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Does mashing for a light or full body beer affect the efficiency?

ImperialStout

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Enzymes convert starch to sugar. It makes sense to me that an increase in enzyme activity would increase the efficiency of converting starch to sugar.

Light body beers are mashed at a lower temp which increases enzyme activity and results in a lighter body beer (and higher efficiency?)
Full body beers are mashed at a higher temp which decreases enzyme activity and results in a fuller body beer (and lower efficiency?)

Just read this in Beer Smith under mash profiles help.
 
I don't *think* so.  If both mashes hit 1.055, then the efficiency is the same, I would think. 

Mashing cooler favors beta amylase which favors simpler sugars; warmer favors alpha amylase with leads to more complex sugars, some of which the yeast don't eat thus creating more 'body' and such. 

But either mash creates sugars.  The profile of the sugars therein may differ wildly from a 148F mash of 90 minutes (tripel or pilsner) and a 50-minute mash at 156F (oatmeal stout). 
 
There is 2 different types of enzymes at play. One favors lower temperatures and the other higher. I thought I read that the higher temp one converts faster, but I could be imagining it.
 
Mash temp doesn't increase or decrease efficiency. It does increase or decrease your final gravity. A lower mash temp will result in a lower final gravity while a higher mash temp results in a higher final gravity.  Assuming that the ingredients were equal, they would both have the same starting gravity (same efficiency) while the one mashed at the lower temp will have more alcohol in it (alcohol = starting gravity - final gravity), but less body. That's where balance comes in, because bitterness needs to be offset by sweetness. A bitter beer needs to have a relatively high final gravity or else it will be out of balance. That high gravity can be achieved by sheer volume of ingredients, and/or with a higher mash temperature. Meanwhile the pilseners I like to brew don't have a lot of bitterness, so they are mashed at a lower temperature.

Hope that helps.
 
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