Open questions

[glutarded-chris]

With GF all grain, we all struggle with low finishing gravity, mouthfeel etc. and try ingredients and process steps to help. Some things still don’t make sense to me and I wanted to get your thoughts.

Some styles call for a mash-out step at a specific point in the mash and I think some GF brewers use a mash-out to try to keep the FG from going too low. Wouldn’t that just lead to more starch in the wart going into the fermenter? My batches that i get poor efficiency seem to finish as low as the ones i get great efficiency. Thoughts?

When i brewed with sorghum syrup i always used maltodextrin for mouthfeel. Have not needed it with all grain but have considered using a little as i try lower OG summer batches. Since maltodextrin is not fermentable, i would expect the gravity contribution of the maltodextrin to be there point-for-point in the FG. I reviewed my notes from my sorghum syrup days and that does not seem to be the case! What am i missing?

 

[rjmaillie]

I think the idea is that by the time you hit mash out temps all/most starches have been converted to sugars by the alpha amylase enzymes. The reason I do a mash out is to denature the beta amylase and stop conversion of longer chain sugars to more fermentable sugars and therefore decrease the fermentability of the wort (in theory).