Decoction for Any brew?

Being from a Germann American town of Hermann in the Missouri Rhineland, I am becoming increasingly fascinated with German styles of brewing.

I have a simple question. I know that decoction mashes have great benefits for lagers, but what about for other beers?

Is there any ill effect if I went 100% decoction for all of my beers: Kolsch, Berliner Weisse, Alt, Weizenbock, Heffeweizen?

I don't know about the other styles, but I won't make a Heffeweizen without doing a decoction.

You could do a decoction mash on any of those styles.

I guess a better question would be, is there any style you wouldn't want to decoction mash?

You can do a decoction on any style and it won't hurt it, but the decoction may not be noticeable and there by not worth the added time and effort for every style. But if you wanted to experiment doing every style like that go for it.

All malt forward beers benefit from decoction IMO! ...and I don't think it is as difficult as people say. It will take more time to brew in this manner, but when your heart is in it and you are having fun, it does not really matter.

Some people will say that a decoction does not make much difference on taste, but I personally can tell a difference. I cannot describe the change in flavor other than to say that it seems to make the beer more "savory," it seems to accent or bring out the malt flavor better.

You should get excellent efficiency by doing a decoction mash, at least that is my experience...and it is FUN!

I don't think I would bother doing a decoction mash on an IPA.

We have a club member that does complete decoction for every beer he brews. His brew days average 12 hours he says (and I will take him at his word on this.)

IF <- I get some things built and figured out I would like to try a stein beer heating up granite rocks in a fire and using them to make the wort boil. I have been doing some heavy research on this and am only needing to prep my stones which is going to be a PITA but do able IMO. Now just need time and money...

Zamial said:

We have a club member that does complete decoction for every beer he brews. His brew days average 12 hours he says (and I will take him at his word on this.)

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12 hours...geez. How are his beers?

I did a single decoction today and it probably added 30-45 minutes to a normal single infusion brew day. I don't think I have the patience to do a double or triple decoction and spend 3-4 hours on the mash alone.

There was a Brew Strong show about decoction, and the guys on there all said that they didn't feel that it was necessary with today's modern malts and you didn't really gain that much.

BrewThruYou said:

12 hours...geez. How are his beers?

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They are REALLY good. Not worth a 12 hour brew day but I can say I have never had a bad beer from him...

That's the consensus, it seems. You get maillard reactions that you can more easily get by simply lengthening the boil, and you get some additional extract yield. Some also say that with today's highly modified malts one runs a real risk of stripping the beer of too many proteins, resulting in a thinner beer that won't hold a head (Noonan, New Brewing Lager Beer). Dornbusch says that there's nothing like the maltiness and flavor you get from decoction mashing a poorly modified malt. So a year ago I looked for a poorly modified malt so that I could decoction mash for a good reason. Couldn't find any.

I have been thinking about trying a triple decoction on a saison since I do not have the setup to do a traditional step mash. I think it could make for an interesting beer.

I have done a triple decoction on an Altbier and it took 8 hours from set-up to clean-up. My normal single-infusion brew day is about 5 hours typically. After that day, I have only done single and double decoction.

The gain in efficiency is noticeable to me, every time. Take everything you read or hear on a podcast with a grain of salt, and try it yourself....