I tried for a second time brewing an authentic hefe utilizing a single decoction mash. I am consistently a 75-80% efficiency brewer whenever utilizing a single infusion (I use Beer Smith to design recipes and make calculations). Anyway, this past Saturday, I tried pulling a much thicker part of the mash, but unfortunately ended up scorching part of the grains during the grain boil and I had the problem I had the first time, which was a much lower efficiency than what I should have gotten. According to Beer Smith, I am only in the low 60s for overall efficiency percentage.
I have always thought decoction was supposed to yield better efficiency, but I am having the consistent problem of low efficiency and whenever I add the deocoted part back, not hitting my target scarification temp.
I heat the strike water up to 137 to do a 130 protein rest, which holds fine. Then, I pull about 5.3 quarts of the thickest part of the mash for the decoction (again, I use Beer Smith). Before boiling the decoction, I always rest for about 15 minutes at 158 or so. Then, which I add it back, I am lucky to be in the low 140s, which is about 10 degrees short of what I am aiming for. Even when I pull more to boil, I still come up short on efficiency.
So, three questions---
-is my batch of hefe ruined since I scorched some grains?
-any clues as to what is causing my decoction efficiency issues?
-is a decoction even necessary to get the malty mouthfeel in a hefe?