What do you use to hold your mash temp?

[wyowolf]

Hmmm thats interesting, would save a lot of time on brew day.

Apparently most of you ignored what I said about mash times. If your milling is decent, your conversion is over in less than 10 minutes and holding the temperature longer than that doesn't do anything. If your milling isn't decent, why not? Corona mills are cheap and the results are superb. 10 minute mash at 85% efficiency every time I brew unless I get scared and go for 20 minutes.

 

[RM-MN]

Read through this thread. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/cutting-brew-day-time-time-challenge-487453/#post6328469

I used iodine as an indicator and showed conversion was over in 3 minutes but I was informed that the alpha amylase could have converted the starches to long chain sugars and that the beta amylase would take much longer to do its job. According to Owly055, using a refractometer, the conversion really is complete in about 5 minutes. Here is his analysis. "I conducted the amazing 10 minute mash test and was shocked at how rapidly the conversion took place.

* One gallon test brew using 2 pounds of 2 row and some crystal. Double crushed, the
second pass done at .010 spacing.

* Dough in at 130 tap water temp, and crank the heat up

* When the mash reached 145, I turned the heat down to prevent it running through
the mash range too fast, as this is a very small batch

* Stirring constantly, the conversion started happening big time at around 149. I could
actually see it happen. The milky liquid cleared and thinned into a nice clear wort.
Meanwhile the brix jumped rapidly up to 10, and stopped just shy of 12. Post boil brix
I mashed with 1.5 gallons of strike water for a one gallon brew (excessive), and the
brix well above my target. The actual conversion took about 5 min. There is
absolutely no doubt that I achieved complete conversion.


I learned a few things here, one, perhaps the most important is that conversion can happen very very rapidly..... as I was told, two is that when you are watching, you can visually see it happen. Stirring appears to be important....... at least I think so. I also learned that the iodine test is a waste of time. As riot suggested, the refractometer is extremely effective. When the brix quits rising, conversion is obviously complete.

In conclusion, it's pretty obvious that my steady heat program will work fine as long as I monitor temps and stir through the mash range. That puts my 2 hour brew cycle within easy reach. It also alleviates the boredom of waiting. I will have to stir through the heating cycle until I hit 165 or so, then I'll have an hour boil to wait through.

This test brew is in the boil now. I will boil it down to 3/4 gallon, and ferment it in a one gallon ice tea jug, adding sterile water to make up the gallon after the krausen has fallen. Hopped with Motueka fwh and Motueka 30 min and Nelson Sauvin 5 min. (4 grams each) The extra long boil to boil it down to 3 quarts throws my hop additions all out of whack, but who cares! As long as it tastes decent (and it will), and has IBUs between 30 and 60 (and it will), I'm happy. It should give me 6 half liter bottles of good ale, easily.


H.W."

 

[wobdee]

So what kind of FG are you seeing with these short mashes? I could see this working for the higher Alpha ranges since they work faster than Beta but will that lead to a less fermentable wort?

 

[Squad1Guy]

I do smaller batches and my pot fits in the oven - so I heat oven to 170-180, then turn off and put pot in warm oven to mash...

This is what I usually do. I tried to do the "blanket" method and lost about 3-4 degrees over an hour. I will be going back to the "oven" method

(FWIW...I have an 8 gallon SS mash/brew pot. We recently got a new stove, and I had my tape-measure in hand to make sure I had enough room for my pot to fit in there!)

 

[badmajon]

RM-MN, do you ever have problems with stuck mashes?

 

[Owly055]

So what kind of FG are you seeing with these short mashes? I could see this working for the higher Alpha ranges since they work faster than Beta but will that lead to a less fermentable wort?

This is exactly the problem......... and I've upped my mash time to 20 minutes, ultimately hoping to find the sweet spot. I was .006-.007 high on my FG, or slightly less than 1% ABV below typical. More residual sweetness. Surprisingly good considering the extremely brief mash.

H.W.

 

[RM-MN]

RM-MN, do you ever have problems with stuck mashes?

No, but I've never had more than 60% rye or wheat in my mash. I'm thinking about doing a 100% rye in the future.

 

[craigmw]

This is exactly the problem......... and I've upped my mash time to 20 minutes, ultimately hoping to find the sweet spot. I was .006-.007 high on my FG, or slightly less than 1% ABV below typical. More residual sweetness. Surprisingly good considering the extremely brief mash.

H.W.

That's kind of what I figured would happen. The tools we have to determine "conversion" aren't really suited to testing the fermentability of the wort. Instead, they simply reflect the level of starch extraction and breakdown of these to shorter polysaccharides. So, in the end, while it might be possible to get good starch extraction and breakdown, the generation of maltose and other mono- and di-saccharides, which is what give rise to fermentability, are going to be limited by temperature vs. time. I can appreciate the interest in reducing brewday times, but the downside is repeatability, especially with published recipes.

 

[Swiller]

Yup, conversion can happen in a short period of time, but my attenuation suffers. I stick to 60 regardless... 90 if I want a really fermentable wort.

 

[Owly055]

Yup, conversion can happen in a short period of time, but my attenuation suffers. I stick to 60 regardless... 90 if I want a really fermentable wort.

I have been mashing in the range of 20-30 minutes now. What I've done in 30 minutes shows exactly the same attenuation as I get with a courser grind for an hour or more. Lower attenuation was expected with the 10 min mash, and I was surprised how good it actually was. I haven't fermented a 20 minute mash out completely yet, but expect it to come in pretty close. There is a "sweet spot", and I'm going to nail it down. Clearly a 30 minute BIAB mash with the .010 crush is more than sufficient.

H.W.

 

[hawktrio]

.

 

[Nummey]

I brew in my basement in the vicinity of a clothes dryer. Last time I brewed, i tossed a few towels in the dryer for a few minutes, they came out hot and I wrapped them around my 9 gallon pot for an hour. Only lost about 1-2 degrees.

I'd call it ghetto but not sure they have dryers in the ghetto!