Cascadian - Mashed High Mashed Low Experiment

[rimski]

After reading much literature and listening to the Brewing Network I wanted to do an experimental brew to see what difference mashing high and mashing low actually does to your beer, so far only part way through the experiment but heres the results so far.

Recipe
Cascadian (English IPA)

5.25kg Maris Otter Malt
250g Crystal Malt
200g Torrified Wheat
100g Amber Malt
50g Chocolate

42g Cascade (5.5% Alpha) @ 90 Minutes (Boil)
28g Cascade (5.5% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
28g Cascade (5.5% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil)
15g Cascade (5.5% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)

The first brew was mashed for 90 mins @ 62c which gave a before boil gravity of 1.051 and an OG of 1.060
The second brew was mashed for 90 mins @ 68c which gave a before boil gravity of 1.043 and an OG of 1.051

I never thought that mashing temperature would make that much difference to my efficiency 75% to 64% (roughly) but it appears to have done (unless I read hydometer wrong on the 2nd one ofc)

Both brews have been fermented the same at 19c for 7 days using a 1 litre starter and Safeale S-04
The 1st brew I raised the temperature to 22c after the week and left for a further week and is now cold conditioning which has given a final gravity of 1.015 or an ABV of 6% OMG
The 2nd brews temperature has been raised this morning to 22c and will be left until the weekend where I will take a reading

The 1st beer tastes pretty nice considering I'm not a massive high alcohol beer lover (I prefer around the 4% mark) but is a little cloudy at the moment. I will follow up with details about the 2nd beer after the weekend.

Has anyone else tried this or anything similar?

[mysterio]

Those are quite astonishing numbers, I think you would have to do a repeat experiment before you can draw any conclusions as those are outlying results.

Kudos to you for actually doing the experiment though. It is the only way to learn and find out for yourself.

For my part I rarely notice mash temperature making a huge difference so I usually select yeast and malts when I want to control body/sweetness.

[rimski]

Those are quite astonishing numbers, I think you would have to do a repeat experiment before you can draw any conclusions as those are outlying results.

Kudos to you for actually doing the experiment though. It is the only way to learn and find out for yourself.

For my part I rarely notice mash temperature making a huge difference so I usually select yeast and malts when I want to control body/sweetness.

You're right about the numbers especially as I have just gone and re read the the hydrometer and it reads 1.015 not 1.005 question is now can I trust my initial readings for brew 2

Thanks for feedback
Edited OP

[mysterio]

That seems a bit more like it

At least you will have two beers with identical recipes (except the mash temp) to try side by side.

[Barley Water]

I am not into the controlled experiements like you seem to be but I tried mashing a heffeweizen really hot one time (for what reason I don't recall). Anyhow, I mashed the stuff at 158F which is what I would do if I wanted a really big bodied bier. Well, the experiment worked, the beer had a really big mouthfeel. Of course, the bier itself sucked because heffes are supposed to be thirst quenching, not heavy so I guess that proves one should be careful what one wishes for sometimes. At any rate, I did learn something from that and I regularly mash very hot if I want a small beer to come off bigger than it really is. Naturally, the other things you can to to increase body are use an unattenuative yeast strain (my fav is the Fuller's strain), add alot of crystal type malt and use a yeast that throws off a bunch of diacetyl (Fuller's is good for that also), for some reason that taste give the impression of "bigness".

[bob downe]

I'd be interested to see the results of this experiment. I'm just conditioning my first 62C mashed brew. I normally mash at 66C to 68C. I've tried lower to see if I can spot any difference.

Now, just need some patience....................