When I brewed my Bloody Head Stout yesterday I did a stepped mash:
In my experience the 50-ish-degC rest is required when using flaked oats otherwise the mash goes all sticky and gluey and it's hard to squeeze the bag, driving efficiency down.
Since I switched to doing 30 minute full-volume/no-sparge my efficiency %age has dropped from high 70's to mid 60's - but after my stepped mash yesterday it was back up to 74%.
I'm not complaining and the efficiency itself doesn't really matter to me - but obviously my BG and hence hop utilization was a bit different than originally expected. (also the OG is higher so the end product will likely be stronger than intended)
I'm trying to understand what caused the jump in efficiency - gut feeling is it's not just chance, so is it down to doing a 55min mash (total time) or is it related to doing a step mash? Or both?
Any thoughts? I'm just hoping if I understand the cause I can better control what's happening.
Cheers,
Matt
- 10L-ish full-volume/no-sparge BIAB
- 3kg grain bill (inc. 7.6% flaked oats)
- 20mins at 51degC (using 8L water)
- 35mins at 65degC (added 7L boiling water)
In my experience the 50-ish-degC rest is required when using flaked oats otherwise the mash goes all sticky and gluey and it's hard to squeeze the bag, driving efficiency down.
Since I switched to doing 30 minute full-volume/no-sparge my efficiency %age has dropped from high 70's to mid 60's - but after my stepped mash yesterday it was back up to 74%.
I'm not complaining and the efficiency itself doesn't really matter to me - but obviously my BG and hence hop utilization was a bit different than originally expected. (also the OG is higher so the end product will likely be stronger than intended)
I'm trying to understand what caused the jump in efficiency - gut feeling is it's not just chance, so is it down to doing a 55min mash (total time) or is it related to doing a step mash? Or both?
Any thoughts? I'm just hoping if I understand the cause I can better control what's happening.
Cheers,
Matt
