Question about a recipe with decoction

[rl1373]

I'm planning on brewing my first all grain batch (Bell's Oberon Clone) within the next 2 weeks. The recipe is as follows:

6lbs American 2 row
4lbs American White wheat
.5lbs Carapils

1oz Saaz 30min (leaf)
1oz Saaz 15min (leaf)
.5oz Saaz and 1oz Cascade in secondary (dry hopped for 14 days) (leaf)

Start in at 133F for 15 minutes
Decoc 12 pints of mash (adjust this for your system)
155F for 60minutes
mash out.
OG 1.059
FG 1.014-016

Again, this is my first all grain batch. I built a cooler for batch sparging. I'm not completely comfortable with the batch sparge. So decoction is not something I want to add to it right now.

First question is how will the flavor be effected without decoction? Will it be big difference? From what I've gathered it makes for a dryer, less sweet beer. If this is the case, couldn't I just mash at a higher temperature to make up the difference?

The recipe says to start in at 133 for 15 minutes. Can anyone go into to detail what this means, how to do it, and how to go from this step into the next step?

thanks for all the help. Everyone here has been super helpful. It has only taken a few month for me to be a brew addict and make the switch to AG.

 

[HairyDogBrewing]

For the long answer read http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/index.html.

The short answer is to keep things as simple as possible the first time you use new equipment or a new process.
I would suggest a recipe that is all barley (wheat and oats can cause stuck sparge).
A single infusion mash at 152F is the easiest to execute and is the most popular method.
Use brewing software to calculate the strike water amount and temperature.

Assuming grain and cooler are at 72F, heat 13 qts of water to 168F and dump in cooler.
Stir in the grain gradually to make sure there are no dry clumps.
Wait at least 5 minutes before checking the temp.