Step Mashing

[The Baron]

Hi Pennine I too do a 10 min 75c mash out and also do overnight mashes most times now but I was doing that before step mashing anyway so the results are a improvement on before on the first 3 brews, I will monitor it over more brews to see if it gives consistently higher Eff which from the science (sound like Boris)says it will

 

[Pennine]

That's interesting on your overnight mashes what temp did you mash at? And did you keep the heat on all night?

 

[strange-steve]

MJ47 Abbey Ale yeast on the first and MJ44 West Coast yeast on the second.

Huh, surprised the attenuation isn't a bit higher actually

 

[The Baron]

That's interesting on your overnight mashes what temp did you mash at? And did you keep the heat on all night?

I mash at 62c for 30 mins then 68c for 30 mins
10 min mash out at 75c then raise the temp to 85c and turn off the power then insulate well with towels old coats infact anything I can lay my hands on and boil in the morning not letting the mash temp drop below 50c to stop any Lactobacillus starting

 

[Drunkula]

Yes I am getting more sugar conversion from the same grain

Good stuff. There was a new viewer the other day who understandably thought along the lines that if you had a 1.050 wort and one brewed out to 1.014 -> 4.8% and another to 1.008 -> 5.3% then that was higher efficiency.

 

[Pennine]

I mash at 62c for 30 mins then 68c for 30 mins
10 min mash out at 75c then raise the temp to 85c and turn off the power then insulate well with towels old coats infact anything I can lay my hands on and boil in the morning not letting the mash temp drop below 50c to stop any Lactobacillus starting

Got it, that should get you really good efficiency. If your beers taste too thin keep increasing that lower temp.

 

[The Baron]

No beers are ok maybe because I am using a lot more munich and vienna and are nice and malty

 

[Buffers brewery]

Huh, surprised the attenuation isn't a bit higher actually

“Will do better if try harder!” My school reports.

 

[Buffers brewery]

Huh, surprised the attenuation isn't a bit higher actually

Festering on your comment . Will the attenuation be dependant on the amount of fermentable sugars? Which there’s no way of knowing....without a chemistry lab in the garden shed?

 

[strange-steve]

Festering on your comment . Will the attenuation be dependant on the amount of fermentable sugars? Which there’s no way of knowing....without a chemistry lab in the garden shed?

It's dependent on the amount of fermentable sugars and the yeast strain, as some strains can ferment more than others. And while we can't quanitise the fermentability of the wort we can manipulate it through mash temperature. I'm surprised you don't have a lab in your brew shed anyway

 

[Buffers brewery]

It's dependent on the amount of fermentable sugars and the yeast strain, as some strains can ferment more than others. And while we can't quanitise the fermentability of the wort we can manipulate it through mash temperature. I'm surprised you don't have a lab in your brew shed anyway

Ha! It's a choice between brewery lab and model railway.

 

[WonkyDonkey]

To those of you that do a step mash, do you still get the same 'body' in your beer as if you mashed higher in the 67-68c range but the beer attenuates more?
I'm hoping to do a few higher gravity brews in the upcoming batches and was contemplating a step of 30min @ 63c followed by 45min @ 68c. I don't want the beers to finish too high / sweet hence looking at step mashing.
Does that sound like a sensible temp / time split? Open to suggestions.

 

[Zephyr259]

To those of you that do a step mash, do you still get the same 'body' in your beer as if you mashed higher in the 67-68c range but the beer attenuates more?
I'm hoping to do a few higher gravity brews in the upcoming batches and was contemplating a step of 30min @ 63c followed by 45min @ 68c. I don't want the beers to finish too high / sweet hence looking at step mashing.
Does that sound like a sensible temp / time split? Open to suggestions.

I did a bock a while back and did 30 min at 63c and 30 min at 72c and 10 min at 75c, when I played about in the software it attenuated the same as if I'd done a single rest at 67.5c. Lower temperature mashes convert slower, so you could try swapping it to 45 min at 63c and 30 min at 68c or increase the 2nd rest to 70c for a better alpha rest.

 

[foxy]

I do 60 minutes at 63 for the beta amylase, 30 minutes at 68 for the alpha amylase followed by mash out at 76.

 

[WonkyDonkey]

Thanks So it sounds like I should swap my timings around, longer at the lower temp. I always do a mash out around 77 anyway

 

[ches501]

Really useful information on this thread. I’ve a yeast starter on the go ahead of brew day tomorrow. When people are step mashing, what equipment set up are you working with? Can step mashing only be done with an all in one system or a HERMS, or can it be done with 3 vessel system? I’ve got a thermopot mash tun, and thinking I could raise temps by adding more hot water. Or is there another way? Can I remove wort from the mash and heat this before returning to the mash?
Thanks

 

[Hanglow]

You can just do hot water additions, assuming your mash tun is large enough, which is what I do

eg

You can use boiling additions too


edit: on the higher gravity beers, I would spend an hour or so in the beta amylase range to get some better attenuation. a 30 minute rest there probably won't be enough, although it obviously depends on the malt you are using, as you mash the malt not the beer.

 

[ches501]

You can just do hot water additions, assuming your mash tun is large enough, which is what I do

eg

You can use boiling additions too

Thanks Hanglow. Mash size shouldn’t be a problem. Out of interest, what total batch size would your screen shot be based on?

 

[Hanglow]

That one is based on a mild with a 25l pre boil volume. You can't quite see the mashout which is 5L.

I haven't brewed that beer yet, and am still playing around with the volumes to add, so don't use it as is! but the temperatures are a decent start

58c to dough in at the top of protein rest (helps a bit with foam formation and retention, not hot enough to denature beta amylase quickly, below geletanization temperature so helps with no dough balls etc)
62c low beta rest, helps maximise attenuation
64-65c beta rest at geletanization temperature
72-73c alpha rest and for foam formation and retention
76-78c mash out


Although I usually just do a two step 64c and 72c mash for simplicity