Protein Rest

[AngieBomb]

I am a new all grain brewer, and I want to make a beer that has a 10-20 min Protein Rest. My question is how do you figure the water ratio since I have to still do the Sacch' rest too? Again I am new to all grain but have been brewing extract kits for 7+ years.

 

[Lefou]

For my beers, I will use a water-to-grain ratio of 1.25 - 2.5qts of water/lb of grain, depending on style and projected batch size.
I assume you are using a cooler? I haven't used my cooler for mashing for a couple years, so figuring infusions would be better off left to someone who still does cooler mashing.

I typically treat my water with salts, then mash in a kettle with the entire volume of strike water.

 

[ESBrewer]

I haven't done it but protein rest is actually supposed to be effective in a thick mash. You could start with 1.7-2 liters/kg only and then dilute with boiling water to bring it up to sacch temp and you would still be inside the acceptable thickness range. Use a program such as Beersmith to estimate the volumes (there is a calculator for this type of things). And be prepared that the calculations may not be 100% correct so you may need to adjust slightly when you see how things turn out. Another option is to use decoction mashing where you heat up part of the mash in a kettle and bring it back to increase the heat without major increase in volume.

However, most modern malts do not need the protein rest so you want to be sure that it is necessary before you start experimenting with it.

 

[AngieBomb]

I haven't done it but protein rest is actually supposed to be effective in a thick mash. You could start with 1.7-2 liters/kg only and then dilute with boiling water to bring it up to sacch temp and you would still be inside the acceptable thickness range. Use a program such as Beersmith to estimate the volumes (there is a calculator for this type of things). And be prepared that the calculations may not be 100% correct so you may need to adjust slightly when you see how things turn out. Another option is to use decoction mashing where you heat up part of the mash in a kettle and bring it back to increase the heat without major increase in volume.

However, most modern malts do not need the protein rest so you want to be sure that it is necessary before you start experimenting with it.

Thanks for the feed back...

 

[Yooper]

Why do you want to do a protein rest? In some cases it's beneficial (a ton of unmalted grains, for example) and in some cases it's harmful (destroying head retention). If you don't know why you want to do one, maybe post the recipe and see what the others think about if it's needed or beneficial, or not.

 

[dmtaylor]

I am a new all grain brewer, and I want to make a beer that has a 10-20 min Protein Rest.

Let me save you some trouble: No you don't. ^^

Seriously, unless doing the protein rest for educational experimental purposes, you should skip it since with 21st century malts it results in a beer that is thin, watery, with very poor head retention. You can learn this from your own experience if you like, or listen to me and others and just skip it.