Just a tid bit I learn recently… grains from a certain region can be smaller or larger than another region. In the past I regularly used Canadian base malts (2Row, Pale, etc) and was getting average to below average efficiency. The owner of my LHBS, where I get my grain crushed, mentioned the grains looked small and knew right away they were Canadian. So he would give me a double crush, which did improve my efficiency. I recently switched to Best Maltz for most of my base malts (visually larger grain) and now with only a single crush (from the same LHBS) I’m hitting the higher efficiencies that I needed a double crush to get previously.
Great. We only boiled for 60 minutes. How much of a risk is there of this beer having those DMS flavors?
If the base malt is pilsner malt (6lbs) then why don’t the instructions so to do a 90min boil?
How is someone supposed to know that!?
[quote=“stompwampa”]Great. We only boiled for 60 minutes. How much of a risk is there of this beer having those DMS flavors? If the base malt is pilsner malt (6lbs) then why don’t the instructions so to do a 90min boil? How is someone supposed to know that!?[/quote]You’ll likely be fine with a 60-minute boil. The instructions with kits are often pretty generic. You learn about this stuff by hanging out here! 
After I read through the reviews, I assumed since nobody mentioned having to do a 90 minute boil that it came out fine after the 60 min.
Jamil recommends a minimum of a 90-min mash in several of his pilsner malt-based recipes, but after review it seems that this is due to low strike temps (147 or 148 degrees): “With the low mash temperature, most brewers will need to lengthen the rest time to a minimum of 90 minutes to get full conversion.”
So I guess I was mistaken in saying that pilsner malts need the 90 min mash. :blah:
yet another way - you can do an iodophor test to see if your wort has converted
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/iodopho ... test-5132/A buddy in my brewclub showed me how to do this one time. Pretty simple.
[quote=“Pietro”]Pretty simple.[/quote]And notoriously inaccurate. Much easier to use a refractometer to check the mash gravity.
Never heard that before. I thought the iodophor only reacted with complex (undigestable-by-yeast-like) starches?
[quote=“Pietro”][quote=“Shadetree”][quote=“Pietro”]Pretty simple.[/quote]And notoriously inaccurate. Much easier to use a refractometer to check the mash gravity.[/quote]Never heard that before. I thought the iodophor only reacted with complex (undigestable-by-yeast-like) starches?[/quote]IIRC the test only shows the presence of starch but not when the complex carbs from the starch have been broken down to carbs digestible to the yeast, so it’ll turn black before the mash is actually complete. Mashing for an hour, then checking the gravity, is pretty fool-proof - I get full conversion within 60 minutes probably 95% of the time but every now and then I’ll get a reading that’s just a little low and a good stir and another 10 minutes will fix it up.
