Lagers And Step Mashing

[manticle]

When I opened the thread I had hoped Zwickel would pop his head in. Don't worry - listening to the nice German man who does this thing every week or so is on the aganda.

 

[Zwickel]

Thanks TB and Manticle for the honour :icon_cheers:

have actually a fresh brewed Pilsener in the fridge (one day):




Cheers :icon_chickcheers:

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

Thanks TB and Manticle for the honour :icon_cheers:

have actually a fresh brewed Pilsener in the fridge (one day):

View attachment 39802


Cheers :icon_chickcheers:

Zwickel it looks like you've got a pavlova floating around in your fermentor. Mate all you need is some strawberry's and passionfruit! awesome! :icon_cheers:

back on topic. Tops advice. You have got me curious as to what sort of difference a step mash will make. For shits and giggles i'm going to put a Lager down using the same ingredients as a recent lager that I have made and compare side by side.

Cheers

MOM

 

[manticle]

Updated schedule incorporating Zwickel's advice:

Mash in to 55 degrees (will need to calculate strike temp) at 2:1 liquor to grain ratio - 20 mins
Remove 1/3 mash and place in pot. Bring to mash temp, hold 20 minutes, bring to boil, boil 10 mins (stirring constantly)
Bring main mash with more strike water (again need to calc temp) to 63/64 -hold 30/40 mins
Add decoction back in until 72 is reached - leave 30-40 minutes.
Add mashout water and any remaining grain to hit 78-80
Drain and proceed as usual.
90 minute boil (not 105 you silly dill) with first hop additions at 60.

Recipe

Germanish lager
Type: All grain
Size: 22 liters
Color: 8 HCU (~6 SRM)
Bitterness: 37 IBU
OG: 1.052
FG: 1.010
Alcohol: 5.5% v/v (4.3% w/w)
Grain: 3kg Wey Pilsner
1kg Wey Vienna
1kg Wey Munich
250g Ding biscuit
Mash: 70% efficiency
Boil: 90 minutes SG 1.036 32 liters
Hops: 50g Tettnanger (4.5% AA, 60 min.)
20g Tettnanger (4.5% AA, 20 min.)

4000 mL Wy 2633

Pitch the yeast cool (no hotter than 12) Ferment should be around 10 I think.

Any issues with no chilling this kind of brew? (can't imagine there would be but worth asking)

 

[Zwickel]

.... You have got me curious as to what sort of difference a step mash will make. For shits and giggles i'm going to put a Lager down using the same ingredients as a recent lager that I have made and compare side by side.

Cheers

MOM

Hi MoM, I did already the comparison:

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/blog...hp?showentry=15



Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

Hi MoM, I did already the comparison:

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/blog...hp?showentry=15



Cheers :icon_cheers:

Well there you go. Thanks for the info Zwickle. :beer:

 

[MeLoveBeer]

Can't wait to get the herms up and running so I can increase the complexity of my mashing schedule... It just seems far too hard with my existing setup

Sounds like you've got a very interesting brew day coming up manticle; would be very interested to hear what impact the additional steps have on the finished product.

 

[drsmurto]

Can't wait to get the herms up and running so I can increase the complexity of my mashing schedule... It just seems far too hard with my existing setup

Sounds like you've got a very interesting brew day coming up manticle; would be very interested to hear what impact the additional steps have on the finished product.

I've used the same/similar schedule as Zwickel mentions (52/63/70/78) for pilsners/kolschs. I dont have a herms system or even a march pump.

Multiple infusions are possible if you dough in thick and use boiling water to bring the temps up.

Either that or do decoctions which i still do sometimes as they are fun and i like the result despite the fact they aren't necessary.

 

[RobW]

I've used the same/similar schedule as Zwickel mentions (52/63/70/78) for pilsners/kolschs. I dont have a herms system or even a march pump.

Multiple infusions are possible if you dough in thick and use boiling water to bring the temps up.

Either that or do decoctions which i still do sometimes as they are fun and i like the result despite the fact they aren't necessary.

+1
Infusion step mashes aren't difficult.
I've used Zwickel's schedule and it makes a lovely pils

 

[manticle]

I'll be doing it with an esky mash tun and a pot on the stove. I have an element if need be but I've decocted/step mashed before without.

 

[therook]

+1
Infusion step mashes aren't difficult.
I've used Zwickel's schedule and it makes a lovely pils

Possibly the best pils i have ever had also Rob, i will be giving this a go next time i do one

Rook

 

[MeLoveBeer]

I've used the same/similar schedule as Zwickel mentions (52/63/70/78) for pilsners/kolschs. I dont have a herms system or even a march pump.

Multiple infusions are possible if you dough in thick and use boiling water to bring the temps up.

Sounds like a plan... do you think I'd be able to do it without decoctions in a 38L mash tun? Now that I've got a temp controlled fridge sorted I'm planning to bang out quite a few pilsners in the next couple of months (before the warmer weather comes)

 

[manticle]

The step mashing I mentioned having done before involved a single decoction (as does this one) but was a 3 step mash. The main thing you need to calculate correctly is your water volumes and individual strike temps. Just requires a little bit extra organisation - once you've done it once, it's a bit less daunting. Do you normally mash out? Same principle as that (in terms of heating tun by adding volumes of hotter water) so if you can do that once, you can do that 3 times.

 

[MeLoveBeer]

Yeh, I normally mash out and fly sparge. I'm just worried that I'm going to run out of space in the tun, but maybe I'll just prepare as if I might need to do a decoction (just in case).

Surely it can't take that much boiling water to raise the mash temp by 10 degrees?

 

[manticle]

Decoction part is also only daunting until you've actually done it once. Never done a triple decoction but a single, combined with the other steps is OK (or without - done a couple just for mashout while the remainder is mashing).

Another option is handheld element if you have one or can borrow one.

 

[MeLoveBeer]

Am fine with the concept of decoctions (had to learn on my feet one day trying to hit mash out on a 50L brew one day). Reckon I'll just crunch the numbers and see what volume the tun will have to hold. Worst case scenario, I can borrow a bigger tun from one of the melbourne brewers, but I'd rather use my own kit if possible.

 

[manticle]

What size batches are you making? I use a 26 Litre esky so if you're single batching in a 38 L you should be OK I reckon. Basically you'll be aiming for less with the protein rest so your mash volume should be similar anyway.

 

[MeLoveBeer]

What size batches are you making? I use a 26 Litre esky so if you're single batching in a 38 L you should be OK I reckon. Basically you'll be aiming for less with the protein rest so your mash volume should be similar anyway.

Normally just 23 Litre batches, so I think it should fit with a thick initial mash in. This is all pretty new to me, but looking forward to experimenting with the mash and comparing with some single infusion baseline brews.

 

[manticle]

Just finished cubing - 20 minute addition knocked forward to 10 to compensate for extra bittering (already high IBU for style).

Long but relaxing day - used my HLT and immersion heater for the first time. Yeast smack pack was very fresh (July) so swelled within a few hours and I put it together with some malt to grow it up last night - had visible krausen this morning so I might be able to pitch in the next couple of days. I'll feed the yeast with another couple of litres (this time actual wort) and pitch when krausen starts again at about 10 degrees.

Great fun this - two years ago I thought using brigalow finishing hop tablets made a big difference to my coopers kits.

 

[argon]

Just finished cubing - 20 minute addition knocked forward to 10 to compensate for extra bittering (already high IBU for style).

Long but relaxing day - used my HLT and immersion heater for the first time. Yeast smack pack was very fresh (July) so swelled within a few hours and I put it together with some malt to grow it up last night - had visible krausen this morning so I might be able to pitch in the next couple of days. I'll feed the yeast with another couple of litres (this time actual wort) and pitch when krausen starts again at about 10 degrees.

Great fun this - two years ago I thought using brigalow finishing hop tablets made a big difference to my coopers kits.

Hey Manticle how did this all end up?... some brilliant info in this thread by the way.

Got a pound of Czech Saaz ready for a 57L batch of Bo Pils and i'm going to try a single infusion, double decoction as per Zwickel's profile. Taking a day off for this one. I think i'll need the time.

First Decoction, first Bo pils, first SMASH using Weyermann Pilsner (Bohemium - Floor Malted) and Czech Saaz

Mash in Protein Rest 52C for 20min
Infuse to -amylase Rest 63C for 30min
Decoct to a-amylase Rest 72C for 30min
Decoct to mashout 78C for 10min

Boil for 90min
Wyeast Urquell 2001