New equipment flub - mash temp too high

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TxBigHops

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Brewed my first beer on Saturday with new equipment, including the Blichman tower of power PID controller. I had set the PID for 162 to heat my strike water. Completed Dough in, let it rest 10 minutes, then kicked it back on for a recirculating mash. Wort is circulating back through the HLT and all of a sudden I realize - CRAP! I forgot to turn the PID down to 152 for the mash. It had been running awhile and the mash was already almost up to 162. I was able to get it back down to 152 for the last 35-40 minutes of the 60 minute mash by dumping some cold water into the HLT and leaving lids off of both.

So... I'm expecting that I will have a much higher than expected FG. I'm worried that once it has been heated to 162, that a reduction back to 152 may not really matter. Is that correct? Any other things I should expect from the final beer? It was a Hefe. 60% wheat, 40% Pilsen malt.
 
Final gravity won't get as low as you wanted and it will probably taste a little sweeter than you were looking for but. The higher mash temp creates some unfermentable sugars.
What were you brewing?
 
Final gravity won't get as low as you wanted and it will probably taste a little sweeter than you were looking for but. The higher mash temp creates some unfermentable sugars.
What were you brewing?

Yes, I already stated that. My question is more technical. I'm wondering if, for lack of better terms, once it has been at the higher temps for 10 minutes, is the damage done? Or did quickly reducing it back to 152 salvage the conversion of enough of the lower temp starches to still produce a beer that will ferment out? The recipe was for a Bavarian Hefe.
 
Relax, it will be fine.

Chances are most of the mash was completed already within 10-15 minutes after the dough-in. I doubt your HLT and Mash tun heated up that fast. Maybe only a tad sweeter than intended, which is not unpleasant for a Hefe.
 
Thanks for the input guys. I figured I was OK, but appreciate the reassurance. Need to do some serious studying on this new HERMS system my brew partner just bought. I'm guessing I will love it once I figure out all the things I can do with it!:ban::rockin::mug:
 
Keep brewing and you'll figure it out over time. I went through 2 or 3 batches when I built a new HERMS system before I had it down.
 
Same thing happened to a friend of mine. Like others said,you'll finish high and a bit sweet. FWIW, I brew on a direct fire RIMS (brutus type) system and I heat my strike water to whatever my mash temp is. Sure it will be low when I dough in but it doesn't take long to heat up and I'd rather start too low than too high. Kind of like a mini step mash.
 
Please post your OG/FG and tasting notes for us, I'm interested if it actually ends up sweeter. Ideally you could blind taste it against a "correct" temp brew, paired T test to see if there is a difference. Enzyme efficacy is a bell curve, I have a hunch that 162 wouldn't denature the enzymes working at 152, just make them less effective for the few minutes at the higher temp. What, like 70% of the conversions happen in less than 20 minutes so 40+ minutes at 152 probably got you within sniffing distance of the best conversion you could get. I question the notion of the sugar profile getting "locked in." Is it a hold over from our early days of single infusion? Would you see 95% efficiency if you infused at 168 and let the mash cool to 104 naturally? Sorry for rambling but I think I will try that 12 hour experiment and find out, try it against a 2 hour HERM mash starting at 104. Experts, please tell me how wrong I am.
 
Thanks for all the encouragement and suggestions. We've been talking and I think we will dough in at a lower temp next brew. Maybe even a lot lower, then ramp up slowly to target mash temp.

Re OG/FG, this points out another error we made. We overestimated the amount of boil off and the OG was low - 1.047 as opposed to target of 1.051. The combination of a low OG and a potentially high FG convinced me to prepare a sugar mixture to increase OG by 4 points. Just before we added the sugar, we took a gravity reading, and it looks like we will probably not finish high after all, as it was 1.016 after only 4 days of fermentation. I now think we should get very close to our target FG of 1.012.
 
Hey, I just noticed that you're from Houston. Me too- heights area- where are y'all located?

-ben
 
I sure am. Are you going to make it out for the field trip on Sept 10? Should be a blast!
 
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