Am picking up my AG equipment tomorrow and a NB Kolsch kit will be my first AG batch. Grain bill is 9 lbs German Pils and 1 lb Weyermann Pale Wheat. I'm using a 10g Rubbermaid cooler to mash.
The NB instructions say the "traditional multi-step" mash schedule (temp/mins) is protein rest (122/20), beta sacch rest (149/30), alpha sacch rest (158/30), and mashout (170/10). The single infusion alternative is sacch rest (151/60) and mashout (170/10).
My first thought was to do the multi-step mash with boiling water additions. The calculator I used said even if I started my mash at a very thick 1qt/lb, by the time I mashout I would be 25 quarts (2.5q/lb). That seems pretty thin and I would be concerned that once I sparge, I would have to boil for the rest of my life to get it down to 5 gallons and change. Although I guess I could expect to have about 1.5 to 2 gallons absorbed. Still, if I sparge at 0.5 gallons per pound, that's 5 gallons of sparge water plus around six gallons in the mash is 11 less two absorbed is still at least 9 which is a bit much to get down to my target boil volume.
The single-infusion mash seems like a good alternative, especially since during my first AG it will probably feel like things are happening at the speed of light. But I am concerned that my beer quality will be compromised if I don't do the proper rests.
Decoction mashing seems like the best way to keep a reasonable volume to boil while hitting all the proper rests.
Advice?
The NB instructions say the "traditional multi-step" mash schedule (temp/mins) is protein rest (122/20), beta sacch rest (149/30), alpha sacch rest (158/30), and mashout (170/10). The single infusion alternative is sacch rest (151/60) and mashout (170/10).
My first thought was to do the multi-step mash with boiling water additions. The calculator I used said even if I started my mash at a very thick 1qt/lb, by the time I mashout I would be 25 quarts (2.5q/lb). That seems pretty thin and I would be concerned that once I sparge, I would have to boil for the rest of my life to get it down to 5 gallons and change. Although I guess I could expect to have about 1.5 to 2 gallons absorbed. Still, if I sparge at 0.5 gallons per pound, that's 5 gallons of sparge water plus around six gallons in the mash is 11 less two absorbed is still at least 9 which is a bit much to get down to my target boil volume.
The single-infusion mash seems like a good alternative, especially since during my first AG it will probably feel like things are happening at the speed of light. But I am concerned that my beer quality will be compromised if I don't do the proper rests.
Decoction mashing seems like the best way to keep a reasonable volume to boil while hitting all the proper rests.
Advice?