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Always assumed the increase was for 2 reasons:1. You usually use a higher water/grist ratio2. You increase mixing during the mashI also assumed I was seeing the increase because I had poor efficiency in the first place (~63%). Potentially a system with a higher average efficiency wouldn't see a difference...
Quote from: kylekohlmorgen on December 18, 2013, 07:35:32 amAlways assumed the increase was for 2 reasons:1. You usually use a higher water/grist ratio2. You increase mixing during the mashI also assumed I was seeing the increase because I had poor efficiency in the first place (~63%). Potentially a system with a higher average efficiency wouldn't see a difference...The boiling bursts small hard starch granules and makes that available to the enzymes, so higher conversion efficiency. Kai has information on his page, and a microscope picture of a granule.
So if decoction mashing gives us a greater yield, you can use less grain in your recipe. On a larger say hundred barrel plus scale, you would save $Ingrain but would that be offset by the cost of energy needed to do the decoction?
Decoctions have always increased my efficiency as well. My normal range is 70-76% depending on the gravity. The double decoction schedule I usually follow for most of my german beers will put me around 82-86% efficiency.