Single Infusion Mash Temps

[SJW]

With quickest, not necessarily the most, but quickest Beta-amylase conversion occurring at 60 Deg C and Alpha-amylase conversion occurring at 70 Deg C what basis do you choose a single infusion mash temp? I would have thought with most beers smack in the middle at 65 Deg C would do the job.
So what determines your single infusion mash temps?


Steve

 

[matti]

Two 65s?

 

[SJW]

I should have put 66 Deg C in the poll also!

 

[PostModern]

I just about always mash at 64C. I let the grain bill sort the body.

 

[goatherder]

I just about always mash at 64C. I let the grain bill sort the body.

Interesting approach - I've been tending towards the opposite lately. I've been keeping the crystal around the 3% mark or not using any all. I mash around 67-68 to compensate. I'm pleased with the results in the styles I've done so far. I can't keep it up forever though - there's a bunch of crystal in the shed I need to use at some stage. Just a bit of a fad I suppose.

 

[rough60]

I'm one for the lighter body, lower temp mash, sometimes I fully seal the mash tun and the temp slowly increases as the presure increases (only a few degs).

 

[mika]

I'm looking at the finishing gravity, so far haven't brewed enough to go bothering with changes due to recipe construction though the last one I had a bit more crystal than usual, so dropped the temp a deg.
I like a fairly dry (to my palate) beer, so aim for a finish of 1.008 to 1.010. If it's an English style Pale ale I'll go a deg higher and get a finish around 1.012 to 1.014 (as high as I'd want to go). But so far I've used the same yeast for pretty much everything I've brewed, when I start changing to yeasts with different apparent attenuations I'll probably stuff myself right up. Also helps if you can hit the mash temp you planned for too

 

[Mr Bond]

Not a lager brewer so my vote there prolly doesn't count.

As for ales i'm always aiming for 65c as it seems to suit my beer palate body wise.

recently did a couple of Brit ales with 1968 and mashed em at 67c and 68c to trial.
Suited the style but 65c is still my default.
Add 5/7%sugar and ferment with US56 @ 65c mash temp and you can make a very clean dry ale with a crisp finish.

 

[Doc]

Sorry SJW, there is no way to change the poll once it is created (ie. change the second 65 to 66degC).
Unfortunately you'll need to remove the poll and create another.

Beers,
Doc

 

[tangent]

I just about always mash at 64C. I let the grain bill sort the body.

one half of my attitude, there's caras and mash temps that both change a beer.
i step mash for wheats and dry pils, single infuse for simple ales.
change the crystal content and the mash temps to match the crystal content.
it's all juggling, but damn i love it!

 

[enoch]

63-64 is my standard as I prefer a reasonably dry outcome. Certainly notice the difference when I have done the odd one closer to 67-68.

 

[tangent]

(edit - i agree) but surely enoch, your jaw drops when you see a malt bill with 1/2 a kilo of crystal malt? there's two ways of making a dry beer, one is mashing low. if you like a dry beer do you still use carapils or crystal?

 

[Doc]

66degC is usually my target mash temp pushing it up to 68/69 for some of the heavier ales and reducing it to 63/64 for the massive beers in order to get fermentation to drop the gravity further.

Doc

 

[enoch]

(edit - i agree) but surely enoch, your jaw drops when you see a malt bill with 1/2 a kilo of crystal malt? there's two ways of making a dry beer, one is mashing low. if you like a dry beer do you still use carapils or crystal?

1/2 kilo of crystal in a 20 litre batch! Been there - came be nice but a bit too in your face for every day drinking. Tend to be fairly simple grain bills for standard ales now days - Pale Malt, bit of wheat malt (~5%) and not more than prolly 5% crystal if I want more malt than hop.

Porters I get a bit more carried away with but still not into busy grain bills.

 

[tangent]

i was thinking 1/2 in 30L

amazing how your recipes get more simplified but the technique gets more complex eh?

 

[cold...az]

Not a lager brewer so my vote there prolly doesn't count.

As for ales i'm always aiming for 65c as it seems to suit my beer palate body wise.

recently did a couple of Brit ales with 1968 and mashed em at 67c and 68c to trial.
Suited the style but 65c is still my default.
Add 5/7%sugar and ferment with US56 @ 65c mash temp and you can make a very clean dry ale with a crisp finish.

Your mash variation is quite a good experiment, although I wonder if one degree will taste that much different. Have you tried a similar one using two different ferm temps from the same mash temp ? Say. . . mashed at 65 then ferm one at 18 and the other at say 22 ?

Just a thought . . . its right up my alley at the moment. I'm mucking round with low ester production and dry finish. About to try California Lager Yeast in a few ales and ferm around 14-16 Degrees.

 

[Mr Bond]

Have you tried a similar one using two different ferm temps from the same mash temp ? Say. . . mashed at 65 then ferm one at 18 and the other at say 22 ?

Nah can't see much point.One will be fruitier than the other, with the risk of fusels.

I would never let any ale strain get above 20c intentionally these days.16>19c are my usual temps even with weizen strains.esters are great but not if they smell like lolly bananas.

sorry to go OT everyone ,but the Q was asked.

Dave

 

[Screwtop]

i was thinking 1/2 in 30L

amazing how your recipes get more simplified but the technique gets more complex eh?

Too true Tangent, gone are the days of 5 malts, now it pils and pale and even a little corn to keep things dry, 63 mash and agressive yeast, but still have trouble reaching 1.010 unlike a lot of previous posters.

Dropped carapils and wheat and have better head, go figure?

 

[goatherder]

Too true Tangent, gone are the days of 5 malts, now it pils and pale and even a little corn to keep things dry, 63 mash and agressive yeast, but still have trouble reaching 1.010 unlike a lot of previous posters.

Dropped carapils and wheat and have better head, go figure?

Excellent point - I see a lot more 6 grain and 6 hop recipes on AHB than simple ones. There is a lot to be said about simplicity.

 

[enoch]

Excellent point - I see a lot more 6 grain and 6 hop recipes on AHB than simple ones. There is a lot to be said about simplicity.

I started all grain with Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide which, apart from being a fantastic book, had fairly simple recipes which only had stuff in them that needed to be there.

You only need to look at the Real Ale Almanac (Protz) to see most of the British ales have 2-3 malts and rarely go beyond that. Stouts/porters have a fuller grain bill but are still fairly simple.

That's not to say complexity has not got its place but there is enough of that at work.