Biab #4 mild mannered ale, mashed too hot??

[dshar]

Tried the recipe below today withone change, only had 500g of crystal so added 200 of caramalt to make up for it.
All went well but i didnt get as much temp drop as i expected when adding the grain, went from 79 to 72/73.
Mashed for an hour and was around 71/72 at the end.
So i expect this will result in a sweeter ale, but was the temp high enough to spoil the ale? Off flavours etc?

Any thoughts appreciated, 3 weeks to find out seems an absolute age!

Cheers

Recipe: Mild Mannered Ale
Asst Brewer: the dogs
Style: Dark Mild
TYPE: All Grain
Batch Size: 23.02 L
Boil Size: 30.52 L
Estimated OG: 1.034 SG
Estimated Color: 21.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 23.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

3.00 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter
0.75 kg Crystal Malt - 60L (Thomas Fawcett)
0.15 kg Chocolate Malt (Thomas Fawcett)
30.00 gm Fuggles [4.50%] (45 min)
30.00 gm Fuggles [4.50%] (15 min)
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale
Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Batch Sparge. - Hot
Total Grain Weight: 3.90 kg

[CestrIan]

I'm sure you will get away with it. A low OG mild will help from a high mash temp. 72C is a bit high mind but my question is - why didn't you just add a bit of tap water to get the right mash temp? that's what everyone else does!!

[Eric]

79C is far too high a strike temperature but shouldn't give rise to off flavours at 73C. As you suspect, the higher temperature will more quickly denaturing the beta amylase and how much was still active after 60 minutes holds the answer.
It's done now, who knows? Your choice of yeast is on your side in these circumstances and I'd be inclined to up the fermentation temperature a bit after the third or fourth day to try to keep it going if gravity is high.
Good luck.

[dshar]

Fingers crossed it comes out drinkable and not like ribena!

I was aiming for a higher mash temp ~71 to give better mouthfeel. Think it must have been a dodgy temp reading or unevenly mixed wort. We'll see i guess, its bubbling away like mad already.

Good tip about adding tap water, how come i didnt think of that!

Cheers

[floydmeddler]

With low OG (1.040) beers, I aim for 70c - 73c usually as I like the FG to end at around 1.012. I mash in with water at approx 80C but hit my target of 70c-73c straight away. How long was it at 79c for?

[Eric]

Fingers crossed it comes out drinkable and not like ribena!

I was aiming for a higher mash temp ~71 to give better mouthfeel. Think it must have been a dodgy temp reading or unevenly mixed wort. We'll see i guess, its bubbling away like mad already.

Good tip about adding tap water, how come i didnt think of that!

Cheers

Unsure how you mash, but one way to consider is have a litre of so of cold and boiling mash water to hand as you mash in having used a litre (or so) of liquor less. The least you get is a few minutes extra thinking time.
If it's bubbling away there are fermentables present suggesting that the beta amylase wasn't eradicated. Make sure you keep plenty of notes, you might wish to replicate this, often.

[dshar]

Interesting...

It was down to 72/73 in a few minutes, as long as it took me to stir in the grains. MAybe 5mins? Guess the time at the higher temp is a factor?

Ye, quite relieved to hear the constant bubbling. my 4th brew and each time i manage to get something wrong, but overall process goes much smoother already, and 2 decent beers out of three so far isnt too bad. Time will tell with this one, but seems that odds on it should be drinkable

I do keep notes of each brew, maybe this might be one to repeat!

[floydmeddler]

This will be fine. Actually, If I were brewing this beer (1.034) I'd have mashed at 73C. Be interesting to know what the FG comes in at with Notty. Prob would have come in at 1.005 or less if you'd mashed at the standard 66C. You'll have a nice full bodied low alcohol session ale. Perfect!

[dshar]

Good to hear! Just what i was trying to achieve, low alcohol and full body, but thought id gone too far with the temp.

its Still bubbling away happily.

Will come back with where the FG ends up

[dshar]

So i bottled this brew yesterday.
I reduced the brew length to 18l, so OG was 1.040 with a FG of 1.020 (thAt was after i added 60g of priming sugar, so may be a touch below that).
Guess the higher FG is due to the longer chain unfermentable sugars i got from the higher mash temp.
May be a little weak at under 3%, but taste wise it was already pretty good, so overall, looks pretty promising!

[floydmeddler]

Wow. Wasn't expecting it to end that high! You may find that it will continue to drop in the bottles. Just be careful!

[dshar]

So final result on this one was medium. Fairly sweet and weak, not undrinkable, but not to my taste.
Is very popular with the missus who thinks its great, also some friends enjoyed it on a hot summers day. Overall its more like a beer 'drink'... Good lesson, and it got the gf onside, so positive overall

[Cazamodo]

Brewed at home a while ago. Still in fermentor atm, Must take it out soon!
Was aiming for 70*C mash but got 68*C. Still, using Notty it stopped fermenting at 1012. Even after a rouse. So somethings up as most others go down to 1008ish!
Tastes great out of the fermentor, cant wait to drink it.