15-minute mash

[BigBadBrad]

I just tapped the keg for this experimental Arctic Red Ale with a 15 minute mash. Taste is great. I was really worried during fermentation since active fermentation was over fairly quickly and I thought that might be a result of not very many fermentables being available because of the short mash. The short fermentation could also have been due to the large starter I pitched. I just did two weeks in the primary and then straight to the keg for one week of conditioning, so it is still young.

I forgot to take a gravity reading before kegging, so I just filled my hydrometer jar from the tap. I am waiting for the bubbles to subside so I can get a an accurate reading. I will post the results later today.

[BigBadBrad]

Just checked final gravity - 1.014. Right where it should be. Amazing. Not sure if I will keep using 15 minute mashes, but I got good results this time. YMMV.

[peterc]

Glad to hear that it came out! I just listened to this show from the archives and would like to try it out.

I got a refractometer for x-mas and decided to try measuring the SG while I was mashing last night. There's a lot of little bits of grain in the samples but the results were pretty much what I expected.

7 miin. 11.1 P
20 min. 15.0 P
30 min. 17.8 P
40 min. 17.5 P

I probably should have taken multiple readings at each time slot but I suspect that with my system I'm done between 30 and 40 min. My next batch I'll try starting a recirc after 15 or 20 minutes and see how it goes. It would be nice to cut this chunk of time out of my brew cycle.

[Bugeater]

I find the idea of a short mash time interesting. I mashed once for 40 minutes with good results, but I will keep doing my 60 minute mashes. I use that time to get all sorts of other stuff done. Sometimes I go longer than 60 minutes because I didn't get the other things done as quick as I wanted.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

[madmacaw]

I listened to the archive again and he says that he does a 15min mash with a ~30min recirculation. That is a total of 45min contact time. So thats not that much less than a 60min mash that most homebrewers do.

Travis

Sorry for the late note... they had a problem getting my account established.

The 60 minute mash you list would not include vorlauf time I assume, so add and average of 20 minutes to attain a completely clear runoff....80 minutes would be the total grain contact time, right? I am running completely clear lauter to the kettle within 45 to 50 minutes.

I want to reiterate that this technique mostly only works properly with North American malts due to the incredible excess of enzymes. That being said, I've also had success with Dingeman's pale ale (Belgium), but this might be the exception. I would NOT try this with UK malts.... 30 minutes is the minimum. Dependant factors are: your mash tuns' ability to hold heat, the accuracy of the dough in temperature and that the mash pH is at 5.3. If you can achieve this you should have no problem. Make sure to vorlauf to absolute clarity... you have to completely turn over the liquid volume of the mash to do this and may have to go even a little farther. Be patient.... the rewards are a better quality beer that will condition quicker, have a cleaner flavor and will be more stable once packaged.

[BigBadBrad]

I listened to the archive again and he says that he does a 15min mash with a ~30min recirculation. That is a total of 45min contact time. So thats not that much less than a 60min mash that most homebrewers do.

Travis

Sorry for the late note... they had a problem getting my account established.

The 60 minute mash you list would not include vorlauf time I assume, so add and average of 20 minutes to attain a completely clear runoff....80 minutes would be the total grain contact time, right? I am running completely clear lauter to the kettle within 45 to 50 minutes.

I want to reiterate that this technique mostly only works properly with North American malts due to the incredible excess of enzymes. That being said, I've also had success with Dingeman's pale ale (Belgium), but this might be the exception. I would NOT try this with UK malts.... 30 minutes is the minimum. Dependant factors are: your mash tuns' ability to hold heat, the accuracy of the dough in temperature and that the mash pH is at 5.3. If you can achieve this you should have no problem. Make sure to vorlauf to absolute clarity... you have to completely turn over the liquid volume of the mash to do this and may have to go even a little farther. Be patient.... the rewards are a better quality beer that will condition quicker, have a cleaner flavor and will be more stable once packaged.

Thanks for the clarification Eric and welcome to the forum.

Brad

[nolvar]

Once you have achieved conversion are there any other flavors you are waiting for? I did the iodine test on my last batch, and showed a conversion at about 25 min. I batch sparge so there is no recirculation. I'm waiting to see how it turned out, but I was at about 75% for efficiency...

[madmacaw]

Once you have achieved conversion are there any other flavors you are waiting for? I did the iodine test on my last batch, and showed a conversion at about 25 min. I batch sparge so there is no recirculation. I'm waiting to see how it turned out, but I was at about 75% for efficiency...

For a homebrewer, 75% total brewhouse efficiency is not bad. Most are in the 65-70% area.

What I cannot address is how this technique works with batch sparging. When vorlaufing there is no doubt that the period that elapses also converts some remnant starches and extracts flavors. If you are batch sparging though, a longer sacc. rest. for both conversion and positive flavor extraction may be needed.

What I can tell you though is that if you batch sparge you are leaving some sugars behind in the mash as opposed to continuous sparging which rinses the grains better. (ie...batch sparge=reduced efficiency) This is due to continuous sparging continually reducing the viscosity of the fluid in the mash allowing for a better rinse and a lower grain bed pressure differential. With batch sparging you are carrying through tannins and small starch particles to the wort because you have not recirculated to clarity. The first can lead to a tannic perception, the second can lead to starch haze and in severe cases, a starchy flavor.