Evan!
Well-Known Member
Okay...all's well. For now. Took 'er out of the lagerator, let the carboy temp rise to 62f, saw some signs of fermentation, put it back into the lagerator...now she's going strong at 54f.
landhoney said:Just curious how slowly you brought the decoc's up to a boil - how long did you draw it out?
seefresh said:I had to check "Other" Evan. Do decoction if you can and REALLY want to. That's what I'm waiting for. I don't want to ruin a brew by trying to do it in my cooler. So, if I ever have the ability, and I want to do it, I will. I don't think the difference will be big enough to matter.
Evan! said:Um, relatively slowly, just to avoid scorching. I just applied a low flame and assumed about 10 minutes for step-up time.
landhoney said:You mean you brought it (the decoc/s) up to boiling in 10 minutes? In other words, ten minutes from flame on till boil?
the_bird said:I think I did that wrong.
First, I've read that you should try and pause at sac rest temps for ten minutes or so, to get some conversion out of the grains you are now going to be boiling. I flew right through these temps; the Banjo heats FAST. I thought I was right about at 150°, but I had so much carryover heat, it quickly shot into de-naturing terrirory.
I'm also pretty sure there's some other benefit I don't understand to the temperature rise being fairly gradual. I'm going to take it a bit easier next time.
the_bird said:I think I did that wrong.
First, I've read that you should try and pause at sac rest temps for ten minutes or so, to get some conversion out of the grains you are now going to be boiling. I flew right through these temps; the Banjo heats FAST. I thought I was right about at 150°, but I had so much carryover heat, it quickly shot into de-naturing terrirory.
I'm also pretty sure there's some other benefit I don't understand to the temperature rise being fairly gradual. I'm going to take it a bit easier next time.
landhoney said:This is what I was driving at. I brought my decoc's up to boil in like 30min's b/c I was under the impression that you need to get conversion from all portions of the mash - or at least as much as possible. If you don't bring the mash up very slowly don't you risk getting terrible efficiency?
the_bird said:The boiling process is also supposed to break up the starches more so that when the decoction is returned, there will be more conversion (which is why, I believe, efficiency is supposed to be higher with a decoction).
So, my understanding of the sac rest before bringing the thick mash up to boil is that it is strongly recommended, but not 100% critical.