My First Decoction Mashing Experience

[Mayor of Mildura]

I've been wanting to make a malty german lager for a while. I came across numerous recipes that involved doing a decoction . I've heard about decoction mashes and I've read about peoples experiences and it sounded kinda tricky. After actually doing one last night I have realised the process is fairly simple.

Here is my recipe

50/50 pilsner and munich malt
bitter with Perle
Hallertau for flavour and aroma

Here is my process

mash in @ 55 for 15 minutes
pull 10L of thick mash boil in another pot for 15 minutes.
Add this back to the main mash and raise to 65 for 60 minutes
pull another 10L of mash boil for 15 minutes
add this back to the main mash to raise to mashout temp


here are some pictures


Grain measured and milled


Mash in. Note some of my fancy equipment.


Pulling the first decoction. I pulled the bag up a little and used a sieve to get mostly grain


I stirred the pot until it came to the boil. Once it started boiling the grain didn't seem to stick to the bottom of the pot so I left it.


Bubble bubble bubble


Hot grain back into the mash


This is the second decoction. I fired up both burners on my beasty camp stove. There was a little bit more liquid this time around and it took longer to get to the boil.


Draining the bag.


So there you go. Too easy. If the smell of the mash is anything to go by then this should be a nice beer. I'll follow up in a month or so with some tasting notes.

 

[pk.sax]

:icon_cheers:

 

[ShredMaster]

Looks good mate! Nice pics, it looks easier than I realise and I'll probably give something similar to this a go soon enough.

Cheers,
Shred.

 

[cam89brewer]

I find that you get a lot more body and allows you to brew more accurately to the style you are aiming for. :beerbang:

 

[bignath]

good work. yet to try a decoction as i mainly brew APA's and similar...would love to be able to have a crack at a "to style" german or boh pils.

nice mash paddle too!?

 

[manticle]

I'm decocting a 100% dingmans pils grist today. My experience is that it gives a lovely complexity to the end result - particularly with simpler grists.

Also it smells great while you're doing it and it is fun.

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

nice mash paddle too!?

my coopers kit spoon broke in the middle of a brew day. I looked around the shed and grabbed something long to stir with. works like a champ but looks a bit funny.

I'm decocting a 100% dingmans pils grist today. My experience is that it gives a lovely complexity to the end result - particularly with simpler grists.

Also it smells great while you're doing it and it is fun.

This pretty much sums it up for me too. How good is brewing!

 

[Nick JD]

After doing extensive triple decoctions and stepping temps etc I've stumbled in the end to a compromise that I reckon is the best flavour/colour change for the least effort (while decoctions are fun and novel, it would suck if we had to do them every brew) is a single, thick decoction taken at 60 minutes and boiled HARD for 20 minutes.

I get all the decotion flavour the beer needs and have noticed that there is very little difference including all the temperature steps over an isothermal mash. I think I actually prefer not stepping now, but you can't beat that decocted flavour - it pairs up with Saaz and Tettnang so well.

 

[Markbeer]

After doing extensive triple decoctions and stepping temps etc I've stumbled in the end to a compromise that I reckon is the best flavour/colour change for the least effort (while decoctions are fun and novel, it would suck if we had to do them every brew) is a single, thick decoction taken at 60 minutes and boiled HARD for 20 minutes.

I get all the decotion flavour the beer needs and have noticed that there is very little difference including all the temperature steps over an isothermal mash. I think I actually prefer not stepping now, but you can't beat that decocted flavour - it pairs up with Saaz and Tettnang so well.

Hi Nick JD

Can you please give some details? IE temps of mash before and after? Amount of mash removed and boiled compared to main mash?

Also if you add the boiled decoction mash at 80 mins back to the main mash then proceeded to the main boil how would this exactly change from doing a standard infusion then boiling? Or are you leaving the mash after adding it back?

I am wanting to give this a try. It's interesting so many all grainers I talk to never shift from a single infusion ever so I am curious.

Thanks

Mark

 

[emnpaul]

This should answer some of your questions. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Decoction_mash

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

This should answer some of your questions. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Decoction_mash

That's a cool link there. After actually going through the process it makes a lot of sense. Looks like I made a bit of a noob mistake that resulted in an extended brewday. (i.e pulling and boiling the decoction is a part of the saccrification rest time). I didn't mind though cause I was enjoying some beers with my brother. And It gives me a few ideas on what to do next time.

 

[manticle]

I pull mine after the first sacch rest (which is usually low 60s) so I know some conversion has occurred. Otherwise, presumably you are wasting the sugar contribution from some of your grain. Either this or bring the decoction to rest temp, rest 20 minutes then raise to boil.

Only relevant to mash pulled before sacch temp - if decocting after then you can bypass.

Typical regime for me for this kind of beer will see me mash at 62-3 for 10-20 minutes, raise temp to 67/68 for 40-50 minutes. Once raised to 67, I pull the decoction, take to the stove and bring the heat up. The 40-50 minute second stage sacch rest gives plenty of time for a tasty, thick decoction.

Ocassionally I pull a second one and just boil it as quickly as possible (thinner pull) for mash out.

 

[cam89brewer]

Do you still sparge after mash out? I try not to over do it as I find you can end up pulling to much of a grain flavour into wort.

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

I biab mate. No sparges in my house!

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

I'm enjoying a rather large glass of this now. The aroma is the best bit.... So malty :icon_drool2:

 

[fraser_john]

Man, that looks tasty

 

[Filby]

Really keen to give this a try. Does Beersmith2 have a BIAB decotion setting? All of them have the sparge step that I cant remove.

Also, can you post your hop schedule and yeast?

Cheers

Fil

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

Really keen to give this a try. Does Beersmith2 have a BIAB decotion setting? All of them have the sparge step that I cant remove.

Also, can you post your hop schedule and yeast?

Cheers

Fil

I'm not sure about the Biab decoction setting.

Hops are:

21.8 IBU

20g Perle 7.5% @ 60
20g Hallertau 3.5 % @ 10

I used the Wyeast 2112 California Lager yeast @ 16