I just brewed an Oktoberfest last weekend and used a two step infusion with a single decoction at the end for the saccharification rest. My target S.G was 1.058 and ended up with 1.066! I’ve read on the forum that decoctions can increase your yields, is that what happend? Is an 8 point increase about normal?
Will have to take this into account on my next decoction brew!
Decoctions have always increased my efficiency as well. My normal range is 70-76% depending on the gravity. The double decoction schedule I usually follow for most of my german beers will put me around 82-86% efficiency.
If your normal mash efficiency is low, you can get a large increase in mash and brewhouse efficiency from decoctions.
I usually see a 2 to 4 gravity point bump.
Always assumed the increase was for 2 reasons:
- You usually use a higher water/grist ratio
- You increase mixing during the mash
I also assumed I was seeing the increase because I had poor efficiency in the first place (~63%). Potentially a system with a higher average efficiency wouldn’t see a difference…
The boiling bursts small hard starch granules and makes that available to the enzymes, so higher conversion efficiency. Kai has information on his page, and a microscope picture of a granule.
My efficiency is always in the 90s when I decoct. It really aids efficiency a lot.
Some starch does not gelatinize at typical mash temps, but I believe that this boost in efficiency is small for barley. I believe the bigger effect comes from the additional mixing when the single infusion conversion efficiency is low, typically due to coarse grind.
I think another contributing factor to the efficiency increase is that the decoction allows the enzymes to pass through all temperature phases of activity.
So if decoction mashing gives us a greater yield, you can use less grain in your recipe. On a larger say hundred barrel plus scale, you would save $Ingrain but would that be offset by the cost of energy needed to do the decoction?
You have to figure that a 100BBL System has been so fine tuned that it should already be having amazing efficiency(90%+). That being said most large scale brewers will go threw extrordainary effort to gain a % because if you have a 5000lb Grain Bill 1% can save you a lot of cash over the course of a year.
Thanks for all the responses. I just racked to secondary and the F.G. was 1.016, ABV about 6.5%.
Can I still consider this an Oktoberfest with the higher gravity or is it closer to a Maibock/Bock?
Just wondering what style to enter in a competition.
Not to give to pat an answer, but it all depends on the drinking experience. If it drinks like an Oktoberfest, enter it as that, regardless of the specs.
Me too. Even a single mash out decoction bumps my efficiency about 80%, compared to a single-infusion mash of the same amount of grain that would be in the low 70% area