Dolmetscher007
Member
I am no chemist, but I am a former chef and total tight ass when it comes to designing an "ultimate method" for everything.
One thing that has always bothered me about home brewing is the idea that for the dough in step of mashing, everyone over-heats their strike water, knowing that it will cool off some once it hits the cooler grains. I'm not too concerned about hitting the right temperature in the end. I am concerned about what is happening for the few seconds that the 170-180 degree water is reacting with the cracked malt.
Does the hot water not kill or destroy... something... in the grain that we'd want to keep? My mind immediately goes back to bread making. Yeast is killed by any temperature above 105-110 degrees F. But yeast also goes dormant and doesn't really do it's job below 40 degrees F. So... when making bread, you don't want to use HOT water, but you also don't want to use ice cold water. (there is a whole thing about delayed fermentation in bread that says to use really cold water and let the dough chill in the fridge for 3 days... but that is a whole different post). So what people sometimes do, is they want the dough temp to be 105-110 degrees, so they add 125 degree water to the flours/salt/yeast mix and the whole thing ends up at 110. But... this is terrible, because for the 5-10 seconds that your water is cooling down 10-15 degrees, the very fragile yeast is dying. It usually ends up "working out in the end" because there is enough yeast left to do the job. But... to me it is an imperfect concept.
Same with beer. Would it not be better to add the grain to cold (or room temp) strike water, and then raise the temperature slowly over a low flame until you reach your target temp without the thermal shock to the grain?
I know that some complex recipes call for letting the mash rest at specific temps for specific times, raising the temp mid-mash. This bring in one additional question that must be asked then...
Is it okay to stir a mash right in the middle of the mash time. Or better yet... continuously stir throughout the mash. If you do not use the insulated cooler method, but instead opts to mash in your boil kettle over a bottom-heat-source... is it okay to stir the mash to distribute the water heat throughout the mash, or will this agitation have a negative effect on the outcome.
These are some pretty chemistry centric questions, so please only comment if you had read or seen something that addresses these questions. I know "it will work" by adding hot water to cold grains, etc. I am interested in, as I said before, "the ultimate method. Ha ha ha... Please don't laugh. I know it's goofy.
One thing that has always bothered me about home brewing is the idea that for the dough in step of mashing, everyone over-heats their strike water, knowing that it will cool off some once it hits the cooler grains. I'm not too concerned about hitting the right temperature in the end. I am concerned about what is happening for the few seconds that the 170-180 degree water is reacting with the cracked malt.
Does the hot water not kill or destroy... something... in the grain that we'd want to keep? My mind immediately goes back to bread making. Yeast is killed by any temperature above 105-110 degrees F. But yeast also goes dormant and doesn't really do it's job below 40 degrees F. So... when making bread, you don't want to use HOT water, but you also don't want to use ice cold water. (there is a whole thing about delayed fermentation in bread that says to use really cold water and let the dough chill in the fridge for 3 days... but that is a whole different post). So what people sometimes do, is they want the dough temp to be 105-110 degrees, so they add 125 degree water to the flours/salt/yeast mix and the whole thing ends up at 110. But... this is terrible, because for the 5-10 seconds that your water is cooling down 10-15 degrees, the very fragile yeast is dying. It usually ends up "working out in the end" because there is enough yeast left to do the job. But... to me it is an imperfect concept.
Same with beer. Would it not be better to add the grain to cold (or room temp) strike water, and then raise the temperature slowly over a low flame until you reach your target temp without the thermal shock to the grain?
I know that some complex recipes call for letting the mash rest at specific temps for specific times, raising the temp mid-mash. This bring in one additional question that must be asked then...
Is it okay to stir a mash right in the middle of the mash time. Or better yet... continuously stir throughout the mash. If you do not use the insulated cooler method, but instead opts to mash in your boil kettle over a bottom-heat-source... is it okay to stir the mash to distribute the water heat throughout the mash, or will this agitation have a negative effect on the outcome.
These are some pretty chemistry centric questions, so please only comment if you had read or seen something that addresses these questions. I know "it will work" by adding hot water to cold grains, etc. I am interested in, as I said before, "the ultimate method. Ha ha ha... Please don't laugh. I know it's goofy.