Mash out - how and why

[KrazySquirrel]

So this is a two part question about the mash out temp at the end of the starch conversion. I brew on an electric all grain system in my basement using 2000 Watt heat sticks and mash in a cooler. The cooler keeps the mash temp fairly consistent, but I don't perform a mash out to my beers because I don't want to put the heat stick in the cooler and melt the plastic and feel that I'd need a lot more hot water than my sparge calls for to raise the temp. I make decent beers, but they tend to finish dry and some a little astringent. My mash temps are usually 145 -154 which will lend a drier beer, but I'm wondering if the lack of the mash out is contributing to the dry finish.

1. How do other electric brewers (non-RIMS/HERMS) perform a mash out?

2. Is a mash out necessary?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[earwig]

Mashing out is NOT necessary when it comes to home brewing. After an hour of mashing there isn't much if anything left in the mash to convert. Mashing out is necessary in commerical brewing because of the volume of wort and the amount of time between mashing and boiling... at home the max 1 hour transfer time is not enough time to affect your beer.

 

[earwig]

Oh and to answer #1, you would mash out by adding enough hot water to your mash to bring it up over 170 F. before sparging.

If you are fly sparging and believe that a mashout is necessary than do what I stated above. If you are batch sparging no mashout would be necessary because after quickly draining the first runnings you would be adding hot water to the mash (bringing it above 170F), stirring it in, and then draining that right away also.