Has anybody listened to the original show or the podcast? Am I hearing Mitch correctly when he says they mash for 10-15 mins @ 157? I understand the 157 temp for body but the time just seems way too short for the conversion.
I'm not going to relisten to see if that's what he said. I'd brew it and mash for whatever time you typically mash for. Conversion can happen quickly, but it is system dependent, to some degree. Mashing longer shouldn't have a significant effect, at least within "normal" mash duration guidelines. If you are brewing it, you might be interested in the homebrewtalk thread on it: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/can-you-brew-recipe-stone-levitation-178127/ Some posters did brew it and at least one says he mashed for 75 min.
I purchased the Stone book that Greg and Steve put out last year and there are a few recipes in the back of it. Lots of their year round offerings do mash at what sounds like a little high of a temp, for a super short period of time. That being said, most of their beers are 90+% base malt, so perhaps the mash is already so rich in enzymes required for conversion that they find 15-20 minutes is all they need for full conversion. i'm interested in testing this, via an iodine test, but i've yet to purchase the kit. good luck with your brew
I've heard most of the conversion happens immediately, so I wouldnt think be out of the question for conversion to finish in 15-20 minutes. I was talking with a pro brewer about this very topic. He said the mashes are more efficient do to the constant mixing. I think homebrewers just assume they have to mash for an hour because that is what we have always been told. For low tech cooler setups, it is probably a safer bet, but could probably go shorter.
When I mash, I mix the mash aggressively with a drill powered paint mixer. Not to create a vortex from the bottom through the top, I do hit batch forward and reverse while pouring in the grain. I mash in a bag and pseudo batch sparge; just another soak really. For that, I mix with the drill too. It works quite well for me - never a dough ball and the mash is mixed perfectly.
