Due to the fact that my last several beers have severely over-attenuated and come out lacking good malt flavor, I've decided to go back to the drawing board and try to dial my mash in more scientifically. This is also to figure out what mashing process is optimal so that we can avoid adding unnecessary features to the brewhouse at Ghostfish.
I'm planning a bunch of small-scale trials and have already done three 0.5-gallon-size mashes, and I already have gotten some puzzling results.
Initially I am trying to definitively rule out the possibility of a single-infusion mash. I did two trials using about 12.37 oz of pale millet malt from Grouse in 0.53 gallons of water. Both were mashed at 160°F for 60 minutes on the stove, with frequent re-application of heat to keep the temps up. The only difference between the two was Trial 1 had no additional enzymes added, whereas Trial 2 had 1/8 tsp of EC Kraus Diatase added at the start of the mash. Water was RO with no modifications. After the mash, a 5-minute mash-out at 175°F was conducted, and the grains were strained out using a fine-mesh BIAB bag.
Here's the first point where I'm confused: after I mashed, strained, cooled, and labelled the worts, I checked the SG, tasted them, evaluated the appearance. Both trials went super-dark black when I first added 1/8 tsp of Iodophor, but rapidly lightened to a pale pink color (over the course of 60 seconds or so). What's up with THAT? How do I tell if that's a weak pass or a major fail of the starch test? Do I go by the initial color, or what it finally settled out to be?
Here's the second point where I'm confused: Trial 1 tasted starchy and did not clarify well during the mash at all. Trial 2 tasted very sweet and during the mash a nice clear wort collected on top as the solids settled out. HOWEVER, the SG of Trial 1 was 1.044 at 65°F, while the SG of Trial 2 was 1.033 at 65°F. WHAT is going on there? I've scoured everywhere for an explanation of how SG changes during a mash as starches convert, and come up empty-handed.
To add another data point, I did a 3rd trial, which used the same grain and water volume, the same enzyme amount as Trial 2, but split the mash into two steps: 30 minutes at 150, 30 minutes at 163 (the reported gel temp of the malt, according to the maltstress). This produced nearly identical results to Trial 1, more or less, with a slight difference in appearance and an SG of 1.042. Taste was also starchy and a little thin.
It seems like trial 2 had the best conversion, by why is the SG 10 points lower? Why are the starch tests identical, despite the obvious differences in flavor and gravity? Just to make sure it's not the iodophor, I did some "control" starch tests using sugar-water (solution did not change color), dry rice extract dissolved in water (solution did not change color) and rice flour dissolved in water (solution turned blue-black instantly).
I'm planning a bunch of small-scale trials and have already done three 0.5-gallon-size mashes, and I already have gotten some puzzling results.
Initially I am trying to definitively rule out the possibility of a single-infusion mash. I did two trials using about 12.37 oz of pale millet malt from Grouse in 0.53 gallons of water. Both were mashed at 160°F for 60 minutes on the stove, with frequent re-application of heat to keep the temps up. The only difference between the two was Trial 1 had no additional enzymes added, whereas Trial 2 had 1/8 tsp of EC Kraus Diatase added at the start of the mash. Water was RO with no modifications. After the mash, a 5-minute mash-out at 175°F was conducted, and the grains were strained out using a fine-mesh BIAB bag.
Here's the first point where I'm confused: after I mashed, strained, cooled, and labelled the worts, I checked the SG, tasted them, evaluated the appearance. Both trials went super-dark black when I first added 1/8 tsp of Iodophor, but rapidly lightened to a pale pink color (over the course of 60 seconds or so). What's up with THAT? How do I tell if that's a weak pass or a major fail of the starch test? Do I go by the initial color, or what it finally settled out to be?
Here's the second point where I'm confused: Trial 1 tasted starchy and did not clarify well during the mash at all. Trial 2 tasted very sweet and during the mash a nice clear wort collected on top as the solids settled out. HOWEVER, the SG of Trial 1 was 1.044 at 65°F, while the SG of Trial 2 was 1.033 at 65°F. WHAT is going on there? I've scoured everywhere for an explanation of how SG changes during a mash as starches convert, and come up empty-handed.
To add another data point, I did a 3rd trial, which used the same grain and water volume, the same enzyme amount as Trial 2, but split the mash into two steps: 30 minutes at 150, 30 minutes at 163 (the reported gel temp of the malt, according to the maltstress). This produced nearly identical results to Trial 1, more or less, with a slight difference in appearance and an SG of 1.042. Taste was also starchy and a little thin.
It seems like trial 2 had the best conversion, by why is the SG 10 points lower? Why are the starch tests identical, despite the obvious differences in flavor and gravity? Just to make sure it's not the iodophor, I did some "control" starch tests using sugar-water (solution did not change color), dry rice extract dissolved in water (solution did not change color) and rice flour dissolved in water (solution turned blue-black instantly).