Partial Mashing Base Malts?

Is there any benefit to partial mashing base malts like 2-row with an extract recipe (assuming that you have nothing to convert other than the base malts themselves)? Just something I've been wondering.

By controlling the temperature of the mash you can control the sweetness of your wort. Mash lower and you get more fermentable sugars and a drier beer, mash higher and you get less fermentable sugars and a sweeter beer.

Depending on the style you want to brew there could be some benefit to mashing base malts alone. It also depends on which base malt you choose since there are subtle differences in flavor between them.

if your going to mash only base malts, why not jsut build an all grain setup, weeeeeew !?

Hah! Well I would love one, but SWMBO might be kind of peeved since the homebrewing has totally taken over our kitchen and a lot of our small apartment! Luckily she likes beer and video games. As soon as we have a space with the space though, sure. More partial mashing in the meantime though, picking up a bigger brewpot too.

Also, got no problem just steeping my specialty grains, just wondering if there was any advantage to be had from partial mashing an extra couple of pounds of base malt.

Lighter color, saves a little money...

I recently decided to switch to partial mash after learning more about it since it is only slightly more difficult than steeping. I really like the opportunity it gives to use other base malts like honey, munich etc.

someone correct me if i'm wrong, but don't you need to have some base malt in with your specialty grains in a partial mash to have enough diastatic power to the get the full flavor/sugars out of the mash?

I don't know why people are always pushing people to go all grain. For the most part all grain brewers make an inferior beer the mini mashers. Reason is that they are just bad at it. I'll take a <3 hour brew day with real good beer anyway rather then a 5 hour average beer brew day.

HOWEVER. I'm not saying AG is inferior, just that many AG BREWERS are not doing all of the little things that need to be done.

Grinder12000 said:

I don't know why people are always pushing people to go all grain. For the most part all grain brewers make an inferior beer the mini mashers. Reason is that they are just bad at it. I'll take a <3 hour brew day with real good beer anyway rather then a 5 hour average beer brew day.

HOWEVER. I'm not saying AG is inferior, just that many AG BREWERS are not doing all of the little things that need to be done.

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I have to take exception to your premise. There was a poster who was doing a partial mash using 7#s of base malt plus a couple of #s of extract. I asked, not knowing there was a landmine of oversensitivity in my path, why he didn't just add 3 more #s of base malt and ditch the extract. Half a dozen posters jumped on me with both feet, and apparently they got a little rough, since the comments had been deleted before I got back to the thread. I'm fairly new to brewing and newer to this site, so I didn't know that brewing method questions were taboo, which they clearly are.
I wouldn't push anyone to brew any way - I was just asking the guy a question.
I will point one thing out: your tag line is "What I don't know, I obsess over" - that's a much smaller field for AG brewers.

If you are steeping specialty grains and asking about mashing base malts, why not combine the 2 and do a partial mash? you can do that with the equipment you have by adding a paint strainer bag or sparge bag for under $10 and will help you get to all grain(if you want to go that route). Super easy, check out the BIAB stuff on here...

Grinder12000 said:

I don't know why people are always pushing people to go all grain. For the most part all grain brewers make an inferior beer the mini mashers. Reason is that they are just bad at it. I'll take a <3 hour brew day with real good beer anyway rather then a 5 hour average beer brew day.

HOWEVER. I'm not saying AG is inferior, just that many AG BREWERS are not doing all of the little things that need to be done.

Click to expand...

I'd take exception to that except that I have little experience with other all grain people. The ones I have tasted thought have been very good. Not all to my taste but taste is subjective.

The reason I push it is for the freedom to choose what I put in my brew. I know what the base malt and all the specialty malts are and the relative quantities. I can change the flavor by changing a single specialty malt, sometime even by a small quantity. It also gives me much more opportunity to learn about the grains and what each brings to the beer. Plus, I can brew an all grain batch for quite a bit less money than by using extract. :rockin:

Mashing, partial or full, can open alot of doors for a brewer. with a partial mash you can use different base malts and alot of grains that have no diastatic power of their own. Also, you will have much more control over your final gravity on high OG beers. I have an all grain rig, and still do PM often.