Low Temp Dough-In for Decoction Mashing

[cactusgarrett]

I have a process related question that I would like the community's buy-in on. It's not so much the decoction process itself, but more the idea of a low-temp dough-in step for mashes that involve a decoction.

In trying to take my german lagers to the next step, I've recently been employing a decoction to move from beta to alpha rests. One of the things I read (I believe from a traditional German brewing source/approach; can't remember where right now) is that it is beneficial to do a low-temp (~104°F/40°C) dough-in step at around 1qt/lb before moving to the beta rest (around 1.8qt/lb). As I understand it, this is to get the enzymes into solution better before moving to the beta, then pulling grain out for the decoction. It makes sense (to me), but I can also be talked into a lot with only a little amount of seemingly scientific merit.

Despite not being around the typical protein rest temp, it seems like low temp dough-in step generates that thick protein gunk that makes lautering a pain, so I'd like to get rid of it - but only if it doesn't serve a good purpose towards the decoction process. I use a picnic cooler MLT and boiling water to go from 104°F to beta, so eliminating this step would be nice. Using boiling water infusion to hit beta also somewhat short-changes me in the batch sparging department. Thoughts?

 

[Vale71]

I do this routinely in my decoction mashes. My rationale is that this allows me to get in an extra decoction step with lots of grains (=lots of taste) without activating proteolitic enzymes which would be counterproductive with modern malts. The reasoning that you can get the enzymes into solution and then pull a thick decoction to leave the enzymes in the main mash is a bit outdated as modern malts have such high diastatic power that you really need to mess it up big-time in order to have issues with conversion. With older malts it was possible to reduce diastatic power so much that full conversion could then never be achieved, so the brewer had to particularly careful in that regard.

 

[cactusgarrett]

But if I'm only doing the single decoction (beta->alpha), could i do away with the 104°F rest and just infuse to beta at a higher than typical ratio (~1.8 qt/lb) and get the same "benefits"?

I routinely feel hampered by the less-than-usual volumes of water i am left with to sparge, but more so hate wrestling with lautering the sludgy material that results from the 104°F rest.