Mashing temp for session beers

[Beer-lord]

The few session beers I've brewed have not been my best but looking at the past recipes, I realized I mashed them at 152 and I now think I'd do better by mashing at between 154-156.
I've done some online research and it does appear that there are many that agree with mashing at higher temps.
Opinions please.

[BlackDuck]

The first batch of the Session Simpy Simarillo mashed at 150. The second batch that went into the keg today was mashed at 152.

[Gymrat]

I would think you would want to mash them at high temperatures to reduce attenuation and enhance malt flavor. But that is just a guess on my part.

[Beer-lord]

I would think you would want to mash them at high temperatures to reduce attenuation and enhance malt flavor. But that is just a guess on my part.

This was my thoughts exactly but Chris' session at 152 was pretty hard to tell that it was a 'lite' beer. It had a great body and mouthfeel though I think his subbing Vienna for the White (or red) wheat I used might have made a huge difference.

[Jon]

A lot depends on the beer in question--for a session IPA, I like to mash a little warmer than I would for a normal IPA. So 152-154* instead of 150* or so.

But for, say an English Mild or Scottish 60/- (or English Bitter), I like to use a lower attenuating yeast (like Wyeast 1968) and mash at 158-160*. I think, on my Mild, I'm even up to 162* and only for 30-40". But that's also a recipe that uses like 6 lbs of grain for 6 gallons, so you really need the higher mash temp to make sure you end up with a beer that isn't watery.

So I'd say it varies per style a lot, but if you're basing it on another style, I'd definitely boost the mash temp a bit.

On the other hand, if you're doing a light lager or cream ale, mash that sucker at 148*! Maybe even do a stepped mash, starting with a protein rest.

[mashani]

I agree with Jon.

Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) will give you clean flavors but let more malt stick around, which will help balance the bitter.

I used West Yorkshire in my English IPA that was 1.047 had something like 95 IBUs. It is not clean like London ESB (it has English flavors - nuts and stone fruit) - but has similar levels of attenuation. Between that yeast and adding 1# of 10L crystal, the 95 IBUs don't seem to be too much, its really easy to drink and has nice body. You can't really identify the crystal malt either (10L is not caramel like, it's just residual candy sweet, which the IBUs hammer beyond perception as such - but it is keeping it balanced).

I mashed that at 152. I don't think it would have caused any harm to mash at 154, and without the crystal I think it would need to have been mashed at least that high or it would have turned out harshly bitter.

[Pudge]

I mash at 160 for my mild using Wyeast 1968 as well. Now that is to get a 1.038-1.035 OG beer to finish around 1.012. That grain bill has some specialty grains in there too that help keep the FG up a bit.

For a simpler grain bill like a session IPA with more % of base grains, I'd assume it would be more fermentable overall. You would probably start the average session beer with a higher OG than that mild too. Throw in yeast choice and you have several things to consider in choosing a mash temp.

Edit... If i messed my beer up, I'd rather screw up by having my session beer finish too high rather than too low.

[PaperKittenBrewingCo]

I brewed a session weiss beer with hardly any hop additions at 149 and it came out awesome. So I would agree with Jon about it varying by style.