RIMS Brewing Step Mashing??

I just built a portable RIMS unit that I have used for the last couple brews.. I believe that I have work out the process for it's usage and I have a couple questions on best methods...

I have run a couple test to determine the efficiency of my mash tun / rims system and I have been researching stepping up the mash temps instead of batch sparging (with little to no results).

IE, what I am looking for:

I would like to add the total amount of water needed to get my pre-boil volume as one introduction to my grain and then program my rims controller to step-up the temperatures until full conversion is met.

Thus, adding preheated water / grain to the mash tun setting temperature step that I want.. say for example 150 F @ 60 then 170 @ 15 then stop.

From my first couple tests I determined can ramp 1 degree F per minute and I can program the RIMS to step, hold X amount or seconds, step, hold .. etc.

Would there be any foreseeable problem with mashing of this nature?

You might want to check out the thread entitled "I love no-sparge brewing".

I also built a portable RIMs system. I used this on Friday to do a no sparge blonde. It worked great! My PID doesnt have the control to step by itself, but I did a ramp up fr mashout and it worked amazingly.

BrewSpook said:

I also built a portable RIMs system. I used this on Friday to do a no sparge blonde. It worked great! My PID doesnt have the control to step by itself, but I did a ramp up fr mashout and it worked amazingly.

Click to expand...

My controller doesn't have the setting to ramp, I have a script I wrote that controls my PID controller via a serial port on my PC.

Do you mind telling me what the temperature steps that you used and how your efficiency turned out?

I put 7g of water in at 130F and used the RIMs to jump up to 72C (161.6F - my PID only reads C). Then I doughed 8lbs of grain and set the PID for 67C (152.6F).

It ran smooth for an hour, I pulled a small sample from the sparge arm to check conversion. It was crystal clear and converted. So I jumped it up to 76C and ran it for 20 minutes and pumped to kettle. Went perfectly, probably could have mashed less, but I was doing other things around the house. I love not having to sit there an monitor the mash... I even ran to the store and walked the dog during the mash.