Mashing in to high?

[Kyled93]

Hey all, just finished brewing tonight, well yesterday now, I've got a quick question about efficiency with the mash. If my strike temperature over shoots and it takes approximately 15 to come to the appropriate temperature, do I run the risk of denaturing the enzymes in the mash effecting the over all efficiency? Or do I need to look elsewhere for mash eff issues? Grain mill etc.

 

[brewkinger]

So to clarify, you mashed in at what temperature?

 

[Kyled93]

Target temp was 152 but due to grain temp and it being semi cold out last night beersmith told me to strike at 164. It sat at 162 and slowly went to 152 over a 15 min period prior to stabilizing. I think the issue I may have had was using the factory setting on my MM3 monster mill. Thoughts? What should I mill at setting wise? Or was it a temp issue?

 

[IslandLizard]

Your strike water was 164 and your grain took it down only 2 degrees?

Did you stir the mash really well? Are your thermometers correct?

 

[dhoyt714]

You could of measured the temp in a hot pocket, which obviously wouldn't give you an accurate reading.

With it bring cold that should of made the mash cool faster not keeping it at the s
High end.

 

[Varmintman]

All of the above plus stirring while mashing in is a chore but needs to be done. It takes a LOT of stirring to get the temps evened out and a accurate reading.

Also until you get to know your system keep a pot of boiling water going and a tray of ice cubes. That way if your temps are low you can bring them up or if they are high bring them down.

Great choice on the mill. The crush depends on your system though. If you brew in a bag you can go much finer than you can with a manifold. Myself I kept on going finer with the crush until I was on the verge of a stuck sparge and then locked it all down. I toss a couple of handfulls of rice hulls in every batch and it has worked fine

 

[Kyled93]

Well it may have been a hot pocket but I doubt it. Once I mash in and stir the mash to get rid of dough balls, I start to recirculate so I can get an accurate temp. Here is my setup



The temp probe is in a thermowell at the exit if the kettle.

It's 15 gallon kettle about 1/8" stainless steel with about 20.5 lbs of grain at 69 and it was 65/66 out last night.

The mill is brand new and no adjustments made yet.

 

[Varmintman]

Nice set up man.

I am thinking though it takes something like 170 degrees to denature and a bit of time at the temp. I am thinking it is your crush and since I have not used a false bottom I am thinking others might be able to help better than me

 

[brewkinger]

And not only the temp, but pH plays a bigger role in the denaturing of the mash.

I think you are ok overall.

 

[brewkinger]

I guess that I need to know more info though.

What was your efficiency that you are questioning?

 

[Kyled93]

I was shooting for 75% but I think I got 60%

 

[brewkinger]

Ok, based on what you have said and some assumptions:
Same water profile that you have used in the past and had good efficiency with.
And the rest of your process is the same,
I think the new mill is the culprit.

Not sure what they come set at from factory but I would suggest a tweak to make it a little less gap.
Do you remember what the crush looked like?

 

[Kyled93]

Ok, based on what you have said and some assumptions:
Same water profile that you have used in the past and had good efficiency with.
And the rest of your process is the same,
I think the new mill is the culprit.

Not sure what they come set at from factory but I would suggest a tweak to make it a little less gap.
Do you remember what the crush looked like?

Actually, ya I I do. I did a short video with the crush at the end

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIBi8HYbgQQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

They other thing is I used bries malt which I hear is smaller.

 

[thadius856]

Nice hulls. A little larger than my crush. Since it's a MM3, if you're malt conditioning I'd recommend taking it down to 0.035". I have a MM2-2.0 with stainless rollers, so very similar rollers to your mill, and that gives me a finer crush than what I see in your video.

Still, that crush isn't the cause for the 60% mash eff, IMO. I've gotten mid 70's no problem with that size of crush.

Can we assume you're fly sparging on this setup? How long? What temperature? Etc.

Are you sure the gravity measurement that you used to calculate the mash eff was correct? How did you calculate it?

 

[Kyled93]

Nice hulls. A little larger than my crush. Since it's a MM3, if you're malt conditioning I'd recommend taking it down to 0.035". I have a MM2-2.0 with stainless rollers, so very similar rollers to your mill, and that gives me a finer crush than what I see in your video.

Still, that crush isn't the cause for the 60% mash eff, IMO. I've gotten mid 70's no problem with that size of crush.

Can we assume you're fly sparging on this setup? How long? What temperature? Etc.

Are you sure the gravity measurement that you used to calculate the mash eff was correct? How did you calculate it?

Thanks, I've got the MM3 stainless rollers as well. I did fly sparge at 168/169 approximately 10 gallons for this recipe.

I took gravity measurements of the runnings with a refractometer after fly sparging and got approximately 7 brix.

I took a hydrometer reading of the runnings measuring 1.010 but that was at 165 degrees. At knock out I got approximately 1.035 of 11 gallons.

I currently used 1.2 quarts/ lb of grain for my calculations.

Should I have mashed longer and just used an iodine test? Some how I can't imagine it didn't convert.