Step mashing in a cooler

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sleighdoh

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I did my first all grain step mash in
A cooler yesterday all is going well until my second infusion of boiling water. I started out with a 10.5 lb grain bill and 10.5 qts of water. Mash in at 146 to settle at 133. Then went with 5 qts boiling to raise to 155. All good to this point, then 1 qt boiling to raise to 158, but didn't really raise temp at all? Then mash out to 167 with 4 quarts boiling and only raised to 163. Then fly sparge with 3 gallon at 170. Any thoughts? Used tasty brews calculator. Hit my OG right on at 1.054 How bad will this screw up my final product? Thanks in advance
 
You'll be fine, most people don't even do step mashes, just single infusion. It doesn't surprise me that 1qt didn't raise temp as that is no where near enough to raise a temp with that total volume. Did you use software to calculate the steps? What was the grain bill that prompted you to do steps?
 
sleighdoh said:
The recipe was from the joy of home brewing book. It's the akka lakka pale ale. I used a calculator on tasty brew.com to figure the steps.
http://hopville.com/recipe/896867 is a link to the recipe.

For next time, IMHO I really don't see anything in the grain bill that would have warranted a step mash.

As for the one step with a qt of water it's odd that a calculator would have not realized that minimal amount was no where near enough to raise the temp for the volume infused to.
 
Ok. Thanks for the input. All of the all grain recipes in that book call for a step mash. Must be his preference. If I were to do a single infusion, how should I determine the mash temp and time? Using software?
 
Ok. Thanks for the input. All of the all grain recipes in that book call for a step mash. Must be his preference. If I were to do a single infusion, how should I determine the mash temp and time? Using software?

You have to experiment and see what works for you. Lower temps, in the 148-151 range, result in a lower FG, while 155 and up results in more long chain proteins, which promote a fuller mouthfeel. If you haven't, try starting with some single infusion mashes to get the hang of it.
 
Thanks tgmartin000. I will do that. New to brewing and all grain, but really enjoying the experience (when I can find time).
 
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