Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

I've got the mash -in water and temp figured out. What does a mash - out do? Am I correct in thinking it stops conversion by denaturing enzymes? If so why would this step be beneficial? I could probably find it in "How to Brew" but I'm hoping someone has experience with this process and can provide insight. Thanks!

jjbuck wrote:I've got the mash -in water and temp figured out. What does a mash - out do? Am I correct in thinking it stops conversion by denaturing enzymes? If so why would this step be beneficial? I could probably find it in "How to Brew" but I'm hoping someone has experience with this process and can provide insight. Thanks!

I am sure there are scientific reasons for doing it. I do it to raise the grain bed to sparge temps.

Considering that it's going straight to the boil kettle, I don't worry about the extra 2 minutes to denature the enzymes. I just think it makes it easier to run off and avoid a stuck mash. If I have room in my MT for an addition to raise the temp I do it, otherwise I skip it to no noticable effect.

From John Palmer:
 

What is Mashout?
Before the sweet wort is drained from the mash and the grain is rinsed (sparged) of the residual sugars, many brewers perform a mashout. Mashout is the term for raising the temperature of the mash to 170°F prior to lautering. This step stops all of the enzyme action (preserving your fermentable sugar profile) and makes the grainbed and wort more fluid. For most mashes with a ratio of 1.5-2 quarts of water per pound of grain, the mashout is not needed. The grainbed will be loose enough to flow well. For a thicker mash, or a mash composed of more than 25% of wheat or oats, a mashout may be needed to prevent a Set Mash/Stuck Sparge. This is when the grain bed plugs up and no liquid will flow through it. A mashout helps prevent this by making the sugars more fluid; like the difference between warm and cold honey. The mashout step can be done using external heat or by adding hot water according to the multi-rest infusion calculations. (See chapter 16.) A lot of homebrewers tend to skip the mashout step for most mashes with no consequences.


On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 3:16 PM, TappedOut <brew-tech@crbeernuts.org (brew-tech@crbeernuts.org)> wrote:

Considering that it's going straight to the boil kettle, I don't worry about the extra 2 minutes to denature the enzymes. I just think it makes it easier to run off and avoid a stuck mash. If I have room in my MT for an addition to raise the temp I do it, otherwise I skip it to no noticable effect.

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Thanks guys! I kinda figured it was a non-essential step. Always helps to ask.

I skipped mashout most of my brewing years but recently started doing it just because it is simple with my current HERMS configuration. I recirculate the wort to clarify so I just raise the temp of my HERMS tank. It has increased my efficiency. Mr. Wizard addressed this in BYO and said this helps increase efficiency. He also said this should not be so important to homebrewers and the step can be easily skipped.