On Sunday I brewed a Pilsner. I decided to take a crack at a partial (crazy I know) decoction mash a'la DeathBrewer's BIAB style. Despite a few missteps along the way, I still came out about 10 points over my target gravity (which I guess is really a misstep in and of itself).
Here is what my grain bill ultimately ended up being:
5.25 gallon batch
7 pounds Weyermann Pilsner malt
2.25 pounds Briess Pilsner DME*
4 ounces Briess cara-pils
2 ounces Weyermann Melanoidin malt**
* I had originally planned on 2 pounds of DME. After weighing things out, what was left of the DME seemed insignificant. Figuring my efficiency wouldn't be great anyway I went ahead and added what should have been the remaining 1/4 pound.
** The original recipe called for 1/4 pound (4 ounces) of Melanoidin, but I decided to limit it to about 2 ounces since I didn't want to overdo it.
At brewtarget's default 70% efficiency, this grain bill should put me at 1.054, however, my starting gravity actually wound up being about 1.064. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this would put my efficiency at 85%(?) Obviously the higher gravity is going to make for a higher ABV - a bit high for the style. My biggest concern about this batch, however, is the effect the higher gravity will have on the bitterness. Compounded by the fact that I forgot to punch in the proper numbers for the hops I used, it looks like my bitterness might wind up a bit on the low end.
Basically did a double decoction similar to the one described by menschmaschine in this thread: want-brew-good-pilsner-decoction-mash.
Bear with me... I'm a terrible note taker and with the new process and things being done on the fly, some of the exact times are from memory...
Using about 1.75 quarts of water per pound, I doughed in at 135 and figured out very quickly that the bag was too small for the pot and had to switch to another bag - little bit of a mess...
After 5 minutes I pulled the first decoction. raised it to 155-160 and held for 15 minutes, then gradually brought it to a boil for 10 minutes.
When I added the decoction back to the main mash I fell a couple degrees shy of my target of 155; I figured 153 was close enough. Somewhere along the way I figured out that I had forgotten to add the Melanoidin and cara-pils so they went in here. Actually, I thought the cara-pils would be best at this point anyway. Also forgot to set a timer. I estimate I held it for about 30 minutes. Since I was using a pot and my oven to help maintain temps, I was able to raise the temp a bit over the course of the 30 minutes.
After that rest was over I pulled a thin decoction and brought to a boil for 5 minutes. Back to the mash and after a good stir hit right about 168-170. This sat for 10-15 minutes while I brought 4 gallons of water up to about 178 in my boil kettle. When I came back to get the mash I could already see the protiens coagulating and the wort dropping clear - impressive!
I pulled the bag out of the mash kettle and dunked it in the boil kettle for a few minutes to "sparge". This again brought the temps to about 170. After I pulled out the bag, I added the wort from the mash kettle to the boil kettle, which brought me right up to about 7 gallons.
After boiling for 30 minutes, I cut the heat and added the DME. Brought the wort back to a boil and added Saaz hops at 60, 30, and at flameout. After cooling, I poured the wort into the fermenter, straining with nylon bag, and wound up with almost exactly 5.25 gallons in the fermenter. Fermenter went into the fridge to bring it down further to fermenting temp while waiting on the starter.
At pitching time the next day I pulled the gravity sample. Wow the wort was pretty clear, and the color was really nice. I'm thinking I can already see the benefits of decoction, and look forward to seeing how this turns out. In the future the cara-pils and Melanoidin should probably be skipped. I just added those as a little insurance. I do think I'm growing a bit weary of using bags and can't wait to get a mash tun. They're kind of a pain to clean, and so much "stuff" winds up going into the boil using bags.
Here is what my grain bill ultimately ended up being:
5.25 gallon batch
7 pounds Weyermann Pilsner malt
2.25 pounds Briess Pilsner DME*
4 ounces Briess cara-pils
2 ounces Weyermann Melanoidin malt**
* I had originally planned on 2 pounds of DME. After weighing things out, what was left of the DME seemed insignificant. Figuring my efficiency wouldn't be great anyway I went ahead and added what should have been the remaining 1/4 pound.
** The original recipe called for 1/4 pound (4 ounces) of Melanoidin, but I decided to limit it to about 2 ounces since I didn't want to overdo it.
At brewtarget's default 70% efficiency, this grain bill should put me at 1.054, however, my starting gravity actually wound up being about 1.064. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this would put my efficiency at 85%(?) Obviously the higher gravity is going to make for a higher ABV - a bit high for the style. My biggest concern about this batch, however, is the effect the higher gravity will have on the bitterness. Compounded by the fact that I forgot to punch in the proper numbers for the hops I used, it looks like my bitterness might wind up a bit on the low end.
Basically did a double decoction similar to the one described by menschmaschine in this thread: want-brew-good-pilsner-decoction-mash.
Bear with me... I'm a terrible note taker and with the new process and things being done on the fly, some of the exact times are from memory...
Using about 1.75 quarts of water per pound, I doughed in at 135 and figured out very quickly that the bag was too small for the pot and had to switch to another bag - little bit of a mess...
After 5 minutes I pulled the first decoction. raised it to 155-160 and held for 15 minutes, then gradually brought it to a boil for 10 minutes.
When I added the decoction back to the main mash I fell a couple degrees shy of my target of 155; I figured 153 was close enough. Somewhere along the way I figured out that I had forgotten to add the Melanoidin and cara-pils so they went in here. Actually, I thought the cara-pils would be best at this point anyway. Also forgot to set a timer. I estimate I held it for about 30 minutes. Since I was using a pot and my oven to help maintain temps, I was able to raise the temp a bit over the course of the 30 minutes.
After that rest was over I pulled a thin decoction and brought to a boil for 5 minutes. Back to the mash and after a good stir hit right about 168-170. This sat for 10-15 minutes while I brought 4 gallons of water up to about 178 in my boil kettle. When I came back to get the mash I could already see the protiens coagulating and the wort dropping clear - impressive!
I pulled the bag out of the mash kettle and dunked it in the boil kettle for a few minutes to "sparge". This again brought the temps to about 170. After I pulled out the bag, I added the wort from the mash kettle to the boil kettle, which brought me right up to about 7 gallons.
After boiling for 30 minutes, I cut the heat and added the DME. Brought the wort back to a boil and added Saaz hops at 60, 30, and at flameout. After cooling, I poured the wort into the fermenter, straining with nylon bag, and wound up with almost exactly 5.25 gallons in the fermenter. Fermenter went into the fridge to bring it down further to fermenting temp while waiting on the starter.
At pitching time the next day I pulled the gravity sample. Wow the wort was pretty clear, and the color was really nice. I'm thinking I can already see the benefits of decoction, and look forward to seeing how this turns out. In the future the cara-pils and Melanoidin should probably be skipped. I just added those as a little insurance. I do think I'm growing a bit weary of using bags and can't wait to get a mash tun. They're kind of a pain to clean, and so much "stuff" winds up going into the boil using bags.
