Methods not widely used by homebrewers

[Good Ed]

ah thanks Jim, probably not worth the bother

 

[GuitarJImB]

An update on this excellent and really helpful thread re cold steeping... (from my newly purchased copy of Gordon Strong's "Brewing Better Beer"...)

Strong states that when cold steeping you can either:
A) add to the fermenter (I guess making sure to sanitise everything & use cooled boiled water)
Or
B) add to the LAST 5 or 10 MINS of the boil

In my latest effort "Dark Knight" I added the cold steepings to the whole boil. Strong claims that this will add some harshness... I have no measure of this seeing as DK is a new brew and my only sample was at bottling hence some harshness anyway).

I will save a bottle (well, I'll try ) and compare next time and use the late addition method to see if there's a noticeable difference!

BTW, I'm REALLY loving Strong's book! Particularly the encouragement to develop a philosophy for my brewing - I like that kind of thing! :geek: :thumb:

 

[Aleman]

BTW, I'm REALLY loving Strong's book! Particularly the encouragement to develop a philosophy for my brewing - I like that kind of thing! :geek: :thumb:

I HATE STRONG'S BOOK!!!!





























Mainly because it is the book I could/should have written :evil: :evil: :evil: Although I do disagree with him on a few issues

 

[PD]

So...if the steeping of Black and dark Malts, reduces the harshness, would that mean Stouts etc being more drinkable earlier ?

 

[Aleman]

So...if the steeping of Black and dark Malts, reduces the harshness, would that mean Stouts etc being more drinkable earlier ?

Not really, it's more a technique for beers where you want a deep richness of colour without that roast character

 

[zgoda]

To reduce harshness you might sub part of black malt with dehusked Carafa. This worked for me earlier.

And don't add it before last 10-15 minutes of mash time. Like on mash-out.

 

[PD]

thank you...worth bearing in mind.

 

[GuitarJImB]

BTW, I'm REALLY loving Strong's book! Particularly the encouragement to develop a philosophy for my brewing - I like that kind of thing! :geek: :thumb:

Mainly because it is the book I could/should have written :evil: :evil: :evil: Although I do disagree with him on a few issues

:lol: :lol: Got me! You had me worried for a moment there Aleman! Thought I'd upset you or summat! :

On the subject of methods not widely used... Anyone know where to get hold of rice hulls in the UK? :wha: Might need some for my next effort (oatmeal stout - could be a sticky mash) plus I would like to test to see if they make any difference to normal mashes.

 

[Baldbrewer]

Hi, you can get oat hulls from haiths.com bird food suppliers
These do the same thing regarding stopping stuck sparges.

Having said that mine are still in the unopened bag and I didn't get a stuck sparge on my AG#2 Alemans Erdinger clone.

:thumb:

I believe Rob from Malt Miller might sell them too? :hmm:

 

[GuitarJImB]

Hi, you can get oat hulls from haiths.com bird food suppliers
These do the same thing regarding stopping stuck sparges.

Having said that mine are still in the unopened bag and I didn't get a stuck sparge on my AG#2 Alemans Erdinger clone.

:thumb:

I believe Rob from Malt Miller might sell them too? :hmm:

Thanks BB! :thumb:

Anyone used FWH for flavour as well as bitterness? Strong has useful suggestions on adjusting quantities and IBUs in the recipes and I wondered what others had used and achieved?

In my last effort I just chucked all the bittering hops into the copper with MT run-off. We'll see how it turned out in about three weeks!

 

[zgoda]

I was bit disappointed by fwh with Saaz and (to lesser extent) with Tettnanger. Flavour was too strong compared to bitterness, maybe one should mix both fwh and regular hopping for bitterness.

 

[Good Ed]

To reduce harshness you might sub part of black malt with dehusked Carafa. This worked for me earlier.

And don't add it before last 10-15 minutes of mash time. Like on mash-out.

another thing I have done for colour for 23L brew is to use 28g (1oz) of black malt ground in a coffee grinder and then sprinkled on the grain bed before sparging, I got the colour with very little flavour from the black malt

 

[jonewer]

I always use FWH, even before I knew what FWH were, I just chucked them in then because it seemed the thing to do!

 

[periolus]

Cold Steeping is a method from back in the 90's first suggested by Mary-Ann Gruber of Breiss maltings specifically to reduce the harsh astringent notes with Black malt, the original post is somewhere on The Homebrew Digest Archives.

Basically use three times the amount of Black Malt called for in the recipe, and add that to cold water (at 2.5L per Kilo) Steep for a minimum of 16 hours, then at the end of the mash strain off the liquid and add that to the copper . . . Job Done.

Alternatively use Dehusked Carafa Malts and you don't get the harsh astringent bite that you would with Black Malt

Hi!

This is great timing, as I have the Strong book coming, as well as Radical Brewing and Mitch Steele's IPA book :

Just wanted to check something. I have posted a recipe recently:
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=33342

...the grain bill for which is finalised at the bottom of the thread somewhere. From what Aleman has written in his quote above, do I literally just add 3x the quantity of black malt I was going to use to cold water and steep overnight? Would it be worth adding the chocolate malt to the cold steeping pot as well, or is it not as critical with chocolate?

I am already using some Carafa III in the mix - is it not worth it if I am cold steeping anyway?

Exciting stuff finding new techniques! Can't wait to get this brew on and try some new things out :thumb: