Mashing or Steeping maris otter?

This is kind of a problem that I realized over the weekend while thinking of my next brew. I want to do a Partial Mash with Crytal Malt and Maris Otter Pale Malt. While reading about these two, I noticed neither has enzymes.

If I wanted to add 1# of each to my Extract brew through mashing, what can or should I add to the mash to convert the sugars?

BendBrewer said:

This is kind of a problem that I realized over the weekend while thinking of my next brew. I want to do a Partial Mash with Crytal Malt and Maris Otter Pale Malt. While reading about these two, I noticed neither has enzymes.

If I wanted to add 1# of each to my Extract brew through mashing, what can or should I add to the mash to convert the sugars?

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Marris Otter Pale will absolutely have enzymes. That is a classic base malt. Where did you read that it had no enzymes?

Crystal malt does not have enzymes, but it also does not have starch. Crystal grains have already been stewed a bit (longer stew times for the darker variations), and their starch has already been converted to sugar and caramelized. These are the most common kind of grain used for steeping. They do not need mashing.

BendBrewer said:

This is kind of a problem that I realized over the weekend while thinking of my next brew. I want to do a Partial Mash with Crytal Malt and Maris Otter Pale Malt. While reading about these two, I noticed neither has enzymes.

If I wanted to add 1# of each to my Extract brew through mashing, what can or should I add to the mash to convert the sugars?

Click to expand...

maris otter malt DOES have diastatic power. It's actually one of my favorite base malts. The source you read is wrong.

Maris otter can convert itself, as well as other malts, since it has plenty of diastatic power.

Thanks for taking the time to correct my misunderstanding. I don't know where I might have read that as I have been reading this and other HB sites trying to absorb as much info as possible. I could have misread that in Joy of Home Brewing as well. I thought I remembered seeing that it didn't have enough enzymes to convert the starches. Again, thanks for the correction. Sounds as like if I do my mash correctly, I will convert those starches to fermentables in the Maris Malt.

So the Crystal. Can I still just mash it with the Maris to get the qualities out of the Crystal? Same temp? Same amount of time?

BendBrewer said:

So the Crystal. Can I still just mash it with the Maris to get the qualities out of the Crystal? Same temp? Same amount of time?

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Yes. Just put all your grains together and let it soak in the low 150's for a while (45 min should be plenty).

Thank you very much. Now, just need some Primary space!!

BendBrewer said:

Thanks for taking the time to correct my misunderstanding. I don't know where I might have read that as I have been reading this and other HB sites trying to absorb as much info as possible. I could have misread that in Joy of Home Brewing as well. I thought I remembered seeing that it didn't have enough enzymes to convert the starches. Again, thanks for the correction. Sounds as like if I do my mash correctly, I will convert those starches to fermentables in the Maris Malt.

So the Crystal. Can I still just mash it with the Maris to get the qualities out of the Crystal? Same temp? Same amount of time?

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Yes, on the crystal. It can go in with a base malt, or be steeped by itself. Since you'll be mashing the MO, you just add the crystal to the mash also.

The best results with mashing come with approximately 1-2 quarts of water per pound of grain. This has to do with the pH of the water/grain (mash) so that the enzymes can work and convert the starches to sugars. In a steep, the amount of water isn't critical since you're just getting out flavors and colors from the grains. In a mash, it's more critical. I like to stay around 1.25-1.50 quarts per pound of grain, since it's thin enough to stir well, but not too thin if I have to add water to hit my desired mash temp.

Yoop,
If your mashing, how does the amount of water affect your beer? What happens if there is too much water as opposed to too little?

RugenBrau said:

Yoop,
If your mashing, how does the amount of water affect your beer? What happens if there is too much water as opposed to too little?

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It really doesn't affect it much. If the mash is too thin, I guess you could have pH issues, but not at 2 quarts per pound of grain, or less. I've read that thinner mashes help contribute to a more fermentable wort, while thicker mash contribute to a more dextrinous wort, but I don't think it's really much of a factor. Temperature and time play a bigger role in fermentability.