Melanoidin vs. Munich?

I'm going to brew my first Bohemian pilsner-ish lager this weekend, and I plan on doing a single-infusion mash, without decocting or doing a step mash. I'm thinking that if I keep it simple, I'll have a better chance of success.

Since I'm not going to decoct, I've been thinking about putting some Munich malt or melanoidin malt in to try and imitate, however incompletely, some of that decoction mash taste.

Which one would be better, and how much? I'm planning on doing a no-sparge batch, so I'll be dealing with about 12 lbs of Weyermann bohemian pilsner malt, and possibly a 1/2 lb of carapils or carafoam.

Thanks in advance,

Mark

I've never used melanoidin but starting to keep up in what type of styles I'm finding it used in and how much. So far it's been at around 2% of the grain bill in the amber and bocks. The Munich I'm not sure about, too much and you start pushing a Helles.

I'll add that when I want to do a single decoction, I'll start with a single infusion. Then I'll pull 1/3-1/2 of the mash, boil for 20 minutes, add it back and that'll give me about a 168 degree mash out.

Definitely go with the melanoidin malt. Munich has plenty of melanoidins, but they are different ones. While it's still a fairly lousy substitute for a decoction, melanoidin malt is better than anything else. Recently, a Grand Master judge tried some of my double-decocted Bo Pils, and he asked if there was any melanoidin malt in it.

Two percent or so sounds about right for the maximum.

If you do want to decoct it later on, I tend to only boil my decoctions for about 5-10 minutes for lighter beers, like Pilsners. I'll go 20 minutes for darker beers, such as Bocks, though. You don't want to skew your color too much with those lighter beers (or mess up the balance with too strong of a melanoidin character).


TL

I was going to use about 9% in a partial mash maibock:

3lb munich
1lb carapils
1lb carahell
1lb melanoidin
5lb pilsen dme

is this too complex? I'm worried about the color contribution of the melanoidin, i've read that it contributes a red color. i don't want that in a maibock, is this true?

any other thoughts on this grain bill?

thanks!
-nick