Can you mash too long?

I have a kolsh steeping in my cooler as we speak. I started a bit high with the strike and the mash was 159-160.

Question, if you get detained...say work is calling you at home to see how your fever is ...and you end up letting the mash sit for 1 - 1 1/2 hours (temp goes down to 153), are you alright? Is there any disadvantage to a longer mash within the temp ranges you want?

I think you are fine.

I routinely mash my uber-stout for 90 to 120 mins so you should be fine.

Thats being said, I would be more concerned with the 160 degree initial temp, that is close to badland. You can get nasty flavors at those temps.

RAHAHB.

Cheers,

knewshound

Short answer: No. [where no is less than a day] Since the original mash temperature was so high, the beta enzymes were completely de-natured and you'll have a malty, low-fermentability wort.

Hope that's what you wanted.

Lots of body and slighty sweet, my kinda beer. Up the hops and that's gonna make hell of a brew. Best suited to an ABV of 5.5 to 6.5 :rockin:

Real beer.

david_42 said:

Short answer: No. [where no is less than a day] Since the original mash temperature was so high, the beta enzymes were completely de-natured and you'll have a malty, low-fermentability wort.

Hope that's what you wanted.

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Well, it was 10 lbs of grain (5 gallon batch) so I hope the high temp and the high grain offset slightly. Either way...it's a homebrew and I never met a beer I didn't like.

KalvinEddie said:

Well, it was 10 lbs of grain (5 gallon batch) so I hope the high temp and the high grain offset slightly. Either way...it's a homebrew and I never met a beer I didn't like.

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You are really lucky!

david_42 said:

Short answer: No. [where no is less than a day] Since the original mash temperature was so high, the beta enzymes were completely de-natured and you'll have a malty, low-fermentability wort.

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I have to disagree with that. Alpha-A. enzymes are also able to create fermentables if they are given enough time since they break chains of glucose randomly, though they show a greater affinity to the longer chained ones. You may not see the difference between 60 min and 90 min, but 1 hrs vs. 3 hrs should show a difference in fermentability of the wort. I had that happen to me when I brewed my Weizenbock since I got called away and had a stuck sparge. It turned out more fermentable than I expected for the mash schedule that I intended to run.

Kai

Well, thinking back to the initial strike, I mashed with water that was at 168 degrees and got a reading of 155. I then drew off some of the mix and heated up, remixed and that is where I got the 159-160. (If you can't tell...this is my first AG batch). Since then, it's been holding very steady at 158-159.

Are higher temps (160 +-) okay as long as they are not the intial temps? Do you want to work your way up even in an infusion mash?

When you think about it the actual convertion takes place in the first 20-30 minutes. Those sugars aren't going to turn back to unfermentables.

Alpha-A. enzymes are also able to create fermentables

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Entirely correct, but Alpha leaves more sugar in long-chain, less fermentable states. Malty, low fermentability is a relative term.