Reading through the May-June 2016 issue of BYO, I came across the following scenario posed to Ashton Lewis in the Help Me Mr. Wizard Column:
The brewer had a recipe calling for mashing at 148 F for 90 minutes, then mashing out at 168 F for 10 minutes. One of the questions he asked was "how important is the mash-out and should he skip it"?
Mr. Lewis replied in part: "When the mash is heated to 168 F (76 C), enzymatic reactions cease to occur at any appreciable rate and this "fixes" wort composition." I understand that part of what Mr. Lewis replied. But then he continued: "If you don't mash out, enzymatic conversion continues during wort collection and you may have a challenge if you want to brew beers with residual extract."
Starting with a temp of 148 F and mashing for 90 minutes I would think that you would already have a wort with high apparent attention and it would be too late to retain much residual extract i.e. Elvis has already left the building. Comments please!
A lot of authorities say a 60 minute simple infusion mash is sufficient for most brews.
Is the boiling water you would add to raise the mash temp to 168 F for 10 minutes going to extract any significant amounts of additional sugars from the malted grains than were extracted in the previous 90 minutes at the lower temp? Comments please!
I'm presently doing BIAB brews and I'm satisfied with the results, but wondering how much better the brews might be if I went to a mash tun with conventional sparging. I use modern well-modified malts, treat my mash water, and brew beers in the brown ale to stout varieties. Currently I'm mashing for 60 minutes, removing the grain and cranking up the gas burner to get the wort boiling as fast as I can.
Would there be any benefit to gradually increasing the wort temp to 168 F, maintaining that temp for 10 minutes and then cranking the heat up to again get the wort to boiling as rapidly as possible. Again comments please.
I know I've asked a lot of questions. It would be most helpful if advice could be provided for each question separately rather than a general overall reply to all of them
Thanks in advance for your help.