Is Specialty Grain Really That Good?

[beerlover101]

hey guys how u all goin. now ive heard people say that using spicialty grain makes a world of difference and is really easy to use just wondering how true this is?? and possibly suggest a good grain to use in an good pale ale??

 

[petesbrew]

Short question = short answer.
Hell yeah, it add's flavour & personality to your kit.
Some crystal would be nice in a pale ale.

If you can use a coffee plunger.....

YOU CAN DO IT!!!

 

[marlow_coates]

Yes,

Try adding 150gms or 300gms of crystal to any kit you usually do, and see for yourself.

Marlow

 

[manticle]

Not only is it really, really, really good but the amounts you use are so small and cheap and the process so easy that you can find out for yourself at the drop of a pin.

 

[Cube]

Yes, yes and yes.

Improved my beers out of sight as far as kits and bits go. Add hops to go a step further.

 

[olde]

I'm gonna go against the grain here (clever pun, huh) and say that if you knock out a beer and drink it too soon you'll be hard pressed to notice any difference. I ferment for 2 weeks pretty much religiously, a week in the keg to "condition" and then another week or so on the gas before it gets tipped down my throat, and to be honest spec grains are pretty much unnoticeable. I do a toucan stout dark that's a big hit with my mates, and that always gets 3 + weeks conditioning before it goes on the gas, and none notice that either, in fact they tell me to stop stuffing about with a good thing before I bugger it up. For the extra washing up (pots, not coffee plunger) I can't really see the benefit.
Maybe if I was able to get a keg to stay in the conditioning cupboard for a couple of months I'd have a different opinion.
Hops on the other hand do make an immediate improvement.

 

[King Brown]

I would have to say comparing my old beers to my more recent ones that using specialty grains makes a huge difference. I pretty much only made one kit and kilo, then began to experiment with hops and malt extract, several brews later I started using grains the beers had much nicer malt character, and tasted more "real". Although it could be put down to my methods improving, I would say that adding fresh grain had alot to do with it too. I will warn you that once you start going down this path you will want more, I have my first partial mash in the fermenter now, and I gotta say when I was boiling it up it was the most delicious smelling wort Ive brewed yet, cant wait to be drinking the first bottle!

 

[henderjo]

+1 for a YES
simple and cheap to do - stop taking about it and just try it. Malty beer is something of an acquired taste yet a little crystal can go a long way. I usually go over the top with a new addition - get a taste for it and how it affects my brew - then back it off in my next brew to something more balanced. Use Ianh's spreadsheet as a guide as to how much to start with... though generally around 125 to 250gms will make a big difference - helps to mask [read - take the focus off] "kit twang"... thus makes a huge difference in K&B brewing. Oh - Start with a cracked grain - less work - same result :icon_cheers:
Hendo

 

[buttersd70]

There is an article (in the articles section, oddly enough) which talks about the different types of grains. Alternatively, if you have a look at the websites of the various maltsters, it not only gives taste descriptions, but also reccomended max quantaties, and in some cases, reccomended beer styles for the particular grains.

One of the sponsors has the manufacturers specs and tasting notes pretty much verbatum on their site.

 

[boingk]

Its brilliant, and lets you use kits as a base, rather than the main ingredient. For example, I like to make up a stout with a small mash of specialty grains instead of buying a stout kit (unless doing a toucan) as below:

1.7kg Coopers kit (lager, draught, real ale...whatever).
1kg LDME

Sounds stock? Righteo, well here come the grains that'll transform it into a rich, chocolatey pint o'delight:

350g Crystal
150g Chocolate
50g Black Patent

Steep those grains in a few litres of hot water at 65'C (or even just bring to the boil from cold as slow as you can, while stirring) and you'll have the process done. Strain off the liquid with a wiremesh collander and flush the remaining grains with a few cups of hot water, adding all this liquid to the fermenter. Now top up and ferment as normal. Or, use a plunger as others have mentioned above.

It'll turn out a hellava lot better than your usual dark beer from a kit.

Cheers - boingk

 

[sinkas]

search function

 

[Sammus]

Its brilliant, and lets you use kits as a base, rather than the main ingredient. For example, I like to make up a stout with a small mash of specialty grains instead of buying a stout kit (unless doing a toucan) as below:

1.7kg Coopers kit (lager, draught, real ale...whatever).
1kg LDME

Sounds stock? Righteo, well here come the grains that'll transform it into a rich, chocolatey pint o'delight:

350g Crystal
150g Chocolate
50g Black Patent

Steep those grains in a few litres of hot water at 65'C (or even just bring to the boil from cold as slow as you can, while stirring) and you'll have the process done. Strain off the liquid with a wiremesh collander and flush the remaining grains with a few cups of hot water, adding all this liquid to the fermenter. Now top up and ferment as normal. Or, use a plunger as others have mentioned above.

It'll turn out a hellava lot better than your usual dark beer from a kit.

Cheers - boingk

should probably boil after straining if you haven't already, apparently some bugs live in grain that you don't want to ferment in place of your yeast

search function

******

 

[beerlover101]

thanks heaps fellas i think i will have to make the 120km journey to get some (and stock up.), again thanks heaps and happy brewing

 

[boingk]

Sammus - yeah definitely boil the liquid, I generally use that as an excuse for a hop addition. Also sinkas is pretty much spot on, although the short and irritable contribution could be done without I agree.

- boingk

 

[rude]

Its the reason I went AG

 

[Fourstar]

I'm gonna go against the grain here (clever pun, huh) and say that if you knock out a beer and drink it too soon you'll be hard pressed to notice any difference.

...For the extra washing up (pots, not coffee plunger) I can't really see the benefit.
Maybe if I was able to get a keg to stay in the conditioning cupboard for a couple of months I'd have a different opinion.
Hops on the other hand do make an immediate improvement.

Im sure there is a reason as to why so many brewers on here are making all grain with specialty malts. Now dont get me wrong, ive had bribies toucan stout and its delicious but better beer (or different) can be made by adding specialty malt. The base malt you are using via a sandard lager kit is rather thin and lifeless. The darker or more expensive kits have more flavour via speicalty malts the brewing company has used but you just dont get the same thing out of a kit than what you do out of fresh grain. Its like comparing jared pasta sauces to ones made from scratch. Made correctly and it sends the jarred suace packing. Take this as an example for comparison.

Get yourself your stout toucan kit and make as per normal. Then get two light coloured tins, even two of the Coopers ESB kit would be perfect.

Steep yourself 400g of Roast Barley, 100g Chocolate malt and a touch of dark crystal. Maybe 50g to help push more of the tins light crystal sweetness and you will have yourself a strong stout which you built yourself basically from the ground up.

Simply boil the liquor for a few mins to kill any nasties and brew as per normal.

If that doesnt make a high gravity stout that blows the toucan out of the water with a bucketload of malt flavour and aroma, which all kits unfortunatly lack, i dont know what will.

 

[floppinab]

thanks heaps fellas i think i will have to make the 120km journey to get some (and stock up.), again thanks heaps and happy brewing

acb, I'd add that if you are going to take a step and go to steeping grains, given you have to boil the resulting liquid prior to adding to your kits and bits it's a very very short additional step to buy up some hops and extract some fresh hop goodness from them during the boil of your specialty grain wort.

Not sure how you are going to steep your grains but if you use some sort of bag then when you ditch your grains from the bag,throw your hops in and boil away for 15mins to extract some hop flavour, or just a minute or so for some hop aroma.

This will really transform your kit beers into something altogether different again.

 

[crozdog]

thanks heaps fellas i think i will have to make the 120km journey to get some (and stock up.), again thanks heaps and happy brewing

no need for a drive - visit the site sponsors online & get em posted directly to your door

 

[Pennywise]

In reply to the topic title, F**k yeah it is :beerbang: Oh so many choices

 

[manticle]

search function

.........................might help if the question had been "how do I use them?" rather than 'do they make a massive difference' though. Search is good but not every matter of opinion can be answered with it.