Help with strong all grain beers

[asterix404]

I have been brewing now for a few years and had excellent luck with partial mash so I decided to take it up to the next level with an all grain. I decided to make an IPA for my first as a very standard, basic all grain to get the process down and I didn't keep track of the efficiency but I managed to get from about 11 pounds of grain a 1.060 ipa... so I was very pleased. However I typically do beers that are between 6 to 8% and I generally aim for about 1.070 - 1.080, so things like strong scotch ales, stouts etc. The book I was following told me to do 2qt per pound of grain for the mash at 156 degrees and 1qt per pound for the sparge at about 170. Is this correct? Can I do 1-1.25 qt per pound and what does this do?

What tips could people recommend for doing strong all grain batches? The book wasn't too clear on what the mash temperature does just that it should start between 154 and 160, is this true? I read on the sticky that the water could be as hot as 170 in the tun. What does a hotter mash do? How hot can the mash be before I start to actually loose efficiency (like kill off the enzymes)?

I have a wonderful 42qt brewpot and a 24qt sparge pot, so I am more or less set to heat up as much water as I need to, I just don't know about what more or less water does, and hotter vs cooler water.

Thanks so much.

 

[weirdboy]

Do you mean 1-1.25qt per pound for mashing? That's a little thick for a stronger beer IMO. You end up not pulling out all the sugars unless you do a couple of sparges, and it hurts your efficiency.

The hotter the mash, the faster it converts and the more unfermentable sugars you end up with..resulting in lower attenuation and sweeter tasting beers. The hottest I would deliberately mash in for something like an IPA would be 156 or so. I just did Orfy's mild which is mashed at 158...beyond that I wouldn't recommend just because you are going to end up with a sickly sweet beer.


Which book are you referring to?



Just to clarify...the hotter mashes like 160+ can convert REALLY fast...so if you get up in that range be careful.

 

[asterix404]

The book I used was How to Brew by Palmer. It did go into very specific detail about what is happening within the 150-160 range, but not too much about what happens if I missed the 150-156 range. For the IPA I just did I heated up my water to 170 and by the time all of the 5g was put into the grain it was about 155. By the time the 1h was up, the temp was about 150. I do like the 2 qt/pound for the mash, but I was afraid that if I start to do more like 13-15 pounds for the mash that this would be too much water (which might not be a bad thing, I don't know). Is there such a thing as too much water in the mash?

 

[babalu87]

Mash LOWER for strong beers
Like 150

 

[thedidey]

I also like to kick my beers up a bit and I don't know that I feel like I would make a blanket suggestion for mash temps for big beers. You can mash at 158 or 154 and still get the conversion and gravity you want. You can get a more fermentable wort if you mash at 150 but I would still mash and imperial stout at 154 or 156. The key for me was knowing the efficiency that I got from my MLT for my crush. Then I knew I could hit my higher gravities.

I also tend to keep a little DME on hand just in case.

Last thought is mash thickness. 1 qt/lb definitely seems pretty thick, but 1.25 to 1.5 is pretty good. I like to use 1.5 and then adjust my sparge water so I don't have to boil for longer than 90 min.

 

[Got Trub?]

Everything you would need to know... and more about the effects of temperature and mash thickness on the resulting wort.

http://***********/stories/techniques/article/indices/45-mashing/1115-managing-mash-thickness

GT

 

[permo]

The mash temp depends on the style, I mash my imperial stouts at 156, my strong scotch ales at 154, my barley wines at 152 and my imperial IPA's at 149. I have never brewed a baltic porter, but will start my first in about 9 hours and I will mash at 150 for that.

Also, 2.00 quarts per pound is super thin.....I like 1.25 to 1.50 QPP on my mash regardless of gravity.

 

[asterix404]

Actually one other question, I noticed about a 5 degree loss in heat over the span of an hour with my cooler even wrapped in towels. If I want to maintain a temp of say... 152, should I add boiling water every say... 15min and stir to maintain heat or is that a terrible idea. How do people typically maintain a constant temp with a cooler converted to a tun?

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[weirdboy]

What kind of cooler are you using?

Also, are you opening up the cooler mid-mash to stir, check temps, etc.? I noticed a long time ago that when I did this I'd tend to lose 1+ degrees every time I did so. After I stopped doing that, I maintained temps throughout the whole mash.

 

[Yooper]

Actually one other question, I noticed about a 5 degree loss in heat over the span of an hour with my cooler even wrapped in towels. If I want to maintain a temp of say... 152, should I add boiling water every say... 15min and stir to maintain heat or is that a terrible idea. How do people typically maintain a constant temp with a cooler converted to a tun?

Thanks again for all the help!

Preheat your cooler with 175 degree water for at least 15 minutes, then drain it and mash in with the strike water and grains. Or, add the water and let cool to your stike temperature. That will also preheat the cooler. I lose less than 2 degrees over an hour, so you can, too. You don't want to add more boiling water, unless you absolutely have to. A couple of reasons- mash pH for one, and then less sparge water which would decrease your efficiency. One of the things that's so important is consistency. If you can nail your volumes and temperatures, you'll be able to be consistent in the amount going to the boil kettle and in the efficiency.

I don't stir my mash once I am mashed in. I stir like crazy at first, making sure there are no doughballs and the grain is thoroughly wetted. Also, I check the temperature in several areas- edge, middle, etc. If they are different- stir again until they are not different. Once the temperature is equalized throughout, cover it up and walk away. Opening and stirring it and messing with it will cause you to lose temperature.

Also, a little point that I learned the hard way: If you miss your temperature and need to adjust, add some cold (or boiling) water to get to where you need to be. However, if you miss it again, just keep stirring. It takes a long time for 10 pounds of grain and 15 quarts of water to equalize temps! I made the mistake of adding hot water, checking the temperature, think it was too hot and add cold water. Check the temperature and it was too cold! And back and forth. Give it at least 2-5 minutes to equalize (and stir during this time), and THEN check. It took me several attempts to figure this out!

 

[asterix404]

Thank you all so much! I think this is going to be much easier with the advice I was given here and I think I will try brewing something fun this weekend. Thanks again!