Steeping Carapils

[wimbymoonshine]

hey peeps,

anyone care to share experience on steeping carapils and adding it to lager kits?
Im planning on the following recipe:

Morgans blue mountain lager
steep 1/2lb of carapils for 30mins
500g light DME + 500g Glucose for a 5gal batch.
saflager yeast
was thinking of hopping with saaz for the last 1 min and then throwing it all in the fermenter.

Lagers are supposed to be lean bodied and not too hoppy... Any thoughts, ive never used these ingredients before?

 

[Fatgodzilla]

hey peeps,

anyone care to share experience on steeping carapils and adding it to lager kits?
Im planning on the following recipe:

Morgans blue mountain lager
steep 1/2lb of carapils for 30mins
500g light DME + 500g Glucose for a 5gal batch.
saflager yeast
was thinking of hopping with saaz for the last 1 min and then throwing it all in the fermenter.

Lagers are supposed to be lean bodied and not too hoppy... Any thoughts, ive never used these ingredients before?

Used Morgans Blue Mountains Lager twice - both times comes out a darkish , malty, sweet brew. Used Saaz with BML and seems a nice mix. The carapils will add to the sweetness of the brew so I suggest you add some bittering hops in a mini boil with the DME to overcome the maltiness a bit.

I guess what I'm saying is Morgans Blue Mountains Lager doesn't come across as a traditional Aussie Lager (all bitterness, no aroma. Don't think of it as a Fosters Lager type clone)

wimby old chap

just went back to my recipes - added 500g DME to 500g Coopers Brew Enhancer2 which is mostly (50%) maltodextrin so similiar effect to carapils and 250g dextrose, so similiar. I added 12g saaz at 15min and 12g at 5 minutes but wasn't too happy - as sad, a bit too sweet. Saflager W34/70. Brewed in July this year and lagered beer for an extra month. Couldn't drink until now - it's still sweetish but pleasant enough. Be interested in how yours turns out.

 

[Ross]

The carapils will add to the sweetness of the brew so I suggest you add some bittering hops in a mini boil with the DME to overcome the maltiness a bit.

Not quite correct - Carapils balances body and flavour without adding colour or sweetness. The dextrines add body, increase mouth-feel & aid head retention.

Cheers Ross

 

[Fatgodzilla]

Not quite correct - Carapils balances body and flavour without adding colour or sweetness. The dextrines add body, increase mouth-feel & aid head retention.

Cheers Ross

Now you tell me !!

Using a malt description that has the following information

"Crystal Malt
Crystal malt is the type most often used to liven up an extract brew. Crystal malt adds body, flavor and color to your beer, and can be added to just about any recipe. Crystal malts with a higher Lovibond rating have darker color and a richer caramel taste. I tend to use a range of colors to get a full spectrum of flavor, especially in Amber ales. Most of the starch in crystal malt has already been converted into soluble and caramelized sugars, so the flavors can be extracted with a simple water steep. This is the reason that crystal malts are especially effective with extract batches of beer. Crystal malt also adds quite a bit of protein. Excess amounts can lead to chill haze.

Cara-Pils and Dextrin Malt
These varieties are light in color, but have a very complex starch content. When mashed, diastatic enzymes solubilize the dextrins into the mash. However, the dextrins are unfermentable, leading to a sweet, high final gravity beer, such as cream stout"


Always thought that this was like a "lactose" effect of extra sweetness added by the sugars released in the steep which was unfermentable, therefore adding a residual sweetness. Seems that's been the results when using carapils.

What comes from crystal malt to add "flavour" ? Assumed it was sugars. Is it just the cooked husks adding flavour ?

Does that mean no fermentable sugars are added after steeping?

 

[Ross]

Does that mean no fermentable sugars are added after steeping?

I don't know the exact science, but the dextrines in carapils are a complex carbohydrate halfway between starch & sugar. It only provides about 20% utilization when steeped in an extract batch. If you mash Carapils & use enough of it, you will get some sweetness.

cheers Ross

 

[wimbymoonshine]

Now you tell me !!

Using a malt description that has the following information

"Crystal Malt
Crystal malt is the type most often used to liven up an extract brew. Crystal malt adds body, flavor and color to your beer, and can be added to just about any recipe. Crystal malts with a higher Lovibond rating have darker color and a richer caramel taste. I tend to use a range of colors to get a full spectrum of flavor, especially in Amber ales. Most of the starch in crystal malt has already been converted into soluble and caramelized sugars, so the flavors can be extracted with a simple water steep. This is the reason that crystal malts are especially effective with extract batches of beer. Crystal malt also adds quite a bit of protein. Excess amounts can lead to chill haze.

Cara-Pils and Dextrin Malt
These varieties are light in color, but have a very complex starch content. When mashed, diastatic enzymes solubilize the dextrins into the mash. However, the dextrins are unfermentable, leading to a sweet, high final gravity beer, such as cream stout"
Always thought that this was like a "lactose" effect of extra sweetness added by the sugars released in the steep which was unfermentable, therefore adding a residual sweetness. Seems that's been the results when using carapils.

What comes from crystal malt to add "flavour" ? Assumed it was sugars. Is it just the cooked husks adding flavour ?

Does that mean no fermentable sugars are added after steeping?

Thanks guys,

I got the carapils coz i thought it would add some body and head retention. I hear the BML kit was pretty good on its own, so as you say ross, i thought the carapils would add dextrins and 'freshness' to the brew rather than more fermentables. Im not looking for sweetness in the lager, so hopefully im heading down the right path? I also bought some saaz hop pellets for a czech pilsner im planning. Do you recommend using these in the BML?
Im not looking to make a fosters lager clone, that stuff is horrid, i dont know why they sell it here and market it as a 'true aussie beer'. No one even drinks it back in oz, however its on tap in just about every pub in London!

As for the crystal, I steeped 1lb in my last brew, which was a coopers pale ale with DME + glucose + cascade hops. THe one i got sent was 135EBC, a bit darker than i ordered so the colour ended our being more amber/IPA coloured. Still conditioning but it looked and smelt pretty nice. Dont think there was much gravity contribution from the crystal but definately massive colour diff. Will be interesting to see how it turns out as i did a previous idential batch but without the crystal...... Ahhhh the joys of experimenting and attempting to refine my palate

Cheers