Accidental early mash out

[runkelia]

After my 1 hour mash rest at 154, I heated 2 1/4 gallons to sparge. Well I got complacent and unintentionally brought that water to a boil and sparged with it. It brought the grist temp up to 168 and I collected my runnings. I still had 2 1/4 more gallons to collect so I sparged with 150 degree water. At that point I didn't think the temperature mattered as the grist was already at 168.

From what I understand, bringing up the temperature to 168 stops conversion to: what?

I didn't lose sugars that I am aware as I ended up hitting my gravity - actually gained 2 points.

My question is: Is the early mash out going to affect my beer?

Should I have cooled the boiling water prior to sparging with it?

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Mash out just denatures the alpha and beta amylase enzymes that convert the starches. It helps to control the process and keeps things consistent.

Depending on your sparge efficiency and your equipment type the amount of sugar you get out of the grain bed will vary. Sounds like you were in the 70% efficiency range given your 2 point increase from planned.

 

[chickypad]

I think most folks, me included, don't bother with a mash out when batch sparging since it's so fast - different than if you're fly sparging for 45 min to an hour say. The second sparge at 150 is fine, you can even sparge with cold water if you want and not really impact efficiency according to an experiment by Kai (it's somewhere on his website braukaiser).

That being said, if you're going to do one the process is usually to add boiling water to bring the grist up to around 168 - sounds exactly like what you did. Not sure what you mean by "early mash out", you did it at the end of the mash.

 

[runkelia]

I think most folks, me included, don't bother with a mash out when batch sparging since it's so fast - different than if you're fly sparging for 45 min to an hour say. You can even sparge with cold water if you want and not really impact efficiency according to an experiment by Kai (it's somewhere on his website braukaiser).

That being said, if you're going to do one the process is usually to add boiling water to bring the grist up to around 168 - sounds exactly like what you did. Not sure what you mean by "early mash out", you did it at the end of the mash.

I did not do it at the end, I did it at my 1st (of 2) sparge.

 

[chickypad]

You did it at the end of the mash, right? That's not early, that's when you do a mash out.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

A mash out occurs at the end of the rest and before you sparge.

It sounds like that is what you did.

 

[runkelia]

Ok my interpretation of a mash out was incorrect - I thought that the mash out was to be performed at the last sparge, your logic makes sense.