The Oatmeal stout (Breakfast of Champions) recipe I would like to try from Brew magazine March-April 2007 calls for step mash, but I have never done one before. This will only be my 4th AG brew and would rather not add more variables. Will there be a huge difference just doughing in to get the temp to 154? This would skip the 122 degree step for 30 minutes. I fly sparge so I can hope to bring temp to 170 while sparging to stop the protein conversion. Although I have read a lot, I still feel clueless.