Help/advice needed with 'Hoegaarden'stepped mash

[nigebeer]

I have all my ingredients to do a Hoegaarden clone all grain brew, the recipe calls for a step mash,first heat 50 deg for 15mins and then gradually raise the temp to 68deg.for 90mins.

I have a picnic cooler type mash tun which I normally use, and also an Electrim type plastic bin with built in heater.

What would be the best way to carry out this mash procedure? and also do I need to put all the grains in at the start of the mash?

Thankyou

[zgoda]

You can do simple 1 step mash.

If you have any raw wheat or wheat flakes in large amount, it would be better to do cereal mash first. How is your grain bill?

[nigebeer]

My grain bill is as follows:-
2kg flaked wheat
2.2 pilsner malt
0.5 kg flaked oats
113 gm Munich malt

[mysterio]

I find a stepped mash is quite a good idea for a Hoegaarden clone, done a good number with both a single infusion and stepped and prefer the results from the stepped method although the single infusion is absolutely fine too. Seems to be easier to lauter using the stepped mash.

Just infusing boiling water works great. Mash in at 50 and use one of the calculators (like Beersmith) to calculate how much boiling water you need. Several liters. Don't worry about having a very slack mash.

Recipe is easy, 50/50 flaked wheat and lager/pils malt. Hoegaarden yeast. Coriander and orange peel at the end of the boil. I would skip the oats and munich. Although oats does make a great wheat beer I don't think Hoegaarden uses them. Munich will do absolutely nothing for you in such a small amount. Oh yeah, definitely use flaked wheat rather than raw wheat. Cereal mashing raw wheat is an absolute nightmare.