There are so many things wrong with this advice I don't even know where to start...
"Strike and target temperatures are useless for making ale and lager" is a totally nonsensical statement, all ales and all lagers require target temperatures for the first mash step, and every target temperature also requires a strike temperature
Modern malts are not undermodified and don't require decoction or step mashing at all to achieve good conversion. A step mash improves fermentability and allows the brewer to better control the ratio of simple sugars to dextrines in the finished wort which can improve head retention, body, and mouthfeel.
Both alpha and beta amylase are responsible for conversion
You don't need an acid rest if you use a pH calculator and add the correct amount of sauermalz, phosphoric acid, or lactic acid.
Beta does the exact opposite of what you said - it chops up long chain polysaccharides into short chain "simple sugars"
A secondary vessel is not needed at all. For pro brewers a bright tank may be beneficial though
If you attach a spunding valve after secondary, there will be no CO2 to spund - fermentation is finished
Carbonation does not occur because of maltotriose and depending on which yeast strain is used, it will have already been fermented during primary. Artificially carbonating fully fermented beer is the BEST way to prevent bottle bombs
There are so many things wrong with what you wrote that I don't even know where to start.
Let's start out with you learned how to make homemade beer that was renamed real ale when CAMRA was invented back in the 70s, the granddaddy of BJCP.
"Strike and target temperatures are useless for making ale and lager" is a totally nonsensical statement, all ales and all lagers require target temperatures for the first mash step, and every target temperature also requires a strike temperature"
I'm bad. I should have written, strike and target temperature are useless except in single temperature infusion where only Alpha is activated to release simple sugar, glucose, which is the main sugar in homemade beer.
Blasting malt with water close to or above Pasteurization temperature denatures enzymes until mash temperature reduces. Enzymes do not work backwards. That is why strike and target temperature are useless for producing ale. You told a brewer to soak malt at 154F, that is great. You told the brewer to denature Beta and the other low temperature enzymes that make ale and lager. Maybe the brewer wants to make ale instead of homemade beer.
"Modern malts are not undermodified and don't require decoction or step mashing at all to achieve good conversion. A step mash improves fermentability and allows the brewer to better control the ratio of simple sugars to dextrines in the finished wort which can improve head retention, body, and mouthfeel."
You are correct, modern, high modified malt isn't used with the step mash or the decoction method, it would be a waste of time. The malt only needs to be soaked in hot water for an hour to release glucose. But at 140F conversion occurs but you skip the step. Again, you told a brewer to soak malt at 154F.
Isn't under modified, malt, modern malt, anyway? The malt is bagged up in the malthouse at the same time when the high modified, malt is bagged up. Malt became modern when the IOB was founded. The malt spec sheet was invented at that time. After that brew masters didn't need to test malt anymore. There are three columns on a malt spec sheet from the IOB, EBC and MBAC?. Charlie Papazian came up with the BS story about modern, high modified, malt before you were thinking about making beer. He said that when the malt was invented the decoction method became antiquated. A decoction brewer would have to have rocks in their head to use the malt. Heritage malt is 34 to 51 KI, the malt should be decoctioned to take advantage of the high quality, under modified, malt, 34 to 40 KI, in the bag.
The step mash improves fermentability? Isn't simple sugar, glucose, the most fermentable sugar on the planet? In the industry where single temperature infusion is used mash is soaked at 149 to 150F because Alpha releases the highest volume of glucose from simple starch amylose in an hour at the temperatures. Grain distillers use the temperatures. Why waste time on the step mash method if single infusion does the job?
You are correct, the step mash or the decoction method doesn't need to be used for conversion, only the conversion rest at 140F is needed and even high modified, malt will convert.
A and B limit dextrin is wrapped up in complex starch, amylopectin. For dextrinization and gelatinization to occur mash is boiled. Alpha liquefies the starch releasing the sugar. Limit dextrin are tasteless, nonfermenting types of sugar. Limit dextrin, pectin, and albuminous protein are responsible for forming head, body and mouthfeel. When you make beer, you throw away amylopectin with the spent mash. Amylopectin is the richest starch in malt. You paid for it why not use it?
"Both alpha and beta amylase are responsible for conversion"
Of course, because without the simple sugar, glucose that Alpha releases during liquefaction Beta has nothing to convert. Beta turns glucose into fermentable, complex types of sugar maltose and maltotriose.
"Beta does the exact opposite of what you said - it chops up long chain polysaccharides into short chain "simple sugars"
That is hilarious! Beta has nothing to do with starch, Alpha does. Starch is a polysaccharide which means there is a bunch of different sugars in it. Alpha liquefies simple starch amylose and releases glucose. Do you know why it does it? Glucose is one of three building blocks of life, and our spit contains amylase, and the enzyme works like wildfire at 98.6F. It is called Alpha for a reason the enzyme is connected to life, from the beginning. What in nature lives at the temperatures that you tell people to use?
During liquefaction Alpha liquefies amylose at a 1-4 link in the starch chain. When that happens the name changes. The one piece is called the reducing end and the other piece is the nonreducing end. The reducing end contains 1-4 links that Alpha continues to liquefy until all of the 1-4 links have liquefied, or Alpha denatures and sweet, nonfermenting, simple sugar is left. Depending on how high the rest temperature is the quicker Alpha denatures leaving the reducing end longer. The beer will be sweeter and lower in ABV. The beer you make contains highly fermentable simple sugar, glucose and depending on how high the rest temperature is above 150, sweet, nonfermenting types of simple sugar.
"A secondary vessel is not needed at all. For pro brewers a bright tank may be beneficial though"
Once again you get a bingo because the conversion rest is skipped in home brewing and in grain distillation.
Looking up a recipe and soaking malt in hot water for an hour makes a pro brewer?
"If you attach a spunding valve after secondary, there will be no CO2 to spund - fermentation is finished"
In the beer that you make that is exactly the way it works because after primary fermentation ends there is no reason for using a secondary fermentation vessel because the isn't any fermentable, complex sugar in the wort for yeast to ferment during secondary fermentation.
"Carbonation does not occur because of maltotriose and depending on which yeast strain is used, it will have already been fermented during primary. Artificially carbonating fully fermented beer is the BEST way to prevent bottle bombs"
Yeast rips through glucose during primary fermentation and nothing else. Yeast starts with simple sugar, glucose and works its way up. After primary fermentation ends the beer is racked off trub and autolyzed yeast and placed into a secondary fermentation vessel. During secondary fermentation an enzyme in yeasts converts the disaccharide, maltose back into glucose which yeast uses for fuel, sometimes the beer has to be krausened. After secondary fermentation ends the beer is racked into a conditioning tank where the beer clears, and the yeast converts maltotriose back into glucose and natural carbonation occurs. The beer is transferred under pressure into kegs. You don't need to do any of that stuff because the wort that you make contains only glucose which yeast rips through during primary fermentation because the conversion rest is skipped in home brewing and in grain distillation, where the home brew single infusion method came from.
