Mashing with base VS steeping separate

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Wrt comparing between methods....

I have brewed that recipe both ways (the esb). Hop alterations as available but same grain bill.

I reckon the steeped version had the malt jump out at you quite strongly. The all mashed one from memory was a cracker but in comparison had the malt and bitterness more rounded out. Possibly the apparent sweetness in the steeped version is what is giving this impression.
 
Have a look at the 'argon method' of adding hop flavour to cubes. Basically he was chucking his cubes in the fridge. Taking out 4L, doing a hops boil and then throwing that into the fermenter with the rest of the cube. The cold cube and the boiling wort equal out to be around pitching temp.

I have done this before and steeped a small amount of crystal as it was heating (i wanted to turn an aussie pale ale into fatyak). It works quite well to change the beer, however its more effort than i could be bothered with.

Now i have 6 cubes that i either do 2x triples in or 3xdoubles. And then i have a single batch rig for experiments. Keeps lots of rotation on the taps.
 
ekul said:
Have a look at the 'argon method' of adding hop flavour to cubes. Basically he was chucking his cubes in the fridge. Taking out 4L, doing a hops boil and then throwing that into the fermenter with the rest of the cube. The cold cube and the boiling wort equal out to be around pitching temp.

I have done this before and steeped a small amount of crystal as it was heating (i wanted to turn an aussie pale ale into fatyak). It works quite well to change the beer, however its more effort than i could be bothered with.

Now i have 6 cubes that i either do 2x triples in or 3xdoubles. And then i have a single batch rig for experiments. Keeps lots of rotation on the taps.
Yeah have done the "argon", dry hop, cube hop, etc... this is more around changing the malt profile.
 
bradsbrew said:
Yeah have done the "argon", dry hop, cube hop, etc... this is more around changing the malt profile.
Still waking up, i forgot to add my point :p If you steep the crystal and then boil it you are going to want to chill your cube so that when you add it your wort will be at pitching temp.

I just steeped it in wort and added a tiny bit of water, maybe 100mls, to account for boil loss on the stove. I always did a hops boil when i did it though so needed the malt in there.

If I was just going to be adding crystal steepings i would make my batch 1 or 2 litres less than what i wanted my final volume to be, to account for dilution.
 
I think it would work well with your crystals, but any of your base malts up to an including all your pales, pilsners, Munich's, biscuit etc where they have been kilned at a higher temp but still contain a fair amount of diastic power and starch to convert... I can't see them working very well.

But your straight crystals, most of the conversion has been done as part of the process. I think you would be pretty safe with those. Roasted would probably be in the same boat.

It wouldn't be unrealistic to attempt something like

100% pale -> PA
100% pale + cube hops + crystal steeped -> APA
100% Pale + roast steeped + crystal steeped -> Irish Red

Using the appropriate yeast of course.

Be interesting how it would compare to something made more traditionally though.
 
Kiwifirst said:
Wait, what? Ok, I admit to doing no research on doing cubes, but did my first no chill yesterday because I didn't want to spend the day brewing in crap weather. So I am very keen to explore it further. Reading your post, when you say you made a APA base, does that mean with bittering hops? Or is all hopping done in cube? If the latter, then that is pretty exciting, how do you calculate IBU's?
I have done it with only hops in the cube but I like to add a very small amount clean bitting hops(e.g. magnum) to the boil (1g per cube) to help with the hot break.

I calculate cube hopping as a 20 min bittering addition. APAs with a large cube hopping have great hop flavour.

Check this thread out
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/76527-cube-hopping/
 
RelaxedBrewer said:
I have done it with only hops in the cube but I like to add a very small amount clean bitting hops(e.g. magnum) to the boil (1g per cube) to help with the hot break.

I calculate cube hopping as a 20 min bittering addition. APAs with a large cube hopping have great hop flavour.

Check this thread out
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/76527-cube-hopping/
Thanks, certainly opens up some opportunities. I like the idea of building a base with a base bittering and playing from there. I liked running no chill yesterday, it freed me up quicker to take the kids into the park :)

I have a couple of 20L jerry cans that I can do a trial with this base option. I have a 45L boil pot so probably would risk a 35L boil. Then have a couple of speciality steeps on the side to add to get back to 23L for each.
 

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