Decoction or step

I can do either but a decoction until i get an indoor burner (tomorrow) it would be easier to step. What would I gain with the decoction vs a step mash?

Decoction should give you more melanoidin for increased body and maltiness, right? Maybe darker color.

Im not interested in a darker color and i guess i could add melanoidin malt

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I added(and have for past few hefe’s) just a small amount of melanoidin malt to my recent kegged hefeweizen and was happy with result…like 3 percent. I’ve never tried decoction but I know a number of award winning German breweries do…

Which is why we don’t decoct often right?

Well im trying to replicate some historical German beer and look at these 2 methods

So maybe its not a game changer doing a decoction… Malts are modified so releasing the enzymes are able to be done very simple now…
You could try find malt that needs, protein, Beta and Alph rests… Might tough to do…
I’d just do a step mash… then do another without… Can you tell the difference?
Its a parallel to my water journey… Just have to… then ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^? :grin:
Sneezles61

Im only doing decoction on these historical beers like grand pappy would have done. Trying to make a psychic connection. I did a decoction before and only noticed it was more work. Today i did a step. Didn’t do a protein rest since its not wies its a cream ale so i did a 145/155 step more for practice than anything else.

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That first is an interesting concept. Bring the entire mash to a boil twice…
I will add that in the recipe they are calling for floor malted malts which usually contain more protein and beta glucan, thus the decoction. Plus, it would be historically accurate.

That is different for sure. Mash in at room temperature? Then bring it to a boil twice. I think I’ll do the other but the other is a step. Ill come up with a combo. Wish grampa kept notes

I do use melodian on my ipa brews

I can see an appointment with a psychic in your future… See if you can find yer answer!
Sneezles61

Since decoction requires the malt to be boiled, you can get a whole lot more of the starches very well gelatinized – basically making a starch soup – which then when added back into the “main mash” (which is the liquid portion), the enzymes can take action more readily, which can improve your efficiency by quite a bit. On my decoctions I’ve seen a jump in efficiency of 5-10%.

Other than that, yeah, you can get darker color if you boil the decoction for a long time. But this isn’t necessary either. I usually only boil for like 10 minutes which gives you all the benefits without extending the brew day by much, and not darkening as much either.

Overall… while I’ve tried decoction and I understand its uses… I don’t do it anymore. It’s sort of fun to experiment with, but it’s just really not necessary with the well modified malts we have in the 21st century. Decoction was more useful hundreds of years ago when malt quality was not as great. Now if you go shopping for undermodified malts, you just really can’t find it anywhere. I know – I’ve looked, many times. Fact: Any so-called “undermodified” malts sold today actually aren’t.

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A couple weeks ago I made a Czech Premium Pils that I decided to pull a decoction. I have an commercial size induction burner that I used and it worked flawlessly. This was my first decoction and was more just to say I’ve tried it. I don’t expect that it will change much. Maybe a little more flavor and color… maybe. @dmtaylo2 I too saw about a 5% increase in efficiency.

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I picked up a butane burner so i can do an indoor s decoction. My strike water is heated in big coffee urns to 180-190 so i need ed something that would boil a gallon fast. I think this setup should make it easier. No i need to design a profile. I think brewers friend has a tool or I’ll just do the calcs and wiing it

Ive decided to do a modified decoction. I’ll do a mash in at 152F rest for 15 minutes then pull the decoction. Boiling for 15 minutes then cooling the decoction with cold water to 152F and return it to the main mash. That shouldn’t take much longer than a normal mash. Then I’ll pull my bag drain and dunk sparge to get my volume. Not like how grandpa would do but he would maybe be impressed with my inginuity

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Brewing a Baltic Porter so practiced a single decoction. Mash d in at 148 pulled a decoction boiled it for 5 minutes poured it back and finished at 158. Had plenty of time to do a double or longer decoction boil. Don’t know which works better

Did your decoction raise the temp that much or did you have to add heat?

No it raised it. I only mashed with 3.5 gallons. Pulled a gallon yo decoct

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No additional heat required. Actually no hard than a step infusion. I’ll check the gravity shortly

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