Mash temps - dryness.

[Snikers]

G'day,

Could someone explain mash temps and dryness of the finished beer? Lower mash = dryer or higher mash temps = dryer?

I recently did a BIAB mash at about 65 and the inished beer is quite dry on the pallet. Very drinkable - arn't they all, but a dry finish.

Any info most welcome.

Regards,

[Kev888]

Hi,

Cooler mash temperatures make dryer beer, and warmer ones make sweeter beer - the range of say 62c to 68c is typical but some people go a bit outside of it. By about 75c you'll be killing the important enzymes though, so don't try for too high a target.

The reason for this is different enzyme activity; at the warmer end you get some of the starchy sugars converted into dextrins by the alpha amylase, these dextrins are less fermentable and so are left (giving sweetness) after fermentation. At the cooler end you get mainly just beta-amylase activity which produces more fermentable sugars which are consumed by the yeast during fermentation (so few sweet sugars are left in the finished beer). In the middle ground you get the beta and also some alpha amylase activity so get the fermentables and also some non-fermentables. This may be slightly noddy science as I'm not an expert, but its how I understand things anyway!

Your 65c may be expected to be medium-dry perhaps rather than very dry. Other things which affect it are the types of grains used (as some produce more residual/unfermented sweetness than others) and if you had any sugars (or similar) in the recipe, as sugar will mostly be fermented away into alcohol, leaving very little sweetness afterwards. Additionally some yeasts attenuate more (convert more to alcohol) than other yeasts, so they would give a dryer finish than a lower attenuating type.

Cheers
kev

[GARYSMIFF]

One to remember:

MALT = More Alcohol Lower Temperature

[Capped]

One to remember:

MALT = More Alcohol Lower Temperature

Very good - the world needs more nemonics like this!
I've stopped worrying about temp cos I find it so hard,nay impossible to get right. I mean,if I go for say 67C it takes ten minutes for the thermometer to stabilise,and once I've stirred the mash again it'll give a different reading in the same spot. Seeing as there's just a small range of temps between producing a dry beer and a sweet one,I try to aim for 65C - more or less in the middle of the range. My thermometer was about 3quid from Wilkos,and it's marked "76mm immersion". Thought only the best ones had that ! Are those digital ones much quicker to react and are they generally accurate? I think if anything my beers tend towards dryness and I'd like to mash a little higher,but I'm wary of going a little too high and ruining the brew...

[The_blue]

G'day,

Could someone explain mash temps and dryness of the finished beer? Lower mash = dryer or higher mash temps = dryer?

I recently did a BIAB mash at about 65 and the inished beer is quite dry on the pallet. Very drinkable - arn't they all, but a dry finish.

Any info most welcome.

Regards,

Mine was very dry for the 1st week. It's getting better every day though.

[Snikers]

Thanks for the responses. More or less what I thought. I too have a little trouble maintaining the temp. Even with insulation on my kettle, BIAB, it fluctuates over a degree sometimes two.

I'll keep on keeping on. It's a great hobby and the real pleasure is in drinking it.

Cheers and thanks again.