Mash temp started 170

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NicoleBrewer

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So long story short I'm brewing with my two year old and newborn while the husband is at work... bad idea... in a rush and not paying attention I let the water get too hot and started my mash and it was at 170! I stirred very vigorously and added a little cold water and got the temp down to 157 in a few minutes. Will this be fermentable at all? Should I even waste my time, hops and yeast on this?
 
So long story short I'm brewing with my two year old and newborn while the husband is at work... bad idea... in a rush and not paying attention I let the water get too hot and started my mash and it was at 170! I stirred very vigorously and added a little cold water and got the temp down to 157 in a few minutes. Will this be fermentable at all? Should I even waste my time, hops and yeast on this?

I would say you will be fine, it is not like it sat there for 1/2 hour at 170

all the best

S_M
 
I ran in to a similar predicament recently only worse because I probably extracted way more tannins when my crockpot was boiling. I am very new, so take my advice (and maybe my beer) with a grain of salt. In retrospect I would have brought the temperature back down to 140 with an addition of cool water and added a supplement enzyme of amalyse and/or beano (they are different) to get those starches converted. or you could start over.. But save the wart to add to your next mash so that it can be converted with the fresh malt. You could also check the ph if you are in to that sort of thing.
 
If your gravity after the mash is reasonable, you got conversion, go ahead and brew.

If your gravity is absurdly low, well then you might be better off starting over.

The wort should taste slightly sweet and be a little sticky on you hand as it dries if you can't check gravity.
 
I didn't bother checking the gravity since this happened. I went ahead and brewed as planned and have my fingers crossed. Hopefully it's not a waste, I've been looking forward to this for weeks
 
You can always toss some amylase enzyme into the fermentor - any decent homebrew shop should have amylase in powder form (and some have liquid preparations as well). It will work at ambient temperatures - just very, very slowly.
 
You can always toss some amylase enzyme into the fermentor - any decent homebrew shop should have amylase in powder form (and some have liquid preparations as well). It will work at ambient temperatures - just very, very slowly.


Ok, good idea if the OP had conversion but just mashed too high. If the over temp mash didn't convert there will be nothing for the enzyme to work on, as all the potential sugars were thrown out with the spent grain as unconverted starch.

Let's hope not :)
 
I bet it will be fine. There should still be plenty of active enzymes in an all-malt beer to convert the starch.
 
Very true very true, but after 9 months of no beer or brewing I was really looking forward to a good beer that wasn't nonalcoholic! But it's bubbling away so I have high hopes
 
I didn't bother checking the gravity since this happened. I went ahead and brewed as planned and have my fingers crossed. Hopefully it's not a waste, I've been looking forward to this for weeks

Very true very true, but after 9 months of no beer or brewing I was really looking forward to a good beer that wasn't nonalcoholic! But it's bubbling away so I have high hopes

It sounds like there is something that the yeast is eating. did you check the original gravity before you pitched your yeast?
 
No I didn't bother. I forgot to sanitize the hydrometer and at that point I figured why bother? It is what it is, and by the way it's bubbling there is bound to be some alcohol.
 
f you ever run into this problem again, call your husband at work, tell him there is an emergency at home and he needs to get home right away and take care of the kids!!
 
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