I’m checking out the Jeff The Hefe Weissbier recipe in the AHA members section. The author/brewer status “If you’re not looking to win any competitions, feel free to skip the step mash”. I’m not competing so I think this means the single infusion mash temp is 156F which seems a little too high to get any alpha amylaze out of the mash – but I’ve never brewed a Hefeweizen before so maybe this is how a Hefe “works”. Does a mash-in at 156F seem right? I’m assuming the 168F in his step mash is just a plain-ole’ mash-out but any insight would be appreciated there too.
A single-infusion mash at 156 will work fine. It’s not too high. In principle, this temp is actually about optimal for alpha amylase and should result in a more dextrinous wort. In practice, 156 vs. 154 vs. even 150 makes little difference, IME. Yes, 168 is a mash out step (unnecessary, IME).
Thanks. Oh yeah, I mixed up beta/alpha enzyme temp (can never keep them straight). Probably obvious, but is the mash rest time just 90 minutes then (add up the step times)?
Brewers love to overcomplicate things that don’t matter so much. I would just mash at 150 F for 45 minutes like I do for 90% of everything. And it will turn out great, even award-winning. No deep thoughts required on this style.
Likewise, I use 152° 90% of the time. …but for a full hour.
Then if I have late additions I add 30 min to the end at 168°F.
Appreciate the insight, thank you. It’s certainly has less going on than my IPA recipes.
Any thoughts why the step mash has a 156F rest in it? I’ve read that a the mash temp creates more fermentability at lower ranges, but builds more body (and less fermtability) at higher ranges. I thought maybe being a 4.5% beer, the 156F mash temp was important.
How would I know if I can use a shorter mash time? With no late hop additions, that seems like a nice time saver. Is it as simple as using a starch conversion iodine test?
I mostly brew the Scott Janish WIPA#2 all the time. I don’t really know why, but when I mash at 149F for an hour with that one, I seem to get more hop flavor and aroma out of it. Purely subjective though… there is some temp variation between the top and bottom of my Foundry kettle so not really sure what I’d say my mash temp is. I’ve always done at least an hour though. Sometimes I’ve not hit my gravity and added another 30 mins to the boil but not sure what the outcome was without looking over my notes.
I’m curious, but not sure I understand… are you saying you add 30 min to the boil when you have late hop additions, or do you mean you are doing something like FWH at mashout (168F is a mashout temp, right?).
Sorry for the confusion. I routinely mash at 152°F and mash out at 168°F. If I don’t have dark crystal or roast malt I use 15 min at 168°F. If I do have dark crystal or roast malts I add them after the main 60 min mash and vorlauf/mash out at 168°F for 30 min. This way I get a 30 min hot steep of the darker grain.
There might be a really good reason to rest at 156 F versus some other temperature. My guess is there’s not. In reality, the exact temperature does not matter nearly as much as people say it does. I’ll bet I couldn’t taste a difference between a beer mashed at 150 vs. 156 F, and I’ll bet you couldn’t either. True, a wort mashed at 156 F should be slightly less fermentable (i.e., finished beer of higher FG, lower ABV) than at say 150 F, but… I can’t taste much difference between beers differing in FG or ABV in these tiny amounts.
20 years ago I experimented a ton with shortening my mash times. I landed on a minimum mash time of 40 minutes for proper attenuation. Efficiency is not significantly impacted after just 20-30 minutes, but attenuation can be, sometimes, with some malt bills. So now I just mash almost every batch for 45 minutes and call it good. Save a few minutes. For the few batches where I want maximum attenuation, I’ll mash even longer, 60 to 90 minutes or even more. But most beers don’t require this.
Overall, I find TOTAL mash TIME to be FAR more important to control, and a more useful metric, than the mash temperature. YMMV
Cheers.
Ah, Ok. I understand now. Thanks.
Thanks. This is really interesting. I guess I’ve read so much about maltose and maltotriose that I’ve come to expect the mash temp to be critical to the outcome. I’ve only been brewing a couple years, and never seem to have enough consistency in my process anyway, that I would be able to pinpoint my outcomes on any single thing (like mash temp or time) so, good food for thought.
152 mash temp it is 
Just a follow up. It turned out great! No decoction or step mash. 5% ABV, nice and crisp. Great recipe and I’m not a big Hef fan so that’s saying something.