someone help me understand the step mash system

so i've been reading in "the joy of homebrewing" and some other books about mashing in stages. Raising the temps in stages to extract certain things from the grains. Do many of you do this ? How do you go about it? can someone give me an example of how their mash procedure looks using this method ? How has doing this changed your beer ?

thanks
~joe

I use a step mash most of the time.

Some folks squirt in some product to keep the mask at a pH of 5.2. I mash in at 95-100°F the night before brew day, an acid rest. Phytase, the enzyme active during the acid rest doesn't work very hard, but it is a great excuse to crack a homebrew.

Anytime I use oats I will do a short protein rest at 122°F for about 20 minutes.

These are both steps in a step mash. For poorly malted or unevenly malted grain you can do separate protein rests at different temps to maximize the effect of the two major protein breaking enzymes. I only did that once and it wasn't worth it.

I have never done a glucan rest, forget the temp. Much easier to chuck in some rice hulls. Glucans are gummy things that can stick together when you are trying to sparge.

If you are going to do a rest, there needs to be a reason. I keep doing acid rests because my brewhouse efficiency is better when I do one, and I am too cheap to buy 5.2 wonder chemical. If I am not using oats, I don't bother with a protein rest.

Starting to make sense?

With modern all barley grain bills you can go straight to the carbohydrate or saccarification rest, though something to keep your mash acidified (either an acid rest or the wonder chemical) may improve your efficiency.

P

I don't do any rests as I have very little temperature control. I use an esky to mash in and if I get close to 68C (whatever that is in F) I'm happy. If you do not have the capacity or ability to do rests, don't bother. If you can control your temps, do so and see the difference. Many modern malts do not require rests, just mash at the optimum and go for it. People who say they do rests have equipment that gives them accuracy .. be careful of people saying you must do something .. many beers are ruined cos you try to do something that you couldn't do right with the equipment you got when the reality is .. it wasn't necessary.

becksbolero2 said:

? How do you go about it? can someone give me an example of how their mash procedure looks using this method ?
thanks
~joe

Click to expand...

I wondered how to go about it as well with infusion step mashing. Is it difficult to control the temps when adding hotter water? Would you just add a small amount of boiling water to raise the temps, or is it best to calculate your water temps for the next step using the current temp of the prior rest?

becksbolero2, keep reading. Here are mash enzymes/rests in a nutshell, but don't take all the info there as ultimate truth (like acid rests "no longer used", that's an overstatement). And keep in mind these temperature ranges are "optimal" for specific enzymes. You'll still have specific enzyme activity above and below these optimal temperatures.

For any of the protein-related enzymes, these rests are malt-specific. For the majority of modern malts, you don't "need" any rests other than saccharification rests. But, depending on the amount of soluble and insoluble protein in the malt, a protein rest could be helpful, particularly if it is kept short or above the upper end of it's optimal temperature range. 6-row malt typically has a significant proportion of insoluble protein in it, so a short protein rest could be helpful... and be careful, sometimes a base malt could be 6-row without you realizing it, like in the case of Briess Munich malt.

A protein rest could also be detrimental, like in the case of Marris Otter or other UK Pale 2-row malts.

A better read would be New Brewing Lager Beer by Greg Noonan.

Schnitzengiggle said:

I wondered how to go about it as well with infusion step mashing. Is it difficult to control the temps when adding hotter water? Would you just add a small amount of boiling water to raise the temps, or is it best to calculate your water temps for the next step using the current temp of the prior rest?

Click to expand...

promash has a step calculator, so you can tell it that you're adding boiling water (212F) or just really hot water to the current mash temp & volume, and it'll tell you you need X quarts of boiling water to raise it Y degrees.

I've never done more than a single step mash. I think most people go with single infusions, but will dabble with steps, decoctions, etc.