Critique this brew process

paulhilgeman · November 2, 2011, 1:05pm

There have been two new developments related to my brewing hobby lately.

An awesome system that I have been building for the past year makes things incredibly easy to brew.
A 3rd Child (currently 3 months old), along with our 3 year old and 2 year old.

Based on this, in order to get a brew-night in, I have to make some sacrifices to make sure the house runs smooth etc. through dinner and bed time.

#1 above lets me mash-in in a matter of minutes, probably 5, so I can walk in the garage when I get home from work around 4:00 and make my strike water and start the mash very quickly. It is a temperature controlled system, so I can set it at 153 and walk away for 2 hours.

My thought would be to mash in at 4:00 at 153, at 5:00 bump it up to 168 for a mash out (It will probably take 10 minutes to get there) and then just leave it there until I get some time to get back to brewing, probably 6:30 or 7:00.

This would come out as a 1hr @153, and then possibly 2hr@168 mash schedule.

Anyone see an issue with this?

tom_sawyer · November 2, 2011, 2:49pm

Its a long time at the mashout temp. I’d let it go at the mash temp and just do the mashout right before running off. Although I can’t say for sure that this wouldn’t work. it just seems a long time to hold the grain at the elevated temp.

tg · November 2, 2011, 2:52pm

What problem do you see keeping the mash at 168F?

Do you fly sparge and is it automated?

paulhilgeman · November 2, 2011, 3:18pm

Nah, I batch sparge, so it will have to sit for quite a while at mash-out before I can attend to it.

I suppose I could just let it sit at 153 forever, It is a dortmunder with about 3.5% Crystal malts in it, I just wouldnt want it to dry out too much, but again, I doubt that would actually happen.

I guess to way to weigh the options:

Long rest at 153, possibly too much b-Amalayse activity or time until it gets denatured and end with an overly fermentable wort.
Normal rest at 153, then sit for a long time at 168, I dont see any down sides here? No tannin issues since the pH will still be at Mash PH, what else could be bad about this?

Thanks guys.

tom_sawyer · November 2, 2011, 5:33pm

Maybe nothing, I just think there is an increased chance of tannin or something being over-extracted. Its like steeping specialty grains, you don’t do that for two hours. And people are putting their dark grains in at the last minute to avoid harshness, of course that doesn’t apply to the Dort. It might be just fine, guess you’ll find out and report back. I have no evidence that it’s a bad idea, just a gut feeling of sorts.

You could always mash at 155F and let that site, I think it would inactivate quite a bit of the beta and might leave you with good body. Or better yet, adjust your grist by adding some dextrin malt, no chance of losing body with that.

shadetree · November 2, 2011, 5:36pm

How about mash as usual, drain to kettle, bring to boil, shut it off, and wrap the kettle? I did this last brew day, six hours later it was at 180F, got the boil going again quickly. Doing it again this weekend - finishing brewing before noon sure makes the wife happy!

raspsu1 · November 3, 2011, 1:36am

I also have 3 young kids (all under 6). Why not start mash just as you put them down or just before you put them down to bed. If your house is like ours, getting the 3 down, it’s 30-45 mins. The mash would be just about done when your finished with your kid duties and since you batch sparge you could start right away. I’ve done it a few times and it works pretty good.