Decoction for what styles?

[jkreuze]

I've read about decoction but have not seen a thread explaining what styles of beer would benefit from a decoction mash technique--any ideas?

 

[sudbuster]

I've read about decoction but have not seen a thread explaining what styles of beer would benefit from a decoction mash technique--any ideas?

Yeah, most Eroupean and pre-prohibition American pilsner styles will benefit from decoction tecniques. Many brewers now are just adding some Munich malt to mimic the decoction method though.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Wheat beers, bocks, pilsners and various Belgian beers are often mashed with a decoction schedule.

 

[Malticulous]

Anything German or Czech.

 

[the_bird]

FWIW...

One of the brewers I have absolutely more respect for than any other is Kaiser. He's very into the topic of decoctions, he's done a ton of research into the history of German beermaking, reading and translating old German texts. Done all kinds of controlled experiments (and if you know Kai, you know he's VERY much the stereotype of a very precise German engineer). He's the one who taught me how to do a decoction.

Long and short of it, very controlled experiments, side-by-side batches, same recipe, same rest temperatures... and the differences actually caused by the decoction itself were very subtle, to the point where you can't really tell which beer was decocted and which was not.

James Spencer did a great interview with him a few months back, worth a listen.

Long and short of it, seems that the decoction is much, much more important in the context of maximizing the utilization of less well-modified malts, that the effect of freeing up the starch molecules for conversion is the reason for decoction mashing much, much more so than any flavor enhancements. That deep-malt flavor of a German lager is coming from the malt and the long aging, not from the decoction.

The process is still fun, it's still cool to kind of connect to the traditions, but sure seems from the research Kai is doing that the actual process isn't really adding much itself to the beer.

The real answer to "what beers need a decoction" is probably "the beer that's being brewed with less-modified malt," which these days isn't very many.

 

[coypoo]

Is the no difference in decoction vs non-decocted beers a single infusion or a step mash?

 

[the_bird]

Kai was doing a step mash in his experiments, IIRC.

For what most people *think* of as being the "decoction flavor," I'd say there's nothing wrong with adding a little Munich or melanodin malt in there. That gets some of that deeper, bready maltiness, some of those classic German-lager flavors.

Point being just that what we all tend to think of as being flavors that come from the decoction, are probably coming from something else.

 

[Malticulous]

Denny hit on that today at NB forums. It was a single decoction.

Kristan England, also at the NB fourm has said that his Munich Helles had gotten score sheets saying it was too malty and to lay off the Munich. His beer was all pills.