Is 160 degrees too high for mashing?

[BrewBum]

Maybe the high mash temp is there to combat the hot chili flavor a little, with some percieved sweetness or mouthfeel. I agree it seems high too me. Has there been any correction made in BYO yet? Did you email them.

[Ice Hensley]

stated og = 1.039 (actual was 1.040)
stated fg = 1.007

When I mashed, my strike temp was 158 so I just left it there for a few, added one cup boiling water to bring it up to 159 and decided not to mess with it from there. The hydrometer sample prior to pitching tasted pretty sweet with a just hint of chile, which should be good because I don't want an overpowering spicyness. We'll have to see how it ferments out...

[Danno]

159°F wouldn't be too high if you also did a rest in the low 140's. As the graph shows, Alpha Amylase is active at 160°F but Beta is not. I suspect you can scoot on the Beta rest if you let the mash sit long enough but I have no clue how long that would be.

Beta clips the end of startch molecules of. Kind of like trimming the leaves from a tree. AA breaks the molecules in the middle but if I remember right, won't go less than four sugar molecules. Even if AA does, it would take a while for the AA to do what the BA does in 30 minutes.