Overnight mashing

[tribs]

Last night bottled a Hop Devil IPA clone. Nice and hoppy. Around 70 IBUs and 7.5% abv :stun

Next up is a Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale clone which I am going to dump straight onto the leftover cake. It'll be the fourth and final batch using this yeast before I take a break for a month or so. Its also first chance to use my new 35L boiler

I'm considering mashing overnight. Strike at around 1am, go to bed and sparge 7 or 8 am when I get up. Anybody else try this?

[Jim]

Hi Tribs.

I wouldn't recommend mashing overnight. There are two major drawbacks:

1. The ratio of maltose to dextrins will be wrong, because the mash reaction will continue until all the dextrins are converted to maltose (or just about, anyway) which will result in a highly fermentable wort with no residual sweetness (OK for some beer styles, of course)

2. During the mash, tannins are leached from the grain husks. Over an hour or two this is not a problem, but the longer the wort is in contact with the grain, the more tannin is leached out, causing the beer to develop a harsh bitterness (think stewed tea).

[Andy]

tribs, how about adding the Hop Devil recipe to the Recipes section of this 'ere forum ?


Mind you - 7.5% I'll be reducing the grain bill

[Andy]

I harvested some slurry from the bottom of the FV used for my last brew and I'll be pitching this into tomorrows brew!

[Reg]

I think the one thing the commercial brewers I have talked to in the past have agreed upon is that mashing in terms of both temperature and time is a key element to the flavour of their beer. I'd steer clear of an overnigt mash as you are effectively creating the the kind of brewout situation that makes sugar substituted beer recipes tastes so overly bitter. :huh:

[James]

Agreed, Its totally do-able but you risk a highly fermentable wort and tannin leach.

What yeast are you using for the Siera Nevada Clone?

JC

[tribs]

Hi folks,

I already started mashing before I checked back with this forum. So, I mashed overnight anyway

You did get me a little bit worried though, so I searched around before I found this link.

http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=30815

It seems you don't have to worry about the beta-amylase converting all the dextrins because they become denatured before the temperature drops to their working range. Apparently, temperature and pH are the variables that are of concern regarding tannin extraction, so that should not be a problem either.

I've done a long mash before (not overnight) and the results were great. The only side effect being excellent efficiency. 86% on that occasion.

I will not know the effects of the overnight mash until I bottle it in a couple of weeks (unless I get my kegs first) so we will wait and see.

FYI:
Starting Temp ~66C @ 1am
Finishing Temp ~63C @ 7:30am
Effieciency was 81%

If all is ok, then this technique is perfect for me. My brew day was over before lunch (which makes a change). My wife couldn't complain about wasting the weekend :huh: and I've got more time with my 14 week old girl, Molly

[tribs]

QUOTE What yeast are you using for the Siera Nevada Clone?


James, the yeast is Safale US-56. Its wyeast 1056 in dry form. Very clean and neutral tasting. Its allegedly the same as the Chico strain that Sierra Nevada uses for its brews.

I'm quite excited about this batch becasue its the first clone I've done where I have a bottle for side by side comparison. This seasonal ale was available at Sainsbury's over the christmas period, my local store still has some bottles left. Unlike more traditional winter ales, this one is a highly hopped IPA.

When I have a spare mo. I'll post both this and the Hop Devil clone recipes in the Recipes section.

tribs

[Jim]

QUOTE (tribs @ Apr 2 2006, 09:34 AM) Hi folks,

I already started mashing before I checked back with this forum. So, I mashed overnight anyway

You did get me a little bit worried though, so I searched around before I found this link.

http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=30815

It seems you don't have to worry about the beta-amylase converting all the dextrins because they become denatured before the temperature drops to their working range. Apparently, temperature and pH are the variables that are of concern regarding tannin extraction, so that should not be a problem either.

I've done a long mash before (not overnight) and the results were great. The only side effect being excellent efficiency. 86% on that occasion.

I will not know the effects of the overnight mash until I bottle it in a couple of weeks (unless I get my kegs first) so we will wait and see.

FYI:
Starting Temp ~66C @ 1am
Finishing Temp ~63C @ 7:30am
Effieciency was 81%

If all is ok, then this technique is perfect for me. My brew day was over before lunch (which makes a change). My wife couldn't complain about wasting the weekend :huh: and I've got more time with my 14 week old girl, Molly
Well, I remain to be convinced!

According to David Line (who, incidentally, also advocated overnight mashes) alpha amylase can also break down dextrins into maltose, though at a very low efficiency.

Also, if you accept that all the enzymes stop working after 2hrs, what you're really doing is having a (fairly) normal length mash (therefore no increased efficiency) and then leaving your goods to stew for several hours, therefore extracting tannin (which I'm personally convinced will happen).

Having thus pontificated on the matter, however :rolleyes: , I must admit that I have never done an overnight mash, so I'm not speaking from experience, so I'd like to hear how your brew turns out, Tribs!

[James]

QUOTE (tribs @ Apr 2 2006, 09:44 AM)QUOTE What yeast are you using for the Siera Nevada Clone?


James, the yeast is Safale US-56. Its wyeast 1056 in dry form. Very clean and neutral tasting. Its allegedly the same as the Chico strain that Sierra Nevada uses for its brews.

I'm quite excited about this batch becasue its the first clone I've done where I have a bottle for side by side comparison. This seasonal ale was available at Sainsbury's over the christmas period, my local store still has some bottles left. Unlike more traditional winter ales, this one is a highly hopped IPA.

When I have a spare mo. I'll post both this and the Hop Devil clone recipes in the Recipes section.

tribs
Hi Tribbs,

I used that yeast on my last batch (about a month ago) nice taste, but a poor performer in the FV: didn’t get up enough head to totally cover the wort. (Not that i'm bothered!) Hope a re-pitch is a better performer but taste-wise definitely a good dry-yeast.

SN Pale Ale is a super nice beer, one of my favourites, pity it is only in 330ml.. I take it the celebration is just as good..

Might be an idea to raise the temp of your sparge water by a few degrees to counteract the mash temperature drop of a few degrees, would be good to hear how your overnight mash in itself goes.

JC

[Andy]

Agreed, SN Pale Ale is very nice - Asda sell it for a pretty good price at the moment.

May be worth a clone attempt, I believe Sagwalla of this 'ere parish has had a couple of goes at it. Here's a clone http://brewery.org/brewery/cm3/recs/01_143.html

[tribs]

Hi James,

This is the 4th time I've used this yeast pitching straight onto the cake of the previous batch. I think it got better each time. I'm sure I read somewhere that Fermentis (who distribute it) reckon that dry yeast (or that strain) does not perform to its optimum until something like the 8th generation. Even repitching the whole cake you do not get a very high krausen, but the repitched batches fermented down very well. It seemed to perform better at low temperature. I turned the radiator in my Utility room to frost protection after the first batch so the ambient temp was ~16C. It was probably ~20C before. Overall very pleased with this yeast and will definitely use it again.

QUOTE SN Pale Ale is a super nice beer, one of my favourites, pity it is only in 330ml.. I take it the celebration is just as good..

I think its better. Much more hoppy (It is an IPA). Definitely worth a try if you like well hopped ales. That said I couldn't get enough of SNPA when I visited California a couple of years ago. Its much better on tap.

QUOTE Might be an idea to raise the temp of your sparge water by a few degrees to counteract the mash temperature drop of a few degrees, would be good to hear how your overnight mash in itself goes.

Sparged at ~85C and had no problems throughout apart from the chiller ouput hose fell out of the sink. Luckily, I was right next to it at the time and was able to quickly pop it back before much water soaked the floor :rolleyes: The mash only dropped 3 degrees anyway.

We'll see how the end product turns out, but if it is good I will definitely be overnight mashing again. Its worth pointing out that I did do a long mash of 5-6 hours a month or two ago and had no problems. It turned out really well. No hint of tannins (although I don't know how that would manifest TBH, exceptionally bitter, I suppose) It was meant to be a US version of an ESB by Red Hook (I brewed it because I had most of the ingredients handy) but it reminded me more of a Belgian golden abbey ale. Nice and malty with a noble hop aroma (that'll be the tettnang). Very good stuff indeed.

tribs

[Andy]

Checked Asda this lunchtime and SNPA is £1.08/bottle so I had to pick one up :rolleyes:

[bod]

£1.08?????!?!??!!!?!????!?!?!?!!!!?!?!????????????? its bloody £1.68 in mine!

[Andy]

That's some regional discrepancy!

It's been £1.08 for ages at my local Asda, perhaps I should stock up