25 replies to this topic

[Big Nake]

I thought at one point I heard that English beers benefit from a thicker mash. English beers are often low-gravity so maybe mashing thicker and giving the beer some body makes sense. But the idea of mashing thick and mashing high sounds like an unusual combination unless when you say HIGH you don't mean REALLY HIGH like 160 or something. I thought I heard somewhere else that German styles benefit from a thinner mash and maybe the dryness of lagers is where that would come from.

[Bklmt2000]

For all of you guys with high ratios, did you find that it affected the amount of fermentable sugars?  I was always taught that one of the ways to generate unfermentable sugars and more mouthfeel was to mash in thick (temp being the other factor), whereas if you wanted a thinner beer with higher fermentability, mash in thin (or lower temp).

 

I tend to go for more mouthfeel most of the time, so I tend to mash in thick and high temp. This is the only thing that would really impact me on this issue.

 

Thoughts?

 

My experience (for what little that's worth ) is that time and temp affect fermentability more than mash thickness.

[positiveContact]

My experience (for what little that's worth ) is that time and temp affect fermentability more than mash thickness.

 

same here.

 

from Braukaiser:

 

water/grist ratio – With today’s well modified malts, the mash thickness has little impact on the fermentability of the produced wort [Narziss, 2005].

 

Edited by Evil_Morty, 21 November 2014 - 06:17 PM.

[bigdaddyale]

Thanks for all of the information.Having a thinner mash will make my life easier as I'm about to start using RIMS 

[Brauer]

For all of you guys with high ratios, did you find that it affected the amount of fermentable sugars?  I was always taught that one of the ways to generate unfermentable sugars and more mouthfeel was to mash in thick (temp being the other factor), whereas if you wanted a thinner beer with higher fermentability, mash in thin (or lower temp).

 

I tend to go for more mouthfeel most of the time, so I tend to mash in thick and high temp. This is the only thing that would really impact me on this issue.

 

Thoughts?

Similar to what was said already, I found that mash temperature has such an overriding influence on body, that any effect of mashing thinner can be overcome by increasing mash temperature. I can make a milkshake-thick beer by mashing over 2 qt/# at temperatures up around 158F.

[denny]

For all of you guys with high ratios, did you find that it affected the amount of fermentable sugars?  I was always taught that one of the ways to generate unfermentable sugars and more mouthfeel was to mash in thick (temp being the other factor), whereas if you wanted a thinner beer with higher fermentability, mash in thin (or lower temp).

 

I tend to go for more mouthfeel most of the time, so I tend to mash in thick and high temp. This is the only thing that would really impact me on this issue.

 

Thoughts?

 

Mash thickness has so little effect on the finished beer that you can pretty much forget about it.  Recipe, mash temp and mash time are much greater factors.

Thanks for all of the information.Having a thinner mash will make my life easier as I'm about to start using RIMS 

 

 

The one thing you have to watch out for with a thinner mash is pH.  with more water, the buffering power of the grain is reduced.