Boiling wort to reach mash out.

Look up decoction, and yes that should be doable.

 

Pulling mash for boiling and returning it to the remainder of the mash for the purpose of raising the temp of the mash IS decoction. It is not unusual to do this in lieu of adding additional boiling water to reach mash out if you cannot directly heat your mash (i.e., the mash is in a cooler).

 

I thought decoction involved pulling off a very thick portion of the mash and boiling it. Either way, whether it is officially decoction or not, I've practiced the technique for years and find it's a great way to mash out and improve efficiency.

 

Subscribed. Good idea! A nice segway into devotion people who still want to keep it simple with a cooler tun

 

Pulling wort (without grains), boiling, and returning is sometimes called a thin decoction. I've done it, but ultimately didn't find it was worth the trouble. It didn't do a lot for flavor as far as I could tell, and mashing out with hot water is a little easier, especially since I don't mash with the entire final volume of water. But to answer the original question, there's no harm in it.

 

A friend does a thin decoction very often on his system. When I do a double decoction, the first is thick, the second is thin. The second thin boil denatures the Beta and Alpha Amylase. Beta is denatured with a 168F step, but not the Alpha, you need 176F for that is the upper limit.

 

Easiest method:
Add a small volume of water calculated to raise the grain bed to the mash-out temperature.

 

I have found that pulling some wort bringing it to a boil is an effective way to get to mash out without diluting the wort more using an infusion of water. It works fine with no ill effects. And it takes less wort than an infusion of boiling water would take to raise the temp.

 

No argument there, if you have the room. My friend has a 10 gallon cooler as a mash tun, and brews 10 gallon batches, so he runs out of room often and his technique is to pull a thin decoction to reach mash out temp.

 

That works, but thins out the mash as well, which can have an effect on efficiency (especially with fly sparging, I think).

 

Are you using a program/calculator?

 

I do this regularly when making high gravity beers, as I have a small-ish mash tun. I'll mash, run off a couple gallons, bring to a boil, then add back to get to mash out temp.

 

Harm? Depends on if your asking for a medal from a beer judge and you arent trying to make a beer in which Maillard reaction products arent meant to be in. The heating of wort will encourage maillard reaction (yes I know you will be heating it eventually by boiling), which is where a decoction mash is meant to really enhance traditional german styles like doppelbock or marzen. Now if you are trying to produce a beer that is looking for toasty, nutty malt deliciousness, then you are fully encouraged to continue on! However, beware that you might get some 'off' flavors in lighter styles.

 

On a homebrew scale, are Maillard reactions a real thing, or just BS like vorlaufing?