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Decoction Mash Video

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I think these videos may have just answered some questions for me. I just finished my 2nd AG last night (Bee Cave Brewery Rye IPA). Since this is only my 2nd AG and I'm living in an apartment, my equipment list is limited. 2 items on my wish list is a gas burner and wort chiller.

Anyway, back to the brew. I noticed that I lost about ~1.5 gal of wort due to massive amounts of trub. On the last video you showed the amount of protein that was filtered out. Would I be wrong in believing I may have recovered an additional, say, .75 gals of wort had I gone this method? Also, how does this effect efficiency?

Thanks again for the video and the additional references.

I'm still not sure if it will get you better efficiency although, it seems like you might due to the longer mash time. Efficiency seems to be tied more to how finely your grains are milled as well as your mashing/sparging technique.

Two things I have found with AG Batches to help reduce trub:
1. being more thorough with vorlaufing (sp?)
2. longer primary - the trub seems to compact more the longer you let it sit (results will vary depending on yeast type)
 
Did an enhanced double decoction yesterday. One of the benefits I have discovered to this method is the hot break on the boil was extremely less, probably due to the hot breaks that occurred in the decoction boils. I had done the same recipe a week earlier with single infusion and had to fight boilovers for about five minutes at hot break.

I welcome this improvement, as I could do my boil in one vessel. I usually have to use two vessels and then combine them after the hot breaks in each.

This recipe is 10 Lbs 2 row and 5 oz wheat malt, to clone Full Sail sessions Lager. I got the recipe from the brewmaster at Full Sail.

I bought a one quart dipper from a local restuarant supply house, and recommend that as transferring boiling wort is "touchy".

I will be able to compare taste on the two methods, but that's months away.
 
Thanks for the videos, they were very helpful for my first attempt at a decoction last weekend. I mash in a 70qt igloo ice cube and typically batch sparge with a braid. One thing I did to pull the initial decoction volume was to open up the tun valve and dump the liquid into a bucket temporarily. This allowed me to pull grain out with a 2 qt Pyrex container fairly quickly without burning the $&*# out of my hands. I was a little worried about temperature loss and filtering enzymes back into the grain bed and denaturing them prematurely. The first decoction was paused for a sacc similar to Kaiser's video.

Temp drop was about 2°F by the time it was back in the cooler and SG was as predicted. Thoughts or criticisms on a temporary relocation of wort?
 
excellent instructional video you're a natural.... and almost motivated me towards decoction if i wasn't such a lazy BAIB brewer!

GD51
 
Ok, so stupid question... For those doing a decoction mash, is it necessary to have a false bottom? or does the constant stirring work well enough?

Appreciate it, looking forward to trying this....
 
Ok, so stupid question... For those doing a decoction mash, is it necessary to have a false bottom? or does the constant stirring work well enough?

Appreciate it, looking forward to trying this....

Do some more research on decoction mashing. Watch videos, read, ect.

You use your NORMAL mash tun. You PULL grain to boil in a separate vessal. Then return it to the Mash, which should have a false bottom, unless your BIAB.
 
Jaimez said:
Do some more research on decoction mashing. Watch videos, read, ect.

You use your NORMAL mash tun. You PULL grain to boil in a separate vessal. Then return it to the Mash, which should have a false bottom, unless your BIAB.

I have and am... Thanks
 
WOW! I Watched this video over and over and over. The next day I tried it. It took me 12 hours from start to finish. But what I have already discovered was fantastic. Recirculation was the quickest ever, I didn't even see a piece of grain in my tubing. Hot break was almost nonexistent. There may have been 11/2 to 2 cups of protein break left in the bottom of my boil kettle. It did take me by surprise how thick the grains on top of the mash became just before the hot break, during the first decoction. It was almost like baking a muffin but then it became very liquid when the boil began. I wont know if it made any difference to do this for flavor verses a single infusion mash for a while. But it sure made a difference for extracting wort and the boil!
 
I just watched the videos and learned tons. Not just about decoction but mashing in general. Well done Kai!
 
I've got a basic pale ale recipe that's my house brew. I'll look at beer smith and post the extract, partial mash/steeping grains, and all grain versions later this weekend.
 
I am on decoction mashing after a while, and off course I watched videos again, very helpful :)
There is also podcast on BB (Kai's Take on Decoction):

http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=basic-brewing-radio-2010
(May 27, 2010)

Just listened to the podcast and caught something I haven't heard before that many German brewers don't boil the decoction and just bring it up to boiling temp and hold it for a certain amount of time. Interesting, more experiments to try.
 
I finally got it done and released to YouTube:

Part 1:
[youtube]_V1zt0mW084[/youtube]

Part 2:
[youtube]I5u_nJhMD4w[/youtube]

Part 3:
[youtube]6VcZRVw2k_o[/youtube]

Let me know if you can actually understand anything I'm saying. I'm not a natural in front of a camera and the accent doesn't help either, though it could be considered an asset in this case ;).

Grab a beer. The total length is about 25 min.

Kai

Loved the videos, learned a lot! Thanks Kai!
 
Used the info in these videos to plan out the decoction I am currently making. Thanks again Kai.
 
I finally got it done and released to YouTube:

Part 1:
[youtube]_V1zt0mW084[/youtube]

Part 2:
[youtube]I5u_nJhMD4w[/youtube]

Part 3:
[youtube]6VcZRVw2k_o[/youtube]

Let me know if you can actually understand anything I'm saying. I'm not a natural in front of a camera and the accent doesn't help either, though it could be considered an asset in this case ;).

Grab a beer. The total length is about 25 min.

Kai

Thanks Kai - I learned more from your videos than I did from any other source! Since the time you made these videos in 2008, is there anything today you would do differently? For most decoctions, Would you still recommend the Enhanced Double Decoction method over other methods?
 
Thanks Kai - I learned more from your videos than I did from any other source! Since the time you made these videos in 2008, is there anything today you would do differently? For most decoctions, Would you still recommend the Enhanced Double Decoction method over other methods?

Well, it looks like Kaiser hasn't visited this forum for just over the last two years. What a shame!
 

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