I bought a Blichmann ProPilot 10 gallon electric HERMS system last summer and have been working my way through many of my favorite recipes since then. Big adjustments on the efficiency calculations, but had that down after two brews. I'm about to brew a Trappist Single recipe on it for the first time and my recipe included a single decoction mash and I would like to stay with that, mostly because of what I believe the maillard reaction adds during the decoction boil. I know there are a lot of threads as to whether that maillard reaction does something or doesn't do something...but that isn't the point of the question I'm about to ask here, so lets skip that part. I tried one similar decoction brew on my HERMS system for a Czech Pils...this was my first brew after putting the system together and the first time I saw my efficiency go through the roof, but let us say that I ended up with a very strong beer in the end...too strong for the style. I pulled a good portion of grains out of the mash tun and heated separately on the stove top for the decoction part of the mash. I managed to clog my HERMS system when I disturbed the grain bed and it was a bit of a mess to get it going, again. In all of my subsequent brews, I haven't attempted another decoction withdrawal from the mash tun and I have had zero problems. This is a good impetus to say "why bother" with the decoction, but not when it comes down to this particular Trappist Single recipe, for me. The thought has crossed my mind to add rice hulls this time around...an easy thing to do, in and of itself, but I have never had rice hulls in a previous decoction and I wonder what effect a boiling temperature might have on the rice hulls. I've never had rice hulls exceed the 168-172 range, in the past. If I add the rice hulls to the grain to help the grain bed formation (and then reformation after disturbing the grain bed to pull the decoction), I will have rice hulls in with the grain when I move it to the decoction boil. Anyone have any knowledge on what a boiling temperature (200 here at 7000 feet elevation) might possibly do to rice hulls? I would not want to be adding some unknown flavor to the beer and am considering just taking my chances with clogging the HERMS circuit without the rice hull addition.