What is the effect of a 2 hour mash?

[ChrisG]

I'm still to decide on my first All Grain brew but think it might be a speckled hen clone.

What does a 2 hour mash do to the wort?

Sounds very easy:

From this site......
Old Speckled Hen

For 23 ltrs
In the mash tun
4350g Pale malt
540g Crystal malt

In the copper
540g invert cane sugar (Lyles golden syrup if you are not familiar)
65g challenger hops
15g Goldings
1 tsp. Irish moss
Dry hop with 5g Goldings

Mash at 66 degC for 2 hrs

Boil for 2 hrs.

OG 1050 Final gravity 1009 Alcohol 5.6

[maxashton]

Converts a bit more starch, can help with haze sometimes.

Other than that, nothing, I think.

[delboy]

It might up the efficency a bit, but potentially may also thin the body of the resultant beer. I would guess thought that you wouldn't spot much differnence between a beer with a 90 min mash and a beer with a 2 hr mash.

You could just go with a 90 min mash, and probably do likewise with the boil.

Your first AG will be a long enough day without doing a 2hr mash and a 2hr boil.

[ChrisG]

Your first AG will be a long enough day without doing a 2hr mash and a 2hr boil.

I can imagine!

Thinking of setting up a timer system for the boilers to start early on in the morning so I can start the mash quick.

I still have to make the chiller and hop strainer but they shouldn't be difficult.

[Aleman]

What does a 2 hour mash do to the wort?

Very little to be honest . .. of course that depends on if you are talking 2 hours compared to a 1 hour, 1.5 hour, 3 hour, or 12 hour mash

As long as the mash temp is stable then the extra conversion is unlikely to be noticeable

[Stringy Bob]

I'm still to decide on my first All Grain brew but think it might be a speckled hen clone.

What does a 2 hour mash do to the wort?

Sounds very easy:

From this site......
Old Speckled Hen

For 23 ltrs
In the mash tun
4350g Pale malt
540g Crystal malt

In the copper
540g invert cane sugar (Lyles golden syrup if you are not familiar)
65g challenger hops
15g Goldings
1 tsp. Irish moss
Dry hop with 5g Goldings

Mash at 66 degC for 2 hrs

Boil for 2 hrs.

OG 1050 Final gravity 1009 Alcohol 5.6

Now I like the sound of that for my first AG. When you say Dry Hop, I assume this is just left in the FV whilst fermenting and removed when kegged?

[Bongo]

i have also wondered on this mash length and longer ones too,if it produces little difference to a 90 apart from some efficiency then why do some breweries do it?

[Stonechat]

The best bit of advice I have taken up from this forum is to do 60 minute mashes.
I never bother working out brew efficiences, but when following recipes usually excede the target OG by a couple of points.
As most brewdays I do two 25 litre brews that saves an hour
The suggestion came from who else but Daab

[BarnsleyBrewer]

The best bit of advice I have taken up from this forum is to do 60 minute mashes.
I never bother working out brew efficiences, but when following recipes usually excede the target OG by a couple of points.
As most brewdays I do two 25 litre brews that saves an hour
The suggestion came from who else but Daab

Thanks, might try 60mins, I've always done 90.

[Aleman]

I've always done 90, when I did a 60 minute mash I lost something like 8% in brew house efficiency . . . so back to 90 . . . the old time brewers used 2-3 hour mash times . . . and that meant stirring with mash paddles for three hours.

[Bongo]

the old time brewers used 2-3 hour mash times . . . and that meant stirring with mash paddles for three hours.

They must have big arms then,makes sense though i thought it must be an old thing,not that that's wrong but i did wonder on it as most here do a 90.

[ChrisG]

So its really a case of 90min mash and 90min boil.

Sounds okay to me.

[MartialAnt]

To me, an extra 30 min mashing time allows more drinking time whilst waiting. Hic.

[CrownCap]

I did a 2hr mash on my last brew. I got 5% higher efficiency than usual and a very fermentable wort - it went from 1081 to 1030 in less than 24hrs and down to 1012 after 3 days (S04 yeast). Some of that might have been down to a slightly low mash temperature of 65.5C but I'm sure the extended mash had an impact too.