Mash out?? but why???

Ok... so do you really need to do a Mash Out??? Everything I read tells me something different.

 

I do a mash out with a fly sparge by adding boiling water, stirring really well, and waiting 15 minutes before starting the sparge. I wouldn't do it if I were batch sparging as you get exactly the same results by adding and stirring the sparge water.
The reasons I mash out are:

1. It increases my efficiency by 10%
2. My efficiency with a mash out is more consistent than without
3. It helps to prevent stuck sparges (I do a very thick mash usually)

I don't do it to denature the enzymes.


-a.

 

Agreed with the above.

A mashout does two things, neither of which offer much benefit for batch spargers:

• Denature enzymes to "lock in" your sugar profile
• Sugar solubility increases with temp - so more sugar can be dissolved.

With batch sparging, most people stick their first runnings on the boil right away, and you're done within 10 mins, so the denaturing already happens pretty quick, thus a "mashout" is unnecessary. With fly sparging, where you may sparge over an hour or so, it matters more.

The effect of the sugar solubility on efficiency is small (negligible, even), and generally not worth the effort to calculate.

 

Please specify what sources you are reading. The mash out can be skipped and the beer will be fine. However, as ajf points out it will add some positives to the process.

 

do a google search for "is a mash out necessary?" and you will get any number of sources. i never mash out and if there is an increase in efficiency to be had i certainly don't notice or miss it. on the homebrewing level i don't this there is a right or wrong answer to mashing out.

 

Just another example of "ask 10 brewers a question and you'll get at least 9 different answers"

There's a ton of correct ways to make beer. Probably more 'right' ways than 'wrong' ways in fact.

If it tastes good you did it right. Educating yourself is great, but don't let some of the debate spin your head either. If there is a debate it usually means both sides are valid but don't want to concede to the other.

 

+1, I have a buddy who swears mashing out adds about 3% efficiency on his system and he batch sparges. I don't mash out and I batch sparge with 180F water which basically does the same thing as a mashout without the extra step and get slightly higher efficiency than he does. The key is to find what works for you and be consistent with it.

 

malkore is right. There are a ton of debates in homebrewing about which is better, this or that? The truth of the matter is that both sides that are being debated work just fine in most cases. My advice is to try a mash out on one batch and then try no mash out on the next, or vice versa. See what works better for you on your system. Because discussing the benefits of either in the abstract will just give you a bunch more sources of conflicting information. Both techniques work. You need to decide which works better for you.

 

+1 Experience is the best teacher.

 

Both your own and that of others, hence, a forum. My hesitation with relying too much on my own experience is that the sample size is far too small to be conclusive. Forums like this increase sample size, even if it is still mostly anecdotal evidence.

 

I definitely agree that educating yourself as much as you can will save you some bonehead mistakes, and broadens your knowledge base. But, it looks like the OP has reached an impasse. This is one of those times when personal experience will probably be the best deciding factor.

 

Agreed. Glad we settled that

 

Me too. I'd hate to have this thread sent to the debate forum for a cage match.

 

Thanks for all the feedback! As for my sources, most of the stuff supporting Mash Outs has been from books and 'how to' web articles. All advice to skip it has come from multiple homebrewers.

If there truly is a 10% increase in efficiency I'm certainly going to try it. Thanks again for all the feedback/advice.

 

I agree with all above post`s.I will just throw my 2 cents in.If you cannot direct fire
your MLT and HLT (use coolers which I do).I believe a mashout with boiling water is essential to get the mash temp up before fly sparging.I raised my efficiency 5-8 %
doing a mashout,but as stated above I use 10 gal. round coolers and fly sparge.

Cheers

 

If a mash out were REALLY important, you would see the bulk of commercial systems designed to perform them. You don't. On the contrary, a minority of commercial systems are designed for mash out and of those, you aren't going to see many brewers using the feature. In the many breweries where I have worked, not ONCE have I seen a mash out performed.

 

If you have gotten full conversion, there is no need to "lock in" the wort. It can't get any more fully converted. If you have not reached full conversion, you might see some gain in efficiency. Or perhaps under some conditions one might want to stop before full conversion has occurred.

I like to do a mash out because a) it is very easy to do in my system (direct fired) and b) hotter liquid flows better so the sparge proceeds more easily.