Averagely Perfect Saison - Poll #25 - Mash Length

Not directly related to Mash Temp, but did some experimenting with how Gravity drops initially. Currently fermenting a pale ale with an OG of 1.045 (really); at just under 48 hours of pitching I took a hydrometer reading (the things I do for Science). Here's the result:



Adjusted for temp, Gravity is 1.036 . . . I had a fairly long lag time (~10 hours), so estimate this was about 36 hours after Mr Yeast put themselves in gear. Ferm temp was 66, higher temps should shorten the time to reach our 1.033 target.

For VikeMan; here's your first data point for when you add a tab to BrewCipher showing Gravity versus "time in primary" as correlated by Yeast type.

 

Very kind. I'm somewhat surprised also. What yeast?

 

I'm still surprised I did that . . . co-pitch of 3944 & Conan.


My guess is not quite to high krausen.

 

90. I find it to work out better in most of my beers that I want dry. Don't ask why. Habit, maybe.

 

@VikeMan If you're looking for that type of data, use data that is posted by those that use The Beer Bug. I don't use it personally, but all of the fermentation data is collected and posted. It will give you a place to start.

https://www.thebeerbug.com/community/

 

Long and low. 90 minutes.

 

I do 90 no matter what. It's part of my routine so I can do other things on brew day. I plan on being faithful to the final recipe but honestly I'll mash 90 no matter what the poll comes out.

 

60 minutes. Usually I have full conversion in 30 though according to the old iodine test.

 

Same here, except I do the visual test instead of iodine.

 

calibrated eyeball. That's what I use too.

 

90 minutes. Fairly high percent adjunct grains. Plus, that will give me some time to take my dog for a walk.

 

60 minutes, purely out of habit.

 

How does the visual test for starch conversion work? What do you look for?

 

I usually do a 30 min mash, but I don't mash out so the extra time during sparging and collecting help conversion.

I picked low and slow here too. 120 min, I've never done a mash that long, and I'm not sure if I have the patience for it. I may change my vote to 90 towards the end if that helps.

 

When you first mash in it is all milky and foggy, lots of grains on the surface. As it converts, the milky starches clarify and the grains begin to settle out. When I go to stir at 30 minutes the top level of the wort becomes Crystal clear, only a couple grains or husks floating around, and a fairly goupy layer of wet flour packed over the grainbed. Conversion can happen fairly quick, but the fermentability can still shift after conversion is done (conversion of starch to sugars, but the length of sugar chains still shift as long as the enzymes are still active.

 

I'll be doing a 60 min regardless. I fly sparge, and we're not doing a mashout...so it would be completely pointless for me to go any longer than 60.

Even if doing a mash out I only go longer than 60 min if there is a considerable percentage of wheat or rye in the grist, or if it's a big beer.

 

I overnight mash most of the time, so I went 120

 

You need to get a dog.

 

At least some of those enzymes should still be active during sparking as well eh? I like to sparge with 160 F liquor at around 5.8 pH. Sparge is typically 90 minutes, so in theory, enzymes have anywhere between 60 and 150 minutes to break starches and complex sugars down.