I am thinking of embarking on my first decoction mash soon. Just wondering if anyone else does/has done this and if there's any advice for the first time?

I decotion mash when making weizens. Decotion mashing imparts a nice maltiness that I have been unable to obtain by other methods.

The only advise I have is to allow yourself plenty of time. Decotion mashing always seems to take me far longer than expect.

Cheers,

Scott

I am curious on specific numbers for "thick", "thin", etc. when referring to the mash pulled to boil referenced in pro-mash. It pulls up default values (i.e. 0.65 for thick), but I'm not sure where these values come from, and how to calculate them myself to customize my own mash. Do you use pro-mash for your decoctions? I thought you mentioned the program before...

I'm afraid I can't help you there.

I use BeerTools Pro rather than Promash. I'm afraid have not really delved into all the possibilities with BeerTools. I've only used it for recipe formulation and playing around with water chemistry adjustments.

To tell the truth most programs are not a great deal of help with respect to decotion mashing. I mean, you can compute the amount of mash that should be removed and boiled but it still comes down to estimating that amount. Admittedly knowing how much to remove and boil is useful but in general the value is about 30% of the total mash. I just use this value and it seems to work pretty well.

Because of the uncertainities of decotion mashing I always have a pot of boiling water and a cup of cool water on hand in case temperature adjustments need to be made once the decotion is added back to the main mash and stirred in. I rarely need to use them but they are nice to have at the ready just in case.

Sorry I can't be much more help.

- Scott

Good advice. You do a two-step, or three-step decoction? The extent of my knowledge is limited to Charlie's "Homebrewer's Companion".

I usually do a two-step decoction.

When I make a weizen I add sufficient hot water to do a protein rest and then do a decoction to get the temperature up to proper mashing temperatures and then I do a second decoction for the mash out.

- Scott

Gotcha. That's pretty much the process I intend to attempt. Here goes nothing!

Let us know how it goes? I wanted to do one soon also.

I will update when I attempt it. I'm on a forced vacation from brewing right now (finances). Should be up and brewing in September.