confusing step mash with cooler

[JosephN]

okay, I'm a bit confused at this point, and I probably need to give my brain a rest and think about this a little more, but I figured I would throw it out there and see who bites.


I'm wanting to make a Jamil's recipe that involves a protein rest at 122F and then raising it up to 152F. I think the reason he suggests this is because of the 6.3#s of flaked Wheat that needs to take advantage of all the enzymes in this range (122F). I have also read in Palmer's book, how to brew, that you don't want to have FULLY MODIFIED grain rest at !22F because it will cause you to lose most of your body. With me using a total of 14.25# of grain, and 6.3# being Flaked Wheat with the rest being fully modified, I thought about just mashing the flaked wheat to start. Once I got finished mashing the flaked wheat at 122F I would add the remaining 8# of grain and water to bring it up to 152F. I would like to keep the Grist/Water Ratio at 1.5Qt/# of grain.

I have found a simple calculator on BrewersFriend.com to get the first infusion/strike amount and temp, but how in the world would I calculate all the current temp of my mash tun, Grain to be added, to get the amount of water and temp of water to be added to get me to 152F?

PS I do not plan on downloading Beersmith. I have found an step Mash calculator on Brewersfriend.com but it only accounts for all the grain being added at once, and since I'm adding grain at 2 separate times then I'll need some other way to figure it out.

Thanks for your help in advance.

 

[brewbama]

Kai put some calculations in this article: http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Infusion_Mashing

However, I believe Brewer's friend would work. Simply mash your wheat, add your grain, take the temp, plug it in the calculations as grain temp, and add the temp of hot water required to bring it to your required temp

 

[sd_brewbie]

If you really want to avoid the protein rest a simple solution would be to do two separate mashes and combine the wort before boil.

As far as how to figure out the infusions to add grain in the middle... Beats me

 

[JosephN]

Kai put some calculations in this article: http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Infusion_Mashing

However, I believe Brewer's friend would work. Simply mash your wheat, add your grain, take the temp, plug it in the calculations as grain temp, and add the temp of hot water required to bring it to your required temp

Basically it would be like when I do a single infusion mash and once I have drained my 1st runnings and I'm about to Sparge, I check the temp of my grain to find out what temp my water needs to be for a Mash Out so I don't go too high. Does this sound about like what you are saying? I do see your point in adding the extra grain, my concern would be that I would have too much grain and not enough water. Basically a massive Doughball. I do know that in the end I would need to have added about 5.2 gallons of water total to keep it at 1.5qt/#, so if I added 2 gallons to start I know I will have 3.2 gallons remaining to add and since I would have that heating anyways I could go ahead and add a little to break up the thick mash until I get an even temp check. Does that make sense?

 

[tsl346]

With me using a total of 14.25# of grain, and 6.3# being Flaked Wheat with the rest being fully modified, I thought about just mashing the flaked wheat to start. Once I got finished mashing the flaked wheat at 122F I would add the remaining 8# of grain and water to bring it up to 152F. I would like to keep the Grist/Water Ratio at 1.5Qt/# of grain.

It's an energy balance equation with the heat capacity of water at 1 and the heat capacity of grains and water together at a very rough calculation of about 0.85 (works well for me). At a starting mash thickness of 1.5 quarts/lb at 122 this tells you that you need 3 gallons of boiling water to bring the mash up to 152. If you start with a thick mash of 1 qt/lb at 122 you will need about 2.1 gallons boiling water to bring the mash up to 152.