How Sweet is the wort meant to be?

[BarleyAndApple]

after the first stage of mashing.

So I did take the process of breaking down the protein, turning starch into liquid form, then did 15 minutes of 70-75C heating.


I tasted it and it was not something I expected. I could taste the vague starchy sweetness, but I really had to 'concentrate' to taste it.


Something I've done something wrong? maybe I messed up the previous process?


Thanks in advance.

 

[broadbill]

Hard to tell....best way to objectively measure this would be an gravity reading with the hydrometer.

What did you do exactly for mashing? I'm confused by the whole breaking down protein, heating to 70C etc....

 

[MMW]

It'll be a lot sweeter after the boil. Gravity reading is the best way to tell

 

[BarleyAndApple]

I'm talking about the whole steeping process (45C,62C,73C)

I did take a reading at 1.020, but this was with grists floating around.

 

[LakeErieBrew]

Dip your finger in the mash. Does is get sticky as it drys? If so, you did it right.

 

[BarleyAndApple]

No it didn't, seems like I messed up the steeping

 

[beretta]

The 70 C steep is the only official rest that converts the starches to sugar, and this conversion, depending on your grains, could take any where from 20 minutes to 1 hour to fully convert the starches. I use mostly Munton's barley from the UK, and I find 20 minutes is plenty of time to convert the starch. Did you bring up the temp of the mash to 76 C before laudering? if not, your probably in luck, as the conversion process will continue during laudering. So if your laudering process took 15-30 minutes to do (or longer?) then you'll be fine. Also: Beer Suger (Maltose) is the 2nd least sweet sugar to the human tongue, so it's taste is usually very mild.

Tasting the wort is a good idea, but until you get used to what it should tast like, I'de suggest taking a couple of onces of wort into a clear glass, and putting a couple drops of Iodine (the red-brown stuff from the drug store) in it. Swirl it around and wait about 5 seconds. If the mixture turn black, then starch is present and you'll have to let the wort sit for 10-15 minutes before boiling so it can further convert. If the mixture just stains light red-brown, then all the starches have converted!

Over all, I'de say you're fine. RDHAHB.

Cheers!

 

[broadbill]

No it didn't, seems like I messed up the steeping

Can you post a detailed procedure you followed? That would include the recipe, mashing schedule, gravity readings, volumes of water used, etc.,etc.

Sounds like you did a sequential 3-step mashing ending at 73C. I'm no expert in this particular method, but I'm under the impression that the first two steps are unnecessary this the highly modified malts used today. Most homebrewers and commerical brewery's today stick with the single step infusion mash for the majority of their brewing.

As Berreta pointed out 70C (158F) is where the conversion of starch to sugar occurs ...but that is at the upper end of where you want to be mashing...that will produce a wort this contains alot of unfermentable sugars.

You mentioned that you step mashed at 73C (163F) which is definitely outside the range of where you have efficient enzyme conversion of starch to sugar.

That being said, if you used a direct fire MT to move the temp of your mash from 45-73C, then you may have had a good amount of conversion has you heated through that optimum temp range for starch conversion. Hard to tell.

 

[pnj]

Usually I can taste my wort(pre boil) and it's sweet tasting. However, I made a Stout and that was far from sweet tasting. Made great beer though...

 

[ajf]

Were you mashing (as in post 1) or steeping (as in post 4)?
If you're mashing (using a base malt such as 2 row, pale malt, or 6 row) then you should be able to taste considerable sweetness as the starches are being converted into sugars.
If you're steeping (not using base malt) then the sweetness would depend on the grains you are steeping. Crystal malt would add some sweetness, but highly roasted malts would add very little to none. If you were steeping flaked grains such as barley or oats without any base malt, they would not add any sweetness as there would be no enzymes to convert the starches into sugars.

-a.

 

[broadbill]

Were you mashing (as in post 1) or steeping (as in post 4)?
If you're mashing (using a base malt such as 2 row, pale malt, or 6 row) then you should be able to taste considerable sweetness as the starches are being converted into sugars.
If you're steeping (not using base malt) then the sweetness would depend on the grains you are steeping. Crystal malt would add some sweetness, but highly roasted malts would add very little to none. If you were steeping flaked grains such as barley or oats without any base malt, they would not add any sweetness as there would be no enzymes to convert the starches into sugars.

-a.

I assumed he was mashing and not steeping, since he seemed to be following a step mash protocol (protein rest, alpha rest, beta rest...disclaimer: is this right? I'm no next to nothing about this style of mashing).

 

[david_42]

75C is rather hot for a mash. Did you hold it around 65C for 30 minutes?

For some people the maltose in wort doesn't taste sweet at all.