I want to brew tomorrow but I have a 3 hour conference call I have to be on. Is there any danger if I get everything ready and dough in right before the call and then leave the mash for the 3 hours before I sparge? Should I dough in a couple degrees warmer to compensate for temp drop over the time? Or, will my beer just end up too thin regardless of anything I do over this length of time?
Thanks.
what’s the beer style? a really big barley wine good actually benefit from a really long mash. If you are trying to maintain some body I would mash pretty high, like 162ish. but it should be okay
Mash in as normal, but maybe throw some towels over your tun. Three hours is nothing. I’ve read that some people go overnight.
Style is AIPA. Shooting for 6.5% ABV. About 13-14 lbs of various malts.
Personally I would mash about 4 degrees higher than normal and call it good.
Not sure if it’s too late to add my 2 cents. But I would mash 2-4 degrees higher and RDWAHAHB as soon as the call was done…
Dave
I mashed in at 154 and the temperature in the mash read about 151 three hours later so I’m sure it will be just fine. I was shooting for about 150 - 152 (I never seem to hit it perfectly and my thermometer takes FOREVER to get stabilized so if I hit the range, I’m happy).
I am sure that this will turn out just fine but thanks for helping put my mind at ease.
Is this going to be another Thermapen thread?
I frequently mash for 3 or 4 hours. But sometimes I’ll just go for 1 to 1.5. I haven’t noticed a huge difference in fermentability between the two times for a given mash temp. (I do see maybe a 1-2% improvement in efficiency though.) If you want some added insurance against over attenuation, you could bump it a degree, maybe two tops.
My observation fits with a graph I saw in a brewing book someplace. It showed beta amylase activity versus time at various temperatures. IIRC, at 150 F and higher, it is virtually gone after 45 minutes, so there’s not much hanging around in your mash in hours 2 and 3 anyway.
So are tannins not really a problem with longer mashes then?
Tannins are really only a problem if your mash pH get’s out of line and the temp gets to high.