Minch malt 3.6 EBC- 90 minute boil?

[rukkus]

What yeast are you using and under what conditions?

[tipp brewer]

I used mangrove jacks workhorse on one and a mj Belgian on another (i d expect that one to finish pretty low). Last time i used wlp001 without a starter and it had a long lag time which won't help the beer but its down to 1008 when i was aiming for 1014. Its fermenting in the hall which is about 17 degrees. Beersmith suggested a 45 minute mash but i gave it an hour well maybe a little longer as i tried to get my sparge water up to the right temp.

[Qs]

Can malt variety effect attenuation?

[tipp brewer]

I didn't think it would myself but a bit if googling found the following


grain bill composition (base malt): mashes rich in enzymes, i.e. high diastatic power, (Pilsner malt, Pale malt) will produce more fermentable worts since they contain a lager amount of beta-amylase and limit dextrinase which can produce more maltose than mashes with lower diastatic power (Munich malt or large amounts of unmalted grains) assuming the same saccharification rest temperature.

the ebc of the minch pale ale malt is very low so possibly more fermentable i guess!

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Not only does variety change the attenuation limit but variations in batches of the same variety will change the attenuation limit also.
When I was brewing the stand times were adjusted regularly to maintain the desired attenuation limit. If the limit went up (eg if we were aiming at for example 1.012 and final gravities were rising to 1.014) the stand times were increased in order to reduce it. Another issue was in Sept/Oct each year when the new seasons malt came in, lots of trials were carried out in the pilot brewery to give a guideline on stand times before brewing on the bigger plant. The new seasons malt would be introduced gradually to minimise variation in the final product.

[DEMPSEY]

That makes sense to use a pilot plant to check malts.

[tipp brewer]

Makes sense given so many variables in growing grain, amount of sunlight, rainfall, when these occur in the lifecycle etc., you d expect there to be some indication in pre boil gravity, starting gravity etc. But i guess brewing in theory is a very complex process even if in reality for us its relatively straight forward.
when you talk about stand time i m guessing you mean mash time? I ve heard of people who leave the mash run overnight, this must absolutely maximise their attenuation, with the Belgian blonde that's  useful as your flavour is from your yeast, but wouldn't be great in a bitter i d imagine. Thanks for the responses another factor to take seriously i think, must be tricky for the breweries to manage.

[neoanto]

Just wanted to throw my two cents in here on the attenuation.
I finish with quiet a low FG compared to what beersmith suggests and I use the Minch malt always,  cos its cheaper and Irish.
I suppose the question is, is there anything wrong with it finishing low if you factor it into your calcs?

[nigel_c]

As long as you know what you are going to get all you can factor it in to you calculations.
I have being using Minch malt for the last few months and have found it very consistent. Fresh and hits my numbers each time.
I generally boil for 90 mins so I cant comment on shorter boil times.
Happy with the price and going by the ale malt I've being using i plan on trying the rest of the range.