Decoction mash schedule.

Made a czech pilsner with a double decoction before christmas.

Mashed in at 54C/129F for 25min (protein)
Decocted to 64C/147F for 30min (saccrification)
Decocted to 70C/147F for 20min (dextrinisation)
Infused water to 76C/169F for 10min (mash-out)

Missed sacc. temp so had to make a couple of small decoctions to achieve it. Thus it had a period at 60/140-ish I think and the clock ticked so saccrification was long and low. This is reflected in my 80% apparent attenuation after a month with WLP800.

I want to make another one and adjust the mash for a fuller body. Any suggestions?

If not convinced othervise I'll change only one variable and go for 54/129, 66/151, 70/147 and 76/169 to see what happens.

This time I will be using some "Floor Malted Bohemian Pilsner Malt" from Weyermann that I got hold of. It's supposed to be slightly less modified than other Pilsner malts. The last beer was with Pils malt from Globalmalt.

Cheers!

Went ahead and brewed this. Missed temps on the low side (as usual..) and will end up with another dry beer I guess..

As usual with these mashes my efficiency were very high. 92.7% efficiency uinto boiler which is insane and an all time high

Just try to hit your temps and adjust the length of the 64C rest. I would also shorten the protein rest a little but that's just me.

Here is something I found a while back that had some good Czech Pils info. Note how full-bodied Pilsner Urquell is compared to others.

SpanishCastleAle said:

Just try to hit your temps and adjust the length of the 64C rest. I would also shorten the protein rest a little but that's just me.

Here is something I found a while back that had some good Czech Pils info. Note how full-bodied Pilsner Urquell is compared to others.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that presentation, good stuff!
The mash temperatures for PU mentioned in that one (95, 122, 149 and 168) differs from the ones in this article (95, 127, 143 and 163):
http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue5.3/urquell.html

Think I'll try the one from the presentation on my next attempt.

What times would be appropriate for the mash steps?

I want to nail this Czech Pilsener since it's a delicious beer and my water is very soft and close to what they have in Plzen so it's the appropriate style to brew with the local water.

You're lucky to have such nice water.

After reading that presentation I no longer felt 'guilty' for sneaking some light munich and carafoam in a Pils.

EDIT:

What times would be appropriate for the mash steps?

Click to expand...

The length of that rest at 149 will make by far the biggest impact on the fermentability of your wort. The protein rest will also affect it to a small degree so if you do a protein rest you should shorten the rest at 149 by a tiny amount. I'd keep the protein rest short and adjust the length of the rest at 149 to tweek the fermentabilty. 30 minutes is a good starting point and make sure your thermometer is calibrated.

Oh yea, if you are interested in shortening the time spent at protein rest temps (due to waiting to complete a decoction) you can do the following:
Dough-in thick
Pull thick decoction
Infuse decoction with boiling water to get to sacc rest temp quickly
Then continue with decoction as normal

Infusing the decoctions can speed it up a little.