Skip to main content

Kitchen Brewing Part 4: Multi-Step Mashing

Up until now, I've employed a simple single-infusion mash for my stove-top brews. It's the technique I demonstrated in Part 2 of this series. I heat the water to a set temp, add the grains, stir things up and let the mash perform a Saccharification Rest for 60-90 minutes. Outside of the occasional stir and temperature check, that's pretty much it.

For many beers, this works really well, especially with English and American Ales. However, I was getting poor extraction rates from wheat malts. My efficiency on wheat beers was dropping around 10% versus my all barley brews. What to do? Take a shot at a multi-step mash and see what happens.

The only real difference between my multi-step mash and a single-infusion one is the introduction of a Protein Rest at the beginning of the mash. For the Protein Rest, I heat my water to around 130F. I then mash in the grains, which drops the temperature to around 124F. After mashing in, I pull the pot from the stove, cover it and wrapped it in blankets for 20-25 minutes. When the Protein Rest is done, I unwrap the pot and return it to the stove.

The Saccharification Rest is up next. Since I use a pot instead of an insulated Mash Tun, I can heat up the mash using direct heat rather than by introducing additional hot water.  I do this by applying medium-high heat to the pot while constantly stirring the grains. Keeping the grains moving does two things: it prevents the scorching of the grain and helps evenly distribute the heat in the pot. When the appropriate temp is reached, the pot is again pulled from the stove, covered and wrapped in blankets or stuck in the oven on Warm for an additional 60 minutes. When the Saccharification Rest is complete, I Sparge and Boil in the same manner as I always do.

That's it for now. Up next in this series, I'll cover a stove-top Decoction Mash.

Update 8/27/13:

I've been experimenting with using an infusion mash for Multi-Step Mashing as an alternative to applying direct heat. The technique has advantages and disadvantages. With the infusion method, you don't dough in with all of your water at once. Instead, you shoot for around 1 quart of water per pound of grain. The Infusion creates a very thick Mash for the Protein Rest, which allows protease to be more effective. It also eliminates the possibility of scorched grains from direct heating. On the flip-side, a Mash that has more than two steps is harder to pull off. Unless you're extremely accurate with your infusion water temps and quantities, it's quite easy to wind up with a very thin final Rest. Controlling the rate at which the Mash temperature rises is also more difficult (I liken applying direct heat to slowly climbing a hill, while an Infusion is more like using a staircase). In the end, it's all about tradeoffs.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Birthday Brewing: Dark Session Saison

I've been asked to brew all of the beer for my friend's Birthday. It's in mid-August, so I have to get everything going right now . There will be five beers in all: Dunkelweiss, Wit, Saison, Dark Saison and Kölsch. Rather than post all of the recipes at once, I'm going to spread them out into separate posts. My Session Saison and SMaSH Kölsch were already underway before I was asked to brew the other beers. The Dark Saison below is an extension of the Session Saison. I've expanded the original recipe to make a darker beer. CaraMunich Malt adds a little caramel sweetness, while Carafa II brings a light dark chocolate edge to the brew. The rest of the beer is as it was before, with the same hops and yeast. Adding extra grains does push the alcohol content up a bit, but the beer still shouldn't break the 5% ABV mark. I'm anxious to try my two Saisons out side by side and taste the difference that two extra grains can make. For five gallons: Grai...
Post a Comment
Read more

In the Fermentor: Flaming Pumpkin

I'll admit that I'm not a huge Pumpkin Beer fan. I didn't have one on my brewing calendar for this year and didn't have my sights set on one for next Fall either. Then my niece came along and threw down the gauntlet. She asked me to brew her a pumpkin beer and I accepted the challenge. I did a lot of reading to see how to best go about using pumpkin in beer. Some people mash it with the grains. Others add it to the brew kettle during the boil. Some add it to the primary or secondary fermentor. The consensus from professional brewers appears to be adding it to the mash, so I took the same approach. The pumpkin was cooked ahead of time by my girlfriend to soften it, convert some of the starch and help release some of its sugars. It then joined the grains in the mash. I really want the pumpkin pie effect here, so I've thrown in all of the requisite spices toward the end of the boil. I've also gone with just enough bitterness to balance the sweetness of the ...
4 comments
Read more

Out of the Cellar: Old Man's Chest

2014 I can't believe it's been a year since I bottled my last Old Ale . I suppose time flies while you're having fun. Anyway, it's time to see what's taken place in the last 12 months. Things have changed quite a bit the last 12 months. First off, the flavors meld better than they did before. This is still a complex flavored beer, but the balance of the different pieces is more cohesive. Bitterness has faded just a bit, but still carries the black tea bite that was there before. 2013 The rum-like qualities have really cut through with time. There's an almost vinous quality to the beer that wasn't around before. This is especially true in the nose. A slightly heavy body persists that is drier than before. The beer finishes with lingering toffee and rum flavors. Overall, I'm quite happy with how this beer aged. I'd still tweak the recipe if I brewed it again, but time has made for a much more cohesive brew.
Post a Comment
Read more