I didn’t do the protein rest at lower temperature this time
I avoid buying grains that haven't been sufficiently modified during the malting process, hence never need to do a protein rest to break down the rest of the grain kernel.
Another great tip, since you are using wheat and oats and probably (I suspect) are using rice hulls as a filtration aid is to pre-wash the rice hulls in hot water and dry them before use. You said what? Before you use rice hulls next time, mix a proportional amount of the rice hulls and hot water and give it a taste! I've tried many source of rice hulls all with the same awful rice tea flavor. I washed rice hulls for a couple of brews and decided it was too much work. My mash tun has a false bottom and I use a brew bag and at 3 gallons/minute recirculation never have had a problem with a stuck mash. I do mostly NEIPA brews with 47% wheat and 6% oats. By the way, I brew 12 gallon batches to end up with 10 gallons in two kegs. And because of my clear wort approach the losses require starting with 20 gallons of strike water. tmi?
@BarryBrews do you also use your inlet/kettle temperature as your actual mash temperature and use a higer setpoint at the controller?
Sorry to go on ad nauseam, but it's a process specific answer.
I only monitor the RIMS tube input and output temperatures. See my attached photos. There are no temperature probes poking out into my kettles! The probes would just get in the way.
First (step 1) heat the strike water with both elements at full power and recirculate at full pump speed through the RIMS tube and the boil kettle (BK), while monitoring the RIMS inlet probe (you don't have one, yet?) for the strike temperature progress and the outlet temperature just showing the RIMS heat addition.
Next (step 2) with the grist in a brew bag sitting on a false bottom move the pump/RIMS, (
think of the pump and RIMS as one unit), outlet tube to the outlet (bottom valve) of the mash tun and under let (2(?) gallons(7.6L)/minute) the strike water and stir the grist if you wish.
Next (step 3) move pump/RIMS inlet to the mash tun outlet and the pump/RIMS outlet to the mash tun return. I recirculate during the mashing process at 3(11.4L) gallons/minute, but that's kettle size depend as is the under letting rate in the previous step. While recirculating set the pump/RIMS output with your PID to maybe one degree above your desired mash temperature or higher if you wish to ramp the mash temperature up, but don't ever exceed the safe amylase temperatures. If you initially stirred your mash tun equilibrium will be reached fairly quickly. Remember that the pump/RIMS inlet probe is measuring the actual mash temperature. Your PID should maintain the temperature just fine at this point. You might have noticed I use simple barb connections which affords easy configuration changes. See the process flow diagram attached and notice the copy on my BK. I also use a custom brewsmith worksheet to get through the brew day without mistakes, fingers crossed.
Next (step 4), after the mash process, pump your clear wort from the mash tun outlet to the BK return whirlpool port at a rate at which you can maintain a pump/RIMS output temperature of ~175F (79C)for mash out. For me it's about 1(3.8L) gallon/minute. Then connect your pump/RIMS inlet to the BK outlet so both elements can now bring the wort to a boil more quickly. Remember to turn the RIMS element off at ~190F (88C) to avoid scorching (I actually take my RIMS to ~205F(96C) without problems). I do a half gallon RO rinse of the pump/RIMS into the boil kettle before turning off the pump. Add the slow trickle from the mash tun by hand to the BK for up to 30 minutes into a 90 minute boil.
The main take away of this process is that the pump and RIMS are always connected throughout the whole brew day allowing for all the necessary temperature measurements and for the RIMS tube to do more than just control the mash temperature. Step 5 in the process flow diagram is self-explanatory.
Now a point of contention here is I use 2 wireless BBQ probes to monitor the input and output temperatures of the RIMS tube and 2 separate voltage regulators to control the RIMS element and the BK element independently. To perform this procedure outlined above you would connect the RIMS PID probe to the RIMS tube outlet and the BK PID probe to the RIMS tube inlet. So, during the mashing process you'll be measuring the mash temperature with your BK PID probe. ABSOLUTELY not a problem until you accidentally turn on the BK element in an empty BK!
Succes!