SW Ohio Keith
Spanker City Brewery
A brief background. I've been brewing AG for a couple years 5G batches on propane, and like many of you, I'm a professional tinkerer. I've brewed 65G so far this year, and I'm almost finished with a new 1/2 bbl eHERMS brewery and as of late I've been laid up with a back injury, so needless to say, I've been spending a lot of time reading here. Last night I read some "Herms vs Rims" debates, and that sent me down another rabbit hole. One comment kept coming up that RIMS was like a sports car and HERMS is like a school bus in terms of temp control, specifically during step mashes. So, I got to thinking, am I missing something on this step mashing thing?
After some more wandering around the rabbit hole, the conclusion I have come to is that with modified grains, step mashing is not very useful. Am I missing something? Same for decoction mashing. It seems this is an old practice that has since been solved by the maltier and the industrial revolution.
Mashout.
Some argue mashout is to stop the enzymatic process, some say to thin the mash for a better sparge. Seems to me, since the Alpha and Beta amalayse do the conversion, once the conversion is complete, it's done and the 5-10 min it takes to get my wort in the BK and boiling kind of negates the need to 'denature the enzymes' in my MT. I haven't calculated my brewhouse efficiencies in a couple years, but my pre-boil gravity is spot on or over weather I mash out at 170 or less, and the final sparge runoff is typically mid to low 5 pH and 1.010-1.020 gravity. Again, am I missing something.
I don't know what I don't know. Thoughts, feedback, opinions...
Keith
After some more wandering around the rabbit hole, the conclusion I have come to is that with modified grains, step mashing is not very useful. Am I missing something? Same for decoction mashing. It seems this is an old practice that has since been solved by the maltier and the industrial revolution.
Mashout.
Some argue mashout is to stop the enzymatic process, some say to thin the mash for a better sparge. Seems to me, since the Alpha and Beta amalayse do the conversion, once the conversion is complete, it's done and the 5-10 min it takes to get my wort in the BK and boiling kind of negates the need to 'denature the enzymes' in my MT. I haven't calculated my brewhouse efficiencies in a couple years, but my pre-boil gravity is spot on or over weather I mash out at 170 or less, and the final sparge runoff is typically mid to low 5 pH and 1.010-1.020 gravity. Again, am I missing something.
I don't know what I don't know. Thoughts, feedback, opinions...
Keith