cara-pils vs flaked oats...when to use what?

EvilGnome6 said:

Excellent. I've been getting great attenuation and wonderful flavors from the yeast but I'm just missing a little "something" from the malt to round out my ales. If this does the trick I'll be joining you in your campaign in a few weeks.

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Well, I gave it a shot on Sunday. Mashed in at 122F, let it rest for 20 minutes and then ramped it up to 152 for 60 minutes.

Efficiency was off the charts. Seriously. It worked out to 114% into the kettle using Kaiser's calculator. And this is with batch sparging in two rounds.

The other noticeable difference was the amount of hot break. I started boiling my first runnings while doing the first sparge. I almost had a boil over with 2.5 gallons in a 10 gallon pot. When I added the sparges (2 gallons each) it almost boiled over each time. Craziness.

Fermentation is looking good with two inches of foamy krausen on top.

It'll take a while before I see the final results but I'm going keep the protein rest as part of my process on the batches I'm doing in the meantime, just to give me more samples.

Very interesting thread here.

I rarely use cara-pils, however would like to get better head retention. I also have only done single sacc. temp rests with a raise to mashout (168-170). I have a direct fired recirculating mash tun set up, so step mashes wouldnt be a problem. I really havent employed any step mashes, though, as I don't really have a lot of knowledge on the when to, when to not, recommended temp rests/schedules, etc.

To you guys that ARE doing and preferring step mashes - are you always doing them? Or is it only on certain styles/ingredients, etc? I understand that a protein rest would be beneficial when there is a high percentage of adjunct or cereal grain, but would you follow this same mash schedule for say, a simple APA/IPA that was mostly base malt and a little crystal? What if the base malt was a British 2-row or Marris Otter?

I am interested in getting the most out of my brews by successfully pursuing step mashing techniques.

sleepystevenson said:

To you guys that ARE doing and preferring step mashes - are you always doing them? Or is it only on certain styles/ingredients, etc? I understand that a protein rest would be beneficial when there is a high percentage of adjunct or cereal grain, but would you follow this same mash schedule for say, a simple APA/IPA that was mostly base malt and a little crystal? What if the base malt was a British 2-row or Marris Otter?

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If you've got a very well-modified pale malt as the major constituent - like you've described above - you don't really need a protein rest. If you're suffering from foam collapse, investigate your serving materials and process.

If, after investigation, you can't determine what's causing it, a short (10-20 minutes) rest at 122F or may have a positive effect.

Cheers,

Bob

Thanks for the reply, Bob. I always enjoy your informative, experienced comments.

I think I may give it a try next time. If nothing else, I will at least gain some experience in the step mashing process.

FWIW, sleepy I almost never do them with UK Pale malts since they are sort of low on protein to begin with. But I often do them with continental Pils malt. If I ever used domestic malts I'd likely use it there too (at times) but I almost never use domestic base malt.

I designed a brown ale, based suggestions from "Designing Great Beers". Then I threw in a 1/2 lb of flaked barley, since it was just sitting in the fridge. There is head on this beer that just won't quit.