I wouldn't get into all grain before reading several books on the subject as there are a lot of factors that don't come into play in extract and partial mash brews.

If I could just chime in regarding Dave's book... as a new (all grain) homebrewer I found that Dave Miller's book was the most valuable to me. I think mainly because all the other books concentrate too much on extract brewing in the simplest form while I was looking for something with a bit more depth and slightly more advanced.

This is not to say the other books are were no good, they're all excellent resources but for extract brewing.
 
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