hi - Ive brewed for a long time and mostly all grain but never been fully clear on this issue :
If I begin a malted barley mash at around 68-70 deg and hold it for an hour or so I believe Ive activated the enzymes that produce mostly dextrin's (ie. long chain sugars , less fermentable sugars) ../ correct ?
Alternatively mashing at the 60 deg mark or thereabouts tends to produce more maltose - shorter chain more fermentable sugars..?right?
two things - if the temp is held in 70 deg range for an hour or so then is moved down through to 60 ish does the dextrin then get converted to maltose ? or once a dextrin always a dextrin ?
And also, if I'm using the grain to convert other starches eg oats/corn, is it better to convert at the higher temp (?) then step it down to the lower range ? would i get a better conversion -dextrin to glucose this way, or can the grain convert straight from starchy oats to glucose at 60deg..?
thanks