Mashing at 160F

[thehaze]

Hello,

Has anyone ever mashed, let's say an Imperial Stout at 160F/71C? What was the result? Aparrent attenuation and body/mouthfeel? Did the beer stop higher or lower than you wanted?

 

[hottpeper13]

Some of my thoughts and results. Imperial Stout grain bills use a lot of malts high in dextrines, some that won't ferment out. Mostly I mash these in the 150-154 range(have never gone to 160 for just that reason). I'm involved in 3-4 batches a year(not all mine) and have found that the higher gravity ones finish higher,and the biggest difference in a 1.090 and a 1.124 or bigger is the boil time. The longer the boil the higher the finished gravity,with everything else being really close in each batch.
I messed up on one and read the brewing liquor amount as kettle full instead of total amount required and ended up boiling for 3.5 hours and that one finished at 1.034 instead of 1.020. It is an awesome brew and was my Black Friday release for 2019. It was a recipe I did for a 2018 release but I collected more from the sparge and boiled 1.5 hrs longer. Because of the FG both beers had the same 12 % alcohol but the 2019 was thicker like BCS,which is what I was trying to achieve.
Don't know what you're trying to end up with but I get a slicker mouth feel from an extended boil which also up's the alcohol, which also increases that perception.

 

[thehaze]

I've done bigger beers, but nothing over 9.5% ABV, yet... My latest Milk Stout started at 1.077 and finished at 1.036 - on purpose. I was shooting for 1.040, but with a slightly higer OG. Should've been around 1.080. 158F mash and lactose. That's about 5.4% ABV. The beer was good. Nothing special actually. The body was on the thin side. The mouthfeel was slighly oily, but again nothing remarkable. Bitterness was subdued, but the beer was not sweet. Nor full. High-ish Cl levels in mash water with low sulfate. Mash pH was around 5.4 with post boil pH at 5.1.

So what I want is a thicker beer.

 

[Hoppy_Sanchez]

I’ve mashed at 160 for a stout. Finished around 1.030. Guess you could say it was a sweet stout w no lactose.

 

[day_trippr]

^that^ would be more informative if we knew the OG.

fwiw, I do a massive 1.106 point stout and run the mash at 150. Using S04 it typically finishes at 1.028 plus or minus a point. If I wanted to drive the attenuation and ABV up I'd mash at 148, but this is intended to be my short pour nite cap sipper...

Cheers!

 

[Hoppy_Sanchez]

^that^ would be more informative if we knew the OG.

fwiw, I do a massive 1.106 point stout and run the mash at 150. Using S04 it typically finishes at 1.028 plus or minus a point. If I wanted to drive the attenuation and ABV up I'd mash at 148, but this is intended to be my short pour nite cap sipper...

Cheers!

Sorry I wrote that out quick without proof reading. That stout I brewed was an OG of 1.060 and finished at 1.030. Very delicious stout at 4%. Sweat, full body, and crushable. I mashed at 160 to see where my FG would end up. Didn’t want to add lactose but didn’t want a dry stout either.