First Decoction Results

Brewing Processes
1

Got my first decoction done yesterday.  Vienna Lager.

I infused to 133F rested for 10 minutes and did my decoction which was kind of sloppy until I got used to skimming thick mash out.  Lost about 8 degrees in the process.  I added it back in (along with .5 gals boiling water) and I was off by 8 degrees.  Imagine that.

I took a guess and eyeballed another 1.5 gals, got it boiling and added it back to hit 152.5.  Pretty good.

Other than a 20 min rest at 144 things went well.  Got a nice light amber color from the decoctions and and extra 5% efficiency.

2

way to go man!

that’s something I’ve never tried.  I will one day, I just have to work up the nerve to put a batch at risk!

3

Nice!

I am going to decoct a Dusseldorf Alt this weekend. I’ve done it before and it can be a challenge to hit your temps. But it should be fun.

To be on the safe side you can keep a separate pot of near boiling water handy just in case you miss a temp or two.

4

Yeah.  I’m pretty excited.  I could taste more complexity in the wort than I’m used too although it was all vienna and only 6oz of carapils for 5.75 gal.  I’ve haven’t tried Vienna before so that may be it.

I’m definitely glad I didn’t use any caramel amlt.  It has a good color.

I do expect it to be thinner because of the long p-rest and small beta rest but we’ll see.

5

that’s also called a beta-amylase rest. You could have also rested there for 30-45 min, depending on desired attenuation, and then decocted or infused to 160F for an a-amylase rest.

Kai

6

Dont let that scare you , decoctions are very forgiving

7

Hey Kai and babalu…what decoction schedule do you like to use…temps and times?

8

I generally use a single decoction to get to sacch rest temps
I’ll do infusion for a protein rest at around 130 and then another infusion to get to mash out (if done)

Sometimes I’ll use decoction to get to mash out but thats usually when I push my tun to the limit and I have been trying to stop that lately.

My Hefe and Dunkelweizens both are done with decoction as is anything I use alot of Munich in.

Have fun with them is one thing I can tell you

9

It depends.
You could do something like this:
122F for 20 min
143F for 20 min
160F for 20 min
Mash Out

That is 20 min rest. It does not count the decoction time that can be from 15 to 30 min boil (+ bring it to boil) depending how much “browning” reaction you want to have.
You could also do sach rest when doing decoction (another 10 min).

Mash Schedule

Step  Rest  Start  Stop  Heat    Infuse  Infuse  Infuse
Step Name            Time  Time  Temp    Temp  Type    Temp    Amount  Ratio

Protein Rest          5    20    131    131  Infuse  142      20.88  1.50
Maltose Rest          5    30    145    143  Direct  —    -------  ----
Alpha Rest            25    30    158    158  Decoc    208        6.03  1.00 (Decoc Thickness)
Mash Out              5    10    170    170  Direct  —    -------  ----

As you can see I am doing only one decoction in here.

10

How long do you usually let it rest for the a-amylase?

11

Anywhere from 20 to 60 min.

Kai

12

+1  Don’t be intimidated by decoction.  You can make it as difficult or as easy as you choose.  I’ve tried several different schedules - from triple decoction with multiple rests, to a single-infusion mash with just one decoction to get to mash-out temperature.  Most recently, I did a Maibock with just the mash-out decoction, but I boiled the decoction for a solid 20 minutes.  Of course, I won’t know how that one turns out until May…

13

Since you have the whole water thing down I’d say go for it. One thing about decoction mashing is that you REALLY need to be careful about ph. Even more than normal. :slight_smile: You still have a fairly wide range as in a single infusion, but the damaging effects of being out of that range(particularly being too high) are much more significant when doing a decoction. Learned that one the hard way. ;D

FWIW, that BL clone I sent you was a double decoction.  8)