Second AG Batch First Decocition

[blefferd]

well i decided to try a single Decot. while brewing today, it went easy enough. this was my second AG batch and all went well till i went to rack to the fermenter.. this was the grain bill and hop schedule.

8lbs 2row something, i forget what the guy at the HBS said it was lol and i forgot to get the detailed recept anyways im making a SN Pale Ale Clone.
3/4 lb Crystal 60L
1/2lb CaraPils
2 OZ Perle Pellets
2OZ Cascade WHOLE hops

i mashed in with 3 gallons at 122 for a protien rest, then after around 10-15mins i took out 3 quarts of Grain and around 4 quarts of wort (maybe more i didnt measure it just wingining it lol) boiled that for around 20 mins added it back to the mash tun and that brought the temp up to around 155-156 then let it sit for around an hour or so and did a sparge with 4 gallons of water at 160-164 (im not even sure if you are supposed to sparge when decot mash lol) anyways, i did a 75 min boil, and added 1 1/2 oz of the Perle hops and around 60mins added another 1/2 oz of them. with 15mins left i added 1oz of the Cascade hops then another 1oz at 7 mins

well after everything was cooled off and ready to rack there where so many hops in the bottom of the kettle that i couldnt syphon out because the hops kept plugging up my syphon. so i finally get pissed and use this hop strainer bag and end up dumping about 1/4 of the crud dumped into the primary! grrr so im really pissed now so i go and sanitize another bucket and syphon the rest of the beer from the first primary to my new one and now i have to add around 2 gallons of water to top off the loss to the hops/turb in the kettle and primary! aghhh anyways if this batch comes out ok itll be amazing!

 

[banjopicker16]

My only concern for you is this- one shouldnt decoct English and American malts, especially those used for pale ales and what not. The reason is, these are modified better than the Continental European malts, which needed the decoction to help it along. In the english malts, there are proteins that are already there that a protein rest will take away from the beer (in body, I believe). BUT, nowadays, the europeans malt just as well, and I know first hand that my lagers from decoction are AWESOME. So, I can just tell you what I read. But, I hope your beer is awesome!

 

[Steve973]

You could just do the decoction at the end to raise the mash up to mash-out and sparge temperatures. This will still give you that nice "decoction" flavor if you don't want to step mash.