Very High Gravity Mash Temp

What are you doing, a Dark Lord clone?
I suppose the question is, what do you want your FG to be? What kind of mouthfeel are you looking for?
I'd probably say that for a massive beer like that you probably do want a bit higher than normal mash - maybe in the 155 range. You're going to end up with a fairly high FG anyways, unless you go with a wine or spirits yeast.

 

156 F and US-05

 

Without knowing your recipe and yeast selection it's just a shot in the dark.

 

The recipe would be helpful, my shot in the dark would be the 152-155 range using a high gravity yeast and split the batch into 2 fermenters. 1.145 is gonna blow big.

 

I agree with the OP's initial thought, and would mash at 148 F for at least 90 minutes or maybe even longer (couple hours or overnight). That is one huge OG. People might love syrupy big beers but it doesn't need to be that way. Depends on what you prefer I suppose, just like anything else. A low slow mash will definitely improve attenuation if you want that. Yeast selection also matters most of all. Select your yeast carefully.

 

I mash at 149 forr my ris it's not super thick in t he end but there's a ton of malt complexity that covers any boozy. I got this from a Kate the great recipe I've been happy with

 

An overnight mash is likely to pull tannins out of dark grains. (Or, so I've heard. I've never run a mash that long). Add the dark grains right before you take your first runnings.

Unless you are using a low attenuating yeast, I'd mash midway (154-155). Chewy and chocolaty wins the day--especially if you are oaking this.

 

Good point, I think you're probably right. I've never done overnight either.

As for chewiness...... at an OG that high, it's going to be chewy no matter what the hell you do. No need to make it "even worse" by mashing hot on top of it IMHO.

 

If you want to produce the most fermentable wort, you may be interested to know that Kai Troester ran some trials and found the most fermentable single infusion mash worts were made at 151F. Greg Doss did similar trials, with similar results (though IIRC he found 152F to be the sweet spot). Higher and lower temps resulted in less fermentable worts.

 

Good luck. I'll second the cautions on overnight mashing. 60 minutes or a bit longer should be fine.

 

It won't sour quite that fast, takes at least 24-48 hours to notice any big difference. I've done a couple sour mashes in the past on purpose. Even after 3 days the tartness wasn't noticeable -- in future I would sour mash for more like 4 days if I try it again.

But anyway.... yes, 2 hours at 150 F should give you a good result.

 

Another option is to swap some malt for sugar. It will lower the FG and the beer would still be thick.

S-05 and 1728 finish about the same for me, so supplementing with S-05 in this situation doesn't accomplish anything more than increasing the cell count and fusels while robbing the beer of malty character.

 

Whoa! How many gallons are you making? That's a lot of molasses if 5 gallons. Cut back to no more than 4 oz in 5 or it will taste very strongly of molasses. It can also give a major iron/blood flavor if you use too much.

 

1728 has a higher abv tolerance than Chico. 1272 would have been a good single strain choice for a 14% beer.

Long term aging isn't a magic fusel remover. Temperature control during fermentation can prevent fusels.

Molasses is less fermentable than sugar. It has variable fermentability and can be comparable to malt in terms of fermentability. The amount you are planning to use after the dmtaylor correction isn't going to reduce your FG.

What do you want your FG to be? If lower than 1.030, consider using some simple sugar instead of malt.

 

Wine yeasts are adapted to simple sugars found in fruit juices and mead musts and the like, so while they may be able deal with a high OG, they would not do well with a high OG wort. You would have a high FG with wine yeast, I believe. I know less about yeasts used for fermentation prior to spirit distillation. They definitely must ferment graib-derived worts, with maltose, maltotiose, and so on, but I believe a mash strategy for spirits would emphasize high fermentability.