Mashed too high

[catdaddy66]

Strike water was 5 gallons @ 168° strike temp with 10.5# of grain. I was shooting for a 152° mash temp but somehow messed up the calculation and my mash settled at 158°. I removed the lid and stirred like it stole something for a few minutes but this wasn't as effective as hoped so I added a qt of cool water and that got me to my target temp.

The problem was that it took almost 30 minutes to hit my temp and I am wondering what I might expect in my finished beer? How much sweeter will it be?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Stillraining]

Hard to evaluate sweetness person to person to me its more mouth feel change...I mash a lot of my beers at 156 to 158 and some are not really sweet at all. Just not as dry/crisp feeling. It really depends on the grains too.

I think you will find its not that huge of a difference. You probably changed your beer more with oxidizing of your grains with all the stiring then had you left in alone. So now its not going to be an accurate comparison for you to evaluate fairly.

 

[razyrsharpe]

Mashed too high? well, don't toke down before brewing... duh!

 

[JohnSand]

I've had some crazy mash temps that still resulted in good beer. Don't worry.

 

[TurnipGreen]

It will make beer. What style are you making? It might turn out that you really like it high, especially with fall right around the corner.

 

[catdaddy66]

It will make beer. What style are you making? It might turn out that you really like it high, especially with fall right around the corner.

It's a California Common so mid 150's isn't bad I think. I am not worried and the beer should turn out well. just curious as a beer 'scientist' lol

 

[TurnipGreen]

I subscribe to the "beer making is magic" camp instead of "beer making is science" camp. I've heard and read both that the first 15 minutes of mash temps are not too vital and I've also read the majority of conversion occurs in the first 20 minutes.

From the magic and ritual perspective, I have noticed that the first 10 minutes do effect the malt profile of your final beer. I can only assume this is because the spirits the malts prefer a hot mash just like the malt forward beers warm and fill us in the winter months. So I would guess you will have a higher final gravity maybe around 1016-1018ish and a nice malty, filling beer perfect for the fall season heading our way.

A scientist may explain it different but they're full of cr@p.

 

[jwelch1103]

If I understand mashing, the higher mash temps leave longer sugar chains then lower temps. If you spent the proper amount of time at the target temp after cooling to the proper temp then the sugar chains should be what the recipe calls for.
Had you done the opposite, i.e. mashed to low then the sugar chains would've been cut shorter and you'd be stuck with shorter sugar chains and therefore more fermentable sugars to the extent of the time spent at the lower temp.

 

[dyqik]

I subscribe to the "beer making is magic" camp instead of "beer making is science" camp. I've heard and read both that the first 15 minutes of mash temps are not too vital and I've also read the majority of conversion occurs in the first 20 minutes.

From the magic and ritual perspective, I have noticed that the first 10 minutes do effect the malt profile of your final beer. I can only assume this is because the spirits the malts prefer a hot mash just like the malt forward beers warm and fill us in the winter months. So I would guess you will have a higher final gravity maybe around 1016-1018ish and a nice malty, filling beer perfect for the fall season heading our way.

A scientist may explain it different but they're full of cr@p.

Here is some crap to chew on:
http://howtobrew.com/book/section-3/how-the-mash-works/the-starch-conversion-saccharification-rest



In particular, it takes time for beta amylase to break down at higher mash temperatures, so you can save some of it if you can cool mash down soon enough, and it will do much of its job before it breaks down anyway. You can also get whatever you have left from initially mashing too hot to work through all the simple starches that contribute body if you leave it longer. You may want to leave it longer if you mash cool anyway to give the alpha amylase time to work through the complex starches below its optimum temperature range.

All assuming you are aiming for a dry beer.

 

[jerbrew]

Witch!!