I've been doing the "Papazian" rest for a little while now and I like the results. I rest at about 133f for 20min and then go on to my Alpha rest of 150f-158f depending on the beer. I've been doing 40-45min at this rest. Then I Mash-Out at 168f for 10 min.

I've recently read the December BYO issue and they have a few recipes in there with 90min Sacch rests. This is also common in "Beer Captured" which I used for a lot of my first recipes. Is this amount of time necessary for complete conversion? Thoughts?

Rob

I have the same question and would love to hear other opnions. Although I have been listening to the archives and googling and have heard that 90 minutes is more than enough. I forget who it was, but someone said that conversion is pretty complete after 15 minutes. I usually go for an hour and come close to hitting my expected SG. It would be interesting to do an expreiment and see how much you can extract (as measured in efficiency) from a short or long rest.

Most of my sacc. rests are 60 minutes, not sure why but I have never not converted. For tougher or thicker mashes with alot of adjunts iI let it go for 90 minutes before sparging.

Scott

Any good articles you guys can point me to for infor on Sacc Rests?

I'm pretty sure I know nothing about them..

Thanks

Check out http://www.howtobrew.com and read the chapter on "Your first All Grain Batch." It's not the definitive work, but it is a REALLY good place to start.

Rob

Ahh nevermind I was doing that already, didn't know it was called that. learn something new everyday.

Sure a mash can convert in as little as 15 min. This happens when you hold a rest that emphazises the alpha amylase which will randomly split the starch chains into simpler sugars and dextines. The mash is considered converted when no starches (longer chained sugars that react with iodine) are present in the mash. But that doesn't mean that the mash is done.

The purpose of the saccrification rest(s) is to create a desired mixture of fermentable and un-fermentable sugars. This ratio (which is pretty much your real attenuation) may not be reached when the mash is converted and you will have to wait longer to give the amylases (especially the beta amylase) more time to create fermentable sugars.

I like to emphazise that time and temperature are important parameters for a mash.

Kai

After playing around with my current system for about 6 months, I've come to some conclusions: first, everyone's system is different; second, anything I do will vary based upon the first statement; and third, that processes and procedures will not only vary from brewery to brewery, but from batch to batch, only less so. My current mash schedule is 15 minutes at 104/40, 30 minutes at 131/55, 30 minutes at 148/65, and 30 minutes at 158/70. I tried a shorter mash schedule just recently, and got a 22% reduction in efficiency which skewed my hop utilization and therefore the bitterness and malt balance. This was in response to criticisms of my "mashing and sparging too long" in how long I spend brewing in a day. Well, fwiw, if you can get away with doing that, then more power to you! Unfortunately, my system is not as forgiving, and all my recipes are based on my efficiency and hop utilization, so I'm stuck with a long brew day, but then again, I do make a decent brew now and then

Prost!

Michel