Charlottesville Area Masters of Real Ale

How many of you have done some decoction brews. I did my second one yesterday for a Pilsner it took quite a while and of course i will have no clue as to how good the beer is for several months. I did do one last year for a Bock beer and i felt it turned out a little sweet too many dextrins. Both time i did it for the most part was to experience the historical procedure. Has any one done the same beer with a decoction and infusion? notice any difference? It does take a long time i was outside for about 8 hours so i wonder if it is worth it beyond the experience of doing one?

I haven't gone the decoction route but I applaud your gusto. I'm sure that the beer gods are smiling down on your keeping the tradition alive. I guess with all the highly modified malts out there these days, most folks are on track with single infusion mashes. Maybe you can make a tee shirt proclaiming your feat. How about "Got Triple Decoc?" Hmmn. That sounds a bit off. I'll keep thinking about more pleasant variations. 

I did one by accident on my expresso stout last year.  I ran out of room in the mash tun and had to cook the extra grains somehow.  So, it turned into a decoction on my stove top, as I got busy with other things, and it actually boiled a bit.  It was only a small amount (0.5 pounds) so I don't think it impacted the beer flavor that much.

Keep us posted on how it turns out.

well i am at the 10 day point and the fermintation is still go strong very different from most of the ale fermination i have watched. I want to mention the two times i have done a decoction brew i have had stuck sparges. This is a big pain in the ass and consumes a lot of time to fix, i guess i am sparging two fast on these brews has anyone else experence this problem?

I had my first stuck sparge ever this weekend on the aptly named "Murphy's Law Irish Stout."  The reason was the recipe called for grinding the roasted barley down to flour and I did not add any rice hulls.  From my reading, stuck sparges typically occur when your grain is too finely ground or if you use wheat malt, which is more likely to compress.  In either case, adding some rice hulls keeps the grain bed from compacting.  They are a very inexpensive "insurance policy," but they do take up space in the mash tun, so make sure to take that into account.

I have never heard of grinding roasted barley to a flour, did they give a reason for this?  Since roasted barley is typically only for flavor and some color with no real contribution to the overall fermentables it seems odd, the usual crush should do perhaps adding a little more for the desired taste.  Just curious.

The recipe came from Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer's book Brewing Classic Styles (pg 164).  In the book, JZ states "This is a classic dry stout recipe.  It makes a great dry stout, but you need to crush the roasted barley very fine.  Run it through a coffee mill or use a rolling pin to turn it almost to dust.  That is critical to getting the right flavor and color with this recipe."  That is all he says.  I guess we will have to see how it turns out.   

That's interesting. Perhaps its something I can incorporate in the future for my own stouts.  I have the book so I will check it out. Thanks for the info Tom.

in an elementary form.  See my post about low tech all grain brewing.  Basically, I end up doing very elementary decoction, because I use rather silly, albeit cheap, equipment that ends up losing heat too fast.  My brew days take forever (usually 8-10 hours. arg.).