Boil and Mash Times

[J_P]

Hi Folks

I am about to spark up the Barefoot Brewery and cobble together a few litres of plain and simple English ale however I quite fancy an afternoon pint in the autumn sunshine so my question is this:-

Is there any reason I mash and boil for 90 minutes or could I produce equally good beer mashing and boiling for 60 minutes? Are there any steps I could take to speed things up?

Cheers

[Aleman]

Most modern malts convert well before 90 minutes, the reason for going for 90 minutes is to give the Beta amylase chance to chew up a few more dextrins, If you mash cooler (say 62-64) instead of 66+ then the wort will have the same fermentable/unfermentable sugar balance at 60 minutes as one at 90 minutes mashed hotter. The only 'possible' downside is at 62C you are right at the upper limits of protease activity, so possibly head retention could suffer (Add a couple of % of wheat malt )

Boil - As long as you have a good hot break(*) then there is no reason why you can't cut the boil to 60 minutes.

(*) proper definition of hot break - not the initial foam up as the boil starts

[bitter_dave]

I've moved to a 60 min mash and boil (from 90 mins). I can't say I've noticed any difference in the beer quality, although I think my efficiency has dropped very slightly (as DaaB notes). Knocking an hour off brewing has made it more enjoyable and satisfying though

[J_P]

Cheers chaps, I've added a little more malt to account for the anticipated drop in efficiency. I have also filled boiler with water from the hot tap to speed the heating of the mash and sparge water too, that's knocked a few minutes off.

The only down side to this is that the Autumn sunshine I was hoping to get to drink a pint in has disappeared

[mysterio]

I mash for 60 mins (unless i'm after a dry beer like a German lager or Tripel), and boil for 60 minutes after the hot break has subsided.

[J_P]

All done and dusted I started at 1220 and was all done and dusted by 16:20.

I anticipated 75% efficiency and I was pretty much spot on I hit my volume and missed my target gravity by a point (what's a point between friends?). A four hour brewday and hitting both my targets, I consider that a pretty successful afternoon

Cheers for the tips

[Vossy1]

Glad to hear you had a good brewday J_P

[Wez]

Nicely done JP

[Dan]

keep shaving the time off J_P and one day you can brew in 4 hours like vossy

[J_P]

The recipe is here in case anyone fancies a peek

[Madbrewer]

Thanks for that! I'm a devil for squirrelling away recipes.