2 hour mash

[Phlyborn]

I recently read a book titled "brewing the worlds greatest beers" and in it the author says to mash for 2hrs.!
Everywhere else I have seen 60min. When I calculate his example recipes they are set at 93% eff. The book is older but does a 2hr mash really make much of a difference. The author doesn't mention if he is batch of fly sparging.


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[Hammy71]

What temperature is he mashing at? Often when mashing with a temperature of less than 150F it is recommended to increase the length of the mash to make sure conversion is complete.

 

[Phlyborn]

The author says to mash @ 150f or 152f. For most of the recipes. There is a fruit ale that say 155f for 1hr. Which has wheat malt and has a rest @122f for 30mins.


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[Phlyborn]

I am hitting my numbers fine, just wondering if I may be missing something or if the school of thought has changed.


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[Bsquared]

Budweiser mashes bud light for 5hr at 149º. They do that to get the beer as dry as possible.

20-30 years ago the malt homebrewers were getting access to was nowhere near the quality that we have access to today, also the knowledge base what a lot more limited. If you want a good read check out the Audacity of hops.

 

[Phlyborn]

That's interesting, I didn't know that. Thanks for the responses. So in short lower temps and/or a dryer beer could be the reasons for a longer mash by today's standards. I will also look into the recommended read, thanks again.


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[prohl84]

I don't remember the times and temperatures but most of the enzymes for mashing are going to denature well before two hours hits at their most active temperatures.

IIRC beta amylase won't last 2 hours at 150 and it might last about 5 minutes at 160.

There is a good chance the author may be referring to a traditional German triple decoction schedule in which case if you total the times of the acid rest, the protein rest, the sacch rest, and mashout you are talking a little over three hours. Beta amylase won't become denatured (quickly?) at protein rest temps so it will still be working by the time you hit the sacch rest.

For a really dry beer I'll go 75 minutes at 148. I had trouble with full conversion (and cloudy beers) at 60 minutes- for some reason that extra 15 does the trick for me.

 

[taoisilent]

I used to know a guy in Atlanta that mashed overnight. He mashed in a cooler. He would get up the next morning and sparge/lauter. He had some philosophy behind his method, but quite frankly I've forgotten.

He made excellent beer, though

Try this link:
Overnight Mashing

 

[RM-MN]

When you write a book you put down your thoughts and opinions on paper and hope that a publisher accepts it. The publisher may not know what is fact and what is fiction but cares mostly about what will sell since that is how their money is made. The author may have been quite successful with his method but that doesn't mean that it is factual. For instance, I brewed a Belgian Saison and only mashed for 30 minutes and realized a brewhouse efficiency of 85%. Now, maybe I would have gotten a more fermentable wort had I mashed longer but after about 2 weeks in the fermenter my gravity went from 1.060 to 0.996 and I had mashed at 153 to try to preserve a little maltiness.

I've done some testing with iodine to see how long it takes for conversion to occur and with a very fine grind (Corona mill set tight) I get full conversion in less than 3 minutes. Should I continue to mash for that extra 117 minutes? Will I gain anything from it other than my age increasing? How about only another 57 minutes? Would that help make my beer better?

 

[prohl84]

When you write a book you put down your thoughts and opinions on paper and hope that a publisher accepts it. The publisher may not know what is fact and what is fiction but cares mostly about what will sell since that is how their money is made.

Sort of like this Time Business article that says Miller Fortune gets its bourbon flavor from the cascade hops.