My first decoction mash

18 hours

I read an article in this month's Beer Advocate magazine that was basically a recipe and guide for brewing a terrific Marzen but without going through the procedure of a decoction mash. It called for one pound of melanoidin malt, which is a special kind of malt containing highly extractable levels of melanoidin. Melanoidin is found in Munich and Vienna malt and is a key in giving German Oktoberfest beers their authentic flavor. I called both brew shops, neither one had melanoidin malt. There was only one thing to do: learn how to do a decoction mash.

Decoction mashing is basically the procedure of heating up a portion of the mash to a boil and then mixing the heated portion back into the mash, raising the temperature of the mash to the next "step." The boiling of the mash results in a distinct malty flavor due to the Maillard reaction which causes a non-enzymatic browning of the sugars in the malt.

Recipe:
5.5 lbs 2-row
5.0 lbs Munich
3.5 lbs Vienna
0.75 oz Tettnanger (add during sparge)
0.33 oz Hallertau 40 min.
0.50 oz Hallertau 20 min.
Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager

Decoction mash:
Mash at 130F with 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain. After 20 minutes, take one third of the mash and heat to 170F. Add back to mash; the mash temperature should level off to 150F. If it does not, stir the mash around and take another one third of the mash and repeat the first process. In actuality the more times you perform this step the better decoction you will have. When the mash reaches a temperature of about 153F, maintain for 60 minutes. After that sparge and proceed normally.

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18 hours