Can a certain mash schedule severely lower kettle trub?

[Remos112]

So I brewed my Gouden Carolus inspired brew today and I tried to do the 4-step mash schedule they do at the brewery and the result was quite amazing.
Here's some info

Grain bill:
4.7 kg Belgian Pilsner
0.7 kg Carared
0.4 kg Flaked wheat
0.2 kg Special B

And this is the step schedule I used:
1 heat 19 L of strike water to 55.9 C and infuse for 20 minutes @ 52C
2 Heat to 62C over 10 minutes and hold for 20 minutes
3 Heat to 72C over 10 minutes and hold for 30 minutes
4 Heat to 77C over 5 minutes and hold for 15 minutes

I hit an alltime high mash effeciency of 83% and I also noticed there was way less break material/trub in the kettle. The hot break was barely existing and when I went to cooling I was seriously surprised about how little trub there was in the kettle, I always hop in hopbags so the amount was never huge, but this was an alltime low.

Does the altered mash schedule cause this? Or is there something else going on here?
First time using Carared btw, boy do I love how this grain made the first runnings look!
Very clear, and very red

 

[Remos112]

I gave it some more thought and there was one more difference. I set the mill gap slightly tighter so had a finer crush, which in combination with the wheat flakes almost caused a stuck sparge on the first runoff. This might explain the higher than usual efficency, but could this have filtered the grains slightly better?

 

[ESBrewer]

Yes, I think it is possible that you had less insoluble material in the wort. But there are too many factors affecting the amount of trub to be sure. pH, ions, malt types, possible kettle finings and efficiency of cooling will all play their roles here. The initial rest at 55-56C will also cause protein breakdown and may thus lead to less coagulation during the boil (although with most modern malts the effect would be small). There is also the possibility that the smaller volume of trub contains exactly the same amount of molecules as always, just being packed more densely. So, RDWHAHB.

 

[Remos112]

Yes, I think it is possible that you had less insoluble material in the wort. But there are too many factors affecting the amount of trub to be sure. pH, ions, malt types, possible kettle finings and efficiency of cooling will all play their roles here. The initial rest at 55-56C will also cause protein breakdown and may thus lead to less coagulation during the boil (although with most modern malts the effect would be small). There is also the possibility that the smaller volume of trub contains exactly the same amount of molecules as always, just being packed more densely. So, RDWHAHB.

Thanks for your post, PH was as usual 5.2-5.5 and the grains were from the exact same batch as previous 5 brews except for the carared. I used this mash schedule because all of my past brews suffered from chill haze, crystal clear at room temps, hazy chilled, even after months in the fridge. The reason I wanted to do a protein rest in the first place. So far it looks promosing.
Cooling went from 100c to 18c in 15 minutes so I don't expect any problems on the cooling department.

Would this mash schedule be negative in any way for other types of brews? Other than hugely time consuming? Would love to try it with some of my further brews to see if and how it would change things

 

[ESBrewer]

I don't think there's any major problem related to protein rest if you find it useful for the clarity. The only thing could be that the head formation/retention may suffer because the proteins are degraded.

 

[Remos112]

I don't think there's any major problem related to protein rest if you find it useful for the clarity. The only thing could be that the head formation/retention may suffer because the proteins are degraded.

Thanks, wow if I knew beer brewing was this complicated I would never started doing it, luckily I am in way too deep already.

I ordered some fish glue as well (fish bladder clearing gelatin) might try that first on the lighter colored beers. This beer is calculated at 53 ebc so some hazyness would be hard to spot anyway!

 

[d3track]

Did you recirculate the whole 2 hours?

 

[Remos112]

Did you recirculate the whole 2 hours?

I did something close to that. I installed a thermowell and a digital gauge in my mash kettle, and it is 0.1C accurate. The only way I could maintain the step temperatures was by switching the boiler on and off and stir almost non stop, this way I was never off by more then 0.5c also the wort was well circulated.
Definitely planning on investing in a recirculating pump though and maybe a PID controller for the heater. Could the more than usual stirring have contributed in some way too?

 

[d3track]

I did something close to that. I installed a thermowell and a digital gauge in my mash kettle, and it is 0.1C accurate. The only way I could maintain the step temperatures was by switching the boiler on and off and stir almost non stop, this way I was never off by more then 0.5c also the wort was well circulated.
Definitely planning on investing in a recirculating pump though and maybe a PID controller for the heater. Could the more than usual stirring have contributed in some way too?

It have for efficiency, not sure about clarity. I was thinking that if you recirculated through the grain bed for 2 hours, that wort would be brilliantly clear

 

[Remos112]

It have for efficiency, not sure about clarity. I was thinking that if you recirculated through the grain bed for 2 hours, that wort would be brilliantly clear

Good point! I also sparged longer then usual, I did a 3 step sparge Beersmith came up with. Drain mash kettle, and then sparge 2 times with an equal amount of water. I also took my sweet little time. Whole sparge took me about an hour.