BIAB Belgian Style

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Tresston24

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I will be doing my first BIAB next week and it will be a Belgian White. After doing some research on Belgian styles and brewing techniques I have learned traditional Belgian brewing has a 3 or 4 tier mash schedule. Example: they will mash at 142 degrees for 15 minutes....154 degrees for 25 minutes and finish with 162 degrees for 30 minutes. Has anyone ever done this? Is there any benefit to it? Especially with a BIAB....any input would be greatly appreciated.
 
I step mash using my biab system is gas heated. Pretty simple to do as long as you keep stirring the mash to prevent it melting your bag. Can be done by raising the bag then raising the heat but that's a fair bit of messing about in my opinion.
 
Note forum name - Aussie home brewer. We deal exclusively with SI units here (Aus, and, well, the rest of the world) which means when you say degrees it's assumed you're talking °C. Same for mass, kg or grams, and volume, ml or litres. Fortunately our clocks still run at 60 mins to the hour.

Regarding first BIAB while it's seemingly simple to do step mashing, I suggest you do a single rest schedule for your first go because you'll want to 'dial in' your system first. There's a lot that could go wrong and step mashing has the potential to cause problems when there are many other things to worry about.
Good luck with it, now that you've entered all grain your life will change.
 
Fahrenheit hurts my brain!

Yep, those steps are going to have a big impact on the finished product.
The first step is ~61*C. That step optimists beta amylase, so produces more fermentable sugars. So that will push a drier beer.
The second step is ~68*C. That's optimizing Alpha amylase more, so produces a fuller body and sweeter beer.
The third step is ~72*C, and does 2 things. The higher temp speeds up both alpha and beta (& starts denaturing them also) to maximize their yield; and it also produces better head retention (by producing more unfermentable oligosaccharides?).

So basically the 68 step produces a full/thicker and sweeter beer, but the previous 61 step should dry it a fair bit to reduce the sweetness and the 72 helps finish it off and give a good head.
Should be a balanced, dry but full beer with a good head!

Fwiw, I'd normally do something like:
55 for 5 mins
63-66 for 40-60 mins
72 for 20-40 mins
78 for 2 mins

I've never done a Belgian Wit, but this worked well on my Saisons and the Belgian ale sitting in my FV ready to bottle.

(The 55 step also helps with head retention)
Hope that helps and apologies for repeating all that amylase stuff if you already knew it - it's as much for anyone else reading this who's learning the ropes :lol:

Edit: tempted to agree w Wiggman. Maybe for your first BIAB, just do a 65 or 66 step for 60-90mins. It should still work well and you can do all the step stuff next time. Step mashing is pretty simple so go for it if you're really keen, but for the first one it might be less stressful to just get familiar w everything else first.
2c
 
I'll work on channeling my inner Aussie and convert my temps, weights, and measures...

Thanks for the info....it's always a big help to hear from those who have done it....there's nothing better than tried and true experience.

I'm just learning so nothing was repetitive to me....thanks again!
 
Channel your inner simplicity. Do everything with SI so you don't have to convert ;)
Then there will be 193* other countries you don't have to convert with!
 
technobabble66 said:
Should be a balanced, dry but full beer with a good head!

Fwiw, I'd normally do something like:
55 for 5 mins
63-66 for 40-60 mins
72 for 20-40 mins
78 for 2 mins
For a wheat it's a good idea to do a ferulic acid rest at 42°C for about 20 mins under more alkaline conditions. It works best at around 5.7-5.8 pH. I have high pH water so did the rest with only wheat and pils malt, then added acidulated malt for the other steps you suggested.
Apparently it pushes 4VG/cloves and is a common rest for wheat beers. I can attest to my latest wheat being very clovey.
 
Again, thanks for all the info....it's a great help and a lot to consider!
 
I've done both an infusion and just direct heating step mash for BIAB but my conclusion is direct heat is a lot easier. No way you can miss you temp with direct heating. Only time I do infusion now is if it's a light beer and I don't want the mash to be overly thin out of fear of missing the mash pH but with a Belgian White that shouldn't be an issue. All the best with your first BIAB, I switched over to BIAB around 5 months ago and the beers are just getting better; so much more freedom!
 
hwall95 said:
No way you can miss you temp with direct heating.
Definitely possible. If you don't keep the liquid moving while you're applying heat you end up with a big temp gradient between the top and bottom of the vessel. I saw this happen on a mate's BIAB where we hooked up a temp controller but had the sensor in the mash. It ran for about 10 mins and we noticed the temp was dropping. The 67°C mash turned into a 73°C mash by just stirring the liquid at the bottom up through the grain bed in the bag.
 
Don't know if this is highjacking the thread, but it's relevant to BIAB stepped mashes:

I recently did a Golden Ale with 20% rye BIAB in my electric urn with a ss colander protecting the bag from the element during the raise to mash-out, as I have done with all my previous all grain beers.

Was aiming for a simple 90 min mash at 66* with 78* mashout. Beersmith suggested 68* before the grain went in, which is what I usually do. I had just got a new Thermapen so I paid more attention to the temp than I usually do, and a few mins after adding the grain noticed temp had dropped to 63-64. So I flicked the element on for a few mins to raise it a couple of degrees - I think I stirred it pretty well during this time. The rest of the mash held temp pretty well and I ramped out as usual.

Anyway after I had finished the boil and cubed the wort I noticed a 1mm thick hard black coating on the element, which I have never had before. At first I thought it might have been mineral deposits but tasted the gravity sample the next day and it had a burnt / smokey flavour. Dumped the batch. I had to soak the element in vinegar to soften before I could chip it off.

Anyway, I'm about ready to start experimenting with stepped mashes, but I'm a little cautious about this happening again. I imagine it had to do with either the Rye in the grain bill, or applying direct heat too soon in the mash and messing with the proteins or something. Does anyone have any rules on things to avoid with stepped mashes in an electric urn? I've read a lot of comments on protecting the bag, but not much about this issue.

I'd appreciate any insights.

Dave
 

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