Beersmith Decoction Schedule

[homebrew_handyman]

I am trying my first decoction with a pilsner. I brew in a 48 qt cooler mash tun and thought the Beersmith recommended amounts to decoct and boil seem low.


10.1 lbs grain decoct 6.74 qt to raise temp from 122 to 153... does this seem right?
That is just one step but its the most amount to be collected and it seems low.

Has anyone used beersmith steps to the "T" and if so what did you find out? It is close? Should i collect more to decoct? Thanks for any help you have.

 

[burning_snowmans]

At what water to grain ratio are you mashing?

There are a few assumptions you can make to back check beersmith's calcs. Essentially the temperature adjustment will be the volume of wort in the mash (V1) times the starting temperature of that wort (122) (T1) + the volume of the final decoction (V2) times the temperature of the decoction (212) (T2) all divided by the total volume of the final mash (V1+V2).

(V1*T1+V2*T2)/(V1+V2) = Final temp

We're making a few assumptions that the thickness of the decoction and the thickness of the original mash are the same (they probably wont be) but this should get us close. If you use a 2 qts/lb of grain this calcs out to 151.6 degrees, which is pretty close to what beersmith is stating.

 

[tofuguy]

I use Michael Dawson's advice he took from someone else. 1 Qt per pound of grain (thick mash). Slowly as back in while sitting vigorously and measuring temperature the whole time. There is a YouTube video by Brewing TV that covers this very well. I translated this to a cooler mash tun without issue.

Note if you add all mash back in, you will overshot temps, so go slow your first time.

 

[Smellyglove]

I must ask. This might be an obvious stupid question. What's the point in keeping the decoction at sacc-rest-temps, then boiling and add back?

Can't you just do the saccharification in the MT, extract some grist for the decoction, then just boil it, and add back? The way I see it one is doing the exact same thing two different places, when it comes to the saccharification.

 

[tofuguy]

I must ask. This might be an obvious stupid question. What's the point in keeping the decoction at sacc-rest-temps, then boiling and add back?

Can't you just do the saccharification in the MT, extract some grist for the decoction, then just boil it, and add back? The way I see it one is doing the exact same thing two different places, when it comes to the saccharification.

During the first rise from a protein rest to boiling, you want a sac rest to about denaturing the grains and losing eff from the remaining starch conversion in the decotion.

 

[Smellyglove]

During the first rise from a protein rest to boiling, you want a sac rest to about denaturing the grains and losing eff from the remaining starch conversion in the decotion.

Why? you boil it, which means that you make more starches available for the enzymes in the main mash to work on, when you add it back in.If you add it back in at a low sacc-range, you have just primed the wort to end up drier as I see it. And, let's say a German pilsner, about FG 1.008, why would you want to denature enzymes?

If I understood that correctly.

 

[tofuguy]

Why? you boil it, which means that you make more starches available for the enzymes in the main mash to work on, when you add it back in.If you add it back in at a low sacc-range, you have just primed the wort to end up drier as I see it. And, let's say a German pilsner, about FG 1.008, why would you want to denature enzymes?

If I understood that correctly.

Watch the Brewing TV video on YouTube, this is where my chemistry knowledge is lacking and I do not want to lead you astray. But this is a key step I took away from the video.