The most traditional is a triple decoction mash, where a decoction is boiled three times to achieve four different mash steps. What is decoction mashing?Ī decoction mash is a step mash where a portion of grain is removed, boiled, and added back to the mash tun to increase the rest temperature to the next step. However, the flavor addition is undeniable and worth the effort for many beer styles. Decoction mashing is labor intensive and many homebrewers find it unnecessary. Boiling also caramelizes the malt, adding color and rich malt flavor to the beer. This creates specific malt characteristics and flavors at different rest temperatures. Removing some of the mash, boiling it, and mixing it back in the mash tun raises the temperature of the mash. It has the right amount of complexity while still being an easy drinker.Looking for a rich malt flavor, beautiful head retention, and sparkling clarity in your homebrew? Decoction mashing – that often misunderstood traditional technique – might be worth trying.ĭecoction mashing is a traditional mashing technique for brewing beer. The original recipe was an experiment with 100% Munich Malt paired up with some Nelson Sauvin and Amarillo for an English IPA. That beer went on to win the best of show in the first Vlaamse Hobby Brouwers Forum competition. Hop Nest was now going to serve as a calibration recipe for my new Arsegan EasyBrew system/process. After brewing Penelope, I had a good idea about the efficiency of the system, but the volumes were not correct yet (strike water, sparge water, boil off rate, etc.).

Not only was the EasyBrew new to me but I was also trying out some new brewing software. My normal software, Beer Alchemy, stopped getting updated. Plus, the only way I could find to factor in the large amount of deadspace under the grain basket in the Easybrew, was to play with the water to grain ratio. If all my beers were going to be around the same strength then that would be alright, but I want to brew stronger or weaker beers without having to play with profile settings. It was great for my previous Batch Sparge system, but with the EasyBrew it just didn’t cut it.īeerSmith seems to be the current market leader for homebrewers, and it offers a lot more settings to play with than BeerAlchemy. So I created my next recipe in both applications. However, even in BeerSmith the volumes of water still weren’t adding up. Starting off I didn’t have a lot of confidence in either program. I don’t want to have to second guess volumes. I want to be able to create a recipe, then follow the directions in the app without having to think.

When I think, I over think, and that doesn’t make my life any easier. 3.6% Crisp Maris Otter (was to make up for the fact that I accidentally didn’t order enough Munich).Mashing and sparging: Single infusion mash 67☌ for 60 minutesĪs I started to mash in I realized that the mash was way too thick. After doing some quick math on paper (deadspace + water/grain ratio + grain absorbtion), I adjusted my strike water volume. Sparging was easy to figure out on paper too (sparge vol. The EasyBrew can be fully programmed to go from step to step by itself without too much input from the brewer, but for these first brews I did not try that out.

Grainfather mash profile beersmith