BTP schedule help

[Legman]

Can someone help me set up a schedule???
I'm trying to set it up where I'm doing a protein rest and then bring my mash temp up to where I want it. The problem I'm having is keeping the collected volume where it's supposed to be.
After the protein rest, I'm sparging off the wort, then reheating it and then returning it to the mash tun. No matter what I put in, it keeps doubling my final volume as if I'm adding more water to the mash rather than just recycling it back into the system.

What am I doing wrong here?

[wottaguy]

Legman,

I believe that after the protein rest step, you'll need to specify a TRANSFER step, which you can specify how much liquid is runoff to your kettle for boiling. The volume left in the tun should read something like 0.5 gallons or less depending on how much your system typically leaves behind. Then add another INFUSION step and fill out the temp and the volume of the returned wort to your tun and proceed with the rest of your schedule as planned. If you could possibly post your schedule it would be most helpful to give direction as to how to set it up. Ifyou can't post it here, I would be happy to take a look at it if you could send me the recipe file thru email. Let me know what you want to do.

(_)3

[jawbox]

Wouldn't you use the decotion step?

[Legman]

Jawbox, you were correct. I need to do a decoction step. For some reason, I couldn't get it to work before, but this time it did.

Thanks guys!

[slothrob]

The problem I see is that a decoction is mostly grain that's heated, not liquid, so I wouldn't expect the temperatures calculated to be correct.

On a side note, if you heat all the wort high enough to raise the temperature of the grain bed for a saccharification rest, won't you kill the amylase enzymes?

[wottaguy]

A decoction step...hummmm i did wonder about that but in my mind you were not pulling out any grains...just liquid..and that's why I had thought of the transfer step followed by another infusion...I should have tried it out on a sample schedule, but I didn't have the time...but hey...i think i'll try out both and see what the differences are...ya learn something new every day..and if it suits your needs that's what counts.

Legman...did you at least try setting it up with the transfer step?? Just wondering what happened....

Thanks guy's!

(_)3

[jawbox]

sloth, i think you are correct, pulling just liquid would run more risk or denaturing the enzymes.

Legman, won't your mash tun accommodate infusions? I just made a wit last weekend with a protein rest and then another infusion to get to saccharification temp.

Jaw

[Legman]

That may a good point about the decoction step.
I normally just do single infusion, so I really don't know what the heck I'm doing with these other mashing options. I don't see why I can't do infusions in my mash tun....it's 7 gallons.

I just tried to add a new infusion. The final volume did end up with what I wanted. I cut the mash in water by half and then added the other half after the protein rest to bring up the temp.
But for the mash in/protein rest, the water/grain ration is .76 qt/lb. Would this be an acceptable ratio or will that be to thick to mash in with?

[slothrob]

But for the mash in/protein rest, the water/grain ration is .76 qt/lb. Would this be an acceptable ratio or will that be to thick to mash in with?

That's how I do it. Seems to work fine. Protein rest is pretty inefficient, so I think higher thickness is recommended, anyway.

[Legman]

Hmmm, Ok. I'll give it a try then.
I was just worried that .76 qt/lb ratio might be so thick it may not be enough liquid to saturate all of the grains.
Thanks for the input.