Renegade
Awaiting Exile
- Joined
- 3/5/09
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As I push further through this hobby, the grain usage increases with each batch. Whilst I am still doing extract (or partial? Call it what you will )brews, i'm now up to close to 1kg of grain per batch, which is mini-mashed or steeped. So now that the time has come to order more supplies, I'm wondering which grains to get. Typically i enjoy making pale & amber ales, but also keen on being able to rip out the odd porter.
So..... what grains to buy? 4kg of Pilsener malt for starters. Lately I have been roasting a portion of this cracked grain, once for an hour @ 200c, and it appears to have imparted a burnt coffee flavour to the porter that's soon to be bottled - so no true taste test yet(I was aiming for chocolate! Never mind, burnt coffee could be good too) and recently roasted some Pils at 150c, spray-wetting every 15 minutes, for a biscuit malt flavour to a reently pitched hopburst.
For small batch mini-mashes, it it really that essential to have a wide variety of grains at one's disposal, or it is feasible to roast one's own pale malt to a style appropriate to the next beer being made - quite simply using limited resources to their maximum capability.
My forthcoming shopping list includes 4kg Pilsener malt, and 1kg each of chocolate, crystal and cara. What are people's thoughts on this as a staple stock ?
So..... what grains to buy? 4kg of Pilsener malt for starters. Lately I have been roasting a portion of this cracked grain, once for an hour @ 200c, and it appears to have imparted a burnt coffee flavour to the porter that's soon to be bottled - so no true taste test yet(I was aiming for chocolate! Never mind, burnt coffee could be good too) and recently roasted some Pils at 150c, spray-wetting every 15 minutes, for a biscuit malt flavour to a reently pitched hopburst.
For small batch mini-mashes, it it really that essential to have a wide variety of grains at one's disposal, or it is feasible to roast one's own pale malt to a style appropriate to the next beer being made - quite simply using limited resources to their maximum capability.
My forthcoming shopping list includes 4kg Pilsener malt, and 1kg each of chocolate, crystal and cara. What are people's thoughts on this as a staple stock ?