Mash Decoction Programming

Describe your system and processes, and post your config file.
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lsmathers
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Mash Decoction Programming

Post by lsmathers »

Hello all, Sorry if this has already been addressed in the forum. I am new to the BCS-460 and I have brewed in manual mode. I am going to do a brew that requires me to perform a decoction. My setup is a HLT/Herms with Mash Tun and Boil Kettle.

Here is the process I am trying to program, but I am not able to wrap my head around it.

S1 - Heat HLT to 110 degree for strike water
S2 - Add strike water to mash, add water to HLT, heat to 95 degrees
S3 - Use HERMS to maintain Mash at 95 degrees for 15 min.
S4 - Increase HLT to 122 degrees, circulate HERMS till mash reaches 122 degrees, maintain for 15 minutes.
S5 - Increase HLT to 135 degrees, circulate HERMS till mash reaches 135 degrees, maintain for 15 minutes.
S6 - Increase HLT to 149 degrees, circulate HERMS till mash reaches 149 degrees, maintain for 60 minutes.
S7 - Increase HLT to 165 degrees, circulate HERMS till mash reaches 165 degrees, maintain for 15 minutes then Mashout

I will then transfer to boil kettle and boil.

Thanks in advance.

Lou
brewstarke
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Re: Mash Decoction Programming

Post by brewstarke »

I assume your pulling your decoctions into another vessel for boiling and stirring and the temps in your states are your target temps. Your programming will depend on what you have control over. Do you control the temp in the hlt-herms, a pump (or 2), or both? Time required to add back the decoction mash and stabilize your temp may be an issue, or at least need the time required will need to be determined.
You can skin this cat a few ways. You can set up a 15min timer and a 60 min timer for your exits, with a state for each step with the target temp and your exit would be the appropriate timer (I think you'd be able to count up or down). Then you can stir your decoction back into your main mash and have hystersis control recirculation to maintain/reach temp while in the corresponding state. You could pause your processes while mixing the decoction back in.

Or you can start one timer and calculate the running time for each state, exiting when that timer hits your required time (make sure you set the timer to continue from previous state). If you want to add more control of the time at each temp you'll need to split the full mash schedule into 2 processes and add a "ramp state" between each "mash state". The ramp state would exit at your target mash step temp, going to the mash state which will have hystersis control of the mash until the timer triggers an exit to the next ramp.

I'm sure there's other methods too that may be simpler than that.
Good luck!
lsmathers
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Re: Mash Decoction Programming

Post by lsmathers »

Thank you for the reply:

Can I just run my mash through my herms until it reaches the target temp, them mash for the specified period of time?

My setup has a HLT (with 50' stainless steel coil inside), a pump to recirculate the water to maintain even temp, a MashTun connected to a second pump that pushes wort through the 50' stainless steel coil, then a third kettle for my boil.

I am really stuck on how to set the timers up, how to make them enabled as an exit condition etc.

Thank you again.

Lou
JonW
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Re: Mash Decoction Programming

Post by JonW »

brahn
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Re: Mash Decoction Programming

Post by brahn »

I think there's some confusion on what you're trying to accomplish.
lsmathers wrote: Can I just run my mash through my herms until it reaches the target temp, them mash for the specified period of time?
Yes, you can, but this is not a decoction mash. A decoction involves taking a portion of your mash out of your mash tun and boiling it, then returning it to the mash tun.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decoction_ ... on_mashing

It sounds like you're trying to do a simple step mash, which should be easy enough. See the articles Jon posted for information on how to do the programming. I think it would make more sense to heat the HLT to 175 or so from the start and then just pump the wort through the HERMS anytime you want to raise the temperature.
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