step mash schedule for med/high body beers

[galactaphonic]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on step-mash schedules for medium or high body beers?

Most step mashes seem to be concerned with getting a highly fermentable wort (e.g. a lager). My system is a bit of a weird RIMS-like setup and there's a few different temperature points throughout the system (with up to 5 degrees difference between them.) As a way around this, I've been doing hochkurz type mashes - which has been working very well for highly fermentable worts - however I'm not sure how to adapt this for beers where you want some more body e.g. bitters, stouts etc.

Look forward to hearing peoples responses.

 

[scomet]

John Palmers (JPs) book How to Brew is a good start on mashing techniques

http://howtobrew.com/book/section-3/the-methods-of-mashing/multi-rest-mashing

Basically the higher the mash temps go the more un-fermentable sugars are extracted and the more body your beer achieves, with a corresponding higher Fg.

You mention bitters, they should be mashed at lower temps to end up with a 'thinner' beer you can also add some invert sugar in small quantities with out affecting the taste. Pale Ales are made as a full grain beer and end up with a thicker body

Cheers