Dry beers---low mash temp?

[Jakeintoledo]

New to the site, and fairly new (six months) to the hobby. But I've done about four or five all-grain brews, invested the money in a large boil kettle and the proper Igloo mash/lauter tun, etc etc and so forth.

For my first all-grain, I set out to do a straightforward, easypeasy ale, with the following grain bill:

8lb pilsner
1lb carapils

and hops were

1oz centennial: 55min
1oz cascade: 5min

Wyeast Scottish Ale used for both

I've now brewed this twice, back-to-back, really to get the kinks out of all-grain brewing, but I'd like to learn a thing or two along the way for my efforts.

Both mash temps on these first two runs came in under 150 degrees F--145-147-ish. both batches taste remarkably like each other.

They're not BAD beers....just dryer than I'd care for them to be. I also attempted an ESB clone that was far dryer than it should be, and that beer also had a low mash temp, in the 145 range.

I've read Palmer's book and Papazian's as well. I think I remember reading about the saccrification rest, and what gets produced at different temp levels.

Does this seem reasonable to place blame on dryness at a low mash temp?

 

[Hammy71]

Yes, usually the lower the mash temperature the lower the FG. Most beers are mashed between 149 and 154 for me. Of course results may vary. But if your beers are coming out to dry, then yes, your mash temp is a place to start.

 

[Newbeerguy]

Yep those lower mash temps will lead to a more fermentable wort. I'd shoot for 150-154. Also the yeast you choose will have an impact on how dry the beer will be, but in your case, it is related to the lower mash temps.

 

[Birddog7]

How close is the dryness related to the sweetness? For example, a higher mash temp will give you more unfermentables so it will be a sweeter fuller beer. Is that also what will reduce the dryness?

On another note, could you step the mash to try and get more unfermentables at the end or would you benefit more from picking a single temp in the middle?

 

[Newbeerguy]

How close is the dryness related to the sweetness? For example, a higher mash temp will give you more unfermentables so it will be a sweeter fuller beer. Is that also what will reduce the dryness?

On another note, could you step the mash to try and get more unfermentables at the end or would you benefit more from picking a single temp in the middle?

Kinda sorta....sweetness and fullness are 2 separate things. Higher mash temps will lead to a less fermentable wort but that doesn't necessarily mean sweeter wort. Sweeter has to do more with ingredients. (Such as crystal malts for example) Ingredients along with higher mash temps will reduce dryness. If you add very fermentable ingredients such as corn sugar or honey, that will make the beer drier as they ferement out almost completely and mash temps won't help that. So large %'s of those will dry the beer out.

Step mashes can be used that way sure. Depends on what you're going for really. I sometimes use a 133 to 152 step mash on my wheat beers to promote better head retention and still good fermentability.

 

[emjay]

Higher mash temps will lead to a less fermentable wort but that doesn't necessarily mean sweeter wort.

This. The complex sugars/dextrins that are left by higher mash temps and don't get fermented have virtually no sweetness.

 

[Jakeintoledo]

Thanks for all the replies,guys. Quite an addicting hobby. The grain bill in question did. Not have a lot of sweet hops--and I wondered about that too, which is why I did an ESB clone with flaked maize this weekend, as well as a pound of 40L crystal. In fact, I think the bill worked out to be 70% base malt, and 30% sweet adjuncts, just to test my theory. The mash temp came in at 154 to. So I'll post back here in 4-5 weeks when I try it.