German Brewing

Yep. I'm a Decoction virgin. I did my first step infusion mash only two brews ago. I figure I want to start this process now. I won't get better at it, not doing it.

That being said; I'm looking at making a Munich Dunkel. I haven't totally finalized the recipe, but it'll probably be made with mostly Munich and some Pils malt (adding a touch of debittered black malt or chocolate wheat for color adjustments/ 1-3%). If posting the recipe helps, I will.

I'd like to start with simple, easy, baby steps. Looking at a Double Decoction. Some sort of protein rest, sacch rest, then maybe doing infusion for the mash out (although i'm not opposed to pulling another decoction for the mashout).

Any help with temps, time, process, etc would be very welcome.

With that in mind - what is some advice you'd dispense for a total newb?

Sure...Post the recipe.
A malt report would also help you know for certain what kind of #s you're dealing with, in regard to protein & nitrogen.
But, if you don't have access to that, you can use the averages that the maltster lists & get close to what you need.

I wouldn't recommend wheat in a Munich Dunkel...
Some form of Carafa is what I typically suggest.
But, it's your beer.

It's actually quite easy to do, I only did my first a few months ago.

I was only going to use the choc/midnight wheat because it's leftover. I'll save it for a dunkelweisse...

80% Munich (I believe Weyerman - I haven't yet purchased this from the new brew store I go to)
15% Pils (I like Avengard and it's inexpensive)
5% Carafa II (Weyerman too - although I think the store has Black Princ malt from Breiss. Either way it's going in at the end of the mash to adjust for color).

I guess I'm a little confused at what temps I should be holding, the length of time, and when exactly you pull the decoction during the rest.

Here is what my process looks like:

Dough in for - 130F (total time 20mins, pull 1st decoct after 10mins and bring to boil for X mins, add back)
Sacch Rest- 149/150F (rest 60mins, pull 2nd decot after Y mins, bring to boil for Z mins, add back)
Mash out - 168F

Is this right? Can someone solve for "X", "Y", and "Z" ??

Many Thanks!

Well, personally I would never add malts at the end of the mash.
I would be doing this decoction as well.

Wow, 5% carafa is a lot! You want the color, not the flavor from that malt.

Try using 80% Munich malt, 15% Pilsner malt, 4% caramunich, and 1% carafa.

The darker beers, really benefit from the longer boil times. You can certainly do a standard Hochkurz though, and extend some of the boil times and omit the first(protein) rest completely if desired.

That looks more agreeable for my first time. I'll go with that, omitting the first rest.

How long would you do the boils for? These look like about 15min boils. Go for 20-30min?