Step Mash Procedure For Esky Tun

[mje1980]

Anyone here step mash in an esky??. Is it hard to do??, and is it worth doing??. Any advice on your procedure would be much appreciated.

 

[johnno]

Hi mje1980,
I have not done it yet but aparently is fairly easy to do.
After calculating the strike temp and mashing in, the other steps are done with boiling water I beleive.

If you have Promash or Beersmith they can work out the amount of water you need to use.

There are some tools on this site as well that work it out for you if you dont have any software.

http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml


I'm sure someone with a lot more experience will post on this.

*hopefully*


cheers
johnno

 

[dicko]

Anyone here step mash in an esky??. Is it hard to do??, and is it worth doing??. Any advice on your procedure would be much appreciated.

[post="123282"][/post]​

Hi mje 1980

I have done it by infusion.
First up, forget the acid rest, you should not need it.
I went 50 deg stiff mash, 65 deg 3l per kg, then mash out with 99 deg water to achieve a temp of 76 deg.
Imo it was not worth it.
Some guys do 50 deg then 60 deg then 70 deg. Time is important as well.
I have a Herms which makes this all a bit easier but i don't use that much any more either.
BTW hows the MO brew going?

Cheers

 

[barfridge]

Don't forget about decoction mashing. I've done both step and decoction mashes, and both have worked well in my esky. They're both quite easy, but I got a better result from the decoction.

 

[mje1980]

Dicko, the MO lager is waiting for my danish lager yeast, which is firing up right now. I'm gunna do a pils, then do a back to back brew, puting the MO lager on top of about a third of the yeast from the pils. Will keep updated on the MO lager. I'll just stick with infusions i guess.

 

[RobW]

I've been doing infusion step mashes to try & increase efficiency with Powells malts. 1-1.5 litres/kg protein rest at 40-45 followed by 2.5 litres/kg sacch at 65, all calculated in Promash. Both steps take about 8-9l each. No problem hitting the target temps & it does seem to improve efficiency.

 

[Pumpy]

An Immersion heater is handy if you are doing step mashes

Pumpy

 

[jimmy01]

Hi mje1980

I'm a fairly recent convert to all grain, but have done a step mash in an esky with good results. I've done this for a Belgian Wit and got good results. Also tried a Pils with a fair result. Can't say that I've noticed a difference in efficiency.

I used Beersmith to calcuate the water temp & vol required. Hit target temps pretty closely.

I agree with Pumpy that an immersion heater would be a good investment. HAve one my wish list.

Regards

 

[ausdb]

I agree with Pumpy that an immersion heater would be a good investment. HAve one my wish list.

One problem with an immersion heater is the time it takes to heat the whole mash, infusions and decoctions give a fairly instantaneous temp rise and as people have said with the right software to take the brainwork out of doing the calcs are pretty painless.

I have done a few steam injected step mashes which were similar to waving an immersion heater around, whilst they were successful I have found the time they took was not worth the small increases in efficiency.

I have gone back to of chucking a few pots of boiling water in or doing a decoction and find it works great.