What is the point of mashing out? Is It necessary in BIAB?

I just read someone recommending boiling as soon as the bag is pulled out for denaturing enzymes, especially when low mash efficiency?

Is that correct? Can someone comment on mash out purposes and also how does it apply to BIAB?

Thanks!

A mashout a purpose is not to increase efficiency, nor is it to change the viscosity and make rinsing the sugars more effective...

mashout does just as you saw, it denatures the enzymes and locks in the wort composition. This really only applies in my mind for fly sparging, or other slow sparging methods. If you're doing biab, or doing a 5-15 minute batch sparge then there's no need to mash out at all.


you're reporting a efficiency gain from a mashout then the most likely explanation is that you're really extending your mash time and not getting full conversion in the original mash time and you'll benefit as much or more by mashing longer, or crushing finer.

The classic goal of the mash out is the denature the enzymes and "lock in" the malt profile while during the sparge and lauter which can take a long time.

YMMV but my BIAB method is to heat the mash to 168, stir a few minutes, pull the bag and let it drain while bringing the wort to a boil as fast as possible. I find it helpful for loosening the sugars and help the bag to drain faster.

I don't do a "mash-out" on purpose, but when I'm either batch sparging in my cooler, or doing BIAB, I generally collect the first runnings or pull the bag and then start heating the wort for boil. In both cases a Mash-out happens. I'm not mashing out for the main purpose of mashing out, which has already been explained as stopping the enzymatic activity. It just happens when I am trying to be more efficient with my time.

And I've heard some homebrew "experts" say that the mash-out is also good at thinning some sticky worts. So it may also be helpful if you tend to have stuck mashes or brew a lot of sticky beers. (with rye, wheat, etc.)

Which is faster? Raising the temp of your grain AND wort to 168F or just the temp of your wort?

More volume means more time to heat. By pulling the grain you have less volume and so can get to 168F faster meaning you've denatured any enzymes that remained. And you've done it faster than if you'd done it with the grain in the pot.

I converted from traditional three vessel brewing to BIAB and continued to do a mash out. I brewed 2 batches today and skipped the mash-out. My efficiency was the exact same as previous batches where I did a mash-out. I think I'm done with them. Doing it the way mentioned above takes less time and accomplishes the exact same thing.

I always felt like mashing out makes the wort a little less viscous (thinner) before running water through the bag. I've done it both ways countless times and really doubt there is any increase in efficiency--at least in my setup.

Skip it, especially if you don't have time.

But the thing is that biab seems quite revolutionary because taking the grains out once you reach final conversion of starches into sugar you de nature enzymes automatically because you go for the boil immediately. So basically we denature the enzymes so we can say we mash out, right? Second we don't extract tannins by mashing out while having grain/husks. So mash out to my understanding was created because there is a long time between final starch conversion (end of mash time) and the start of the boil due to lautering process.

Please correct me if I say stupid things... Cheers

tknice said:

I always felt like mashing out makes the wort a little less viscous (thinner) before running water through the bag. I've done it both ways countless times and really doubt there is any increase in efficiency--at least in my setup.

Skip it, especially if you don't have time.

Click to expand...

Viscosity is not a factor in draining wort from a BIAB bag.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=7159688

TexasWine said:

Viscosity is not a factor in draining wort from a BIAB bag.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=7159688

Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree the mash is much thinner to begin with--which is one of the things I love about BIAB. Seem like after the rise in temperature it's even moreso, that's all I'm saying.

It doesn't make sense to me how it could be more viscous at a higher temp.

tknice said:

Yeah, I agree the mash is much thinner to begin with--which is one of the things I love about BIAB. Seem like after the rise in temperature it's even moreso, that's all I'm saying.

It doesn't make sense to me how it could be more viscous at a higher temp.

Click to expand...

Wort thickening at higher temps would require a thermally driven chemical reaction that creates more viscous components in the wort. Kind of like what happens with gravy thickening due to protein reactions at high temps. Remember wort is more than just sugar water. There are also significant amounts of protein, and other "stuff."

Brew on

doug293cz said:

Wort thickening at higher temps would require a thermally driven chemical reaction that creates more viscous components in the wort. Kind of like what happens with gravy thickening due to protein reactions at high temps. Remember wort is more than just sugar water. There are also significant amounts of protein, and other "stuff."

Brew on

Click to expand...

So when an oatmeal stout is "like motor oil", it would really be a 10w-30 instead of a straight 30w.