Echoloc8
Acolyte of Fermentalism
Did the third brew of my robust porter recipe this weekend, and per BeerSmith, did a 45-minute 156-degree mash.
Since this discussion, I've become downright religious about taking lots of SG readings, and using Kai Troister's efficiency spreadsheet (from his efficiency article) to check my progress at each step of the process.
This weekend was the first in some time where I had lousy mash efficiency (88%, as opposed to the 95% or so I've come to expect). My temps were dead on, and my volumes were right. I stirred the mash like stirring would win me fame and fortune.
The major departure from recent brews (which I've mashed low, for attenuation-to-style purposes) was that I mashed at a higher temperature, and as a result BeerSmith advised me to go for a 45-minute mash instead of my recent standard of 60 or 90 minutes. The theory being, I guess, that at higher temps the enzymes work faster.
And yet my efficiency was low when I tested by first runnings post-vorlauf. The thing to do in these cases is to stop, dump the runnings back in and let the mash continue for another half-hour or so. I was pressed for time, so I decided to just let it ride, continue my lauter and go on to sparge.
As it was, the brew went fine and I was only 4 SG points low by the time it came to pitch, so little harm was done, but I was just wondering, with modern malts etc., whether it's common to have 45 minutes not be enough for total conversion.
Any thoughts?
-Rich
Since this discussion, I've become downright religious about taking lots of SG readings, and using Kai Troister's efficiency spreadsheet (from his efficiency article) to check my progress at each step of the process.
This weekend was the first in some time where I had lousy mash efficiency (88%, as opposed to the 95% or so I've come to expect). My temps were dead on, and my volumes were right. I stirred the mash like stirring would win me fame and fortune.
The major departure from recent brews (which I've mashed low, for attenuation-to-style purposes) was that I mashed at a higher temperature, and as a result BeerSmith advised me to go for a 45-minute mash instead of my recent standard of 60 or 90 minutes. The theory being, I guess, that at higher temps the enzymes work faster.
And yet my efficiency was low when I tested by first runnings post-vorlauf. The thing to do in these cases is to stop, dump the runnings back in and let the mash continue for another half-hour or so. I was pressed for time, so I decided to just let it ride, continue my lauter and go on to sparge.
As it was, the brew went fine and I was only 4 SG points low by the time it came to pitch, so little harm was done, but I was just wondering, with modern malts etc., whether it's common to have 45 minutes not be enough for total conversion.
Any thoughts?
-Rich