Mashing now - overshot temp

[Skyforger]

So I just made my first major blunder, I think. I mistranscribed a number from my mash calculations, and added way too much boiling water to step up a mash temp. It went from protein rest to about 170*F - denaturing temps. I brought it down quickly with ice when I measured it - say, within 1 or 2 minutes of reaching that temp - but now I'm wondering if I should quickly add some grain with good enzymes....I don't have any 6-row, but I do have american 2-row pale.

The grist is all Vienna and Munich malt; hardly malts known for great enzyme content.

 

[pkeeler]

I was just reading Kai's web site where he shows there is still enzyme activity at 170F. I think what he was getting at is that the 170F number was originally given because that is when tannins can be extracted. Somehow, it became conventional wisdom that it was for denaturing enzymes. There is nothing in the professional literature that says that, just became assumed.

In other words, if you quickly got it down to target temp, no problems. This is probably too late a post for you, hope you didn't panic. Did it come out?

 

[Skyforger]

Yeah, I'm sparging now. About 5 minutes into the mash I could taste saccharification just fine, so I decided to leave it. Don't have any measurement on yield yet, but things seem to be going alright. I just couldn't do my decoctions and rests like I wanted.

It was a good thing I had ice handy, though! Though I'm not sure a brief exposure to high temps will hurt it much, I can't imaging just leaving it there would have been a good idea.

I'll update this thread as I get more info; it might be helpful for people who make this same mistake. For starters, I found this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/overshot-mash-temp-then-recovered-whats-going-happen-209938/ that talks a bit about enzymes and temperatures. Denaturing seems to be more of a sliding scale than a sudden event with amylases.

 

[Skyforger]

Okay, I'm in boil now. Pre-boil volume suggests an efficiency of 80%, and saccharification completed just fine. Slight bite to the flavor, as of tannins, though this may be because of an acidic mash (I measured it around 5.0, room temp, which is about a 4.7 pH at mash temps). I'm not sure about the accuracy of my pH measurements though; I used Precision Labs strips.

Overall, this seems to be going alright despite the screw-up. Not perfect, but I don't see any serious problems that resulted from it.

 

[beeber]

If this doesn't taste good right away, then let it age for a while. Sometimes the tannin flavors diminish with age.

 

[Skyforger]

Yeah, I'm planning on lagering for three months. If that doesn't do it I would be surprised. The wort tastes pretty good though; just a hint of tannins and what may be DMS. But both of these are quite mild.

It's my first time lagering; guess I'll see how it goes. If anyone is curious, just post here and I'll report back in this thread how it all turns out.

The beer is a basic vienna lager with decoctions, btw.