What styles benefit from decocting?

Other than hefeweizens I mean. Evan! got me hooked on decocting my wheat beers and now I'm wondering what else I can decoct. I don't make lagers so I guess I'm asking about ales...

Soulive said:

Other than hefeweizens I mean. Evan! got me hooked on decocting my wheat beers and now I'm wondering what else I can decoct. I don't make lagers so I guess I'm asking about ales...

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Well, the decoction method is traditional to central European beers. That means Germany and Czech and that means lagers, at least for the most part. Pils, Helles, Marzen/'Festbier, Dunkel, Schwarzbier, Dortmunder, Bocks, etc are all likely candidates but they are all lagers. Kolsch and Altbier are technically ales but since they use the same malts as those lagers they could certainly be considered. Since typical ales like pales, stouts, porter, and IPA are UK in origin the malting and mashing tradition there is a simple single temp infusion. If you want to sneak in a decoction with those styles you could use the method to raise the mash temp to mashout.

+1 to the mash out decoction, I do one every batch. I do a double decoction on the rye ale in my recipe dropdown and it turns out really well.

I've gotten lazy with the steam masher lately and now you guys got me itching to pull a decoct!

About time for an Oktoberfest I think.

I'm doing a double decocted munich dunkel as soon as my double decocted vienna lager is done fermenting. I like stretching out the brew day, plus standing over that decoction boil... LOVE that smell! :rockin:

You'd be surprised... I like decoctions enough that I use it as my normal step mashing procedure. Last winter, I made a mighty fine porter via decoction mashing.

Noob here trying to get a grasp on decoction principals.
Is this an increment of heat raising throught the mash, as
well as pulling a portion of wort off and boiling Midway in the
mash cycle ?

Decoctions go with anything, but work better with some styles.

karbinator said:

Noob here trying to get a grasp on decoction principals.
Is this an increment of heat raising throught the mash, as
well as pulling a portion of wort off and boiling Midway in the
mash cycle ?

Click to expand...

I'd read up on it in How to Brew or, better yet, watch the stickied videos here on HBT.

Essentially you raise your mash temperature by drawing off grain and mash liquid into a separate pan. This is then heated to 150°F for a certain period (e.g. 15 minutes), then boiled for 5-30+ minutes before being returned to the main mash. This then heats up the rest of the mash, which allows you to do step mash.

You need to have lots of grain in the decoction to reach the temperatures that you're seeking.