Hopville.com mash instructions

Brewing a 10 gal AG batch of Pale Ale on Sat. Been doing everything on paper and just discovered Hopville's online recipe calculator. I'm a bit confused by the mash instructions and I don't have time to do a bunch of reading on this. Basically I've been doing hour long mashes at about 151° and double batch sparges between 170-175°. Here's what Hopville says: 1) Protein Rest - infusion of 8.25 gal at 141° to reach 133° for 20 min. 2) Conversion/Saccharification Rest - infusion of 3.54 gal at boil to reach 154° for 60 min. 3) Mash-out - infusion of 3.9 gal at boil to reach 167° for 15 min.

Can somebody explain how this compares to what I've been doing along with pros and cons.

Also, what does the "at boil" mean in steps 2&3?

Thanks!

So you are doing single step and hopville suggest two step mash, and you want to know difference between two?
There is nice article about this:
http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue2.5/miller.html
(look @bottom part of it)

"At boil" means that you need to add 212F liquid to reach next temperature.

diS said:

So you are doing single step and hopville suggest two step mash, and you want to know difference between two?
There is nice article about this:
http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue2.5/miller.html
(look @bottom part of it)

"At boil" means that you need to add 212F liquid to reach next temperature.

Click to expand...

I'm confused why my 60 min mash & two 10 min sparges is single step and Hopville's is two step.

When you say "add 212F liquid to reach next temperature" do you mean that for the 2nd & 3rd steps I add water that's 212F? That seems awfully high. Am I missing something?

barefoot_trashko said:

I'm confused why my 60 min mash & two 10 min sparges is single step and Hopville's is two step.

When you say "add 212F liquid to reach next temperature" do you mean that for the 2nd & 3rd steps I add water that's 212F? That seems awfully high. Am I missing something?

Click to expand...

Did you read the article on step mashing that diS linked?

Hopville is doing a three step infusion for the MASH, not the sparge. You're getting right up to mash temp on your method and leaving it alone. Hopville is doing a first infusion for protein rest at a lower temp, then adding more boiling water to reach final mash temp, then leaving it, then raising temp again to "mash-out" and denature the enzymes prior to sparging.

You can just do the single step infusion like you normally do, if you want, as long as you're using modified grains like 2-row.

bja said:

Did you read the article on step mashing that diS linked?

Click to expand...

Yes, and still have questions. That guy didn't clearly answer my ?'s. Or at least it wasn't clear to me. That's why I asked again. That is what a forum is for, right?

barefoot_trashko said:

Yes, and still have questions. That guy didn't clearly answer my ?'s. Or at least it wasn't clear to me. That's why I asked again. That is what a forum is for, right?

Click to expand...

Ok, I read it again. I see the differences he's talking about but I'm still unclear on Hopville's 3 "steps." Is the process essentially the same as what I've been doing (1hr mash & 2 10 min sparges)? And am I really putting 212° water in for the 2nd & 3rd "step?"

Did I miss explaining something?

barefoot_trashko said:

Yes, and still have questions. That guy didn't clearly answer my ?'s. Or at least it wasn't clear to me. That's why I asked again. That is what a forum is for, right?

Click to expand...

There is no problem, that is why are we here..

I think you are mixing steps and mashout. During mashout there is no conversion so we can not imply it as step. Main purpose od mashout is to raise temperature of grain bed in order to get it more fluid for easier lautering.
Opposite to that, in mash steps temperatures are such that they activates enzymes needed for starch conversion (alpha and beta amylases..).

In your case, Hopville is suggesting 2-step mash (1st @133°; 2nd @154°)- for conversion, and then mashout @167°- for easier lautering, and as you said, until now you were making 1-step mash (@151°) with mashout.
Differences between 1 and 2-step mashes you could read in above article.. I hope it is now clearer to you.

Regards to the temperature, it is boiling water that is needed to reach next temperature. There is nice calculator where you can put your own numbers to see how it works (Rest Calculator part):
http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

Hope it helps!

The 133 degree rest produces medium chained proteins which are good for head retention and body. The 154 degree rest is for fermentability.

How long should the protein rest be?

I would say in the neighborhood of 20 minutes, then add an infusion to bring it up to your mash temp and continue for 40 minutes. Use software to help you with the infusions and remember, you can always stir-down a high temp...grain doesn't react immediately to temperature. Just pause the clock until you get to desired temp.