Decoction question

[milracing]

Hi thanks in advance!
When doing decoction mashes you pull a portion of the mash and boil it. My question is during the boiling the mash crosses the mashout temperature and those enzymes are deactivated. Do they continue to be deactivated when you return the decoction to the mash and it cools down to a saccrafication temperature?
Also (mashing right now) using beersmith my decoctions amounts that it calculated ended up too cool to hit my rests so I am having to add boiling water from the water I was going to use to sparge and also doing additional decoctions. I preheated my mash tun (picnic cooler). Anybody else experience this? Thanks so much

 

[WBC]

Traditional method:
When you pull the thick part of the mash you should not just boil it right away. You first heat to the next step and hold 30 minutes and then boil and return enough to the main mash to bring it to the same level as your decoction you just heated. You repeat this for each decoction step until mashout and for mashout you only heat the mash liquid to a boil to bring up the main mash to 170F.

Watch this video for the new German method.

New German method video: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V1zt0mW084]YouTube - Decoction Mashing (part 1)[/ame]

 

[milracing]

Thanks! I dont know why I didnt think of youtube for this!!

 

[menschmaschine]

You first heat to the next step and hold 30 minutes and then boil and return enough to the main mash to bring it to the same level as your decoction you just heated.

I think this is too long. I hold mine for 10 minutes (per Noonan) and still get great efficiency.

 

[Steve973]

When you mash, the enzymes get dissolved into the wort pretty readily. When you are step mashing by way of decoction, your decoction will be thick. Most of the enzymes are left behind in the wort in your mash tun, so this is not a problem.

 

[knowltonm]

Like others have said, the enzymes are mostly left in the mash, and you are supposed to hit your next rest temp before increasing to boiling. As for coming up short on temp when returning the decoction to the mash, I experienced the same thing. The general consensus was to pull 1.5-2x what beersmith recommends. If you hit your temp before you add the whole decoction, just leave it to cool until it comes down to your mash temp.

 

[WBC]

I think this is too long. I hold mine for 10 minutes (per Noonan) and still get great efficiency.

I was just trying to give the basic idea that you don't just pull the decoction and go right to a boil. I was not trying to point to any 1 step as far as the time in munutes at that step.