Step Mash techniques

I'm doing biab and am starting to wonder what little tricks (if any) that one can do during the mash. I've been thinking about step mashing. That's what it's called?

For example, what happens if I mash at 150 for 40 min, and then raise to 156 and add a small amount of grain for the remaining 20 min? How will those newly added grains affect the current mash, and is this a reasonable way to add some extra mouth feel while keeping the brew more dry than mashing all-in at 156?

Hope this isn't too vague

It would probably give you more body than 150 and less than 156. But, if you're looking to tweak relative effects of alpha and beta amylase, what would this do differently for you than just mashing at 151-155?

MalFet said:

But, if you're looking to tweak relative effects of alpha and beta amylase, what would this do differently for you than just mashing at 151-155?

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I'm not sure what that means. What if I am looking to tweak relative effects of alpha and beta amylase? What does that do?

ThePonchoKid said:

I'm not sure what that means. What if I am looking to tweak relative effects of alpha and beta amylase? What does that do?

Click to expand...

The reason that different mash temperatures produce different degrees of fermentability is that two major enzymes respond to slightly different temperatures. By adding some grain late in the mash and at a higher temperature, you're shifting the relative activity between those two enzymes. But, I suspect you could achieve exactly the same enzyme activity profile just by picking an intermediate temperature.