Decoction or step

Do what you feel works for ya brother. That’s what it’s all about.

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Exactly. Am I going to break down and do a 3 hour triple decoction? No, I won’t. But I’m going to revisit some of my recipes with a step mash and see if I want to do a single decoction to hit the next rest or a mashout. Doesn’t add that much time really. In that regards some recipes I feel are spot on and malty enough without a decoction (looking at you oktoberfest) but others may benefit.

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Exactly. Did i mention I’m lazy? Im not doing a 3 hr mash either and that’s what always scared me. But my process and times was as follows. For the protein rest i mashed in very thick at 140 which dropped the mash to 120( i think i had to add some cold water) while this was going on i boiled a gallon of water which i then added to the mash. I took my time so the protein rest was maybe 20 minutes. The boiling water raised the temperature to about 145 at which point i started the timer. At 15 minutes i pulled a gallon to decoct. Got it boiling in about 5 minutes and boiled for 10 more. The timer is now at 30 minutes. I added it back in and it raised the temperature to about 158. When the timer read 45 minutes i pulled the second decoction. 5 minutes to get it boiling 10 minute boil added back at 0 minutes done

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All told maybe 1 1/2 hr mash. Skip the protein rest which most times i don’t do and it can still be done in an hour BIAB. Process may be longer in a tun

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Interesting approach. I may give this a try on my next pils.

The pils won’t need a protein rest. I was using spelt malt so i did one

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@dannyboy58 I agree not worth a protein rest with a pils. But this is one style that I’m thinking a decoction might be interesting on.

So… DO a protein rest at 110*F?.. Just to… ? Allow the malt to open up… and let it cellular structure send out the …Malty-ness?
Sneezles61

I did it mostly on this brew yo be traditional. A protein rest from what i read may be beneficial when using a lot of flakes or unmodified malt. I didn’t use flakes but i did use 30% spelt and 30% wheat. The rest was short

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Today I’m brewing a saison. Plenty of wheat malt and flakes. I tried a cold water dough in and double decoction. Stepping up from the cold water to the protein rest doing infusion was a pain. Needed more boiling water than anticipated. The decoction part was easy. I’ll not do the cold water again. By the way im glad i was doing Biab because with this much wheat and flakes lautering would be a nightmare. But we’ll leave that for another discussion

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I have been doing that repeatedly. Maybe a dozen times in the last year I’ve done one batch single infusion, then the next time as a step mash. So far I have found no benefit to the step mash. But that’s why you should try it yourself.

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Have you tried doing a decoction on your Pils

Oh, yeah. One of my first experiments 20 some years ago. Served it blind to a highly qualified taste panel. Consensus was that it wasn’t preferred.

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Bummer Brew Cat… All that time consumed… could’ve been quaffing an extra pint… :sunglasses:
Sneezles61

Not quite, my process doesn’t actually take longer than a single infusion. Just some extra busy work. I still think it makes a slight difference maybe not. Either way it definitely doesn’t ruin the beer. Maybe D’s qualified tasters weren’t as discerning as me😂

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Great thing about being a homebrewer? Brew the beer you like, your way.

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Still cloudy

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Very nice foamy head… As you sip… rub bing yer nose… :sunglasses:
THAT is why I brew…
Sneezles61

That’s the pils?

No the heff. I didn’t do a pills yet still waiting on the upright ive been promised for a new ferm control. I did the protein rest with double decoction on this one. I did a single decotion on a cream ale which was super clear.

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