Partial Mash Oatmeal Brown Ale Recipe and possible substitutions

hotstack · 01-16-2009, 07:10 AM

I have brewed my first beer and it is going into bottles this weekend (a very simple weizen kit). For my next foray, I really wanted to try something that I read in the Radical Brewing book, but unfortunately, my choices for ingredients are limited to say the least and I have some questions that I have yet to find answers to.

I plan to try out the DeathBrewer easy partial mash brew method.

Here is the recipe as I want to make it. I have (up till this point) only made 10L (2.5 gallon) recipes. If there is a problem doing that (with a partial mash), please let me know. I am very much a noob.

Grains/DME:
3.0lb (1.42kg) Amber Dry Extract
0.5lb (240g) biscuit/amber malt
0.5lb (240g) Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
0.5lb (240g) Oats, Flaked (toasted at 190C until they smell like cookies

)

Hops:
17g Northern Brewer at 90min
11g Northdown at 20min

I have 2 pots. One 5 gallon and one 3 gallon. My primary fermenter is a 5gallon Better Bottle (not that it should matter). I have an immersion cooler and want to do a full boil (as it is only 10L and the immersion cooler should make short work of that).

Now, for my questions. Hopefully there are some kind souls out there who will help me out (or tell me I'm stupid... don't hold back, I can take it.

)

1. If I follow the steps in DeathBrewers guide to the letter, (2gallons water/5-6 lbs of grain), I only need a couple quarts of water... this doesn't sound right, so I was wondering if it would hurt anything if I moved the strike water up to 1.5 gallons or something like that? Same question for the sparge tea-bag method... I would only need a couple quarts there as well, but would it hurt anything to use closer to the final boil amount?

2. My access to ingredients is limited (and may prevent me from doing this altogether). For example, I don't have access to Amber DME or Amber malt here in Japan.

I do have access to Muntons Medium (Spraymalt Medium I think) DME (as well as extra-light, light, and dark). Can I use any of these (plus something) as a substitute? I also have access (apparently) to Blackrock Unhopped Amber LME (I'm sure there is a calculator to convert between DME and LME), but I have no idea on the age... it appears to be one of those can jobbies. There is also some (probably fresher) Coopers Light Amber LME available.

Same question with the Amber/Biscuit malt. I know (or have read that) I can make my own by toasting some 2row in the oven, but I would assume that this means I have to toast whole malt, then crush it (right?). I have no access to crushing equipment, so I would have to buy it pre-crushed. Is there something else I can use that is similar to biscuit or amber malt?

I have access to Great Western 2row, Muntons Marris Otter, Crisp Malting Pale Ale, Great Western Crystal Malt 15, 40, 60, 75, 150, Weyerman Carared, and Munton Black Malt and a few others.

Bob · 01-16-2009, 02:03 PM

First, in order to mash you need some pale malt with diastatic (enzyme) power to convert the starches from the other grains into sugars. With Crystal that's not an issue, but it is with the others, especially the oats.

Get three pounds of Great Western 2-row. Toast a half-pound for your biscuity flavors - spread it on a cookie sheet and bake it at ~350 for 20 minutes or so. Mash that with the oats and Crystal. I also suggest adding a couple ounces of Muntons Black malt for color, as crystal and toasted malts alone won't get you the nice brown color you want for a brown ale.

That will give you an all-grain 2.5-gallon batch without adding extract, using DB's excellent instructions. The above should put you at an OG of 1.043 at 75% efficiency. I do suggest getting a couple pounds of Muntons light Spraymalt DME, just in case. Avoid malt extracts darker than Light/Pale, as they invariably contain Crystal or other specialty malts or caramel colorings which prevent your having 100% control over your beer.

GOod luck!

Bob

hotstack · 01-18-2009, 01:16 AM

Thanks for the reply. I will maybe have to give the all grain a try. I think I understand the reasoning behind it, but we'll see. Relax, have a home brew, right?

One last question, can I toast already crushed grains? Or should I get half a pound of whole grain, toast it, then use a rolling pin or something to crush it?

Thanks again!

Bob · 01-18-2009, 10:48 AM

I've had better success toasting whole corns. Since we're talking a relatively small amount here, the rolling-pin method should be fine.

Bob