Alright - So I brewed an IPA yesteray and fear I fudged up. My grist was 15 lbs (to yield a pre-boil volume of 7.5 gallons) - Plus 1 lb corn sugar in the boil. I wanted the post boil volume to be 6.5 gallons, and a total yield of 5.5 gallons. My plan was to mash at 140F for ~30 minutes, and slowly climb the temperature to 155F for 20 minutes. Yeah...that didn't happen. Instead, I hit 145F (not too concerned about this) for 30 minutes. It then climbed WAY faster than expected, and when I checked, it was about 170F (for roughly 5 minutes). I then cooled the mash to ~160F for about 10 minutes before I sparged. What are your thoughts on this?
how long did it take to get from 145F up to 170F? I wouldn't be concerned unless it took less than 10minutes but I doubt that it was that quick. alpha amylase can work fast, and considering you spent half an hour at 145F...you should be all-good.
I would say it took about 15 minutes to get from 145 to 170F. Much faster than expected. OG before I pitched the yeast was about 1.053.
Well...I was hoping for a higher OG, but the recipe I was following called for a higher pre-boil volume to account for all the water loss with the hop trub (and I did not adjust the grist for this). So that may account for the lower OG...
In 15 minutes, a lot of conversion can happen. You may just have had a somehwat less fermentable wort.
I'm guessing you probably got most of the conversion you were looking for with the 145F for 30 minutes, and I think the 5 minutes at 170 probably didn't do you any good, but probably didn't "ruin" the beer, either. Mind if I ask how this happened? Strike water too hot, or ??
MLucky - Strike water was a bit high (shot for 140F, but ended up being 145F). But that wasn't too bad. My brew pot is half barrel (15 gallons), so it covers two coils on my electric stove. I turned both on high, left for 15 minutes (I thought it took longer to heat), and came back and it was 170F. The problem with my brew pot is that there is 1.5 gallons of dead space below the false bottom. So I always have trouble calculating the amount of mash water needed (and temperature), since I effectively need to add 1.5 gallons extra of mash water (and 1.5 gallons less of sparge water) than I should.
