Mash out in full volume 11.5 brew in a bag

[davidgrace]

I have a new Peco boiler and will do my first 11.5L brew in a bag on Saturday. I have purchased a false bottom to keep the bag off the element, nevertheless but will switch off the element while mashing and insulate the boiler. Because the false bottom raises the bag quite a bit my bag will be sitting shallower in the liquid. So I will do a full volume mash (17L of water) for 75 minutes rather than a 60 minute mash followed by a dunk sparge. My question is will I gain much by turning the element back on for a mash out? If so, for how long and at what temperature?

 

[DarrenSL]

You might get a small efficiency increase with the hotter temperature helping with the sugar viscosity but I think you risk overheating parts of the mash from the element and getting tannin extraction. Personally, I would mash at a little lower volume, pull the bag out and just a fairly quick rinse through straight into the boiler with water at mash out temperature (I used to sit the bag on a big colander to do this).

 

[AdeDunn]

No need for mash out AND dunk sparge if you use warmer water for the dunk sparge really, will do the same job. You'd probably get more from a longer mash than you would from doing a mash out to be honest. That's what I found anyway. If you do do one, raise the bag whilst you heat the wort to mash out temps, then lower it again once there, making sure to stir the wort whilst you heat to prevent scorching (used to do a mash out with my old eBIAB rig, but I didn't bother to sparge, I just recirculated the mash with a pump.).