I am usually an outdoor brewer, but with bad weather this weekend and a deadline (visitors coming in a few weeks) I decided to do the brew in the garden shed.
The logistics seemed pretty good, but always in the back of the mind I had (irrational) a picture of either myself being asphyxiated, or the shed setting on fire.
So heated up the strike water, perfect temperature. Added the grain in parts, stirring as I go (I do BIAB). All going well, then I noticed the glow from under the pot.
So pre-occupied with bad thoughts, that I forgot to turn off the burner when I got to strike temperature :cry:
Quickly turned the burner off, stirred like a mad man and checked the temp again. Was aiming for a 153 deg. mash but ended up with 160. Left it without insulation for half an hour and it dropped to 154, but everything you read says with modern malts the conversion is pretty well done after 10 min. Insulated and left for a 90 min mash.
Luckily it was a fairly high gravity (1060) so the ABV should still be acceptable, but will probably end up with a sweet beer. But it will still be beer!
I have made this recipe before, so it will be an interesting (even if accidental!) experiment in higher temp mashing.