Let me lead off with, yes I understand that wheat gelatinizes at 130F so the cereal mash is unnecessary, but I am trying to add things to my repertoire just because, and heck maybe it will add a layer of flavour... Telling me "don't" is not going to help My understanding of a cereal mash is that I will on my stovetop take my adjuncts & some base malt (about 10%?), heat to 150F, hold for 20 minutes, then boil for another 20 minutes. I then add that to the main mash. As I am thinking about my procedure, I wonder: does a wit pose a special problem. My recipe is 4# Floor Malted German Pils, 4# Raw Wheat & 1# Flaked Oats (I might use steel cut as this should be OK with a cereal mash). Am I right that I only need 0.5# of pilsner with so much adjunct in the cereal mash? With so much adjunct, do I have enough enzymatic power left in the ~3.5# of pils left over to perform full conversion after I denature what there was in the cereal mash? Also, how do I ensure I nail (within a few degrees) the correct mash temperature for the infusion? On point 1, I seem t have found that the malt is likely 100-120 Lintner, which gives an average of 35-42 in the main mash which should be OK. I was thinking on point 2 that I might just add cool water to the cereal mash, then add the remaining pils and not do a parallel "main" mash of the 3.5# of pils, that way I can use my stovetop to heat the mash to the correct temperature directly... Does this make any sense? All I would lose is a protein rest. And no, I do not have fancy software that will do infusion calculations for me. I can fiddle with online ones, but was wondering if there are any that are better or anything else I should be aware of.
My take on this is that .5# of pils in the cereal mash will start to break down the gelatinzied starches but it won't finish the job, which is why you'll need the main mash. There should be enough DP in the main mash for complete conversion, but you might want to give it a long saccharification rest (75-90 min) or do an iodine test to make sure. I always have problems hitting the mash temp in my cooler when I am doing anything like a decoction or step infusion. For my cereal mashes, what I did was add the cereal mash to the strike water of the main mash; then I began mashing by adding grains when I hit the strike temp. I don't recall whether this nailed the striked temp for me or not, but the three beers I did this with (a CAP with corn, a farmhouse ale with spelt, a cream ale with Belgian yeast) all came out fine. Of course, it could be that I'm not the best critic of my own beers.
^^^ adding your grains to your strike water is just...GENIUS! I might actually try a decoction again.
