All Grain Confusion, Mashing Single Rest Infusion

[sidepart]

Just need someone to clear this up for me since most of the references I'm reading seem so complex.

Single rest infusion: You're basically steeping crushed grains at 155 for an hour. This differs from steeping specialty grains...typically 155 for 30 minutes?

Is that really all there is to a single rest infusion?

Should I pour the water I steeped the grains in back into the grains after draining it (recirculate the water through the grains)? Do I need to rinse (sparge?) the grains afterwards with a certain amount of water?


After I've sorted that out, multi-rest infusion is really the same thing, only you bring the steeping water to specific temperatures during the steeping process, right?

 

[Geordan]

You've got the gist of it for sure. A single infusion mash is quite literally adding pre-heated strike water to the grist in order to achieve a specific rest temperature -- usually between 148-156 for most recipes -- and holding it there until conversion is completed; many will let this rest run for 60 minutes or more, though conversion may be done much quicker depending on the grist composition.

Bobby from BrewHardware.com created an awesome "All Grain Primer" that answers all of your questions and more in a concise, clear manner; here's the link: http://www.suebob.com/brew/Bobby_Mallgrainprimer.pdf This document covers vorlauf (recirculating mash), sparge types, etc. Have fun!

 

[sidepart]

Excellent, I'll take a look at that reference. I needed some new reading material .

I think for my newest recipe, I'll try mashing at it's most basic then. I wanted to add some oatmeal or flaked barley to my porter. I think I can accomplish this by mashing it with some chocolate or roast barley. I would do this instead of (alternatively) steeping one of those particular specialty grains.

I haven't built the recipe yet, but I'm assuming it'll come out to only being a few ounces of grain/adjunct that I'll need to mash. With such a small amount, I think I can avoid blowing my brew budget on a mash tun and still get some mouthfeel.

 

[Brewmasters Warehouse]

Yeah you pretty much have it down. The biggest differences have to do with temperature control, size of the grist, and sparging to rinse the grains. When you a pound or two of specialty grains you do not have that much so you can easily hold the temp during the steep period. There is also no need to sparge the specialty grains at all.

When doing all grain you have a lot more grain and you are using the grain not just for color but also gravity. So holding the temperature is much harder, which is why so many people use a cooler mash tun. Since you are using the grist for gravity sparging is important to get a decent efficiency, though some people do fine with BIAB without sparging.

 

[WVBeerBaron]

Here's how I look at it:

Steeping: soaking a small amount of grain for a short period of time to add flavor and body to an extract recipe.

Mashing: Soaking a large amount of grain at precise temps to extract fermentable sugar for the yeast to eat either during a partial mash recipe (a few pounds of grain and a few pounds of extract) or during an all-grain recipe (no extract at all).

If you are steeping and brewing an extract beer recipe there is no need to recirculate or sparge. I just steep for 30 minutes around 150 degrees, then pull it and proceed.

If you are making a partial mash recipe, you could soak your few pounds of grain for 30 minutes to 1 hour at 1.33 quarts water per pound of grain, then turn the heat back on to bring it up to about 165 (a form of mashing out). Then remove the grain and proceed.....OR after the initial soak and mashing out, have a volume of clean water heated to 168 degrees and slowly pour over the grain bag to rinse the remaining sugars out.

Partial mash example: 4 pounds of grain X 1.33 quarts per pound of grain = 5.32 quarts of water heated to above the mash temp. Add the grain and mash for 1 hour at 155 degrees. After 1 hour pull out the grain bag, set it in a colander above your brew pot. Take 8 quarts clean water (4lbs grain x 2 quarts per pound for sparge water = 8 quarts) at 170 degrees and slowly pour over your gain to rinse. Then proceed as normal.

Basically “single infusion” refers to partial mash or all-grain procedure where the grain is soaked for usually 1 hour at one specific temp instead of a multi-step where the water temp is raised 2 or 3 times at different temps during the mash (ie: 120 degrees for 20 minutes followed by 155 degrees for 30 minutes).

I hope this helps.

 

[bchurch]

As a side note you can build a very affordable mash tun out of a cooler I think I built mine for about 20 bucks (the cooler was free) just search around you won't regret making one.

 

[gr8shandini]

Also, keep in mind that flaked barley or oats won't have any of the enzymes necessary to convert the starches to sugar (which is the real difference between steeping and a mash). You're going to want to add some 2-row or other base malt (Marris Otter is perfect for a porter) to aid in conversion. Search for "partial mash" or "mini mash" to find out how much you're going to need.

Finally, if you're using a high proportion of adjucts without hulls (about 20% or more of the grist that's going in the mash), you're probably going to want some rice hulls to help with lautering. I don't know about BIAB, but they might be required there, too, since oats or flaked barley turn into sort of a gelatinous mess that would be hard to strain out (you know, like oatmeal).