Have I got it wrong after all these years?

[evanvine]

For the last 26 years I've always mashed for 3 hrs and boiled for 2 hrs.
After reading many posts and watching several videos it seems that the majority of you only mash and boil for one and a half hours.
Can I save 2 hrs per brew?

Jim

 

[Dunfie]

Hi Jim

You appear to have asked two questions:

1, Have you been doing it wrong?
No, if the results have been good for you then its obvious that you are achieving a good conversion in the mash and you are successfully boiling and not losing too much to evaporation during the boil.

2, Can you save 2hrs per brew?
Absolutely. 90 min mash and 90 minute boil are the usual process. Most of the brewing books advocate this schedule for most ales. Some people have even experimented with 1 hour mash and 1 hour boil and had successful results (infact I know of at least one commercial brewery that brews to that schedule.

 

[evanvine]

Thanks Dunfie.
With regard to the boil I have always sparged to 6 gals to compensate for evaporation, it reduces down to 5 gals.
Then an extra couple of pints for the hop sparge and I have 5 gals in the FV.
I think in future I will try sparging to only 5.5 gals.
I will certainly try a 1.5 hour mash.

Jim