Pillars of Tradition — How a New Generation of Brewers Returned to Decoction Mashing

I do fear "decoction mashing" could be (albeit on a smaller scale) the next "dry hopping". In which "triple decocted" is better, because MORE is better. I'm seeing this process advertised from more and more breweries locally.

And Notch didn't simply add this one aspect to their process. They fine tuned the entire process, and go to painstaking detail to get everything right and just the way they want it.

I have read this before and it is very interesting. There are a few variables which should be mentioned though. The overall skill of the brewer (he does appear to be quite experienced), the number of times he's brewed this particular beer each of these ways (repetition), and finally, the experience levels of each taster.

Regarding the last variable, who's to say those 15 tasters weren't the experts? If I gave two Pilsners (one decocted and one not) to my Bud Light drinking brother, his reaction to both would simply be, "It's not Bud Light".

Finally, the author himself does end the discussion with this:

It should go without saying these xBmt results do not “prove” decoction has no perceptible impact on beer, despite the fact participants were unable to reliably distinguish a decocted German Pils from one made using a single infusion batch sparge method. Of course, it’s likely some will rely on these results to confirm an already held belief, which as unavoidable as this is, we strongly recommend against. Considering the shear number of respected brewers who utilize decoction methods, a single data point such as this certainly is nowhere near enough to invalidate the practice. This case is obviously not closed and our hope is that these findings motivate further exploration of this interesting traditional method.

 

And who is to say those 15 testers weren't the 'novices'?

I agree with that statement. And within the context of this exBEERiment it is most definitely a fact that it does not "prove" decoction has a perceptible impact on beer.

Cheers!

 

Haha @AlcahueteJ i almost equated it to DDHing as well in that previous post but did not. Funny we thought of the same thing.

To touch in advertising too... There’s a lager hyped brewery in Philly and heck they sell “decocted, decocted, decocted” shirts and “lager university” hats and and I think “pilsner pirate” shirts too. I won’t judge their beer yet though because I haven’t been. But it’s things like that make me think of the buzzword/marketing side of it

 

Are they teaching the process behind it to their customers, or just using the word 'cause it's fun to say?

 

I don’t know enough to say @steveh I’ve just seen their name mentioned a lot in the northeast forum when lagers come up. I also check their to go list from time to time to possibly make a visit and give them a try. Other than that I don’t know much.

 

Yeah, lots of competition in the craft beer industry and Human Robot is using 'words' to separate themselves from the competition. And in all fairness there is a lot of competition in the Philly area market both from the 'old school' craft lager breweries who have been around for 20+ years (e.g., Victory, Sly Fox, Treogs, etc.) and a huge number of newer breweries (e.g., Root Down, Tired Hands, Mainstay, Workhorse, etc.). I suppose you really can't blame Human Robot for feeling the need to hype their brewery/products?

Just a year+ ago I was reading about another lager brewing 'gimmick' of breweries fermenting their lagers in open wooden foudres.

Perhaps a year from now they will come up with something new to hawk their wares? Maybe invent a new Pilsner sub-style like a Philly Pilsner brewed with South Philly soft pretzels? If the Italians can 'invent' a new Pilsner sub-style why can't they?

Cheers!

 

Every brewery I visited in Franconia open fermented and generally the beers were top class. Maybe I preferred them because they had more esters. If I remember correctly, they generally had rectangular, relatively deep fermenters.

I think all the little process details add up. Dovetail, which decocts, open ferments and lagers in horizontal tanks produces some of the most authentically German-tasting Lagers I've had in the US.

Of course, a shit brewer and crap ingredients can still fuck a beer up.

 

On a tour of Ayinger, one storyboard said they decoct the wheat beers and dark beers.

I also got a whiff of something sour, turned around saw the bioreactor and pipes labeled Sauergut, which is used for pH control, and has a nice background lemony flavor in the beers it's used in. Many German use it as it is a natural acid.

 

And FWIW I too enjoyed the lagers that I drank in the Czech Republic that were fermented in open fermenters. Some brewers and lager beer consumers would advocate that obtaining the lowest level of esters in lagers is the 'goal'. I am personally able to enjoy lagers that are fermented in CCVs and lagers that are fermented in open fermenters. While I am not specifically an advocate for high(er) esters in lagers I am personally not 'bothered' by this high(er) ester amount.

Ron, I agree 100% with you here and as I opined in previous posts which mashing method is selected is just a small portion of the larger 'pie' of brewing processes choices.

Again, I agree 100% with you here as well.

Cheers to properly produced beer!

 

Jeff, what year did you tour the brewery? Do you know whether that is still the case today (2021)?

Cheers!

 

Some quick and interesting research:

Orange juice?

 

I'm a bit obsessed with decoction mashing, though. I'm currently documenting Heineken's mashing schemes in the 1930's. Double decoction for Pils, triple decoction for Münchener and Bok. A video may ensue.

 

How did you reach the point of obsession?

 

2018, and I think 2016. I would be sure they decoct the Hefeweizen.

 

The grape Kool aid flavor has happened a few times to lager I have brewed without Sauergut.

 

I sometimes get a mellow grape flavor in Helles, but it's more Sauvignon Blanc than Kool-Aid.

 

We don’t know, that’s the point. It wasn’t controlled for, or at least emphasized in this article.

Well, it’s not an absolute fact. It was an uncontrolled experiment to some degree, and p-value is a lazy/easy way to quickly evaluate a study.

But I would need to brush up on my stats to comment further, and could absolutely be wrong.

Did anyone ever teach dry hopping? But it became arguably THE buzz phrase in craft beer in the last decade.

If a brewery(s) has success people latch on to certain terms and use them accordingly in marketing.

This is from Notch’s website regarding their new brewery:

We hope that our brewery will provide customers a way to see the unique brewing processes and equipment we use - a traditional decoction brew-house, open and closed fermentation, horizontal lagering tanks, German gravity cask dispensing, and a draft system imported from the Czech Republic – tools, process and equipment that will allow a wide variety of session beer (and occasionally non-session beer) to be produced.

One of my regrets was visiting Austin and not going there. I went to Live Oak though, solid consolation prize.

I get that from Kölsch but that’s likely from the yeast.

 

Should I have also bolded the part about "And within the context of this exBEERiment it is most definitely a fact..."

 

I Think I might have been there when I was in Austin. Can't remember the beers, unfortunately. It was after a long day of travel.