Building A Stock Of Specialty Grains

[hosko11]

Hi All,
I've been doing kits and bits and extracts and just find the beers brewed so far, particularly APA's are missing some body. So I think it's time to add more bits to the beers to fix this and from what I can tell spec grains are the next logical step (or maybe even move to partials).

The styles of beer I plan to make at the moment are APA's, pommy ales, belgians strong ales and wits and maybe a wiezen (sp?).

What would be a suitable range of spec grains to use for the above styles (and include in the ever growing cache of brewing ingredients)? Preference is to just buy say 1kg of each and store them and use when necessary - is it ok to store crushed specialty grains for say 3-6 months or would the quality degrade?

Cheers,
Paul

 

[SJW]

Well its funny you mentioned those beers, as they don't really need any specialty grains. If you would have said you make Stouts, Porters and German Lagers then these a good deal of specialty grains you could get.
Maybe your English Bitters you could stock some crystals both light and dark, as for the others........?

Steve

 

[peas_and_corn]

I'm with SJW on that one, for paler beers, crystal is pretty good to use, but it's always important tor remember to not overdo it.

 

[brendo]

Carapils is another options - will add a little body and aid head retention.

Spec grains def better for your darker brews - choc malt/roast barley, etc.

I keep a stock of carapils, crystal (light, med, dark), choc malt and roast barley. Allows me a bit of flexibility.

Brendo

 

[hosko11]

Hmmm, thanks for the feedback guys. I've just checked the recipe for my latest APA and I had .25kg dextrose, .25kg Maltodextrin, 1.5kg LDME and a coopers PA can (plus hops) - i could have sworn I only used malt... Anyway, maybe if I do use only LDME this time then I might find the body I'm missing for this style of beer.

But overall it's possible I'm just expecting to much out of kits and bits to get that body I'm looking for.

I might grab some light crystal and carapils though and try them out. What sort of shelf life can you expect from the grain once it's been crushed?
Paul

 

[Jase71]

Hi Paul, on the question of storing specialty grains, I'm only new to this here lark myself, and bought a kg of cracked crystal about a month back. My speculation on this would be that cracked grains would not last anywhere near as long as uncracked, being that there is a larger surface area to air exposure. Whilst I am not basing this on grains as such, I have been known to dabble with various plant materials for extraction purposes (I am a black witch, and prepare tinctures according to my unhallowed grimoire for purposes of casting evil), as well as having a kitchen that's extensive in varieties of spices for culinary purposes. As a rule, crushed/cracked/chopped organic matter is going to store badly, with perhaps half the shelf life of the 'whole' product. When I make my next beer-related grain purchase, I would take that into consideration and buy uncracked grain, and prepare (ie 'crack') them myself on an 'as-needed' basis.

Allright, Ive had a couple, you all can probably ignore the witch comment

 

[Barley Belly]

various plant materials for extraction purposes

I found if you bought the big vacuum bagged varieties the freshness stayed for longer :icon_cheers:

 

[Tony]

I recon any brewers kit should include:

Carapils - 3 EBC
Carahell - 26 EBC
Crystal - 145 EBC
Dark Crystal - 250 EBC
Caraaroma - 350 EBC
Pale Chocolate - 550 EBC
Chocolate - 800 EBC
Carafa Special II - 1100 EBC
Roast Barley - 1300 EBC

If you cant make just about every beer there is with these in stock there is something wrong.

Here are some basic guidelines to get started with that i enjoy in my beers. experiment and add or subtract amounts to get the beer you want to drink

APA - Use a bit of crystal to add some colour and complexity to the beer. start with 3 or 4% and try both the light and dark crystal in seperate beers

Pommy ales:

Bitter - 5 to 8% light crystal and 1% pale chocolate is great. Exchange the pale choc for 2% dark crystal or caraaroma

Porter - 7.5% crystal, 5% chocolate, 1% carafa Spec II...... yum

stout - 7 to 10% Roast barley, maybe 5% pale or dark crystal to ballance and 10% flaked barley (not in list but use it!)

Belgians...... i wont comment because i have no idea. havnt made a good one yet. There are others that do them much better than me. They are a lot more complicated than just adding some specialty grain. I say practice on simple beers and move up to these when your AG.

Wits - These use unmalted wheat and some oats in a fairly large anount and really need a mash

Weizen - 10% carahell is great.

hope this helps a bit

cheers

 

[goatherder]

When you're buying specialities, buy the good stuff. The imported crystals (Bairds, Weyermann) taste fantastic and only cost marginally more than the aussie made stuff.

 

[Tony]

When you're buying specialities, buy the good stuff. The imported crystals (Bairds, Weyermann) taste fantastic and only cost marginally more than the aussie made stuff.

+1.... i was going to add that and forgot

thanks mate

cheers

 

[Jase71]

I recon any brewers kit should include:

Carapils - 3 EBC
Carahell - 26 EBC
Crystal - 145 EBC
Dark Crystal - 250 EBC
Caraaroma - 350 EBC
Pale Chocolate - 550 EBC
Chocolate - 800 EBC
Carafa Special II - 1100 EBC
Roast Barley - 1300 EBC

If you cant make just about every beer there is with these in stock there is something wrong.

Tony, so all these are of the simple 'steeping' variety, and hence available to non-AG'ers ? (note this thread is in the Kits&extracts forum). If so, that's a bloody good list, thanks.

 

[buttersd70]

Tony, so all these are of the simple 'steeping' variety, and hence available to non-AG'ers ? (note this thread is in the Kits&extracts forum). If so, that's a bloody good list, thanks.

Yep, all able to be steeped. I think I can hear your brain turning over all the possibilities, Jase. :lol:

edit: and I agree that the imports are great; the weyerman range is my personal fave...particularly caraaroma and carafa special.

 

[Jase71]

Yep, all able to be steeped. I think I can hear your brain turning over all the possibilities, Jase. :lol:

ha ha, yea, let's revisit that suggestion of mine a few weeks ago to use 20kg specialty grain and nothing else for a 22ltr brew. How dark do you like your beer? Yummo !

 

[brendo]

use 20kg specialty grain and nothing else for a 22ltr brew. How dark do you like your beer? Yummo !

I reckon that would pack one hell of a punch...

 

[Gavo]

ha ha, yea, let's revisit that suggestion of mine a few weeks ago to use 20kg specialty grain and nothing else for a 22ltr brew. How dark do you like your beer? Yummo !

Well... maybe not 20 KG. Far out Jase, if you are thinking of steeping that much grain you might as well start thinking of mashing grain, not that much harder. But yes there is a lot of scope with specialty grains.

Did we get an answer on the storage life of cracked grains. I would expect as mentioned in this topic that they wouldn't last as long...But how long?

Cheers
Gavo.

 

[reviled]

I think 5% medium crystal in an APA is tops Gives it a nice reddish colour and awesome complexity..

 

[brettprevans]

I recon any brewers kit should include:

Carapils - 3 EBC
Carahell - 26 EBC
Crystal - 145 EBC
Dark Crystal - 250 EBC
Caraaroma - 350 EBC
Pale Chocolate - 550 EBC
Chocolate - 800 EBC
Carafa Special II - 1100 EBC
Roast Barley - 1300 EBC

I recon Tony has hit it on the head there. Ive used ever single one of these. carapils and cyrstal are stock standard. you'll use roast and choc in almost all your dark beers

 

[hosko11]

The minister of finance was grinning like a Cheshire cat at the start of this thread, but that grin's quickly disappearing now

That's a great list Tony and thanks for the suggested uses.

With the suggested varieties and their use, people have suggested % amounts. Are these % of a grain bill or % of dry extract? If a grain bill %, is there a conversion factor I should use to convert it to use with extracts and kits?

Using Tony's APA example of 3-4%. If I were to brew an APA with a coopers PA can and 1.8kg LDME how much crystal would equate to 3-4%. Doing a straight 4% of the can (say 1.4kg dry equivalent) and LDME, totaling 3.2kg, I calc about 130g of crystal. Does that sound about right??

I did a bit more searching on the storing of cracked grain and got the usual differing opinions. My gut feel is with Jase on this one, but I'd really prefer to buy the kg already cracked. Does anyone have any experience they can share where they've used and stored cracked spec grain over say a 6 month period?

Is it 5pm yet.....
Cheers!

 

[raven19]

I am a black witch, and prepare tinctures according to my unhallowed grimoire for purposes of casting evil

Love it.

In terms of storing grains, a few similar posts a while back discussed this in some depth.

My 2c FWIW - Is it better to purchase small amounts of crushed grain initially only as required, whilst saving enough to get yourself a mill - or make one like Tony's.

Link:
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...p;hl=mill+plans

 

[buttersd70]

With the suggested varieties and their use, people have suggested % amounts. Are these % of a grain bill or % of dry extract? If a grain bill %, is there a conversion factor I should use to convert it to use with extracts and kits?

Using Tony's APA example of 3-4%. If I were to brew an APA with a coopers PA can and 1.8kg LDME how much crystal would equate to 3-4%. Doing a straight 4% of the can (say 1.4kg dry equivalent) and LDME, totaling 3.2kg, I calc about 130g of crystal. Does that sound about right??

Yeah, close. The % is of what is called "extract weight", which is not the weight of an amount of actual (bought) extract, but is the amount of sugars that will be produced in a mash (extracted) taking into account the "extract potential" of the grain; but for all intents and purposes, it roughly, kinda sorta equals the dry weight of pre-produced extract - but that depends on which spec grain you are using. If using a brewing program of any sort, it will break the ingredients down to percentages, doing the calculations for you; this is the easiest way.

It depends on how specific you want to be with the % you work out. If close enough is good enough, just work it to the dry weight. If you want it to be more specific, use a brewing program, or read Palmers How to brew, the section on steeping grains, and the section on potentials.