Triple Decoction ?s

I'm about to brew my first hefeweizen and by all accounts a triple Decoction is the way to go for the mash. I've been reading up on it and have a few questions...My Mash Schedule look like this:

Acid Rest: Add 6.00 gal of water at 97.9 F 95.0 F 45 min -
Protein Rest Decoct: 1.65 gal of mash and boil it 122.0 F 60 min -
Saccharification: Decoct 2.07 gal of mash and boil it 148.0 F 15 min -
Saccharification: Decoct 1.12 gal of mash and boil it 158.0 F 15 min -
Mash Out: Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min 168.0 F 10 min -

1.) Am I supposed to add each decoction back to the mash after I get it to the temperature indicated on the recipe or am I supposed to bring it to a boil and add it back to the Mash tun at which point it should raise the temperature of the entire mash to that indicated on the recipe?

I've also seen where some people just add the decoctions to each other but this doesn't make sense to me..

2.) How is the Mash out accomplished? I assume that I'll need to add some water to the grain as I won't get my full boil volume from the above. Do I use a batch sparge at this point?

Thanks for the help...

mikeg77 said:

1.)... or am I supposed to bring it to a boil and add it back to the Mash tun at which point it should raise the temperature of the entire mash to that indicated on the recipe?

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This. But don't go dumping everything in at once. I use a rule of thirds here. Meaning I add ~third of the decoction, mix, and check temp. Then the next ~third, mix, check temp.

The point here is that if you add some and reach the step target you can hold the rest of the decoction til it cools a bit and add it in a bit later without risking an overshoot.

mikeg77 said:

2.) How is the Mash out accomplished? I assume that I'll need to add some water to the grain as I won't get my full boil volume from the above. Do I use a batch sparge at this point?

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Depends entirely on you and what you are comfy with, or what volume you have available in your tun. I like to fly sparge so I reserve that volume for the sparge.

As for the mash out, if you choose to, you decoct.

mikeg77 said:

Thanks for the help...

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S'aight. If you haven't yet, Google Kaisers Decoction Mash youtubes for more insight into the process.

When you decoct the calculated volume of worth, boil it, and add it back into the mash, it will bring the temperature of the mash up to the next step.


After draining off the first running of worth, you can sparge as you usually do to get the appropriate preboil volume.


Mike