enough pale for conversion?

I am going to do an extract with specialty grains (in a mini mash) clone of Ruthless Rye. Most everything will be NB Rye extract, but I will add 8 oz. chocolate, and 4 oz. flaked barley. I need something to get conversion started. Is a half pound of two row pale enough to get some conversion? I am getting like 52L which I think should be enough. TIA.

Half pound isn't going to cut it, IMO. Try 1 - 1.5#

If you're going to mash you might as well do more. I'd do at least 2 lbs, probably more like 3.

To directly answer your question:
Yes, adding .5 pounds is enough.

Your grains have a Diastatic Power of 0. U.S. malted 2-row has a DP around 140.
If you added a half pound of 2 row, it would make up 40% of the grist. That would make the overall Diastatic power ~56. (That's 140 x .4)
You need a DP of at least 30 Lintner for conversion, so a half pound would certainly work. Granted, the other posters are correct that it would be safer to do more.

Keep in mind, it all depends on what the Diastatic power of your 2-row is. As long as you are including a half pound of something with a DP of at least 75 Lintner, your mash should have enough enzymatic power to convert.

House12 said:

To directly answer your question:
Yes, adding .5 pounds is enough.

Your grains have a Diastatic Power of 0. U.S. malted 2-row has a DP around 140.
If you added a half pound of 2 row, it would make up 40% of the grist. That would make the overall Diastatic power ~56. (That's 140 x .4)
You need a DP of at least 30 Lintner for conversion, so a half pound would certainly work. Granted, the other posters are correct that it would be safer to do more.

Click to expand...

That's what I thought as well. I am sure the other fellows are also correct in assuming it could easily get stuck at that level. My problem is that if I add much more my OG is going up too high. With nine pounds of extract it is already gonna be at the top end of an IPA.

befus said:

That's what I thought as well. I am sure the other fellows are also correct in assuming it could easily get stuck at that level. My problem is that if I add much more my OG is going up too high. With nine pounds of extract it is already gonna be at the top end of an IPA.

Click to expand...

Depending on what you have access to, you could get an increased Diastatic Power (up to 64 Lintner) by using a half pound of 6 row instead of 2 row.

Or, if you are a bit crazy, you can take out 1 pound of Rye extract and add 14 ounces of 2-Row, 4 ounces of malted rye, and 2 ounces of crystal 40 to your mini-mash.

Does chocolate even convert to fermentables??? IMO you are trying to convert 4 oz of flaked barley, so that can easily be done w/ a 1/2 pound of two row.

Just guessing here but I think you have a steeping recipe and are trying to make it a mini mash??? I'm confused???

Recipe check in aisle 7 please

wilserbrewer said:

Does chocolate even convert to fermentables??? IMO you are trying to convert 4 oz of flaked barley, so that can easily be done w/ a 1/2 pound of two row.

Just guessing here but I think you have a steeping recipe and are trying to make it a mini mash??? I'm confused???

Recipe check in aisle 7 please

Click to expand...

Steeped chocolate malt yields about 15 PPG.
Chocolate malt mashed with 2-row yields 20+ PPG.

However, to take your point one step further, he could always just steep the chocolate malt and ignore the flaked barley altogether. It probably wouldn't change the final beer in any noticeable way.

Thanks guys. Actually this is an all gain recipe that I converted to extract after I found NB's rye extract (lazy). I just wanted to add the flaked barley as one of the better brewers here went on an on about the head retention of his brew due to the flaked barley in it, so I need something to convert it. I was going to use less extract for a true partial, but you have to order it in three or six pound amounts and I didn't think Id have much use for a single pound of rye extract . Here is the recipe based on info from SN's web page.

http://hopville.com/recipe/1237895/american-ipa-recipes/heartless-hussy-extract-version