Are there any tangible benefits of really long mashes? 4 hrs +?

[dragonbreath11]

Are there any tangible benefits, despite a couple of gravity points, to doing really long mashes like 4+ hours ie. overnight?

 

[starrfish]

probably not. BYO magazine just had an article (sept 2011 issue) about shorter mash times.

 

[Dynachrome]

I've done a couple longer ones, but not over 4 hours. I'm thinking you may get more tanins and a metaliic flavor like a red.
Some say it's heat that brings it out of the husks, but a longer soak probably wou't help.

...bet it still makes beer though!

 

[hoppymonkey]

NO tannins. I did it on accident once. ( kid got stitches) It makes for a really fermentable wort which means VERY dry in regular gravity brews.

 

[dragonbreath11]

One of the best brews I ever made was a Smoked porter and I mashed for 10 hours and I was wondering whether it was attributable to the long mash. In high adjunct beers would it be a stretch to say more of the roasted characters would come out more readily and incorporate themselves into the whole mash?

 

[gypsyhead]

In general, it depends on the style, no? What are you brewing bud?

 

[iijakii]

Most mashes finish their conversion in the first 45 minutes. Kai has a graph on his blow showing that he got a whopping 2% conversion efficiency increase or something by doubling the mash to two hours. Pointless.

If you keep the temperature on mark then there isn't any harm, and many people actually mash overnight in electric rubbermaids and then boil the next morning. But without a temperature controlled mash those long mashes will likely mean your temperature is dropping and you'll convert sugers you weren't wanting to and wind up with a super dry and thin stout or something .

 

[asterix404]

So, yes there are benefits but it really does depend on what style you are going for. If you leave a mash at about 152 for 4h you will break down almost all of the sugars, carbs etc, into things that can be fermented. If you do it at 162 you will most likely also get all of the sugars etc into ferment-ables as well. This also happens after about 1h at 152, 4h wouldn't get you much if any more and kill the body etc which requires the dexitrins to give mouth feel. Conversion rates occur at different times for different grains. Adjuncts don't typically add any sugar at all that CAN be fermented so seeping them longer doesn't do anything. Most grains will actually convert at about 45min, some as short as 15 (American 6-row does in fact convert completely in 15min), it all depends on how many enzymes are in the barley.

A 4h mash will not hurt anything but you can't really gain anything by going that long. The problem that I would think of is temp control and if it drops you have the chance to get bacteria in your cooler which then dies in the boil... so no real harm there.

 

[Dynachrome]

If you had time constraints you could let it sit and throw in some maltodextrin or steep some carapils for mouth feel right at boiling, but that adds to cost I guess.

 

[iijakii]

Here's the page I was talking about earlier. http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Mash_Time_Dependency_of_Wort_Fermentability