First 10 gallon batch - couldn't hit temps

[wxman73]

Hi,

I attempted to move up from 5 gallons to 10 gallons (Belgian Wit). I forgot to think about my mash tun size before embarking on this. I did a double infusion mash, with a proteinb rest at 120F for 15 minutes, then up to 154F for 45 minutes. After adding enough water to get my temp up to 120F according to beersmith2, It didn't leave me enough room to add all my water to get the temp up to 154. The best I could get my temp up to without overflowing the mash tun was 145F. So I mashed for a longer time at 145, until my gravity was close to where I expected it before batch sparging.

So I have two questions:
1) Is my beer ok? I came close to hitting my SG. 1.057 (I was aiming for 1.061). Was it smart to mash longer to get more sugar conversions?

2) If I were to do this again, could I have just increased the strike temp of the first infusion, using less water, and similar for the second infusion? I played around with beersmith and adjsuted temps/water amounts and it looks like I could have made it all fit doing it this way.

I would appreicate any insight!

Cheers,

Brian

 

[Culbetron]

1) A lower mash temp might increase the amount of time it takes to get full conversion, but an iodine test would help indicate when conversion was complete. A lower mash temp means that different enzymes are activated - the ones that clip longer chain carbohydrates into tiny bits instead of chopping them up. A low mash temp means that your beer will be more fermentable, containing more simple sugars and fewer detrins. This means your beer will finish at a lower FG, contain slighlty more alcohol, and have a thinner, drier body.

2) You can use less water and mash hotter for your protein rest, but you also dont want to be mashing too thick. You can probably go down to a quart per lb. You really don't need to do a protein rest. I think you are causing yourself a massive headache for something that won't help your beer in any way (unless you have managed to get ahold of some purposefully undermodified malt).

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Agreed with above. Protein rest is pretty unnecessary with modern malts.

If you run into this again you could pull some liquids from the mash, heat it up and add that back to your mash.

 

[wxman73]

Thank you both.

I did the protien rest because of the 45% Flaked Wheat in my recipe.

I really should get some iodine. Next time I'm at LHBS I will!

And great idea to take some liquid out and heat it up higher.