Hefeweizen - Decoction Step Mash

[oliver]

Hey guys,
So I went to a great brewpub (Speindel's) in Germany recently and the brewer was kind enough to detail his hefeweizen recipe and mash schedule for me. I'd like to have a go at roughly following his recipe and process out of interest. His recipe/advice (roughly):

• At least 30% barley (half pils, half munich)
• Rest wheat
• Hallertau for bittering

My recipe:

• 55% Wheat (Gladfields)
• 32% Pils (Gladfields)
• 12% Munich (Gladfields)
• Wakatu for bittering

I don't want to go quite as dark + bready as his, but I think the munich complements the clove nicely so I want a bit of that character in here.

Now for the mash schedule (he was talking very fast in German so I think I missed a few things :p):

1. Dough in at 30 deg C
2. Raise temp at rate of 1 deg C per minute to 52 deg C
3. 15 min rest at 52 deg C
4. Raise temp fast to 68 deg (first decoction I presume)
5. Raise to 72 deg after 30min (second decoction, 7 minutes I think?)
6. Mash out at 78 deg C then lauter

Should have taken better notes :p, also didn't ask him about liquor/grist ratios...

So I'm keen to give this a go on my equipment. I don't care too much if some of these steps are unnecessary, I want to do this out of interest.

So I'm planning to use my 90L electric boil kettle for a 45L batch size using a bazooka screen for lautering. Width:depth ratio is 1:1.

I plan to treat the barley portion of the grist with water the night before and do a careful, coarse crush.

A few firsts for me:

• First time using my boil kettle as a mash tun
• First time doing such a complicated step mash 

Using the boil kettle as a mash tun I can raise the temp using decoction, infusion or direct using the elements.

Here's my plan at the moment:

1. Dough in at 30 deg C (2.1L/Kg) (2 tsp CaCl)
2. Raise to 52 deg C using infusion (6.5L/Kg) (feed the mash hot water regularly), hold for 15 min
3. Decoct 25L and boil for 7 min, hold at 68 deg C for 30 min (6.5L/Kg)
4. Decoct 10L and boil for 7 min, hold 72 deg C for 20 min (6.5L/Kg)
5. Mash out to 76 deg C using electric elements
6. Lauter

Phew, it's going to be a big day. Does anyone have any tips to make things easier? I'm not sure about the liquor/grist ratios - I read somewhere that the lower steps work better with thicker mashes?

I could also go with a higher liquor/grist ratio and go with direct heat rather than infusion.

Am I missing any key steps for hefeweizens?

Any tips you guys might have would be great :)