Multi-Tasking = Bad Beer

[Brewtah]

I was trying to be efficient with my time yesterday while I was brewing. The end result was my mash temps were all over the place. I am partial mashing with efficiencies ranging from 55%-65%. I was brewing an English Northern Mild. End result 77% efficiency. This beer is going to be too dry and grainy I am afraid. So I decided to add 1/4 Lb lactose.
I have learned my lesson. I can handle boil overs, but now I am going to have a completely different beer

 

[Travestian]

Maltodextrin would be another potential add do bring some more body to the beer and could be done at bottling time along with your corn sugar.

 

[Brewtah]

Maltodextrin would be another potential add do bring some more body to the beer and could be done at bottling time along with your corn sugar.

Good to know. The only thing I had was the lactose. I get really annoyed when I cause my own beer troubles. At least I didn't burn the house down or scorch my grain. I am sure there are beer stories where mult-tasking while brewing has brought havoc.

 

[peterj]

I was trying to be efficient with my time yesterday while I was brewing. The end result was my mash temps were all over the place. I am partial mashing with efficiencies ranging from 55%-65%. I was brewing an English Northern Mild. End result 77% efficiency. This beer is going to be too dry and grainy I am afraid. So I decided to add 1/4 lactose.
I have learned my lesson. I can handle boil overs, but now I am going to have a completely different beer

Why would your beer be too dry just because you got good efficiency? If anything I would expect it to have a higher FG because you probably had a higher OG than you expected (and also higher ABV). Efficiency isn't a measure of fermentability, it's a measure of how much starch you were able to extract from the grain and convert to sugar. Fermentability depends on what types of sugars you converted the starch to, which is dependent on your mash temp. Since that was all over the place I would say your results will be unpredictable. It could end up too dry, or too sweet, or just right. I would have waited to add the lactose (or maltodextrin) until you tasted the fermented beer.

 

[Brewtah]

Why would your beer be too dry just because you got good efficiency? If anything I would expect it to have a higher FG because you probably had a higher OG than you expected (and also higher ABV). Efficiency isn't a measure of fermentability, it's a measure of how much starch you were able to extract from the grain and convert to sugar. Fermentability depends on what types of sugars you converted the starch to, which is dependent on your mash temp. Since that was all over the place I would say your results will be unpredictable. It could end up too dry, or too sweet, or just right. I would have waited to add the lactose (or maltodextrin) until you tasted the fermented beer.

I was under the impression that a little hotter mash temps would produce a beer with a bit more body and sweetness. My calculations were an OG of 1.051, came out to 1.060. I ended up with an 80 minute mash. The firt half of the mash was in the mid 140's. Then I turned the heat up a bit. Oops now mid 160's. Finished off around 152. My target was 152-153F. The sample tasted very dry, not much sweetness like I am used to in OG samples.

 

[peterj]

I was under the impression that a little hotter mash temps would produce a beer with a bit more body and sweetness.

Yeah that's correct. Single infusion mash temps usually range from ~147F - 158F. Towards the lower end the enzyme beta-amylase works better which converts the grain starch into simpler, more fermentable sugars (which leads to a dryer, thinner beer). And towards the hotter end the enzyme alpha-amylase works better which makes more complex, less fermentable sugars (which leads to a beer with more body and residual sweetness).

This however has nothing to do with efficiency. You're efficiency calculation is a measure of the amount of sugar you were able to create and extract from the grains, not the type (simple vs complex/more fermentable vs less fermentable). The hydrometer reads all of the sugar dissolved in the wort regardless of what type it is. So if you're process is exactly the same you should get the same efficiency mashing at 147F or 158F. But you will get a way dryer beer by mashing at 147F than you will at 158F.

I would look to your process (i.e. grain crush, sparging, etc.) rather than mash temperature to see why your efficiency is jumping around so much.

My calculations were an OG of 1.051, came out to 1.060. I ended up with an 80 minute mash. The firt half of the mash was in the mid 140's. Then I turned the heat up a bit. Oops now mid 160's. Finished off around 152. My target was 152-153F. The sample tasted very dry, not much sweetness like I am used to in OG samples.

Sorry, you didn't include the mash temps in the first post so I thought you didn't know them. But judging by that, you are probably right that the beer will be dryer than you were shooting for. Most of conversion was probably complete by 40 minutes, so turning the heat up and down in the second half probably didn't have much of an effect. I think it should turn out ok though because the higher OG you got will result in a higher FG which will hopefully offset a little bit the higher attenuation you will get because of your low mash temperature.

 

[Whattawort]

I've juggled a 4yr old, an overly-hyper puppy, a newbie brewer, and clean up during the mash in the same brew day. The only thing that went right was that I didn't have a boil over. My strike water ended up being about 10 degrees too cold, I let my friend stir the grain into the mash water (dough balls galore), and I got my hop additions all ass-backwards. I also realized 2 days later that I had forgotten to pitch the yeast. It still stresses me out thinking about that brew day. Ever since, I make darn sure that my son has something to do and someone watching him while I brew and that the dog is crated. Luckily my friend learned a few important lessons that day and has started to become an avid homebrewer. So yeah....I feel your pain.

 

[Demus]

If your wort already tasted dry you must have bigger issues. Even a lower temp mash to enhance fermentability and dryness will taste quite sweet before fermentation. When did you taste it? Post boil or right fro the mash tun? If it wasn't sweet from the mash tun you may have denatured the enzymes when you tried heating it up and stopped the conversion process. Did you test for starch with iodine?

 

[Brewtah]

If your wort already tasted dry you must have bigger issues. Even a lower temp mash to enhance fermentability and dryness will taste quite sweet before fermentation. When did you taste it? Post boil or right fro the mash tun? If it wasn't sweet from the mash tun you may have denatured the enzymes when you tried heating it up and stopped the conversion process. Did you test for starch with iodine?

No, I did not test. I tasted the sample after mash and end of boil. Of course the last sample was a bit sweeter because of the DME and 1/4 lb lactose. We will see what happens. I am using Burton Union, a new yeast for me, at lower temps. I figure if I didn't over-heat the grain I am probably ok.