Decoction mashing - stir during boil?

I'm in the middle of a decoction (about to decoct to mash out) and I observed during the last decoction, when adding back to mash, that I need to pull from the decoction while still boiling. Instead, I've been pulling the decoction off of the flame after I'm done boiling, continuing to stir for a bit, then start adding to the mash. By the time I added the last part of the decoction, my decoction temp was down to about 165F, which is way lower than the 202F that I planned on. As a result, my sacc rest is pretty low (about 150).

I can't reliably stir vigorously while moving portions of the decoction to the mash. The boil, however, does some amount of stirring by itself. For those that have done this a lot, do you continue stirring while your decoction is boiling? Also, am I correct in assuming that I need to move the decoction to the mash while I'm still at a boil?

Thanks!
- stephen

subscribing. I have done decoction mashing so curious myself.

I stir almost constantly during the decoction, and I boil hard. If you're not stirring, you run the risk of scorching your grain, and that will taste like Satan's Anus.

Stir well.

Yeah, that's the idea. I'm wondering specifically whether it's necessary to stir once it's boiling.

stephelton said:

Yeah, that's the idea. I'm wondering specifically whether it's necessary to stir once it's boiling.

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Yes, Since you pull mostly grain with little liquid (except for mash out decoction, where you can pull some liquid), it will burn very easily if you don't stir.

Thanks. For this brew, I stirred the whole time. It's hard to type right now. How thick would you guess you usually decoction mash, yooper, in terms of qt liquid per lb grain? I messed with the thickness in both decoctions until it was just thin enough to stir without a lot of effort.

I'm doing a Weizenbock, which has about 50% wheat -- I think this sparge is going to take at least 2 hours. And I'm only doing 5 gallons.

stephelton said:

Thanks. For this brew, I stirred the whole time. It's hard to type right now. How thick would you guess you usually decoction mash, yooper, in terms of qt liquid per lb grain? I messed with the thickness in both decoctions until it was just thin enough to stir without a lot of effort.

I'm doing a Weizenbock, which has about 50% wheat -- I think this sparge is going to take at least 2 hours. And I'm only doing 5 gallons.

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It's thick- you want just enough liquid to be able to boil the grains. You want to pull the decoction from the thickest part of the mash. It sounds like you've done it properly!

Rice hulls are a lifesaver when sparging mashes heavy to wheat or rye!

Yooper said:

Rice hulls are a lifesaver when sparging mashes heavy to wheat or rye!

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I used about 3 lbs of rice hulls with 6.5 lbs wheat and 6.5 lbs munich. It's still a trickle. Would you use more? I just picked up a 50 lb bale of rice hulls

You want to, need to stir for at least two reasons. First as has already been posted, it helps keep the decoction portion from scorching. Since most of us use direct heat from a propane flame that is very important. It's also important because the stirring keeps the goods well mixed to help spread the heat around making the overall temperature much more even.

How about a single decoction when doing a BIAB partial mash?
I was thinking about putting my grain in two different grain sacks (2/3 and 1/3), and then pulling the 1/3 bag out as well as a small amount of the mash liquid.
But then what role would the bag play vis-a-vis stirring? It's hard to stir the bag itself. Would I just stir the surrounding liquid and not let the bag touch the bottom of the pot? Or will decocting with a bag only guarantee I burn my grains?

Ooh! Also, since I'd be trying to decoct a BIAB partial mash, ought I add a little bit of DME to the boiling decoction?