Cocked-Up Decoction, or - How I (Almost) Pulled A Justin

[dlevey]

So today's the first day I'm testing out a new system - Gott 10 gal cooler with added ball valve and bazooka screen, 15 gal pot with ball valve and thermosight, first time with a 10 gallon batch. I'm doing a stout which I need for a party next month, so it's today or never.

There were problems, all right, but most were minor or surmountable. But... I missed my mash temp. I had one pot with hot water, and another on the burner warming up for sparge. Somehow, somewhere, I managed to confuse the two and poured some unknown number of quarts of cool water into the mash tun instead of the hot water. Mash temp was now 140F, and the mash tun was up to the brim - no more hot water in there!

In desperation, I drained about a gallon of "wort" from the valve and put it on the burner (yes, IN a pot, for those who are literal...). I let that come to a full boil, and added it back, stirring carefully. From what I can tell, the mash temp rose to (at least very close to) my target of 154F. It's in there coooking now.

Question: Should I expect any negative effects from this, or did I just do something like a decoction and something like a multi-step mash? Clearly, not worrying would be good, but worrying is in my genetic makeup so I can't stop completely...



-Don

[beer_bear]

I'm no expert, but I have had to do this. I didn't notice any ill effects from it. Then a few days later I was listening to the "Honesty and All Grain Show". In there, Doc and I think Jamile both told Justin to do the same thing that you did. He too came in too low for his temp. He just didn't think about trying that. I did it because I figured I had nothing to lose. Turns out for me, it was ok.
I would say you'll be fine. IMHO. RDWHAHB.

[dlevey]

This is good to know - I remember that show now. I managed to eke out the wort, and I think it came out OK (SG was about as expected). Tasting the wort ater the boil was... well, there was something a little *odd* about it. My untrained palate can't put a finger on it (not that I have fingers on my palate, mind you). It could be some astringency from a poorly-filtered sparge, or perhaps some unaged roastiness from the dark grain (it's a stout). We'll see how it goes in a month... Thanks!
-Don

[Kaiser]

Don,

You should be fine. It's essentially a decoction and if one Galon was not a significant part of the mash, you didn't kill to many of the enzymes and were able to achieve conversion as normal.

Kai