chiller
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Well I should be working [filing paper work] so I figured I needed a break before i started such an interesting task.
For quite a significant time now I have step mashed all of my beers and the following are my observations.
It is not a difficult procedure but will require a bit of pre planning -- more so than a single step mash.
My mash regime is reasonably standardised along the following lines
Double crush the grain at the same mill setting. Add 1/8 teaspoon dry to the grain and mix through [or add directly to the water for the first step]
38 - 40c Dough in at a very thick mix. so thick in fact that I have to mix the grain/water mix by hand. This rest is held for 30 minutes. While it is near the temperature range of an acid rest it really isn'y long enough to give the full bensfits of acid production. Some acid advantage will be gained though even at a short thick rest of 30 minutes.
The main advantage of this rest is the complete wetting of the crushed grain. After the 30 minutes it is well saturated and ready to accept the next water additions.
Water is brought to the boil to coincide with the end of each step and added a litre at a time to mix through the grain and raise the temperature. Note -- boiling water DON'T mix with your hands
With 5 kgs of grain raising a thick mash from 40 to 50 will require between 2 and 3 litres of boiling water. The water must remain boiling in the water vessel to minimise heat loss.
50 c This is the Protien rest and must not be any longer than 15 - 20 minutes with modern grains. Some protien breakdown will occur during this time benefitial to head retention in the final beer. Glass lacing is also improved.
I step the mash up to 62c for between 20 - 45 minutes depending on the beer I'm making. Again at this stage boiling water additions will easily reach this target temperature.
My next preferred step is 69 - 70c and I do this in my direct heated mashtun.
By preheating the water [about 3 litres] in the direct fired tun to just below boiling I can transfer the grain carefully from the 10 gallon rubbermaid and thenext step is reached very easily. Only a short extra amount of heating is required to hit the exact temperature.
This rest can be from 10 to 35 minutes depending on how you want the beer at the final stage.
George Fix recommended a 72c rest for 10 minutes to take advantage of certain enzymes that further enhance head characteristics. I have done this rest many times and while I can't notice a massive change it is not hard to do -- so I do it.
The final step is to raise the mash to 76c for a 10 minute mash out. Again I do this by direct heat.
I then Batch sparge.
As I said at the begining of this, these are my observations over perhaps 50 beers.
In Adelaide we have two private all grain groups that met on a regular basis and while I brew using this method and most of the others use single temperature mash a blind tasting may not necassarily pick one beer as better or worse than another. I brew in this manner because I enjoy the process and because my equipment allows me to achieve this type of mash schedule without any hassle.
I believe the beer has a complexity of taste i didn't achieve before. I also get a higher extraction efficiency which I feel is due to the dough in at 40c for 30 minutes.
The brewday is longer but -- invite a brew friend around and share the day.
Which ever method you mash with modern grain will give you excellent beer.
Some in our two groups ask me why
Why not -- I'm a homebrewer and I'm able to
Steve.
For quite a significant time now I have step mashed all of my beers and the following are my observations.
It is not a difficult procedure but will require a bit of pre planning -- more so than a single step mash.
My mash regime is reasonably standardised along the following lines
Double crush the grain at the same mill setting. Add 1/8 teaspoon dry to the grain and mix through [or add directly to the water for the first step]
38 - 40c Dough in at a very thick mix. so thick in fact that I have to mix the grain/water mix by hand. This rest is held for 30 minutes. While it is near the temperature range of an acid rest it really isn'y long enough to give the full bensfits of acid production. Some acid advantage will be gained though even at a short thick rest of 30 minutes.
The main advantage of this rest is the complete wetting of the crushed grain. After the 30 minutes it is well saturated and ready to accept the next water additions.
Water is brought to the boil to coincide with the end of each step and added a litre at a time to mix through the grain and raise the temperature. Note -- boiling water DON'T mix with your hands
With 5 kgs of grain raising a thick mash from 40 to 50 will require between 2 and 3 litres of boiling water. The water must remain boiling in the water vessel to minimise heat loss.
50 c This is the Protien rest and must not be any longer than 15 - 20 minutes with modern grains. Some protien breakdown will occur during this time benefitial to head retention in the final beer. Glass lacing is also improved.
I step the mash up to 62c for between 20 - 45 minutes depending on the beer I'm making. Again at this stage boiling water additions will easily reach this target temperature.
My next preferred step is 69 - 70c and I do this in my direct heated mashtun.
By preheating the water [about 3 litres] in the direct fired tun to just below boiling I can transfer the grain carefully from the 10 gallon rubbermaid and thenext step is reached very easily. Only a short extra amount of heating is required to hit the exact temperature.
This rest can be from 10 to 35 minutes depending on how you want the beer at the final stage.
George Fix recommended a 72c rest for 10 minutes to take advantage of certain enzymes that further enhance head characteristics. I have done this rest many times and while I can't notice a massive change it is not hard to do -- so I do it.
The final step is to raise the mash to 76c for a 10 minute mash out. Again I do this by direct heat.
I then Batch sparge.
As I said at the begining of this, these are my observations over perhaps 50 beers.
In Adelaide we have two private all grain groups that met on a regular basis and while I brew using this method and most of the others use single temperature mash a blind tasting may not necassarily pick one beer as better or worse than another. I brew in this manner because I enjoy the process and because my equipment allows me to achieve this type of mash schedule without any hassle.
I believe the beer has a complexity of taste i didn't achieve before. I also get a higher extraction efficiency which I feel is due to the dough in at 40c for 30 minutes.
The brewday is longer but -- invite a brew friend around and share the day.
Which ever method you mash with modern grain will give you excellent beer.
Some in our two groups ask me why
Why not -- I'm a homebrewer and I'm able to
Steve.
