90 Min. Mash .. Is Ok?

[braufrau]

In my new and improved down shifted lifestyle, its convenient for me to start a mash at 7:45 and be back at 9:00 to heat the mash out water .. works out ~90min mash.
Now that's what I do for say, a tripel anyway, but will it have a devastating effect on my other beers?
I guess it depends how thermally stable my mash tun is, and I'm afraid I can't tell you that.

So what do you think? Extend the brew day by 1 1/4 hours? Or err on the side of convenience?

 

[therook]

All my mash's are 90 minutes long

Rook

 

[jbirbeck]

my brew day is usually saturday and I'm trying to work around kids sleep times and shopping. So my mash can be anywhere between 90min to 2 hours...haven't noticed any difference in the end result. convenience is king...

 

[jonocarroll]

There are even some that recommend an overnight mash. Temperature stability is of course critical, but it can be done. Just remember that the longer the enzymes have to work, the more they will do - don't expect a lot of dextrins to be left after an extremely long mash. This is why (or at least partly why) you do a mash-out - to stop the enzyme activity and preserve the profile.

Oh, and most of my mashes are 90 mins too.

 

[Bribie G]

My latest bible, "Brew Your Own British Real Ale" that I just got ex London states definitely 90 mins and even up to 2 hours.

A typical mash period is 90 minutes. Some home-brewers reduce this to 60 minutes to save time, but a lower qualituy wort or a poorly-balanced wort is likely to result ...... lower temeratures generally require longer mash times.

This CAMRA publication is into its third edition written by Graham Wheeler who is a well respected pom Guru and he has based the book on info from the brewers themselves, so personally I'm going with the strength on this one

Off topic, but his other eye opener is that for maximum alpha acid isomerisation you should also hop for 90 minutes as well. I tried this in my last brew which has bittering hops only and after a 90 minute boil the hop in the wort was sensational although it was only a 20g addition (it will actually end up OVER hopped for the Cerveza style ) I'm hooked

 

[technocat]

All the conversion is pretty well done and dusted in the first 20 minutes.

 

[jonocarroll]

All the conversion is pretty well done and dusted in the first 20 minutes.

Conversion to something that isn't exactly a starch - not exactly conversion to sugar. Iodine tests will generally show 'completion' after 1 hour (not sure about 20 mins) but that doesn't necessarily mean that your sugars are how you want them. Have a look at 'How To Brew' and there's a discussion about what the enzymes do throughout the mash; it's not just starch -> sugar.

 

[braufrau]

Excellent! Thanks guys.

 

[Fourstar]

All the conversion is pretty well done and dusted in the first 20 minutes.

If you are grinding your malt to flour, which we as homebrewers dont. A lower temp requires a longer mash, a higher temp, slightly less. Also note, MASH efficiency will increase with a longer mash at a stable temp as you are gaining extra conversion. I made a AIPA on the weekend, having a finer grind than usual and a 90 min mash employed, i gained 8% in brewhouse efficiency.

I wanted a OG of 1.060, now its 1.071! Looks like i will have to take that extra 1% ABV on the chin and just enjoy a 7% AIPA instead!

 

[Effect]

All the conversion is pretty well done and dusted in the first 20 minutes.

how long do you mash for?

 

[WitWonder]

You may also notice better attenuation from a longer (90 min plus) conversion.

 

[buttersd70]

You may also notice better attenuation from a longer (90 min plus) conversion.

Which, depending on what you are after, is not necessarily a better thing.......less is more, in some cases.

High attenuation is only a positive factor if that is, in fact, the aim of the game.......

 

[dr K]

My latest bible, "Brew Your Own British Real Ale" that I just got ex London states definitely 90 mins and even up to 2 hours.

If its the one I have by Wheeler and Protz (I have a couple but heh) mine appears to be the 2nd Edition 1998 then it some rather odd methods (boiling cracked grains and extract for 1.5-2 hours springs to mind.
That aside the recipes are an excellent guide.
All that aside a mash of at least 60 minutes is optimum, going 90 minutes or 3 hours in a well insulated tun "may" get a few more sugars but conversion is well finished and the time contibution to extra extract is minimal. What it will NOT do is hurt your mash. The longer you leave your mash the greater the chance of souring but I am talking 8 hours at least, which is a lomg way from even three hours!
I too balance my life with my brew day, given a choice between a mash that runs for 2 hours cause thats when I did the shopping and the caepark was full and the checkouts collapsed and I ran into a mate and had a beer then got caught up in a random vehicle check and had mouth alc and had to wait for 20 min for a retest and so on a boil in the same scenario...you know it makes sense.

K

 

[white.grant]

There is an interesting podcast over at basic brewing radio this week discussing mash and lauter efficiency linky .

Basically the message I heard was that enzymatic activity is slower at lower temperatures so a longer mash can be beneficial if you are mashing low for fermentability. Longer mashing at the higher end of the temperature range won't give you much in the way of improved conversion, but it isn't going to wreck your brew either.

cheers

grant