the_bird said:
but I'm 99.9999999% sure it was an email from one of our own that was read;
Yes, I had to comment on the extract vs. AG brewing in Germany. The show was never meant to happen anyway and I think that James made one because he had this great assesment of homebrewing culture from Sanders from Australia.
But it is also interesting to see how the different brewing histories influence the techniques used in home brewing as well. I could easily see somewone on a German board asking, "can I mash with a single temp infusion".
As others already pointed out, choose a mash schedule that suits the style and grain you are using. If you are brewing english or american beers with english or domestic 2-row single, a single infusion mash is the way to go. That's what most of the micros are doing and that is what defines some of the flavor for these beers.
If you use European lager malts (or domestic lager malt that is less modified, though there are some highly modified lager malts as well. Durst TurboPils is one of them as far as I know) you may want to look into using a protein rest in your mash. I have tried to use Weyermann Pilsner in a single infusion mash and the beer never cleared up like it used to when it was brewed with Briess 2-row.
Currently, with the Weyermann malts I'm using, I like to dough in around 53*C, hold that for 20min and infuse to 66*C with boiling water. The thinner mash and controlled infusions makes it much easier for me to hit my temp for the saccrification rest.
Many brewers adoped the higher protein rest temp that Papazian suggests. At 133F (55C) you get more activity from enzymes that prouce medium chained proteins which are good for head retention and mouthfeel and less activity from enzymes that convert these enzymes into shorter chains/amino acids. This is important for many modern malts since you can easily deplete the pool of medium chained proteins by resting at a lower protein rest temp.
Kai
