I'm a red headed Step Mash child. Help!

I'm finally set up to start step mashing and I'm ready to give it a shot. Only problem is I dont understand it all that well yet. I thought Belgian beers were usually stepped mashed so I looked at a bunch of recipes for Belgian Ales and Strong Ales and some were and some werent. Also, the temp range on them were mostly different from eachother. What do I achieve if I just start the mash at 140F and raise it 10F every 30 min and mash out at 170? a total mash time of 90 min. Also, fermenting times seemed to be much different in everyones PRI SEC and Bottle conditioning. Any general rule of thumbs based off of gravity readings that I can use? It seems to me that these recipes that call for: "PRI for 28 day's @ 68F, then SEC for 35 day's @ 62F and bottle for 185 day's at 60F" sounds pretty crazy.

I'm probably just thinking about it to deeply and confusing myself more so if anyone can smack some sense into me I would greatly appreciate it. I'd like to do a nice dark belgian strong ale.

Thanks
Casey

If you start at 140F and raise it to 170F over 90m, you allow for both of the amylase enzymes (beta and alpha) to work their magic and create a wort that will ultimately ferment drier than a single infusion mash.

The goal of belgians is to be as dry as they can make them (within reason).

Step mashing was used much more extensively in the past with grains that were not as well modified as those today. Today a single rest mash is sufficient for most of the beers we brew.There are a whole range of different temperatures that activate different enzymes. John Palmer's How to Brew gives a brief rundown of some of the steps commonly employed in his free on line version of his book.
http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter16-2.html

As to the schedule you are considering, I would modify it. As you have it written you would spend 30 mins at 140 then raise to 150 for 30 mins than 160 for 30 mins. The low to upper 140's is going to favor your beta amylaze enzymes which will give you a more fermentable wort. The low to upper 150's will favor alpha amylaze which will give you a less fermentable wort with more dextrins left increasing body and mouth feel. Combining the rests should give you good fermentability with good overall starch conversion. Your rest at 140 is a bit low, and your rest at 160 is a bit high repectively.

What are you trying to achieve with your step mash? If you are just looking to ensure your wort is highly fermentable, then I might suggest a starting rest around 142-144 for 20 or 30 minutes, and then a rest around 153-155 for 50-60 minutes to complete conversion. If you are looking to achieve something else let us know what it is.

thanks guys! That really helped a lot. I brewed this yesterday. It went fairly well for the most part. I went for: 20 min @ 140F, 50 min @ 153F, and 20 min @ 160F. Then mash out @ 170F. One thing that I did notice was that it took FOREVER to raise the mash temp. Am I suppose to add this time to the total 90 min or do I stop the clock at each temp increase? If I did stop the clock and wait for the mash to get to the specified temp, the total mash time would be closer to 2.5 hours. One thing that I dont want to do is increase my HLT temp too high (ie. try to get the mash from 140F to 153F. and set the HLT to 180F to get it there fast) because I dont want to comprimise the conversion with wort flowing through there. would this be accurate? So I set the HLT 5-7F higher than what I want my mash to be.
All in all I think it turn out pretty good for a first try. Thanks again. I'm new to this website and absotutly love it!

Congratulations on getting through your step mash.

Step mashing can take a while depending on your heat source and your heat exchange efficiency. If you can stir the liquid in your HLT you will heat faster. If you don't stir it you tend to get a small area right around your heat exchanger where the temp changes very slowly. Stirring the liquid in the hot liquor tank continuously exposes new liquid to the exchanger and helps the temp rise more consistently.

I can usually get about a degree a minute change in wort temp when I am raising the temperature. In the lower temp ranges below 150 temp conversion is a little slower, but once you are getting near and over 150 yes you can probably count it towards total time. You can test your gravity periodically to see when it stops getting higher to see when you are getting no more conversion from the grain. Actually mashes longer than 60 minutes does continue to extract more sugar from the grains and increase your efficiency a bit, it is just not usually worth a lot of extra time as you are only getting a small additional amount of sugar after 60-70 minutes when your temp is at or above 150.

How much higher you put your HLT temp than your target wort temp depends on the temp loss in your system of the recirculating wort. This depends on how much external hose and couplings the wort must go through and the ambient temp you are brewing in. I usually need to set my HLT 2-3 degrees higher than my target temp to compensate for heat losses in the recirc system. This will vary with different systems and ambient temperatures. You just have to learn your system. The best gauge is try to find a way to measure the temp of the recirculating wort as it enters the top of the mash tun, and shoot to have that temp at you target temperature.