I bought grain today for Tuesday brew day;
41/2 lb briess 2 row
21/2 lb golden promise
2 lb crystal light
1lb cara foam
hops;
2oz williamette
3oz east Kent
yeast; British ale
I wanted to do another British ale but I think I am off with the malt.
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Are you doing a 5 gallon batch
yes
Is that your recipe? Have you compared it to your last? A bit light on base grains I think unless you’re shooting for a low gravity IMO
I changed where I get my malt. I use to call ahead and pick it up. Now I go and put it together myself. I don’t understand and very little about malts. A few years ago I did NB British Bitter. Last year I wanted to do something different, so I did this one. This was my first grain bill I put together. The place were out of some grain and had some grain. I am not sure of what is a base malt and what is not. The the place were I get my grain I was thinking the larger containers were base and the smaller containers were specialty malts. I think if I am going to bye grain like this , I might have to ask. I know nothing about grains and their flavor. I thought the Briess and golden were base? Right now there is 9# of grain, could I and 1-2# of base, knowing I will increase the gravity? Like I said in previous’ posts, I learn something new every brew day.
If you will, the base malts are typically lower in color.
Ale malts
2 row malt
Marris Otter
Vienna malt
Pilsner malt
There are more, but this will be what you’d like to look for.
I look at the base malt as a blank canvas for your creation.
Sneezles
You can make a very nice English Bitter with those ingredients. The only thing is it looks like 30% of your grains are cara/crystal malt. I would recommend capping those at about 10%.
If it were me, I would probably go with something like this:
4½ lb briess 2 row
2½ lb golden promise
1 lb crystal light
60 minutes 1 oz. East Kent Goldings
20 minutes 1 oz. East Kent Goldings
5 minutes 1 oz. East Kent Goldings
The Willamette would also work well, but I just love EKG.
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The golden promise is a British malt as is the marris otter. Those are what I use for British ales. GP is lighter than MO. Play around with different malts and maltsters. It makes a difference. Thomas Fawset if you can get it
Now your above recipe has 9Lb of grain total but although the crystal malts ad gravity pts they don’t ferment like your base malts. You need to read up on this difference. I’d add more GP personally
So base malts must have more natural sugars to ferment or higher than specialty malts?
Not more, but more fermentable sugar. Crystal malts add sweetness not alcohol so you need to balance that. To much crystal malt will ruin the beer. British ales generally use more crystal malt. Now to confuse you more not all specialty malts are crystal malt. For instance roasted malts. They may be more fermentable but to much again will ruin the beer. Many beers are brewed using only your base malt, German beer in particular
Thank you all for another education with malt. I am going to find some reading material. Any suggestions on videos to watch or reading material?
If you can get your hands on John Palmers “how to brew”.
It’s overwhelming when you start reading. But honestly, just read through what you want to understand, say malt. You will have to go through that chapter a few times to digest so much info. Always keep in mind, this is a life long hobby and learning along the way, will be be a life long curve.
You’ll get it…
Sneezles
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I did brew today. I did use the grain bill posted. I did add 1/2 pound of raw sugar to help to balance the sweetness and the alcohol. I measured out a pound and thought it looked too much, then did measure out 1/4 pound and put it in. But my thought was it was not enough. I added another 1/4 pound to the mash. I did my temps at 125, 155, 168 and ended with a 1.050 gravity.
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It was a total of a 1/4 pound of sugar that was added not 1/2 pound. I added an 1/8 and did not think it was enough, then added another 1/8.
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Thats not a lot of sugar. See how you like it, if it’s to dry next time up the base malt a lb and don’t use the sugar
That will be a plan. Thanks a million to you and the gang!! Getting great activation now.
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