[denny]

Forgot to mention, I know a guy who loves English Milds and he intentionally mashes around 158F.  I have just mashed a Licht Pilsner at 157 to see how the body turns out.  Brewers Friend has it turning out around 3.6% based on my simple grain bill - 7 lbs Best Pils, .5 lb Weyermann Light Munich, and .25 lb Weyermann Acidulated malt.  I have been messing with a lot of variables and am hoping this one hits the sweet spot.  If not, I will try some flaked barley substitution for some base malt.

Cheers to the small guys!

When I was developing my American mild, I used mash temps of 158F or sometimes a bit higher

[erockrph]

Forgot to mention, I know a guy who loves English Milds and he intentionally mashes around 158F.  I have just mashed a Licht Pilsner at 157 to see how the body turns out.  Brewers Friend has it turning out around 3.6% based on my simple grain bill - 7 lbs Best Pils, .5 lb Weyermann Light Munich, and .25 lb Weyermann Acidulated malt.  I have been messing with a lot of variables and am hoping this one hits the sweet spot.  If not, I will try some flaked barley substitution for some base malt.

Cheers to the small guys!

I've mashed as high as 162 for small beers and never really noticed an increased body. I get a much bigger impact by lowering my carbonation levels.

[Megary]

I realize this is a bit of a tangent from the intention of the OP, but…

For those that BIAB and sparge to hit volume:
Do you get better conversion by sparging the grains to hit volume as opposed to just mashing in at full volume?

I ask because I always get better efficiency with a higher water:grist ratio and it seems to me that while sparging may rinse some sugars, I can’t wrap my head around why I wouldn’t get that rinse by just mashing with more water to begin with.  (Anecdotally, the bigger the beer, the worse the conversion efficiency.  I think this is partly the reason for the advice to “adjust your efficiency down when brewing that Barleywine!”).

And while I’m diving in, does an ideal water:grist ratio for BIAB exist?

[Richard]

I realize this is a bit of a tangent from the intention of the OP, but…

For those that BIAB and sparge to hit volume:
Do you get better conversion by sparging the grains to hit volume as opposed to just mashing in at full volume?

I ask because I always get better efficiency with a higher water:grist ratio and it seems to me that while sparging may rinse some sugars, I can’t wrap my head around why I wouldn’t get that rinse by just mashing with more water to begin with.  (Anecdotally, the bigger the beer, the worse the conversion efficiency.  I think this is partly the reason for the advice to “adjust your efficiency down when brewing that Barleywine!”).

And while I’m diving in, does an ideal water:grist ratio for BIAB exist?

I am only sparging with 1/2 gallon of water, so the water:grist ratio in the mash is not really much different than a full volume mash. I noticed once  that after I pulled the bag and drained it as usual, that when I sparged with tap water to get the volume I wanted the resulting wort was still pretty dark. That told me that there was still quite a bit of sugar in the grains that I hadn't gotten out.

[BrewBama]

Forgot to mention, I know a guy who loves English Milds and he intentionally mashes around 158F.  I have just mashed a Licht Pilsner at 157 to see how the body turns out.  Brewers Friend has it turning out around 3.6% based on my simple grain bill - 7 lbs Best Pils, .5 lb Weyermann Light Munich, and .25 lb Weyermann Acidulated malt.  I have been messing with a lot of variables and am hoping this one hits the sweet spot.  If not, I will try some flaked barley substitution for some base malt.

Cheers to the small guys!

I was hoping you’d post your grain bill. My next Mild is scheduled for a 156°F mash and a dash of oat malt. That could easily be increased 2°. I too hope this hits a sweet spot.

Cheers!

[DBhomebrew]

I realize this is a bit of a tangent from the intention of the OP, but…

For those that BIAB and sparge to hit volume:
Do you get better conversion by sparging the grains to hit volume as opposed to just mashing in at full volume?

I ask because I always get better efficiency with a higher water:grist ratio and it seems to me that while sparging may rinse some sugars, I can’t wrap my head around why I wouldn’t get that rinse by just mashing with more water to begin with.  (Anecdotally, the bigger the beer, the worse the conversion efficiency.  I think this is partly the reason for the advice to “adjust your efficiency down when brewing that Barleywine!”).

And while I’m diving in, does an ideal water:grist ratio for BIAB exist?

It's the lauter efficiency that takes the hit. Given a constant pre-boil volume, a higher OG requires more malt. More malt soaks up more water. A higher percentage of the total water volume is lost to grain absorption. Hence, a lower lauter efficiency.

My 4% beers get ~90% mash efficiency. ~75% for the big 10% beers. Conversion for all is 98-100%.