Decoction mashing is the name given to an older temperature-programmed mashing process used by traditional continental brewers, often for lager production. Decoction mashing was used before the technology for temperature-programmed infusion mashing was developed and at that time European malts were often undermodified.
The process of decoction involves taking a proportion of a mash from a mash vessel into a mash cooker where it is heated to 100°C (212°F) and boiled for a short time. After a specified time the boiled mash is returned to the original mash vessel that is warmed up in the mixing process.
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For example, a portion of mash at 45°C (113°F) may be taken from a mash vessel and boiled before returning it to the mash vessel. The mash vessel is stirred and the blended mash temperature will rise to a required saccharification temperature of 65°C (149°F).
This process may be performed more than once, allowing the mash to achieve a number of temperature stands.
Decoction mashing may involve a “single,” “double,” or even “triple” decoction process, with the latter having become quite rare. Some brewers believe that decoction mashing, although no longer strictly necessary with modern malts and brewing vessels, nonetheless creates greater depth of malt flavor. Many others are sceptical and see the method as needlessly laborious and consumptive of energy.
Variations on decoction processes are also often used when unmalted cereals, usually corn grits or rice, are used as adjuncts in the in the mash. The unmalted cereal (a small portion of malted barley is also added) is mixed with hot water in a separate vessel (usually referred to as a “rice cooker” or “grits cooker”) and this mash is heated to 100°C (212°F). The hard starches in the raw grains gelatinize at this temperature, rendering them soft and susceptible to breakdown by enzymes. When this “cereal mash” is added to the barley malt mash, the enzymes in the malt will convert the now-gelatinized cereal starches into sugars. Almost all American mass-market beers are brewed using a version of this technique, and it is also widely used to produce light-bodied, light-flavored lager beers throughout the world.
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Edited By Daisy Cai
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