Bryan's Quasi HERMs/Decoction/Cold Sparge Madness

[Bryan R]

I did my first ever decoction run with my setup. My setup is a 2 vessel HERMS system.I utilize a bag(and false bottom) as a mash filter system. It worked out pretty good, but I think I will tweak the process a bit for the next time, anyway here is what I did.

Doughed in at 100f for 30 minutes at 2.0qts/lb

Recirculated and stepped at 1.8f/min to 133f.

Rested at 133f for 10minutes.

Recirculated and stepped at 1.8f/min to 143f.

Once the mash hit 143f I then lifted out my mash filter bag and placed it into a separate decoction pot. Leaving the wort to recirculate though the HERMS

I then took and added 2qts of wort to the decoction pot to get the consistency of oatmeal.


While the main mash was recirculating and resting

I then rested the decoction pot at 143f as well for 10 minutes, I then stepped that to 162f for 15 minutes.

After that I then brought it to a boil and boiled it decently hard for ~25 minutes(until the 60 minute timer went off for the main mash).

I then added the decoction pot back to the main mash, which made me hit about 160. The controller then brought it to 162 and held that for 60 minutes.

Recirculated and stepped at 1.8f/min to 172f.
Held 172 for 10 minutes then sparged.

I was left with this ooey gooey goodness after the sparge:


All in all it was a good(I think) successful attempt at my first decoction, and has me itching to try more. No more boiling in the bag though!

[Weizenberg]

Aaaah, don't you get that top layer otherwise? I always get it. Mind you, during the boil there is already a hot-break forming. A lot of that remains in the grain during the sparge so the boil won't have so much to cope with. It also shortens the boil time. Today the total boil time is 50-70 minutes when doing decoctions. When I did step infustions I found that I needed to boil for 90 minutes.

Somehow that time spend during the decoction can be made up in the boil

Looking good though!

Maybe you can put a hose on the top outlet to avoid extra O2 intake (will make for a slighly brighter beer).

Best

[Bryan R]

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[Techbrau]

Even taking care to avoid HSA, your mash water will have approximately 5ppm dissolved oxygen right from the start. I know it may not prove to be the key to "it" (but wouldn't it be funny if low levels of HSA are what kill the fresh field of grain "it" flavor, and it turns out that every American craft or home Brewer has this problem because nobody degasses their mash water) but simply to satisfy my own curiosity I am going to degas my mash water before doughing in (and will likely knead in the grain gently) next time I brew.

[Bryan R]

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[Techbrau]

[wobdee]

I hope your wrong about this oxygen thingy otherwise I'm screwed with my new Braumeister. Sometimes the thing sounds like a water fountain as the wort flows over the side of the malt pipe. I'm sure I'm picking up a lot of oxygen.

[Techbrau]

If I end up being correct, you're not out of luck. You can use some Campden to remove O2

[Bryan R]

Well the only times I have ever had it appear for me are 130 rests.

[wobdee]

So if one was to try and deoxygenate prior to brewing would you boil your brewing water the day before or the day of? How long could you let it sit before it naturally starts sucking oxygen back in? Also how long would you need to boil to remove the oxygen? I'll probably give this a try next weekend.