Just way overshot my mash temp

Just got a nice new thermometer, was shooting for 15. strike water at 163 to account for some loss while mashing.

Put the bag in, stirred, was floating around 148. applied some heat to 154. Covered...checked in 30 mins..and between 160 and 164!!!!! WTF? where did that come from?

I am brewing a Treehouse Julius clone. The hop bill for this was obscene. Should I abandon before i do my 20, 0 and dryhop??

Chances are you now have more complex sugars in there. This is just my opinion but I'd use a brett strain in primary that is good in IPA's. It'll eat more of the complex sugars but you'd be looking at a longer fermentation time and having to stray off what your using for a clone recipe.

I have WLP013 London ale in a starter ready
US - 05
and Pacman which would need a starter.

I could run out and grab some brett if you think it could save the beer. Or dump it and save my hops.

Brett can generally ferment most complex sugars but your going to get different esters and phenols then whatever yeast you had planned to use originally. Brett plays really well with hops so thats a good thing but you also will have to sit on that beer for a bit as it breaks down the more complex sugars. So there is a risk of sitting on it and it not being what you wanted but it could also be amazing.

Dump it? No. go get some Brett? I really don't think it's that drastic. You may have a bit more body than you want in this finished beer but it's not the end of the world. I'd continue as normal and use it as a learning opportunity to see the effects of a higher mash temp on this brew. And, after fermentation is done if you think some Brett might help dry it out to your liking then do it before you dry hop.

It seems like your mash temp wasn't even throughout since your initial readings were so varied so there's no guarantee that the whole mash was seeing 160-164 throughout the mash.

I'd say pitch what you've got started. I doubt your mash temp got high enough to throw any off flavors in there. Or, if you haven't finished the mash yet, you could let it cool down (or add cold water/ice) to your target mash temp and let it sit there for another 1/2 hour or so, just to be sure you get as much of those simple sugars as you can.
Worse case, I think, is you might get a little more sweetness, but that's not too bad for Julius.

If you're going for a Julius clone, though, I wouldn't pitch Brett. Your can get some very interesting flavors from brettanomyces, but the time frame seems to be pretty long, and Julius is best as a super fresh beer, I think.

Keep some amylase enzyme on hand for instances just as this. Available from your local home brew shop. Cool back to the appropriate temp and throw a little in to replace that which was denatured... Brew on.

This is all great Feedback. True Definition of RDWHAHB.

I'm very interested in Brett, I'm going to have to learn a little about it and give it a try.

Can we talk more about Amylase? I actually have some from when i made a corn mash for moonshine, I mean......ugh, bought it just in case.

Can it really save a overshot mash like this? Any downside into using it even when you hit your numbers?

The idea @spittybug was getter by at (correct me if I'm wrong). Is that when if you overshoot your mash temps you risk denaturing the enzymes responsible for saccharification (hard word to spell don't sue me). By cooling and adding Amylase enzyme your supplementing what is left and ensuring conversion of your starches subject to your desired temperature. Once you've reached conversion you proceed as normal and continue your brew. Pretty good idea I think for an overshot mash temp. But it requires an in the moment action so you need to keep this one in your tool box of tricks.

You can also add this later if you find you're not happy with the end result of primary fermentation.

My hunch is that most of the conversion happened at the lower temps prior to being overheated, rdwhahb and my guess is the beer will not be far off the original intention.

wilserbrewer said:

My hunch is that most of the conversion happened at the lower temps prior to being overheated, rdwhahb and my guess is the beer will not be far off the original intention.

Click to expand...

I agree. I did the same kind of mash overshoot as the OP once. I just rolled with it, and the beer came out fine.

Brew on

Much will depend on how finely you milled the grain. If you milled it very fine for BIAB, conversion was over well before the temperature shot up and you just did an unnecessary mash out. If your grain was milled coarse you may have a problem...or maybe not. Check your OG. Unconverted starches will leave you with a lower OG but if the OG is correct you may have a beer with the same flavor but more body than expected. You won't know for sure until you ferment it. You could easily cut your losses and call this by a different name with fewer hops, then brew again.