So I’m trying to input my recipe into the mash acidification page and i have no idea whether to put victory malt in the crystal base roast or acid malt category.
Help?
Nevermind, I think I figured it out, I’ll just leave it as crystal…
one thing I am confused about though, where it asks for mash water volume,is that suppose to be just strike water volume or strike + sparge?
Mash water volume is the initial volume added to the grist. The sparge volume is the water added to mash out and to sparge.
So just so I’m clear, on the mash acidification page, at the top where it asks for mash water volume, it’s simply means strike water?
I’m aware of what the two terms mean and relate to, but I just want to make sure since it makes a significant difference in my estimated mash ph
Thanks and I don’t mean to sound rude or anything. But the whole water chemistry is fairly new to me bit I’m sure it will make great improvements to my beer.
Thanks
yeah - the amt. added to the grain - the strike water… At least that is what have been doing for the past year:) So, if you are adding 4-5 gallons to your grain, that is what you put in there.
ok thanks.
I believe victory is a roast malt. The grain type makes a huge difference might wanna double check that
Victory should be considered a crystal malt. At 25L, it doesn’t have the color or kilning to reach the acidity of a roast malt.
Oops I’ve been entering things as what they’re sold as. Whats the cut off when you change to roast?
I would like to hear from Martin Brungard on this. If I remember correctly anything over 200L is considered a roasted malt for his calculator? Please don’t use it or quote me until we hear from him.
Roasted malts are kilned to a nearly carbon-like condition and that forms a number of acids. I consider that minimum level of kilning for roast malts to have color of at least 180L. Kai found that roasted malts tend to produce a somewhat consistent acidity that does not vary with color. The unfortunate aspect is that the acidity does not seem to fall in a narrow range. However, the acidity falls in a ‘range’ that doesn’t vary with the color.
Victory malt with its very low color may have some surface carbonization on each kernel, but I don’t think that its going to present the acidity of a roast malt. Roast malts have an acidity that may be roughly equal to an 80L Crystal malt.
[quote=“mabrungard”]
Victory malt with its very low color may have some surface carbonization on each kernel, but I don’t think that its going to present the acidity of a roast malt. Roast malts have an acidity that may be roughly equal to an 80L Crystal malt.[/quote]
Thanks Martin! good to know for future reference. I use Victory in a lot of my recipes.
Okay, so I am just spinning up on Bru’n Water, so this old thread is very timely to me. Awesome tool - thank you Martin!
To get started, I thought I’d input the Centennial Blonde batch (first AG brew!) I just did last weekend and see how well it predicts the Mash pH I got.
Mash pH measured during brew session: 5.65
Bru’n Water predicted Mash pH: 5.7
Sha-bang!
So I’m pretty impressed - but not without some lingering questions …
How can I easily figure out the “grain type” (for input to “Mash Acidification” worksheet) for each item on the grain bill? I scoured data sheets, searched vendor descriptions and made some guesses but I’m not convinced I’m 100% on.
Is there a specific criteria we can follow to easily determine the correct Grain type? If there were some kind of table of malt characteristics or something that would be a whole lot easier than guessing…
Grain classifications are fairly easy in Bru’n Water. Here is how to consider the classifications:
-
Acid Malt is easy. Its been acidified by natural or sprayed-on lactic acid. Sauer, Sour, or acid malt designations mean that the setting should be Acid Malt in Bru’n Water.
-
Roast Malt is almost as easy. That is a malt or grain that has been kilned to a substantial degree and it probably has some roasty characteristics. A minimum color rating of about 180 Lovibond helps separate the roast malts from other categories.
-
Crystal Malts and Base Malts can be tougher to differentiate. The good thing is that the acidity characteristics of either malt category is similar and the difference in the pH prediction will be minor. Crystal malts are slightly more acidic than base malts of the same color rating. The big differentiator is that base malts are fairly light colored while some crystal malts can have much more color. Crystal malt color peaks around 200 Lovibond for Special B malt.
-
Base Malts have diastatic power and can convert starches to sugars. Since kilning can destroy diastatic enzymes, base malts tend to have limited color. The maximum color rating for base malts is around 10 Lovibond.
Bru’n Water users can always get a guide to malts by hovering their cursor over the Grain Type column heading on the Mash Acidification page. The pop-up comment has a summary of grain types. Although there is some overlap in the color ratings for Roast and Crystal malts, the difference should be obvious. Crystal malts are focused on contributing sweetness while Roast malts are focused on contributing roasty flavors.
